MÉXICO [BETA] p1/18 --Sep 11th--

[edwinissweet]

you guys missed cozumel =p

[fumandomuerte]

you guys missed cozumel =p

Not worth adding it jk

btw, if you count all the subburbs and lump it together (like people do LA) then The city of Monterrey is like the 4rd largest city in north america, I dont see it. It is right next to hildago which is a pretty small city.

The megalopolis Mexico City-Toluca-Pachuca-Puebla-Cuernavaca-Querétaro is the biggest on America and the 2nd or 3rd all over the world (behind the Tokio-Yokohama corridor and I can't remember the other). I'm not sure if Monterrey and all the surrounding subburbs can compete with NY, LA, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo or even Guadalajara (talking about city size of course).
Adding so much detail to the northeast would be a tough graphic task. Do you have a major suggestion for it improve the gameplay enough to make it worth an effort?

[army of nobunaga]

lol, well maybe it just needs mentioned on the map? Its a pretty huge damn city surrounded by mountains... Dont think you would have to change much , just in the bottom of nuevo leon add a little region called monterrey?

[army of nobunaga]

btw monterrey is in fact and could be in the map, the one region that gives you access to san luis.

[fumandomuerte]

btw monterrey is in fact and could be in the map, the one region that gives you access to san luis.

I know, been there 3 or 4 times, especially to attend football games

[porkenbeans]

whats the holdup exactly? There are a lot of us from Mexico that cant wait for this. If you need any help, I'm sure I can find an army of Spanish speaking nerds that would love to help you.

That's cool, and it got me to thinking about this map and it's theme. I have not studied the map at all, but upon glancing, It seems to be a standard gameplay map, that is about the "geography" more than anything else. What if the theme was more about, the current smuggling trade, of this corridor. From drugs to people, this corridor has a long, and illustrious history.

The subject of "Immigration" will be a hot topic for the next year or two. So, I believe that a CC map on this theme, would be popular among players. If not this map, then a new one might stand far enough apart, from this map, that both maps can be made.

Just an idea. I think it would be cool to have a map that shows the reality on the ground in Mexico. Show what is really happening today. I would love to see this Army of Mexican Nerds show us a map, that names, names. In that I mean, who are the players in this "off the books" underground. I can think of a myriad of icons that could fit in nicely on this map. From Coyote's, to mules, to corrupt Officials. A Lotta salsa there to season with. This under world reality, is just now beginning to blow the hell up. I think that an outsider could not do this theme justice without an Army of Mexican Nerds, to set us straight.

[army of nobunaga]

there are 5 major drug cartels at the moment... they are very transparent and dont hide... they are even heros in some mexican villiages. Right now you have the Zetas (special forces guys from the US and mexico, that wwere inforcers and created their own cartel) undergoing a fight for their existnce with two other cartels... and these guys are not going to go down without taking a lot of people with them. You could do a fun map like that man... I think this one would have to be a basic mexican map or would basically have to be re-written.

I like that idea though. like a lot. im still working on my first map, spend about 20 mins a day learninf photoshop with it, maybe I coulds do something like your suggestion someday.

[porkenbeans]

there are 5 major drug cartels at the moment... they are very transparent and dont hide... they are even heros in some mexican villiages. Right now you have the Zetas (special forces guys from the US and mexico, that wwere inforcers and created their own cartel) undergoing a fight for their existnce with two other cartels... and these guys are not going to go down without taking a lot of people with them. You could do a fun map like that man... I think this one would have to be a basic mexican map or would basically have to be re-written.

I like that idea though. like a lot. im still working on my first map, spend about 20 mins a day learninf photoshop with it, maybe I coulds do something like your suggestion someday.

You are definitely the one to do it. Get a first rough draft going on the basic layout of the players, and strong holds, and such. I would love to help out with the graphics.

[YoBFelip]

please take out tampico and add matamoros, and tam. is as drawn, dont change, amigo felipe, mat. tam

[fumandomuerte]

Sorry, the map is abandoned.
Greetings from Mexico city (tonight) and Ensenada (in a few hours).

[MrBenn]

As I said previously, I intend on picking this one up again, but want to see if we can sort out the gameplay before I fiddle around with graphical tweaks to the mountains etc.

please take out tampico and add matamoros, and tam. is as drawn, dont change, amigo felipe, mat. tam

Are you simply suggesting changing the area name?

Here's the update I posted previously.. For some reason I've split up the central area into 3 smaller 3-territory regions (although you can still see the solid grey line showing the division as indicated on the minimap).

Thematically, I don;t really want to take this down a drugs-cartel route; I'm happy to stick with plain geography with the ports thrown in for good measure.

[Industrial Helix]

I delightfully move this map to the Gameplay workshop!

It certainly is a pretty map and hopefully it won't be long until we can play it!

[Evil DIMwit]

Nice to see this back.

Do you think it's better with 3 small continents across the center rather than two larger ones?

[natty dread]

Ok, this map looks nice... one graphical comment: I don't like the port icons. They remind me of signs for a swimming pool from some holiday resort...

Some thoughts on the gameplay:

• Noroeste seems a bit too high. It's only 3 borders & 4 territories, plus it's in the side of the map, I should think a 2-3 would be better.
  
• Are the white & light pink areas the same bonus area, there's only one value for them in the legend? (they're marked as "Norte" in the legend but they look like 2 areas... )
  If they are different, I suggest +2 for the light pink and +3 for the white. If they are the same then I'd say +5.
  
• Occidente looks like a +3 to me.
  
• The red bonus seems fine as +6. Sur also seems ok.
  
• Golfo could be +3, but it works as a +4 too...

[Industrial Helix]

I'm totally confused... are there three bonus regions in the middle or two? I see light green, light red and white...

[MrBenn]

The minimap is from a version which had two regions in the middle; as I said above, for some reason I've swtiched this to three regions to try and give some better places to go for a start (but haven't updated the minimap).

[MrBenn]

I've had another look at the bonus regions, and think the map works slightly better with two in the middle.

With that in mind, I've added in some more impassable mountains in sensible places, and tweaked some of the bonus values.

Thoughts?

Click image to enlarge.

[Industrial Helix]

I know this is totally a graphic suggestion, but perhaps the capital region would look awesome in gold, echoing the flag a bit more.

Noroeste could be reduced to 2 I think. I figure a player with Baja would quickly move on to Noroeste and then he's got 4 with three territories to defend from...

Another thing I think you could do is abandon the ports. This would really stress the capital area as a battleground. Perhaps take out one port on each side? Like Veracruz and Vallarta?

[natty dread]

Well, my first thought is that you should really use bigimg -tags. You have so many medals they cover half the map!

Bonuses look good to me now.

This is just an idea, but I was thinking it might be interesting if you couldn't combine the ports on the different oceans for the ports bonus. You could colour-code the ports - there's conveniently 3 ports on each ocean - then just put in the legend "hold 3 ports of the same colour for +2".

[Evil DIMwit]

I think the ports are all right as they are.
...That's what I think.

[MrBenn]

My responses are in blue...

I know this is totally a graphic suggestion, but perhaps the capital region would look awesome in gold, echoing the flag a bit more. This isn;t a bad idea - it would also help to fix the problem of too many reds/pinks etc. I'll bear it in mind down the road

Noroeste could be reduced to 2 I think. I figure a player with Baja would quickly move on to Noroeste and then he's got 4 with three territories to defend from... Good spot - I'd not adjusted the bonus value despite adding an extra impassable border. I'll amend this on the next version.

Another thing I think you could do is abandon the ports. This would really stress the capital area as a battleground. Perhaps take out one port on each side? Like Veracruz and Vallarta? In my head, the ports start neutral (although I'm not sure that's ever been written anywhere ) I've tried to bear in mind the location of the ports while adding impassables; I think they're benefit will come in providing alternative access routes for players making a sweep of the board... I think they also help to give different gameplay options for different card settings, even if players don't initially go for them for any bonus

Well, my first thought is that you should really use bigimg -tags. You have so many medals they cover half the map! Fixed

Bonuses look good to me now.

This is just an idea, but I was thinking it might be interesting if you couldn't combine the ports on the different oceans for the ports bonus. You could colour-code the ports - there's conveniently 3 ports on each ocean - then just put in the legend "hold 3 ports of the same colour for +2". I think I'd rather keep them as they are, and avoid having to add more clutter to the legend - I'd prefer not to have to refernce things by colour too

I think the ports are all right as they are.
...That's what I think. And the bonuses? borders? etc?

[Evil DIMwit]

Having all these mountains acting as chokepoints is driving for greater focus on the ports, which is making this map pretty similar to Central America. Frankly, I think that's a bad thing. I particularly don't like how the Norte becomes essentially a long and thin line of territories, and the Valle de Anáhuac region is much too easy to defend now for its bonus of 6, particularly given its relatively small size.

[The Bison King]

Having all these mountains acting as chokepoints is driving for greater focus on the ports, which is making this map pretty similar to Central America. Frankly, I think that's a bad thing. I particularly don't like how the Norte becomes essentially a long and thin line of territories, and the Valle de Anáhuac region is much too easy to defend now for its bonus of 6, particularly given its relatively small size.

I like the mountain choke points, and I think Norte is fine, however I do agree that the mountains make Valle De Anahuac to easy to defend. Maybe it would be better if you removed the mountains north of Michoacan, so that you had to defend Edo. Mex. as well.

[iancanton]

i pretty much agree with everything in bison's post. additionally, i'm not seeing why there was a need to create a separate baja bonus zone, which acts as a small version of classic oceania. this draws the action away from valle de anáhuac, to the map's detriment. the port bonuses appear to work as they are.

a couple of typos: tiaxcala ought to be tlaxcala, while qrq ought to be qro (for querétaro).

ian.

[alster]

Suggestion: Could you write/spell the region/bonus zone names in American? That foreign spelling is really confusing.