It is a very nice-looking map!

thanks!

No it isn't. It looks like it was made in paint.

There's a very distinct look that Dip variants should have...
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=34
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=72
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=12

http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=81

Thanks Chaqa, your comment has been noted and completely disregarded!

I don't like that variant either, because it has the same look. It looks like a kid drew it with a crayon.

Well then don't play the map. Goodbye

@Chaqa- It doesn't matter what your opinion of maps are, you can like or dislike any map you choose. I too have maps I dislike greatly. However, It is not necessary to sit there and say negative things about his map for the design of it when all he is trying to do is get players to test it for him. I do agree, it isn't the best drawn map in the world. But it does still look pretty good. " It looks like a kid drew it with a crayon." Is a bit rude and a large exaggeration, and IMHO, very unnecessary...

@Firehawk- I won't play in your test game(as I will forget to get on the site and check the moves) but when it is finally on the site here, I will gladly play a game on your map. Looks pretty good :)

The thing about the mapstyles you like Chaqa is that they work for small maps but aren't so good for large ones. And well, all maps are drawn in something similar to paint. I used GIMP-2 for Europa 1939. The actual colours aren't part of the map anyway though, that's a separate CSS file. When you draw the map, every territory is a different colour.

It looks like a great map, though as butterhead mentioned i'll probably forget to input orders

i can remind u guys w/ a pm a day on vdiplomacy if that would be helpful

I'd actually be interested but unfortunately I have finals to study for :( I look forward to it coming to the site :)

ok i joined though could you remind me if i dont have orders in?

@TH91: I can remind you, don't worry.
@everybody: Only 2 more spots!

yep

ok thanks! Looks like a lot of fun.

2 more players needed!

The game is full and has begun!

Senegambia? Really?

"Senegambia" was a term used by the British for the area in days of yore, and in the 20th century at some point the two countries actually had a federation of sorts, using that name

Thank you very much for your work, Firehawk :)

Your variant seems very interesting ! And yes : it is a very nice-looking map !

Looks fine to me. I think that anyone that puts in the time to drawing maps should be commended. Is there a resource somewhere that advises how to build/draw maps? Is there a standard format or convention?

Wow. I didn't know that, and I used to live in the Gambia.

I love the map and setting! I am looking forward to see it in action!

@ScubaSteve

GIMP 2 or Paint.Net are the resources we tend to use. Every land province has to be a unique colour, and the names/sc's have to be on a separate layer as in the end you want them to be separate png's. The rest of the names file is white (255 255 255) because that is recognised as transparent. The insides of the supply centres icons have to be 254 254 254 so they aren't set to transparent.

Eg. for the classic variant:
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants/Classic/resources/smallmap.png
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants/Classic/resources/smallmapNames.png

And then for the large map:
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants/Classic/resources/map.png
http://vdiplomacy.com/variants/Classic/resources/mapNames.png

Don't forget to make your moves guys!

The map looks great Firehawk. @Chaqa, if it wasn't for guys like Firehawk willing to put their time and effort in creating these variants we would be stuck playing the same one over and over. Like they do on the OTHER site.

Hellenic Riot, Are there any tutorials out there?

http://www.vdiplomacy.com/wiki/

@Firehawk, for other games besides the test game. Will the russian army be put in as it isn't currently?

lol in one of the test games the bots are Pokemon

Gotta catch em all!

Thanks cap!

yes i screwed up the start, in the future the russians will get an army in Omsk, and yeh, you've gotta have some kind of theme for 9 different accounts!

If only there were 7, then it could be the harry potter series :p

Is it just me, or does this look like half of the Imperial II map with new SCs in Africa?

the outline is from imperial, but the territories are different (except for australia).

Yeah, I really like Imp II, and this looks quite interesting with the addition of Italy as a slightly minor power.

Criticisms:
Please conform to the normal style guide, at least partially. Borders are excessively thick. The fleet/army icons are nice however.
Holland doesn’t stand a chance of holding its home territories, and the colonies shouldn’t function without it – you are basically making a Indonesia faction at the moment.
Impassable sea to the North of Russia needs to be black.
Germany should be at a massive disadvantage in terms of colonising Africa; currently it is the dominant force along with Britain.
Is Suez a province here? Or part of Levant? Unclear
More Pacific islands for Japan to conquer please, such as Guam.
North Korea (Pyongyang) is inaccurately named Seoul, and South Korea is named Fus?
Japan shouldn’t connect to the Northern Russian territory by land. One of the reasons Japan was never invaded was because of the difficulties of sea crossings.
Caspian Sea should either be a province or be blacked out.
The Blacked out region NW of Iceland looks ugly, just extend those sea regions to the edge of the map.
I would like the Nile to be drawn in Egypt, personal preference. I think it’s more important than the lakes you’ve included in southern Africa, for example.

And most importantly...
SPAIN!!
I can’t believe you’ve made a “colonial” map without Spain. Spain being one province makes no sense – compared to France next door. Spain should consist of at least 2 provinces, but a Spanish player could include Spanish Sahara, and a Gibraltar-esque part of Morocco, Madrid and a North/South province.

I think I can fix your Holland/Africa problem with one move. Give Holland Belgium and call it 17 Provinces (?). Also, even though it isn't quite historically accurate, give that congo SC to them as well. it will make GB, Germany, and Holland fight for Africa.

Africa should be largely fought between Britain and France, with Italy as a smaller 3rd contender, and then the Dutch, then Germany. Germany really had a limited involvement in Africa. Although I do support Belgium to Holland.

ok first things first, I don't understand why all maps have to conform to the same style, why can't we have some originality?
The issue with Holland in Europe is the same as it is in Imperial II, and there isn't much room for change past combining Holland and Belgium, which was too historically inaccurate for my liking.
Obviously Britain was completely dominant in Africa at this time, but saying Germany was weaker than Holland just isn't true. The Germans had a few important colonies, Holland actually didn't really even have the Transvaal. If this was realistic, I'd give half the world to Britain and call it a day.
I'll try and fix the ambiguity about suez, it's actually part of Cairo, which acts similarly to Constantinople.
More islands might overpower Japan a bit but I'm not sure.
Seoul and Fusan are named in the same way as they are in Colonial Diplomacy and the island connection is mostly for balance.

oh and on Spain. They had next to no power by this point and Spain acts in the same way it did in classic diplomacy.

i'm open to removing the land bridge from japan to sakhalin, but i'd like to get some trial games done b4 hand. I'll get back to you on these changes

"If this was realistic, I'd give half the world to Britain and call it a day."

You've actively made Germany the equally most powerful force in Africa, if anything France should be. Germany is not strong in Africa.

Seoul and Fusan are incorrect, this is regardless of Colonial Diplomacy.

Do you not think France is strong enough? They've got a lot of free supplies which I thought might allow them to dominate west africa. In terms of Germany, 1885 is a turning point in Africa's history, directly after the Berlin Conference and the beginning of the Scramble for Africa. At this point no country owned a substantial amount in Africa. I was hoping the map would give lots of countries a fair amount of power to simulate the scramble for power. I'm not sure Pyongyang was very important... i can move the territory slightly south to fully encompass where seoul is. Remember there was no north and south korea at this point so i'm just trying to make their 2 most important cities supplies.