Hello everybody :) I am making a map with a similar idea to that of world nations, but much bigger. Here is the preview link:

https://www.warlight.net/Play?PreviewMap=52316

However, I'm not too confident in my ability to determine sensible bonus values, so I would appreciate it if there was someone here willing to help me.

Well, don't use too high bonus values (or negative bonuses)- it just causes people to snowball.
Also, don't try to make the map balanced (you can a little but not so much that it is clearly obvious). If there is a rich region irl, make it a rich region in the map. This is because the territories in rich regions like Europe can be split up into multiple slots in custom scenarios while in poor regions like Australia can be combined into one big slot.
In what you've done so far, is there a reason you have made independent countries more powerful? I'm pretty sure Milan is a lot more valuable than Slovenia or even Vienna.

A note for big maps like this: I would create the svg first to make sure it isn't larger than the maximum.

Edited 1/24/2016 08:37:08

Also, when's the Afro-Eurasia map coming out?

These are just some thoughts I have:

In the example you gave, Slovenia is actually more populous than Places like Milan, although just barely. Do you think this should penalize slovenia and make it worth less?

My first impression was to make Capitols of multi-territory european nations worth seven. However, I may adjust them based on GDP/Population to be worth more/less.

File size has never actually hindered me from completing a map. I just have so many tricks up my sleeve for reducing size, that it really isn't a concern for me. Besides this, it just isn't as fun IMO to draw everything first and then set all the territory data afterwards in a huge block.

Also, when's the Afro-Eurasia map coming out?

Idk, ask fizzer about it. I set it to pending public :P

Edited 1/24/2016 16:44:43

Slovenia is more populous than the city of Milan- one is a city and one is a country. The whole region Milan covers has around 8X Slovenia's population (Lombardy has 10M, Piedmont 4.5M, Liguria 1.5M, Aosta 0.5M- Slovenia has only 2M). I would be consistent with the bonus values- base all off one thing and not changing between Administrative importance and actual value.

(Also, Zagreb is not worth 7 so you are already going against your own rule)

Edited 1/24/2016 20:09:11

Vienna is too high
The Hague is too low
Insbruck is too low
France is too high
Germany is too low
Czech republic is too low

I redid everything based on relative populations, so let me know what you think now :)

Southern Italy having almost the same income than the North makes no sence. Buff Milan. Paris should be worth double than Berlin, considering that France is centralized and Germany federalized. Everything around Paris should be rather poor. Netherlands and Germany are fine. Benelux is the EU economic and political center after all.

Edited 1/25/2016 13:00:19

I like the gall-peters projection. Don't make local bonuses bigger than five or smaller than two.

Dusseldorf worth 4 with 18 million inhabitants
Madrid worth 8 with 3-6 million inhabitants

Vigo worth 2 with 4 million inhabitants
Merida worth 5 with 1 million inhabitants

Austria worth 8 with 8 million inhabitants
Switserland worth 3 with 8 million inhabitants

Marseille worth 5 with 5 million inhabitants
Nantes worth 2 with 6.7 million inhabitants

Edited 1/25/2016 20:14:30

Dusseldorf should be 8 at least

Dusseldorf worth 4 with 18 million inhabitants
Madrid worth 8 with 3-6 million inhabitants

Vigo worth 2 with 4 million inhabitants
Merida worth 5 with 1 million inhabitants

I'm not sure where you're getting those numbers from, but they're just completely out of whack and honestly I think you just made them up on the spot.

Dusseldorf has nowhere near 18 Million people regardless of how you look at it. Dusseldorf the city has a population of 604,527, which is what I used to determine the bonus value.

The Urban area has 1,220,000 inhabitants, and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region contains 11,300,000. However, neither of these are anywhere close to 18 Million, and neither are what I used to determine the value of the bonus.

Madrid's population is 3,141,992, almost 6 times that of Dusseldorf. While the Urban area has 6,183,000 inhabitants, and the metropolitan area 6,489,162, again neither of these are what I used to determine the bonus value.

The Merida one is a mistake; I accidentally used the population for Merida, mexico as a guide rather than Merida, Spain.

However, your numbers are again just completely out of whack. Merida, Spain, has a population of 58,985, and Vigo 294,997(481,268 Metro).

EDIT: More fake numbers to debunk:

Marseille worth 5 with 5 million inhabitants
Nantes worth 2 with 6.7 million inhabitants

Marseilles - 852,516, 1,560,921 Urban & 1,831,500 Metro
Nantes - 284,970, 600,502 Urban & 873,133 Metro

Edited 1/25/2016 20:32:21

Not everyone lives in the city you named it after
You can name a territory Amsterdam and make it worth as much as the 800.000 deserves but larger cities always will have a larger income even when the territory would suggest a higer income. The area of Amsterdam in the map has about 8 million inhabitants so it would be inaccurate only regarding the 800.000 of Amsterdam.

The territory of Dusseldorf has the same area as North Rhine-Westphalia and has a total number of inhabitants of 17,638,098.

Same for the other cities

Your reasoning would cause London to be worth 20 times more than The Hague

Yes, but this creates a whole host of other problems as a map designer. For example, With countries with small subdivisions, you end up having to combine multiple ones together. And in some small countries, like the Netherlands, it's impractical to do this at all. The line dividing amsterdam and the hague is imaginary, and not based on any real-world subdivision. This makes determining bonus values a nightmare, and It's much easier to just base it off the largest city in the region and do this consistently throughout the entire map.


In most cases, this reasoning works out since the influence of a region can normally be decided by it's largest city. While you can argue all you want that Dusseldorf, or Rhine-Westphalia, or whatever you want to call it is the most influential place in europe besides Madrid, I'm just not buying it.

EDIT: bonus values are capped at 12, which is what I've determined as the maximum, so No, London won't be worth 20 times more than the hague.

Edited 1/25/2016 21:09:29