Map preview

**Shaggy1973** · March 23, 2006, 04:14 PM

Hey lads from TFT

I am really curious to see some screenies of the new huge map you guys are going to use. I think having a huge map (I mean a map with the dimensions being twice the size rather than stretching all the way to India and half of africa etc) will really help with strategic gameplay (no more sieging cities with a garrisoned army taken from one of your cities that turn, they will have to march there over a couple of turns) and make the campaign feel more immersive.... when your empire stretches from Spain to Syria it will truly feel vast!

Any chance of letting us have a cheeky early peek at some screenies before a big written preview?

**Orb** · March 23, 2006, 05:26 PM

Absolutely. The new map is being extensively researched and modified. Were are adding as many features as possible, rivers, lakes, terrain and settlement placement are all done as accurately as possible. Coastlines are my next task…and much more besides.

The map regions weighs in at 510 X 337, and currently there are about 194 settlements – but we do aim to reduce this slightly. It won’t be a siege fest tho, certain new features will see to that.

We want this to be as epic as possible, epic field battles with huge armies on an epic map! In a few weeks I’ll have enough material put together for the Interview we are doing over at rtr.org, so please check it out.

However, as a taster, here’s Syria.

**Aismov** · March 23, 2006, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by Orb

The map regions weighs in at 510 X 337, and currently there are about 194 settlements – but we do aim to reduce this slightly. It won’t be a siege fest tho, certain new features will see to that.

I would keep the settlement number close to the 199 limit since cutting down on the provinces sorta detracts from the historical flavor of the game IMHO. If you have a big map it shouldn't be a problem.

**Shaggy1973** · March 23, 2006, 05:59 PM

thx Orb

plenty of open spaces there for armies to defend. I played a little SPQR and find myself actually needing watch towers and forts - with cunning use of terrain bonuses and penalties in the EDU file and vast unbroken northern european forests in winter, means seemingly invinsible armies of romans can be ambushed and decimated. similar with deserts i expect, but my campaign hasn't reached there yet

**Zenith Darksea** · March 24, 2006, 03:17 AM

No, I used to think that, but now I'm in favour of cutting down on the number of provinces. It means that there's less to govern and more time and space to devote to proper battles and campaigns, rather than merely jumping from one city to another. However, with such a large map, and these new features that you hint at, it should be ok.

EDIT - Oh yes, and you mis-spelt 'Edessa'.

**Stuie** · March 24, 2006, 05:27 AM

Originally Posted by Zenith Darksea

No, I used to think that, but now I'm in favour of cutting down on the number of provinces. It means that there's less to govern and more time and space to devote to proper battles and campaigns, rather than merely jumping from one city to another. However, with such a large map, and these new features that you hint at, it should be ok.

Rome: Total Siege, anyone?

I agree with the less-is-more approach when it comes to cities. I haven't seen the whole map yet though, so I can't comment on the city spacing.

**Orb** · March 24, 2006, 07:56 AM

Hehe, nice catch on "Edessa"

We will need a certain amount of settlements so that non roman factions can actually develop properly and have cash to raise armies against you. Beta testing will help us decide on the appropriate amount. Currently we have all factions slots used up; one of those is tentative tho. Those factions will need more then say 2 or 3 settlements. Actually if we do decide to radically reduce the amount of settlements then we can always use spawn_army to assist those factions, thus negating the need for lots of cities. We'll see. I kind of like the aesthetic side too.

However i also want to introduce a government system (as we don't have one in B.I) - similar in some respects to EB, for example we are going to have four (possibly more) types of government buildings which provide varying levels of recruitment and bonuses. So we will need a certain amount of settlements to realise this. There will be some management involved - balancing the management side and the "epic battle" side are key - four turns per year will help. What is central to Both the Marius & Sulla campaigns is the social war, anyone who knows anything about the social knows how complex it was. We are going to try and emulate that as well.

Well enough, i'm giving away to many details!

@ Stuie - To see the map just go to the "campaign map" > "FRRE REGIONS" thread in our forum, comments will be very welcome as it took a lot of time to capture screenshots of the map :wink:

**Stuie** · March 24, 2006, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by Orb

@ Stuie - To see the map just go to the "campaign map" > "FRRE REGIONS" thread in our forum, comments will be very welcome as it took a lot of time to capture screenshots of the map :wink:

I know, but that's not the WHOLE map. Screenshots can only do so much. However, I should have BI by the end of the day today.

**Shaggy1973** · March 24, 2006, 03:45 AM

perhaps you could cut down on the movement range of armies, and their view distance, and with four turns per year would help to space cities more? Many provinces tends to lead to steamroller effect, but as TFT begins with a matured empire this isnt such an issue.

**Orb** · March 24, 2006, 08:40 AM

Right, it's not the whole map, it's about 80% of it. Areas like the steppes are going to be looked at later as it's less important to the mod. Anyways later you'll get to see the real thing!