---- REGION AND BONUS EFFECT CHART
---- PROPOSED BONUSES
So here is my thinking.
3 - Inner Planets
1 - Any two of: Earth Moon Mars
4 - Asteroid Belt
1 - Any 4 Families
5 - Jupiter and Moons
2 - Jupiter's Surface
4 - Saturn, Rings and Moons
1 - Saturn's Surface
3 - Uranus and Moons
1 - Uranus' Surface
8 - Kuiper Belt
2 - Plutinos: Pluto, Charon, Orcus
4 - Neptune, Trojans and Moon
1 - Neptune's Surface
And change the Jump Gates to
1 = 0
2 = -1
3 = 2
4 = -1
5 = 3
6 = -2
7 = 4
And have 3 Neutral Armies on the Gates
---- RATIONALE FOR REGION BONUSES
Here is my thinking. I don't want any region to be less than 3. I think the map is too big not to have at least 3's (especially considering its a grab bag of 1 and 2s)
---------Uranus
I think Uranus is clearly a 3 . Its 1 territory bigger than Neptune but its among the easiest of all of them to hold with a gate. Also it has a sub bonus thats only 3 countries big and easy to defend.
---------Inner Planets
Inner Planets Should also be a 3 with the gate its easy to hold. without the gate its harder than Uranus but its also overall smaller, its on the edge of the map (non-gate attacks have to go through the player holding the asteroid belt) and the sub only requires holding two countries and you have some choice. (a player who lucks into holding two of those three will be well positioned to take the inner planets)
---------Neptune
Neptune should be a 4. its smaller than Uranus by one territory but its requires an extra choke point to hold and isn't even continuous.
---------Asteroid Belt
Asteroid Belt should be a 4 and should have a sub bonus of 1. It has seven proper territories which are in a weird loop (that requires a gate to make a total circuit of) with a tail so its a small logistical challenge just to move your armies through (through all as if to conquer or through some as if to chain fort) It is the non-gate path to and from the inner planets to everywhere else. I think the sub bonus should be any 4 four of the families. without the bonus i think its a contender to be a 5
---------Saturn
Saturn should be a 4 is the biggest one aside from Jupiter. It's layout makes it difficult to conquer in a single sweep. You almost must take the gate so you might be forced to take a penalty to hold it. chained forting might be a bear.
---------Jupiter
Jupiter should be a 5. There is nothing special about Jupiter aside from its far and way bigger than Saturn. Its way to easy to hold for 6 and has a decent surface bonus. Just a note. it take 3 choke points to hold it with or without the gate, but depending on whether you hold the gate those 3 choke points change (how many other maps have cool bs in them like that!)
---------Kuiper Belt
Kuiper Belt i think it should be an 8. I'm sure your all going to gnash your teeth at the thought but consider: its pretty big. you have to hold every territory very tightly. It's 2 sub bonus is even hard to hold. in order for holding the gate to even matter you have to own 3 other non-kuiper belt territories. And one of those (Neptune's Trojans) some else will probably want. The only mitigating factors is that only pluto and charon are on the way to anywhere and If you hold Uranus's High orbit, Saturn's High orbit, JG-KB and JG-N you can have both the Kuiper Belt and Neptune for twelve (less the -1 if you only own those two gates).
Through in JG-U or JG-s and you can own one more region (And if its your third gate then get a decent bonus for that too.) Even so You have to hold each of the 7. Thats a likely minimum of 21 armies just to have a prayer. (my dollar says that everyone is going to be gunning to break your bonus)
---- RATIONALE FOR NEUTRAL ARMIES
As far as the neutral armies go: my real goal is to prevent every player (almost by the necessity of not falling behind early) to no be compelled to grab a gate. Its partially not a problem with the plethera of 1's and 2's but I 'd prefer that this map not be a battle over who can own more gates. Thats in a good part handled by the alternating bonus. But I agree. 8 armies to go from your region to the next is too many. Plus enough new stuff is going on in this map. I don't want to be too expiremental otherwise the map wont be accepted by the broader CC audience (and plus using neutral armies to serve as keys to late game areas is a super cool map idea.... no reason to blow my load on the first go)..... Even so I have some concern that 3 wont be enough. So I think that owing the 1st gate should be worth nothing.
---- RATIONALE FOR JUMP GATE BONUS CHANGES
As far as changing the 6 gate penalty to -2: I know some you will hate it. That losing a single territory can hit you for a difference in 6 armies. But I'll tell you why i like it. First what are you doing with 7 gates to loose one? two choices are
1)your an idiot.
2)your taking a long shot gamble.
If its either of those. uh well... suck it. 1.)learn to play better or 2.) you knew it was a risk. (RISK! I kill me) the only other reason to have 7 gates is
3.) its the end game! on a different map you would have a defacto win by now. lets say its not the end game but you and your opponent have split the map: you have 7 gates but only the 4 smallest bonus (and only those territories, no grey ones) regions and your opponent has absolutely everything else. Not a total domination but not an unreasonable time to have 7 gates. With the 7 gates you'd have (Neptune, Asteroid Belt, Inner Planets, and Uranus) thats 33 territories for 11. Neptune for 4, Asteroid belt for 4, Inner planets for 3, Uranus for 3 and the gate bonus of 4 so 29 armies. (11+4+4+3+3+4) Your Opponent would have (Saturn, Jupiter, and Kuiper Belt) so thats 35 territories for 11. Saturn for 4, Jupiter for 5 and Kuiper belt for 8 so 28 armies ( 11+4+5+8). Lose the gate and you go to 22 armies and h's number goes up to 30. Not Ideal but I think you'll survive. (this was with a 1 jg bonuses of 0. The other slop is that taking the territory knocks you bellow 33 and him to 36.) ITs not an ideal situation for you but you opponent managed to grab probably the 3 hardest regions and defend them by not having the gate. So even in the mid game its not the end of the world. (and imagine the drool you'll have if the situation reversed)
If your truly at the end game and you have 5 or 6 regions the loss of 1 gate shouldn't break you but it will give a dying player a last gasp at redemption.
I don't know if that makes any sense but essentially i think that if your going to hold 7 gates you really should be in the process of delivering the death blow or prep yourself for loosing one. And finally, as it sits the drop from 7 to 6 is already 5. So Whats the big deal? Furthermore many many maps (including this one) give you a big blow by losing a single territory from a region. On classic if you loose Alaska... blam! -5 So whats the big deal?