[Abandoned] - A Volatile Earth

[Evil DIMwit]

By the way, if you don't mind me asking, where are you getting these numbers? Are you working them out by hand or using a website/application?

I'm using MrBenn's Bonus Probability Calculator, one of the useful tools found in the Map Tools thread.

[initus]

I'm using MrBenn's Bonus Probability Calculator, one of the useful tools found in the Map Tools thread.

Thanks, that helps a lot.

[initus]

Updated 8/17/10
[bigimg]http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/initus/A%20Volatile%20Earth/A-Volatile-Earth-Draft-2.png[/bigimg]

Changes:
1) The bonus structure for the layers has been restructured to reduce the chance of dropping it.
2) One more territory was added to the player drop territories (57) to reduce the advantage of the player who starts first.
3) Text was added to the bottom left to explain how crust territories attack.
4) Some territory names were added so people could see how we plan to name the territories.
5) The magma current "Vuur" had to be removed because it collided with "volcano" for territory names, was replaced with "Ugnis" (Lithuanian).
6) The starting amount of neutrals on red circle territories was increased from 3 to 4.
Miss-count on one of the crust territories, will change and another crust territory will be added to give it 24.

Notes:
1) There is a 1.89% chance that in a three player game that someone will drop the mantle layer bonus of +1, does this seem like a low enough percentage?
2) How do the bonus amounts look for the layer bonuses?

[MrBenn]

Hello! It's always good to see fresh faces in the foundry - belated congratulations on the start!

[skillfusniper33]

Hello! It's always good to see fresh faces in the foundry - belated congratulations on the start!

Thanks, I know initus and I would love some feedback on what you think for the gameplay of this map.

[Evil DIMwit]

Notes:
1) There is a 1.89% chance that in a three player game that someone will drop the mantle layer bonus of +1, does this seem like a low enough percentage?

Certainly low enough. The chances of someone dropping Australia in Classic are 2.68%, and that's a +2 bonus.

[initus]

If there isn't much in the way of gameplay feedback coming in, I will start working on a much better aesthetic for the map. Also going to be updating the very first post with more relevant information for the map within the next few hours.

Edit: Front page post updated. It should be noted that some of the bonuses for the regions are inconsistent in relation to other regions, so some of the bonus structure will be changing.

[Underated]

Ini and Skill great work... You two are very clever at this stuff.

The Map design, format and the complex nature of the settings makes for a challanging map.

My only comment is the core...Hard to get to and once there offers complete bombardment over all the map would be my only suggestion compared to any bonus gained.

My novel approach to things would love to see a machine (alien) controlling the center which has a the ulimate laser. I am sure you could think of something more intelect than that.

I believe the use of a layers of nuetrals 3,5,7 and then a large nuetral would make the core the prize but the build up and the tactical shape the game would take to conquer that spot and own the core would be worth the effort.

Great job to date and I hope you see value in the feedback. Good luck with the roll out.

[CreonRex]

I looked at the first page and tried to figure how anyone attacked the core.
Read the Map info and saw the line"+3: 6[3]: 3[0]: Qalba Tide (Q) <--- Attacks core"
Now that I've made my way to page 4, I see what the Qalba tide is. I'm assuming the map image on page 4 is the most up to date one?

On a personal note, I would enjoy this map. One of my favorite maps currently is Draknor, and it's because of the strategy needed for all the 1 way movements. I see this map as Draknor on crack. Bravo.

[skillfusniper33]

I looked at the first page and tried to figure how anyone attacked the core.
Read the Map info and saw the line"+3: 6[3]: 3[0]: Qalba Tide (Q) <--- Attacks core"
Now that I've made my way to page 4, I see what the Qalba tide is. I'm assuming the map image on page 4 is the most up to date one?

On a personal note, I would enjoy this map. One of my favorite maps currently is Draknor, and it's because of the strategy needed for all the 1 way movements. I see this map as Draknor on crack. Bravo.

Thanks Creon,

The First post has the most updated map on it as well, unless you looked at the small version, which is pretty dated. There are arrows that point towards the center of the core, which is the attack route.

[initus]

My only comment is the core...Hard to get to and once there offers complete bombardment over all the map would be my only suggestion compared to any bonus gained.

My novel approach to things would love to see a machine (alien) controlling the center which has a the ulimate laser. I am sure you could think of something more intelect than that.

I believe the use of a layers of nuetrals 3,5,7 and then a large nuetral would make the core the prize but the build up and the tactical shape the game would take to conquer that spot and own the core would be worth the effort.

It's a very interesting idea, one that both Sniper and I like, however there is no room for such a thing to happen in the middle, will be trying out some variants on this idea though to see if anything works.

[initus]

9/12/10 Update
[bigimg]http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/initus/A%20Volatile%20Earth/Version-7.png[/bigimg]

Quite a few things changed this version, though still yet to start the graphics revamp.

First off, the core. It's mechanic has been changed a little, it is harder to get to the core (through a few more neutrals), but the core auto deploy has been increased to 5. The core can also attack volcanoes, allowing the core to have a very large reach across the map and is more of a counter against meteor troop stacking. The core retains the functionality to bombard and break every single magma current bonus (bombards red circle territories).

The removal of the magma current around the core required another magma current to added, so some magma currents were moved around for this to happen. A few more neutrals were added for transition territories that border more than one bonus so the number of territories per layer has been increased by 1 for both of the magma layers. Also fixed the crust count.

The bonus structure has been completely revisited, as I used Windowmaker's bonus calculator to see how much each region should give, but then decreased each number by (usually) one to compensate for the autodeploy that is found in each bonus. Volcanoes now reset to a neutral 10 to make the meteors a little safer.

Questions:
Do people think that the core is worth going for if it only bombards one territory out of every bonus and can attack volcanoes? If it isn't, is the bombardment of all of the magma territories too powerful?
Also, does the resetting of the volcanoes sound like it fits into the overall map gameplay and design?
Lastly, how do the bonuses for the magma currents look, are there any that should be increased/decreased?

[Victor Sullivan]

I feel like the neutral count on the core is excessively high. You'd have to have a huge force to get past the killer neutral 10's and the 25 neutrals on the core. I feel like those killer neutrals should be lower as well, since its a crazy good defense if you have the core (not to mention the massive +5 auto-deploy). I think you may need to re-work the core area, or at least lower the neutrals/auto-deploy.

-Sully

P.S. Also, for continuity, maybe you should make the meteors have red circles instead of orange.

[initus]

I feel like the neutral count on the core is excessively high. You'd have to have a huge force to get past the killer neutral 10's and the 25 neutrals on the core. I feel like those killer neutrals should be lower as well, since its a crazy good defense if you have the core (not to mention the massive +5 auto-deploy). I think you may need to re-work the core area, or at least lower the neutrals/auto-deploy.

The Core isn't supposed to some sort of whimsical thing that people decide that they will go for instead of acquiring other bonuses, it is supposed to be a Coup de grâce of sorts (think Arms Race but not as game ending), and is needs to be really hard to get to. As for the killer neutrals around it, that was added due to some miss-communication with my partner, and those will be removed relatively soon. We are pretty happy with the neutral amounts (unless the majority of people are really adamant about it I guess), and view the Core as something that everyone will gang up on you for after you go for it or at least try to. Perhaps reducing the Core to 15 or 20 might be a good idea, but the build up to the core we like.

P.S. Also, for continuity, maybe you should make the meteors have red circles instead of orange.

Hmm, the red circles and the meteors actually have different functionality and need to be differentiated from each other.

[Evil DIMwit]

15 or 20 for the Core sounds more reasonable. Even with a +5 auto-deploy, since you'd have to muster up the troops to break down the neutrals AND defend the Core, it will likely seem worth it very rarely.

[initus]

15 or 20 for the Core sounds more reasonable. Even with a +5 auto-deploy, since you'd have to muster up the troops to break down the neutrals AND defend the Core, it will likely seem worth it very rarely.

Hmm, well assuming you break your way in there, you won't need as much right away to defend since the other neutrals will do that for you for a time. But yeah, we see what you mean, the Core will be decreased for sure, and perhaps some of the others.

[Underated]

I am liking already the feedback comments, small, but the right sort of arguement to make a map challanging...do I do this, do I go for that, what if....

It says to me, both of you are onto a winner. The refinement will come with the Beta stage of developement and mass game play.

Good luck with the final graphic..

Well done to you both...

[initus]

Thanks Under, we appreciate it.

New Update: Version 8, 9/25/10

[bigimg]http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/initus/A%20Volatile%20Earth/A-Volatile-Earth-Draft-3.png[/bigimg]

Two things happened in this draft, the core neutral troop counts have been significantly reduced from 5, 10, 25 to 4, 4, 10. This change was to encourage people a little more to go through the neutrals to take the core. Also, I put in the rest of the territory names. Haven't started redoing the graphics yet but I'll get to that eventually . A thing to note about the territory names, they will most likely be on the currents themselves in the graphics revamp, as that will declutter the map a little more but still keep territory names directly next to the territory.

Is the auto deploy looking too big now that the neutrals have been reduced, or is it looking good?

[Evil DIMwit]

Is the auto deploy looking too big now that the neutrals have been reduced, or is it looking good?

It's big, but I wouldn't call it a game breaker. Certainly if a player's got to go through ~20 neutrals to get there the reward should be substantial.

This map has stewed quite a bit and I think this is playable by now, so I'll sticky the thread. If anyone has objections, now's the time.

[Victor Sullivan]

Now, will the circles be okay with the triple 8's?

[Evil DIMwit]

You also need to make sure it all fits in the small version.

[skillfusniper33]

Now, will the circles be okay with the triple 8's?

It should be fine, the only issue spot that we could possibly see is with the regions BA, FA, and FB. But other than that I personally think it would be fine. The regions locations will be moved around a bit as well, The currents are also going to be a bit different than just circles too. I am sure we can figure out a way that the 888 will look fine.

[Hopscotcher]

Hopper's five minute Critique:
>> I would be cautious having starting spots that close to the Core, especially in Manual games.

>>Loving the theme of the aggrivated bonusses bumping into each other. could get really messy!

>> Since in essence the Meteors are causing the Earth's demise.... the least you could do is name them... Maybe Shakesperean Characters?

ok thas it. time's up lol

[Victor Sullivan]

Hopper's five minute Critique

Registered trademark of Hopscotcher, Inc.

On topic, what's the status of this map?

[initus]

>> I would be cautious having starting spots that close to the Core, especially in Manual games.

Good point, however even with manual, they need to break through 18 neutrals to even get any sort of bonus, I would hope that people who didn't deploy to rush the core would at least have acquired some sort of bonus that can counter the Core, since they won't have to kill nearly as many neutrals. I talked with sniper about this and we both agree that it about evens out. The Core can be slightly lowered if it is too strong, but it had just taken a huge neutral reduction to make it a little more accessible, so I am not sure about that.

>> Since in essence the Meteors are causing the Earth's demise.... the least you could do is name them... Maybe Shakesperean Characters?

Not so much causing the Earth's demise as putting life in (the map takes place 4 billion BC), but yeah, both Sniper and I think that it is a good idea to name them after something, probably astrological.

On topic, what's the status of this map?

As far as I know, it is in the final stages of the gameplay workshop and is moving towards the graphics.