Italy

lol maybe for cons. turns. http://dominating12.com/?cmd=game&sec=play&id=368808

Fine first legit win

Just wanted to jump in here and say, "What a great job on this map". Just awesome guys. Keep up the good work. Oh, and it made it better that I won the first game I played on it.

Yea, the map is pretty darn amazing thanks to all the map makers and admin :)

A quick comment on this map. I would say the game play is pretty funny and I am proud to predict many aspects of it without playing a game. Read my description above for more details ([url=http://www.dominating12.com/forum/?cmd=topic&id=1450&page=9#post-27131]page 9[/url]) -- I only forgot that there is 1 more "semi-deadend" in the south, this being Agrigento. How I missed it? I don't know! Game-play seems (to me) to be a middle way between Medi States and NYC. Someone referred to the South to be the strongest super-region and Calabria to be a crucial starting point to conquer it. Since I think I was right to not make southern regions more defensible. But, well, that comments were before my map description. Also I think there are many interesting super-regions, not only the South. North-West looks strong to me, but it seems to be ignored by many. I think you can get the best results playing it D.M. with 7/8/9 players. 5/6 players can be played but it's a bit too low for this map, in that case everybody gets high bonuses and the game delays more to reach the ending (even with increasing cards it seems played more like capped). Unless you play it 5/6p capitals then someone can more easy do some mistakes, having a double necessity: keep your cap strong and possibly also keep your bonuses high. High number of caps tend to produce sudden ends, like it is in most of the maps. Low number of caps (2 to 4) should be played Same-Time live (in my opinion), being the starting reinforcement too high for a consecutive order game. I have only tried 2 caps for now and it seems cool, but I'm going to make a try with 3 and 4 players too. I am also playing a capped-20 long-term game, probably the best setting, but it's taking long and still in the early stage. Personally, I have no amendments to suggest. If everybody agree, I think the beta-test phase can be ended and the map given to the folks to play! Or it needs to reach a certain number of games played? Question.

I too have extensively tested the gameplay on Italia. I agree that the gameplay should stay as it is, players will grow to learn the easiest regions to take and defend and those that are more vulnerable. It is also only really fair (DM or Caps) for 7 or more players, however in Capitals with more than 6 players, card values 'sky rocket' in 1 round, which means that the first player with unlucky cards will be pounced on. There is a large amount of (turn order) luck on this map as in any large map, but the size of this map seems to ensure that you will not survive if you get 2+2 cards at high value, however the connectivity does not necessarily mean that the first player with enough troops will be able to kill you as they won't always have a path, but the next player who does, will!. This is a bad thing for me because I am dogged with 2 pair cards at 2nd turn in... which of course I never get to turn in, but for most, it makes a nice exciting game for them planning how they will kill the unlucky guy. The super regions are very defendable in DM on this map and players can get a stronghold bonus that would normally be unachievable on most maps, I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but it seems to keep game lengths down! If I have repeated anything The_Bishop has already said, my apologies, I merely wanted to give my analysis from my point of view and we can see what are being pinpointed as the pro's and con's of Italia. IMHO Well done The_Bishop for a well thought out gameplay which works well and makes players think hard. Big maps always pose a problem for Mr. Unlucky!

Italia has made it out of beta. It will be free for a month or two and then it will become a premium map, requiring either premium membership or tokens to play on it. Congratulations to aeronautic and The_Bishop.

Been a huge fan and proponent of this one for a while. Extremely happy it got done, mountains and all.

Just wanted to add my kudos to the designers on this one. Have enjoyed every format I've played on it so far.

I am LOVING this map :P ^^ :D It looks sososo good and the gameplay is immense! The connectivity is perfect for the map size, due to the well-placed ports. I am currently battling it out for victory in a 7 player capitals game, and it is getting very intense. I'm dominating, of course! ;) We have reached a tentative lapse in attacks, despite there still being 6 players left - exciting! [url=http://www.dominating12.com/?cmd=game&sec=play&id=375437]Game 375437[/url] Congrats @The_Bishop for the incredible gameplay and @aeronautic for the graphics to match it! This map rivals World Expanded in its excellence!

Italia 7 player Capitals, Victorious!! Game375437 (see link above^). :P

Good job man! I'm glad you're enjoying the Italian map :)

Don't know how many times I've played this map, always thinking that Ferrara and Verona are connected. then going arggh, that's right! anyone else? label adjustment could fix this

It was really difficult making that connection any more intuitive. The bridge North has Green & Pink on it which identifies the region & territory colours that it is connected to. We tried the Mantova territory with the label above and the circle below and it made the label look like it could be on Brescia or Verona because that territory narrows in the North. What do others think about this?

Haven't played much on Italia, but I do remember that being an issue in one or two of the games I played. Although I think my issue was I thought Bologna and Mantova were connected ^^ Looks like a not easy fix to me. Only thing I can think of is move everything above the river to the right a bit. Slide the padova title over, then change the padova/Verona border so it heads more due south, then you can redraw the mantova/Verona border so that it more fully encompasses the bridge. Oooor... Maybe just move Mantova title up a bit? make sure people can see that pink color on the bridge side better. Really doesn't seem like a huge deal.