Classic cities: London [19.2.12] p27

[natty dread]

Map name: London
Maker: Natty dread, gameplay by Bruceswar
Territories: 33

Latest XML:
download/file.php?id=683

Latest images:

[bigimg]http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9772/londonn7s.png[/bigimg]
[bigimg]http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/5314/londonn7.png[/bigimg]


[spoiler=older images]http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5314/londonn7.png
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9772/londonn7s.png

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/6587/londonn7a.png
http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9772/londonn7s.png

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5314/londonn7.png
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9772/londonn7s.png

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5314/londonn7.png
http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9772/londonn7s.png

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5314/londonn7.png
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9772/londonn7s.png

http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/5314/londonn7.png
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9772/londonn7s.png

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5314/londonn7.png
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/5314/londonn7.png
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/2562/londonn6.png
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/2562/londonn6.png
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2562/londonn6.png
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9626/londonn5.png
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/1930/londonn4.png
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4153/londonn3.png
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4153/londonn3.png
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2636/londonn2.png
http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/2636/londonn2.png
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4704/londonn1.png
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4704/londonn1.png
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5459/londonn7.jpg
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5459/londonn7.jpg
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/5459/londonn7.jpg
http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/328/londonn7b.jpg
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/940/londonn6.jpg
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1170/londonn6a.jpg
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/940/londonn6.jpg
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/571/londonn5.jpg[/spoiler]


Gameplay:

The map has 33 territories:

The City territory starts as neutral 3.
All other territories start normally, giving 32 starting territories.

2-3 players = 10 territories each, 3 neutrals
4 players = 8 territories each, 1 neutral
5 players = 6 territories each, 3 neutrals
6 players = 5 territories each, 3 neutrals
7 players = 4 territories each, 4 neutrals
8 players = 4 territories each, 1 neutral

The map has 7 bonus areas:

Northwest - 4 territories - +3
North - 4 territories - +3
West - 5 territories - +5
East - 7 territories - +5
Southwest - 6 territories - +4
Southeast - 6 territories - +4
City - 1 territory - +1

[natty dread]

I'll be adding territory names and legend on the map shortly.

[Bruceswar]

Good luck with it. Nice to have the gameplay already laid out for you.

[natty dread]

****

[Bruceswar]

This one is gonna be looking good. Maybe see if you can con pedro into doing some graffiti for the map title.

[Victor Sullivan]

I suggest the following changes to the bonuses:

Southeast: +4
North Central: +4 or +5
Northeast: +4 or +5

-Sully

[ironsij0287]

Any chance on changing the color scheme? All the greens are reminiscent of the England map.

[Bruceswar]

Any chance on changing the color scheme? All the greens are reminiscent of the England map.

That is the point

[Bruceswar]

I suggest the following changes to the bonuses:

Southeast: +4
North Central: +4 or +5
Northeast: +4 or +5

-Sully

The game play passed the men in blue once already. Why change it? Should also add wait till the impassables are there again

[Victor Sullivan]

I suggest the following changes to the bonuses:

Southeast: +4
North Central: +4 or +5
Northeast: +4 or +5

-Sully

The game play passed the men in blue once already. Why change it? Should also add wait till the impassables are there again

Lol, that would probably be why >.<

-Sully

[RjBeals]

nice background - but I would maybe stop the river at the edge of london. It looks strange flowing over the background like that.

[natty dread]

nice background - but I would maybe stop the river at the edge of london. It looks strange flowing over the background like that.

Sorry Rj... your advice is usually solid but at this point I have to disagree... Stopping the river at the edge of London would look odd and abrupt IMO.

What do others think?

[Telvannia]

nice background - but I would maybe stop the river at the edge of london. It looks strange flowing over the background like that.

Sorry Rj... your advice is usually solid but at this point I have to disagree... Stopping the river at the edge of London would look odd and abrupt IMO.

What do others think?

I think the exact opposite, i think you should extend the left side so it goes to the edge of the map.

[RjBeals]

Really? Here's an example. It's still a floating city, but doesn't look as bad with the extended river.

[natty dread]

Really? Here's an example. It's still a floating city, but doesn't look as bad with the extended river.

It looks better in that example... but on my map the river stops in richmond. So it would look odd, as it would make the river kind of start and end from nowhere...

I think Telvannias suggestion has merit, extending the river to flow through the whole map... it would lessen the impression that the city is "floating in vacuum". Also to that effect, I could add in the outside counties with washed out lines & text...

[natty dread]

Ok I'm going to eat my words... Problem was, the river would go through the Richmond territory, which would have an impassable going through a territory which I really hate. So I decided to give Rj:s suggestion a shot. If it looks like crap I can change it back...

[bigimg]http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/5439/londonn2.jpg[/bigimg]

[The Bison King]

forgive me for being blunt but this just seems... a little bland.

[Victor Sullivan]

As far as the river goes, I think your words were worth eating.

As far as TBK's comment goes, it does have some merit... Something definitely needs to be done with that background, if nothing else.

-Sully

[natty dread]

I still haven't figured out what to do with the impassables... anyone has ideas, post here plox. So I put in some temporary crap in place.

[bigimg]http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/5439/londonn2.jpg[/bigimg]

Also: any reason why this hasn't been moved?

[DiM]

Nice to have the gameplay already laid out for you.

is the gameplay set in stone or something?
i understand this was part of a competition or something but honestly i think the gameplay is really poor.

you have no small continents. no equivalent for australia or south america from classic.

you basically have 3 medium continents and 2 large ones.
such maps lead to 2 types of games:

1. attrition games, where nobody goes for continents and they just kill other people's troops or simply build up
2. drop&dice roulette games, where somebody will take a continent only if the drop and dice help him and from that point he's probably the winner.

[natty dread]

On the otherhand, team games, escalating, 1v1s people don't care much for continents anyway...

Anyway, do you have any suggestions for fixing it?

[DiM]

On the otherhand, team games, escalating, 1v1s people don't care much for continents anyway...

Anyway, do you have any suggestions for fixing it?

haven't thought about it since i don't know the status of the map.
that's why i was asking if the gameplay is set in stone. or if it can be changed...

i would personally split one of the big continents or even both. but if that's not doable i'd love to see a whole different gameplay.
more precise, i'd love to see a bleak london taking bombardments from the nazi in ww2. you could even add the unfinished vergeltungswaffe 3 and make it like an alternate reality.
using the new setting you could keep the continents but add more balance by creating bombarded zones that decay or return to neutral and all kinds of interesting stuff. you could even make an objective to hold all the v-3 sites.

sorry i'm away on vacation now so i don't have enough time to further develop the idea.

[koontz1973]

As for breaking one of the bigger continents up, how about splitting Northwest up and putting West in. For the impassables, you can always use the motorways, north/south ring road and the royal parks. As for DiM's suggestions, worth considering (alternative history, not WW2).

As for the style of the map, why so bleak and depressing? London is a great city full of life and colour. That whole skyline image looks like it came from the 1800's (foggy, not buildings). The Union Jack needs to come out more, that I find that slightly insulting (probably a bit strong but I cannot think of a better way of putting it).

[natty dread]

As for the style of the map, why so bleak and depressing? London is a great city full of life and colour.

London is a dirty city full of whores and cutthroats. There, now that that is out of the way...

[bigimg]http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/1632/londonn3.jpg[/bigimg]

I added a sort of grainy effect to the city silhouette.

[Flapcake]

As for the style of the map, why so bleak and depressing? London is a great city full of life and colour.

London is a dirty city full of whores and cutthroats. There, now that that is out of the way...

I would now have put my money on Copenhagen for the title.

for the slightly dirty theme would reeking highways make it virtually as impassable barriers, but again the slightly somber colors makes it seem like it is in the 1700 century and highways would then be misplaced