by KGB » Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:49 pm
Looking quickly at this I see:
1) You replaced Spiders with Demons in Minus Morgul. I think that just makes things that much better for Mordor. Demons at 3 turns are much stronger in Beta5 that in Beta4. I would not have made this change. The Nazgul can technically be represented by Ghosts (they were incorporeal Spectres) in Minus Morgul/Barad Dur with the initial Demon in the capitol being the Witch King leader of the Nazgul.
2) From a thematic stand point why not put the One Ring in the Shire capitol for the Shire player on turn 1? Isildur's ring (+2 command) makes a perfect One Ring. You could also potentially add rings to Rivendell/LothLorien to represent the Elven rings (minor ones like Kaleidoscope view +3) and another in Mordor for the Witch King (in which case I'd change Demon to Ghost for balance reasons).
3) By the actual time of the War of the Ring, the Dwarven capitol had moved from the Iron Hills to the Lonely Mountain (where the Arkenstone was buried with Thorin). So technically that should be the Dwarf Capitol. That would help the Dwarf player actually reach those cities to the south of Laketown which otherwise likely never get reached. Incidentally the Goblins are in much better shape than the Dwarves. The get some nice Giant cities and access to Eagles really quickly to let them get that Red Dragon city (a huge bonus and the Eagles/Red Dragon should be the primary expansion).
4) Still think the Elephant should be switched to the Mammoth. Those Oliphants were war beasts meant to be in battle (so the 3 hits and +2 move would be better approximations than +10 stack in the Open).
While I know you would like this map to work in FFA, the truth is that it can't. Simply because Rohan/Gondor start so close that they can reach each other on turn 2. Unless those 2 players agree to a truce on turn 1 it's not feasible to play this map in an FFA mode because those 2 sides will be forced to use half their initial armies on defense while the other sides can fully expand. There is nothing wrong with a scenario only map. I like the challenge of defending in Gondor until help arrives (Shire/Dwarves) or I am over run. It's a different type of challenge than expanding and conquering in an FFA game. You need actual team work in terms of coordinating attacks, sharing gold/city defense etc.
KGB