Pakistan, Bangladesh, India

This is a map of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. I wanted a bigger real-world map that plays well with 5 or 6 players, so I went with 66 territories in 14 regions. With 6 players everyone starts on 11 territories with no neutrals, and no player count starts on 12 or 15. I've intentionally not put any effort into the graphics yet because I want the gameplay looked at and commented on before I go any further. The colors are placeholders and the lines are generated from boundary data (Natural Earth, public domain), not hand drawn. Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the other neighboring countries are impassable. There are no sea connections or special rules. Borders in Kashmir follow the Line of Control. Kashmir is its own region with Gilgit & AJK, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in it, so the map doesn't take sides. I'm open to suggestions on how that area is handled or named. Does the map have the right connections? Are the region bonuses correct? I used Vexer's formula, but I'm least sure about South India (+4 for 8 territories) and Bangladesh (+4). Is the Bangladesh / Northeast corner too crowded? If so I can merge a couple of territories there and split something elsewhere. Are there any modifications that would make it better for 2-4 and 5-8 player caps? https://imgur.com/a/TxInFMc If there's interest and the gameplay gets sorted out, I'd be happy to team up with someone with more experience on the final painting.

I love the way you approached this job, great! :thumbs: And I feel like we strongly need a map of the Indian subcontinent, good. I would almost say "excellent" to every words you wrote, except that I would consider including also Sry Lanka, and perhaps also Buthan and Nepal. Why to exclude them? If included, then maybe you might go for an 81 territory map, I would prefer it personally. Following the line of control, in actual contested areas, I think it's always the best option, the most consistent in a war scenario. Hopefully someone will help you with the graphic job, but let's define the gameplay better, before starting the graphics. Vexers formula in my opinion tends to under evaluate large regions with 8 or more territories, I think you may add 1 point if you feel so. The lack of 'impassables' (rivers, mountains and forests) it's probably the major issue, they would be welcome in order to give a more complex shape to the game-play. But in the end we've got other maps with no impassable, so I don't know, let's just think about it and keep in mind the option to add some impassables, if it is the case. [b]P.S. We are used to encode the image URL and post the map images inside a spoiler.[/b] I'll show you how in my next message.

This is the URL to be used: https://i.imgur.com/KsUOYvS.jpeg, but please do not click it. Encoded image post: [img]https://i.imgur.com/KsUOYvS.jpeg[/img] This way we see the image directly without passing for Imgur website. It's much more practice. More we prefer to use a spoiler to not overload the page... Spoilered image post: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/KsUOYvS.jpeg[/img][/spoiler] Spoilered image post, with title: [spoiler=Bangladesh India Pakistan][img]https://i.imgur.com/KsUOYvS.jpeg[/img][/spoiler] [i]Please, click the dark-red 'reply icon' (up on the right) to see the syntax of this message.[/i]

Hi, Thank you for your response. No reason for the exclusion I just thought it would be a larger project and would be difficult to make and figure out number of territories and such. Me and my other friends who regularly play are just from these areas so thought we could make a map that had interest for all of us. But I think that we can do two different projects in that case. Use this map for a smaller player base and also then make a larger map with Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka that would be for more players. I have seen this concept for many different regions. So next steps would be to take into consideration of what you have said and also to have someone pick this up to finish the design? I was a little unclear on how this actually progresses. Thanks

Hi! first of all, its really nice that other people get interested in map making! I have a question regarding the borders: Looking at the map of India, the interstate borders look quite different from what we see here. I'm simply curious about the guidelines or criteria you used to draw the interregional borders on your map—was it based on geography, political divisions, or something else entirely? -Color Palette and Visuals: I like the current color selection and the palette as it is, so i dunno what u wa splaning for the future, but the current one looks already good to me. While design can always be enhanced (and I have some ideas I'd love to share for the future), the core colors look great. But its for later anyway. -Natural Terrain Features: The map currently lacks natural elements like rivers, mountains, or forests. While optional, adding them in a way that feels natural and not cluttered would be a great improvement. I plan to look at maps of India myself and might share some concrete suggestions later. Here i basicly go 100% with what Bishop said. And I have one question on gameplay: • Gameplay Balance (North Bengal / Northeast): The territory of North Bengal (currently yellow/orange) leaves the purple region (East/Northeast) very isolated, bordering only two regions while others have three or more. This might give a player starting there an unfair advantage. To fix this, we could change North Bengal to purple, redraw the eastern borders, or add a direct connection so the purple region borders at least three territories. Is it a legit thing? I remember Clarke made a map of Austria and there was a similar issue. Otherwise everything is good and I will be happy to share my thoughts/ideas in the future, if i have something nice. ps: and yes, having one small version and one larger version with the proposed countries is also a good idea! ps2: since you are from that part of the world, maybe you would have an interest in making a map of the 3-4 muslim gun powder empires: kushan/gupta/mughal empire, persian/savfavid empire and ottoman empire? and maybe china or so. Could be a very nice historical map. ps3: another thing i have noticed looking at the distribution of regions is the following: in the northern (and western) pasrt of the map there are 3 "+2" regions and 2 "+3" regions, while in the remaining large chunk of the map there are mostly +4 regions. wouldnt it make a more balanced map if the regions would be spread more equall throughout the map, without cluttering small/middle regions in one corner and larger regions in the other? Bishop, Hoodlum - your opinions on ths mater?

[quote=Dima]Hi! first of all, its really nice that other people get interested in map making! I have a question regarding the borders: Looking at the map of India, the interstate borders look quite different from what we see here. I'm simply curious about the guidelines or criteria you used to draw the interregional borders on your map—was it based on geography, political divisions, or something else entirely? -Color Palette and Visuals: I like the current color selection and the palette as it is, so i dunno what u wa splaning for the future, but the current one looks already good to me. While design can always be enhanced (and I have some ideas I'd love to share for the future), the core colors look great. But its for later anyway. -Natural Terrain Features: The map currently lacks natural elements like rivers, mountains, or forests. While optional, adding them in a way that feels natural and not cluttered would be a great improvement. I plan to look at maps of India myself and might share some concrete suggestions later. Here i basicly go 100% with what Bishop said. And I have one question on gameplay: • Gameplay Balance (North Bengal / Northeast): The territory of North Bengal (currently yellow/orange) leaves the purple region (East/Northeast) very isolated, bordering only two regions while others have three or more. This might give a player starting there an unfair advantage. To fix this, we could change North Bengal to purple, redraw the eastern borders, or add a direct connection so the purple region borders at least three territories. Is it a legit thing? I remember Clarke made a map of Austria and there was a similar issue. Otherwise everything is good and I will be happy to share my thoughts/ideas in the future, if i have something nice. ps: and yes, having one small version and one larger version with the proposed countries is also a good idea! ps2: since you are from that part of the world, maybe you would have an interest in making a map of the 3-4 muslim gun powder empires: kushan/gupta/mughal empire, persian/savfavid empire and ottoman empire? and maybe china or so. Could be a very nice historical map.[/quote] Hi, thanks a lot for the detailed feedback, really appreciate it! Borders: good catch. The starting point was the official political divisions, i.e. the Indian states, Pakistani provinces and Bangladeshi divisions, using public-domain boundary data. Where a state was too big for one territory I split it into its historical/cultural regions (Awadh, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Malwa, Vidarbha, Marathwada, Rayalaseema etc.). Some small ones I merged instead, like Haryana + Delhi and Mizoram + Tripura, because they were too small for a troop circle. The lines inside the split states were only drawn approximately for this gameplay draft, which is why they don't match real maps. For the next version they could be redrawn along actual district boundaries so they look right to anyone who knows the region, but for now that was my thought process on making the borders. Happy to hear your design ideas when we get there. Thanks for the compliments on the color palette! Terrain: agreed, and same as Bishop said. Once the gameplay is settled I want to add the Himalayas, the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra, the Thar desert and the Western Ghats, but keep it subtle so it doesn't clutter the map. Any suggestions from you are welcome. North Bengal / Northeast: yes, that's a legit point. Right now the purple region only touches East India and Bangladesh. I think the cleanest fix is your first option: make North Bengal part of the Northeast. Historically and geographically that fits anyway, since the Siliguri corridor is the gateway to the Northeast. Then the Northeast would touch East India, the Gangetic Plain (Bihar) and Bangladesh. With the formula it would go to 6 territories and 4 borders, so +4, and East India would drop to 4 territories, 4 borders, +3. Does that sound better to you, or would you rather have a different connection? PS2: that's a really cool idea! A Mughal / Safavid / Ottoman map (maybe with the Uzbeks or Ming China on the edges) could be great. I'd like to finish this one first, but I'll definitely keep it in mind. Thanks again!

Great to have people from that area of the world, let's say the Indian Subcontinent, or perhaps Southern Asia is more correct(?). But well, I see that the intention here is not to make a map of the whole Southern Asia, this is rather a map of just 3 countries: Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Alright, I'm fine with that. Well, and it looks like Dima could offer his help, nice! :) It's impressive for me to think that roughly a quarter of human kind lives there!

Yes just a map of the three countries because it was what I was most familiar with. But in the future I could do more of southern asia. Thank you Dima for the help! Let me know what else I need to do to get this moving forward

The outlines of the states/regions should be redrawn, less thick and more smooth. I mean simplify borders and coast lines when they are too complex, as it is now there black areas not nice to see. The territory dividers should be turned into realistic borders, not those straight lines, already said. Remove the circles used for the count and try to improve the text, something readable and nice at once.