Territory World Map Poll

[Cryptite]

I now have a generated map of Loka in all it's glory. It does look as though when Territories ship, the world map will be functional too. In it's inception, the idea was for the world map to show (aside from territory-owning towns and their lands) only water vs. land. The thought was not to provide a map that showed where every different biome was.

However, I have considered showing subtle differences in the map like green lands, ice/snow lands, and desert lands. The question is, as a potential future territory owner (or even if you're not), how much obfuscation should the world map show?

Edit: I should mention that this is a clean world map. There are no structures on it. It was generated from the same seed but from a blank map so you won't see anybody's wilderness huts on here or anything.

 

[Grubul]

So, everyone will now see where the mushroom island is located at, because of the hue of biome?

 

[Kobeyador]

I think both will have there ups and downs. However, I want to ask you to make sure the maps line up between both the servers map and the map you created with the new seed. Long story short, I have noticed that in the past that even if two maps has the same seed they can still have differences in world generation due to several factors(can list at a later time).
(possible concerns)

So, everyone will now see where the mushroom island is located at, because of the hue of biome?

Unlimitedbul pointed out this concern.Having the map more detailed would allow towns to plan out which directions they will focus on spreading out too without having to survey the locations. This would allow for a town to easily decide which path they want to grow just by looking at the map. However, they would also be able to see the biomes that they want to take from another town just by looking at the map.
Land vs water might be an easy way to get out an outlined map out quicker. This would allow you to use this worlds map to create it without giving away to much details about towns and structures..... Unless there is some massive building in the ocean or someone owns a very large pool XP.Unfortunately, this might make the map almost two toned and look like an ink blot.

 

[Psychedelic98]

If territories will prevent the gathering of resources, it only would make sense that towns can see who has access to what resources.

 

[Cryptite]

I've looked a Loka's map quite a few times over and I'm fairly certain the map is the same. I know seeds change between major updates, but since this map hasn't seen a version update, there don't seem to be any differences in it.

I won't reveal the mushroom biomes; they'd stay green like anything else I think, since they're so rare.

As for concerns about the boringness of just blue/green, don't worry, the map will look cool either way

 

[mopb3]

Just plain land vs water I think, can't have folks knowing what biome is where without going there, that just removes more exploration rather than adding it.

 

[Kobeyador]

If territories will prevent the gathering of resources, it only would make sense that towns can see who has access to what resources.

VS

Just plain land vs water I think, can't have folks knowing what biome is where without going there, that just removes more exploration rather than adding it.

To psych:I don't see how you come to that conclusion. Because you can't gather resources in there territory, you should automatically know what they own without going there yourself? how is this fair? Can you elaborate?
To mop:I agree with you on this point.Giving a detailed account other then land vs water on a map would be unfair for the players who actually took the time to find out what biomes are where. It may also cause excessive attention on towns that have rare biomes in there territories.Everyone who looks on the map would know where they can expand to obtain that resource.

 

[Cryptite]

Giving a detailed account other then land vs water on a map would be unfair for the players who actually took the time to find out what biomes are where. It may also cause excessive attention on towns that have rare biomes in there territories.Everyone who looks on the map would know where they can expand to obtain that resource.

Couple things here:

• It's arguable that most of the active players on Loka right now know where many biomes are. Additionally, there are virtually no instances where we have only one biome on the map. Because of this and because of how TGs work, true biome resource control is actually going to be incredibly difficult, especially considering the number of biomes with actual finite resources (Ice Spikes).
• It only takes going to a town once to find out what biome they're in. For example, I have Asgard on an Ice Spikes biome. This is unknown to anybody but me. All's dandy until I place my first TG. Asgard is now on the map. Once Psy visits Asgard for the first time, he now knows (and can choose to share or not share this information) that I'm attempting to control an Ice Spikes biome. In short, I guess what I'm saying is that obfuscating the map doesn't do much for our current population, but I can see it being less fair if a new Reach group of players joined with the sole intent of fighting for my Ice Spikes biome. They'd have the knowledge to know where to set up a town to start direct conflict with me. This would suck, possibly, but one could also that argue that that information could be obtained a number of other ways.
• As for excessive attention on certain towns, I just hear that as being more fighting and that's basically what Territories is all about.

I think the biggest thing here is that Loka's map is fairly well discovered. If this were a new world, biome obfuscation would be a requirement I think, but I can understand why showing them for this map really isn't too big of a deal.

In the end, however, I'm happy to go both ways. I'd like to see more discussion and see more people vote on this.

 

[Psychedelic98]

+1 to Crypt for not making me type all of that shit out

 

[hyhu]

Ehhh, I like the challenge of having to screenshot and remember where certain biomes are, rather than just looking at the server map for certain biomes. Not all lokans have explored the map and know where all biomes are, I myself haven't finished exploring the entire map, and if there was a map put up showing all the biomes I wouldn't even try. Showing just water and land would be enough for the server map, there is no need to make it biome detailed.

 

[Grubul]

I agree to Hyhu. Just water and Land would be great.

 

[Jedoi]

I like the idea of just water and land.

 

[Zor95]

The thing is, it's not going to show biomes. It will show temperatures.

Snowy: Ice Plains, Ice Spikes, Cold Taiga
Cold: Extreme Hills, Taiga, Mega Taiga
Medium: Plains and variants, Forests and variants, Swamps, Jungles, Mushroom Islands
Dry: Desert, Savanna, Mesa
Other: Ocean

Crypt may not be using that list exactly, but the point is there will be no revealing where each biome is. You'll still have to explore the world to discover where all our rare biomes are. Sure, this may give you a little direction but considering that since 1.7 biomes are now generated by temperature anyways the difference this is going to make is marginal.

For example, I found the server's only mesa by searching for savannas. After I found a savannah I ran around its borders to find a desert. When I found a desert I ran around its borders until I found the mesa. And then I sold its coordinates for cash moneys. But anyways, just my 2 ingots.

 

[Cryptite]

Well actually, to be honest, the map renderer I'm using is MC1.2.5 old so all it renders are mountains (brown), forests/plains (green), deserts (yellow), and taigas (white/blue). In the unaltered map it renders, Mesas are a weird grey/brown, mushroom islands and savannahs are just green and look normal, etc.

I may just keep it to land vs water for simplicity's sake and err on the side of hiding what might be abusable.

 

[adderman500]

If you could change mesas to yellow like the rest of the deserts I think we could go with the map you're talking about, if for nothing else than to make the map look a little more interesting.