Map: Alexander ---> Updated Map - Ver 1.5 July 2008

[Fantomen]

I second that. I like medium sized games, but it is sometimes hard to find a good balanced map.

[Zeldor]

That map can accomodate like 15 land nations, so it'd be quite big if it had just 12 land players on it. Maybe aim for 2-3 less than Asia Twist + 2-3 water starts? [or make 2 version, with some water starts excluding coastal land starts].

[PashaDawg]

I am expecting to completely redraw the province borders and terrain. I start by placing the optional preset starts and then draw the provinces, and then terrain. It was a good way to balance things in the Greece Stain map. So, I am not bound by any concerns about map size. If I wanted to make it a 5-player map, I could.

I like to follow these guidelines:

1. No present starting position is less than 3 provinces from another, except perhaps through a sea province (sea starts at least 3 prov from each other in all cases).
2. # of land provinces = approx. 11 per player; # of water provinces, a bit less.
3. Balance the farm, mountain, and forest provinces so no one start position has an undue resource or gold advantage.
4. All preset land starts have 4-5 neighbor provinces (not counting sea provinces).

Other issues to watch out for?

Pasha

[Zeldor]

I think it'd be better to aim for medium size map, 14-15 provs per land player, about 12 per water [maybe some small ponds too]. GreeceStan is small, Asia Twist is rather big when it comes to provs/player.

[Lingchih]

Just make it pretty, Pasha. The present Alexander is not pretty, but is still a good map.

And to those who say, a map need not be nice looking, but only functional. Bah... I need a good looking map to entice me to play.

[Sombre]

I totally agree that a map should be pretty. A plain map doesn't inspire and a rough looking one actively puts me off using it.

[PashaDawg]

Okay. Finally getting around to it... maybe.

[Calahan]

Pasha, we want less talk, less cooking, and more maps