Content Update 2020 #2: New Presets + More!

I'm pleased to announce on behalf of the AtWar Implementer team the introduction of three new Presets to the Default Map: Central Asia, Indian, and Atlantic!

I first announced these presets way back in Spring of 2019, and I'm happy to say they've been implemented now. Each of these presets offers a unique experience that builds on previously accepted community guidelines of map balance and playability.

Central Asia was built with 1v1s, 2v2s, 3v3s, and FFA in mind. In my playtests, it functions very well at being a quick game for 3v3s much like the Mediterranean preset, most games lasting less than ten turns, with picks such as Iran, Pakistan, Russia: Volga, China: Northwest, and more. It's definitely more constricted in some places than Europe is, and this really does offer an entertaining experience in places such as the Caucasus. Of course the concept of having a few countries provide bountiful wealth akin to Benelux in EU/EU+ is still present here, as well as the dialing back countries like Iran to ensure an even playing field.

Indian has been a highly requested preset from casual audiences for years now, and I'm glad to say it's finally here. Africa is completely playable as it's had a massive income buff, as well as India receiving a very monumental nerf- so much so that it can even be played in a 3v3/4v4 and otherwise! We talked for a long time about splitting India, and it's still an option I've talked with Dave about in the past. Otherwise, Australia functions as a modestly high income area, albeit far removed from the rest of the map. The Middle East is balanced around early game play much like Western Europe in EU/EU+. Largely though, Indian is meant to be a fun naval map akin to Pacific and the newly released Atlantic, so make sure to dust off Naval Commander and give it a whirl!

Atlantic is quite similar to Indian in a lot of regards, and at one point was thought impossible to balance due to the Northern/Southern hemisphere income discrepancies. I'm quite proud of how this preset turned out: Africa and South America are completely playable and can compete with North America and Europe- we even had some games where Nigeria proved to be OP at times! Due to the scale of the map, a wide variety of Strategies can be employed here, depending on your home country.

I spent quite a while retooling aspects of these maps and playtesting them publicly, some of you may have even frequented my Central Asia PC/SP drops before. I've taken everyone's advice and balanced out the income to provide a unique experience on each preset. Now of course, this doesn't mean these presets are perfect, not by a long shot. But now that the community has its hands on these presets, we can do even more thorough testing to make these maps as perfect as possible, so don't be afraid to speak up and suggest changes!

I'm also pleased to announce that the White colour is now available to all as well!

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We hope you enjoy these changes. Cheers!

-Garde