This has nothing to do with big maps. I like them and I cannot lie! Some of them are very well put together and a lot of fun. I’m one of those kind of players that will often set a course for adventure and return 20 minutes later to see where I am. [cue Love Boat Theme Music]
Not just Northco needs attention, but any map that has dead empty space in the middle. This includes if it only has the standard three base trifecta of whatever combo. Usually geared towards ground vehicles and that’s fine by me, but in these open space instances it’s not conducive to the current counts. We all know our numbers do not support that capacity of space anymore. We’ve discussed some of these type of maps in a couple other recent in threads. Map sizes do not need to change so to speak, rather instead, we need to better foster the opportunities where there is an easy opportunity for all three countries to be more frequently involved.
To be perfectly clear I do not want to reduce the number of maps or countries. That’s also counter productive in context. Right now we need all the variety we can get. So hopefully these maps will get a dead empty middle space redux one day.
Devolving into two countries will not solve these problems either. The maps need to have more opportunity for all three countries to be involved and or less opportunity for one country to dominate.
I am not skilled enough to know what is possible, but I would like to see more maps made or updated with ribbon patterns or strings of bases instead of the traditional pie chart design. There are some maps where this happens naturally when even if two countries own all the bases in the given area, it’s still easy to get to them from a third country. NDIsles is a good example of this ribbon style although well spread out. The middle itself is often well traveled, but could also benefit from a few more tweaks as others than mentioned. I like the idea of having the outside bases being uncapturable. Perhaps even more challenging, not the island bases, but the surrounding closest airbases on the islands to the main island could be on capable. They are usually near a Strat. I still think ND is a good example of large space handled in a better manner for all three countries. There are others I would love to hear who else feels what type of maps fit into this category too. Baltic and its sister Scandi are some of my original favorites that do foster this as well although the Baltic map itself is subject to hoarding.
Alas I will defer to the skill of our wonderful cartographers on whether the ribbon style I’m describing is even possible. I did have GPT work out some scenarios on the North America map if anyone’s interested.
That map would be a great way to continue to foster three country interaction with some tweaking. In my opinion, it has too many bases and perhaps could be a good candidate for the ribbon style I’ve mentioned if even possible. If it’s not, I’m sure the map makers will find clever ways to do the same. But of course, my opinion is based on, feeling not a dynamic knowledge of map making intricacies.
I am set to retire in about 15 years +/- we shall see lol. When those days do finally gloriously arrive and I do have that kind of time, I plan to devote a chunk of it to map making in this game… if it’s still exists. I suppose it will always exist offline but I don’t want to just make the maps for me my dog.
LAN party anyone??
