The Nobles' Club Bullpen: Second Cycle

Ummm how about something really weird like hubs or donut?

I recall a snaking continent/maze map game once which was very interesting and refreshing.

dalamb said:

I'll make sure to put in at least one of Russia, India, or Mongolia this time; likely I can fit in two of them given that they all have multiple choices of trait combinations.

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Thanks

I vote a good old Pangaea map for the next one.

I afterall enjoy the full resources map, but peops shouldn't get the view that it's kind of normal for other kind of maps lol

thanks dalamb that you did what you did even if I at start was too negative about it.
Nice to have fun map here and there...

Upon reflection it occurs to me that occasionally putting in an easy map, to encourage Nobles to step up to Prince or Monarch, might be a good thing -- as long as I can tell in advance it's likely to be easy. Unfortunately I've not been so great at figuring such things out. The one exception I'm moderately happy with is the Huayna map last cycle, which was designed to encourage Nobles to step up to a Monarch-level Quechua rush.

Pangaea definitely for at least one map this mini-cycle, likely the first unless it turns out best to pick some leader for whom a different map type seems appropriate.

Here's a tentative schedule for the next mini-cycle:

78: Wang Kon (Fin/Pro) Jul 22
79: Kublai Khan (Agg/Cre) Aug 5
80: Asoka (Org/Spi) Aug 19
81: Cyrus (Cha/Imp) Sep 2
82: Roosevelt (Ind/Org) Sep 16
83: Peter the Great (Exp/Phi) Sep 30

Constraints in making this group are the usual (each trait once, except that every 2nd group has to replicate a trait to get all the others in) plus getting in at least 2 of India, Russia, and Mongolia. This particular group gets all 3 countries. It's OK to reorder these, except neither Agg nor Org should be first since those were Hammy's traits in #77. The first one, whoever we finally choose, will be Pangaea -- so if you think Wang Kon should have a "snaky continents" map instead (another requested map type), 'cause FIN is often good on such maps, I can reorder.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for change. In particular, should I avoid the Labour Day weekend and push the Sept 2/16/30 to Sep 9/23/Oct 7?

Maybe archipelago for Roosy so we can have some GLH spamming?

I goofed and put Asoka first, who is Org/Spi; we should delay another Org leader for a bit. I'll be posting the game late afternoon (Eastern time) so if somebody wants to recommend which of the ones listed in the first post to use, feel free. I'm inclined to do Pangaea with Cyrus.

NC 78 Cyrus is up -- good old Pangaea. I'll probably combine suggestions from Horgh666 and GGracchus to put Roosevelt on a "Snaky Continents" map, which probably counts as an ordinary map type. The suggestions we have this time for "unusual" are ring or donut and (from a while ago) lakes; let me know if anyone has preferences for one of these and, if so, whether you think it goes with any particular leader.

I had an unexpected degree of Dealing With Real Life today, so Kublai will be delayed until tomorrow (probably morning Eastern time).

NC 79 Kublai is up. I've rearranged the boilerplate somewhat and updated the first post accordingly.

I'm considering what map type to use for Wang Kon (Fin/Pro) for this Friday. The policy is now to aim for one (or at most one) "unusual" map type for each 5-6 game mini-cycle; we've had Rainforest already this round, so I need to pick an "ordinary" map type. So I started to wonder which were "ordinary" and which "unusual". Of the map types we've used, it seems to me that:

• the "ordinary" ones, those that present few strange or unusual features, are: Archipelago, Big&Small, Custom Continents, Earth 2, Fractal, Global Highlands, Highlands, Medium&Small, Pangaea, Tectonics (basic; Mediterranean is "unusual"), Terra.
• the "unusual" ones are: Arboria, Creation, Full of Resources, Great Plains, Inland Sea, Maze, Oasis, Rainforest, Ring, Shuffle, Tectonics (Mediterranean variant).

I'm pretty sure I remember a "Lakes" sometime but didn't notice it on the pass I made through all (!) the games identifying each's type. Also "Continents" is ordinary but apparently not used (or at least, if some other map-maker used it, I couldn't tell from the game's first post).

Does anyone want to suggest moving some from one category to another? There are also several map types not mentioned above, all of which I'd consider "unusual."

What about "Islands"? I'd consider that unusual but perhaps not terribly so; it seems to me that it can lead to isolated starts frequently, which are kinda tough for novices (and which used to have its own series, the Lonely Hearts Club).

If in doubt then go with Fractal, it's known to give good results most of the time. Also i guess it's the script the AI was most thoroughly tested with.

I'd put Highlands into unusual (i don't like it all that much )
If you pick it, consider putting "Watter Setting" to "Large Lakes" or "Seas", which i find gives nicer result.

Archipelago i found gives quite different results depending on what you set for "Landmass Type" [archipelago / snaky continents], maybe make a distinction here.

"Medium & small" seems comparable to"Hemispheres". So you could maybe use that one too once you run out of scripts to use.

Arboria doesn't look that unusual, a pangea variant with more straight coastlines.

Islands in it's default setting i think will give each player their own, isolated, island.

Lakes i think you should include in the unusual category. Does seem to generate some nice looking maps.

"Shuffle" is just one of (pangea / fractal / continents / archip) at random. (Says so in the map-selection when you start the game via "Play Now")


Based on my quick impressions, map script groups based on type of landmass created:

Water heavy maps
Archipelago
Archipelago - snaky continents.
Fractal (sea level med or high)
Big&Small (one bigger landmass, lots of smaller ones mostly connected together)
Tiltet Axis (this seems interesting. Instead of East/West you have a North/South passage)
Islands (each player gets his own isolated start)


Pangea type maps
Pangaea
Arboria
Global Highlands, (pangea with more mountain ranges)

Fractal with sea level low, (gives more snaky versions of pangea. Sometimes gives isolated isle / continent)


Continent maps
Custom Continents (Result is more random and varied than Continents)
Continents (2 big continents with some small islands maybe. Maybe should put this into Hemispheres Category)
Tectonics (basic; Mediterranean is "unusual")


Hemispheres (divides world into x large continents/island groups)
Medium&Small
Mirror - (wide continents, snaky continents, archipelago)
(you'll get two "hemispheres" which are the mirror images of each other)


just a lot of land, no surrounding sea
Great Plains
Highlands
Lakes -- has water mixed in --
Rainforest -- similar to lakes, but with lots of jungle
Boreal -- similar to lakes, but lots of tundra


give earth like continent config (eurasia / america)
Terra
Earth 2


Land is on a ring around the edge of map
Inland Sea
Tectonics (Mediterranean variant)
Ring
Oasis -- similar to the "ring" maps, desert instead of water in the middle -

Do you guys have any recommendations for fun, less challenging maps in the series one can use to attempt a higher difficulty? So far I've played JC, Suleiman, De Gaulle, Hammurabi, and Churchhill.

byang08 said:

Do you guys have any recommendations for fun, less challenging maps in the series one can use to attempt a higher difficulty? So far I've played JC, Suleiman, De Gaulle, Hammurabi, and Churchhill.

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Hammy. Full of Resources makes everything SO easy. A 1780 SR win on emperor is pretty good IMO.

played him already

Judging from the results of that recent Nobles Club full of resources map, any leader on that map would be strong.

Other easy combos would be:

Darius/pangea
Egypt/pangea

A fun combo is:

Boudica/pangea

byang08 said:

Do you guys have any recommendations for fun, less challenging maps in the series one can use to attempt a higher difficulty? So far I've played JC, Suleiman, De Gaulle, Hammurabi, and Churchhill.

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NC XXIV Wang Kon: easy for lower levels if you can out expand your neighbors.

NC XL Mehmed II: very unbalanced modded map. got 307 bpt at 1AD for me on monarch/normal.

NC XLVI Isabella: a nice map for rex practice, far away neighbors.

NC LV Huayna: rush a neighbor or two, maybe a couple more...

NC LXXX Wang Kon is up. Apologies for the late posting; it was a busy day. The current BOTM uses the same leader, but I scheduled this one before we knew that.

How do people feel about using the Islands map script sometime? It tends to lead to isolated starts unless the tiny in-between islands work out just right, and isolated starts mean little tech trading early on, which can make the game slower. On the other hand, and unlike some isolated starts, Islands tends to make everyone (or almost everyone) isolated, so there isn't so much of a problem with the AIs ganging up on you with tech trades.

It does have a few advantages for Nobles: no competition for what land you do have, ability to get away with just minimal defenders (just anti-barb, fairly easy with well-placed fogbusters), less worry (initially) about diplomacy (which Nobles aren't usually very good at just yet).

It won't happen this round because we already have a request for Archipelago and lots of people wouldn't want more than one "watery map" in a mini-cycle.

Opinions?

Go for it, atleast it will be different