Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Terrain Editor => Topic started by: Speed55 on August 21, 2007, 09:15:10 AM
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(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i128/speed55/MAresized.jpg)
I need some help with placing a grid on this so i can try and layout the fields.
EDIT: I need the grid to be 512? or whatever the current MA maps are.
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I wouldn't normally do this, but for some unknown reason I'm in a good mood...
(http://www.brewsterbuffalos.com/htc/magrid.jpg)
Current MA terrains are 256 x 256 miles.
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Thanks alot.. glad i caught you in a good mood. :aok
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(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i128/speed55/magridfieldsresized.jpg)
No towns or uncapturables yet, and all fields are small so far. Would like some opinions on the layout.
17 AF's
3 VB's
2 Ports
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anyone? good, no good?
I'm willing to build the map from scratch and re-learn the T.E., but what steps do i take before starting? Do i send in the picture to HTC first?
I know that orange has an extra AF on the hq island, which i'll remove.
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I'd like to see some fields on those small islands.Small good looking things like that are nice
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ok cool.. i was thinking the same.
Would you happen to know the max number of fields allowed per country on a small map like this?
I'd like to add another port per country, as well as a few more airfields.
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I think the maximum airfields per side can go up to about 45. Recalling from memory, the terrain "Trinity" had fields numbered up to about 120+.
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The two largest terrains are Trinity and Compello. Both have 255 fields (85 per country) which is the max for any terrain.
For a small map somewhere around 20-30 fields per country is reasonable.
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It depends upon what kind of game play you are trying to generate, but my gut instinct says that the strat targets are grouped too tightly. That may play into how you expect the map to be played, however, and may be by intent.
For what it's worth, I'm kind of hesitant about giving my opinions on other peoples map ideas, for three reasons:
The first is that I'm only just working my first, and I sure don't consider myself an expert...
The second is that I've never played the ground war, and I don't know as much as I should about that before I go offering advice...
But mostly, it's this: One of the things that I feel is that all the maps currently in rotation are mostly far more similar than they are different, such that for the most part each one kind of feels like a lot of the "more of the same ole, same ole".
So I'd rather see you (and everyone) do something "different" that I wouldn't do, so that when all our maps are in play, they have an entirely different "feel" to them, and create a sense of variance that (I feel, at least) is largely missing. For the same reasons, I've avoided asking for any input on mine. If we all go with the consensus opinion, what we'll all end up with are maps that are a lot the same.
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I wasn't going to chime in on this, but here you go...
Ghastly has a good point and I'll tell you why the "same ole, same ole" feeling is there...
In my opinion, we have enough maps where the fronts merge in the center of the map. We need a few more maps on the order of SFMA where there is no merging of the fronts.
With that said.....Having just completed a joint effort MA map, I'm sitting out for a while. I need a break. ;)
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I'm going to scrap this thing. The more i look at it, the more i agree that it will just be another typical map.
Hopefully i get a brainstorm, and can come up with something different, but right now, i'm having a difficult time visualizing 3 fronts without them meeting in the center. Maybe something that looks like a toilet bowl seat, lol.
In the meantime, I think i'm going to use google maps, and look at different parts of the world for a better idea.
Thanks for the help. I'll repost again when i come up with something different.
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Originally posted by Speed55
....Hopefully i get a brainstorm, and can come up with something different, but right now, i'm having a difficult time visualizing 3 fronts without them meeting in the center. Maybe something that looks like a toilet bowl seat, lol.....
SFMA is an extreme example of the fronts being separated.
Compello is an extreme example of localized fronts.
Another good example is Baltic. The fronts are spread out more than the usual map.
As another example, this or some variation of this will be my next project...
(http://www.brewsterbuffalos.com/htc/aqua.jpg)
NOTE: For our European friends...if you can't see my pictures I need the first 2 or 3 numbers in your IP address to allow you to see them.
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Originally posted by Speed55
I'm going to scrap this thing. The more i look at it, the more i agree that it will just be another typical map.
Hopefully i get a brainstorm, and can come up with something different, but right now, i'm having a difficult time visualizing 3 fronts without them meeting in the center. Maybe something that looks like a toilet bowl seat, lol.
In the meantime, I think i'm going to use google maps, and look at different parts of the world for a better idea.
Thanks for the help. I'll repost again when i come up with something different.
Its up to you, but I wouldn't scrap it. First off, all maps are going to come down to "being the same" if you look at the fights in a more "localised" fashion any way. Some are going to have their little quirks that are going to come about due to how the terrain builds and such.
Mindinao had a couple spot that you could fly right up to the door step of a base due to the way the valleys layed out, Baltic has the 45-41 furball, and so on. Once the battle has moved past these "points of intrest" all maps are the same, so don't call it quits on this one for that reason.
Second with yours, I get rid of the "rivers" spliting the main islands. That would give you more room to spread out your factories, and the bases so you could add more with out them being "too close". Add a third port on the backside of each of the main islands. That would be a hard port to capture, and would always keep a CV in play for a country. Granted you might have to wait till it comes around, but atleast is an option that will be there.
Adding a few more small bases to the small islands would add to the "quick fight" crowd. Pizza had a bunch of them and it was alway a lot of fun. You'd get a cv running along a string of islands trying to capture them one after the other.... the fights were fast and furious!
To me ANY map is a good map! They all get played out eventually, but the more the better. I'd also love to see the capture settings be changed. Instead of needing 40% of both enemy countries fields, I'd like to see it dropped a bit, maybe 25% of each. Its only a couple of bases differant, but that would get the maps changed just a bit quicker, and in some cases "finally" get the map changed.
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I agree with Fugitive - unless you find that the more you think it through, you just don't like your concept, go with it!
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Maybe on that very center island...a tank town?...make them spawn from the other bigger islands.
My .02
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Speed, I wasn't suggesting that you stop working on your terrain. I was just giving my interpretation about the feelings of existing maps.
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(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i128/speed55/mam.jpg)
Something new.. hopefully better design wise.
Now i need to take some time to figure out where to place the fields.
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Another feasible way to try is to first plan the base locations on empty grid, and only then draw land and water and altitudes.
This way there may be fewer slips in country balances and distances between bases, or distances to HQs etc.
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(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i128/speed55/Baselayout.jpg)
So here's a rough layout..
Trying to keep the strats together for the bomber guys.
Plenty of furball areas.
Tried to make sure that there are no dead ends.
Kept the capitals and uncapturable bases a little ways away from the main fighting points.
Is this submitable to HTC?
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It seems to me the bottom country's HQ is easier to attack than the other two. Perhaps move those airfields, GV bases, and ports from team yellow off of the island with the other blue team airfields on it?
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I can move the blue HQ over to 10,6,4 or
Re-draw and generate the terrain with the island extending into 14,8 and 14,9 and then placing the yellow fields a little further back.
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Also the yellow HQ is pretty far away from blue bases.
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(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i128/speed55/Baselayout-1.jpg)