Look to the West -- Thread II

[Nugax]

If you're optimizing it for download I'd say its arguably more important to avoid raster maps in favour of vector ones - resizing the cross hatching of a raster map can make it look horrible.

Secondly when your limited on colour palette and resolution doing a hierarchy of maps is better than fitting everything onto one image, say an overview of europe without any of the detail internal to the HRE and then an inset of the German states.

 

[Alex Richards]

I can't think of a specific example, but I seem to think there are one or two that don't.

Having looked, there appear to be two groups, each of 2 or 3 examples. The first is a few French names such as Chapel-en-le-Frith though even there it frequently gets shortened to just -le- as in Chester-le-Street.

The second is completely fair, and includes the towns of Newbiggen-by-the-Sea in Northumberland and Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire. I think Hutton-in-the-Forest would count as well, but that's just a country House.

It's certainly much more common to drop the 'the' though.

 

[Thande]

Secondly when your limited on colour palette and resolution doing a hierarchy of maps is better than fitting everything onto one image, say an overview of europe without any of the detail internal to the HRE and then an inset of the German states.

I considered doing that but it's tough to know where to draw the line. Like in this map I obviously didn't include ALL the small states' divisions in Italy and Germany because that would look crap, but the trouble is that the states you really DO have to include (Saxony, Bavaria, etc.) have exclaves whose shifting ownership is actually important to the plot.

Currently debating how to do the North American maps. My current thinking is to do a large map just showing the current territory of the ENA/British North America with its internal colonial and later provincial divisions, and then a smaller inset map that shows the whole continent with British/French/Spanish territory in simple blocks, and maybe later just showing the Confederation divisions in the ENA. What does everyone think to that?

My main nemesis with maps is that I can never understand how people manage to get both the titles for countries/provinces etc. AND put cities/towns on without it looking cluttered. I normally just don't bother with cities and towns on the basis that everyone knows where Dresden is, but then it becomes problematic when it comes to places like the New World where cities don't always have the same names as OTL.

 

[Nugax]

Currently debating how to do the North American maps. My current thinking is to do a large map just showing the current territory of the ENA/British North America with its internal colonial and later provincial divisions, and then a smaller inset map that shows the whole continent with British/French/Spanish territory in simple blocks, and maybe later just showing the Confederation divisions in the ENA. What does everyone think to that?

Sounds good, I could knock that out really easily if you want since all the work is already done .

My main nemesis with maps is that I can never understand how people manage to get both the titles for countries/provinces etc. AND put cities/towns on without it looking cluttered. I normally just don't bother with cities and towns on the basis that everyone knows where Dresden is, but then it becomes problematic when it comes to places like the New World where cities don't always have the same names as OTL.

I know I say it a lot, but this is one of the things a good program and spending time on the map allows - when each name is a separate object (or in GIMPs case, a raster layer) you can move and adjust and wiggle the names to fit around each other without having to redo the map, and you move the ones already there to accommodate new entries.

 

[Analytical Engine]

If you didn't see my note on the end of the previous page, the purpose of this is because I'm considering trying to publish LTTW as an ebook via Amazon.

Ah, I did not.

I'm pondering how many European maps to do. I was going to do one in the 1750s, but really I don't think enough changed in between 1727 and then. There's the Polish Partition and the Bavarian landswap and so on but given how the TL is spaced out, I wonder if there's any point in doing any (European) maps in between 1727 and 1794. If I did do one in between, when do you people think the best date would be to do one--after the Third War of Supremacy, after the War of the Polish Partition, what?

Unless the territorial changes are going to be important/big, there may not be any need for such a map. Certainly, Europe following the *Seven Years' War and other major things afterwards would need to be covered.

Otherwise the dates I intend to cover with European maps of this type are 1794, poss. 1800-ish (time of Double Revolution), 1809, 1827, 1841. Plus maybe four maps of the ENA (1749, 1788, 1809, 1834-ish) and a few for South America, Southeast Asia, India etc. Call it maybe 15-20 maps in total to illustrate the TL. What do you reckon?

You could probably do two maps for South America - one for the expansion/contraction of the UPSA, and another for the rise of the Societist state afterwards. Maybe one general one for Southeast Asia so far, as there really hasn't been a huge change - maybe do a dotted line for the border between Arakan and the adjacent Burmese kingdom before the ruler of the former merged the two.

India certainly would be useful, but again, probably use dotted lines to represent annexed states, with one for the growth/contraction of Mysore.

I agree with you for the ENA. You could do one of those obligatory "US state established in this year" type maps, with the year of its incorporation over the province or something.

 

[Thande]

Sounds good, I could knock that out really easily if you want since all the work is already done .

If you would, I would be very grateful, and I would of course acknowledge you by name in the introduction. I'm just hesitant over including anyone else's work in this without their express permission (Nicksplace27 has very kindly allowed me to include the chapters he mostly penned about South Africa).

I know I say it a lot, but this is one of the things a good program and spending time on the map allows - when each name is a separate object (or in GIMPs case, a raster layer) you can move and adjust and wiggle the names to fit around each other without having to redo the map, and you move the ones already there to accommodate new entries.

I do use layers, but unfortunately I don't have a programme (or rather I do have GIMP but I don't have the skill to use it) that is set up to do this with text labels without ending up with anti-aliasing crap and that kind of thing.

I agree with you for the ENA. You could do one of those obligatory "US state established in this year" type maps, with the year of its incorporation over the province or something.

Very good idea!

 

[Nugax]

If you would, I would be very grateful, and I would of course acknowledge you by name in the introduction. I'm just hesitant over including anyone else's work in this without their express permission (Nicksplace27 has very kindly allowed me to include the chapters he mostly penned about South Africa).

I'll get on it.

I do use layers, but unfortunately I don't have a programme (or rather I do have GIMP but I don't have the skill to use it) that is set up to do this with text labels without ending up with anti-aliasing crap and that kind of thing.

Well a trick with GIMP is a) make sure all your text has been rotated at least some extent to ensure it all has the blur effect (believe me, the blur is much less obvious when there isn't non-blur text to contrast it too) and b) Do the working at much higher res than the finished product is meant to be then make a shrunken copy to equalise sampling effects across the image.

Or try using the Enchance->Unsharp Mask filter to remove the bluring if you're really unhappy with it.

If you really want the authentic old history book feel the Distort->Newsprint filter can do a really nice job of looking like something that was printed by a spot printer.

 

[Thande]

Well a trick with GIMP is a) make sure all your text has been rotated at least some extent to ensure it all has the blur effect (believe me, the blur is much less obvious when there isn't non-blur text to contrast it too) and b) Do the working at much higher res than the finished product is meant to be then make a shrunken copy to equalise sampling effects across the image.

Hmm, I can see how that would work. Thanks for the tip, maybe I will see if it's worth learning how to use that for these maps. As I say, probably not necessary for the Europe maps because you don't really need to put cities on them anyway, but might be a good idea for other continents.

 

[Thande]

Another note to self: in part #144, change Eveleigh urging the Carolinians to intervene from November 1832 to March 1832 or otherwise it doesn't fit with the chronology.

 

[ArKhan]

My interuprtation of soceitism: totalitarian, mertocratic where every is forced into the possition they're "best" at, and because societists think slavery and aristocratcy are natural, societists assign each person their place in society as either slaves, aristocrats, or inbetween, based on some arbitrary reason like a personality test or something. Artifical language maybe, and a strong desire to force it on their neighbors, expansionist, "all the world will be united, and we'll keep going to war until this it is so, and who cares if the people don't want to be slaves, someone has to!"

 

[ArKhan]

My prediction for South America: Portugul continues it's downward spiral. Late/post popular wars uprisings creat a four way Iberian war between Navarre, New Spian, Portugul, and Catalonia. This creates problems "across the pond" (do the portugese have that expression?) in South America. Those parts still under the royals, but that rebled in the war, will rise up creating another revolutionary republic on the brasilian coast. Next comes a war between all the Brasillian republics over which on will unite the country, as the separation is hurting each republic's ecnomy, cause each one to desire reunification (with itself at the head of course) this causes a long serries of wars that end in the total unification, styled "the united provinces of brasil". The new brasil flexes it's muscles agianst Guyanna and the old united provinces gets pissed, and thus another planteain war. The failure of the old united provinces causes enough people to be pissed off as to vote for the societists, and then shit get's real.

 

[Archangel]

"across the pond" (do the portugese have that expression?)

I have seen it translated as "do outro lado do charco".

 

[Thande]

Just to announce that I have finally FINISHED UPDATING THE CHRONOLOGICAL TIMELINE!

Now all I have to do is go through the prose TL from the start and make the corrections and changes I want...and make some more maps with Nugax's help...and make some special features...as Dr Bruno Lombardi would say, oy vey

That reminds me. Does anyone have any ideas for download-only special features I can make? What would make you part with your hard-earned smackaroonies (albeit not many of them, I'm not going to charge the earth for this)?

One idea I've already had is a feature about the Optel semaphore system.

 

[mowque]

Good Luck, how much will you charge? Maybe I'll break my code and buy a copy.

 

[Thande]

Good Luck, how much will you charge? Maybe I'll break my code and buy a copy.

I'm not sure. Amazon has two different publishing regimes, one where you get 30% of the royalties and one where you get 70%. You have to charge a certain amount to apply for the 70% band. I was planning to price it at just above the limit for that (which isn't much) but then I found out that they also apply a surcharge for how physically big the file is which only applies to the 70% band. Because LTTW will be a biiiig file thanks to the sheer amount of text plus the images, I think I'll give up trying to get the 70% band, I'm not going to become a millionaire off of this anyway. I was thinking charging about £2-3 for it.

From what I have seen of your TL, there's pretty much zero overlap in period or concepts with LTTW so I think you'd be 'safe' reading it though I know how strict your anti-unintentional-plagiarism code is. However I thought you didn't like e-readers? (Though Amazon tells me you can download it for an ordinary computer too if you get this virtual Kindle reader programme thing).

 

[mowque]

I'm not sure. Amazon has two different publishing regimes, one where you get 30% of the royalties and one where you get 70%. You have to charge a certain amount to apply for the 70% band. I was planning to price it at just above the limit for that (which isn't much) but then I found out that they also apply a surcharge for how physically big the file is which only applies to the 70% band. Because LTTW will be a biiiig file thanks to the sheer amount of text plus the images, I think I'll give up trying to get the 70% band, I'm not going to become a millionaire off of this anyway. I was thinking charging about £2-3 for it.

From what I have seen of your TL, there's pretty much zero overlap in period or concepts with LTTW so I think you'd be 'safe' reading it though I know how strict your anti-unintentional-plagiarism code is. However I thought you didn't like e-readers? (Though Amazon tells me you can download it for an ordinary computer too if you get this virtual Kindle reader programme thing).

1. Do you have copyright issues with any photos you posted? Don't forget, what is ok here may not be out in the big bad world.

2. I like to support fellow authors. I don't have to read it (but I will). I'd rather do it when it is done though, to get the full experience you want to reader to have.

3. E-readers are ok (My fiancee got one through the library). They are good but too pricey for the advantages they provide. I have a Linux machine though so I can break open anything I can download/buy.

 

[Thande]

1. Do you have copyright issues with any photos you posted? Don't forget, what is ok here may not be out in the big bad world.

Don't worry, I already thought of that and besides, Amazon's how-to guide warns you about it umpteen million times. I didn't really include much media in LTTW edited from copyright sources; some of the maps were originally Centennia edits, but I ended up making my own basemap and redoing them, so that's OK. I did edit some copyright paintings earlier on but I was never really happy with the result and they won't come out in black and white anyway so there's no point. Most of the other media are just edited flags and so on. The only thing I can think of that might be a no-no is the frontispiece portrait of Prince Frederick, which is obviously from a very old book but I suppose might have had its copyright renewed?

 

[jmberry]

That reminds me. Does anyone have any ideas for download-only special features I can make? What would make you part with your hard-earned smackaroonies (albeit not many of them, I'm not going to charge the earth for this)?

Images of the post-Lisieux cities of Europe. It's simply hard to visualize how much London and Paris would have changed without their well known medieval landmarks.

 

[Voyager75]

The only thing I can think of that might be a no-no is the frontispiece portrait of Prince Frederick, which is obviously from a very old book but I suppose might have had its copyright renewed?

I wouldn't worry about that. Copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author and cannot be renewed (unless you're from Disney...)

 

[Thande]

Images of the post-Lisieux cities of Europe. It's simply hard to visualize how much London and Paris would have changed without their well known medieval landmarks.

I'd like to do that in a perfect world but to be honest it's waaaay too big a project, keeping track of everything that's changed since 1727 is as much work is writing the TL in the first place. There's a reason I'm always intentionally vague when discussing urban landmarks.

One other special feature idea I forgot to mention is a "making of" segment in which I talk about how my initial ideas evolved into the final timeline. Sound interesting?

I also want to do a sort of world factbook compendium that's a mix of the Wiki articles and that pre-Popular Wars nation review I did, but brought up to date.