Baltic States [3/10] V33 P34 Beta!!

[DiM]

img 3

[Seamus76]

I like 3 as well.

[isaiah40]

Diffidently #3!

[Victor Sullivan]

I like three, but it could still use the lighter water color as you did with 2.

-Sully

[Bruceswar]

I assume you mean like this...

[bigimg]http://musiciansheadquarters.com/balticv11c.png[/bigimg]

[Victor Sullivan]

Why, indeed, sah!

-Sully

[Bruceswar]

To all those who voted do you like the new one I just posted more?

[Seamus76]

Yes, I do like this most recent one better.

[koontz1973]

New one is better.

[Bruceswar]

Poll now up.

[TaCktiX]

I like 3, but I think it'd look best with a partial desaturation instead of the full one you have right now. And I like the sea blue.

[Victor Sullivan]

I like 3, but I think it'd look best with a partial desaturation instead of the full one you have right now.

Yes, this would be good to at least try out. I think it would be better than the full desaturation.

And I like the sea blue.

No! Bad TaCktiX! You are not entitled to an opinion other than mine, you know that! (Just kidding, I respect your opinions...)

-Sully

[natty dread]

Ok, mostly graphical stuff this time...

I think the grey-ish sea colour works perfectly, creating a great contrast against the colourful land areas.

On your latest image, you could increase the saturation of the land a bit, to give even more contrast against the nonplayable areas, but not too much - just make them a little brighter. Also, West Estonia could be somehwat lighter - blue numbers will probably be hard to see on such dark blue.

Then some other things... The impassables can still use some work. They don't seem to fit the map... seem a bit too pasted on.

The outer border around the playable land area seems unnecessarily thick. Also it doesn't seem to be consistent - on some places it looks more brown and blurry, others it's more black and thinner. A sharp, consistent border would look better. Kinda like the territory borders, but maybe a bit darker.

Also, the grid shouldn't go over the border lines. Put the layer with the grid under all the border layers. You could also try some other layer mode for the grid, to make it follow the colours around it - try multiply mode or something similar.

[Gillipig]

Great job on all four alternatives! I would pick number 4 the Desat with Marble Sea. I prefer the marble sea and I think it's the contrast between it and Estonia that makes it look better. With a dark sea it sort of blends together with Estonia. The marble sea makes those regions look better.

[natty dread]

I'd do the trees something like this:



ie. less of a mushroom shape, more bushy and irregular, with smooth shading instead of hard outline...

For the hills, I'd recommend something like this - simple style, smooth lines + land colour + some shading:

[iancanton]

west estonia and islands estonia can be combined usefully, for example, to form a proper continent in the classic sense. islands estonia especially ought to be eliminated as a stand-alone bonus because of its small size and isolated location.

Sorry I missed responding to you. I just want to mention I really happen to like that there is a bunch of bonuses. It leads to many different ways to win this map given different drops.

no worries, bruce. having a 2-region bonus in a corner of the map doesn't lead to many ways to win though. it simply ensures that this is the best part of the map to secure in the early stages and gives a consistent advantage to the one who has a good drop there (like classic oceania). with six 3-region and 4-region bonuses, which is already an extreme number, a tiny 2-region bonus in addition makes no sense at all.

ian.

[natty dread]

I have to agree with Ian. Merging it with west est would be best I think...

Also, on the colours: take the marble sea, and set the land saturation between the 2 options - the other is too saturated, the other not enough.

[iancanton]

some more trees will certainly be welcome, especially in latvia, where the only credible start is in the southeast. merging some of the many regions in west and central latvia will also help a player who starts with many troops in this difficult area, as well as reducing the total number of regions to 44, which avoids the situation of 2v2 doubles games where the only sensible first move tactic most of the time is to knock down the second player from 12 to 11 regions. merging away three regions in west and central latvia to a total of 45 is also possible, since it's sensible to have telsiai start neutral, thus bringing down the number of starting regions to 44. it'll be a good idea to remove the sea route from talsi to kuressaare, so that the larger bonuses become easier to hold.

on graphics, i think my preference is for an almost-fully-saturated land (the current hues are just a tad too much) with marble sea.

ian.

[Bruceswar]

I have given people long enough to vote. I am going to go with the desat and blue sea.

[Victor Sullivan]

I have given people long enough to vote. I am going to go with the desat and blue sea.

But Marble Sea won by a 5 vote margin...

-Sully

[natty dread]

Polls in the foundry are pretty worthless anyway... I never do polls on map threads anymore. If people care enough about an issue, they will post about it, and they will post their reasons for it - which means I'll also get to know if people have good reasons for wanting a change or if they just "feel like it".

Also, on the colours: you should be careful not to overdo the desaturation. Since lack converts all map images to low quality jpeg:s, which reduces the colour saturation on the whole image, you may end up with less saturation than you intended on the final map images...

[Bruceswar]

I have given people long enough to vote. I am going to go with the desat and blue sea.

But Marble Sea won by a 5 vote margin...

-Sully

Yes but I am the map maker. I hold the final vote.

[Victor Sullivan]

Aww, I liked the marble sea

-Sully

[Bruceswar]

Soo going forward, lets talk gameplay. Impassables, Bonus values etc.

[bigimg]http://musiciansheadquarters.com/balticv11b.png[/bigimg]


If I was going to add one in it would be between Rapla and Paide.

[Gillipig]

I have given people long enough to vote. I am going to go with the desat and blue sea.

But Marble Sea won by a 5 vote margin...

-Sully

Yes but I am the map maker. I hold the final vote.

Then why put up a poll in the first place? Ok people like this one better so I'm going to go with the other one... ?