Map IBERIA

[Cabo]

I finished and tested another map which works well.
Hope you like.

[Cabo]

Images.

[karsten]

Your map reminds me of Thomas Vincente's Spain. Spain is so mountainous, its hard to get good-looking rivers (see original rivers picture).

This reminded me of a tip by Dataman: If you paint map tile 5 with the greyscale pixels of tile 1 at the location of a river, you get a river that rises with the land.

See the river in the foreground (flat water) and the river in the back (rising with the land). You could even have a waterfall.

The trick is to have exactly the greyscale colours of the surrounding landscape for the water to flow nicely. If one had the original DEM, this might work out, with perhaps some smoothing in the editor. I used the copy tool to copy the pixels from the surrounding landscape, but this did not work out so well - producing a water mountain from the neighbouring landscape - instead of a lake.

[Cabo]

I played this hard map, "Spain", de tomasvicente38.

I do not know very well manage photoshop.

I limit myself to retouch some levels, until I see a decent result.
The translator online, does not help me, having to fight with the both writing and reading in this forum.

A questions:

- maps whit much topografy. Are problems? Game crashes,...
- The objectives of this map are well?
- would be appropriate lower the level of the objectives?

[karsten]

I am away for two weeks in China now, but I will try your map when I get back. Cheers!

[Cabo]

I was working with photoshop.
I managed to soften the terrain.
To see the result need to download the new version.
I'm still working, but now I have less time since it ended my vacation.
Cheers!

[karsten]

I think you have overdone the "softening" of the terrain. In the editor, you can smooth the rivers and build up the central mountains again. I remember seeing massive mountains outside Madrid, not the rocky hills that we have now. "For centuries the range constituted a border between the Christian kingdoms to the north and Muslim kingdoms to the south" (Wikipedia). Its not easy getting the right balace in scenery in such a large-scale map, but its worth trying.

The scenario starts out with some interesting ideas, but it seems you lost energy towards the end. A looong list of "connect A to B to ... X to Y to Z" just is not interesting. The development along the north coast of Africa could have a lot of potential, but not visible here.

Some of the goals cannot even be met. Brest is so far north that it cannot be selected on the train routing map. And then you have two victory conditions involving Brest!

[Cabo]

I worked on the map.

I tweaked the ground and rivers.
Replace the files "map_IBERIA.tga" and "map_IBERIA.thumbnail.dds" to see results.
Replace the file "RRT_Cities_IBERIA.xml" to solve the error of Brest.
His advice about failure of the mission are welcome, and I will consider for future changes.
Still working.
Thank you.

[karsten]

Brest works now, and the moutains are more mountainous! As in reality, everyone in Madrid loves living in the mountains!

I replayed the map a few times and had good fun discovering efficient routes. Some neat little puzzles that need to be solved. Very enjoyable!

This map had me hooked. Initially, it is difficult to solve even at lowly Financier level. And then, step by step, you discover how to manage it at ever more difficult levels.

Today I completed it at Robber Baron level, 25 years early! Most satisfying.

[Cabo]

I am very happy that I could do something decent and you liked the map.
I followed your advice and have been working on the map.
I set new challenges in Africa.
I repainted the map and small changes in topography.
Hope you like.
Thanks for your interest.

[karsten]

You certainly got your energy back, and these are all good extensions of the map.

I played version 3 (to 1960) as Robber Baron and was just short by 10 years, so your proposed extention to 1970 seems a good idea. In addition, I avoided the unrealistic sea bridges.

The TGV becomes available only in 1981, so it might be a good idea to move introduction of TGV to say 1960, to enable some speeding on the route to Lyon and Barcelona from Africa. Good to see Argel (Algiers) developed - would be nice to have a white monument there.

I think the scenic run Gijon Santander has additional potential, you could add some trees, rocks, different ground textures there to make it even prettier. Nice work!

[karsten]

Maybe the net worth is too demanding. I managed all other conditions before 1960 on Robber Baron, yet did not really get close to net worth even by 1970.

[Cabo]

Yes, I played and I realized that 70 million was a lot, so I modified the net worth is 60 million and the year of completion of the game 1970. These changes are on file v.1.04 IBERIA, which I uploaded.

I will consider your advice to enter the TGV. It is also a good idea to take Gijon-Santander line, perhaps that will make a third era for these developments and some new.

Now I do not have much time, I have to travel tomorrow and Monday to work again, so it take some time to tweak the scenario.

Thank you for your help. A greeting.

[karsten]

Hi Cabo, thanks for a really enjoyable map! I could not resist and started your map again over the weekend, this time with more attention to the net worth. And what do you know, it is possible to achieve all goals on Robber Baron before 1960!
I needed three major loops for that, one oil-goods, one coal-automobiles and one passenger to Barcelona and Lyon. 27 trains running like clockwork. Cool stuff!

[Cabo]

I'm glad you like the map.
I've been working and I've changed something.
I have increased the net worth of 80 million and the year of completion of the second phase to 1970.
I added a third phase until 2000.
A greeting.