Dear Warlight Map-makers:

I was recently trying to start a series of games for a specific number of players, and, as a result, looked through Warlight maps of appropriate size.

I found that there is a serious shortage of good maps in the 590-699 territory range. There are only two "regular" maps in that range at all (others being novelty maps), and not much variety.

If you're looking to make a new map, consider trying to "plug" this hole! (There are lots of great maps in the 700-900 territory range, as well as the 400-550 range, in comparison.)

There are actually plenty of maps in this oddly specific range, not to mention a lot of variety (one of the maps is actually mine):

https://www.warlight.net/Map/7904-Suiqua

https://www.warlight.net/Map/45-Quad-Earth

https://www.warlight.net/Map/15466-Land-Kosanegrix

https://www.warlight.net/Map/8350-Belgium-Big

https://www.warlight.net/Map/20616-Civil-War


Most normal people would consider the three "different" ranges you've named all part of one range; 500-1000. I'm not sure waht kind of game your making that needs a range like 590-699. Like, 700 is just too big man.

Edited 4/8/2016 22:22:47

are you exclusively looking for real world maps?

No, I am not exclusively looking for Real World maps. I would just like to see some variety in this territory range.

While the maps linked above do exist, they are not - in my opinion - up to the same level of quality as maps in other size ranges. There is no Rise of Rome (in terms of gameplay) and no Siege of Feldmere (in terms of visual design) in that range, and if you're looking to start a game of a specific sort, there are relatively few options.

All the maps linked to so far aren't exactly popular or critically acclaimed. (Although I think Belgium and Civil War are good maps! But Belgium isn't exactly pretty, and Civil War would be a problem in any gameplay style with Blockades, where a player can just choke off the entire West. It would be nice to have some other options!)

This is not a crime, of course; we have lots of maps to choose from. I just find it interesting that designers tend to gravitate to smaller or larger maps, for the most part. It would be fun to see map designers address that void!

Edited 4/12/2016 19:46:11

Just for fun, I looked through the 50 top-rated maps, to see the distribution. My hunch was correct, I feel: designers tend to gravitate to smaller maps or larger maps.

Here are the numbers (number of maps in each range that appear in the top 50 maps):

1-100: 0
101-200: 7
201-300: 6
301-400: 8
401-500: 3
501-600: 3
601-700: 0
701-800: 5
801-900: 2
901-1000: 0
1001-1200: 1
1201-1400: 3
1401-1600: 5
1601-1800: 3
1801-2000: 1
2000+: 3

Notably, the 2000+ maps are all very similar in size (2253, 2264, 2277).

You can now see why I picked 699 as a "top range" in my earlier post: for some reason, we have a good number of maps in the 700+ range (territory count: 700, 704, 753, 761, 783), but almost nothing above and below that band.

Most successful maps fall into the 100-400 range, and then there's another concentration in the 1200-1800 range.

The middle area is somewhat neglected. No one owes it to me to fill it, of course, but if you're a map designer wondering how large your next map should be, you might find this interesting.

My all-time favourite map is Ranek's "Breaking Green" (https://www.warlight.net/Map/16938-Breaking-Green), and after playing a bunch of games with the same players on that map, we started to look for an alternative (for some variety). We had a really hard time finding another good map in a similar size to play!

That's why I started thinking about this.

Each game-mode requires different types of maps - not just size, but density, number of connections, number of dead ends, and so forth. Therefore, the more variety of maps we have on the site, the more different kinds of games can be played, and the more Warlight players will continue to evolve strategically.

Edited 4/12/2016 19:41:16

All the top rated maps really say is what people prefer to play on, not what people actually make. Personally as a map designer, my numbers look more like this:

1-100: 0
101-200: 4
201-300: 1
301-400: 2
401-500: 0
501-600: 0
601-700: 1
701-800: 1
801-900: 0
901-1000: 0
1001-1200: 1
1201-1400: 0
1401-1600: 1
1601-1800: 0
1801-2000: 0
2000+: 1

Edited 4/12/2016 20:13:09

Interesting! Glad to see you've made some 600-800-sized maps.

However, aside from that you'll notice you're also following the basic trends (mostly designing in the 100-400 bracket, with a few much large maps, 1200+). So this may be a general feature of Warlight maps... perhaps.

What's your other medium-sized map?

Edited 4/12/2016 20:41:22

Ive made 14 maps and i have no idea how many territories each have except one: The poon squad map i made has 69 territories

Imperator, what's your other medium-sized map? I have no idea...

If by medium you mean 600-800, here are my two in that range:

https://www.warlight.net/Map/21251-Game-Thrones-Known-World

https://www.warlight.net/Map/20616-Civil-War

Oh, great! Thank you. Those are two solid candidates. (Except for my issue with the massive choke points in Civil War, which limits the use of that map, I feel.)

I am aware that a lot of people don't like them too much, and I'm planning to do an update sometime.

If you're a map-maker looking to make a map, consider making it a "medium" size!

I'll make a map of that range just for you and your deployment limits games.
someday

I am working on a map with the maximum amount of territories. Although I made some maps before in the range of 750-850 and a larger one with 1700 territories. This is what I have so far:

https://www.warlight.net/Play?PreviewMap=54142

Good stuff, people!