The CUBE

[paulk]

This thread is SPLIT UP into 3 new threads:
"The CUBE" whitch is the 3*3*3 map.
"The CUBOID" whitch is the 5*3*3 map.
"The HyperCUBE" whitch is the 4*4*4 map.
Don't post in this thread anymore


Working Title: The Cube
# of countries: 27
Why: To be able to attack in 3D, with plenty small bonus combination possibilities.
Each quadrant (4 linked balls in a square) is worth 1 bonus.
There are 36 quadrants in The CUBE.
To make it more interesting CORE, E, K, M, N, P, and V, can be neutral in the beginning, so nobody can get a quadrant for free at start.
XML is already done. I kind of fast forwarded the whole thing
Where can I try it out to play it?



Version 2:



This is added later:
The CUBOID:
45 countries, 68 quadrants
Made because many people thought the CUBE was too small.
No XML yet.
Looks like this:



This added even later:
HyperCUBE
Since so many people are asking for a bigger cube, I made one, even though I personally think it is a bit too hard to grasp where you are in, but some people might like it. (no info text in this one yet)
64 countries, 108 quadrants
Might benefit from more bonuses than quadrants. For example:
You could get 1 extra bonus for each yellow ball you hold in a quadrant.
Also you could get an extra bonus of 3 (?) for holding a cube of 6 linked balls.
No XML yet.



Version 2 of HyperCUBE:



Version 3 of HyperCUBE:



Version 4 of HyperCUBE:



Version 5 of HyperCUBE:



Version 6 of HyperCUBE:

[firth4eva]

Awesome.

[yeti_c]

Crikey - a couple of things - technically you should've started this in "Map Ideas"...

Anyways some critique for you.

Idea

I like the Idea - I've seen something similar before - and it's kindof similar to Conquer 4 - (connect4 - a map that has been abandoned but had popular support) in so far as you can make your own continents...

Symetry

Some people at CC dislike Symetry in their maps... as this can lead to long boring games... I don't know what you could do to get round this...

27

Isn't such a good number of territories - due to only 3 and 2 player maps starting without extra neutrals... -> Could you increase to 4x4 cube easily? (Would also increase your continents a lot too!)

Readability

The black text is difficult to read.

Large map

Is there a Large map (I'm assuming this is a small one?)

XML

Can you post up the XML so we can check it for you?

[Background]

I like it - some might say it might be a bit busy...

C.

[Coleman]

All maps need to start in map ideas at first. We can move you back to the main foundry later if this continues developing.

[Wisse]

what is a quadrait? i am sure other people who don't live in uk or usa won't know it too

[Clive]

what is a quadrait? i am sure other people who don't live in uk or usa won't know it too

It says quadrant

[benjikat]

First impression are that I really like this, but I too have the symmetry concerns expressed by yeti (and I am sure many others to come).

I think quadrant should say "square" instead for simplicity.

Re starting positions: there are actually 22 territories (5 neutrals have been stated).

So
2 players = 7 each 1 extra neutral
3 players = 7 each 1 extra neutral
4 players = 5 each 2 extra neutrals
5 players = 4 each 2 extra neutrals
6 players = 3 each 4 extra neutrals

making this almost as small as Doodle Earth

making it 4x4x4, would mean 64 territories, but with no particularly easy pattern of neutrals to prevent initial bonuses. I think however that at that size the odd lucky bonus on the drop (someone with more time than me can work out just how likely they would be) wouldn't be too devastating (and certainly not as powerful as 2 or 3 plane pairs on Pearl Harbor) and so I would personally be interested in seeing this as 4x4x4 with NO starting neutrals.

64 isn't a particularly good number either however:

2 players = 21 each 1 extra neutral
3 players = 21 each 1 extra neutral
4 players = 16 each 0 extra neutrals
5 players = 12 each 4 extra neutrals
6 players = 10 each 4 extra neutrals


Another direction could be to introduce bonuses for holding 2x2 and 3x3 squares too??? - would you need to hold the "inner" territories for these?

[paulk]

My answers are gonna be a bit jumping from one objection to another... but here goes:

SYMMETRY
First of all. I LIKE SYMMETRY. Some people like it, some don't. Thats just how it is. I think that long boring games are always a risk, but it is not so much because of a map as of the people playing OR the settings of the game.

Bonuses
I believe that if you only get 1 bonus for each quadrant (square) means that you have to be more skilled to win, and not so much lucky.
The multitude of SMALL bonuses make it very interesting in my eyes, since I (and probably many with me) try to get small bonuses first, and win the big ones later.

There are no big(ger) bonuses in this one since the small bonuses together will become quite substancial.
A small cube will give you 6 bonuses and a 3*3 flake (a side for example) will be worth 4.
Cubes and Flakes would be hard to hold because of the small distances and many attack points. Therefore I made it simple with only small bonuses.

27
I hear your concern about that it is too few spots to play on (27).
Maybe you are right, if you try to play it 6 player.
I think this map would be better for 2, 3 or 4 players.

Neutrals
I have re-thought my idea about the initiating neutrals. Maybe it would be best to just have one neutral in the CORE (which was my initial idea), or no neutrals at all. But I would like to try it out in PLAYMODE to see what I should finetune.

making it 4x4x4
Sure sure. That would be interesting, but that would be a TOTALLY DIFFERENT MAP THEN. I'm not against it but that would be the next map I'd make after this one. It would require a different playstyle for sure.

One reason that I didn't make this one a 4*4*4 is that I thought it would be confusing for many people to grasp where in the cube you really were.
And the graphics would be kind of crammed as well.

Alternatives that not would look too crammed could be 3*3*4 or 3*3*5, but then it wouldn't be "The Cube" anymore

Cosmetic stuff
The text is too dark? Maybe. I didn't want it to be too much in your face since the background is dark. It's more like read it once, get it and then forget that the text is there.

There is no big map, yet.

You dont understand what a quadrant is? Did you check the "3 quadrant examples"?

XML
A XML file is to be found at http://123fresno.com/conq/TheCUBE.xml
Please let me in on the test playing!

[benjikat]

Please let me in on the test playing!

There is no online playtesting at present


Also - most of the components are missing for your continents in the XML

[paulk]

Also - most of the components are missing for your continents in the XML

What do you mean? I never wrote XML before so I would really benefit from an example. I did this as I learned from the XML Tutorial.

[benjikat]

<continent>
<name>A-B-E-D</name>
<bonus>1</bonus>
−
<components>
<component>A</component>
<component>B</component>
<component>D</component>
<component>E</component>
</components>
</continent>
−
<continent>
<name>B-C-F-E</name>
<bonus>1</bonus>
−
<components>
<component/>
<component/>
<component/>
<component/>
</components>
</continent>

The first continent is fine, but you need to list the components (territories) for each of the others too - the name is just a name.

[paulk]

I see what you mean. I fixed it.

[Piestar]

5X5X5 would make it more cube-ish... plus it would give it pleanty of territories.

If you could manage that, then there would be 4 magnitudes of cube that would give you bonuses.

Or if you want to give it even more cube-appeal...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubism

Or how about a tesseract map... CC in 4D!!!

[KoE_Sirius]

Thats brilliant...you are truely gifted

[paulk]

About bigger Cubes:

One reason that I didn't make this one a 4*4*4 is that I thought it would be confusing for many people to grasp where in the cube you really were.
And the graphics would be kind of crammed as well.

[paulk]

(see last posts...) I wonder if anyone in the community has the knowledge about 3Dprogramming.
What is needed is a slightly tilted CUBE in "true" 3D.
Please leave a note if you can help out.



Latest Version 59 (Big): (p.46)

Click image to enlarge.

Latest Version 59 (Small):

Click image to enlarge.

The CUBE.
This thread is a continuing of the old thread:
[Split Up] The CUBE, The CUBOID & HyperCUBE - attack in 3D.
In the old thread 3 different maps were suggested. This is one of them.

Idea:
Multiple SMALL bonus possibilities gives every player a fair chance of using skill instead of luck in initial placement to win.
Attack in 3D makes it more interesting.

Territories:
There are 64 territories/regions/vertices/balls/orbs that form 108 squares and 27 minicubes.

Bonuses:
4 adjacent orbs connected to form a mini square give +1.
8 adjacent orbs connected to form a mini cube give an additional +3.
Hold a yellow orbs within a minis quare or mini cube for an additional yellow orbs bonus of +1.
- But a minisquare of 4 yellow orbs generate no yellow orbs bonus.
Hold a outer layer solid color mini square for an additional +2.

Initial placement:
There will be 2 start positions of 4 yellow orbs each, on opposite corners of the yellow core mini cube:
y1-y3-y5-y7
y2-y4-y6-y8
To avoid unfair starting positions the yellow orbs are divided between the players so you get 4 yellow orbs in a 1 vs 1 game, 2 yellow orbs in a 3-4 player game and 1 yellow orb in 5-8 player games.
In the event of 3 or more players are all yellow orbs randomly allocated from either y1-y3-y5-y7 or y2-y4-y6-y8, so there is no chance to start with 2 connected yellow orbs.
The left over inner yellow orbs start as neutral 3.
All other (outer) orbs are randomly divided.

In a 2 player game this means 22 starter orbs each and 20 neutrals. (0 of the neutrals yellow)
In a 3 player game this means 20 starter orbs each and 4 neutrals. (2 of the neutrals yellow)
In a 4 player game this means 16 starter orbs each and 0 neutrals. (0 of the neutrals yellow)
In a 5 player game this means 12 starter orbs each and 4 neutrals. (3 of the neutrals yellow)
In a 6 player game this means 10 starter orbs each and 4 neutrals. (2 of the neutrals yellow)
In a 7 player game this means 9 starter orbs each and 1 neutrals. (1 of the neutrals yellow)
In a 8 player game this means 8 starter orbs each and 0 neutrals. (0 of the neutrals yellow)

Previous alternative: All yellow orbs start with neutral 2.

History:
It all started with that I wanted to play a 3D map. There was none, so I made a 3*3*3 cube map myself.
People started saying that they thought it was too small of a map with its 27 territories. (I still think it is just as good as many other maps like "Doodle Earth" with its 18 territories, or "Duck and Cover" with its 24 territories.) So I made 2 more versions of the map, one that was 5*3*3 and one the was 4*4*4. The thread now started to get very hard to manage with so many different versions, so I decided to split it up into 3 different threads, shown below as a), b) and c).

Original Map Thread. (Started 2007 11 20 16:21 Now Locked @ 124 posts)

a) the 3*3*3 map. "The CUBE"

b) the 5*3*3 map. "The CUBOID"

c) the 4*4*4 map and THIS THREAD! "The CUBE - Attack in 3D". (Previously named "The HyperCUBE".)

Legend:
There are 64 orbs.
They form 108 mini squares worth +1
and 27 mini cubes worth additional +3.
Yellow orb additional +1 if included in one or more mini square/s or mini cubes
--but-- not for a mini square with only 4 yellow orbs.



Previous Versions:

Version 34 (Big): (p.25)
Took away the additional +2 mini square color bonus
Added legend about names system
Made the legend text smaller
Made corner numbers 1-8 visually bigger

Latest Version 34 (Small):


Version 31 (Big): (p.22)
Changed the legend back to +1 for all yellow ball bonuses.
Added that a 4 yellow ball mini square would not generate any yellow ball bonus by itself. This to avoid unfair start position because in a 2 player game it is impossible to avoid starting with less than 4 yellow balls each.
Added an astronaut for extra space feeling.


Version 28 (Big): (p.21)
Changed the ABCD-1234-wxyz system to a system based on the colors and a number 1-8 "snake" of the outer corner balls.
r for red, b for blue, c for cyan, p for pink, g for green, o for orange, y for yellow.
If you can remember the color positions and the shape of the number snake, then it will be pretty easy to determine positions.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment28.jpg

Version 27 (Big): (p.20)
Went back to the rule of including the yellow balls in one or more mini squares or mini cubes to get the "yellow ball bonus", partly because it improved the initial number of starter balls, partly because I believe the gameplay improves from it.
Raised the "yellow ball bonus" to +2.
Added a "outer layer same color mini square bonus" of +2.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment27.jpg

Latest Version 26 (Big): (p.18)
The "other background" + changed green to brown
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment26.jpg

Latest Version 25 (Big): (p.18)
Tried another background with night earth.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment25.jpg

Version 24 (Big): (p.18)
Changed the background. Gave NASA credit according to their policy. Image is free to use.
Changed around colors on grid.
Simplified explaining text/image.
Changed yellow bonus to make gameplay easier to understand.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment24.jpg

Version 21 (Big): (p.14)
Changed black borders to shadows on rods.
Darkened the background slightly.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment21.jpg

Version 20 (Big): (p.13)
Tweaked colors slightly.
Defined rods with black.
Rods connect with vertices in a 3D manner.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment20.jpg

Version 19 (Big): (p.12)
A special map for gimil, since he then was the graphics stamp guy.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment19.jpg

Version 18 (Big): (p.12)
New color system with faces in different colors, after request from gimil
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment18.jpg

Version 17 (Big): (p.10)
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment17.jpg

Version 16 (p.10)
ABCD - wxyz - 1234
(Big:) http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment16.jpg
(Small): http://www.123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopmentMini16.jpg

Version 15 (Big): (p.9)
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment15.jpg

Version 14 (Big): (p.
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment14.jpg

Version 13 (Big): (p.7)
ABCD - EFGH - 1234 to name the balls
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment13.jpg

Version 12 (Big): (p.7)
A-P and 1-4 to name the balls
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment12.jpg

Version 1 (Big):
http://123fresno.com/hypercube/hypercubeDevelopment1.jpg

PREVIOUS THREAD:
http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=242&t=32831

Version 10

Version 9

Version 8

Version 7

Version 6

Version 5

Version 4

Version 3

Version 2

Version 1

Big/Small Map
Big map 725px*715px. Small map 608px*600px.

XML
XML is here.

[paulk]

The CUBE.
This thread is a continuing of the SPLIT UP thread [Split Up] The CUBE, The CUBOID & HyperCUBE - attack in 3D. (Please don't post there.)

Idea:
Multiple SMALL bonus possibilities gives every player a fair chance of using skill instead of luck in initial placement to win.
Attack in 3D makes it more interesing.
This map is ideal for 2-4 players. For 4-6 players use "The CUBOID" or "The HyperCUBE".

Territories:
There are 27 territories.

Bonuses:
Each quadrant (=4 balls connected in a square) is worth 1 bonus. There are 36 possible combinations of quadrants.

Neutrals:
The "CORE" starts out with 3 neutral armies.

History:
It all started with "The CUBE" whitch is a 3*3*3 map.
Some people wanted a bigger cube so I made "The CUBOID" whitch is a 5*3*3 map.
Some people asked for a 4*4*4 map so I also made "The HyperCUBE".
I decided after a while to split up the 3 cubes in three threads.
This link leads to the original thread. (Please don't post there.)

Versions:
There are 4 versions.
You can see them all by clicking any of the thumbnails below:


My 2 favourites:


Big/Small Map:
Only one map so far.

XML
XML is done. Find it here.
Someone check it for errors?

[paulk]

The CUBOID.
This thread is a continuing of the SPLIT UP thread [Split Up] The CUBE, The CUBOID & HyperCUBE - attack in 3D. (Please don't post there.)

Idea:
Multiple SMALL bonus possibilities gives every player a fair chance of using skill instead of luck in initial placement to win.
Attack in 3D makes it more interesing.

Territories:
There are 45 territories.

Bonuses:
Each quadrant (=4 balls connected in a square) is worth 1 bonus. There are 68 possible combinations of quadrants.

History:
It all started with "The CUBE" whitch is a 3*3*3 map.
Some people wanted a bigger cube so I made "The CUBOID" whitch is a 5*3*3 map.
Some people asked for a 4*4*4 map so I also made "The HyperCUBE".
I decided after a while to split up the 3 cubes in three threads.
This link leads to the original thread. (Please don't post there.)

Versions:
There is only 1 version so far. (People got more concerned about "The HyperCUBE".)


Big/Small Map
Only one map so far.

XML
No XML yet.

[mibi]

this is the only cube I would like to see in play.

[Piestar]

ooo, I like 7.

[Unit_2]

i like the second one, the first one has too much happening

[Unit_2]

i don't like that, too much is happening. try useing the background from the square or cube, what ever its called

[yeti_c]

this is the only cube I would like to see in play.

Concur - the smaller ones would be too small...

C.

[benjikat]

this is the only cube I would like to see in play.

Concur - the smaller ones would be too small...

C.

I'm finding myself agreeing with these two fine gentlemen more and more these days

[yeti_c]

this is the only cube I would like to see in play.

Concur - the smaller ones would be too small...

C.

I'm finding myself agreeing with these two fine gentlemen more and more these days

There's a reason for that....

C.