Maps for MWIF

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

Yes, That's what I though too, the correct terrain hexside should be a river.
But, Singapore is so small (See this extra map from the Wikipedia) that it doesn't even warrant a full hex (Pacific scale I mean), so the depiction made on the WiF FE maps is correct at the Pacific scale.

So from a game point of view I think that Singapore should be treated similary in both MWiF & WiF FE, and so should be attackable from 2 hexsides, fortified on the 4 other hexsides, and be constituated with a jungle terrain. It should be drawn as an island contained in the same hex than the malayan land on the other side of the Tebrau Straits.

The fact that the neighboring hexes are not exactly the same terrain is less important to me. With the scale changing, it can't always be the same as WiF FE.

Ok. So how about all three hexes being jungle (Singapore and the two hexes to its north) with no intervening hexside terrain. The other 4 hexsides would be the same as in CWIF: fortified with all sea hexsides connecting to a couple of island hexes and one connecting to Sumatra?

[Froonp]

I think it is the best solution.

And the artist who is doing the coastal hexes should paint singapore as a diamond shaped island within the hex it is presently.

[mlees]

I had a question about the MWiF map. In the basic game, North America is reduced to a smaller map. (I believe the scale on that map is 6 European hexes to 1 NA map hex.)

In "America in Flames", the sea zones are rearranged (with some new ones created as well), changing some of the trade routes and Convoy point requirements if including the new map set. For example, a new sea zone appears off the coast of Texas on the AiF map... (I apologise, I am not at home and I dont remember the name of the new sea zone.) This sea zone is not in the old CWiF.

I was curious if the sea zones from America in Flames, CWiF, or some merge/combination of the two are going to be in the MWiF maps...

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: mlees
I had a question about the MWiF map. In the basic game, North America is reduced to a smaller map. (I believe the scale on that map is 6 European hexes to 1 NA map hex.)

In "America in Flames", the sea zones are rearranged (with some new ones created as well), changing some of the trade routes and Convoy point requirements if including the new map set. For example, a new sea zone appears off the coast of Texas on the AiF map... (I apologise, I am not at home and I dont remember the name of the new sea zone.) This sea zone is not in the old CWiF.

I was curious if the sea zones from America in Flames, CWiF, or some merge/combination of the two are going to be in the MWiF maps...

Good catch. As I said somewhere recently, I just got my copy of America in Flames last week. I haven't had a chance to go over that map vis-a-vis MWIF's detailed global map.

Giving it a quick once over I see several places where there are differences. The biggest is the one you mentioned, MWIF doesn't currently have the Gulf of Mexico separate from the Carribean. Since I want the MWIF map to not have to change should we ever put out America in Flames as a future MWIF product, then I will make MWIF match the America in Flames map. At least in regards to sea areas.

Other differences I found are where the sea areas cut into the South America east coast (slight change), the port in the Azores being on a sea area boundary, and where the sea areas meet at Clipperton in the Pacific. These all seem to be changes from the miniture Americas map in WIF Final Edition.

MWIF also has more sea areas around the polar regions. These are to round out the globe (pun intended) and the new sea areas are essential so that there aren't any "short cuts" - as would occur if the polar sea areas were represented by a sinlge large sea area. None of these should have any effect on game play.

[Froonp]

the port in the Azores being on a sea area boundary

Just a couple of remarks here.
The Azores on the America map and on the American minimap are not on a sea area boundary. The Azores is in both maps inside the North Atlantic Sea Area, and is in now way adjacent to the Bay of Biscay. I mean that, a plane or ship stationed at the Azores, need first to enter the North Atlantic Sea Area (an hexdot there for a plane) before moving elswhere.
The representation of the Azores on the CWiF map seems right to me.
I would just like to know that it is situated the same distance from France and from the USA than in the paper game.
By the way, on my CWiF copy, The Azores is not a port ?!?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

the port in the Azores being on a sea area boundary

Just a couple of remarks here.
The Azores on the America map and on the American minimap are not on a sea area boundary. The Azores is in both maps inside the North Atlantic Sea Area, and is in now way adjacent to the Bay of Biscay. I mean that, a plane or ship stationed at the Azores, need first to enter the North Atlantic Sea Area (an hexdot there for a plane) before moving elswhere.
The representation of the Azores on the CWiF map seems right to me.
I would just like to know that it is situated the same distance from France and from the USA than in the paper game.
By the way, on my CWiF copy, The Azores is not a port ?!?

In MWIF (CWIF) the island chain of the Azores contains an island that has a port, Porta Delgada, owned by Portugal. It sits on the border between the sea areas Cape St. Vincent and North Atlantic. In the America in Flames map, there is a port shown in the Azores that resides in the middle of the North Atlantic sea area. It can make a difference during game play whether the port is in the middle of the North Atlantic or on the sea area boundary. I just became aware of the difference in the two maps and I haven't made any decision about this; or even given it any thought.

[composer99]

In MWIF (CWIF) the island chain of the Azores contains an island that has a port, Porta Delgada, owned by Portugal. It sits on the border between the sea areas Cape St. Vincent and North Atlantic. In the America in Flames map, there is a port shown in the Azores that resides in the middle of the North Atlantic sea area. It can make a difference during game play whether the port is in the middle of the North Atlantic or on the sea area boundary. I just became aware of the difference in the two maps and I haven't made any decision about this; or even given it any thought.

Speaking from both WiF and CWiF experience, I can tell you that where the island chain or the port is, so long as it connects with the North Atlantic, hasn't affected my play as the Commonwealth - I'll declare war on Portugal and take the island(s) over no matter what if it gets me my anti-submarine airbase.

[Froonp]

In MWIF (CWIF) the island chain of the Azores contains an island that has a port, Porta Delgada, owned by Portugal. It sits on the border between the sea areas Cape St. Vincent and North Atlantic.

Yes, how stupid I am !!!
Yesterday night, I wasn't seeing this porta anymore, even if I seem to remember tha I had a port herein during my CWiF games !!! I guess I was too much sleepy [>:]

In the America in Flames map, there is a port shown in the Azores that resides in the middle of the North Atlantic sea area. It can make a difference during game play whether the port is in the middle of the North Atlantic or on the sea area boundary. I just became aware of the difference in the two maps and I haven't made any decision about this; or even given it any thought.

The purist in me say "put it back in the N Atlantic, and the normal man in me (yes, there's one) feels that it is not very important.

The worst about the Azores is the whole "CW Declare war on Portugal" issue, but this is a WiF issue, not an MWiF.

Best Regards

Patrice

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Making good progress on the maps. Here are some screen shots of the 12 terrain types using 136 x 152 pixel hexes in 24 bit color.

I have recoded the program to accept the increase in size and colors while retaining the zooming capability of CWIF. That means that the hexes can be zoomed to be 12 by 17, 24 by 34, 36 by 51, and on up to 136 by 152. The smallest is labeled 25% resolution and the largest 200% resolution. I expect most people to play at 100% or 125%.

A full screen refresh on my system (2.53 GHz, 1GB main memory, Windows XP) takes about 1/10 second - faster than a key click. The screen refresh starts on key press down and it finishes it before I can get to key press up. There is a delay of a couple of seconds when doing a refresh at 25% resolution (all of Europe from the British Isles to the Urals - Stockholm to Alexandria), but less than 1/2 second at 50%. All the others are blazing fast.

The map coastlines are under development so the screen shots here do not show any coastlines. The rivers will also be redone. Same for cities, factories, alpine hex sides, etc..

I have almost completed redoing the counters at 96 by 96 pixels (up from 48 by 48). I will post more information on their redesign with some screen shots later this week.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here's Moscow at 200%. The conversion from .bmp to .jpg loses some of the finer detail. All of these screen shots filled just about the full screen. I have cropped some of them a bit.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Same again with different conversion numbers.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

I can't get the pictures to appear in the posts the way I want. So it goes. Here is an example of jungle and mountain.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Swamp

[Shannon V. OKeets]

More hexes on the screen.

We are intentionally using a rather muted background. The units have a wide range of vibrant colors and the screen would be too garrish if both the map and units had colors of intense hues.

But let me know what you think.

I expect to make the 12 basic terrain types available to the players for modification. After all, they are simply 136 by 152 pixel bitmaps in 24 bit color.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here the revised global map (first draft)

[buckyzoom]

BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
Here's Moscow at 200%. The conversion from .bmp to .jpg loses some of the finer detail. All of these screen shots filled just about the full screen. I have cropped some of them a bit.

You're beginning to be good at screenshots [:D]

[Froonp]

Here the revised global map (first draft)

I like it very much, it looks like a real world map
I must say that it is better than the old one ! [:)]
Please, post some units now too [:D]

[c92nichj]

Nice to see the progress on the graphics, first impression is very good a few comments though.

The swamp terrain looks a little bit to much like clear, maybe throw in some purple or darker blue to distinguish it easier.

From a personal perspective I would like the mountain to be more grey than brown but that's just a matter of taste.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I can't get the pictures to appear in the posts the way I want. So it goes. Here is an example of jungle and mountain.

I must say that I do not like mountain hex very much. I'd prefer it to be more paper WiF like. Wow, when I saw them first (the WiF FE paper mountains), I found them ugly, but now I find them marvelously marvelous.

The WiF FE paper graphic has some patterns that look like valleys and escarpments. It is what I like on the Paper WiF FE mountains.

For the other hexes, I like them very much, they have the same feel as the WiF FE ones. Congratulations to you !

Could you also let us see how it is like on a screenshots with normal sized cities ? They are very small on these.

Anyway, thanks for the work [&o]