Nordic Countries [Quenched]

[Peter Gibbons]

Thanks for the note of appreciation. I'm sorry I disappeared a little after the initial drafting, but things got really busy with work and it looked like you were on the right track, anyway! I really like the final product. Can't wait to play.

[natty dread]

Nah, it's all good. You gave me some great ideas, such as the addition of Faroe (that was your idea, wasn't it...)

[natty dread]

Our Moderator, which art in the Foundry,
hallowed be thy name;
thy stamping come;
thy will be done,
in map threads as it is in the forums.
Give us this day our daily beta-testing.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against our maps.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from waiting.
For thine is the stamp,
the power, and the blue shoes,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

[isaiah40]

Our Moderator, which art in the Foundry,
hallowed be thy name;
thy stamping come;
thy will be done,
in map threads as it is in the forums.
Give us this day our daily beta-testing.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against our maps.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from waiting.
For thine is the stamp,
the power, and the blue shoes,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

LOL!

[ender516]

Our Moderator, which art in the Foundry,
hallowed be thy name;
thy stamping come;
thy will be done,
in map threads as it is in the forums.
Give us this day our daily beta-testing.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against our maps.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from waiting.
For thine is the stamp,
the power, and the blue shoes,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

LOL!

Good to see you have a sense of humour about this, isaiah40! Too many people have no tolerance for jokes that touch on religion.

[ManBungalow]

I never realised that this map was going to have starting positions!

[natty dread]

I never realised that this map was going to have starting positions!

Not as such... the map has random drop, ie. only the capitals start neutral. But I wanted to give everyone equal chance (or as close as possible) to grab the capitals at the start, thus all territories connecting to capitals (9 of them total) are coded as starting positions, ensuring that everyone gets at least some territories next to a capital.

For example, let's say you have a 6 player game. Then every player gets 1 starting position, and the remaining 3 starting positions get randomly distributed along with the rest of the drop - so it's not exactly equal, someone will always get more of these "next-to-capital" territories (except in 3 player games), but it's better than nothing, IMO.

Can't wait to see how this will work in practice though... perhaps there's some unanticipated side effect to this arrangement, but only beta-testing will tell, so let's hope it will come soon.

[tonbomorphew]

i really think you should add greenland and Nuuk.



[the capital]

[natty dread]

i really think you should add greenland and Nuuk.

The map is almost in beta, changes of that magnitude will not be happening. But thanks for your interest.

[MrBenn]

Latest XML and image links - All files that are needed for beta here

XML file: http://h1.ripway.com/ndread/nordic_xml_9.xml

large image: http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9575/n ... pev59a.png
small image: http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/201/ ... asmall.png

[MrBenn]

• • • • Beta - Quenching

---The Final Forge period has concluded for the Nordic Countries Map. All objections have had their time. The Foundry and I hereby brand this map with the Foundry Beta Brand. Let it be known that this map is now ready for BETA Play. After an extended period of time in BETA and once all quirks and issues have been resolved, the map will be put into Full Play (barring any Lack vetoes).

Conquer Club, enjoy!

• • • • • • 

While the map is in BETA Play, there are a couple of administrative tasks that are required of the mapmaker(s) in addition to the initial gameplay testing:

• 1. Please ensure that the first post of the thread contains all the necessary information to help future visitors to the development thread; it's particularly important to ensure the most recent images are there, along with any helpful guides (such as gameplay quirks/nuances or the location/size of any starting neutrals etc.)
  2. Please update the Map Information Portal with details of your map
  3. Finally, it is the responsibility of the mapmaker(s) to ensure that they respond to further feedback in a timely and constructive manner.

--MrBenn

[natty dread]

Yay! Thanks MrBenn!

[natty dread]

Latest XML and image links - All files that are needed for beta here

XML file: http://h1.ripway.com/ndread/nordic_xml_9.xml

large image: http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9575/n ... pev59a.png
small image: http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/201/ ... asmall.png

And yes, these are correct.

[isaiah40]

Congrats natty!! Well done!!

[natty dread]

Thanks


...man this is exciting. I wonder when I'll be able to stop checking the start a game -page every 5 minutes...

[ender516]

Yahoo!!

[isaiah40]

Thanks


...man this is exciting. I wonder when I'll be able to stop checking the start a game -page every 5 minutes...

Patience my son! We don't want you to get lock-finger and not be able to get Lunar War finished!

[natty dread]

It's up, it's up!

Whoever wants in on the first games check out this thread on callouts > http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewto ... 1&t=115675

or the foundry callouts thread on foundry discussions which also has one game.

[thenobodies80]

Well done natty

[natty dread]

Thanks

Just finished my first game (speed esc.) on it... so far it seems pretty well balanced, but will have to play some no spoils games to know for sure...

At least iceland doesn't seem to be too powerful (like some people feared)...

I'm also relatively happy with the image quality. The final jpg doesn't look so bad as I feared. The ocean glow looks a bit blurry if you look closely but other than that it looks pretty ok.

[Industrial Helix]

Welp, Natty. I wouldn't say we saw eye to eye on a lot of the graphics issues but its good to see that you've finally achieved Beta with your map. I have to say though, many of the last minute graphics adjustments look a lot better and I especially like that you added the flags as well. Nice work!

[jefjef]

Northern Europe? Not sure it's the correct name for the region. Perhaps Nordic Countries.

Congrats to me for the title of your work Natty!

[natty dread]

Thanks IH... And thanks to Jeff jeff for telling me the name of the place I live in...

(FTR the name was different at first because in the beginning the map included Estonia... when Estonia was scrapped it was renamed since Nordic Countries was then an apt name)


Oh and IH, I think it was actually good that we disagreed on the graphics... it kept me constantly looking to improve the map. As well as the critics I received from other people such as mibi, the.killing.44 and all the others - it was all very valuable in the process of making this map (even though I wasn't always happy to hear it )

Besides IH, you did come up with the current colour scheme of the map, for which I'm very grateful - it really works for the map I think.

[Industrial Helix]

Yeah, outside dissenting opinions usually do a lot to improve a map, even if it takes a while for the mapmaker to come around... 13 Colonies was in teh graphics workshop for like 6 months before it got out. I would say I learned a lot and that contributed towards the Unification maps making it through in about a month or so.

And I do like the color scheme. I wasn't 100% convinced on my own version of the map but I think the tweaks you gave the color scheme worked out for the better.

[natty dread]

Yes, I was forced to tweak the colours by many people who were worried they would be too similar - now they should be pretty much idiot proof. Either way...

I'm hoping to get some gameplay feedback during the next days. If anyone can find any feature that imbalances the map, no matter how small, please let me know.