RSW

RSW players,

I've just reviewed the user-provided game maps that were in "provisional" map sets and moved several of them into the "standard" set, so they'll be available to be selected in standard "classic" or "advanced" games in the future without tagging those games as specialty.

Conversely, I took some of the more-complex three-dimensional maps that some players had complained about in the past, and moved them *out* of the "advanced" map set and back into "provisional" status. You can still select them explicitly if you want them, but they won't be a part of any advanced game in the future unless they are explicitly activated.

Please let me know if you have any concerns or further questions about any of this! Enjoy!

David

Hmmph. And they call themselves gamers! Can't figure out the 3-D maps. I even stuck in a 4D map .

El

Is there a way to "sample" the map constructs and "see" what they actually look like BEFORE setting up a game? I know a lot of times when you are setting the game up, and you come to the map parameters, it doesn't really allow you to see what you are selecting. Further, what are "tags" and that whole sub-category that apparently restricts or expands the existing map you've already selected? Way confusing. I am probably not alone in saying that a lot of that is Greek to me.

A game description paragraph looks something like this:

catalyst6f is pending. Created 20 May 2020, last activity 20 May 2020.
Game type Advanced.
Runs every 1 weeks at Monday 01:00 AM PDT, or when all players have submitted orders.
1 players have joined, waiting to have 8 players.
Begins when 7 more sign up.
Expires 09:00 PM 16 Jun 2020, in 3.8 weeks.
Uses the provisional map set "bronze".
Game will end on turn 20.
This is a specialty game.
Jump start: players start out owning worlds.
Opponents' character types will be revealed.
No anonymous messages.

Note the line 'Uses the provisional map set "bronze".' The word "bronze" (or whatever map set it is for a particular game) is a link. Click that link. You can do this while you are setting the game up, as well as during game signup or after the game has started. This link will take you to a page that shows you all of the maps included in map set "bronze". There's a drop-down on this page that you can use to view each of those maps one at a time.

When a game starts, the server will pick one of the maps from its map set at random (using weighting based on the game parameters, including the number of players, the number of worlds per player, and similar game parameters). So you know that the game will start with *one* of the maps listed in the drop-down, you just might not know precisely which one.

The tags are optional, they can be used to exclude maps from a map set and make a smaller map set to choose from. Fewer maps means you have a clearer idea precisely which map will be used in a particular game (you're allowed to create a game with a map set of exactly one map in it if you don't want to have any ambiguity at all).

A tag is a word. Each individual map has a number of tags on it, listed on the map page. The map designer assigned tags that made sense to them when they created the map. The idea is that the map designer assigns tags to identify properties shared by several different maps, like "levels" or "hex" or whatever, and when you specify a game you have a choice to either eliminate all maps with a given tag, or require only maps with a given tag, if you want. This creates a new map set that you can then further apply another tag to if you want to eliminate more maps.

You can also navigate through the map sets from the "View the available RSW map sets" link on the front page.

David

Dave:

Thanks for the excellent detail that you provided. Really explained things for me in a way I am not sure I knew previously. Certainly the "tags" discussion was extremely beneficial. As always, totally appreciate all that you do for us here at RSW and in providing this platform for our gaming lives!

Cheers!

Barry J.