Map: Map: Arena

[Ballbarian]

Master of the Arena
--
Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!

What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
Enter the Arena if you dare... but watch your back.
--
12 LAND players recommended, roughly 18 land provinces per player (222 land provinces, 30 water)
12 Victory points.
Control the center to win.
--



This was another project that was rotting on my hard drive. It was an experiment and is certainly not the prettiest map that I have ever done, but it should offer some interesting game play.

The theory is that with 12 land nations, you should end up with 2 per "spoke". Do you slaughter your neighbor before heading for the prizes of the center? Or do you race for the center and attempt to guard your exposed flanks?

The center is made up of 12 victory point provinces which may not be easy to take and hold, but with all of the farm land there and some magic rich areas in the neighborhood, even holding some of it can be a great help in fending off one's jealous neighbors.

I have as yet to play a game on this map, but it is my next endeavor. Let me know if you find any missing neighbors or mislabeled terrain. (And please forgive the rough graphics. )

8/21/2009 Update
Gooles has uploaded two .map variations:

ArenaNoVPs.zip is the Arena map with VPs completely removed from the game.

ArenaVPsetOptional.zip is the Arena map with VPs still in place, but without value with regards to victory unless you set a VP victory condition. This .map also allows you to edit parameters for a VP victory in-game (unlike the original in which all were bound to have 12 VPs to win).

Thanks Gooles!

[Ballbarian]

Here is a thumb:

[jutetrea]

Looks cool, kind of what I was thinking of.

I'll try it, but few questions:

Are the center provinces "REALLY" nice? I'm thinking the provinces themselves have to be significant otherwise its almost more worthwhile to conquer folks like normal or go for an end game snatch n' grab.

If the middle provinces were heavily defended and provided crazy riches (potential items to the first conqueror, high income/gems for holding onto it, great sites - possibly school discounts (conj 50%)) etc I could see it being worthwhile.

The middle peep always gets ganged up on, so there has to be some edge that (with good play as well) to at least hold folks off.

It could be as simple as having 90% of the provinces be wasteland and the middle be farmland with 20k pop. The difference in gold alone would make it worthwhile.

Just me rambling about how I might set up a map file.

Are the spokes connected by those red lines?

[Ballbarian]

If I am remembering correctly, many of the central provinces are tagged with the "many sites" terrain flag and all of the farm land provinces are tagged as "large", so very good income unless scales destroy that.

If you look closer (in game it is obvious I think), the brown lines that you see are bridges which connect the outer spokes. In my current game, I have made a priority to capture these choke points and fortified them to protect my rump and now have a sizeable force making a run for the central ring.

Play wise, I am quite happy with the map so far. Time will tell. If the AI spends too much energy pounding each other and lets me have an easy victory point win, I may have to rethink it.

(Feel free to ramble. I do it all the time. )

[Zentar]

My maps folder is getting filled with Ballbarian maps. These maps work for solo and tournament play since they are as balanced as you can get. This one has plenty of strategic cut-off points. I was about to comment on Ring, and AOM, and then I found Arena. Thank you for them all!

By the way, graphics are nice and appreciated but the strategic value of these maps is what I like best.

Indy's seem too weak even at a 9 max setting. Some (most) people like the rush of rapid expansion through push-over indy's, but it accelerates the game to the point that there isn't much time to actually develop before contact is made with other players. It also puts the slower expanding computer players at a greater disadvantage. This is more of a general comment on the game rather than this map. The Ring map delays a premature contact and sets up an intense struggle in the center.

You have mentioned treasures those who get to certain points first. That reminds me of the Heroes of Might & Magic 3 classic map Crimson and Clover. Players would race to get to the underground treasures and with several players getting there at the same it created exciting situations. Treasures can be obtained by a find (chest) or a drop from killing a SC.

Well enough rambling for now....

[Gooles]

Very slightly altered the map to fit my preference. Figured I'd share. Nothing was changed except for a few lines (description, VP parameters, map file name & image named in .map file). I hope the OP doesn't mind? It's a great map (my favorite), just wasn't fond of the problems that came with VPs and random starting points (and setting starting points would have its own set of problems).

ArenaNoVPs.zip is the Arena map with VPs completely removed from the game.

ArenaVPsetOptional.zip is the Arena map with VPs still in place, but without value with regards to victory unless you set a VP victory condition. This .map also allows you to edit parameters for a VP victory in-game (unlike the original in which all were bound to have 12 VPs to win).

[Ballbarian]

Thanks for sharing Gooles.

One thing:
Were there changes to the image file? If not then there is no need to upload a new image with each map. Multiple .map files can reference the same image with no problem.

[Gooles]

Originally Posted by Ballbarian

Thanks for sharing Gooles.

One thing:
Were there changes to the image file? If not then there is no need to upload a new image with each map. Multiple .map files can reference the same image with no problem.

Oh, cool, thanks. I wasn't sure. Files below don't include .tga files but point to arena.tga posted with files in the OP (and are much smaller in size ).