I have messaged Pntbttr about Alcatraz.
Well, I have had a chance to finish reviewing The_Bishop's cap suggestions. They are mostly good but I recommend changing 4,5, and 9p completely. This image shows my 4, 5, and 9 player suggestions on the top and The_Bishop's on the bottom:
http://dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/San%20Francisco%20Capitals%20New%20vs%20Old.jpg4 PlayerProblem: San Francisco is not a good capital because it blocks a bridge preventing others from using it. This makes it highly unlikely that walnut creek could kill Baywood first. It also means that if walnut creek wanted to take it's region then it would be stacking next to the San Francisco's cap. There's no reason on a map of this size to have two cap's regions next to each other on 4 player.
4p caps are best when all the caps are equally spaced and all 4 caps can kill each other from their caps. I don't think that it's possible on this map to have all the caps equally far apart from each other because of the Bay. But with my proposal none of the caps could be considered a crappy cap. they all have their own advantage.
Proposal: Lakeshore, Atherton, Livermore, Berkeley
Lakeshore is a good cap because it has a shorter 4 hop path to Berkeley, there are two long paths to Livermore, and there are 4 ways out of the cap. It's disadvantage is that if it takes it's region then it blocks the path to Berkeley.
Atherton is a good cap because there are two paths to Livermore, there are also 4 ways out of the cap. But there is only one 8 hop path to Berkeley. It can however take it's region without blocking paths to any of the caps.
Livermore has 4 ways out, two paths to Atherton, two long paths to Lakeshore and an easily defensible region. However, if it takes it's region then it blocks it's path to Berkeley.
Berkeley has a shorter 4 hop path to Lakeshore and 5 ways out of the cap. It only has one long path to Atherton but it can take it's region and not block any paths to make up for it.
5 PlayerProblem: Noe Valley and Redwood City are too far apart.
There was no way to get them closer together without moving the caps to the borders.
Proposal: Lakeshore, Berkeley, Clayton, Sunol, Woodside.
Each cap has two that are 4 hops away and the rest are 7-8 hops away. Except Sunol and Woodside are 5 hops away from each other because they have two attack paths to get to each other so making them farther apart balances it out better.
Also notice how my suggestions are in a nice pentagon shape.
6-8 Player6p has the same problem as 5p with Redwood City being far from Noe Valley but it's not as big of a deal because Noe valley has Vallejo nearby and Tassajara was moved to Brentwood making it one hop closer to Redwood City. The only way to make it more balanced would be to move the caps to the borders but since we have already done that on 4 and 5 player, I'd rather not do it for 6 player.
7p is more balanced than 6p because the addition of Niles makes the distance between Noe valley and Redwood City not matter at all.
8p is fine.
9 PlayerProblem: In 9p Antioch is too far away and 6 of the caps only have 2 ways out of their cap.
At this point placing caps on borders isn't as important. There are plenty of players around to break regions and in increasing card games the game will be over not long after someone actually takes a region. So I suggest a different setup that spaces the caps out better. The first priority is always spacing. Having caps not on borders is 4th on the priority list from the guide. In an increasing card 9 player game regions aren't going to matter at all. It will come down to the cards, so again, spacing is most important.
Proposal: Marin City, Richmond, Moraga, Diablo State Park, Dublin, Niles, Redwood City, San Mateo, Portola.
With my proposal all the caps have 2 caps that are 3 hops away and at least 3 ways out of their cap. Redwood City and Niles are not on borders like the rest, but like I said, spacing is more important than regions at this point and this is the only way I could think of to get them all spaced out perfectly.
Here is a link to an image that shows all the cap placements with my suggestions replacing The_Bishop;s for 4, 5 and 9 player.
http://dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/San%20Francisco%20Capitals2.jpg
I have messaged Pntbttr about Alcatraz.
Well, I have had a chance to finish reviewing The_Bishop's cap suggestions. They are mostly good but I recommend changing 4,5, and 9p completely. This image shows my 4, 5, and 9 player suggestions on the top and The_Bishop's on the bottom:
http://dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/San%20Francisco%20Capitals%20New%20vs%20Old.jpg
[b][size=14]4 Player[/size][/b]
[b]Problem:[/b] San Francisco is not a good capital because it blocks a bridge preventing others from using it. This makes it highly unlikely that walnut creek could kill Baywood first. It also means that if walnut creek wanted to take it's region then it would be stacking next to the San Francisco's cap. There's no reason on a map of this size to have two cap's regions next to each other on 4 player.
4p caps are best when all the caps are equally spaced and all 4 caps can kill each other from their caps. I don't think that it's possible on this map to have all the caps equally far apart from each other because of the Bay. But with my proposal none of the caps could be considered a crappy cap. they all have their own advantage.
[b]Proposal:[/b] Lakeshore, Atherton, Livermore, Berkeley
Lakeshore is a good cap because it has a shorter 4 hop path to Berkeley, there are two long paths to Livermore, and there are 4 ways out of the cap. It's disadvantage is that if it takes it's region then it blocks the path to Berkeley.
Atherton is a good cap because there are two paths to Livermore, there are also 4 ways out of the cap. But there is only one 8 hop path to Berkeley. It can however take it's region without blocking paths to any of the caps.
Livermore has 4 ways out, two paths to Atherton, two long paths to Lakeshore and an easily defensible region. However, if it takes it's region then it blocks it's path to Berkeley.
Berkeley has a shorter 4 hop path to Lakeshore and 5 ways out of the cap. It only has one long path to Atherton but it can take it's region and not block any paths to make up for it.
[b][size=14]5 Player[/size][/b]
[b]Problem:[/b] Noe Valley and Redwood City are too far apart.
There was no way to get them closer together without moving the caps to the borders.
[b]Proposal:[/b] Lakeshore, Berkeley, Clayton, Sunol, Woodside.
Each cap has two that are 4 hops away and the rest are 7-8 hops away. Except Sunol and Woodside are 5 hops away from each other because they have two attack paths to get to each other so making them farther apart balances it out better.
Also notice how my suggestions are in a nice pentagon shape.
[b][size=14]6-8 Player[/size][/b]
6p has the same problem as 5p with Redwood City being far from Noe Valley but it's not as big of a deal because Noe valley has Vallejo nearby and Tassajara was moved to Brentwood making it one hop closer to Redwood City. The only way to make it more balanced would be to move the caps to the borders but since we have already done that on 4 and 5 player, I'd rather not do it for 6 player.
7p is more balanced than 6p because the addition of Niles makes the distance between Noe valley and Redwood City not matter at all.
8p is fine.
[b][size=14]9 Player[/size][/b]
[b]Problem:[/b] In 9p Antioch is too far away and 6 of the caps only have 2 ways out of their cap.
At this point placing caps on borders isn't as important. There are plenty of players around to break regions and in increasing card games the game will be over not long after someone actually takes a region. So I suggest a different setup that spaces the caps out better. The first priority is always spacing. Having caps not on borders is 4th on the priority list from the guide. In an increasing card 9 player game regions aren't going to matter at all. It will come down to the cards, so again, spacing is most important.
[b]Proposal:[/b] Marin City, Richmond, Moraga, Diablo State Park, Dublin, Niles, Redwood City, San Mateo, Portola.
With my proposal all the caps have 2 caps that are 3 hops away and at least 3 ways out of their cap. Redwood City and Niles are not on borders like the rest, but like I said, spacing is more important than regions at this point and this is the only way I could think of to get them all spaced out perfectly.
Here is a link to an image that shows all the cap placements with my suggestions replacing The_Bishop;s for 4, 5 and 9 player.
http://dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/San%20Francisco%20Capitals2.jpg