12x26 Winter Map -- Alpine Coldfront -- (my first post here)

[bert1]

Computer vs computer testing or human vs computer testing shows very little about how the map will play human vs human.

I can only really recommend more online play with good players as your next step.

[Thanatos]

Which brings us back to the question: How to determine who is a good player?

(No, I don't really want to debate this, I just couldn't resist. It's a point to show how difficult it really is to balance a map for all.)

[Akkarin345]

IMO if you did play this with all players it would be a waste of time. Also if you did play it with 2 players you still have the problem of the two Bottlenecks, in which leaders can now recuit in. That would be a long battle. However the obstuctions against Gryphone look better, however Dwarves would still have an advantage. This is all theorey i would need to see it working practically.

[F8 Binds...]

Traffic flow needs some serious working on the map- you have edited it numerous times, but there are still many unnecessary chokepoints on the map. Remove a good deal of snow, a good deal of forests, a good deal of mountains, a good deal of hills, a good deal of impassable mountains, and replace them all... with...

GRASS...!
(Then the main problem of the map, being a lack of easy terrain [for Loyalists in particular] to travel between critical points on the map will go away. Also, some chokepoints would be removed in the process. You will then have a better, more enjoyable map to play. )

The starting keeps only have one recruit hex- this disadvantages Northerners (Since they rely on numbers, they will be disadvantaged because they can not recruit units fast enough... Northerners also have the worst firepower-unit ratio in the game.) and advantages Drakes (High firepower-unit ratio, will overpower other factions because they will have an equal amount of units as the opponent, and due to the high amount of villages they will recruit a unit every turn.)

Basically, that translates into this- make the starting castles have atleast 2 recruit hexes each here- normally you would want atleast 4, and in a 1v1 you want atleast 5, all varying on the size of the map. Because this is a 4v4, I would suggest expanding the dimensions of the map to improve traffic flow.

The map looks really nice- however, you need to delete lots of rough terrain and fill in with grassland for the map to be more balanced and playable.

EDIT: Since the map is symmetrical, I suggest using 12211221 format if you haven't already.
EDIT2: I just realized that this map is only... 1v1? In that case, you need to really look up and make sure villages cannot get stolen by P1- also, in that case starting keeps need atleast 4 (preferably 5) recruit hexes.

[Thanatos]

The map looks really nice- however, you need to delete lots of rough terrain and fill in with grassland for the map to be more balanced and playable.

Sad but true. Balancing makes nice maps using mainly "unusual" terrain nearly impossible for multiplayer. All too sandy maps (desert fights), snowlands, many coast/island maps and also some cave maps all struggle from this problem. One can only use such maps in campaigns for certain situations.

On another thought: Of course one could create a map and label it "Loys not recommended" or such. It would increase the number of map flavours in accepting difficulties instead of trying to wipe them out. Such maps could even become famous in a way that "I beat X on Cold Front, while he was using Knalgans - with Loys!", which would surely be some kind of achievement.

Well, have to think about this a little more.