ā¢ Map enlarged and things moved around some.
ā¢ Melville quote added.
ā¢ Whale bonuses increased.
I think these changes do a lot to improve the appearance and thematic strength of the map. I strongly believe the whaling theme, though hardly as sexy (thanks, Jack!) as many CC map themes such as famous battles, times or places, needs to be reinforced as much as possible. Otherwise this is just an attractive map of an obscure island with nothing special going for it. (Which is why I posted initially as I did, just as "art".) The four whale images and the quote from Moby Dick are really the most important things on this map. They are what CCers will remember.
I feel that increasing the whale bonuses is worth doing to reinforce the theme of the map and to entice players to make the long voyage around the island. (Not really so long.) If necessary to protect the integrity of bonus allocation rules the starting neutrals on some or all sea terts can be increased.
Question: must the eleven land bonus regions be named? I hope not. For one thing, there are no logical names available. For another, names take up space. But I'd understand if they are required for reasons of being able to notate who owns what. I think on the inset map I'd just "name" them "A" through "K" preceding the bonus amount, as in "A+3" and "B+2". Something like that.
I now regret that I posted this to The Melting Pot and ask Ian if maybe this thread can be moved to a more appropriate forum.