(my yeah was agreeing with not figlesquidge... in case that lends confusion)

Not minor variant , as Fleet Rome..Too little variation!
Colonial Diplomacy is the way to go!!

I just remembered I posted this a while ago and it was never really answered. This is as good a place as any to repost it I guess?

How does country allocation in Variants work? In normal games, you have a greater chance of playing countries you haven't played much. So is this true in Variants as well?

And what would happen if, say, Fleet Rome were introduced as a variant? Would playing a country in Fleet Rome affect your chances in normal games?

You did ask, and no answer was given. I don't think the idea has been decided yet, but I haven't checked thoroughly.

@Orathaic: I kind of like that idea, actually... make an option for every variant to have it so that you can place your own units? How difficult would that be to do?

@fig: Good call. This must be why you make the big bucks.

@Rule Britannia, I do indeed have a map lying around in my histories, let's see...

Ah! Here we are!

http://www.diplom.org/Online/maps/1900-large.gif

And as a bonus, a pdf of the rulebook created for it.

http://www.diplom.org/Online/variants/1900-061119.pdf

The creator of the game tried to bring more balance and historical accuracy to the game by buffing Germany and England up, while knocking France and Russia down a few pegs.

"@fig: Good call. This must be why you make the big bucks. "
Haha, I wish. At the moment I'm *just* in credit, but in a years time I'll be down into a debt I'm unlikely to leave for at least 5 years!

Life: Well, it would require a change in format. The way variants currently work allows easily for Autumn 1900 to be written in, but to add this option for all variants would mean changing the framework, something I can't see happening.
Ora: Correct me if I'm wrong.

Fig: Don't feel too bad, it's going to take me at least 10 to pay down my student loans. And I graduated 4 years ago. :\

As far as Autumn 1900 goes, I can't wait to try it out if added here... it seems like that one change is enough of a variant to add an entire new dimension to the regular game.

This discussion makes me wish I knew enough in the way of coding to help. :\

I'm a first year Mathematics student - not sure if you knew that?
I would assume so, but as I'm not working on the code now I'm not certain.

Maybe I did, I don't remember... it sucks getting old. :P

Good luck either way. I had a roommate who was finishing up his master's in math, and had no clue what to do with his degree. Last I heard he was working at Starbucks. You'll no doubt do better than that. :)

@Triskelli: I seriously considerd making the 1900 variant possible on webdip, but the "old" variant-system didn't leave enough room for the special variant-rules. With the new variant-system this is much easier. But I have next to none PHP and Javascript knowledge. so it still might take some time. Also I'm still converting all my previous maps to the new format.
If you want to help you can create the neccessary map-files following this thread.http://forum.webdiplomacy.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=338
I could help later with the data-files and variant rules.

@Triskelli: I started working on a howto here:
http://forum.webdiplomacy.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=432

It's not finished yet. But is a good starting point.

@Sleepcap; Thanks! I'll see what I can do.

What program do you use to edit the maps?

@figles: i'm not sure; i haven't delved into the code, either the old or new variant systems.
i keep promising myself that i wil finish my current project and setup my own webdip server to play around with...

I think it is really easy to have a winter 1900 option for all maps (because they currently store who owns what - the colour of initial territories) and which are SC, just starting in the adjustment phase without placing the units (a seperate piece of info) shouldn't be that hard.

I guess you're right Orathaic - have you suggested it of the Dark Side (dev forum?)
Sleep: if you need a hand learning php then I don't mind answering a few questions here and there :)

@Triskelli: I use Photoshop-Express.
But GIMP or Paint.net are great too.. Used them both before. The programm should support indexed-png format and layers. That's enough.

GIMP works great.
Sleep: what are layers used for?

Layers are not needed for the end-result, but they make editing so much easier.
There is a 2nd png-file needed for the names (and I use it for the support-centers too) It's much easier to put the names and sc's on a 2nd layer of the smallmap and if it's finished remove the map on the 1st layer.
Just take a look at the HOWTO. Just finished the chapter about the name-overlay.

...I use paint on my variants :/

It's not the software that matters, just the end result and what you need to feel comfortable and reach your goals in a timely manner.

Right, that makes sense. Yes I agree it can be very useful to have layers when putting the maps together, just wondered when it was required.

If I ever make a variant map I have to say I think i'd probably do it in SVG then convert over anyway, both because I hope SVG will be the future for the site and also because then I can produce the image at any sizes required.

@sleepcap: i think the end result is actually layered images, but that's handled by the php (that seperate name file is one layer, and then there is a layer for units, i think; but the php handles it all so you don't need to worry about it when designing the map)

Webdip use different images to create the final map, but you can't donload the "layered" version. PNG doen't support that. You get one graphic-file with all overlays put in one layer.

Exactly. The site loads each layer and then 'flattens' the image down to give a bitmap, which is stored in the png format.

Thanks. I have Arcsoft, and will try to put the edited image up. Got a long weekend and a short school week, so I have some time to fiddle.

@Triskelli: If you get stuck feel free to ask on the developer-forums.