Annihilation plains

[ManBungalow]

Click image to enlarge.

==Original==post==

The idea of it is to portray an all-out battle. The large number of bonuses and borders between each region will make it particularly interesting in freestyle and/or team games.
I intend for the highlight of the map to be a series of artillery situated on the left-hand side of the river which will be able to bombard any region on the other side of the map (minus the oddly-shaped bunkers). The bunkers and artillery should probably be neutral at the beginning of each game, but not so heavily loaded that there's no point in taking them.

I'm also contemplating adding a tunnel network-type system, from which there is no escape. In other words, you can one-way attack underground regions from specific surface regions for bonuses; quite similar to the Alcatraz region on the San Francisco map which offers a bonus that you don't want to leave too many troops trapped on, or (as I understand) the City Loyalty bonuses on the Battle for Iraq map.

You can expect updates as I add more regions to the map, but I'd appreciate some early feedback regarding gameplay (hence the half-finished image).

==Previous==Versions==

V 0.22
V 0.21
V.0.20
V 0.11
V 0.10

[Industrial Helix]

You're aware that you drew a river going through a desert, right?

Throw some vegatation on the banks or something.

[natty dread]

Lol! I didn't even think about that at first. Yeah now that you mention it, that river is a bit odd...

How about a chasm or a canyon or something...

[ManBungalow]

You're aware that you drew a river going through a desert, right?

Throw some vegatation on the banks or something.

Actually, I was completely unaware that I drew a river through a desert. Do you think "Annihilation plains" sounds any better?
I added a little bit of texture to the bank so you can see how it looks and also made the existing out-of-play areas more obvious.

Thanks for the feedback.

Lol! I didn't even think about that at first. Yeah now that you mention it, that river is a bit odd...

How about a chasm or a canyon or something...

Here's a quick portrayal of how it could look without the river:

Click image to enlarge.

I prefer having the river there to be honest.

[captainwalrus]

I like the river, but possibly make it a lot more muddy, either by making it brown or by lowering the opacity and putting a brown layer below it.

[ManBungalow]

I like the river, but possibly make it a lot more muddy, either by making it brown or by lowering the opacity and putting a brown layer below it.

Perhaps this looks a little better?:

Click image to enlarge.

[ManBungalow]

Here's a minor update to include another two bonuses and one more impassible area:

Click image to enlarge.

Post concerns and I'll address them when I return later.

[AndyDufresne]

I like this idea. I've always had a fond heart for such grim-future-scenarios. Additionally, I like the zoomed in aspect of the map and the idea. Gives it a flair for locality. It'd be interesting to consider moving the "battlefield" to a town that has been ripped apart by war/devastation. Then you can use buildings, roadblocks, vehicles, natural wonders, as impassables as necessary, and you can create choke points in necessary. In any case, I Look forward to more details.


--Andy

[natty dread]

The thing is, even if you call it Annihilation Plains (you may want to rethink the name... sounds a bit cheesy IMO) the map still looks like a desert... Well, the muddy river looks good, but I'd much rather you went with the canyon idea. You could do that by doing what you did in that version with no river, but adding some depth into it.

[ManBungalow]

Click image to enlarge.

I like this idea. I've always had a fond heart for such grim-future-scenarios. Additionally, I like the zoomed in aspect of the map and the idea. Gives it a flair for locality. It'd be interesting to consider moving the "battlefield" to a town that has been ripped apart by war/devastation. Then you can use buildings, roadblocks, vehicles, natural wonders, as impassables as necessary, and you can create choke points in necessary. In any case, I Look forward to more details.


--Andy

The idea of this map is to have as many borders per region as possible. This makes for brilliant freestyle games and helps prevent sequential build games.
However, I added an impassable wall in there which looks like it will allow strategies similar to those found in Supermax games. You'll also notice the road. I think it would be interesting to say that "each region on the road loses 1 troop per turn due to landmines" which, again, prevents the build games.

The thing is, even if you call it Annihilation Plains (you may want to rethink the name... sounds a bit cheesy IMO) the map still looks like a desert... Well, the muddy river looks good, but I'd much rather you went with the canyon idea. You could do that by doing what you did in that version with no river, but adding some depth into it.

I'd be quite happy to change the name to something more appropriate if you could suggest one. I'll use the muddy river for now as I'm more interested in the gameplay at this stage.


Thank you all for the feedback so far.

[karelpietertje]

there should be a kazoo in it!
j/k, like the map. will it be the new waterloo?
KP

[Industrial Helix]

Annihilation Plains sounds better to me, but it still kind of looks like a river in a desert... one idea would be to do something based on the Nile, which is, more or less, a river in a desert. Though there's thin vegetation on the banks. A little green might work.

[ManBungalow]

Okay, here's an update with more of the regions fixed up and a little vegetation on the side of the river which will not be so crowded for Mr Helix:

Click image to enlarge.

At this point I'd like some thoughts regarding bonus positioning as I don't intend on doing too much shuffling about after I put the region names and circles in.

there should be a kazoo in it!
j/k, like the map. will it be the new waterloo?
KP

An underground network of kazoo monkeys could be quite interesting. Maybe you could elaborate?
I suppose the cannon gameplay and region count is similar to that of Waterloo. However, I'm hoping to make the drop a little more fair on this map than on Waterloo (mainly regarding the cannons). That said, it would be hoping high for me to match a map like Waterloo.

[natty dread]

I'm a bit worried that some of those territories may be a bit too small... army numbers may not fit in the small version... Try looking at the image at 75% zoom and see if every territory can fit army numbers?

[00iCon]

Thumbs up so far
I'd like to see another map like Waterloo (on which I may even win sometimes).

[ManBungalow]

Here's the latest update:

Click image to enlarge.

Graphics-wise it looks quite tacky at the moment (I also forgot to shadow the bottom-left vegetation obstruction), but I'd like to hear more about the gameplay before I worry too much about appearances.
The white cannon regions on the left of the river offer no bonus in their own right, but some will indeed become cannons with certain bombardment capability. As already mentioned, regions along the road should lose 1 troop per turn.

[natty dread]

It's starting to look real nice. The bright harlequin colours don't quite fit the desert theme though. Since there's a minimap showing which area is which, you don't need every colour to be unique, so couldn't you just use some earthy tones for the bonus areas?

Also that would make the minimap look like camouflage... that'd be cool

[ManBungalow]

It's starting to look real nice. The bright harlequin colours don't quite fit the desert theme though. Since there's a minimap showing which area is which, you don't need every colour to be unique, so couldn't you just use some earthy tones for the bonus areas?

Also that would make the minimap look like camouflage... that'd be cool

Agreed.
I've done two quick variants on the colour spectrum:

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Of course I'm going to adjust some unique bonuses to make them distinguishable from the next. So tell me which one you prefer and I'll work with that style.

Also, while working on the borders, I'm contemplating adding another fence-type thing roughly along this line here:

How do you think that would that sound/look/play ?

[natty dread]

OK, well, I like the second one better. But like you said you need to adjust them so that similar colours are not next to each other.

Also, all colours don't need to be shades of brown: there could be a few greys, maybe a couple blacks, as well.

As for the fence... could work, but you need to place it so that it won't put the bonus areas inside the fence in too much advantage, by the isolation.

[natty dread]

So, what's up with this map? Still working on it? I liked the idea, I hope you'll continue the development...

[00iCon]

Also, all colours don't need to be shades of brown: there could be a few greys, maybe a couple blacks, as well.

green too. suits a military theme.(aren't all maps?)
The fence would work maybe if cannons could only fire past it. but there would need to be a counter-battery somewhere on the right side to bombard cannons in case of inbalance.

[natty dread]

green too. suits a military theme.(aren't all maps?)

Desert camo has no green...