Moderator: Cartographers
Industrial Helix wrote:Hmm... I like the general graphical approach.
I don't like the lack of territories. Once again, I personally do not favor lines though I see how it could work for aspects of this map.
To be honest though.. I can't make heads or tails of the gameplay without a legend.
grifftron wrote:now thats better, what are the bonuses for holding things around the plagues? and is there a victory goal on the map?
-griff
Industrial Helix wrote:OK, that helps. I don't understand why anyone would attack a plague though unless they absolutely had to. I'm not sure that their place is on the map either.
Perhaps something could be worked out where the plagues are off map and there is a penalty for holding a plague and and egyptian territory.
Industrial Helix wrote:Well, the thing you're conveying with putting them on the map is that they were in a specific area of Egypt, not all over.
What I mean is that the plagues could be off map and a force of their own. I dunno, it's hard to explain without just designing the map. I think that something along the lines of the proposed Trojan War map would work much better. Where there are two sphere's of activity, the heavenly and earthly.
viewtopic.php?f=242&t=18629&hilit=trojan+war
Maybe you could throw some important people in there as well, Moses, Aaron and (was it?) Ramses. Plus, the Ark of the Covenant, Ten commandments, Crossing the red sea. These are paths to activity in the heavenly sphere. The more I think of it, you've got an epic story to tell and but right now it's starting to look like Route 66 with different names.
So maybe I can do another inset of Raamses with Neferhoptep, Moses and Aaron for a bonus of +3 for holding all four?The latest scarab found at Kahun was of Neferhoptep, who was apparently the pharaoh that was ruling when the Israelite slaves suddenly left Kahun and fled from Egypt in the exodus. According to Manetho, he was the last king to rule before the Hyksos occupied Egypt 'without a battle'. Without a battle? Where was the Egyptian army? It was at the bottom of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:28). This pharaohs mummy has never been found!
Another possibility would be to add the Egyptian pantheon in there as well. One God and ten plagues versus all 10 key Egyptian deity figures. I mean, each plague was a response to the supposed authority that each Egyptian god had so this could be a cool function of the game. For example, Darkness one way attacks Ra the Sun God, Blood to Water attacks Hapi, Locusts attack Seth, Death of the first born attack Pharaoh.
Of course, the path to the God attacks Egyptian gods would be something like the Ark of the Covenant or Moses or Aaron.
That's what I'm thinking.
Industrial Helix wrote:Wow... those Jews got lost indeed.
I think an Egyptian pursuit route might work nicely. It'll follow the first leg of Israel's journey but perhaps with a little investigative cartography you can find some areas the Egyptians were likely to have been for provisions, ect. The Egyptian route can be the long way to the Red Sea.
And since your legend conflicts with your map, the Red Sea looks like a lake rather than part of the Red sea. I think labels on the sea might be appropriate for this map as well. Nothing fancy, perhaps a light blue on the dark blue. You could label it in Hebrew or Egyptian as well to give the map a little ethnic flavor.
The other leg of the Red Sea where Suez is looks a little strange. I believe there is a lake there where you're dark lines are but this could be clarified.
Nebo is a mountain, yeah? You should illustrate this.
Memphis is the capital of Ancient Egypt... why are the Jews leaving from Succoth? Trivial question really.
For the Red Sea Crossing... you should make "the waters like a wall" and put the army space in the center of it. You might have to expand that prong of the Red Sea though.
My favorite thing about this map are the mountain graphics and the little Egyptian Pyramids of Giza. But, they do not match. I favor making the pyramids a sepia tone like the mountains and perhaps adding some similar style of shading to them on the Western sides.
Speaking of pyramids, there were 80 of them along the Nile. Perhaps Giza shouldn't be the only place getting special graphical treatment. Heliopolis, Memphis, ect could also use some graphics rather than dots. You've got a nice idea going with this little graphical designations and I think expanding them would be a great idea. An actual Ark of the Covenent, 10 Commandments, and perhaps illustrations for the plagues would be real cool as well.
The legend needs some organization. Move the black text so its more compactly against the right side. Keep your army dots in vertical line. The killer neutral info about First Born should be moved into the black text where it refers to it.
Neferhotep ought to be labeled Pharaoh imo because its unclear who he was without prior knowledge.
I like where this grapahical theme is going... you're going for drawing on Papyrus, yes? Well the Papyrus looks single-filter photoshop tacky. Do a search for some high res blank papyrus and use that. See the grunge tutorial for more advice. If you can't find any, I picked up some blank pages when I was in Cairo. They're pretty big but I can get you a clear photo or scan.
Further exasperating the tackiness, forgive me but it's best to be honest imo, are the beveled lines, especially the bright green. I think lines in the style of pen drawing would be better for this map and for Israel's journey you could use a toned down red or sepia or even a style variation of a black line such as dotted, dashed, hatched, ect.
Anyway, looking forward to the next iteration of this map, keep up the good work!
grifftron wrote:Things I was wondering about were
1)Why does the first born have to be reset every time? Who is gonna want it, whats the point of having it when you can just take other plagues for bonuses? Am i missing something?
2) As for the offset part with the plagues connecting to all Egyptian cities, this is for sure the way to go, but a problem i ran into with my offset on the map i have going (which i don't have any more when just made the offset become part of the map). But the problem was not having it close enough to where the connections are, this is on the other side of the map... I have no problem with it but i know people who would complain about it if they see it... something to think about i guess...
3)And the 4 drop circles Elim, Midian, Rephidim and Mt.Sinai are all very close to each other (talking about the text) I know which goes with which but it was a little confusing at first glance...Can Mt.Sinai get one of those cool looking symbols like the ark and the 10 commands have? That would be cool I think.
4)where do Pharoah, Moses and Aaron connect on this? I am missing something?
Other then that, looks great and the idea is coming out well... I have followed and played on your fracture america map and I know you are still working on the graphics on this one, waiting for the graphics to come a long as well but i know there is no reason to hurry until idea and gameplay has passed, just looking forward to see what you can do with this map... awesome work!
-griff
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