Conquer Club

Draft 2

Large:

[bigimg]http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/2288/industrylargecopy.png[/bigimg]

Small:

[bigimg]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/8108/industrysmallcopy.png[/bigimg]

Previous Drafts: None

Starting Territories: 30

Starting Neutrals: 64 (all processes and markets)

Features: Conquest Gameplay, Double Dipping, Naming Challenges, Starting Neutrals, Strategic Resources

[spoiler=Original Post]Build an industrial empire! Make your customers pay through the nose! Rack up astronomical bonus multipliers!



Here is how this map works:

There are 30 resource spaces. Five different resources, six spaces of each resource. Farm gathers Corn, Forest gathers Wood, Mine gathers Coal, Derrick gathers Oil, and Ranch gathers Cattle. Players start on these spaces and gather $1 worth of resources per space. Owning all 6 spaces of a single resource earns you a "Resource Control" bonus of $4, giving you $10 for that resource.

There are 60 manufacturing spaces. Two or three manufacturing spaces per process, two or three processes per product, ten different products, two products from each resource. Ethanol and Starch use Corn, Lumber and Paper use Wood, Steel and Power use Coal, Gasoline and Plastic use Oil, Milk and Beef use Cattle. You earn $3 if you own a two-step process, and $5 if you own a three-step process. These spaces start with 1 neutral army each. Owning all 6 spaces of a single process gives you a "Process Monopoly" bonus of $5/$6 (depending on the process), giving you $15 for that process.

There are 4 Market spaces. Instead of selling a resource or charging for a process, you can use them yourself to make a product and sell it at a Market. Owning 1 resource and 1 process will produce 1 product. Products of two-step processes (Ethanol, Lumber, Steel, Gasoline, Milk) sell for $5 each, and products of three-step processes (Starch, Paper, Power, Plastic, Beef) sell for $8 each. Markets start with 5 neutral armies. Holding more than 1 Market will not earn you more money, because you can only sell a product once.

Here is where things get interesting: the amount of products you make multiplies based on how many resources & processes you own. For example, suppose I held 3 Farms, 2 Biofactories, 2 Terminal Racks, and a Market. 3 Farms would use 2 Ethanol processes to make 6 Ethanol products. These Ethanol products can be sold at the market for $5 apiece. That gives you 3*2*5 = 30 bonus armies! In fact, holding the entire map will earn you 930 bonus armies! Your opponents will be dead before you can use them, though.

I did some research for this map, and I'm fairly certain that the process and resources are consistent with real life. Feel free to inform me if you are an expert in a certain field and I did something wrong.

I know the graphics aren't... shall we say... "Final Forge" quality. I think this will be an epic map if the graphics are done correctly. If any experienced cartographers want to help me with this, I would much appreciate it.

Discuss. [/spoiler]

X.X confusing

Very interesting concept. I like it.
Have you tried doing each symbol in color instead of solid black? Its a bit hard to tell what is what right now.

wcaclimbing wrote:Very interesting concept. I like it.
Have you tried doing each symbol in color instead of solid black? Its a bit hard to tell what is what right now.

I bet it's just a placeholder until he gets a carto.

Not to speak for him, but this looks like something cairns would do … don't take that the wrong way cairns

.44

the.killing.44 wrote:I bet it's just a placeholder until he gets a carto.

Not to speak for him, but this looks like something cairns would do … don't take that the wrong way cairns

.44

Lol, thanks. I'll take that as a compliment.

What if I did a bird's-eye view like this?



I think that would be really cool.

Does anybody know if I can use bits of Google Earth photos?

lol, I meant the comment about cairns to be a complex yet interesting map (see: Poison Rome), but not suggesting he be forced into doing the graphics.

And I think bits of Google Earth images are okay. I'm using some in my Greenland map, but skewing them so much it's a bit hard to tell so that may be different. Are the images technically public domain?

.44

Hmm, Wiki says that Google Earth photos are copyrighted. Maybe I'll use World Wind instead, their photos are public domain.

I'm mostly concerned about the gameplay. I don't want to waste time making a map like this if it can't be used on the site. Any suggestions? I know it's complex, but it's easy to understand once you get the hang of it.

Well, I'm convinced this is a good idea, so I put up Draft 2.

[bigimg]http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/2288/industrylargecopy.png[/bigimg]

[bigimg]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/8108/industrysmallcopy.png[/bigimg]

This one actually looks like a real map.

Graphically:

coming along VERY nicely. major improvement on the second draft, i like the way it looks.

Gameplay:

umm... interesting. I think once i played a game or three i'd get the hang of the idea, and it'd be fun... for now... i'm confused a bit. strategy wise, i find the sheer spread of each bonus region is intimidating, but since every region is like that, it's still even, and presents an extra challenge. personally, i find myself looking for chokepoints on any map i want to play, so perhaps adding some impassible borders would make it easier to hold some kind of bonus. on the other hand ... that's not really the kind of map you seem to be trying to make.

so, i don't have a lot of helpful advice, but i will say, it's a really cool idea good luck...

the buildings are pixelised can u please get them less pixelised

miniwally wrote:the buildings are pixelised can u please get them less pixelised

You mean they look blurry? Or too sharp?

is this like AoR/Age of Merchants (in terms of gameplay)?

john9blue wrote:

miniwally wrote:the buildings are pixelised can u please get them less pixelised

You mean they look blurry? Or too sharp?

yeh sorry i meant blurry

Interesting - reminds me a bit of this...

viewtopic.php?f=242&t=35197

C.

I like the concept, but the implementation of it makes my eyes water... the map is incredibly busy, and it's difficult to see what items go together, and to figure out paths between them is beyond my grasp at this late hour (11pm)

MrBenn wrote:I like the concept, but the implementation of it makes my eyes water... the map is incredibly busy, and it's difficult to see what items go together, and to figure out paths between them is beyond my grasp at this late hour (11pm)

I hear you, but I sort of had to make it that way so it would be easier to find related territories to capture a bonus. People seem to like the idea though. If anyone has any ideas on how to make this easier on the eyes, please let me know.

I actually just had an idea for a map which is the exact opposite of this one.

ouch! Makes my brain hurt to look at that, this will be a complicated map

I like the idea...
but the map is too confused and unreal

Some quick suggestions to have a better map (i hope ):

• remove all territory borders
• I like to see some territories without resources (you need free space).
• Removing some resources you have a more real place (resources are rare)
• Draw yourself all the buildings, you don't need to be so precise.
• Color the buildings rather than the territory names
• You could use the buldings as territories, place army numers on them (or near), not on the ground
• Now make some roads to link the territories

TNBDS

[Moved]

It would appear that development of this map has stalled. If the mapmaker wants to continue with the map, then one of the CAs will be able to help put the thread back into the Foundry system, after an update has been made.