Okay, so I've been working on this map for a while now:

https://www.warlight.net/Play?PreviewMap=47479

I was wondering if I could get some advice from you guys. This map is based on population , each country having an approximately equal population.

As you can see, Australia has a bonus for each of it's states, but it plus East Papua New Guinea and New Zealand make one country. I was wondering whether I should make the colour of the bonuses all the same as the Super Bonus, or if I should make them all similar colours (e.g. different shades of blue) and just have the super bonus there to show it as Australia? Which would be more aesthetically better and more useful to see which is the country?

This advice would be really useful because Canada has the same idea going on as well as Russia.

One last thing, should Scandinavia do the same as Australia/Canada/Russia? It's quite large but I can't tell whether I should separate it into two and have a mini super bonus.

Cheers, D.I.

EDIT: Read other posts

EDIT [2]: Some extra info: This map decides the countries of population, not the normal political borders. Each bonus represents one country. I need help with what to do with Australia, Canada and Russia as they are too large to have as a single bonus, but should be sub-divided. I need to know how I should go about this, colour wise. Will you be able to tell that those bonuses make a single country like the other one bonuses? That's what I'm asking, sorry if I confused you.

Edited 10/8/2015 05:11:03

I don't understand how the bonuses in Europe are designed, and knowing this would help me with your question. Why does Belgium extend into Germany. Why is it Crimea and not Ukraine?

For one thing, New Zealand and East Papua are not part of Australia, and New Zealand never has been. So it really doesn't make sense for the three to be a superbonus. Australia alone could be. The same for Scandinavia. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland do not go together in any substantial way, and should not be grouped as such in my opinion.

I don't understand how the bonuses in Europe are designed, and knowing this would help me with your question. Why does Belgium extend into Germany. Why is it Crimea and not Ukraine?

For one thing, New Zealand and East Papua are not part of Australia, and New Zealand never has been. So it really doesn't make sense for the three to be a superbonus. Australia alone could be. The same for Scandinavia. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland do not go together in any substantial way, and should not be grouped as such in my opinion.

Ah, you didn't notice what I mentioned before about it being a population based map. I could rename some of the bonuses, but each country is not designed nor placed how it usually is. It is based off this map:





(In case you were wondering, for India and China I was going to to do a couple of sub sections, to fit territories in, kinda similar to the cities on some of zxctycxz's maps)

Edited 10/8/2015 02:07:57

Scandinavia is a peninsula.

Scandinavia is a peninsula.

That is correct. Any reason you said it?

Scandinavia is a peninsula.

It depends on who you ask. Scandinavia usually includes Denmark.

Can anyone help with the original question?

I don't understand what you're doing.

In the final map, will there be 200 territories? Or are you sub-dividing each of the 200 countries into multiple territories?

Diplomatic Immunity,
I can help with your original question. :)

Basically, different shades of the same color make sense, except that most territory border lines in most maps are not thick enough...

So when player Navy Blue is occupying one Sky Blue Bonus/Territory, and one Teal Bonus/Territory, and one Light Blue Bonus/Territory, it can get difficult to figure out which territories belong to which bonuses, and while it's easier if player Bright Pink or player Red are in those territories, it's still not easy.

And I have pretty good vision, not color blind or anything.

I would suggest studying popular maps, like Rise of Rome...

And even on that map, I often wish the lines were double the thickness.

I am glad that you are making the effort to make your borders the best that they can be,
because I often feel like those are neglected.

Now I feel a little bit like a person with no children giving advice to a parent, but there ya go... :)



As for this...

The same for Scandinavia. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland do not go together in any substantial way, and should not be grouped as such in my opinion.

These countries have a shared cultural history, relavitve location, plus similar geography, climate, etc, etc, etc...

hence the name... Scandinavia?

Edited 10/8/2015 05:02:51

I don't understand what you're doing.

In the final map, will there be 200 territories? Or are you sub-dividing each of the 200 countries into multiple territories?

I'm dividing each country into a bonus, so there should be 200 bonuses when finished. I'm sub-dividing those into territories (unless they're already small enough). The problem I'm having is what to do with the larger countries, Australia, Canada and Russia.

Dublin Warrior: I see what you're talking about, but I'm more concerned with whether people will be able to tell that the separate bonuses of Australia/PNG/NZ all make one single country, as that's what the map is about. If it was just based of a normal map, and I was doing Australia, I wouldn't have a problem with what to do.

There is some extra info in the first post

nice:)
the population of state of uttar pradesh which is less than 10% area of india is more than the combined population of russia australia poland and greece :D

Edited 10/8/2015 05:48:29

why do you have a bonus called Belguim while The Netherlands are bigger and have a greater population?

It's a fictional map.

why do you have a bonus called Belguim while The Netherlands are bigger and have a greater population?

Thought it sounded better. But I'm almost definitely not keeping some of the bonuses as they are, they're place holders. I did think Netherlands would make more sense, but I don't like the sound of it, and I don't think Benelux would work too well, unless you think it would?

you ask help in your original question .. but this link shows nearly nothing https://www.warlight.net/Play?PreviewMap=47479
if your question is if you sub-divide large bonnuses .. no you cant if you based this map in equal population ...becouse then will be not equal
if ppl are going to play this map ?
who knows till you finish and publish it

He is asking if he should make the colour of multiple countries different or the same within a bonus.

For example should he make New Zealand blue and Australia red even though they are in the same bonus.

Personally i think everything in the one bonus should be the same colour to make it less confusing.

I'm wondering why you're splitting bonuses based on equal population, if in the end the worth of the bonus is based roughly on size. The way you're going about it now means that there will be a lot of value 1 bonuses in East Asia anyway. I think it would be interesting to have a map with territories of equal population, but give all of them the same bonus value and don't split them up (or split them all into 2 territories). Most of the game would take place in China and India while Russia is just a quick passage but that's the novelty of a population map.

People don't seem to have much difficulty with recognizing the bonuses / superbonuses of historical maps, so long as the map is well made, like ROR, so I would expect that your testers will be able to figure out the same with your pre-release map. :)

I checked your actual map-in-progress... it's quite obvious that Scandinavia is one bonus. :)

As far as places like Canada needing to be cut up, (based on physical size?),
that kind of depends on the issues that you anticipate with leaving them as one country...

obviously with the sample map that you are basing this off of,
Russia is divided several times,
and Canada isn't...
but Bright Pink Western Brazil borders as many "hypothetical countries" as Canada...
perhaps it's because Canada doesn't face a northern threat?
You could link Canada and Russia via an Artic Circle path...

EDIT: you are suggesting a regular territory bonus, a large country bonus, and then perhaps a continental super or mega bonus? yes, that could still work. :)

A lot of your questions / concerns will become more clear once you actually add the places into the map that you are asking us about.
By the way, Oceania is the widely understood name for Australia + the South Pacific Islands, south and east of both Indonesia and the Philippines.

Edited 10/8/2015 09:48:30