Map of the Fortnight: Main thread

[Krall]

The Map of the Fortnight was a contest of fame
Of honour and glory and might
The winner, you see, was rarely the same
And their maps a glorious sight

But the contest was somewhat unstable at first
And they had to turn off the taps
But nothing could quench AH.com's thirst
For exceptionally well-made maps

Rejoice! Rejoice! The contest's reborn!
We'll see wonders more often than not
We've a new thread, and now it is sworn
The contest shall ne'er be forgot!

Fourteen days to make a masterful piece
One that follows the challenge's path
Let the artisans work at their cartography
And give not the contest your chaff!

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Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present to you

The (Un)Official AH.com
MAP OF THE FORTNIGHT
Map Contest

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I'd like to welcome you to the Map of the Fortnight contest's new main discussion thread. It's a lot fancier than the old one, but I'm frankly not too happy with the choice of curtains (Fuchsia? Really?), oh well. Time to crack on with this map contest business, I think.

First I believe 'twould be prudent to lay down some rules and regulations, just in case any issues come up concerning them in future. Nothing has really changed, but some points need clarification (and by "clarification" I mean "me rambling on incoherently for three paragraphs, ultimately making the issue about clear as mud").

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Rules, Regulations and Relevant Ishkabibble

Concerning contest entry viability

Your entry for the map contest must meet the guidelines and restrictions as laid out in the opening post for the entry thread for that challenge. Whether your map meets these guidelines is judged by whoever is running the contest that round, and will generally either be me or Scarecrow.

If your initial map entry does not meet the challenge criteria or your own personal standards then you may make any changes you want to your entry prior to the deadline. As long as your entry meets the challenge criteria on the deadline it will be included in the voting.

If your entry does not meet the challenge criteria or is otherwise unsuitable then the person running the contest for that round will message you to tell you how and why it is unsuitable as soon as possible.

If you do make any changes to your entry after initially posting it, then it would be polite and helpful to message the person who's running that round (either me or Scarecrow, as mentioned previously) in order to let them know.

Entries must be created specifically for the contest; they may not be maps you have previously made that happen to fit the contest's guidelines.

Entries submitted after the deadline will not be included in the voting.

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Concerning the selection of map challenge criteria

All map challenge suggestions must go in this thread. Challenge suggestions should be emboldened in order to make them stand out from general chatter. Anyone is free to suggest a new map challenge idea at any time. The map challenges for each fortnight will be chosen for each round by the person running that round.

Ultimately the choice is up to the person running the round, but popular opinion will be a major factor in the selection process. This is, on a very basic level, because you'd totally hate it if we ignored your opinions, and then this whole endeavour would be over very quickly.

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Concerning how it is decided who has won

After the entry period for a round is over a poll with all the successful entries as options will be posted. The entry with the single highest number of votes after one week is declared the winning entry; the decision is entirely democratic.

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Concerning the length and timing of the contest and voting

Any MoF challenge will permit entries from the entry thread's creation until midnight on the Sunday after next (unless otherwise specified). Ideally each MoF round should start on a Monday and end on a Sunday, but I'm occasionally forgetful and lazy so I may post the entry threads later sometimes (I'm not sure how good Scarecrow is on the forgetful and lazy front, but I'd give him the same leeway). In any case the challenge for each round should be decided on and announced before the actual start of the round, so you will have the full two weeks to make your map.

The voting thread for each MoF lasts exactly 7 days regardless of when it was posted. This is because of the forum's rather convenient ability to automatically close a poll after a specific number of days.

The voting thread for the previous round and the entries thread for the current round should be posted at the same time, so that the voting for the previous round overlaps with the current round. This is so that there is a new challenge every fortnight, even though each challenge takes three weeks to reach a full conclusion.

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Concerning what different threads are to be used for

The main thread: That's this one. This thread is to be used for making map challenge suggestions, discussing the current round (or previous rounds, if you so wish. Not future rounds, though, as that would violate the laws of space-time.), and anything else not covered by other threads. Basically: if in doubt, post in here.

The entry threads: Entry threads will have titles that consist of the round number and the name of that round's challenge, for example: "MoF 25: TO SALTED EARTH, THROUGH BURNING SKY". These threads are to be used for posting your entry for the current round and any accompanying description, nothing else. Posting anything else in these threads will get you disqualified from entering in the contest for that round.

The voting threads: Voting threads will have the exact same title as the relevant entry thread, but with " - Voting thread" attached on the end. This is the place to discuss your reasons for voting as you did, or to discuss the map entries after the entry period is over.

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Concerning why Krall won't just shut up and get on with it

Okay! Geez.

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Right, I think that's all the relevant information. As always if you're confused or in any doubt, please feel free to message me with your query.

The next few posts should either be me posting links to new MoF entry and voting threads, reposting popular map challenges from the end of the previous main thread and what have you, or other people posting comments like "Gosh, Krall sure is awesome." or "My goodness! This 'Krall' fellow is almost enough to turn one homosexual! In fact, forget the almost." and so forth.

So, without further ado, I hereby declare this discussion thread open for business!

[Krall]

The entries thread for MoF 25: TO SALTED EARTH, THROUGH BURNING SKY has been posted!

The voting thread for MoF 24: Nothing Lasts Forever has been posted!

Feel free to repost any challenge suggestions from the end of the previous MoF discussion thread, if you so wish. I'd collect together the most popular suggestions and repost them here, but I'm rather tired right now, so I'm off to bed.

Goodnight, all!

[Krall]

The entries thread for MoF 27: Over Mountain, Plain and Sea has been posted!

The voting thread for MoF 26: Guns, Germs and Steel has been posted!

Also, this bears posting here too:

Originally Posted by Krall

By the way, MoF 27 is due to end on the 11th of December, which would mean that MoF 28 would end on the 25th of December. Now, clearly it's unreasonable to expect people to take time off from partying, drinking alcohol, opening presents, eating chocolates, doing illicit drugs, slowly sliding down the scale of debauchery and self-respect until they hit rock bottom and know nothing but shame and misery, and playing games in order to make maps, so I suggest we either extend MoF 28 to be three weeks (which would make it end on the 1st of January) or skip those three weeks altogether and start MoF 28 on the 2nd of January.

What do you guys think?

[KCammy]

I don't know if this meets the criteria or not. It's like a silk road 2.0.

I'm still toying around with effects and stuff, and I'm not sure about the cliche textbook thingy, but that's beside the point.

I just don't want to post it and find out it doesn't meet the exact criteria.


(Based on my current TL, though made specialy for the contest.)

[Krall]

Originally Posted by KCammy

I don't know if this meets the criteria or not. It's like a silk road 2.0.

I'm still toying around with effects and stuff, and I'm not sure about the cliche textbook thingy, but that's beside the point.

I just don't want to post it and find out it doesn't meet the exact criteria.


(Based on my current TL, though made specialy for the contest.)

I'd say that's acceptable. Please PM me questions like this in future, though, because I check my messages much more regularly than I check this thread.

I would note that the route you've specified is very similar to the routes used by the spice trade, so the route wouldn't be specifically or even predominantly used for silk trade. Perhaps instead of "the Silk Road" it could be a generic oriental trade route, or maybe "the Silk Road" would be a misnomer?

[Krall]

Do you all remember how MoF 21 finished in a tie? And how the tied contestants decided to fight to the death in the sweltering, unforgiving heat of the Gobi Desert in order to resolve their dispute once and for all?

No, of course you don't, because they decided to have a Map Duel instead; a Map Duel for Honour and Glory, and a map duel that has finally begun!

[Krall]

The entries thread for MoF 28: Sons of Chaos has been posted!

Let's see if we can't start off the new year with a bang (by which I mean a significant number of good quality maps based on interesting historical scenarios)!

[Iori]

Does the map have to be of the entire world, or can it be regional, or of a single country?

[Krall]

Originally Posted by Iori

Does the map have to be of the entire world, or can it be regional, or of a single country?

It can be of any region you wish.

[Scarecrow]

Can the map show more than one terrorist group?

[The Kiat]

I just had the strangest vision of terrorism inside Crusader states that survive to the modern day.....

[rvbomally]

Do we have to start making the maps now, or could we post maps that we've already made, or use parts of maps we've already made?

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by rvbomally

Do we have to start making the maps now, or could we post maps that we've already made, or use parts of maps we've already made?

The map has to be made for the contest. The content may be already existing (for example the Kiat used his timeline as the setting for one of his entries) but the map must be original for the contest.

[Iori]

Question for the current entry.

Does the map have to show a Dystopia at its height/when the events were happening, or can it show the future, when things are stilly Dystopic, but getting better, following a very Dystopic event in the past?

[Krall]

Originally Posted by Iori

Question for the current entry.

Does the map have to show a Dystopia at its height/when the events were happening, or can it show the future, when things are stilly Dystopic, but getting better, following a very Dystopic event in the past?

I suppose there's no reason why the map has to show a dystopia at its height. Provided your map still depicts a dystopia it should be absolutely fine.

[Scarecrow]

So a few more days and MOF 26 will be upon us. Lets open the flood gates! Get some suggestions going!

The ideas that I like at the moment are:

Africa: Create a map showing at least one powerful African state that has influence outside of the continent. Preferably not a Mediterranean based nation, but that can be allowed. No fixed POD.

Alternate colonization powers as it says on the tin: powers that did not get a chance to colonize for whatever reason (including not existing).

The alternate spread of a religion

[rvbomally]

Hm, stealing and combining those first two ideas: Reverse Africa and Europe's situations by having powerful native African states colonize "Darkest Europe."

[mowque]

Can anyone suggest new topics?

[Jman]

The Puppet Masters: Create a map showing a powerful conspiracy. It can be a well-known conspiracy theory or one you make up. The map could depict hidden underground cities of lizard people, future sits of UN mind controls towers, or anything else conspiracy-related. ASB allowed/encouraged. (Full disclosure: I have suggested this topic before)

An Enemy Without Boundaries: Create a map depicting a transnational threat which isn't a traditional state. It could be a drug cartel, a mafia, a terrorist group, a destructive cult, or anything similar.

The Ministry of Truth: Create two maps: one showing what the citizens of a 1984-style totalitarian state think the world looks like (i.e. what their government tells them it looks like), and one showing what it actually looks like.

[Emperor-of-New-Zealand]

Originally Posted by Jman

The Puppet Masters: Create a map showing a powerful conspiracy. It can be a well-known conspiracy theory or one you make up. The map could depict hidden underground cities of lizard people, future sits of UN mind controls towers, or anything else conspiracy-related. ASB allowed/encouraged. (Full disclosure: I have suggested this topic before)

The Ministry of Truth: Create two maps: one showing what the citizens of a 1984-style totalitarian state think the world looks like (i.e. what their government tells them it looks like), and one showing what it actually looks like.

I really like these two . Reminds me of a short story I wrote, actually.