Maximizing your maps?
Posted September 6th, 2010 at 11:45 PM by dok
With the addition of my GenCon winnings, I finally have a non-trivial amount of mapmaking material. I actually got my first-ever RotV set for winning the championship - by the time I got into the game it was already pretty hard to come by, so I just bought the cards and figures.
Being an engineer, the new plastic glut naturally led to me spreadsheeting out my material and figuring out what set of maps I can make with what I have.
It turns out there's a lot of permutations. Basically, I can make four maps, and the only set in stone thing is that one is based on RotV, two are based on SotM, and one is based on the combo of BftU and Marvel. On top of that, I have three RttFF, one TJ, and one FotA to sprinkle in. Everything except the RotV map must have at least one expansion sprinkled in.
Some non-intersecting options I found:
I found a couple things out through this:
Being an engineer, the new plastic glut naturally led to me spreadsheeting out my material and figuring out what set of maps I can make with what I have.
It turns out there's a lot of permutations. Basically, I can make four maps, and the only set in stone thing is that one is based on RotV, two are based on SotM, and one is based on the combo of BftU and Marvel. On top of that, I have three RttFF, one TJ, and one FotA to sprinkle in. Everything except the RotV map must have at least one expansion sprinkled in.
Some non-intersecting options I found:
- Invasion + Hard Eight + Common Ground + Blackroot
- Ticalla Sunrise + Shadowy Helix + Fossil + Just Passing Through
- Jack of Spades + Derelict + Healing Waters + Nature Trails
I found a couple things out through this:
- Not having any TT or VW, and only having one RotV, severely limits your options.
- There are not many D&D+Marvel maps... and there should be. Two of the three I used are ones I made (Gamebear with the third). The only other map I found with this combo was Mad_Wookiee's Vulcan, but that requires VW, which I don't have.
Every other solid-looking BftU map I've seen either uses BftU alongside another BftU or SotM/RotV, or it uses TT.
Comments 15
Total Comments 15
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dok
There are not many D&D+Marvel maps... and there should be.
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 07:36 AM by ollie |
The curse of the nontrivial map-making material...Which is now offset by sites like Auggies, where one can obtain terrain in piecemeal (ROTV, BTFU, SOTM). BTFU also seems fairly easy to find (either at Auggies, or at my local Wal-mart, which still has about 3 of them). I wish this was the case with TT or VW; the only place that I can find these is on Ebay, and usually for prices that would make a grown man cry.
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 09:15 AM by Filthy the Clown |
Congrats on (finally) getting a RotV set, dok. I'm kinda surprised to hear that you're just getting it now. Makes me wonder which other veteran members have holes in their collections.
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 09:38 AM by Sherman Davies |
Quote:
Originally Posted by ollie
Quote:
Originally Posted by dok
There are not many D&D+Marvel maps... and there should be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Filthy the Clown
The curse of the nontrivial map-making material...Which is now offset by sites like Auggies, where one can obtain terrain in piecemeal (ROTV, BTFU, SOTM).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Filthy the Clown
BTFU also seems fairly easy to find (either at Auggies, or at my local Wal-mart, which still has about 3 of them). I wish this was the case with TT or VW; the only place that I can find these is on Ebay, and usually for prices that would make a grown man cry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherman Davies
Congrats on (finally) getting a RotV set, dok. I'm kinda surprised to hear that you're just getting it now. Makes me wonder which other veteran members have holes in their collections.
I think this does go to a broader point about collections, though. This might be starting to change a little bit, but in general, mapmaking is still very slanted towards the relatively hard-to-find RotV/TT/VW sets. This is probably OK if your goal is to satisfy the major tournament organizers and the other veterans around the site, but if the goal is to allow new players to get the most out of the game, it falls short. |
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 10:59 AM by dok |
I know what you mean Dok. I have 1 RotV, 1 SotM, 1 BftU (getting a second for my birthday later this month), 1 TJ, 1 TT, and 1 RtFF. Maximizing my maps is something I do all the time, which is probably why I still have never played Common Ground yet (It's on my to do list!) because I like to use a smuch of my terrain as possible. I usually can only put two maps together, a SotM and a RotV. Right now, for example I have Breach by Dignan and Crystal Watch by Panopticon on my table.
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 01:21 PM by Freezie |
Hey dok, I have a map that uses DnD + Marvel. Have you tried it out yet? It's called UnMarvelous.
MegaSilver |
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 01:54 PM by MegaSilver |
Megasilver - it's an interesting map, but I find that BftU+Marvel alone has a hard time producing a good tournament-style map. I think of the two together as a bit more versatile than SotM, but not quite as strong of a standalone option as RotV.
Freezie - with TT at your disposal, you could get three maps out of your current set. Something like Ticalla Sunrise + Frozen Cavern + Just Passing Through. There aren't any good BftU+RttFF+TT maps that I've seen, but if you can put one together, that gives you some other options. |
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 02:05 PM by dok |
I really like the idea of spreadsheeting out your available terrain and map combination options. This would be great for those that run lots of tournaments (like me), to know which combinations of maps you can build with your available terrain. For instance - it would be great if I could squeeze 10 maps out of this:
RotV x3 (I think I have 3... I at least have 2) SotM x4 FotA x2 BtfU x3 VW x1 TT x2 Marvel x1 RttFF x4 TJ x3 |
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 04:58 PM by killercactus |
I have TJ, SotM x2 (although I may have terrain for only 1 and some fraction as small as 0/0), BtfU, FotA, and Marvel and terrain I bought separately to simulate RotV (2 sets of ruins, for instance). But I keep it all mixed up in a couple containers, and build all my maps out of whole cloth right before play. I've made some bad maps, but over time I have learned enough to keep things fair and interesting (for the most part). One of the things that has recently become clear to me, with regards to map-making, is "less is more".
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 05:40 PM by kolakoski |
Quote:
Originally Posted by killercactus
For instance - it would be great if I could squeeze 10 maps out of this:
RotV x3 (I think I have 3... I at least have 2) SotM x4 FotA x2 BtfU x3 VW x1 TT x2 Marvel x1 RttFF x4 TJ x3 Hard Eight Jagged Causeway Vorago Common Ground Ticalla Sunrise Fossil Elswin Plateau (Tournament Director's Edition) The Hive Nest Tyvol's Passage Just Passing Through I started by using whatever was available to make decent maps with the three BftUs without using any RotV/SotM. At that point there was just RttFFs and TJs left to spice up the RotV/SotM maps. I had to get a bit creative to keep it from getting stale, but in the end there are only two maps (Ticalla Sunraise and Tyvol's Passage) that use identical material. You can see my work here. |
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Posted September 7th, 2010 at 06:57 PM by dok
Updated September 7th, 2010 at 07:05 PM by dok |
Wow, thanks dok! I didn't actually expect you to do that, but it will help immensely the next time I run a tournament.
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Posted September 8th, 2010 at 08:12 AM by killercactus
Updated September 8th, 2010 at 09:00 AM by killercactus |
I just realized that I had put you down for only one TT on the spreadsheet... with two, you can turn "The Hive Nest" and "Just Passing Through" into "Ice Blossom" and "Sentinel", or just turn "Common Ground" into "Sidewinder". I certainly wouldn't want to leave a TT in the box.
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Posted September 8th, 2010 at 11:15 AM by dok |
You know what - that's OK because I think Mechabeast and I have some of our TT terrain combined, so who knows who has what. Ever since I tried to give a TT set as a prize at NHSD last year I've been all screwed up with snow. I have a million extra snow tiles though and can probably throw together another set of glaciers, so I'll keep that as a possibility. I know I still own 2 sets though since I have 2 squads of Dzu-Teh. Again, thanks for hooking me up!
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Posted September 8th, 2010 at 02:13 PM by killercactus |
Nice job dok! I like your spreadsheet example for KC. I have everything KC has except two SoTM sets. So this will help me when damja and I start picking maps for NHSD.
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Posted September 9th, 2010 at 10:58 AM by ZBeeblebrox |
Cool idea, I never thought of using a spreadsheet, I always did it by paper and pencil...
Oh, and it's a lot more limiting when you have 3 SotM to work with but no TJ, so no whining from you |
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Posted June 13th, 2011 at 11:53 AM by Kaemon Awa 123 |
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