Port Numbers and Base layout

[Larry]

Is there a limit on how many ports/fleets can be put into a map? Also Id like some input on the layout of the bases I have setup as of now. The red dots are airfields, yellow dots are GV bases, and pink dots are ports. Since this is an island map I wanted there to be lots of CV action.

As of right now I have for each country as follows:
30 Airfields (5 LAF, 10 MAF, 15 SAF)
22 GV bases (might drop it down to 20 or bump it us to 25)
15 Ports (10 carrier fleets and 5 battleship fleets)

[Greebo]

I think to some extent it depends on the map layout. What you want to avoid is a situation where ten fleets are likely to be in the same place at the same time as this could cause frame rate issues for players with marginal PCs. So if you have 15 ports bordering a single ocean you are less likely to get that approved than if you had 5 ports in each of three separate oceans. I can't see any map in your post.

[Larry]

Here is the link to the map.




https://www.mediafire.com/view/95ywc0zz35dwp9t/MAbase1.bmp/file

[The Fugitive]

Here you go....



The only thing I dont like about island maps is they tend to generate more NOEs. Other than that I like the looks of this one. The point Greebo makes is important. If they CAN do it, you know someone is GOING to do it.

Maybe send a note to Hitech and see what he thinks.

[popeye]

Looks interesting and I like the symmetry.

However, with that many shoreline bases and a large number of fleets, sneak captures might be the rule rather than the exception -- especially during off-peak hours.

Thanks for the effort!   

[Greebo]

I think it looks like a really fun map but I'd check with HTC about the ports. The twisting passages ought to spread the fleets out a bit but it is all one big ocean so you could still get a situation where there are too many TGs all in one spot.

[bustr]

You may want to reduce total numbers of capture able bases to reflect our average prime time max numbers of about 120. I've been keeping that in the low thirties to twenties. Distances now with our low numbers are critical to help the customer to feel they are spending the majority of their time engaged in activity versus simply getting to it. Also at 19miles current minimum distance for the MA, condensing the active combat bases into a 6 sector diameter pie will help the terrain to not end up with 120 players dispersed and hidden avoiding each other. I used my last two terrains to work this out to how to help 120 customers engage in more frequent activity during the prime time window.

If you scatter them around they act like they are at a low numbers ebb of the game. If you help them to condense, they become embolden to engage in condensed activity that keeps itself going. You have about a two hour maximum window of prime time player saturation to work with these days to help the customers come together as a maximum density of sustained activity. As is, 120 players is even a tad thin for a 10x10 arena so you have to create an illusion and shrink the real activity area to about a 6x6.

My two terrains in rotation will scale to about 400 players then become almost over night map flip maps. At which point 20x20 would need to be brought back. Until then, you are working with about 120 players to help them "feel like" a large number of players when they sally forth on your map.

[Larry]

Thank you all for your input. It is very helpful.

Greebo, how does six ports / fleets sound? I was thinking four carrier groups and two battleship groups.

Kong, I will move some of the bases more inland to make it more difficult to milk from fleets. Also I will be adding shore batteries to each coastal and island base so an attacking force will have to work for each base capture.

Bustr, I get where you are coming from. I will reduce the number of fields for each side to thirty or so as to not spread out the fighting, and to make the map rotation quicker.

I am also going to put more space between some of the islands so the fleets have room to navigate where they want and not make their movements predictable. Give me a day or two to rework the mock up and I'll post it to get all of your opinions.

[Greebo]

Its not so much how many ports there are as how many TGs that might end up in one spot.

For example CraterMA has nine TGs in a single ocean that runs around a single land mass. So theoretically you could get nine TGs in one spot. However the ports are spaced more or less evenly around the circumference so rarely are there more than two in one spot. My new terrain has twelve TGs around a single land mass so I ran land to the edge of the map in three spots to create three smaller oceans. So now no more than four can possibly be in one spot. Even for that arrangement I asked HT if it was OK before doing it.

As your map begins it is likely players will send all the TGs to the single centre border gaps or double outer gaps. To start with just the forward port TGs will see action, so three TGs together near the middle and two near the outer gaps which is fine. However as these get sunk and return later they may be joined by the rear port TGs. Also outer gap TGs could sail along the straight border gaps to the centre or vice versa. So you could end up with quite a lot of TGs at these border gap choke points.

Now HT might say your map is fine as it is, but if he does object there is one other option beyond just reducing the number of ports and TGs. You could close off some of the gaps between islands in order to restrict TGs to a smaller volume of ocean. So for example you could put a small island or peninsular into each of the straight border gaps to prevent TGs sailing between the centre and the edge of the map. Then do the same through the centre of each country, so each TG can only travel around one half of its own country and the opposite half of one bordering country. This cuts the number of TGs that can be in one spot to a third of the total number of TGs.

[bustr]

On my first two terrains each port has a CV and BB task group with 3 ports to a country. When two countries occasionally get four task groups very close to each other, some players start experiencing FPS issues. The guys in the 16in guns love it until the bomber guys clean it all up. Lots of localized activity get generated that way.

[Larry]

Here is the updated version of the map.


For each side there are:
26 air bases (red)
11 GV bases (yellow)
4 CV ports (pink)
2 battle ship port (green)

[Greebo]

It looks good to me Larry. Its still technically possible to get six TGs in one spot. However with the centre division for each country, the distance between the ports and the larger number of border passages that isn't anywhere near as likely to happen as before.

[hitech]

Here is the updated version of the map.


For each side there are:
26 air bases (red)
11 GV bases (yellow)
4 CV ports (pink)
2 battle ship port (green)


(Image removed from quote.)

The only issue I see is a lot of the long distances between fields on the outer ring. Appears to me all fields in those areas are more then 1 sector apart.

HiTech

[Ciaphas]

The only issue I see is a lot of the long distances between fields on the outer ring. Appears to me all fields in those areas are more then 1 sector apart.

HiTech

Could be interesting to see how the fight unfolds but I suspect that they will get used by those that like long missions (heavy bomber/escort) and the inner portion of the islands will be used by the insta-action folks.


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