Description: Every European country from Albania to Vatican City is here, with many dependent territories too... Europe as it really is!
This is not a revamp.
Territories: 61
Continents/Regions: 12 (+1)
Special Play Features: None yet.
Dimensions: Small 630 x 500px. Large 750 x 595px
Foundry Stamps:
----------
Final Images:
Large image:
- Click image to enlarge.
Large image with 88s: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Europa-L-88.jpg
Large image with 888s: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Europa-L-888.jpg
Small image:
- Click image to enlarge.
Small image with 88s: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Europa-S-88.jpg
Small image with 888s: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Europa-S-888.jpg
XML: EuropaXML_08.xml[/quote]
----------
Latest XML Update:
See 2nd post [clicky]
----------
Previous Drafts:
Version 37
Small Image
Large Image
- I have adjusted the England-France route to be more vaguely like the Dover-Calais route... It doesn't quite make those points, but is more visible now.
- I have made the sea route points very slightly smaller, and slightly crisper. I prefer them now.
- You might notice some grey 3's on Kaliningrad, Belgium, Switzerland and Cyprus - these will be designated as starting neutrals... there was always going to be some anyway, and these points will alleviate sthe probability of being dropped a bonus.
- The Pyrenees Mountains have disappeared again - I have mixed views on this, but think it is clearer without them; especially as they were not serving any function.
- Consequently the Andorra name and army number have been moved
Version 36
Small Map: Clicky
Small Map +88: Clicky
Small Map +888: Clicky
Large Map: Clicky
Large Map +88: Clicky
Large Map +888: Clicky
Version 35: Unpublished
Draft 34
- All the abbreviations have been replaced with official 3-letter codes
- Some of the territory names have been moved to make them slightly clearer
- The Greek peninsular has been connected via a land bridge.
- Different coloured army numbers have been put on the map to show how it looks... The blue numbers are nice and clear; the most difficult to see are the yellow-on-yellow, but I wouldn't say it's problematic...
Draft 33 - Small
Draft 33 - Large
- Option D is the one I've gone with for the title, although I've made a few tweaks as the poll was so inconclusive
- I've added a very slight gradient to the ocean, making it slightly brighter down in the Mediterranean, and slightly colder/darker in the North
Draft 32
I can't remember if I've updated anything on the map, but here is the latest image I'm working from; with a random choice of title.
And here is the next round of titles to choose from:
Draft 31
- I've removed the +1 from the minimap (for the motherland bonus) which helps avoid confusion. I experimented with putting an asterisk/other symbol there, but this didn't help clarity.
- I've also made the 'motherland' text less fuzzy.
- The territory labels for San Marino (sm) and Vatican City (vc) have been shifted so that they don't look like smo/vco
- The title is temporarily absent - I've asked that the poll be removed, and I'll have a look at trying something based upon the outcome of that!
Draft 30
I've finally got around to switching all the colours around - I'm fairly happy with the balance; colder colours at the north, warmer colours towards the equator - but what do my colourblind fiends think??
I have also tweaked the legend; given it a bit more room, and put the motherland bonus text in the bonus legend box...
Vote for a new title:
Drafts 28/29 Unpublished
Draft27
- The most noticeable change may be the green-blue colour swap. Hopefully this helps to make Kaliningrad slightly easier to see for Oaktown and other colourblind fiends (deliberate typo
) - I've added in some abbreviations instead of numbers in the Balkans, and in some places have been able to fit the actual country name.
- The map is now 12 pixels taller, making it 630x500px. This extra height has given the extra space I required to fit the legend/key text in Africa. I also used it to shuffle Greenland up a little, and put a little more space between the edges and Iceland/Crete/Cyprus
- I've moved the text for the Fatherland bonus right below the bonus legend - does that make it more obvious? I've also changed the wording slightly...
- The South-West coast of Portugal has been redrawn ready for a sample ocean path from England to Gibraltar
- I've taken out half the Pyrenees, and made Andorra slightly smaller
Draft 26
OK, I've had a play around with Kaliningrad/Russia, and come up with a solution that I am happy with...
Kaliningrad (Kgd) isnow a territory of its own in the Trancontinental region. The Transcontinental bonus has been left at +4 for the time being, but I have added a +1 'Fatherland' bonus for holding Russia+Kgd, effectively making Trans a +5.
I have tweaked the 'key' on Africa to include Kgd. I preferred the 'two columns' appearance I had before, but couldn't get them all to fit, hence the 'three columns' now.
A couple of sea routes have been shifted slightly (can't remember if they were on the last update) - I'm still considering an England-Gibraltar route instead of England-Spain.
Draft 25
- Fixed the minimap colours
- Added the Alps between France/Spain - utilises Andorra as the stepping stone between the two
- Modified Central Europe from +4 to +3 bonus
- Played around with a sea path from England<>Gibraltar... couldn't quite squeeze it in past Portugal, so have added an England<>Spain path along a ferry route!
Draft 24
- Added more mountains to the Alps, including one to the border between Austria/Slovenia
- The Oder-Neisse river between Germany and Poland has been added
- I've changed the legend text for the impassables so there is no overlapping, and the Danube/Alps names have been removed
- The British Isles have been nudged about and enlarged to help the army numbers fit
- Ocean routes have been tweaked, and some overlapping dots have been taken out (which is why some looked bigger)
- The label line to Liechtenstein has been moved to go the the army number
- Army numbers have been shuffled around in various places - the Greek one now covers the land-peninsular
- The Balkan region has been made a shade darker again to help differentiate the colours
- The bonus for the Hellenics has been upped to +2
Draft 23
- Following my request to qwert for feedback about the Balkans area, the borders have been redrawn and look a lot better now
- I've added an attack route from England to Netherlands (good suggestion MarVal)
- I've tweaked the legend for the med island bonus to read "any 5 med islands +3", so hopefully that is clearer now
- A similar note has been added to the bottom-right corner
- The colours of Central Europe/Benelux have been swapped, and West/Balkans have been made a bit darker. I've looked at a greyscale version, and the different colours are more distinguished/discernable now
- Army numbers have been put all over the map
- Liechenstein now has a tiny little line to connect it to its label and army number
- I also got rid of a strange shadow that had appeared at the top of the map (that nobody seemed to notice)
Draft 22
-All the army shadows are now white
-I have adjusted the colours on the legend very slightly, and muted the colours a bit
-The Balkans have been redrawn to look a bit more accurate, although there is still some distortion there.
Draft 21
- Adjusted legend text on Africa so it doesn't overlap.
- Tweeked main ledgend - given a bit more space for the impassables
- Unhidden the Alps
Draft 20
- Albania/Serbia border made clearer
- Croatia/hungary border made clearer
- Changed ne to nl
- Tweaked the colours of Benelux/Hellenic States and the Ocean in the background
- Moved the title into the sea above Norway
- Made minimap bigger and clearer and removed territory lines
- Sorted out legend text alignment
- Redrawn ocean routes
- Redrawn Andorra / Monaco / Gibraltar
- Added the label 'Russia' to Kaliningrad - to define the Kaliningrad/Russia attack rule (Russia also borders Poland and Lithuania)
Draft 19
- The legend has been reworked - I think it's easier to read, and the title fits the style of the rest of the map
- The Med Islands colouring is sorted (I hope), and I've added in another key at the bottom.
- I've modified the style of the territory names, and I think they look a bit more balanced, and seem a bit smoother
- The name/shadow on Corsica has been tweaked to make it more visible
- The texture in the background has been fiddled a bit.
Draft 18c
-The oranges have been tweaked to make them a bit more different.
-I've moved the label for Iceland
-The text on the key (bottom left) should be easier to read, but still not too 'in your face'
Draft 18b
-I've put army shadows on all territories. What do people think about the mix of light/dark shadows?
-The borders in the transcontinental region have been redrawn slightly to make them more uniform, and help the names/numbers fit.
-Grrece/Crete/Cyprus are now Hellenic states, in a slightly paler blue than the Balkans.
-I have 'unhidden' the territory names. I like the font, but am not convinced by the shading. I would welcome some thoughts on this
-Some of the ocean routes now overlap the land, where I have moved some borders around - I'll change these later.
-The legend still needs to be reworked slightly - this will incorporate any discussion about region bonusses.
Draft 18a
-I have added some texture and toned down the colours a little in the process.
-Territory and region borders have been redrawn to help the numbers fit - particulalry the Balkans
-I've been experimenting with army shadows, and am toying between the two on this version, although I think I may use both, depending on the colour of the background.
-You may notice that I've merged Caucasus into the transcontinental region (Georgia et al will remain on this map.. those regions consider themselves European, and they compete in European football and Eurovision, so they'll be staying
)-I've still got to sort out Cyprus; I'll develop the Hellenic states shortly.
-Greenland has been redrawn, although I still think it looks a little out of place.
-Territory names are absent from this update as I'm still experimenting with fonts/blending options - I haven't quite got the look/style right yet.
-I am aware that the legend needs updating.
Draft 17 Unpublished
Draft 16
- Following the results of the Balkan region poll, I have redrawn the borders in this area.
- I have enlarged the physical land area, moving Greece and a bit of Turkey slightly South; this distortion has given slightly more space, which will help me fit all the currently recognised Balkan States here with enough room for 3-digit numbers.
- Some of the borders are a bit 'jaggedy', but this is just a quick update; I will refine these in due course.
- The Balkan States will be referenced on the map with numerals. In the XML, they will either be '1. Slovenia', or 'Slovenia (1)', for example.
Draft 15 (small version)
Draft 15 with army numbers
- Major graphical update!
- Borders completely redrawn
- Region colours changed around
- Country names - changed font and blending
- Greenland added in an inset box (thanks for the suggestion Ruben/Viking)
- Gibraltar has been removed (temporarily)
- Kosovo will not be on this map
- Territory groupings decided
- The legend has been completely revamped
- Work now taking place on the small version of the map
- Map title changed to Europa
Drafts 13/14 Unpublished
Draft 12
-Made Monaco Bigger
Draft 11
The big changes I've made are:
-I've drawn in the Alps
-Splintered Mainland Italy into a continent
-Switched some continent colours around
-Updated the Continent names and provisional bonuses
There're plenty of minor tweaks I've made, including:
-I've redrawn several bits of border; including Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Armenia and Siciliy
-Adjusted sea routes
-Wrote 'To Do' on the minimap
-Thought about extra Med Islands bonuses, and put an explanation on the map
Draft 10
Draft 10 with Army Numbers
-Added army 'shadows'
-Put up a draft with numbers on.
-Toned down the land texture.
Draft 9
-All of Turkey is back on the map, and I've taken out the 'European' bit of the name from Turkey and Russia. I think this brings more clarity to the Transcontinental group, which I want to keep how it is. (The grey bit next to Russia is Kazakhstan, and not Russia)
-Corrected spelling of Liechtenstein
-Redrew the border of Croatia so that it borders Montenegro on the coastal side
-Moved the label for the River Danube, and touched-it-up a bit in Hungary
-Added a texture to the land as Gimil suggested, but I really don't like it.
-I've played around with the continent groupings quite a bit, and have added Benelux added in as another small continent. I wanted to break Italy from the Meditteranean Islands, so have included it in with Central Europe. This was suggested by someone (tim02 possibly?) way back somewhere where I can't find it. This rearrangement makes Central Europe slightly more defendable, as well as potentially clarifying/resolving the continent names for West, Central, and Eastern Europe.
Draft 8
-Put Greece into Balkans
-Seperated European Turkey from the Asian bit of Turkey, and removed the border from the grey bit of Asia
-I've added a Crete/Malta sea route to help gameplay
-Updated the 'continent' names on the legend.
-Redrawn the Hungarian bit of the River Danube so it looks vaguely bridgey
-Drawn (very badly) the Alps as an impassable from Italy to Central Europe.
-Changed some colours very slightly where they didn't quite match
Draft 7
-Removed Army Circles
-Moved Territory names, and added some sea names
-Added slight glow to names
-Added River Danube as impassable between Central/East/Balkans, and moved Romania/Moldova to Eastern Europe
-Merged Meditteranean Islands into the Med Continent
-Changed the colouring on European Turkey
-Adjusted the sea route from Georgia
-Changed the continent blending options.
-Added Kaliningrad(Russia) territory name and colour (brown)
-Redrew Azerbaijan border to include the exclave South of Armenia
Draft 6
-I've made the Faroe Islands a smidgen bigger so that the purple shows up better.
-The borders around Monaco have been tidied/cleaned to make that a bit clearer
-I have redone a few borders in the Balkans (Bosnia/Montenegro/Albania) to help clarify what connects to what
-Some names/circles have been moved to help avoid 3-digit-overlapping
-The opacity on the army circles has been reduced, and I've added a dark tinge to help them show up on pale areas
Draft 5
-Added book/atlas image to legend
-Checked legend colours
Draft 4
-Rejigged the colours closer to how I preferred them originally.
-Updated the legend with a new style, and tentative bonuses
-Added and upgraded the ocean routes
-Moved some army circles and territory names
Draft 3
-Amended Legend Colours
Draft 2
-The non-playable areas are greyed out
-Map/Curvature lines have been added (this explains the funny UK/Spain angles)
-Meditteranean islands added
-Territory names moved, and some boundaries moved (particularly in Balkans)
-Some territory names abbreviated, and a key of these added
-Colours changed to show possible continent/sub-continent bonuses
Draft 1
