BattleDome
Creator: Saberuneko || First Published: 12/29/2015 || Players: 8 || Size: 40x40
Categories: None
Rating: 5.50 in 2 ratings
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Comments:
Saberuneko (12/29/2015 07:50am):
Just some test on making a map. I'm almost certain it's not balanced... tips are appreciated.
Bamboozle (12/29/2015 06:44pm):
I like the intention of the FTA counter -- good to be trying to fix it on a large multiplayer map like this -- but it's not
completely balanced here. The established ratio is for every two preowned bases, you put a preowned infantry
on one of them. If there's just one preowned base, you would put a preowned city near the opponent base
which would provide a small fund boost to offset FTA until that city is captured. But for an 8 player map like this
that could get convoluted really quickly, so I'd recommend starting each country with two preowned bases and
giving the later-turn countries a preowned infantry. Depends on how you want the map to be played early-game
of course, but that would be a relatively easy fix to the rather complex problem the map has right now.

Apart from that it's pretty good for a starter map, although you would have to consider that the cluster of center
properties will form a giant orgy of squabbling and stalemates. Generally putting production facilities in clusters
in contested areas will be very bad for gameplay, especially here where any air units could be easily 1-shot by
anti-airs on the center bases, or by other air units on the neighboring airport. The comtower and lab placements
are also pretty problematic as one will almost always be strictly better than the other and certain countries are
closer to the tower/lab than others. Usually, contested high-value properties being so close to each other will
result in certain players just blitzing and getting there first to win the game, which'll leave other countries in the
dust if they try to use an alternate strategy. Preferably, you would want to encourage different ways to succeed
without always rushing the middle ground and hoping your infantry gets there first. City placement could also
use some changes; there aren't many choices except going straight towards the center to capture cities,
beyond which are bases and other high-value properties you may or may not get. There's also not much room
to fall back if you fail some battles and are being pushed on the defensive except that line of cities, and if you try
to fight back, the base is a long ways away. I would also lighten up on the silos as they would likely just
stalemate an already trench-like war over the center.

Multiplayer maps, 8-player maps in particular, are really hard to balance right with all of these objectives, so
don't sweat if you feel it's unbalanced. Playtesting and getting a feel for what works and what doesn't is key to
any aspect of mapmaking. Hope this helped in some way :)
Saberuneko (12/29/2015 10:54pm | Edited: 12/29/2015 10:56pm):
Thanks a lot for the comments! I was about to make a test-play on this map, to re-touch it
after testing it! Let's see if I manage to make it a bit more balanced and open about
choices on the next try. :)

By the way, is there any way to clone an existing map? I'd like to keep this one as backup
while I work on a new version of it, just in case I want to start over from this point.
Bamboozle (12/30/2015 03:25am):
Unfortunately there isn't, the easiest way (while still not being very easy) would just be to screenshot the original
and undo your edits. If you use an off-site mapmaker you can save maps as files which you can then upload to
AWBW, which may fit what you're looking for.
Shadow Star (12/30/2015 10:37pm):
I'm going to make the arguement that fta is countered without the infantry. the later 4 countries are able to build an
infantry on turn 1 and then start capturing a city on turn two while building another infantry on turn 2. starting to
capture their second city on turn 3 and finishing capture of the first city on the same turn. the corner countries (the
first four) are offset just slightly so that they don't finish capturing their second city until turn 4 just due to it being 1
extra space away.
Bamboozle (01/01/2016 08:24pm):
That's true, although that point is offset by the fact that the countries without FTA infantries are much further away
from the bases in the center and fundamentally wouldn't be able to compete with a rush there. Even without that
aspect, one base per country with certain countries having predeployed infantries will cause some problems
invariably. It's just a large advantage to get a whole turn's worth of infantry for a single base start.
Dreadnought (01/01/2016 08:34pm):
They only look further away but if you count it out the center bases are 18 tiles worth of movement from every
country's preowned base but I agree that the preowned infantry causes sta
Bamboozle (01/02/2016 07:21am):
oops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That's new year's me for ya
But yeah regardless for a single base scenario a preowned inf will cause balance issues just because the
advantage of the extra turn's worth of a unit in the early game can be abused.



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