Hello again, fellow mapmakers and mapusers!

Almost a year has passed since I published my "Vvardenfell cities" map. It was not my first attempt at mapmaking - previous several attempts happened two years ago and were never published. Now I am thinking about making another try - for the map was a failure, after all, and I am not satisfied with it.

The question is - should I make the new map a new "version" of the old one, or a completely new "map family" that will coexist with the old one? Or probably I should simply delete the old map family and create a new one - not as a new "version" of the old map, but from scratch?

I do not want to fill Warlight with the history of my studies at mapmaking, but I am not really sure if I can delete a map, that has already been made public a long time ago...

This is the old map here:
https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=58410

Here you can see the alpha-version of the new map:
https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=63547


Here are the main changes that I am planning:

1) I have already deleted 11 city tabs and managed to add only 1 city tab instead :D (The new tab is for the Ghostgate). I think it is big progress! :D

2) Deleted the Silt Strider transportation net. Now the "Transport" tab features only one teleportation system (the same that was in the last version of the map - I probably won't change it).

3) I am planning to remake the territorial division of the island to reduce the number of narrow places and add at least some shadow of strategical value to the map. I've already started working on the southern parts of the island.

4) I am planning to simplify the bonus system. Already deleted the "Treaties with the daedra" bonus tab (in the lower part of the map).

the new map definitely looks a lot clearer and improved but I suggest you put this as a new version since it is pretty much the same map.

also I see Solstheim added, which is a nice addition.

Thanks, Stewie!

Probably that would be the most reasonable thing to do, but there is a little problem... My selfishness doesn't allow me to do it :) (Joking!) See, when a new map is made it can be easily found in the "new maps" list. If I change the old map it will probably stay completely unnoticed. Of course, a map needs to deserve attention in the first place...

Anyway, there is some time left for me to make the decision. Meanwhile I'll make some updates to the map (to the overall territorial structure) - but I won't add any bonuses, territory names or connections yet.

Work is moving on slowly but steadily.

1. I decided to delete most of the daedric ruins and dagoth bases (I thought they contributed much to the file weight, but I probably overestimated it...) - I have already decided they won't have any special bonuses, so special graphics will just confuse players. I will leave only 1 example of each - a daedric ruin in Ald Daedroth, an island in the northeast, and a dagoth base in Mamaea - the most important of its kind.

2. I decided to simplify the villages. Previously most of the villages consisted of 2 or even 3 adjacent territories - I'll simplify most of them to 1 (with the exception of Telvanni settlements, where one of the territories is the telvanni tower).

3. All this leads to global remake of the territorial structure, so I'm basically remaking the map from scratch.

I hope to make an update to the online map in a few days, but it will still be an early version.

Keep the old map available as well, because I really like it. Please.

I have finished making the main corrections to the territory layout. (Though it is not finished yet. Still need to remake the western coastal region and some others.) Now I need to decide on 1 important thing.

It seems I simply can't make maps without any complicating features :)

In the alpha-version of the new map you can see I added 2 different and totally unconnected systems of water routes. The official routes are marked with solid blue lines, while the smuggler routes are marked with dotted purple lines. Also, the ship models are different - and those routes are connected to different types of ports.

I am in doubt. Probably I should delete this system alltogether if I really want the map to be playable... Does it look usable and playable or not? I think I need some advice.

P.S. No one is answering. That means I have one more reason to purge that shipping system.

Edited 3/6/2017 13:17:38

The main part of the SVG work is finished. The main thing left is the sea routes. I deleted the old routes (that was a bad idea with smuggling routes after all) and added new ship models (one of them based on the chinese junk ship).

I plan to add some bonuses that will promote Great House rivalry (some conflicting bonuses in the regions of historical conflict between the houses). It is simple in Hlaalu-Redoran case, but a bit harder in Redoran-Telvanni case and especially hard in Hlaalu-Telvanni case. According to the lore houses Hlaalu and Telvanni fought over the tower of Odirniran, but it lies quite far away from Hlaalu lands in the middle of Telvanni lands (roughly)... So that is probably not an option and I'll have to invent some alternative.

Basic naming and territory connection finished! Still there will be some minor changes though...

Advancing to the bonus-making stage :)

I'm finishing the bonus work so the first testing will start soon. I haven't set the sea bonuses (the coastal smuggling bonuses and the sea superbonuses) and I haven't set Telvanni Special bonuses yet. There is still some work to do but I think I'll finish most of it today and tomorrow.

If anybody wants to take part in the testing - let me know.

definitely put me up :)

I'd love to test, your old map was one of my favorites to play on

Thanks, Vikingsfan!

Meanwhile I'm testing the map in singleplayer and making the last changes (plus distributions).

I also decided to give westeros-like slogans to the houses :D (Of course based on the lore!)

House Redoran: Piety Duty Family (almost like Tully words, but in different order)
There was an option - Duty Gravity Piety

House Hlaalu: Grasping Fortune (no options there, for it was hard to invent anyting for this house)

House Telvanni: The powerful define the standards of virtue
I know it is a bit too long... There is an option though: Iconoclastic Profane Unconventional (That's how Vivec describes this house - but it sounds weird as the house words. Nobody would call oneself profane.)

House Dagoth: The Unmourned House (once again, couldn't invent anything else. May be something with "awakening" could be better, but I didn't find any fine words in the lore.)

And I felt that 2 other factions also need words assigned to them.

Tribunal Temple: The Thrice-Sealed House withstands the Storm

Septim Empire: For my Gods and Emperor (actually, it is the name of a faction book of the Imperial Cult, but I couldn't find anything better)

P.S. Three is a company, but it is still not enough to test this map...

Edited 3/20/2017 21:36:28

I've opened a gameroom for testing - but after that I found several broken connections. So I closed the room before the game started and changed the map back to development mode. After I made the changes, I couldn't change it back to testing mode - some kind of error prevents me from doing it. I reloaded the page, the browser, cleared the cache - but nothing helps :( So testing is delayed a bit.

P.S. Yay! I managed to change the mapmode in Firefox! (Or maybe the warlight server cured itself from its temporary illness.)

P.P.S. There are still open seats in the testing game. Contact me and I'll send an invite.

Edited 3/22/2017 18:53:45

I plan to add some bonuses that will promote Great House rivalry

do you mean for example two superbonuses that have some minor bonuses in common? which means two players cant complete one of each bonuses at the same time.

The thing I would focus most on your map is tidiness. your map is stuffed and overloaded with informations. you should try to implement features that help to understand your map faster.
Edit: some territories are way to small. you should consider to change that.

btw. you should consider to start a new thread to promote your testgame.

Edited 3/22/2017 21:06:44

I almost gave up on that idea about adding bonuses "promoting great house rivalry". It all ended up in 3 things:

1) two simple bonuses was called "disputed lands" and "disputed waters" and I hope it will spark many disputes :D
2) Special Telvanni Bonuses - and they are the first thing I will probably delete or simplify in some way...
3) Smuggler port territories. They are part of land superbonuses, but they are not part of lesser land bonuses - instead they are part of lesser water bonuses that are located nearby. 2 players will be able to complete all minor bonuses without conflict (all sea and smuggler ports going to player A, all other land to B) and they will be able to complete all superbonuses without conflict (all sea goes to A, smuggler ports and all land to B) but not both at the same time. I hope this system won't be too complicated. It is hard to explain, but the system is quite simple.

Now that you said about features that help to understand the map faster - I remembered I forgot to implement one feature that was present in the past versions of the map. There were small indicators near the council seats, showing the territories that correspond to the council seats and form one bonus with them.

As for the small territories - please tell me which ones you mean and I'll see what I can do about it. I'll try looking at the map again from this point of view.

And thanks for your review!

Edited 3/23/2017 08:21:13

https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=64430

I have set this version of the map to public mode. Unlocking level is 35, because it is the level that also unlocks gift cards.

I want to thank Ranek for his help with the map - adding the colored outlines for different regions and the special shapes for council seats was his idea and I think it was great! I also want to thank lineal2012, Clint Eastwood, snife, Aura Guardian, sloppyfatginger and everybody who helped me test and develop this map!

Edited 4/12/2017 12:27:10

youre welcome. =)

No problem, I enjoyed helping.

And finally after last adjustments it goes public! :D

https://www.warlight.net/Map/27872-Vvardenfell-District-Morrowind

After more than 2 years I finally finished it! Huray!