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| Author |
File Description |
| FenrisWulf |
Posted on 06/29/08 @ 06:47 PM (updated 06/30/08)
| File Details |
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| Game Version: |
AoE3+TWC+TAD |
| # of Players: |
6 |
Background: The main idea of this is simple. It's a nice, large map in the shape of the world. Players get to travel around and explore, and colonize wherever they wish. Whether they want to explore the African savanna or colonize the New World is up to them. Later though, classic AoE style gamplay will kick in. The rules are the same. Build up an army, and destroy the other players.
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Features:
*Play around the entire world with up to 6 players
*The map is large (800X800) but not gigantic. Players will still find themselves within other player's bases, and will have to battle for more room.
*People can play however they want, FFA, teams, or anything else.
New Feature of version 2:
*Home cities are made for each civilization, so that each civ can utilize their bonuses with their unique cards.
*More realistic landmarks are available. Find yourself building on the silk road trade route, for example, or fishing in the Mississippi River.
*More rescources are available. No longer will you have that drastic hunt for wood in lategame.
*Eyecandy is improved so it looks slightly better.
*Balance is improved, but not perfected. I tried hard to do the best I could, but if you have any balance suggestions, let me know.
Please download/play/review/comment/rate/have fun with it!
Good luck!
Edit: I made some pretty major changes thanks to As_Saffah's advice. Thanks for your help! |
| Pages: [1] 2 3 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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| KevTheGreat |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 02:14 AM
Playability below average, however the ppl start to close, u can easily lose your wagon or ship in the beginning of the game, screwing u up and then having to reign
Balance: 3
Civs were balance, some decks were op, and the starting position was the same, leaving your chances of winning mainly on skill, so average = 3
Creativity: 2
Map of the earth, been done many times, there must be at least 30 out there, and no flags of diplomacy which are being added to some maps (some with the help of me :) )
Map Design: 2
Map design below average: the landforms were a bit odd, the North Pole being bigger than Antarctica, and Europe.... The land for building is tiny.... and Hawaii is big.... and Central America is basically a bride, just a straight piece of land, u can't build on it and barely move men through it.
Story/Instructions: 2
No storyline no instructions, no opening cinematic.... u need to improve much on that
Additional Comments:
There are way too many earth maps out there, and this is not even close to the best ones out there, this map needs a major edit
[Edited on 07/03/08 @ 01:37 PM]
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MosheLevi
Staff
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 03:47 PM
FenrisWulf’s “World Map v2” should receive at least “3” score for Creativity if the map design was done well.
You shouldn’t give “1” for creativity just because it was done before.
Please fix this score or I will have no choice but to ask the moderator to remove your review for “Not following the Guide Lines”.
Thank you,
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Guide lines for Creativity:
1 – Just a skirmish scenario with no triggers at all, and no map design.
2 – Very few triggers with no special objectives or feature and not much of map design.
3 – Some trigger work and map design with a few features that were already seen in other scenarios.
(Note: this should be the score for average scenario that was already done before as long as it works well.
So even a skirmish scenario with a nice set up and some known extra features can get 3. The same is true for Coliseum or Earth type scenarios, these kind of scenario should get 3 if they are average with no extra features).
4- Good number of triggers that work well and a few features that haven’t been seen before.
5 – Outstanding triggers and/or outstanding features that have never been seen before.
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FenrisWulf
File Author |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 03:58 PM
"however the ppl start to close, u can easily lose your wagon or ship in the beginning of the game, screwing u up and then having to reign"
___________________
I understand what you are saying, which is why I made it so that you all have higher HP on your starting ship. You can get away faster, and if someone attacks you, you have a good chance to get away. If you are attacked, you shouldn't have to loose a ship. People are spaced out enough, I feel. I've never lost a ship at the start while playing.
"Map of the earth, been done many times, there must be at least 30 out there, and no flags of diplomacy which are being added to some maps (some with the help of me :) )"
____________________
What MosheLevi said
"Map design below average: the landforms were a bit odd, the North Pole being bigger than Antarctica, and Europe.... The land for building is tiny.... and Hawaii is big.... and Central America is basically a bride, just a straight piece of land, u can't build on it and barely move men through it."
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I fail to understand why you gave me such a low raiting for map design. If this wasn't a map of the world, I still found that I mixed terrains (which I have yet to see in an earth map). Rather than clumps of forest, I spaced the trees out to make them more realistic. You complain about the North Pole being to big, but this is mainly so people can get around without getting killed. You also complain that Central America is a bride. I infact made sure that there were no brides in my game. I fail to understand what you are complaining about there. The map itself is also as close to Earth as I could make it. Shouldn't that alone make me deserving of a 3 or more?
"No storyline no instructions, no opening cinematic.... u need to improve much on that"
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In fact, there are instructions. I didn't feel that a cinimatic was necessary for such a simple game, so instead I just had a message at the start of the game (I belevie it was played 10 seconds after the game started or something). It said told you that you needed to build up and defeat the other players. There is also no storyline, but a storyline isn't necessary in this sort of game. According to the review guidelines "If there are instructions but no story, the max score is a 3" therefor I believe you seriously need to reconsider.
Please reconsider what you have just scored me. I don't think it's right, and I really hope that this wasn't just because I am in a contest with you. If nothing else, please write better next time.[Edited on 06/30/08 @ 04:11 PM]
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MosheLevi
Staff
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 04:20 PM
KevtheGreat,
Please fix the entire review score or remove your review.
Thank you,
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| KevTheGreat |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 04:25 PM
anyways:
playabilty- i belive that u shouldn;t give them warships of any kind in the beginning, the flat boat is good enough.
creativity- the map has been increased to a 2, i do not believe that it deserves a 3 becasue of a lack of trigger work and the map design i belive was below average
map design- i belive that a 1.5 would fit for it but there was no 1.5 so i agve u a 3. The landforms int he game are weirdly sized, and has very few triggers
instructions- u need to add an opening cinematic of the map, an instruction that simply states map made by whom and defeat al other players is a bit bland. instructions has been upgraded to a 2[Edited on 06/30/08 @ 04:26 PM]
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| As_Saffah |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 06:51 PM
I wanted to leave some general comments and questions before posting a review, hopefully that will give you a chance to address some minor bugs.
I like this smaller, less laggy version of the familiar Earth 3v3 or FFA map. It has some nice additions, but there are also some problems and areas for improvement.
Pros:
Multiple trade routes are cool and exciting new features for a world map. I especially liked the circular trade route on Hawaii. If you're hurting for resources, that is a good place to hide a trade route and gather resources from it, where many people won't think to check.
The map is smaller, meaning fighting can start sooner and more decisively.
Cons:
There's not much room to build. The few places with enough room are all in Asia and Africa, and the Arctic.
There's no initial Reveal Map so you can't decide where you want to go, you just land and pray that you have enough room and resources.
Starting with warships is a bad idea. If you want people to have warships that early, then you must either give a brief treaty period, or make the ships unable to attack, or something. Even a high-HP warship can be sunk if everyone decides to team up against one guy.
Except for coin, resources are universally low for all civs. A good resource distribution for a 6-player map is 250K food, 400-500K wood, and 150-200K coin. This one falls short of wood quickly, and a bit short on food as well. Part of the issue is there's just not enough landmass to give you a lot of wood.
Fishing sites are clumped together, making ship pathing a problem. If you want to have a lot of fish on the map, that's OK as long as you space them out so fishing boats can get past/around each other. Especially in the Indian Ocean, where they are kinda close to land. No enemy boats can fish there if you put a TC in India.
Map landscape is kind of uneven. Some areas of land mass are below the water table so have odd puddles in them, where they aren't supposed to be. This is a minor cosmetic issue though.
Impassable/unnavigable terrain: Some places are unbuildable, impassable when they shouldn't be. Parts of Central and South America are unbuildable because they are too narrow. Other places are blocked off or landlocked: Strait of Hormuz can't be crossed by ships, Mediterranean is blocked, etc.
Sea treasures on land. A couple sea treasures on the land in California. I can't collect these with my explorer. Ships can't get to them. Sea treasures would be a nice addition to this map. But the ones you have placed, are impossible to gather.
No natives. With a wide range of native allies to choose from, you could put a native type unique to each continent on this map.
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A major suggestion: The important part of a world map is the land mass, not the water. If you must reduce the size of the map total, it is best to exaggerate the land mass size so you can fit more detail, resources, and space into them. Let the oceans be smaller, that will cut down on lag a bit too. But give people plenty of room to spread out and build an empire.
A minor suggestion: Adding a few native allies and some water treasures would be a nice touch.
You also need victory conditions for the end of the game. On a map like this, its hard to find and destroy all enemy units, so it's best to set a condition that drops a player who has fewer than a certain higher number of units or buildings. Otherwise games will never end, unless everyone resigns but one. For a good example of a threshold victory condition, look at Moshe's Forest Domination scenario. |
FenrisWulf
File Author |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 08:17 PM
I've also tried to add more land, but it's hard to do it without uneavining up the world. You're right though. More landmass is necessary and less water is needed. I think I'll work on your suggestions right now.
Thanks once again! |
| As_Saffah |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 09:22 PM
A hint about enhancing land mass areas without sacrificing recognizable continent contours.
Most of the landmass of the continents lies north of the 20th parallel. So a map projection that distorts areas, like Mercator or [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Grinten_projection]van der Grinten[/url] might be best to copy your contours from. This way the total land area is enlarged relative to the oceans, but the contours are essentially the same. You can use the Map Grid (Minor Tickings) to push out the borders of your existing continents somewhat and make land bridges wider, etc. Test land bridges when done in the Editor. If you can place a TC or a 1x4 wall segment in the narrowest part, you're good to go; maybe even wide enough for a fort if you want that.
Another trick you can use is to expand the polar reaches of your continents, and spread the subpolar terrains northward. This makes the whole continent look a little bigger, have a bit more room. Because ice sheets obscure the actual contours of the Arctic, you have a lot more leeway into how they are shaped.
Lastly, island nations and continents like Australia can be enlarged. This is naturally the case with the distorting map projections. But if you find yourself having problems fitting everything together, just remember you can expand the continent towards the poles a bit and you'll add more area.
Forests, resources: I tend to think of forests in two ways. A forest is a resource patch, but it's also a terrain blocker. You can place trees individualy within a forest to make a perfectly dense boundary of trees. Or, you can leave them open so troops can pass between them. This way you can divide up continents like Asia into several smaller domains, while enhancing the wood supply. Always leave a few passes or open paths here and there so raiding is useful.
Tiny islets: These are cool, but they can be even cooler if you go back in the Editor and test whether a person could build a Tower on it. If you can place or build an Outpost on a tiny island guarding your bay, it's much more exciting than a tiny island that has no strategic value whatever. |
FenrisWulf
File Author |
Posted on 06/30/08 @ 10:12 PM
You really have been a big help on my game. Everything you pointed out or suggest was really important and I tried to do almost everything you said (I was unable to do things like the native villages, though, because I felt they took up too much room).
I just updated my game with some pretty major changes (the removal of starting warships, larger landmass, the removal of a blackmap and more rescources for starters). I hope that these will all make the game much better than it is at the moment.
I hope you all enjoy![Edited on 06/30/08 @ 10:15 PM]
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| As_Saffah |
Posted on 07/01/08 @ 01:54 AM
This is a simple supremacy world map, so play value is essentially what you put into it. Lag is minimal, there's enough room to build and fight, and resources are improved. Revealing the map helps get you started a lot faster because you sort of know where you're going. This map needs a victory condition trigger so teams will not have to resign to a man just to end the game.
Balance: 3
The decks in this scenario could use some work. For instance, some Euro civs got balanced decks with early military shipments, factories and forts, and other Euro civs got loads of crates and no factories at all. It seemed like certain civs' decks (natives, Japanese) didn't get tested at all. That said, nearly all the decks were equally off-kilter, so in a sense, they're balanced...Also some regions of the World are more friendly to Japanese/Indians than others - almost no herds in some areas, but plenty of berries.
Creativity: 3
Basically this is an Earth map with some minor innovations. Trade routes and water treasures add interest and give people a reason to explore. The basic premise is very similar to the original Earth map: go forth and multiply, and "do" unto others.
Map Design: 4
This Earth map is smaller than its predecessors. As such, it lags less, and the landmasses have been reworked so they give enough wiggle room. Some persistent glitches with treasures detract from the overall experience: treasure on a cliff, Boneguard treasures that my explorer can't pick up, a sea treasure on land, a land treasure in the water...Otherwise the map is nicely done (from scratch).
Story/Instructions: 3
No elaborate story or setup, but none needed for this simple build n' smash supremacy map.
Additional Comments:
Overall a faithful rendition of Earth with trade routes and water treasures. This map is built for a faster start than others like it. The decks and herd distribution could use some tinkering to play to each civ's strengths while compensating its weaknesses. One idea is to look at the decks of the top 10 or so players for a civ in supremacy ladder, and go from there. Lastly, gameplay would be more complete with a victory trigger for team play. |
| Pages: [1] 2 3 » Last » |
 
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
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| 3.2 | | Breakdown |
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| Playability | 3.7 | | Balance | 3.0 | | Creativity | 2.7 | | Map Design | 3.3 | | Story/Instructions | 3.3 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 4,451 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 560.30 KB |
| Added: | 06/29/08 |
| Updated: | 06/30/08 |
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