Hi I'm your host Castle Bravo and today I'm reviewing the very select number of serviceable made-for-diplomacy maps released in 2016. Overall it was a standard year; new maps failed to overtake the popularity of World Nations 2014.
Note that I'm not reviewing maps that belong to a specific media franchise or fandom.
https://www.warlight.net/Map/23058-Geopolitical-Earth-2016Geopolitical Earth 2016 by Imperator
This map offered a bigger, more colorful upgrade of the sickly World Nations 2014 map. It fell just short of setting the gold standard for world diplomacy maps because of its lack of group bonuses, making scenario-building tedious and time-consuming. Its size exceeds the comfortable limit for real time games, so it is mostly used for multi-day games. Unfortunately, it failed to overtake WN2014 in multiplayer popularity. Early drafts looked promising but ultimately the US was left barren, reduced to mere states while countries like Sudan were split into eleven pieces. I would have liked to see more balance as far as territory density, but the map captures a realistic production inequality with its 1 through 9 bonus scheme.
https://www.warlight.net/Map/26100-North-America-Regions-PoliticsNorth America Regions and Politics by Toluene
The only North America map built for diplomacies. It hits slightly above the territory sweet spot for real time and multi-day game and features a balance of territory density, but has a bland, uninspired lack of color or decoration.
https://www.warlight.net/Map/25985-Diplomacy-World-HugeDiplomacy World Huge by Belgian Gentleman
Like Geopolitical Earth 2016 this map was going to set the gold standard for world diplomacy, being the largest of its class with no chance of being overtaken. Unfortunately the novelty quickly wore off and this map fell into the dustbin, proving too large for any sane player. The map also had unusual bonuses, making balancing scenarios next to impossible.
https://www.warlight.net/Map/25937-World-Nations-2016World Nations 2016 by Cata Cauda
Though more of a successor to WN2014 than any of the maps previously mentioned, this map still failed to set the gold standard for world diplomacies. Its inclusion of new islands and group bonuses for scenario-making was promising but the bright blue backdrop and the curved earth was over-the-top and distracting, leading to less visually appealing games, and, consequentially, less multiplayer popularity.
