New map - West Berlin, British Sector

[Mad Russian]

That's a tremendous example of what can be done with the maps.

Good Hunting.

MR

[CapnDarwin]

Speechless. Really. Awesome falls short on this map.

[MikeGER]

ORIGINAL: Capn Darwin
Speechless. Really. Awesome falls short on this map.

+1

You guys should thing about hiring The Plodder for the sub-project 'artistic'-map-design part of the Southern game.[:D]

because he is the one, who picks up exactly where the vanilla game maps stop.
He magically add a third dimension to landscape and objects in a natural way, which is mandatory for quick evaluation of tactical situation,
but without overloading it, or moving away to a different 'art direction'-style to far from Mad Russians vanilla art directing decision and nice color scheme
And so its a crossover, which keeps the 'boardgame hexagon map - heritage and charm' of the vanilla and somehow adds 'a tabletop-feeling' to it, without moving to far into 'realistic map download from a GIS'

I made a (non statistical relevant [;)]) test and played 'Time to Dance' on 3 different maps, ..and had the best result (and the Flow [:)]) on Plodder's map
I cant explain it 'scientifical'? ...its the 3D-terrain, the city vs. suburbs, vs. field vs. wood hex art that somehow have let me pick the right spots for the right units with quick intuitive gut-decisions (no LOS or Map values checks or even TOT calcs and waypoint time adjustments n'such - just play!)

The Berlin map will be a blast [&o]

[Phoenix100]

+1 there Mike. But all the same superlatives should be applied to William's work too, I think. I think OTS would need to hire them both!!! This berlin map looks astounding (even though I hate that I can still see the hexes and wish The Plodder would leave them out!). So does William's NTC map (in another thread), though they are different approaches. The NTC map achieves a highly realistic feel, I think. Love them both. Major improvements on the vanilla graphics. Thanks The Plodder. Fantastic work.

[MikeGER]

Yes, Wlliam too [:)]

his NTC map is outstanding too [&o]
...a different approach, a different 'game-feeling' ...a military hard boiled one[8D]

but i would like to see how a 'German map' would look like in that "NTC-satmap style"
i fear that only works well in a desert landscape with not so much features
and i have to admit, even so i am used to height-lines and using topographic maps in 1:25000 i need longer 'to read' the terrain

[harry_vdk]

This style of maps plays very good and this map is a peace of art.

[Phoenix100]

but i would like to see how a 'German map' would look like in that "NTC-satmap style"

I second that!!!

It's certainly true that Plodder's maps are a work of art, all of them, and VERY easy to read.

[WildCatNL]

Hi Plodder,

are you considering adding the railroads (as decorative element)? I know it's a pet peeve of mine, but it adds character and an easily recognized element to the map.
The main rail road runs through in Eastern/Western direction through Spandau and along the Spree after crossing the Havel, as you are well aware.

For reference, my Braunschweig map features rail roads.

Good luck completing the map. And, with 2.03-2.05 use 193,193,193 as color for the roads so the Map Values scanner sees them (192, 192, 192 doesn't work).

William

[Mad Russian]

The problem is the time it takes them to hand create one of those maps. They are great one map at a time. Not so great when you need more than 10 and you need them by the end of next month. That's the biggest drawback to getting a graphics person at the moment. Their amount of free time to work on the maps.

And the extra cost to you gamers, which you've said you are willing to pay.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Plodder]

ORIGINAL: W1ll14m

Hi Plodder,

are you considering adding the railroads (as decorative element)? I know it's a pet peeve of mine, but it adds character and an easily recognized element to the map.
The main rail road runs through in Eastern/Western direction through Spandau and along the Spree after crossing the Havel, as you are well aware.

I have thought about it but I think the map is going to be visually busy enough as it is with landmarks etc. I'll have a look again when I'm near completion.

Good luck completing the map. And, with 2.03-2.05 use 193,193,193 as color for the roads so the Map Values scanner sees them (192, 192, 192 doesn't work).

Thanks. [:)] When I tried the test map, it seemed to work fine for me. I had to save the map and reload first but the road net popped up nicely.

[Plodder]

Back to work today so didn't get a huge amount done.It'll probably be small amounts done each day as I'm working for the next 6 days..

[Plodder]

I had to re-jig some of the water hexsides after I worked out there were a few hexside obstacle ID conflicts.I also managed to get the Westend and the Olympic park areas done.

[Plodder]

Close up of the new areas. The little cluster of buildings just north-west of the Olympic park is the city fighting training area and firing range:

[Plodder]

Bugger, my laptop has just died.[:@] Might be a while until I can carry on. Here's hoping it's not the hard drive and the data is ok.

[CapnDarwin]

I hope the data is all safe. Backups. Lots of backups. Good luck!

[Plodder]

I think the hard drive is ok. The the laptop will power up but all I get is a black screen. From some googling around, I think it might be the gpu has given up the ghost.

[Plodder]

Looks like I'm back in action.[:)]For how long, I don't know. The issue is the battery. I tried a solution where you leave it on for a while and then power it off then on. Seemed to do the trick.

[Plodder]

I've been making some good progress, almost everything west of the autobahn is done.Just have to do the area north of Tegel airport

[CapnDarwin]

Looking really good. Glad to see you are up and running again.

[MikeGER]

this looks very promising [:)]

...i hope you have short pulsed back-ups of progress and maybe also a spare battery mailorderd, when the one in use dies on you suddenly after giving those 'spooky early warning' signs lately