I've released 5 versions so far - 1.0, 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, and 2.0. Some ppl who played 1.0 & 1.1 said the game got too boring b/c the expansions took very long time, so in 1.3 I made the expansions easier and quicker.
Some unique features of this diplomacy are oil exchange, ships' sea/land divide, ports, and "sea route" portals.
At the top left corner of the map, plyrs can give oil (as well as $$) to other plyrs and buy/sell them from the common market. The price fluctuates based on supply and demand. Russia gets the most abundance of oil, thus being the prime oil seller. Its starting natural income is not very good, so it must make up for its revenue by selling its oil. China and India have lenient supply of oil, but there is not much of it in S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand.
One unique feature of Diplo Asia that makes it more realistic than other diplo maps is the fact that ships (bcs & carriers) cannot go over land. Due to this realistic limitation of ships' usage, the map acquires strategic points, and certain countries acquire essential roles as naval powers. By contrast, in other diplos, the navy does not exist because "battleship," naturally being the strongest air unit, is a noob choice. In Diplo Asia, bc's play the unique role of guided missile destroyers, with its yamato cannons as the long-range missiles and its overwhelming power against air units. The sea/land divide is enabled by the invincible, city-like "port" stargates on the coastlines (if ships were built from "air field" starport, the land/sea divide would not work & it wouldn't make sense). Scouts create bc's, and carriers create carriers. In version 2.0, 3 sets of 2-way "sea route" were added to ease the difficulty of navigating ships over long distance.
There are very few special units in the game (about 3~4). India, S. Korea, and Japan get slightly (~2%) stronger guided missile destroyers (bcs) called Aegis destroyers. S. Korea, Japan, and Taiwan get observers as "UAV" instead of the usual science vessel being the "spy plane." Japan gets scouts as F-15D Eagles in place of wraiths, which are generation 4.5 fighters such as Dassault Rafale, F-15K Slam Eagle, and JAS 39 Gripen. When fully upped, the scouts perform worse in all aspects against the wraiths; however, they do get much stronger starting attack against ground, which should help Japan in its early expansions. Nuke silos can be built by 3 countries - India, China, and Russia. S. Korea can acquire 1 nuke silo through its expansion north. Other countries may "purchase" nuke silos, although I doubt this will ever happen. (btw, nukes are not rigged, since all buildings and also a few units have enough hp to survive 1 nuke strike, and many units are plenty fast and maneuverable to escape.)
There are several non-special non-Terran units, of which the carrier was already mentioned. The vulture turns into dragoons, being the main battle tanks with moderate attack and strong armor. The MBTs are naturally strong against infantry and the AA goliaths, but they are weak against air units such as the fighters (wraiths or scouts) and attack helicopters or the mutalisks (from valkryries). Dropships turn into shuttles to hold principle that air travel is always faster than land travel. Since goons have the role of tanks, I enabled sieging for siege tanks as artillery.
The starting income for plyrs mostly correspond to their countries' GDP. Although Japan actually has the largest GDP in Asia and the 2nd largest in the world, China has the largest starting income. 2nd, Japan; 3rd, Russia (if its oil revenue is taken into account); 4th & 5th, India & S. Korea; 6th, Taiwan; 7th, Thailand.
If all plyrs were very good, I estimate most of the expansions should be taken before 10 min into the game. Btw, turns are 30 seconds shorter.
Post has been edited 10 time(s), last time on Aug 24 2009, 4:06 pm by cosmicagent.
None.