Currently I'm working on a war game with a risk style map movement system. I've been testing it for a while and have made changes many times, but what I'm wondering now is whether there's a system to designing this type of map that will assure the different starting positions are balanced.
For example, mountains aren't able to be crossed. How are people planning where to put them on the map?
Thanks for any feedback!
Edit: thanks for all the replies guys, and sorry for the slow response.
larienna: thanks, your design progression is actually very helpful. the way i was originally looking at mountains was as a way to slow down certain players, so it took them longer to reach a certain point then anyone else. the problem with that was there's only two resources in the game (dominance and gold) and gold is obtained through towns. so it's hard to design the board so that a player can be provided defense at the expense of resources.
Orangebeard and omni: that's a great idea i've never thought of before. I never thought to try to evaluate locations that way. I've been trying to balance the game so everyone has the same exact starting stuff a bit too much I think and with that suggestion I'll try making it so everyone is balanced, but are all weaker in one area and stronger in another, as sliv suggested.
bonsaigames: the only problem with the defensive bonus idea is that I already have hills that provide those. What does everyone think of the idea that mountains can be crossed, but not if there's an enemy army stationed on the opposite side? for example, there's a territory on the left, a territory on the right, and a mountain in the middle. if there's an army on the left side, no army from the right can cross over the mountain.
