Swedish Empire Ver.3.0

[Gillipig]

From the mid 1600:th century to the early 1900:th century Sweden was one of the superpowers of Europe! Sheer size wise it was a huge empire! That empire proved to be hard to hold for very long especially as the Swedes kept advancing their positions. After fighting against Russia, Denmark, Norway, Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, Preussen and the Holy Roman Empire Sweden had to give back much of what it previously had gained. But the strategically and technology superior Swedes managed to keep expanding for more than 200 years! This map is an illustration of Sweden at it's peak while engaging in war with it's neighbors!
Version3

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Version 2

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Version 1

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I've had this map in the back of my head for the last year or so and thought I'd finally try to make something of it!
I've excluded the northernmost part of Sweden, Finland and Norway because it was practically no mans land at that time (still is in a way ) ! Swedish colonies in Europe that weren't noteworthy big enough have also been ignored and I've excluded the colonies Sweden had in North America and Africa. I've chosed to give the territories swedish names because I think it gives a better feel to the map but if a majority wants the regions in english then that's what we'll do! I'm not entirely new with photoshop as I've studied a course on how to use photoshop. However I'm new to map making and I'm new to Photoshop CS4 and there's a lot of new tools and so forth! So any general photoshop or map making advice is much appreciated!! This is of course just a first sketch as I've not been very thorough with the details! I plan to begin from scratch once the gameplay has been sorted out and I'll pay much more attention to details and colours (Swedish Empire will have a really cool pattern for example.) But almost everything that I envisioned is there on this first sketch so except for some style and class this is what I'd like to do!


Territories

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Bonuses

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Win Condition;
Hold Western and Eastern Swedish Empire along with 8 of it's colonies to win the game.


Borders, neutral regions, bombardment and other features;

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I've been unable to name 3 russian territs (in either swedish or english or russian) and I've not given the fleets any names yet and I've not looked up names of any well known generals, but I will do all that tommorow! I've also not yet made the circles where the troops should be placed! I'm torn between thinking the map is balanced gameplay wise to it being very unbalanced so I'm not really sure! The southern parts of the maps are favoured bonus wise but at the same time most of them are easy to attack from behind through the Invasion Button and some can be bombarded from Stockholm and Köpenhamn.

Unfortunately the Legend isn't very well organized and doesn't contain all the neccessary info. Gotlands one way attack route isn't stated and some colours there doesn't resemble the actual colour on the map. So there are plenty of things to work on !

All input are welcomed !

More additional thoughts;

At one point I also had in mind battlefield bonuses and battle oriented territs (like Army #1,2,3) ! Does anyone think I should try to incorporate that to this map and in that case should I remove the General territs? I abandoned the idea because it would even further tilt the bonus down south and leave the north regions quite pale in bonuses! I've also tried to incorporate the Hanseatic League but since it was located in the south like the battlefields it has the same effect!

[Riskismy]

Nice nice!
Like you say there's a lot going on, but I suspect a clearer legend will clear most of it up.

I can only find 7 colonies (6 western, 1 eastern), yet you need 8 to win?

[24Keyser]

I like the idea of a Swedish Empire Map.

Though I would like to see better graphics.

Also the borders are very off A.K.A Preussens location is off + it has more territory.

I also would like to probaly associate this with the Great Northern War era borders mayby.

You have my full support.

[Gillipig]

Nice nice!
Like you say there's a lot going on, but I suspect a clearer legend will clear most of it up.

I can only find 7 colonies (6 western, 1 eastern), yet you need 8 to win?

First I'd like to say thank you for commenting on my post! I love feedback!

I think the main reason you don't see all the colonies is because of the Legend! It's a mess ! The Eastern Colonies are; Karelien, Ingermanland, Estland, Dagö-Ösel, Södra Livland, Norra Livland and Gotland .The Western Colonies are Jämtland, Bohuslän, Halland, Skåne, Bremen-Verden, Svenska Pommern and Gotland. Note that Gotland is a part of both Eastern and Western Colonies so I've tried to give it a mixture of both in colour but it haven't worked out so far! So the total number of colonies are 13! I think the rest of the eastern and western colonies have enough distinctive colour differances to make it visible! (Feel free to object this if you don't agree!) 8 colonies are needed along with entire western empire, eastern empire and Åland to win the game! (as it is now)

I like the idea of a Swedish Empire Map.

Though I would like to see better graphics.

Also the borders are very off A.K.A Preussens location is off + it has more territory.

I also would like to probaly associate this with the Great Northern War era borders mayby.

You have my full support.

Thanks for commenting you too!!

Yes the graphics are not the best right now but I've payed more attention to gameplay than graphics so far but I'll definately keep improving on the graphics! You bring up an interesting point about the borders! There are several areas that needs to be adjusted to real life, Jämtland, Preussen, Östergötland, Karelien Bremen-Verden comes to mind I'll see to that as well. I don't agree with you about that Presussen needs another territ though!

This is an image of the Swedish Empire and it's enemy's. And I'm getting the impression that Poland is closing Prussia between itself and Lithuania but I might be wrong! This is something I'll look into more closely and if Prussia indeed holds that entire stretch I currently think is polish then of course I'll have to change it accordingly! I searched for "Great Northern War" but couldn't find any topic on CC that deals with that theme!
Thanks for the support BTW!

Click image to enlarge.

I'll upload another version later today where I've given all territs names and worked on the Legend! If I have time to it I'll also look into exactly where the borders will be and work a bit more on the colour scheme!
If there's anything you like to comment on don't hesitate to post it!

[Industrial Helix]

Simplify. I can't make heads or tails of this map.

[Gillipig]

Version 2
I haven't done all that I thought I'd do but I'll put up another update tommorow!
What I've done here is that I've changed the colour scheme on both the western and eastern empire as well as the colonies. I tried to make it more clear what's what since I've gotten feedback about it being hard to identify the colonies! I hope the Legend is better now (at least the part I've updated) I worked on it with the intention of making it easier to identify the bonuses and understand the map. Some things that are supposed to be there aren't there but I'll see to it later. I've got a lot of space for the Legend on this map so I expect the Legend to be very good when this is all done!

Click image to enlarge.

In the next update I'll name the reminding territs and continue working on the Legend! I'd love some opinions about the Legend! Is it better now than it used to be? What can I do to improve it? There are a lot of things the legend needs to contain to explain this map so I can see myself working quite a lot on it!

Simplify. I can't make heads or tails of this map.

I think the Legend is clearer now but I assume you're refering to the map being too complex!? I don't think it's the gameplay that's too complex but rather the Legend's inability to display what's on the map and the colour scheme that makes it hard to grasp! There are a lot of maps with more complex gameplay than this that works fine so I think that as long as I'll keep improving the Legend It'll be easier and easier to understand the map! What do you think?

[Riskismy]

It's probably on your to-do list, but you're not explaining the resources in the legend.
Also, I think you should try to fit in the complete name of the extra-bonuses (e.g. "Russia 4 +1 w/ka +1 w/In +1 w/Nol"), or at least a bit more of it.

[Industrial Helix]

I can't even make out what the items are in the legend... they're pixelated and unrecognizable.

[Gillipig]

Okay so here's version 3

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I've named the Generals after real life generals of that time but I haven't checked that they neccesarily had anything to do with the battles portraited here! With the fleets I made it easy and named them S1 - S6 and E1 - E6 (abb to Swedish and Enemy)!
The 3 russian territs have now also been named and I've added all the info necessary to the Legend including abbreviations that weren't there before!

I think you should try to fit in the complete name of the extra-bonuses

I don't think the entire names of extra bonuses will fit so I'm having the abbreviations there to explain it! What do you think about that?

I can't even make out what the items are in the legend... they're pixelated and unrecognizable.

Improving the graphics is next on my list of things to do! It all looks kinda crappy and I'm not satisfied with anything on this map graphic wise! But the round gray thing is Iron and the light brown thing below is Wood! The items in the Legend are identical to those on the map so it's not a Legend thing but an entire map thing! But apart from graphics what do you think about the map? Gameplay and/or idea? I haven't put down any time on graphics really and I'll use much better tools soon when I'll make version 4! I'm not really worried about the graphics beacuse I know I can do that a lot better but the gameplay is pretty much the best I can come up with so any comments on that would be very useful!!!

It's my birthday this saturday so I won't get anything done during the weekend! And giving the map a new look graphic wise will take some time so I think my next update will be within about a week! I'll stop by and read any comments being posted so keep letting me know what you guys think!!!!

[natty dread]

What graphics software are you using?

[Gillipig]

I think the update will have to wait for a while ! I've got other things that's taking time now and on CC I'm organizing tournaments! I'll make that update ones I get time for it!

[Gillipig]

I think I'll have to push the next update until summer when I can start working on it again! I'll continue organizing tournaments and start being active in a clan but this map thing is really time consuming so I'll have to push it for the future! But I'll get back to this sometime so please don't delete it mods !

[natty dread]

Nothing will be deleted. It may be moved to the recycling bin, where it can be moved back from when you make your next update.

[MrBenn]

[Moved]

It would appear that development of this map has stalled. If the mapmaker wants to continue with the map, then one of the Foundry Moderators will be able to help put the thread back into the Foundry system, after an update has been made.