by natty dread on Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:48 am
I have a gameplay issue that needs solving.
Currently, the way the map is designed, there's 8 capitals - each player starts with 1 capital (4 troops in each), the leftover capitals start neutral, and the other 36 territories start with a random drop.
This should make for a good gameplay. The only problem is Kosovo - having only 2 territories, it's likely to get it on the drop. Actually, the odds of getting it in a 2 or 3 player game are 1 in 24. With more players it's even lower... so the question is, is a 1 in 24 chance of dropping a +1 bonus an issue?
The only way to prevent anyone from dropping with the Kosovo bonus is to make South Kosovo neutral. But this would mess up the drops, since there would now be 35 territories starting with a random drop - so in a 2 or 3 player game, each player would get 1 capital and 11 other territories - meaning everyone would start with 12. To counter this, there's only two options: add one territory somewhere (I can't think of where) or, make 4 territories neutral (maybe 1 in each of the 2-3 territory bonuses?)
So... adding 4 neutrals, or a 1/24 chance (in 2-3 player games) of dropping a +1 bonus?
I don't really like the idea of adding that many neutrals, since they tend to make bonuses less attractive in 1v1 and team games. I would prefer just having the map start as it is, but is that 1 in 24 chance too high? Of course, unless the player who drops the bonus also starts first, the other player(s) would still have a good chance to break it, so it's more like a 1/48 chance in a 2-player game to get a really good 1st round advantage.
But then again, 1v1 is a really drop-dependent gametype anyway, and as long as most games are fair on it, I don't see that small chance as a huge issue.
So, feedback about this would be welcome.