Arch Cove
Creator: FrostyChill || First Published: 02/27/2018 || Players: 2 || Size: 15x10
Categories: None
Rating: 0 in 0 ratings
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Comments:
FrostyChill (02/27/2018 07:07pm):
Leave some feedback about what you think of this small map and what could be improved!
Xmo5 (02/28/2018 10:48am):
Cool map, FrostyChill :P

As far as feedback goes, I would suggest making most of the starting properties neutral.
The infantry FTA counter assumes that each player has 2 bases and that both bases will
build an infantry on Day 1. Therefore, giving a single infantry to the second player gives
them a half-turn head start, which helps to balance the fact that they move second. By
adding additional income at the beginning, there's a good chance on of the players will
build a recon, APC, artillery, or even tank, which means the infantry counter isn't really
addressing the issue. In contrast, it could be making it worse by allowing CI to
comfortably buy a tank on Day 1, knowing that they already have an infantry that can go
capture the neutral base. BD can't make that same call without sacrificing a turn in
capturing their neutral base.

Also, with respect to the neutral bases, it's generally considered bad form to have them
too close together. You have them far enough apart that units can't reach the enemy base
in their first move, which is good, but it still feels a bit close. I think that maybe
moving them up and over one square, behind the mountain, would help a good bit.

One last piece of advice I'll leave you with: It's a little difficult to implement on this
map because of the size and layout, but it's much more balanced to have multiple battle
fronts. The reason for this plays into the FTA counter logic I gave you above. Basically,
when the second player gets the half-turn head start, it should apply to one area of the
map, which leaves them a half-turn behind on the other area of the map and, ideally, both
areas of the map are equally important to the outcome of the match, leaving neither player
"ahead" overall. If we imagine a map like this one, but with a smaller lake in the middle
and a land battle at the bottom, you could see how CI might be ahead in the bottom battle
by half a turn and behind in the top battle by half a turn. With the current setup, the
whole battle takes place in the same area, so it's difficult for a half-turn head start to
be functionally different than either no head start or a full day head start, depending on
how you position the infantry. Here, capturing the neutral base is what will determine who
is "ahead", and you can only either capture it first or second because AW is turn based.
If you had a second front with a neutral base (or something else) on the bottom, one
player could capture the base on top first and the other player could capture the tower
and/or airport on the bottom first.

Anyway, like I said, that last bit is hard to implement here because of the layout of the
map, but it's good advice to keep in mind when designing future maps. :)



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