Images of Westeros, somebody make a map out of it!

[HoneyBadger]

Why have a map of anything specific, if it's just going to be totally random? I don't see the point. Just use the random map creator that comes with the game.

[MaxWilson]

Some people just like it. I enjoy playing on maps of the continental United States or the whole Earth. "Ulm just captured Western China!" It's fun for me.

-Max

[lch]

HoneyBadger said:
Why have a map of anything specific, if it's just going to be totally random? I don't see the point. Just use the random map creator that comes with the game.

Indeed, why bother with custom maps if we got the random map generator? Silly me, I don't know what came over me anymore.

[HoneyBadger]

I can see the appeal of watching Ulm taking over western China, but that's because it's *western China*. It's not a 1-vision universe, it's a place that exists on it's own.
I can go there, get some take-out, and fly back.

My point is, what-other than content-separates this one from any other map? Sure it's nice that somebody posted a picture of a map that's already been drawn out. It's a time-saver, without a doubt. But somebody made it up in order to tell a story, and you're wanting to cut out the story and keep the map.

[Atreides]

Update: Map image added. Can anybody figure out why it won't convert into dominions properly? I know this file is a .bmp, I've tried it as a .tga and it still doesn't register any provinces north of The Neck.

Incidentally, I've been working on a Song of Ice and Fire mod and a map for quite some time now. The mod is progressing well, and I used a different version of the map when I drew the provinces, but I like this one more. I've been having trouble with the map I drew because it is not registering the provinces I marked past a certain point despite the map being within the size parameters. It's possible I exceeded the 1500 province limit because I got a little carried away but I'm not sure. I'll try to get around to posting the map later today so you all can take a look and maybe figure out why it isn't converting into dominions properly. But rest assured, I've already put a great deal of time into the mod and the map, and I would love to finish them. I didn't realize there was any sort of demand for a map or mod so I've kind of been strolling along at my own pace.
On that note, I would love to hear some ideas for the community, because I have been trying to decide exactly how to formulate some fairly important aspects of the mod. As anyone who has read the song of ice and fire books knows, magic in the series is a fairly uncertain force and would be difficult to convert appropriately for the various factions. Personally, the aspect of dominions that has always fascinated me is tactical combat and being able to affectively map a battle plan with a large number of troops in a way that they are more effective than your opponents large number of troops. As traditional battles have gone, two large armies face each other on battlefield and charge, and one army eventually breaks and flees. I wanted to make the SoIaF mod more about the proper use of large armies and terrain than about magic and SCs, and I am considering either cutting them out all together, or severely limiting the spells available for mages in the mod. Please let me know your thoughts on this idea, I would like to know the communities views. I imagine that in the end I will end up with two mods, one completely devoid of magic (my preferred one) and one that fully incorporates it, or limits it somewhat, depending on a consensus.
In regards to what I was discussing with terrain, my division of the map I originally created placed a great emphasis on unit mobility and holding key terrain areas. For example, swamps deserts, and forests are divided into very small provinces, an effort to emphasize the difficulty of moving a large army through such an area. This will create an importance to relying on major roads to transport armies quickly, as well as create a need to defend these roads to hinder your opponent from moving his armies into your terrain. This has the added advantage of creating a need and exceptional usefulness for units like skirmishers and outriders who can traverse broken terrain quickly and raid enemy provinces before a larger, slower enemy force can respond. Also, having roads that span 3-5 provinces of broken terrain will create a need for supply lines for larger armies which I intend to incorporate. Fighting to defend your supply lines, employing rear guards and outriders will all be necessary parts of waging war on what will likely be a much larger scale than traditional dominions games.
Lastly, I'm considering departing somewhat from the traditional system of unit recruitment, gold, and resources. For example, gold for each faction will come from areas such as mines, ports, farmlands, lumber yards, and various other trade facilities, rather than based on population in each province. In effect, I will try to set population for provinces to 0, except where villages, towns, and cities are located. Does anyone know if this can be done? Naturally, magic sites will have to be placed in many provinces to provide some supply (representing what can be foraged rather than what must be brought by supply train.) Unit recruitment will obviously take place in castles primarily. To a lesser degree, very limited recruitment will be available (peasant levies and the like) at villages and hamlets. There will be special sites that will allow recruitment of special units from SoIaF naturally, though some may be limited to the original controller.
Obviously there is a great deal more that I could write, and I certainly intend to. I will try and get that map file uploaded sometime tonight, and in the mean time, I would love to hear peoples thoughts and initial reactions to my ideas. And please feel free to provide criticism, advice, and anything you would like me to include or concerns about what I might be overlooking. If any of you actually managed to read all of this congratulations, and sorry I'm so wordy.

[Lingchih]

That's a very nice image of Westeros, Atreides. I'm sorry that I could not read your previous post, as it exceeds the limit of text that I am willing to read online. But it would be great to play A song of fire and ice map in Dom3.

[Atreides]

Haha, I made a comment at the end thanking anybody who can actually get through all of it. Basically, I've got some ideas on what to put in the mod, but any recommendations of things you'd like to have incorporated are welcome.

[lch]

Atreides said:
Update: Map image added. Can anybody figure out why it won't convert into dominions properly? I know this file is a .bmp, I've tried it as a .tga and it still doesn't register any provinces north of The Neck.

That, uhhmm, might be because you're way over the limit on provinces for Dom3 maps. Your image has close to 2200 provinces. I'm not sure what the limit is exactly, but it is less than that. Have you had a look at the image from the "A Game of Thrones" board game that I included? I think that's a good start to how provinces could be divided. For the scenario version, you could have finer graded provinces, of course - but not as many as you tried to. The Neck and the other woods are a mass of flags in the game.

[HoneyBadger]

Maybe you could ask Johan and Kristoffer to raise the province limit? They've been generously raising other limits lately, which is fantastic, so maybe this one too? I'd certainly support it-I for one wouldn't mind a 2500 province limit (or 25,000 for that matter, but 2500 would probably be plenty for everyone but me and Gandalf).

[LDiCesare]

I confess I can't understand how one can find time to play on maps more than a few hundred provinces.