UPDATED: Alexander 350BC

NinjaWolfHybrid

@thedog its for solo or pvp. I don't know anything about .yml files.

Factions are Maya, Gaul, Rome, Carthage, Macedon, Persia, Nanda and Qin.
EDIT - Gaul removed but I left the unit images in case someone wants them.

TheDog

Here is your map.yml

map_name: Alexander350
games:
- {game_name: 'Alexander350', file_name: Alexander350.xml}

.
and one for your middle earth with another xml

map_name: middle_earth
games:
- {game_name: 'Lord of the Rings: Middle Earth', file_name: middle_earth_12player.xml}
- {game_name: 'Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring by TheDog', file_name: Lord_of_the_Rings_War_of_the_Ring.xml}

NinjaWolfHybrid

@thedog thank you, I'll look into this tomorrow.

game .zip udated with some minor fixes such as Hokkaido not having troops.

After playtesting...

Game maybe better without Gaul faction... Rome and Gaul have cursed spawn.

Carthage tends to run away with it if I let AI play, no matter how few troops I give it to start.

Historically, I'm not inclined to give Rome and Gaul ships to start... but from a gameplay standpoint, and to get the AI to play better it maybe a good idea.

So far I have won as Rome and Maya - need to add actual win conditions.

Playing as Maya especially was a click-fest. Only being able to produce 2 units per territory, and being incentivized to make 1 archer and 1 infantry, that gets to be a LOT of clicking - worse than the usual Triple-A game.

RogerCooper

It can be entertaining to superimpose an historical situation on an inappropriate map (I have done it myself). For better gampley, you may to want to check out the list of maps here, https://axisandallies.fandom.com/wiki/Category:TripleA_Maps.

I would suggest 270BC map. If you really want India and China, the Domination map would be a good starting point.

NinjaWolfHybrid

@rogercooper here is the original map I designed for it - I may implement an original map at some point, but I do not have the energy at the moment. I am very familiar with 270 BC, feel free to make modded version on that map if you like, but I think the play experience would be too similar to 270BC.

I don't think the map is "inappropriate," it's impossible to use "historically" accurate place names for every part of the world in 350BC - the main purpose of the names is orientation and education - so I think the modern names are suitable. I have removed the modern canals in Panama and Egypt.

If I was going to start over and make a new map for it - I would like to add more sea zones and slightly reduce the overall size - and go for an old-time map look. It would be nice to add lots of deserts and mountain ranges as impassible zones - although ancient armies were surprisingly capable of the seemingly impossible. Carthage is now believed to have had a secret colony in South America, for example.

NinjaWolfHybrid

@thedog I updated the post with pictures of each faction's units and starting armies.

GAME REVISED:
Gaul removed
Armies adjusted
Raft removed
Greatship movement changed to 1
Transport costs and capacities adjusted
Turn order reversed
Neutral defenders increased from 3 to 5 to slow down Carthage expansion.
map.yml file added... did I do it right?
version changed to 1.1

NinjaWolfHybrid

@thedog I think I figured out the map.yml THANK YOU. - FIXED.

Ted Self

@ninjawolfhybrid WOW!

NinjaWolfHybrid

@ted-self
THANK YOU! I did work hard on this, although I set it down for several years before programming it in Triple A this week.

NEW VERSION 1.2 (download updated)
Victory Cities added (faction capitals)
Victory Conditions added:
-Projection of power: control 4 out of 7 victory cities (conquer 3)
-Honorable victory: control 5 out of 7 victory cities (only 2 unconquered)
-Total Victory: control all 7 victory cities (including the Mayan capital!)

RogerCooper

@ninjawolfhybrid The hypothetical further conquests of Alexander the Great, doesn't really need map the includes the Americas. The starting nations have too few areas.

A map with greater detail in Eurasia and Northern Africa would seem more suitable for the topic.

On the other hand the map you have looks good.

NinjaWolfHybrid

@rogercooper thanks for the feedback!

I think an alternate version that excludes the Americas and maybe Australia could be interesting.

I can explain my thinking behind the world map.

Alexander the Great's campaigns were the inspiration for this game, but they're not required to be the focus - the game is not necessarily about recreating his campaign - I think being able to deviate from history is the whole fun of these kinds of games.

There is evidence Carthage founded secret colonies in South America; there is a blond haired Brazilian tribe that weaves the traditional hunting and fighting slingshots of the Baeleric Islands, and also wore them as headbands in the same way. A greek historian recorded that Carthage had discovered a secret land to the West.

Personally I much prefer world maps to regional ones. It feels so epic to have the possibility of "world conquest."

That said, I do have ambivalent feelings about the inclusion of the Mayans, but I do think they're "fun" - and I like setting up asymetrical starting scenarios, trying to balance starting territory and armies against positional advantage and historical realism. I could definitely see making a version that excludes the Americas, but it would make me a little sad.

Your critiques of the map are certainly valid, though, I will give some thought to making an original map or an alternate version.

For me the most exciting part might be including mountain ranges and deserts - a lot of research could go into that.

RogerCooper

@ninjawolfhybrid You should check out http://geacron.com/home-en/. Or a good historical atlas.

Ted Self

@ninjawolfhybrid Hi, I can't deal with the ships not being able to fight. I tried to give them attack and defense values but got an error message about restricted units can't have attack and defense values. Can you tell me how to get around this?

NinjaWolfHybrid

@ted-self try copy the ones from 270

NinjaWolfHybrid

@rogercooper awesome tool! I had to adjust the territories slightly to the map, but this will be useful in the future.

NinjaWolfHybrid

@ted-self or make the rafts and greatships transports and make the regular ships into a combat unit.

Ted Self

@ninjawolfhybrid Hello, well I stole your map and put Age of Tribes units and techs on it. I hope you don't mind. I have not play tested all the way to the futuristic age yet. The zip is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gh1sFPvnmK8EY6KOvaQugFQ4uZik7F_e/view?usp=sharing

NinjaWolfHybrid

@ted-self that's great. I don't mind. Today I noticed a missing connection between South China Sea and Arafura Sea.
Modern canals (Egypt, Panama) were removed from 350BC, fyi.