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Sea of Deception
Posted: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 am
by bigWham
Map Name: Sea of Deception
Mapmaker(s): bigWham, Plurple
Number of Territories: 147
Special Features: This will be the first released map to incorporate the following new features:
- Transforms - a feature that allows transformations of army counts based on a variety of rules encoded in the map (rather than deployment, attack, fortification, etc)
- Help - a features that allows map-makers to include some map-related help on the Map tab, rather than requiring it be on the map image (which is more difficult to change)
What Makes This Map Worthy of Being Made: Aside from using Transforms, which is interesting in and of itself, we believe the specific mechanics deployed will make for some novel and "emergent" game-play.
Explore the Sea of Deception at your risk!
Note also we have been inspired by the Oasis map, since the layout of it was a perfect fit the ideas involved... this allowed us to focus largely on the concept, and not the visuals. This type of creative re-invention should be encouraged!
Map Image:
- Click image to enlarge.
Help
There are no bonuses based on territories, continents or army size. Instead, changes to army count are triggered by holding Islands. The effect of holding each Island is indicated below, and trigger at the start of each turn. After triggering its effect each island is reset to 1 neutral. Many effects are random, where [x,y] means an integer between x and y is chosen randomly.
Island Held By Affected Effect
Far East Isle Player East territories [-1,2]
Far South Isle Player South territories [-1,2]
Far West Isle Player West territories [-1,2]
Hale Island Player Hale [5,9]
Klien Island Player Klien [5,9]
Isle of Adjacency Player Territories adjacent to more than 1 oasis [-7,-3]
Isle of Degradation Player Opponent owned 40% chance of -1
Isle of Enrichment Player Player owned 20% chance of +1
Mercantile Island Player All +10%
Prime Island Player Prime Sea Set to a prime
Square Island Player Square Sea Set to a square
Surprise Island Opponent All A low chance of a big surprise
Unlock Island Player Grand Oases *Variable
*Depends on army count on island: [-10,-5] for 1 troop, [10,20] for 5 troops, Set to 1 for 10 troops.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Thu May 21, 2026 12:56 pm
by Donelladan
Can you also share what is in the help/Map tab ?
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Thu May 21, 2026 1:52 pm
by bigWham
Donelladan wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 12:56 pm
Can you also share what is in the help/Map tab ?
done, but the formatting on the table is not preserved so it's a bit hard to read here. in any case this map is on beta, and will be going live in beta status soon.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Thu May 21, 2026 1:53 pm
by plurple
I added a pic of the help text
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 12:11 am
by Swimmerdude99
Will this map be included in the "random" pool... I hate the idea of increasing rng, over dice already into a game. The random transform stuff really doesn't seem fitting to force people to play.
Hopefully with this map being introduced we can expect an "opt out of transform maps" or something.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 12:53 am
by Kingm
Swimmerdude99 wrote: Mon May 25, 2026 12:11 am
Will this map be included in the "random" pool... I hate the idea of increasing rng, over dice already into a game. The random transform stuff really doesn't seem fitting to force people to play.
Hopefully with this map being introduced we can expect an "opt out of transform maps" or something.
Beta maps are not included in random, but if it gets quenched I bet will be, but maybe thats something that has to be looked at if it happens?
But my first impression of this map and feature is that this is a lot of fun, new things are fun, but I do not feel that anybody are forcing anybody to play anything
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 6:44 pm
by TeeGee
In the MAP tab
Unlock Island Player Grand Oases (should be renamed to treasure island)
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Tue May 26, 2026 1:43 am
by Darkended Blade
Map tab is not easy to find on a mobile device, which means when rules are left on the tab it currently makes it hard to play on mobile
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Tue May 26, 2026 8:18 am
by Swimmerdude99
Kingm wrote: Mon May 25, 2026 12:53 am
Swimmerdude99 wrote: Mon May 25, 2026 12:11 am
Will this map be included in the "random" pool... I hate the idea of increasing rng, over dice already into a game. The random transform stuff really doesn't seem fitting to force people to play.
Hopefully with this map being introduced we can expect an "opt out of transform maps" or something.
Beta maps are not included in random, but if it gets quenched I bet will be, but maybe thats something that has to be looked at if it happens?
But my first impression of this map and feature is that this is a lot of fun, new things are fun, but I do not feel that anybody are forcing anybody to play anything
1) I actually didn't know they were excluded from random haha, but that makes sense
2) the odds I guess really are 1/2XX. I hope there just aren't a lot of chance maps that come out of this doing random chance transforms. I'd view these maps as doodle earth equivalent, though perhaps I should give them a try.
3) because the fundamental gameplay is SO different. I do not think you should be able to opt out or in for transform gameplay maps. I played one game with this sort of ruleset on beta site and it just fell - useless? Like there was so little strategy going on.
With random being one of my favorite maps to select, having a high concentration of these would be a reason for me to quit, likely for good.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Tue May 26, 2026 4:44 pm
by iancanton
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amIsland Held By Affected Effect
Far East Isle Player East territories [-1,2]
there's a 25% chance each of -1, 0 +1 or +2, right?
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amPrime Island Player Prime Sea Set to a prime
if prime island is held by a player, then are adjacent sea regions set to a prime number? which prime number?
ian.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Wed May 27, 2026 2:47 pm
by Darkended Blade
The suprise island needs clarifying. Ive had it trigger a couple times and that basically ends the game as it stands. I get the mystery thought behind it but mystery bonuses are not ideal for a game based on calculated risk.
Also fun to know it can trigger multiple times on a single round, but yeah bit game breaking
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 1:24 pm
by plurple
iancanton wrote: Tue May 26, 2026 4:44 pm
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amIsland Held By Affected Effect
Far East Isle Player East territories [-1,2]
there's a 25% chance each of -1, 0 +1 or +2, right?
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amPrime Island Player Prime Sea Set to a prime
if prime island is held by a player, then are adjacent sea regions set to a prime number? which prime number?
ian.
yes and set to a variety of primes: <amount>1,1,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,9,16</amount>
So most likely 4 but a small chance of 19 and a very small chance of 16
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 2:14 pm
by chanakam2020
plurple wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 1:24 pm
iancanton wrote: Tue May 26, 2026 4:44 pm
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amIsland Held By Affected Effect
Far East Isle Player East territories [-1,2]
there's a 25% chance each of -1, 0 +1 or +2, right?
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amPrime Island Player Prime Sea Set to a prime
if prime island is held by a player, then are adjacent sea regions set to a prime number? which prime number?
ian.
yes and set to a variety of primes: <amount>1,1,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,9,16</amount>
So most likely 4 but a small chance of 19 and a very small chance of 16
In what world 4 is a prime number ?
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 3:05 pm
by bigWham
plurple wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 1:24 pm
iancanton wrote: Tue May 26, 2026 4:44 pm
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amIsland Held By Affected Effect
Far East Isle Player East territories [-1,2]
there's a 25% chance each of -1, 0 +1 or +2, right?
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amPrime Island Player Prime Sea Set to a prime
if prime island is held by a player, then are adjacent sea regions set to a prime number? which prime number?
ian.
yes and set to a variety of primes: <amount>1,1,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,9,16</amount>
So most likely 4 but a small chance of 19 and a very small chance of 16
And, it is the prime numbered sea territories that are set. Same idea with Square Island... I think those numbers above are for square island.
the quantities for prime island are: 2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,5,7,11
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 3:21 pm
by bigWham
Darkended Blade wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 2:47 pm
The suprise island needs clarifying. Ive had it trigger a couple times and that basically ends the game as it stands. I get the mystery thought behind it but mystery bonuses are not ideal for a game based on calculated risk.
Also fun to know it can trigger multiple times on a single round, but yeah bit game breaking
My opinion is that we have 200+ maps without mystery bonuses... it seems fair to have 1 with mystery bonuses
However, exactly how it works it up to question. The initial idea was for it to be a Hail Mary, and in that respect I am considering that there should perhaps be more of a cost in triggering it.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 3:25 pm
by bigWham
TeeGee wrote: Mon May 25, 2026 6:44 pm
In the MAP tab
Unlock Island Player Grand Oases (should be renamed to treasure island)
changed
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri May 29, 2026 4:03 pm
by plurple
chanakam2020 wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 2:14 pm
plurple wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 1:24 pm
iancanton wrote: Tue May 26, 2026 4:44 pm
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amIsland Held By Affected Effect
Far East Isle Player East territories [-1,2]
there's a 25% chance each of -1, 0 +1 or +2, right?
bigWham wrote: Thu May 21, 2026 10:50 amPrime Island Player Prime Sea Set to a prime
if prime island is held by a player, then are adjacent sea regions set to a prime number? which prime number?
ian.
yes and set to a variety of primes: <amount>1,1,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,9,16</amount>
So most likely 4 but a small chance of 19 and a very small chance of 16
In what world 4 is a prime number ?
huh I looked at the xml doc I have on my computer and trusted wham's labels it looks like the transforms are labeled the wrong way around but they work how they are meant to my bad I didn't really think about the numbers
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 12:12 am
by chanakam2020
In team games how opponent owned thing work.
All the players other than given player including his team members count as opponent or ?
is it
just the players in other team ?
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 8:11 am
by bigWham
chanakam2020 wrote: Sat May 30, 2026 12:12 am
In team games how opponent owned thing work.
All the players other than given player including his team members count as opponent or ?
is it
just the players in other team ?
'Opponents' are all other (non-neutral) players, including team members of polymorphic partners. The naming probably needs to change, as 'opponent' isn't very accurate a description.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Sun May 31, 2026 8:34 am
by xroads
Can you change the log to explain what triggered the change?
Right now it's island 3 changed from 1 to 5.
Can you make it so isle of whatever triggered a change from 1 to 5
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 3:47 pm
by bigWham
xroads wrote: Sun May 31, 2026 8:34 am
Can you change the log to explain what triggered the change?
Right now it's island 3 changed from 1 to 5.
Can you make it so isle of whatever triggered a change from 1 to 5
Yes, in fact this was a glitch and should be now fixed. There is a possibility that a territory is affected by multiple transforms at once, however other than that it should now say.
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 4:13 pm
by xroads
Does the regions with the funny shapes do anything?
Like sea 42, sea 75, sea 13
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2026 8:48 am
by bigWham
xroads wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2026 4:13 pm
Does the regions with the funny shapes do anything?
Like sea 42, sea 75, sea 13
No, they are decorative
Re: Sea of Deception
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2026 3:42 pm
by fusibaseball
Love that our webmaster made a map. Great work!
