Test Map for future projects

[quote=SethHrab]Update for some of your imagining. 72 territories, 11 regions, 3 large regions, one "super" region, the rest moderate or small. Something like this Cireon: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/35qs4qU.png[/img][/spoiler][/quote] it looks interesting. I haven't checked your bonuses, but it sounds like you did it right. a good way to figure out connections, is to consider the capitals positions from 2 - 9 players. follow the capitals guidelines and try to make them as fair as possible...(adjacent paths - even distancing etc)

[quote=Hoodlum][quote=SethHrab]Update for some of your imagining. 72 territories, 11 regions, 3 large regions, one "super" region, the rest moderate or small. Something like this Cireon: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/35qs4qU.png[/img][/spoiler][/quote] it looks interesting. I haven't checked your bonuses, but it sounds like you did it right. a good way to figure out connections, is to consider the capitals positions from 2 - 9 players. follow the capitals guidelines and try to make them as fair as possible...(adjacent paths - even distancing etc)[/quote] Capitals guidelines? Had trouble locating what you speak of..

https://dominating12.com/forums/3/map-creation/589/dxii-guide-to-map-making [spoiler][b]Priority List:[/b] All the capitals should be as equally far apart as possible. Try not to have two capitals in the same region if possible. In 2-4 player capitals all the capitals should be equally far apart and in 5-8 player capitals for each capital there should be 3 capitals nearby and the rest further away. The nearby capitals should be the same distance apart. Take into consideration how many territories the capital is adjacent to. Remember that paths are an important part of a capitals game. Try to put the capitals in territories that have at least 3 adjacent territories so that there are many paths from one capital to another. Nobody likes to play capitals on a map where they are always blocked from killing the other players because there aren't enough paths out of their capital. It is best if all the capitals have the same number of adjacent territories. If one capital is on a border then all the capitals should be on a border. If you can't space them out properly without using borders, then they should all be on borders and not just one. The only exception is if there is one capital that is obviously less preferred than the rest then you may consider putting it on a border so that all the capitals are equally preferable. In 2-4 player capitals, try to balance the regions so that every capital is in a good region. In 5-8 player capitals the best you can do is to get the spacing as good as you can. Use these templates for creating images to show us which capitals you have chosen.[/spoiler]

The way it is right now I'd consider this a hard map. You have good regions, and they are relatively easy to defend, but moving around is tough. Not saying that's a bad thing, quite the opposite I think. I like it. To know how it really works out I'd have to play it though.

There's a link to a test play program provided by Hoodlum in the Tutorials, you can test game-play with that before continuing any amendments and that should give you some ideas. Apart from that, I won't have anything much to say about game-play as Graphics is my stronger point. The Topography (craters) is playing havoc with the territory & border lines. Try placing the "lines layers" at the top of all other layers. If the lines are all drawn evenly by whichever method you used, they should all look even no matter what is bellow them.... unless what is below them is too opaque and dark detail comes through. In which case the lower layers have to be suppressed to allow the lines to be in full contrast. I know that we are at the early stages and game-play is still being decided, but don't keep the realistic waves in the seas, they are always cheesy. If you are using a realistic sea, it has to be set to the same altitude as the land, so you won't see waves. [spoiler=Terraforming]I read up a bit about Terraforming Mars before I went away and I believe (from memory) that the Northern outlet (gap) is where the water would spill out of the huge raised valley of the now labelled "Hellas Planitia Sea" to the rest of the globe. However, none of the introduced H2O will stay as a liquid for very long due to Mars' inability to hold an atmosphere because of its erratic wobble, which is why scientists believe that Mars once had an atmosphere and water, but lost it when something struck the planet causing a rotational wobble. It could also have been its 2 moons that caused the erratic wobble, they could have been 1 moon, like ours, keeping reasonable axial rotational stability, but was broken into 2 causing a loss of axial stability.[/spoiler]

[quote=Matty]The way it is right now I'd consider this a hard map. You have good regions, and they are relatively easy to defend, but moving around is tough. Not saying that's a bad thing, quite the opposite I think. I like it. To know how it really works out I'd have to play it though.[/quote] Entirely my goal, and I'd say a good review for the most part. I actually attempted a game using "Hard AI" with Hoodlums game simulator, worked out quite well. Movement was not as hard as I thought it would be, but still difficult. Keeping a region wasn't too bad, except the damned AI came at me every time they traded cards lol. I fortified in Island Nation, took Scota region fairly easily, and started to move into the Urmander and Bellum regions before getting wiped. Ended in third place. The Bellum region player came back at me the same time the Ark region player moved towards me and the Urmander region.

[quote=aeronautic]There's a link to a test play program provided by Hoodlum in the Tutorials, you can test game-play with that before continuing any amendments and that should give you some ideas. Apart from that, I won't have anything much to say about game-play as Graphics is my stronger point. The Topography (craters) is playing havoc with the territory & border lines. Try placing the "lines layers" at the top of all other layers. If the lines are all drawn evenly by whichever method you used, they should all look even no matter what is bellow them.... unless what is below them is too opaque and dark detail comes through. In which case the lower layers have to be suppressed to allow the lines to be in full contrast. I know that we are at the early stages and game-play is still being decided, but don't keep the realistic waves in the seas, they are always cheesy. If you are using a realistic sea, it has to be set to the same altitude as the land, so you won't see waves. [spoiler=Terraforming]I read up a bit about Terraforming Mars before I went away and I believe (from memory) that the Northern outlet (gap) is where the water would spill out of the huge raised valley of the now labelled "Hellas Planitia Sea" to the rest of the globe. However, none of the introduced H2O will stay as a liquid for very long due to Mars' inability to hold an atmosphere because of its erratic wobble, which is why scientists believe that Mars once had an atmosphere and water, but lost it when something struck the planet causing a rotational wobble. It could also have been its 2 moons that caused the erratic wobble, they could have been 1 moon, like ours, keeping reasonable axial rotational stability, but was broken into 2 causing a loss of axial stability.[/spoiler][/quote] Think I got the crater / lines issue handled as you ask. Let me know what you think. I gotta fight you on the ocean, I love it. If the consensus is not love, I'll switch the texture to something the group enjoys more. Part of what I love is that you can see waves.. something I personally don't like about the majority of oceans on current maps. They all seem bland and unrealistic. I wanted a chaotic ocean due in part to your research about Mars being "wobbly". The idea is that at this point not only have future generations terraformed and settled Mars, but also kickstarted plate movement, etc. So, one would have to think to a degree they'd have figured out a way to bring the oceans and atmosphere under control. See post above for gameplay. I did a game and had a good go of it. [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/xkSJ0nl.png[/img][/spoiler]

@aero: Thought about your concern with the ocean and attempted a compromise upon looking at it a bit closer, I removed I think what you are seeing that was bothering you which were the major waves toward the eastern side of the map and smoothed out some of the more major whitecaps throughout the map.. I think this does look more realistic, still keeps a "choppy" ocean per my liking, and compromises nicely with your request as well. [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/3YlmGeF.png[/img][/spoiler]

What aero was saying is that the land has a lower altitude than then the ocean so this is not realistic so you ratio is wrong, the ocean would flow onto the land and cover it. When you look at a ocean from a higher altitude the waves are not there...maybe take a look at a real map with the waves you want and move away from it and then you will see what I am saying, Are you fond of purple? I would think it would have redness to it..Mars is the called the red planet for a reason...cause of the land? I may be of base on this though. I would love to see when I look at the "Red Planet" there would be red in it.

[quote=Thorpe]What aero was saying is that the land has a lower altitude than then the ocean so this is not realistic so you ratio is wrong, the ocean would flow onto the land and cover it. When you look at a ocean from a higher altitude the waves are not there...maybe take a look at a real map with the waves you want and move away from it and then you will see what I am saying, Are you fond of purple? I would think it would have redness to it..Mars is the called the red planet for a reason...cause of the land? I may be of base on this though. I would love to see when I look at the "Red Planet" there would be red in it.[/quote] Something like this? [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/m7GCtMz.png[/img][/spoiler]

[spoiler][IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2ptpbow.jpg[/IMG][/spoiler] maybe something like this with just a hint of red,,,,but I still do not like it..lol hoodlum is good at this now

Thank you for understanding that the previous sea was viewed from 500- feet and the land was viewed from 1000+ miles, the two never match, the only complete land mass that can be seen from 500 feet is the tiniest of islands. Back to the Lines; I think there must be some transparency on them, as the topography is still coming through them. Make them 100% opaque and if you want to lighten their colour, check the "Lock Transparency" box on each layer required and brush right over the whole image for each layer with your required colour on a huge paint brush and only the lines will be painted.

look for some colour palettes, probably [url=https://www.google.com.au/search?q=mars+colour+palette&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBAU773AU773&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwios-6FucvcAhWXFogKHQ9SCs4Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=662]mars[/url] is a good start. i usually look at other maps we have for colours. maps like mediterranean - bretheren coast - korea-japan, and brazil... keep experimenting, a lot of the time colours and textures, accidentally happen. D12 tries to be colour-blind friendly, so you will need to consider neighbouring regions-eg - light next to dark

@aero - I'm just not sure I see what you are seeing. The lines were already 100% opaque.. I attempted a revision, not sure if this is the result you want or not. Perhaps it might be easier for me to send a copy that you can finangle with on one territory and send back to be able to illustrate what you need on all territories if this doesn't solve your concern? If that is an option, shoot me your email in a PM. [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/sj0uYkG.png[/img][/spoiler]

Some colors look better than others for lines and when the are close to the land color the do not show up as well. Black is the old stand-bye .