Here's what I'm working on: https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=38925

Or rather, I'm going to continue working on the second half in a week.

The idea is to make a medium-big (300 territories, not like some of the really big maps out there), nice and clean balanced map. My earlier attempts at strategic maps were a bit messy so I wanted to start anew, with clean borders and straightforward bonuses.

I'm considering a few things but it's important that the map remains easy to figure out so maybe I should not add any of them. Some things I could add:

• Superbonuses. I don't think they're necessary but most maps of this size have them. Thoughts?
  
• Cities. Since big single territory bonuses are discouraged I'd make them single circular territories with a bonus of 1.
  
• Portals. Portals would lead to a very small alternative dimension, which would be under the main map, and which would have connections to the other portals. The map would be a lot more connected and faster to traverse but I'm not sure if this is fun or not.
  
• Industry bonuses. Some territories would have a symbol, such as a pickaxe for mining or a fish for fishing, and owning all the territories of the same kind would give you the corresponding industry bonus. Fun strategic element or unneeded complexity?
  

Edited 1/2/2015 18:53:47

It looks like a great map!

For superbonuses, I would include them but either make the worth 1 (if there are going to be lots) or a small value (do NOT use the same formula for armies as regular bonuses).

Portals are ok as long as it is very obvious where they are. It is annoying trying to figure out where a territory is connected to if they aren't fisically connected or a line drawn between.

As for Industry bonuses, if a major part of the map concept is based on mining and fishing, sure! But otherwise no. I don't sea the point of having a seperated bonus unless the names of the territories are connected (all called mines).

One more thing I would say is the projections is kind of wierd. The fact that the bottom is curved upwards make the map look bent and the top centre enlarged (the fact that the edges are bent outward to the north also contribtes to this effect).

I am liking the map so far and hope you carry on!

Avoiding superbonusses would makes this map ideal for local deployment gameplay. That will make your map more unique. Although I think that superbonus is more fun to play with regular settings. You have to ask yourself the question: What do you prefer?

Portals can be confusing, if you use them make clear wich portals are connected etc.

Cities (=1 territory) with a higher bonus value makes the map more imbalanced, or you have to spread the cities over the whole map. I prefer a value of max 1 for 1 territory.

Industry bonusses are completely irrelevent in non realistic maps. It makes it more confusing. That is my opinion.

WvO, you can always set super-bonuses off to play a map as LD. You can't just add them in though to play normal mode.

If the map would benefit from super-bonuses then there is no reason not to include them, even if you default them to 0 for the benefit of LD.

Thanks for the comments!

I will add superbonuses, I'll still have to decide how big I will make them or if I'll make them 0.

I definitely won't add industry bonuses since industry isn't really the focus of the map, and I think I'm going to save my portal idea for another map with a different theme. Since cities take away some balance I'm not going to add them for now. I just threw some ideas out there to see if maybe everyone liked one of them.

About the map projection (Hill Euclidic for the cartography nerds), it does not really enlarge the area on top, it just stretches it out a tiny bit. Not that it matters that much. I chose this map projection because the polar areas are not too narrow but not ridiculously scaled either. And it allows some focus on the South Pole which has more land than the North Pole.

So all in all, I'm going to carry on in the same vein and report back when all territories are done!

nice, Im looking forward to that. =)

Damn, I looked at this map and then I saw the territory counter. Oh well, good luck with it. It looks very nice ( reminds me of Terraformed Mars a little ).

A really nice map!, I think that some big bonusses are good to add then you have a perfect map to play!
If you are done, and need some testers you may invite me ;)