2-Part Geography Lesson, Take notes.. lots of notes...

[MrVicchio]

Author Topic: The Geographic War (Part 2)
PrivateMonkey
Station Member
Registered: Mar 2001 posted 01-05-2003 04:21 PM user search report post
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It's time to check-in again. We've learned a great deal lately. For one, Dave (SmokeJumper) has confirmed which map set-up is the correct one. You can see it here:
http://www.genovamusic.com/map2.jpg

Give this map a good look. Now tell me: Can Dave still stand by this statement of his?


quote:
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There absolutely *IS* logic to how the continents, and their warp gates, are laid out. The world is very balanced because of those decisions. We leave it up to you (once you get hold of the game) to figure it all out, but it's pretty obvious once you see the warp gate connections laid out the correct way.
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Am I missing something? I'm sorry, but I just do not see how it is "pretty obvious". To me it seems like a big jumble of lines. The only logic here is when it comes to actual balance issues (number of continent-hops, etc.). But aside from that, I can't see any other logic in this map. To point out just a few "problems":

3-hops:

* It takes the Terrans 3 warpgate hops to reach Amerish, a continent that is geographically right next to the TR sanctuary.

* It takes the VS 3 hops to reach Cyssor.

* It takes the NC 3 hops to reach Hossin, not to mention Ishundar (which is practicaly touching the NC sanctuary).

Backyard continent:

Note: Back yard continents are continents that are a 1-hop from one empire, and a 3-hop for the other two (thus that continent being a safe "backyard").

* The TR's backyard if Forseral, a continent that is right next to the NC sanctuary.

* The VS backyard, Hossin, is very close to the NC sanctuary.

* Even worse, the NC backyard is Amerish, a continent that is a mere swim away from the TR sanctuary.

Other:

The whole 1-hop scheme is completely bizzare. The TR and VS both taking a 1-hop to fight eachother on Ishundar, a continet right next to the NC sanctuary? Too bad the NC have been left out of the party. It takes the 3 continent hops to reach Ishundar.

Or what about the NC taking 1-hops to Esamir and Amerish? The VS taking a 1-hop to Hossin?

Then there are a few warp-gate oddities that just stick out:

Solsar linking to Hossin?

Ceryshen linking to Amerish?

Oshur linking to Forseral?


If there is any geographic consistency on this map it is that Searhus, the only continent that is exactly 2-hops from every empires sanctuary, is in the middle (more or less).


We all had fun trying to figure out what the map was, given the conditions Dave set. What do you think? Is there any way to follow those conditions and have a more geographic map? Or what about the conditions themselves? Are they the only conditions that allow for a balanced war?

[MrVicchio]

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SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-07-2003 01:02 PM user search report post
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heh. I didn't approve any specific maps. I just approved one map that had all the correct connections.
Okay...absolutely last post by me on this subject:

Solsar connects to Amerish, Cyssor, Hossin, Forseral.

Hossin connects to Oshur, VS Sanc, Solsar, Ceryshen.

Cyssor connects to Searhus, TR Sanc, Solsar, NC Sanc.

Ishundar connects to TR Sanc, Searhus, Ceryshen, VS Sanc.

Forseral connects to TR Sanc, Solsar, Oshur, Ceryshen.

Ceryshen connects to Amerish, Ishundar, Hossin, Forseral.

Esamir connects to Searhus, VS Sanc, Oshur, NC Sanc.

Oshur connects to Amerish, Esamir, Hossin, Forseral.

Searhus connects to Esamir, Cyssor, Ishundar

Amerish connects to Solsar, NC Sanc, Oshur, Ceryshen.

NC Sanc connects to Esamir, Amerish, Cyssor.

TR Sanc connects to Cyssor, Forseral, Ishundar.

VS Sanc connects to Esamir, Hossin, Ishundar.

There ya go. Enjoy!
SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-07-2003 02:45 PM user search report post
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We're definitely re-doing the map interface for simplicity and ease of use. When we re-do the world layout, we'll definitely keep all of this in mind.
No guarantees it will come out the way you suggest, PrivateMonkey, but you have some good points and they will definitely be discussed.


SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-07-2003 02:52 PM user search report post
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lol. Ignore my map attempts on Bio's site. There's a saving error in the file format that is making a shambles of everything I'm trying to show you.
Back to work. Break's over.


SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-07-2003 05:10 PM user search report post
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Yup. If you move Forseral to the lower, left, then the map is correct as we originally envisioned it.
We changed it because...well...I don't actually remember to be honest. We usually have good reasons, so I need to go dig around a bit. It might have been pure obfuscation and pseudo-cleverness. Dunno.


SmokeJumperPS
Station Admin
Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-07-2003 05:13 PM user search report post
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Ah. I remember now.
1) We didn't like the totally artifical look of this layout, even though it makes for a good game board.

2) We didn't like that the world didn't make sense this way, and we moved the like-terrain continents to similar latitudes so their weather made more sense at the casual glance.

That being said, those seem like sort of flimsy reasonings to me now, so we'll discuss it, as I mentioned before.