Island of Doom

[crazymilkshake5]

Well then I just want to say that isn't clear at all, cheers!

[Gillipig]

Played my first game now.
I liked it more than I thought I would !
The strategy in 1v1 seem pretty easy to get a hold of yet brought something new to it. The balance between going after your opponent and acquiring villages works well!
If I were to say one negative thing though it's that bonuses pick up too slowly. So a game might be practically over after the 5:th turn but doesn't end until after the 15:th turn because you get so small bonuses.

[Jippd]

I find it really hard to read the text on this map. It looks cool but it is not functional, especially the key in the bottom left corner. It seems a little jumbled and like "chickenscratch" writing almost.

It is better on large but I find near impossible to read it on the small version.

[Quickslow87]

I'm liking the map a lot so far. However, I have to say that whoever has more than one territory in the poisoned circle is getting the shaft. One guy in my game has two territories there and I practically flinch each time his turn comes around. Maybe have all the starting territories there be neutral in a six player game?

[AndyDufresne]

I find it really hard to read the text on this map. It looks cool but it is not functional, especially the key in the bottom left corner. It seems a little jumbled and like "chickenscratch" writing almost.

It is better on large but I find near impossible to read it on the small version.

Agreed that the text can be difficult.


--Andy

[DiM]

I'm liking the map a lot so far. However, I have to say that whoever has more than one territory in the poisoned circle is getting the shaft. One guy in my game has two territories there and I practically flinch each time his turn comes around. Maybe have all the starting territories there be neutral in a six player game?

i started in a 1v1 game with ALL those terits. you'd assume i was at a big disadvantage, right? i won the game
those terits can be both a blessing as well as a curse depending on how you play.

[Quickslow87]

Certainly, there are advantages. I'm planning to capture each of those territories by planting my 4 troops each turn and transferring the remainder out before they get zapped by the plague. It'll lead to a bonus troop from the number of my territories and a card each turn until they're all taken.

[koontz1973]

I'm liking the map a lot so far. However, I have to say that whoever has more than one territory in the poisoned circle is getting the shaft. One guy in my game has two territories there and I practically flinch each time his turn comes around. Maybe have all the starting territories there be neutral in a six player game?

i started in a 1v1 game with ALL those terits. you'd assume i was at a big disadvantage, right? i won the game
those terits can be both a blessing as well as a curse depending on how you play.

Dim, you once commented in the RD thread that my decaying troops should be handed out equally and here you are defending your choice of not doing the same. You cannot have both sides to the argument. And just because you won your game, does not mean others will.

Small map text is unreadable, this does need to be fixed ASAP. I keep having to go to the large map to read it. A 1 - 2 pixel line spacing would really help but also going up a size in the font would be a godsend.

[DiM]

rorke's drift is completely different when it comes to gameplay. on that map it's very important to have many terits outside the decaying area because those terits are actively bringing you bonuses once you get a chief. on island of doom not only there are far fewer decaying zones but they also don't matter that much when it comes to bonuses.
that being said i'm not opposed to making them evenly distributed between players if other people think so.

as for the text i've improved it's legibility several times so far until i was told it is perfect. even you commented after it was tweaked and you haven't mentioned anything about it.
unfortunately as i've already mentioned in my pirates thread my laptop is kaput.
at the moment it does not start and i've even tested the hdd in another laptop and it seems the hdd is busted. on monday i'm going to a repair shop and hopefully i'll get it fixed. if not, i'll have to buy a new laptop and pray i can recover any files.

[isaiah40]

Just played 1v1 with tnb80, we pretty much dropped territories on the opposite sides of the island, I had the west side and tnb8 had the east side. the majority of the temples are on the east side, I'd suggest - once and if you can get your files off your HDD - is to place another temple on the west side and still keep the winning condition the same. Yes I lost the game because tnb80 was able to hold all the temples, wilst I did not have a single one.

[DiM]

there's one temple on the east side, one on the west and one in the middle south.

[thenobodies80]

yeah but i kicked out isaiah from the north part, then it was just go to south east , go around the central lake and then he was done. What isaiah means is have a temple in the lower west part. You have one temple on the east side and one on the west side, but both are in the northern part without a connection between north and souht in the left side. No one will try to go through the infected area if he wants to kick the opponents ass becuase go through it means lose troops.

To win this map, right now you have to go round like a clock and force your opponent to stay in the lower left corner...dice permitting

[macbone]

Fun map! I'm playing a doubs game on it right now, and I'm enjoying it.

One question - could the smaller map be resized to a smaller format? Right now, even with the smaller map, it's larger than my computer screen.

[Jippd]

Any plans to address the text issue? Perhaps a poll?

[chapcrap]

I would even out the decaying troops terts. It's more fair that way. Even though there are only a few.

As far as the temples are concerned, I think they are spread out enough in general. However, with the Volcano being right next to one of the temples, I think either adding a temple to the southwest of moving Sukele further from the Volcano might be advisable.

The text is a little difficult to read. Not the worst ever or anything, but I can see what Jippd is saying.

[DiM]

as i said before, my laptop is dead in the gutter. i went today to a repair shop and indeed the hdd is gone. however they're gonna try some recovery mumbo jumbo. i'll hear more in a few days.
if they manage to recover the data i'll tweak the text. i think i know what the problem is and it should be a rather easy fix.

as for the temples/volcano thing, i'm not too keen on changing to be honest.
if in a 1v1 game a player is allowed to take 3 temples and 1 volcano (4 terits 14 neutrals) then he either:
1. already owns almost the whole map, in which case he's a winner no matter what
2. a combination of a really strange drop, the other player getting bad dice and not knowing how to play, the volcano guy getting great dice.

i just looked at the isaiah vs tnb game that apparently had the problem with the temples and i have to say that in that game it was completely isaiah's fault and i'm suspecting also the dice but i can't be sure.

isaiah had troops blocking the way to the western temple. he had some terits on the southern path towards that temple and also on the northern path.
tnb80 took 2 of those terits in round 2. and you did nothing. he took one more in round 3. still nothing, you kept focusing on the southwestern part of the map.
then in round 4 he took one of your terits near another temple and also took the temple. at this point his intentions were more than obvious. only after this, you decided to put some troops near the western temple but still deployed some troops in the southwest corner. i don't know what happened there cause you don't have a successful attack in the log. so you either had crappy dice and used up your defences or you simply did not attack. so tnb was able to deploy near the western temple and take it.
in my opinion this was the turning point of the game. you lost control of 2 temples where in both cases you had troops nearby but failed to defend. then you kept isolating yourself in the southwestern corner trying to make a fortress of some sort.
you even had some terits adjacent to the temple but simply allowed tnb to take them without deploying there even once.

so basically that whole "i did not get near any temples" claim is simply untrue. in fact isaiah had troops adjacent to 2 temples and the volcano. while tnb only had troops near the sukele temple. the fact that he managed to beat you out of all locations and take the temples and the volcano means you were either too passive or he got great dice. or maybe a combination of both.

i'm sorry but a wrong strategy + weird dice doesn't warrant the change of a map.

edit// almost forgot. i've pmed zimmah to change the xml and make the decaying area evenly split between players.

[zimmah]

i have no experience with starting positions, so i'll have to pm natty for options.

since it's only 5 positions, i'm not sure what would happen if i assign starting positions to them. as i'm not sure what will happen when there are less starting positions then players.

i do think i have a solution, but 'm not sure if it's viable, and i'm also not sure if the mechanics work that way

i could make them start with 4 armies, that way, 1 will get killed on the first turn, and it will net in 3 armies on your first turn. (but 4 before you take your turn). this could potentially cause a small problem on manual deployment though, since that would mean 1 extra troop to deploy for whoever holds more of those positions.

i could also group them with a selection of 3 other non-important territories and evenly distribute them, making the remainder neutral, while also having the decayed territories start with 4 (effectively 3). this would probably be the most fair option.

in this case (if i understand the mechanics right) in a 2 player game everyone would get 4 of those regions (this could be any combination of 4 decayed vs 1 decayed and 3 non-decayed and everything in between) in a 3 player game everyone would get 2 and the remaining 2 will be neutral, in a 4 player game everyone will get 2, in a 5 player and up game everyone will get 1 and the remaining territs would be neutral.

now one could argue that someone could still end up having 4 of the decayed territs, but since they will still start with 4-1 troops, you'll have to option to at least move most of them out of harms way.

in my opinion that would add a nice unique twist to the map as well as keeping it balanced. but i'm waiting on input from people more experienced on this subject.

[koontz1973]

zimmah, have each of the territs as a separate position with a max of two per player. Then code each of the territs as a neutral 3. The position overrides the neutral when handed out. That way in a 1v1 game, 4 of the 5 will start (2 per player) and the 5th will start neutral. In larger games, they will be handed out evenly and the rest start neutral.

[zimmah]

zimmah, have each of the territs as a separate position with a max of two per player. Then code each of the territs as a neutral 3. The position overrides the neutral when handed out. That way in a 1v1 game, 4 of the 5 will start (2 per player) and the 5th will start neutral. In larger games, they will be handed out evenly and the rest start neutral.

thanks for your quick responce, but i have a few questions on that subject:

aren't the positions ignored when there's more then 5 players then? would that not make all those territories neutral in an 6, 7 or 8 player game?

[thenobodies80]

If players are more than the positions, the positions are given out like normal regions. Obviously if you have a coded neutral in the region tag (underlying neutral) the region will start always as neutral. If not it will given out random, like normal territories.

[natty dread]

aren't the positions ignored when there's more then 5 players then? would that not make all those territories neutral in an 6, 7 or 8 player game?

Yes, if you only have 5 positions, the positions are ignored in 6-8 player games.

[zimmah]

If players are more than the positions, the positions are given out like normal regions. Obviously if you have a coded neutral in the region tag (underlying neutral) the region will start always as neutral. If not it will given out random, like normal territories.

well, then a good option would be to assign starting positions but don't make them neutral, this way, at least in 2, 3, 4 and 5 player games, everyone would at least get almost the same amount of them.

a variation to this option is to either make them all start with 4 troops (so on the first turn they'll have 3, and if not moved away on the second turn they'll have 2, etc.) or make just 1 of them neutral (so in 3 and 5 player games as well as in 6, 7 and 8 player games that region would always be neutral, but at least in 2, 3, 4 and 5 player games everyone would always start with the exact same amount of those decay regions) or even do both of those (make 1 of them start neutral and have them start with 4)

another option is to force 8 starting positions by just taking 3 other regions and make them starting positions (and make all those starting positions neutral, and just those decay regions start with 4 for balance).


just tell me how you like it to work and i'll fix it. i think i have a better understanding of how it works now (readed up a bit on the forums and got some info form the two explanations above, thanks)

[koontz1973]

If players are more than the positions, the positions are given out like normal regions. Obviously if you have a coded neutral in the region tag (underlying neutral) the region will start always as neutral. If not it will given out random, like normal territories.

So the best thing to do for this map would be to not have the underlying neutral. That way in games of 6 or more players, they will start as random drop and all hell could be let lose. But the smaller games will be better provided for. Leave out the neutral tag then.

[DiM]

well, then a good option would be to assign starting positions but don't make them neutral, this way, at least in 2, 3, 4 and 5 player games, everyone would at least get almost the same amount of them.

this sounds like the best option

[zimmah]

well, then a good option would be to assign starting positions but don't make them neutral, this way, at least in 2, 3, 4 and 5 player games, everyone would at least get almost the same amount of them.

this sounds like the best option

http://zimmah.webs.com/islandofdoomv2.0.xml

added the following lines at the start of the file.

Code: Select all

<positions>
   <position>
      <territory>Ri</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Kiu</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Loi</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Nev</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Brik</territory>
   </position>
</positions>