Nordic Countries [Quenched]

[Peter Gibbons]

I happen to like the texture on the most recent version.

[natty dread]

Really? Hmm.. perhaps I'll consider it then.

[ender516]

Really? Hmm.. perhaps I'll consider it then.

C'mon, you had to know that if you said you weren't going to use it, someone would say they like it and want you to use it. That was just reverse psychology, right?

[zimmah]

i really don't like the colors on it

[natty dread]

Really? Hmm.. perhaps I'll consider it then.

C'mon, you had to know that if you said you weren't going to use it, someone would say they like it and want you to use it. That was just reverse psychology, right?

Eh... actually I was expecting to get people saying that the texture is too weird... I was just anticipating for that. But hey, if it works it works...

i really don't like the colors on it

Yikes, the colour issue again... The colours may well be changed when the map goes to graphics shop but they'll serve their purpose now.

Besides, I was told so many times in the beginning that the theme & visual style should reflect the subject somehow, so I decided that the best way to do it is to use the colour scheme to give a feeling of a cold & arctic place (since that's what most people associate nordic countries with, although it's not that bad at summertime...)

[cowfoot]

Hi

Just a small remark, from a person coming from the region.
The island south of Sweden where im coming from is called Bornholm its a part of Denmark, but when it is so far from the rest of the country it would be nice if it had its own region.

otherwise nice work, im looking forward to playing the map

[natty dread]

Hi

Just a small remark, from a person coming from the region.
The island south of Sweden where im coming from is called Bornholm its a part of Denmark, but when it is so far from the rest of the country it would be nice if it had its own region.

otherwise nice work, im looking forward to playing the map

Hi, and thanks for your feedback.

I considered making Bornholm a playable region, but a few issues kept me from doing so... For one, it is a really small island (relatively speaking), which wouldn't matter otherwise, but it'd be hard to colour-code it so that it will be clear that it belongs to Denmark, not Sweden.

Another reason is that it really wouldn't have a place in the gameplay... I wanted to make Denmark easily defendable, with attack possible only from two directions. Then again if I were to put in Bornholm but not connect it to Sweden, it would be a pointless dead-end territory... (I'm only talking from gameplay perspective, not calling your homeland pointless )

Very similar reasons also kept me from making Öland (the narrow island between Gotland and Småland) a separate territory.

Many other regions also had to be merged into other regions to cut down the number of territories and to fit everything nicely to the map. Some larger regions (like Finnish lapland or Lappi as we call it) had to be divided into several parts. I'm hoping to create a good balance between geographical accuracy and fun gameplay.

So even though your home region didn't make it into the map, I'm hoping you will still enjoy the map when it eventually goes into live play.

Ps. Denmark is a nice country, spent some time there a few years ago... people were friendly, beer tasted good and girls were beautiful

[natty dread]

V23 - with alternate sea connections. Don't know if they work any better than the dotted ones. Maybe... maybe not. Who knows.

Also: minimap changed due to popular request.

Click image to enlarge.

[captainwalrus]

The mountains need some serious work...

[Eyestone]

I'm back!

Map looks much better with regions. I like it. It's not geographically correct as you know, but it's just about how good it can get.

Just a few small things:
- I think it looks weird with all the regions and suddenly the city Bodø pops out as a large area. I suggest you put those 2 regions together and called them Nordland, and instead use the group of islands as a region of it's own and name it Lofoten. It makes more sense.

- Trondelag should be named Trøndelag.

- The Swedish issue about Götalanden. Why not just call it Götaland as it was proposed. That's even a name I've heard before. I think it's illogical to find up an ending on your own. I would be pissed if you'd call Trøndelag 'Trøndelagene' for example.


Good luck with the rest of the work!

[natty dread]

I'm back!

Map looks much better with regions. I like it. It's not geographically correct as you know, but it's just about how good it can get.

Thanks! I was waiting for you...

Just a few small things:
- I think it looks weird with all the regions and suddenly the city Bodø pops out as a large area. I suggest you put those 2 regions together and called them Nordland, and instead use the group of islands as a region of it's own and name it Lofoten. It makes more sense.

Yeah... The Bodø issue... I figured you'd say something about this. Thing is I need a 4th region for Northern Norway. Without, the mountains are kinda pointless...

So you're saying to nix Bodø & add Lofoten. Would it be totally terrible if I were to just change the territory name? I can move the border that is now between Nordland and Bodø, but not by much, since the territory name and army circle must be able to fit in nicely.

- Trondelag should be named Trøndelag.

Will do! (Must have missed that one... the ø:s in the font were so crappy I had to make my own, but I guess I didn't get them all)

- The Swedish issue about Götalanden. Why not just call it Götaland as it was proposed. That's even a name I've heard before. I think it's illogical to find up an ending on your own. I would be pissed if you'd call Trøndelag 'Trøndelagene' for example.

You would be, I know
However the Götaland/Gotland issue is still bugging me. Well, I will change it, but if I'm forced to change it back later on in the Foundry process, please don't blame me...

Good luck with the rest of the work!

Thanks! Always nice to hear of you, you always give me stuff to work with

The mountains need some serious work...

Yes, I know. However I'm planning on saving that for graphics shop, since it's lots of work on graphics only... Mountains are the hardest part of a map usually. So remind me again after we get gameplay in check

[natty dread]

Here's with the updated territory names, also smoothed the texture somewhat.

v23a

Click image to enlarge.

[Industrial Helix]

I'd say its looking reasonably good and has taken massive steps towards improvement recently, but a few problem stand out:

1) I really do not like the texture... it kind of reminds me of the pattern on my ceiling. I'd suggest seeing how it looks without texture as the glow from the countries might be enough already. Or try, perhaps, some grainier paper as an under layer.

2) I think you're going to have to redress your borders some so that more names fit in the territories.

3)Hmm... mountains are impassable. I didn't realize there were mountains until I read about them. Make them stand out a little more.

4) I'd suggest using some different fonts and experimenting. In having a duel color font I think you might be cramming too much into too small of a space.

[natty dread]

I'd say its looking reasonably good and has taken massive steps towards improvement recently, but a few problem stand out:

1) I really do not like the texture... it kind of reminds me of the pattern on my ceiling. I'd suggest seeing how it looks without texture as the glow from the countries might be enough already. Or try, perhaps, some grainier paper as an under layer.

I'll be trying some new textures in the next update.

2) I think you're going to have to redress your borders some so that more names fit in the territories.

I'll try, but I don't want to change the borders too much. They're fairly accurate as they are now.

3)Hmm... mountains are impassable. I didn't realize there were mountains until I read about them. Make them stand out a little more.

Yes, I'll be redoing the mountains. By the way, do you think the map could use more impassables? I could put another set of mountains in southern norway. Rivers & lakes could be used for sweden and finland...

4) I'd suggest using some different fonts and experimenting. In having a duel color font I think you might be cramming too much into too small of a space.

I quite like the current font, and others have also expressed that they like it. It's easy to read while fitting in with the visual style of the map. Also the dual colour serves as differentiating the countries, especially in places where it's harder to say which country a territory belongs to (see Åland). So unless I'll get more complaints about the font, I'm a bit reluctant to do anything to it...

(Also, the "dual colour" is not really taking any space: only the stroke of the font is coloured, and the stroke would be necessary anyway to make the font visible.)

Thanks for your feedback!

[Industrial Helix]

As you like I suppose. It's not going to get through the graphics workshop without altering some of the borders, I had the same problems with my maps.

As for adding lakes, ect. I think it might be a decent idea and worth going for. Finland has a lot of lakes, from what I recall. Can't say about Sweden or Norway. And I think southern mountains might be a decent idea as well.

[natty dread]

As you like I suppose. It's not going to get through the graphics workshop without altering some of the borders, I had the same problems with my maps.

If that happens, it happens. But I'd really like to concentrate on the gameplay aspect for now, the graphics should be good enough to serve their purpose until this gets to the graphics shop.

As for adding lakes, ect. I think it might be a decent idea and worth going for. Finland has a lot of lakes, from what I recall. Can't say about Sweden or Norway. And I think southern mountains might be a decent idea as well.

Yes, we have lots of lakes... Finland is actually known as "the land of the 1000 lakes"...

I'll see what I can do for the next version.

[natty dread]

Well, I couldn't decide where to put impassables in finland... Any suggestions? Which would be best spots, gameplay-wise? No worries if there's no real lakes or rivers there, I can just plant a forest there or something...

Anyway, new mountains: how do these look?

Click image to enlarge.

[isaiah40]

Well, I couldn't decide where to put impassables in finland... Any suggestions? Which would be best spots, gameplay-wise? No worries if there's no real lakes or rivers there, I can just plant a forest there or something...

Anyway, new mountains: how do these look?

Good, but can you move them to follow the border with norland more? Right now it looks like you can go around the mountains and attack Norland from Jamtland and possibly Lofoten. Like how you have the ones between Hordaland and Oppland!

[natty dread]

Sure. I'll see what I can do. Perhaps I'll redo the whole chain to make it more similar to the one in south.

[natty dread]

Ok adjusted the mountain chain. I was going to do a new one but when it was done I figured the old one looked better so I just kept the old and added some to it.

Click image to enlarge.

If this looks good now I'll work on the texture next.

[isaiah40]

Can you put those mountains over the border? It still looks like you can go around the mountains.

[natty dread]

Can you put those mountains over the border? It still looks like you can go around the mountains.

That's odd... to me it seems clear. Where does it look like you can go around?

I can try moving the mountains over the border though, if that helps...

[Industrial Helix]

Yes, we have lots of lakes... Finland is actually known as "the land of the 1000 lakes"...

Lol, I wasn't sure if that was the slogan of Finland or the state of Minnesota. I think Minnesota is 10,000 Lakes or something.

No idea where to put them though. Wherever they are geographically, I guess.

[natty dread]

No idea where to put them though. Wherever they are geographically, I guess.

Lol... take a look at this and you'll understand my predicament:

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Ok the one with the mountains moved. Personally I liked it better beside the border though. This way Nordland is kinda squashed. But if you think it works better like this then I'll go with it.

Click image to enlarge.

Also a new texture. Although it kinda looks like toilet paper now that I look at it...