New Large Map Latus

[Thrall]

This is a map made using mostly photoshop. It has been play tested somewhat, but it's not perfect. Unfortunately I am very lazy and I am easily distracted by other projects so it will likely never be at the level I want it. Because of the shear size I have had to split it up into different archives in order place it here on the forums and not have to go through megaupload or rapidshare. Comments are appreciated and I will try to fix things a little as they are reported.

Here is a lovely preview
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6384/latuspreviewix5.jpg

[Thrall]

The other part of the map

[Ballbarian]

All I can say is wow. This is one of the most original maps that I have seen graphically and conceptually. It is obvious that you have invested a lot of thought and creativity in this project. I look forward to exploring the world of Latus.

Again... ...wow... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Daynarr]

Wow!

[Alderanas]

can you put them in to a zip file plz

[Ballbarian]

Alderanas,
If you are a windows user, you can download a trial version of WinRAR from here:
http://www.rarlab.com/

(It used to be shareware with a nag screen after the trial was over. Not sure if that is still the case in newer versions or not.)

[Agrajag]

You could also try 7z, it can open all common compression files, has awesome compression if you use its own format, and if someone decided to post a .7z file because they are smallest, you'll still be able to open those http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PvK]

Wow, that looks extremely cool and interesting!

[Sombre]

636 provinces.

Hmm. When you download the rars you might need to rename the second one so it has the same name as the first one, only with .part2.rar instead of .part1.rar

I know I did.

Very cool map. Far too big for me but I'm sure some people here will complain it's too small :]

[PvK]

Wow, that is an extremely lovely, detailed, and interesting map!

Looks far more impressive when loaded into the game than in the numbnail, too. Very interesting design of the lands and everything I've seen so far.

I started a game as Lanka and appropriately started in the realm of blood. Looks like many of the regions there have no independent armies. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not.

[Humakty]

Wow, just what I needed. There were only two maps of the size I love (GoG & Faerun), it fills a gap !
I'll playtest and report soonish if I find anything.

[QXel]

Wow!

Agreed with Ballbarian! Very original.

I'll downloaded it when I'll be back home.

[WraithLord]

This map looks, well, awesome!

Thank you Thrall.

[WraithLord]

After playing a bit with the map I must make an apology, the map is not awesome, it is AMAZING!

It is so detailed, must have been some looong time in the making.

One of the best maps I've seen.

[Edratman]

What am I doing wrong? I've downloaded both files twice and both times I only get half the map. The map file seems okay (actually quite clever) but the TGA file is nt complete.

[WraithLord]

You should change the name of the 2nd file. It contains a number that should be the same as in first file (IIRC, change last digit 9 to 8).

[Edratman]

Thank you WraithLord, that did the trick.

Beautiful map. I can see that a lot of time and talent went into it.

[Humakty]

"Edited cause I just learned how to read" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

[Thrall]

Okay after downloading my own map file I discovered that when I uploaded it the sever it added that long string of numbers to the front of it. I hate split archives...

Anyways to anyone else who gets an error when trying to extract the Rar file just rename 616799-Latus.part2 to 616798-Latus.part2

Unfortunately re-uploading the file wont help in this case.

To those who can't open Rar files you can get a free trail version of the Rar extractor here http://www.rarlab.com/

I have worked with 7-Zip files before, but I could not compress the archive below 30 megs (which is the max a single post could take) so I decided to go with Rar format instead.

[Gandalf Parker]

I will also add a kudos in order to motivate more work from you. This is a wonderful map. Thanks.

[Panpiper]

Utterly gorgeous Thrall, I offer you a thousand thanks you's.

[Wauthan]

Insaniawsome! /threads/images/Graemlins/icon44.gif

And just in time for the updated SemiRandom. Meh, wasn't planning on sleeping tonigth anyways. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Thrall]

Okay just a quick fix. Paste it over the old Latus.map. For those who wanted to play the Lanka a #feature "Damned Merchant" was overriding the starting sites and forces. I will probably go back later and try to add some independent forces to Cruento. Its funny because whenever I played my own map I always got bored and quit playing before I ever got to the outer worlds so I never noticed.

[Horst F. JENS]

amazing map !

[PashaDawg]

Holy Cow! Great map! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Humakty]

The provinces 417 & 398 aren't connected. It seems they should be.
Gorgeous map.

[Zeldor]

I will check for all missing neighbours and indies http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif But at last someone knows how to make proper size maps!

[PvK]

Is it intentional for 192 & 215 to start with no independent army?

Edit: Hmm, maybe they didn't. I see Mictlan started near there and then vanished perhaps due to dominion evaporation.

[Aezeal]

Hmm lovely map. Not played yet though.. is it balanced enough for a MP game?

[Thrall]

Fixed the neighbor between 417&398. Double checked 192 & 215 and they are fine. As for being balanced for Multi Player I highly doubt it. For true multi player balance I would have to remove all specific starts that are located on the outer worlds since whoever controlled the sub worlds would have a massive amount of gems. Those who start closest to the sub worlds would have the advantage. I am also not sure how the Fleets would affect balance either since whoever controlled the fleets would wield a tremendous advantage in mobility. The best bet would be to make an alternate Latus.map file that would be geared toward multi player. Suggestions for possible multi player balances would be welcome.

[Alderanas]

hmm well i have a mac so i cant download rar files my computer only downloads zip and dmg files.

[Ballbarian]

WinRAR has a version for the Mac as well.
I have no idea if this is the best choice, but I bet there are other utilities available for the Mac as well.
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

[PvK]

One idea is the Sub-Worlds could get strong thematic defenders throughout, rather than at the portals. Otherwise the portals can be bypassed e.g. by Stealth. Still if the sub-worlds are worth it, people will teleport and cloud trapeze in SC's...

Another idea is fixed balanced placement locations and victory locations might be able to make it more balanced.

Another is to to make the Sub-Worlds less worth conquering, or the rest of the provinces more worthy of conquest, somehow.

Just some thoughts.

[Zeldor]

Gateways can get a big amount of chaff so they detect stealthy armies. And there is no way to prevent people from cloud trapezing or teleporting.

[PvK]

I don't think independents ever Patrol or detect sneaking units or even armies.

[Alderanas]

ahh ok thanks Ballbarian ill try it.

[Zentar]

Alderanas said:
ahh ok thanks Ballbarian ill try it.



I haven't been able to use this map on my mac even with the trial download, but I appreciated your suggestion Ballbarian. The map thumbnail, at the top of this thread, looks good though.

[Gandalf Parker]

Independents can patrol outside a castle now.

Im wondering if I should unRar this map and zip it on my server for other people who dont particularly want to add rar to their machine.

[Endoperez]

Gandalf Parker said:
Independents can patrol outside a castle now.




Are you sure? I thought they could be only made to defend the province as well as the castle, but not find stealthy units.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ahh you are right. I keep forgetting because the reason I so strongly wanted patrollers was so that you couldnt take the castle with a scout (all the defenders inside). You did find a way to put defenders outside (which I heartily thank you for) but not as patrollers. Thats still on the mapper wishlist.

[Thrall]

If someone could zip and host the file that would be great. The only reason I use the Rar format is because winRar can split archives easily.

[Agrajag]

So can 7z http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
(And yes, it allows splitting to archives even when archiving to .zip files)

From what I remember of Winrar, it even works in exactly the same way.

[PvK]

Some (all?) of the rocky "asteroid" provinces have no terrain - they look like they might want to be mountain terrain, no?

Edit: Never mind - they are mountains - I just didn't realize the forces I were moving were all mountain folk or fliers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

Apparently I was accidentally right the first time. Indepts can patrol.

There are two methods. One for getting out-of-the-castle defenders. And one for PD as far as catching scouts.
Using the #defence on indept provinces will catch stealthy units.

[PvK]

This Latus map could use that Indy Defense to catch stealthy armies trying to sneak past the guardian provinces to reach the outer worlds.