Map making FAQ?

[AMF]

Can someone point me in the direction of a guide, or just tell me, how to best create maps for unique PBW games? I have done it once, but ran into some problems such as placing players in the specific locales (homeworlds) that I wanted them in, and so forth. Very soon I am going to need to make a few more special maps and want to make sure that I avoid the hassles of Last time. Is there a guide? I know that I should create the map using the game, then add to it and edit it using the editor, but apart from that, Ihave a number of other concerns. Off the top of my head these are:

* How can I place players in the right homeworld - especially if the map planet and their atmosphere are different?
* I would like to place players in specific planets. For example, say I would like a specific player to start on a ringworld, but others to start "regularly" - how can I do this?
* In general, how does placing players work? Last time, I set up specific planets as player positions, assuming that the game would make the planets the right size and atmosphere, but IIRC it didn't always work out. Some players had tiny planets. Is there a rule for doing this effectively?
* Do one-way warp points really work? They won't cause the game to crash waaay late in it, will they? Any tricks to making them?
* Does anyone have good rules of thumb for reasonable levels for sector effects such as "sector damage" and so forth?
* When I Last created a map, it had a number of damaging sectors on top of warp points - but when I played with it for real, they only seemed to damage ships most of the time, but not *all* the time. Any ideas why this might be the case?

Thanks,

Alarik

[Fyron]

alarikf said:
Can someone point me in the direction of a guide, or just tell me, how to best create maps for unique PBW games?

I do not think there is one currently. Perhaps we could create one from this thread?

* How can I place players in the right homeworld - especially if the map planet and their atmosphere are different?

Unless you want to use a very specific size of planet for every player, such as a Ringworld, just assign specific starting locations in empty sectors. Add the players in the same order when creating the game as you assigned the starting locations. The player that should be in starting location 1 should be added first, and so on. If you want to use very specific planets as homeworlds, you must gather the planet type and atmosphere information from all players before creating the map. The planet must be assigned to the same type and atmosphere as the player that will start there. This way, the actual planet located in the sector will be used. Otherwise, it will be changed to a different size. I believe RWs are replaced with Huge planets, but it has been a while...

* I would like to place players in specific planets. For example, say I would like a specific player to start on a ringworld, but others to start "regularly" - how can I do this?

Hmm.. guess I just answered that. You must use the specific planet type and atmosphere of the player that will start with that planet type, otherwise the planet will be changed. Ringworlds will be replaced with normal Huge planets. They are classified as Huge planets, afterall.

* In general, how does placing players work? Last time, I set up specific planets as player positions, assuming that the game would make the planets the right size and atmosphere, but IIRC it didn't always work out. Some players had tiny planets. Is there a rule for doing this effectively?

The planet size in that sector will be used. The solution is to always use empty sectors as starting locations when you don't want to use the specific planet in that sector.

* Do one-way warp points really work? They won't cause the game to crash waaay late in it, will they? Any tricks to making them?

Yes they work fine. The only trick I can think of is that they are one way warp points... You could make a series of systems that are connected in a circular fashion. Say you have 4 systems. System 1 has a one way WP to system 2. System 2 connects to System 3 via a one way WP. 3 connects to 4, and 4 connects back to 1. This makes for strange parts of space, to say the least.

* Does anyone have good rules of thumb for reasonable levels for sector effects such as "sector damage" and so forth?

Less than 150 makes ships with Organic, Crystalline Stealth and Scattering Armor (assuming no "Armor" or Emissive Armor") immune to the damage, as those types of armors can get up to 150 hit points.

* When I Last created a map, it had a number of damaging sectors on top of warp points - but when I played with it for real, they only seemed to damage ships most of the time, but not *all* the time. Any ideas why this might be the case?

Getting damage from damaging sectors and warp points is somewhat random, and does not happen all the time.

[Captain Kwok]

I believe a warp point will damage a ship about 2/3rds of the time, on average.