Facination with connector lines?

by **Industrial Helix** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:36 am

What's the deal with mapmakers preferring connector lines to army circles rather than territories lately? It's seems like its popping up a lot in the newer maps and to be honest, I don't really like it. I much prefer territories to connectors as its easier to visualize whats going on in a game and understanding who controls what.

I can make special exceptions for the road maps as graphically it make sense... though something could be said for the roads being territories themselves and not connectors.

I avoided playing any of the rail maps precisely because the map was not easy on the eyes... after a while I gave them a shot and while I play RailUSA quite a bit now, I still find the other rail maps somewhat difficult, especially considering the size of railEurope.

I do not like Classic shapes, I do not like them, you hairy ape. 8-[

But the gameplay is so familiar I'm able to deal with it if I have to.

World Cities... well... I'm hoping I like this map cause I'm tired of the other classic maps. I'm hoping that the graphics and blend between the connectors will be easy to understand. I'm familiar with the gameplay so that will help, and I'm pretty familiar with all the cites and their location, so that will help... I dunno, I'm gonna have to wait to play it.

So in conclusion... connector lines are hard exceptionally hard for me to deal with on large maps and unfamiliar areas. I see them as a necessary exception to the general rule of territories... they should be used only if the map specifically calls for it.

I dunno.. thoughts?

by **AndyDufresne** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:02 am

Whenever new things make it onto any scene---most often people like to try them out.

As for the Classic REVAMP, it is probably one of them best examples an acceptable way to use connecting lines (Though USA Map Pack I think does them pretty fine as well).

--Andy

by **cubfanpgh** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:52 am

I agree generally. I find it much more difficult to play maps with connector lines. I think the reason this is true might be because I'm more familiar with playing on territories maps. Going forward, if there are a lot of new line-connector maps, I'll improve on connector maps because of the familiarity factor. As it is, I try to avoid those maps. The map I'm currently working on (not yet in the foundry, as it's my first and I'm still working on my GIMP skills) is a map of Pittsburgh that (as of now) uses bridges as territories, partly because it would make things easier to understand.

by **Evil DIMwit** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:08 pm

I can't say I share your sentiments. Connector lines aren't all that new (the first CC map to feature them was Space way back in 2006). They seem to be more popular now than they used to but they're hardly all the rage -- in the Main Foundry, Drafting Room, and Final Forge only about 1 map in 5 uses line connections to some extent (including those that are mixed), and most of those seem to use them to good effect.

Nor do I think connector lines are particularly confusing in and of themselves. I see what you mean about the Rail maps, but those are probably as bad as they get. In most cases I think the connections are fairly clear, and as cubfanpgh pointed out, I'm sure if you play the style a bit more you'll get used to it.

by **yeti_c** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:21 pm

I have to say - that actually connector lines are much more exact than borders - you can't mistake a line going to the army circle - whereas you could mistake a 4 way border...

C.

by **Industrial Helix** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:11 pm

I dunno... I think connector lines are more boring as well. i play this game cause I like to conquer places and with dots and lines its more like conquering... well, dots and lines. I don't think it lends itself all that well to geographic land masses.

by **AndyDufresne** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:40 pm

Industrial Helix wrote:I dunno... I think connector lines are more boring as well. i play this game cause I like to conquer places and with dots and lines its more like conquering... well, dots and lines. I don't think it lends itself all that well to geographic land masses.

It depends on context. Most of the the time hey have been used, they've been used for cities, or things without borders (like in the Space map).

--Andy

by **porkenbeans** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:49 pm

Using connector lines means you do not have to color the land, and your map looks better. I hate to color the land after I have put so much time and effort into making it look real. So from an aesthetic point of view I like the connector lines, but the game itself is much easier if you just use boundaries and colored land. ...But who likes easy ?

by **Industrial Helix** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:30 pm

What about Peloponnesan War? Same colored land and territories... England... D-Day... Rome... maybe Poland. I think territories can work with uncolored land, you just got to get a little creative.

Personally, I don't really like colored lands either unless it follows some sort of theme. It's like the pink Luxembourg in BeNeLux, why? How does that fit? Game play clarity I suppose. It doesn't ruin the map, but it seems odd to me when I look at it.

by **the.killing.44** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:35 pm

Industrial Helix wrote:What about Peloponnesan War? Same colored land and territories... England... D-Day... Rome... maybe Poland. I think territories can work with uncolored land, you just got to get a little creative.

None of those have conventional bonus systems, though.

by **captainwalrus** on Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:39 pm

This one kinda has both, and was a great map.

by **max is gr8** on Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:44 am

I dislike connector lines, to a great extent.

For example Austerlitz the lines make the map downright ugly. Of course it would be impossible to do so with borders but the way the map looks it is comparable to the graphics of Space (which personally I think needs a revamp)