v4 Map Improvements

@hbg-gw-enthusiast

Good Ideas! Just for the record the game as it stands is great really appreciate all the hard work from the guys at HBG

• I wonder if Russia could be scaled down and China and Europe scaled up or skewed for more room in those areas
  -I think I would be cool to see a map with like the satellite image sort of deal like axis and and allies global with opacity where you can see the terrain and cities through the colour of the land zone - that’s probably a tall order I know
• really like the reef/ocean terrain idea
• would like to see in KaraIja I think it’s called the gulf of Finland that island where Stalin was going to set up forts and coastal guns so the Germans couldn’t get in to sink his fleet by Leningrad be playable somehow- (maybe a blow-up box) -Ive read historically Stalin’s main motivation for invading the area was to set up defenses there to protect his Baltic fleet

Any improvement that puts information you have to look up on the board in some out of the way fashion has my support.

But other then the aforementioned ones, i cant think of any other reasonable ideas. ( If we wish to include unreasonable ones, how about a map that is made out of a magnetized material?)

Can you add colors to each nation to match the pieces?

@imperious-leader That may not be the best idea as piece colour for each players piece are not consistent.

@insanehoshi Ok I’ve had a few more thoughts on this subject:

• Why do we need colours on the map at all? Everything is marked with roundels already
• on magnetizing the board if you are gluing magnets to your pieces anyway couldn’t you put the map on a piece of sheet metal or custom sized white board?
  -A narrow crossing from karalja to Estonia would acomplish the thing I mentioned earlier where if the USSR took karalja they could hide their Baltic fleet behind coastal guns built in karalja or Estonia
  -@Ghetty s visual reference sheets for the different nations should come stock with the map- if he’d agree to that -or something along the lines of what he made- they are really good and if you are trying to play this game with new players almost a must

@linkler said in v4 Map Improvements:

• Why do we need colours on the map at all? Everything is marked with roundels already

Why? Because some of us like being able to see at a glance what nations’ starting territories are? Also, memorizing roundels is hard? And colors provide greater territory distinction and a better overall effect.
We aren’t Sired Blood here.

Apologies for stepping on anyone’s toes, but I despise single color maps. It is a waste of what could have been great and just doesn’t work.

@linkler

Why do we need colours on the map at all? Everything is marked with roundels already

Im not arguing that colours should be removed, i just fail to see the point in the above suggestion. The V3 map is pretty good already in this aspect.

on magnetizing the board if you are gluing magnets to your pieces anyway couldn’t you put the map on a piece of sheet metal or custom sized white board?

This is true, however it would be cool to have an option for the map to be printed on this material.

@insanehoshi woah that is cool! even if you were still using a table it would be nice cause the pieces wouldnt fall over
@Trig not saying a colourless map ala siredblood guy more like the colour of the land zones reflecting type of terrain your ski- troop zones could be snow- coloured graphics and trees kind of thing you know etc maybe keep the nations colour outlining the original - owned land zones I get it’s kind of a personal preference thing
Speaking of trees couldn’t there be forest terrain along with the jungle? Like to see the Ardennes on there along with some of the Russian forest I’m sure that’s coming eventually anyway maybe not as soon as v4 but would be fun I think

@insanehoshi
That is a good one. Another option if you want a magnetic board is magnetic paper. I believe here is it around 10€ for 10 sheets, and a standard G40 or 3x6 map is about 30 sheets worth. It isn’t the strongest though. Metal tables are also an option. :)
@Linkler
I see your idea, personally I quite enjoy the current ascetic, and like the gradient.
On forests, I can see the idea, but it would definitely need a good purpose it, and there would be a bunch. I am designing another game with forest terrain and we are having fits trying it get it all.

I personally like the map as is. I know this is an age old debate on these forums: realistic/cool/more-more-more map vs. game playability. I certainly see and like both perspectives. Who doesn’t want an awesome map?! But I also fully understand there has to be a point where playability and/or marketing need to come into play. I think from a gaming perspective, especially when wanting to attract new players not familiar with the game (and maybe not to the era), it’s probably obvious to keep each nation a particular color. I think it’s probably easy to say this map is probably the best one we’ve seen in terms of “realism”, and I just don’t know how much more could realistically be demanded. That’s not to say things shouldn’t be fixed for clarity, I just meant on a wide scale the map is great, and minor tweaks/fixes are needed.

While forests seem like a cool idea, that’s another one that seems a bit unrealistic from a gaming perspective. You could argue that every space in Europe should have forests then, as that would be realistic. A global map of this scale just doesn’t fit having forest terrain being taken into account. Jungle is different, in my opinion. There are very specific areas of the world where jungle exist/played a part in the war. And warfare was severely changed/handicapped in those areas, for a number of reason. And this map shows that well I think. The jungle territories they have are pretty true to accuracy that essentially those entire areas are dense jungle. I don’t think you could argue that for forests. Forests would be interesting on a much more localized level game, we’re talking like each French territory being 10 territories of their own status. But that might just be me.

I also think the ship system went a bit heavy. I agree with the minor ports arguments. There are so many on the map, it almost makes sense to just say all coastal territories have the capability. I think having major and minor Shipyards/dockyards/ports was a lot too. Again, I think that in terms of overall scale. I liked having just Shipyards in Home Country, Dockyards in other areas with an IPP value, and ports just anywhere. But I might be in a minority there :)

What I would REALLY like to see is uniform color/nation sets for everything, and that they are stocked. Take the KMT as an example. Give them everything in their light green color. Planes, ships, tanks, everything. I want to have KMT militia and mountain infantry and not have to use neutral white. A CCP red everything. A neutral white everything. That’s a tall order in regards to commissioning the pieces in them actually being sold I think, but I’d love it. In a compromising world I could paint things, but time seems ever elusive for that. I also like having smaller nations shown. Been trying to make a Canadian force with the Blonde units they have, but can’t seem to get everything either in stock or all available (and again, the base game units like cavalry, militia, mountain infantry).

I just thought of another random change I might make. Nothing bug, but I would connect Anontolia to Syria and Yugoslavia to Thessaly. The first because it just works better geographically, and should have been that way to start with, and the second because Greece is hard enough to conquer already.

@trig said in v4 Map Improvements:

I just thought of another random change I might make. Nothing bug, but I would connect Anontolia to Syria and Yugoslavia to Thessaly. The first because it just works better geographically, and should have been that way to start with, and the second because Greece is hard enough to conquer already.

Yugoslavia is already connected to Thessaly.

@captainnapalm
Apparently it isn’t. Macedonia is stuck between them.

@trig said in v4 Map Improvements:

@captainnapalm
Apparently it isn’t. Macedonia is stuck between them.

According to whom?

@captainnapalm The map. Its hard to see due to the mountains.

@insanehoshi said in v4 Map Improvements:

@captainnapalm The map. Its hard to see due to the mountains.

Nigh, impossible! ;-) May be a subject for the FAQ, because I’m not buying it, otherwise.

@insanehoshi I get what you mean, but there is the same type of “line” separating Macedonia from the triple boundary of Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria