request for MAP testing - Page 2

Karacan · #11 March 23rd, 2004, 11:10 PM

I believe that the dropped neighbor commands are more fun with more regular provinces, as the map used is rather confusing in that regard.

I like the maze-idea, but I think it'd work better when the map consists of quadrate provinces, like a boardgame. Or hex provinces, like a good boardgame.

PvK · #12 March 24th, 2004, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
...
The Independents have begun to form their own nation WITHOUT a Pretender! They have a headstart on you and have been joined by many angry deserters from other nations so you had better get busy. Their leaderless nation must not spread further!
...

Are these just indeps who can only spread by random events, or did you somehow hijack Man and turn them into an independent nation without a pretender somehow without modding?

PvK

Gandalf Parker · #13 March 24th, 2004, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by PvK:

quote:
Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
...
The Independents have begun to form their own nation WITHOUT a Pretender! They have a headstart on you and have been joined by many angry deserters from other nations so you had better get busy. Their leaderless nation must not spread further!
...

Are these just indeps who can only spread by random events, or did you somehow hijack Man and turn them into an independent nation without a pretender somehow without modding?

PvK

Good catch. Yes the second is true. By removing all of Mans special sites he becomes basically an Independent nation. Well he still has Bard but everything else is pretty much independent type units. The lack of pretender Im actually having some problems with. In Dom1 I did it by assigning Man a water-triton troop as a god. He drowns. Even if they pray him back, he drowns again. Unfortunately in Dom2 that "Man is cheating" message comes up and replaces him. So far all I can achieve is a standard unit with a blank name that can blend into the army unnoticed. No magic or powers. But Im still trying tricks to create one that will die off automatically without using MODs.

PvK · #14 March 24th, 2004, 04:48 AM

Very clever! The "fish out of water" pretender is really hilarious! However, it seems appropriate to me for them to just have a non-magical king or pope who serves as a pretender. Resurrecting just means appointing a replacement.

PvK

Gandalf Parker · #15 March 24th, 2004, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by PvK:
Very clever! The "fish out of water" pretender is really hilarious! However, it seems appropriate to me for them to just have a non-magical king or pope who serves as a pretender. Resurrecting just means appointing a replacement.

I also "hid" the mini-pretender another way. I renamed the capital province to something generic and downgraded all its settings like population and defence. Then I assigned another province to Man and named that one "Man" while upgrading those settings. The effect is that the pretender will never be in what appears to be the capital province.

PvK · #16 March 24th, 2004, 07:58 AM

Grin!

Well, I'm sold.

Next game I start will be using one of your maps.

PvK

Gandalf Parker · #17 March 29th, 2004, 11:08 PM

OK I think Im going to have to give way to the wishes of the people. I'm referring to the WE vs THEM stronger AI's scenario, the Independents War, and the Mazes and Monsters scenario.

The ideas for these might be good but the epic map size I like might be too much. So I am considering re-working them into a different size map. The choices are:
TINY <5 each, or less than 85 total provinces.
SMALL 5 each, or 85 total provinces. Best done as 75 land and 10 water.
MEDIUM 10 each, or 170 total provinces. Best done as 150 land and 20 water.
LARGE 15 each, or 255 total provinces. Best done as 225 land and 30 water.
HUGE 20 each, or 340 total provinces. Best done as 300 land and 20 water.
EPIC 25 or more each, maybe to the maximum 500 total provinces. Something like 450 land and 50 water.
These sizes and other map factors are discussed in the MAP thoughts file at my (soon to be working) www.dom2minions.com site.

Comments? Requests? What size would be more playable? I suppose since its created by a program that it wouldnt be too hard to do a Version of each size eventually. But what would be a good starting point?

[ March 29, 2004, 21:10: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Gandalf Parker · #18 April 9th, 2004, 08:38 PM

Good News! With the new patch it seems that maps can again "cheat" in creating gods for the AIs. So these projects will be moving forward again. The "Independents War" and "WEvsTHEM" mostly. For a writeup on these visit my site at www.dom2minions.com

Hmmm I just thought of "the War for Independents". Cute pun. I think I will change the name on that one

[ April 09, 2004, 19:39: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Gandalf Parker · #19 April 17th, 2004, 07:21 PM

OK we are getting back to where we were with Dom1 of having daily runs of different sizes of maps. I still prefer the really big ones but I have heard the call for variety. Here is what we have so far.....
Random Generated Maps

[ April 17, 2004, 18:21: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

PvK · #20 April 17th, 2004, 09:01 PM

Nice. Some constructive suggestions:

Is it possible to adjust your map generator to specify that all of the edge provinces should be water types?

If so, running some or all that way might give more varied land shapes, and would give a reason for the map edges. As they are now, the maps are bounded by arbitrary map edges.

Another idea might be to have the edges give way to barren/mountainous/impassible terrain.

PvK