OK after doing all of the math and contemplating all the possible balance changes here is what I have settled on. This may seem like too many changes on the surface but in the end this will make the map play almost as fast as it currently does but without making you feel like you are helpless once you are under assault. Which is important on such a small map with so many choke points.
The way you start now is to choose one of your favored territories to assault from your kingdom which starts with 3 and you will have an autodeploy of 1 and 2 deployable right from the start. So you should be able to grab a territory somewhere. In fog games this will make it much harder to locate your opponents. This also means that I needed to change most bonuses to not be granted with only 1 symbol etc ... however not all have changed as you shall see.
So please take a good look and let me know if you see anything that screams "NOOOOOO!" to you and I will see if it can be addressed. I plan to start on the xml changes for this later today.
So without further ado ... here are the proposed changes and a large map reflecting these changes.
=D13=
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Aquatic- aquatic bonus change to +1 for every 2 adjacent to sea. This will make max +11 instead of the previous 7 but it requires 22 territories for that and will be darn near impossible to get that.
- seas killer 2 down from 3 (more attractive for aquatic).
Barbarians- no longer get any bonus from non favored/non adjacent to favored territories
- gain +1 for every 3 basic land territories D,F,J,M,P,S,T
- horde starts at 5 neutral
- horde no longer decays
Cultists/Cosmic- Cultists renamed Cosmic
- added a 4th Radiation
- Radiation +1* (each)
- 2 Radiation +1* (each)
- new bonus structure is 1=+1, 2=+3, 3=+5, 4=+6
- 2 radiation allows radiation to assault other radiation and radiation can assault the Forbidden Lands.
- the bomb has been removed.
Demonic- added a 4th minion
- Minion +1 (each)
- 2 Minions +1 (each)
- new bonus structure is 1=+1, 2=+3, 3=+5, 4=+6
- removed auto 1 from underworld
- underworld is now 5 neutral
Druids- 2 jungle +1 (each)
- 2 forest +1 (each)
- 1 jungle / 1 forest +1 (each)
Dwellers- added a 4th cavern
- Cavern +1 (each)
- 4 Caverns +2
- new bonus structure is 1=+1, 2=+2, 3=+3, 4=+6
Elementalist- 2 volcanic +1 (each)
- 2 tundra +1 (each)
- 1 volcanic / 1 tundra +1 (each)
Fanatics- 2 favored +2
- 3 favored +2
- 4 favored +4
Miners- added a 4th mine
- 2 mines +2
- 3 mines +2
- 4 mines +4
Undead- added a 4th crypts
- 2 crypts +2
- 3 crypts +2
- 4 crypts +4
Wizards- changed wizards special to +2 for every 2 territories that border Blood Towers
- hold two territories that border blood towers and all territories that border blood towers are adjacent (very powerful)
Losing Condition- changed the losing condition to be when you only control "special features" which includes "horde and underworld" you are eliminated. This will make it so that when you have no troops that can actually affect the board you are out of the game.
Kingdoms- now auto 1down from 3
- grant +2 deployable bonus.
- no longer assault their 1st favored territory.
- added the following "If you hold no basic land D,F,J,M,P,S,T,V your Kingdom may assault any of your favored territories"
Forbidden Lands/Blood Towers- The borders of the Forbidden Lands are now closed to intruders. You must first hold territories that border any two of the four available Rune Towers.
- added 4 blood towers to the map that straddle 2 territories each
- increased forbidden lands to 30n
Territory Symbols- Added for fourth symbol to all symbols
- Moved many symbols
Bonus Area- removed non adjacent/ non favored as a general concept and the associated bonus
- added a semi standard territory bonus of +1 for ever 3 basic land territories (which will increase the bonus a bit overall)
Non Graphic Changes- reduce Underworld and Horde to 5n start
- reduce 5n map starts to 3n on basic lands
- reduce seas to 2n
- increased forbidden lands to 30n (because overall bonuses have increased)
Minor Key Changes- removed decay notation as no territories have decay any longer
- chasms now note that they are adjacent for your favored territories only so if you are Gnomes or Murklords then you can jump across between M1 and S4. But no other kingdom would have that ability.
Max Starts- Now that I have made changes to how you get eliminated and the bonus structure I feel like 1 max start position is fine for this map and have decided not to increase this to 2 as it really would create chaos.
http://imageshack.com/a/img46/811/z9ek.pnghttp://imageshack.com/a/img33/8301/7wd1.png