West Indies

Ok, a couple of edits later: [spoiler][img]http://www.bluemelon.com/photo/5728131.jpg[/img][/spoiler] [spoiler=Caps suggestion by Psymon][img]http://www.bluemelon.com/photo/5728132.jpg[/img][img]http://www.bluemelon.com/photo/5728133.jpg[/img][/spoiler] I partially input it in the system (couldn't resist trying the new tools, they're awesome), but it's still open to changes.

Can't look at the cap's right now, sorry. But I think they are okay.

Caps look fine to me. I wouldn't want to play greater than 7 on here personally though lol. No way to get through the map because there's so many caps blocking paths. It seems like it'd all just come down to dumb luck.

Well, if no one has anything else to change/add, I'd say this is ready for testing. But Aero hasn't been online since 09 Jan, which is mostly a complication given that he's the head cartographer! :S Edit: there was a mistake on the 9p caps posted above. The cap in Texas should be in Louisiana, and the one in Veracruz in Nuevo Santander.

Yes, I agree, it seems time to start the beta test. I know aero has being inactive for days but I think he would have no reason to stop this map. Anyone can unblock the cartographer pannel for loading the new map? Just in case he is not coming back soon.

[b]West Indies is now available for beta testing.[/b] All premium members can create games on it. Thanks Matty for your prompt intervention and Psymon for all the inputting job. I've just checked it and found no mistakes. Well and thanks Hood for all the graphic job and I would say also JS243 for the nice idea, but I don't know if he's still active.

great map.. nice work guys. only played it once so that's the only comment I got for now.

First game on it.. was nice Soon as game started, felt like it was an old map already, instant familiarity with the shape because of Central america map, as my first focus was set up on the lower half of the map. But then again i spent so many hours looking at it lol. But I almost forgot it wasn't west indies, till I scrolled up a little. It was only a 2p DM game, and the drop was quite fair with the neutrals landing on all the connection line territories which were untouched for the whole game. so it turned out that we both got a big region each mexico or gran columbia (not claimed) but defended by neutrals. Made for the game to be like an obstacle with the neutrals. Throughout the game, it was anyones win. I thought i had the advantage after a consecutive trade, but opponent managed to score Lesser Antillies where my dice failed to break the region on the second trade, and that was that!. . I predict a homerun for 2 player games! FUN, location recognition, figure 8 gameplay like med stats, and nice bright friendly colours :) Fun in the sun

In really like this map.. The game play is very fluid. I'm not seeing any changes that I would do at this time. The super region seems to become the can't kill me region to stack extra troops. Makes kill runs a little tougher but that part of the fun setting up the prefect kill.great job hood.. Great map

Good job, Hood! I haven't been much time to play it yet, but it looks like people are appreciating. Really I had the honour to play the very first game, but it doesn't count because it was annulled for stalemate.

My only remark is, the three X's representing the treasures, which are probably the most peculiar feature of this map, are very small and pale. I think they should stand out a bit more!

I have to say I really enjoy playing this map especially on same time setting. The connection and everything is great for same time game. Good job, hoodlum.

While I was away, I was unaware that Psymon was enhancing the map. I also made some graphic enhancements, luckily some of the things I altered still require it, such as the incomplete frame on the key and it's offset angle as well as the mini map frame. I made many other enhancements although they are all really just tiny adjustments, of course only to give the map the best it deserves. However, they were done from the source that was sent to me before Psymon's edits so a bit counterproductive. Perhaps it would just be better for Psymon to draw a new frame around the mini map & key and also make the "X's" richer and more prominent? I also made the Boyacá territory less orange (too similar to Mexico territories). All other enhancements were things like; a tiny decrease in brightness and increase in contrast using a contrast adjustment layer over all the land images, it brought the land forward and enriched the colours. Switched off the Darkening layer. A few other things I forget. Alternatively, Psymon could send me the latest source file and I'll do them all again? BTW Congratulations on this map Hood, it is really nice and looks to be quite popular already.

My thought about making the treasures more visible is related to highlight the "piratesque" theme. Maybe also Hoodlum's signature with the attached skull.

I didn't enhance the Signature because, it wasn't mentioned previously and I didn't recognise it as unreadable (like some have been). I did enhance the X's though. I didn't have to do much, because Psymon had already refined the map and actually did quite a few of the things I planned to do. No surprise to me! (Y) All my changes were tiny things, probably not noticeable to the players, but they were necessary refinements. I made a new mini map frame & key frame because they were slightly angled (quicker to remake). I made new crosses to match Hood's crosses so that I could use a stroke outline, which allowed me to play with the cross colour and outline colour quickly to find the best contrast. I moved the Key info down 1 pixel to align in the frame. I changed the colour of the Boyacá territory because it was very close to the oranges of the Mexico region. I changed the colour of the Apure territory because it was too different to the other tints of yellow and gave the effect of a gap in the land. I made a new mini map to suit the new territory colours. [spoiler=Current Beta Map][img]http://www.bluemelon.com/photo/5728131.jpg[/img][/spoiler] [spoiler=aero edits][img]http://www.the-inkstore.co.uk/map_resources/westindies-edited.jpg[/img][/spoiler] Please check that nothing has been left switched off and that all fonts have remained as intended.