Finally getting there....

[Ghastly]

Hi folks!

I took a rather longish detour, and spent a significant amount of time (a LOT more than I'd initially intended) to build some tools that I felt I needed to do what I wanted to do the way I wanted to do it, but I'm getting anxious to finally have this done ( at least to the point where Skuzzy -or someone else at HTC - can tell me they don't like/ need me to fix) so I wanted to post what I have so nearly done up.  This is very nearly final as to what the terrain will look like.



(You can access a larger version of the map at http://webpages.charter.net/gh4stly/Pinwheelmapfinal.bmp )

I'm still trying to decide whether to further enhance my toolset or just to finish the remaining work manually first, but should be done soon either way.

Either way, and thanks to everyone who helped me get this together.

Guy

[MotleyCH]

Love the topography. Always nice to see new maps..can't wait to see it in the MA.

How many Airfields will it have?

[BlauK]

Quite nice

Topography looks great, as well as the country balance. I hope the GV spawn routes are equally well planned. Seem like the fighting may concentrate on the center island and along the coasts. A bit like combining Lake Uterus and SF Isles, is it not?

Please consider remaking the CB map, since it kind of dark in some places but also very light in other places. The CB map should be mainly a background for all the more important info... dars, dots, bases, sector numbers, etc.

Some of the SEA maps are great examples of lighter and more even use of color.

[Ghastly]

Thx Gents.  

Good point Blauk - I'll look at the SE maps too, but had intended to bring the darkest green levels to a lighter green anyway.

Maybe I'll simply decrease the intensity levels of the entire background topo map so that it's still informational, but not quite so rich.  One of the things I dislike about many of the arena maps is that you can't actually tell anything about the topography from them (they look nothing like a real map), so I was trying to impart that information to the player without being overpowering.  

Sounds like I might still have it a little too far over the top.

If I get a chance, I'll post a screen cap later this weekend of the in game map with spawn points shown.  I've spent a lot of time on them, but am not certain that I've got them exactly right for the best game play, so any input you guys might have would be very very welcome.
 

[Ghastly]

Better late than never.... spawn and zone information.  

Zones
Spawns Overview
Spawns with Field Icons
Spawns for single country)
Spawns for center Isle)

Note - For some reason that I'll probably realize later, my default CV routes are no longer showing in the screen shots. Maybe I managed to break them...

And in case anyone wonders, the black markers on the map indicate the location of bridges over the rivers so that the GV's can cross.

[Easyscor]

I really hate coming in here this late in your development but I don't recall seeing the base layout before.

Your minimum distance between air bases is about 25 miles with most of them at the absolute maximum recommended distance. I'm afraid your terrain isn't going to be too popular when everyone has to fly a sector and a half, or more, to the next enemy base.

You might also want to reconsider the layout for the strat factories as well. Putting them on the front lines of each zone means they'll be continuously porked, as soon as the battlefront moves to the second line of a zones bases. I don't know, maybe that's what you were going for.

[Ghastly]

2) Field Locations
There should be no more than one airfield per sector. No more than 25 miles apart. No closer than 3/4 of a sector.

A GV base or port, and an airfield may occupy the same sector.

I was trying to adhere to this guideline with the field placement - and taking into account that there are 2 CV's per side and because of the terrain layout,  they can all get to within a sector or less of every field on the map.

Do others feel that I've placed them too far apart for an MA map?  If so, then please says so - I'll add and/or reposition.

I intentionally placed the strat targets throughout the map, rather than leaving them clustered at the farthest reaches of the map as is done in most maps (and was the case with all of the small ones which were all that were in play when I started designing this).  One of the common complaint I have heard is that there's little point to strategic bombing, because the effect of doing so wears off before the bombers can even land.  I'd envisioned seeing a lot more bombers on this map than others.  To counter the effects to an extent, almost every field has a defensive GV spawn from somewhere closer to the center of the country, and every defensive spawn is closer to the target than the offensive spawns from fields that are closer to the middle.