United States of Apocalypse [Quenched]

[kingwaffles]

I'm definetly liking the new changes. Although....

I think it might be better to be able to see the individual countries within the silicon overmind to make it a little easier reading, although I like how they look overall.

Voodoo Bayou is a little too hard to find the borders especially in the Arkansas/Graceland area, maybe lighten the border or background color?

[rocksolid]

Hey Jota, I like the new names...especially Pennsylvania. Where'd you come up with that one?

Maybe change SoCal to LowCal?

I can't see the borders between the robot states at all - I liked the steel panelling look better. Though I can read them now when I enlarge.

Also, my usual whine about it being too dark...

I can't tell what that thing at 4 corners is supposed to be.

[kingwaffles]

Personally I like the black look for the Overmind, it just needs some more visible borders.

[Marvaddin]

Yeah, I am still slightly worried about the whole only being able to deploy 1 man thing... not a lot you can do with 1 man.

Totally agreed. On the other hand, if a guy starts with 2 already, he will get 5? I cant agree. I believe the penalty should be 1, no bonus for 2, little bonus for 3, or the game can be decided by the initial spread (I know, sometimes it happens already, but it will be more frequent here).

Another thing: if a player have 3 contamined countries, he in fact will have 3 doubles of countries, so it will give him a great bonus. With 4 countries, he will have 4 triples and 6 doubles... How will you control that? Are you thinking about this?

[thegrimsleeper]

The Silicon Overmind's fonts look much better on the darker background, but the borders will be hard to distinguish... Maybe you could drop a transparancy of a motherboard or something over it.

LowCal... lol.

What is the transparency on Corn Country? An evil corn? I think he's got the evil eye!

[Hoff]

Yes its a very interesting idea

[Jota]

Yeah, I am still slightly worried about the whole only being able to deploy 1 man thing... not a lot you can do with 1 man.

Mmm. Optimally, it'd be nice if every player could get an extra +2 deployment for free every turn when playing this map, regardless of their holdings. But that's beyond what I can do in XML. I could try a -1 penalty for each one and a +1 bonus per pair. That would give -1/-1/0/+2/+5/+9. It would mean you'd always get at least two armies to deploy, but +5 seems like a low bonus for holding five totally disconnected countries.

Another thing: if a player have 3 contamined countries, he in fact will have 3 doubles of countries, so it will give him a great bonus.

I'm not sure if you might be doing the math differently from me. If you have three contaminated countries, you will have three doubles, but you'll still have the three contaminated countries, so they'll cancel out to 0. Also, if I count doubles, I won't be counting triples (and vice versa).

So is the font change in Corn Country and Aquaria any significant improvement? Also, is it obvious that Brigham/WYMG-0110, Colorado/Nebraska, and Dustbowl/Missouri are borders, or do I need to make those clearer?

[Willgfass]

if this is the U.S. in the future, where's the rest of the world?

[vtmarik]

if this is the U.S. in the future, where's the rest of the world?

Still on fire and not able to be quabbled over no doubt.

[onbekende]

The rest is under rule of Belgium

Looks good, might change still the bonusses, but that will be hard work

[Bozo]

How are you going to decide who starts with what bonus, Because if you start with 1 nuke 'site' then you are prety much screwed from the begining and if someone starts with 2 then they have a huge advantage.

[Jota]

The Conquer Club engine always distributes countries randomly at the start of the game. And with the bonuses/penalties we're looking at right now, starting with two irradiated countries should give the exact same effective penalty as starting with one. Statistically, I think most players are likely to start with either one or two. Some folks will occasionally have zero or three, but if I go with the -1/+1 numbers (instead of the -2/+2), that won't be any more of an advantage than starting with Downtown in Montreal.

[Jota]

[url=http://grunk.org/risk/usa8-large.jpg]
(Link to large version.)[/url]

There are now five options for fonts. Compare Corn Country, Ye Olde Newland, Aquaria, UST, and Voodoo Bayou. Please let me know which one you think works the best.

At this stage, I'm also really interested to hear what people have to say about the layout of the countries/borders/continents/bonuses. There are 45 countries in six continents:

Continent - countries - borders - neighbors

• Silicon Overmind - 7 - 4 - 3
• Corn Country - 12 - 6 - 4
• Ye Olde Newland - 6 - 2 - 2
• Aquaria - 5 - 2 - 2
• United States of Texas - 8 - 4 - 4
• Voodoo Bayou - 7 - 3 - 2

I'd like to have the borders more or less fixed before I start working on the XML.

[Marvaddin]

I like the Texas font the most...
Im still confused... What continent is Overmind, and what is Voodoo? The legend isnt good to them... Because by the way Voodoo is near Cuba, but its name is black as Overmind.

Bonuses? Should we add one more army because of infected places? If not, the bonuses would be to me:

Overmind: 4
Aquaria: 2 (although it would be 1, only its very small, so maybe 3)
Texas: 5
Corn Country: 8
Voodoo: 4
Newland: 2

[AndyDufresne]

Well lets see...I've only got a little time so I'll first comment on visual appeal...


---First off I like the shape of the Corn Font, but it is rather hard to read. Second choice would be the Texas font. The bold bayou seems too striking.

---I like so far what you are doing with the background textures. For the most part they are interesting, though I feel Corn Country and Ye Old Newland's colors are a little too bright. Perhaps toning it down a little would help the eyes.

---I like the legend idea, obviously the names and sizes, and colors would have to be reworked, but I think the road signs are a nice visual addition.

---Also, is there perhaps another name for mississippi? It doesn't quite fit in the map, try playing with that. Maybe 'Sippi or perhaps another nickname or something it is famous for. And while I'm in the same general area, are you going to use the 'Army Shadows'? If so, it seems like the names currently are cramping where the shadows would be.

---Lastly, what do you have in mind for the ocean? Perhaps turbulent seas of some sort? Something to keep in sync with the current theme.


It's shaping up, hopefully I'll have time to comment more later!


--Andy

[Banana Stomper]

Perhaps make the ocean look like some sort of green toxic waste looking thing. I'm not sure if that will look to harsh on the eyes, but i think thats something that would definitely fit the theme, and if it looks good, it would make the map rock!

I like the barbed wire a lot. if it could stand out just a tad more i think it would help make it more noticable. As it stands i don't think its unforseeable that a person who is not the most observant could miss it.

Perhaps texas could use some sort of texture. It doesn't seem to fit as is.

is it just me, is there a texture where louisianna should be?

Perhaps put a nuclear thing in nevada. Doesn't really matter, but it sorta makes sense, thats where yucca mountain is, where they plan to one day store all of the nuclear waste.

If there is somethin creative to do with canada, mexico, and cuba, that would be nice. As it stands, i feel like they are bland and kind of drag the map down.

Has it been figured out how to do the negatives yet?

Overall i like it. Thats all i have to say for now.

[Mr. K]

is it just me, is there a texture where louisianna should be?

I think the joke is that in this hypothetical future, the entire state of Louisiana has sunk.


Haha, and is it just me or Silicon Overmind's background a bunch of screenshots from the Super Nintendo Legend of Zelda game? haha, if so, thats hilarious for some reason.

[PainBrain]

For the name of mississississippippi to shorten and make it a joke name you could make it Mr. Ssippi or misterssippi.

[Banana Stomper]

is it just me, is there a texture where louisianna should be?

I think the joke is that in this hypothetical future, the entire state of Louisiana has sunk.


Haha, and is it just me or Silicon Overmind's background a bunch of screenshots from the Super Nintendo Legend of Zelda game? haha, if so, thats hilarious for some reason.

haha, now that you mention it, it does. I think the idea was circuit board, but it definitely looks zelday

[Hoff]

I got an ocean you can use!!!! haha

[Banana Stomper]

haha, you would hoff...you would.

[Mr. K]

Hahahaha, I see the circuit board now. But man does that look like Zelda.

[AndyDufresne]

Knowing Jota's map making process, I assumed a texture for Texas was coming later. One thing I commend about his methods, is that he leaves many options opens. He also saves himself a lot of time implimenting only things minorly until they are decided on fully. That said...


---Looking at it quickly, I think the country dispersion is fine. And with just a few seconds my take on bonuses...

~~~Aquaria = 2 seems more reasonable
~~~Silicon Overmind = 5 at least, due to exspansion and lack of limiting borders.
~~~Corn Country = definitely looking toward 7-8, large amount of borders and countries and lack of limiting borders.
~~~UST = Similar Silicon Overmind, but can limit its borders so no more than 5 I think.
~~~Voodo Bayou = most likely a standard 4
~~~Ye Old Newland = similar to Aquaria (2), keep them in balance with each other.

---One thing I notice right away is the lack of being able to limit your borders to less than what gives you the continent bonus, with the minor exception of Texas. Now I don't know if it would be even feasible to look into adding this feature, perhaps it wouldn't mesh well with the 'grim' outlook. Perhaps it is something you had in mind, I am not sure. But I thought I would point it out nonetheless.

---Edit: Also, I'm not sure the bull's skull in the 4 corner's region gets the job done as a barrier limiting the attacking of diagonal countries. Perhaps if you looked into making a fissure or extending the Grand Canyon, it could get the job done, and still keep with the 'grim' feel.

---Edit 2: Bonuses straight, not taking into account the nuclear areas.

(Ah, feels good to be getting back to posting more...though finals are still around the corner!)

--Andy

[rocksolid]

I'm not sure the Missississippippi was recognized as a joke. I think the fact that it can't fit on the map properly is part of what makes it funny, even though it doesn't quite fit in with the futuristic theme.

[reverend_kyle]

I'm not sure the Missississippippi was recognized as a joke. I think the fact that it can't fit on the map properly is part of what makes it funny, even though it doesn't quite fit in with the futuristic theme.

i really like it.