Terra Nullius

[AndyDufresne]

I came across the term "Terra Nullius" years ago, and I always thought it would be a good title for a map. Perhaps the map could be about conquering a deserted island, or a chain of deserted islands...


--Andy

[Victor Sullivan]

I did a very rough draft of a "Terra" with a bonus area called "Nullius". Haha, the irony is hilarious. viewtopic.php?f=63&t=126852

[AndyDufresne]

Deserted Islands sound more fun.


--Andy

[natty dread]

Ahem... Antarctica.

[Victor Sullivan]

Ahem... Antarctica.

Get outta here, boi! Any plans on making a draft yourself, Andy, dear?

[AndyDufresne]

If I did, this topic wouldn't be in the Map Ideas forum!


--Andy

[shakeycat]

Would it be a straightforward map, or one with various ups and downs to it, sort of like what Victor posted?

Bonuses for securing fresh water and various foods, shelter, then killer neutrals or decay if you walk through quicksand, fall over cliff/into pit, find dangerous animal, poison plant. Probably lots of dead ends, or difficult passes to get around the island (MUST go through quicksand to reach banana tree?), which is why nobody lives there. Starting points at shipwrecks or planewrecks, a downed hot air balloon.

[Victor Sullivan]

Would it be a straightforward map, or one with various ups and downs to it, sort of like what Victor posted?

Bonuses for securing fresh water and various foods, shelter, then killer neutrals or decay if you walk through quicksand, fall over cliff/into pit, find dangerous animal, poison plant. Probably lots of dead ends, or difficult passes to get around the island (MUST go through quicksand to reach banana tree?), which is why nobody lives there. Starting points at shipwrecks or planewrecks, a downed hot air balloon.

Sounds neat. If someone wants to post a draft, I'd love to help with the gameplay and XML

[Victor Sullivan]

I've actually been thinking about this a lot, and with my getting Spike's old laptop (with Photoshop) in the near future, I could do the graphics myself. I'll post gameplay specifics in a few minutes (stay tuned). How about getting your name on a map, Andy?

[Victor Sullivan]

So, below are some thoughts I had about gameplay. I got some inspiration from what shakeycat said, though I know you prefer simpler maps, Andy, and since I want this to be a joint effort (and I realize you're wrapped up in admin business a lot, so I understand your commenting may not be super frequent), I want to implement your map preferences as well. So, here are my thoughts:

• The island has 3 main areas - the beach, the forest land, and the swamp.
  
  • The beach is of course at the edge of the map - it will be comprised of 12 starting positions. Nothing special otherwise.
  • The forest land takes up most of the map and is a 1 auto-decay. The forest lands will be dealt out normally (though there may be some territories that have to start out neutral for balance's sake).
  • The swamp is at the very center and is an auto-decay of 99999... (basically resets your troop count to 1). All (four) swamp territories will start neutral. Three rivers run from the swamp to the shores.
• Hazards/Traps
  
  • Killer neutral. They will be quicksand, a whirlpool, and like a lava pit - all have the same functionality, just are in different spots.
  • Each hazard will contain a large jewel of sorts that yields a bonus (obviously is a separate territory).
• Camps are strewn about the forest land and have a 2 auto-deploy.
• There will be three "obelisks" in the center of the map (in the swamp): the Obelisk of Purity, Obelisk of Might, and Obelisk of Elements.
  
  • All are one-way attacked by the swamp territories.
  • The Obelisk of Purity yields +3 plus 2 for each camp and jewel.
  • The Obelisk of Might assaults beach territories, camps, and jewels and bombards all forest territories. Auto-deploy 3.
  • The Obelisk of Elements yields +1 per 2 forest territories, +1 per beach territory, and +2 per swamp territory.

Well, so that's my rough idea. Hopefully I can get a rough draft up for ya, but feel free to (or rather, please) give your comments now.

-Sully

[AndyDufresne]

I'll have to see what this looks like, since I'm only half-adept at envisioning maps from textual descriptions. The gameplay isn't really my thing, but I'll make sure to keep an eye on the map development nonetheless.


--Andy

[Victor Sullivan]

I'll have to see what this looks like, since I'm only half-adept at envisioning maps from textual descriptions. The gameplay isn't really my thing, but I'll make sure to keep an eye on the map development nonetheless.


--Andy

*Yay!* I'll try to have a draft up tomorrow or Friday.

[Victor Sullivan]

Draft time!

Click image to enlarge.

[Riskismy]

Nice, should be fun to fight for the obelisks.

Not sure I like that all (or most) of the forest are non-neutral territories. I'd consider having just the beach area as starting positions, as this give the map more time to develop, so to say, and lends much more of a 'rush to the center' aspect.

Also, I don't think the obelisks are balanced. Not sure about Might, as it's hard to compare the many opportunities of attack it provides with the bonus armies of the other two, but Purity and Elements are certainly not on par with each other.

[Victor Sullivan]

Nice, should be fun to fight for the obelisks.

Not sure I like that all (or most) of the forest are non-neutral territories. I'd consider having just the beach area as starting positions, as this give the map more time to develop, so to say, and lends much more of a 'rush to the center' aspect.

Also, I don't think the obelisks are balanced. Not sure about Might, as it's hard to compare the many opportunities of attack it provides with the bonus armies of the other two, but Purity and Elements are certainly not on par with each other.

Good points, especially the one about Purity and Elements - though I want to make sure Andy likes the general draft first before making small changes. I know he prefers simpler maps. Anywho, about the starting positions, I'm afraid the map would be atrociously unbalanced if each person only started with a beach territory - talk about a quick elimination...

[Riskismy]

Anywho, about the starting positions, I'm afraid the map would be atrociously unbalanced if each person only started with a beach territory - talk about a quick elimination...

Right, didn't see that. Maybe we could have just the beach and first 'ring' of outer forest territories as non-neutrals.

[Victor Sullivan]

Hai Helix