Map: Sea of Sorrow v1.01

[WoodMan]

Original Post Replaced with Release Post

Map: Sea of Sorrow
Current Version 1.01 on 21st Oct 2010

v1.01 Update

• Fixed province 11, it was missing two links

Hey guys here is my first map Sea of Sorrow. I already explained before its not really that balanced, but I'm quite happy with it and it is definately capable of providing an interesting game.

Map Info

Provinces: 95 land and 22 water

Start Positions: 15 land and 3 water

Recommended Players: 6-10 for a normal game, 4 for a slow game, 15 land and 3 sea for a game with contact in the first few turns and action from the get go.

Map Preview


Background
In times long forgotten an ancient pretender led his people out of slavery and elevated them to greatness, and in turn they elevated him to godhood. He watched from the heavens as his people defeated their opressors and built a magnificent kingdom. His joy soon turned to sorrow as he witnessed his followers conquering the surrounding lands and cruelly enslaving their populations. Those who had once been slaves had now descended, drunk with power and glory, to the depths of their own past oppressors. As he watched in dispair a tear escaped the corner of his eye and fell from the heavens into the great void where it froze and solidified. As it passed into the earthly realm it screeched across the sky like a blazing comet and struck the magnificent kingdom, killing all of its inhabitants in a moment of fiery hell and leaving nothing but a large inland sea. Over the millenia the sea has slowly drained revealing once again the lands beneath.

Final Words

Download zip file should be below if all went well. I hope you enjoy playing the map!

[Stavis_L]

You might have a gander at elmokki's post on how to adapt the graphics from Jason Lutes' maps here:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=45454

Elmokki has even provided the .PST with templates.

As for names, something referring to the nice spiral of water might be good. Not sure if you're going for a themed/scenario map, or a generic one. Anyway, here are some ideas around the spiral..

• Nautilus
• Death Spiral
• Spring-Loaded
• Can of Worms
• Concentric
• Spiral Frog
• Spirograph
• Suncatcher
• Pinwheel

Hopefully something catches your eye

[WoodMan]

Hey Stavis thanks for the ideas. I've decided to go with Can of Worms. I made some terrible mistakes making the map regarding balance and also the way mountains work, so yeah, I guess its unconventional and anyone suggesting to use it in multiplayer would probably be opening up a can of worms

But, I've decided to go ahead with it and finish it rather than going back and changing things, and instead learn from the mistakes and not make them on a future map.

From a graphical/artistic point of view though I'm really happy with how it came out, it's probably the nicest looking thing I ever made in photoshop!

All finished now apart from actually putting it in the game, I'll have to read the instructions for that now, pic below (if all goes well)

[WoodMan]

Can't edit the above post for some reason, so sorry for double post. Just been in the map editor, it turns out there is no problem with the mountains on this map at all, it was just me being dumb and not knowing the difference between mountains and border mountains!

Maybe I can post it for download tomorrow.

[Gandalf Parker]

It looks great.

You can only edit a post for a limited time. EXCEPT for the first post of a thread you start.

Its usual to edit the first post to change the title to update the progress.
And to add the file as a download zip
And to list its final stats (how many provinces, how many land, how many water)

[Stavis_L]

BTW, if you haven't yet, have a look at Ballbarian's excellent MapForge utility (linked in his .sig) which can make reviewing a map for logic, balance, and consistency *much* easier.

[WoodMan]

The map is now available for download in the first post of the thread. Have fun!

[Valerius]

Wow, what a nice map. I see you reduced the number of water provinces from the earlier preview, which I think was a good decision. This seems like a very fun SP map and even the balance issues you mentioned could be addressed by adding some province connections if it were used in a MP game.

Thanks!

[Foodstamp]

Very nice looking map

[Fantomen]

Awesome map dude!