Atwar shorts

We know how popular Reichsheer's simplified WW1 map is.

We know one of the chief criticisms of World Map 2.0 is its complexity.

We know how people dislike long games (except for masochist SP farmers).

There's a common denominator in what we know. This denominator is something that has not yet been implemented and must be proposed. I, therefore, propose midget sex, or the more formal designation: atwar shorts.

This proposal is disruptive and will be disliked by many. I have never used TikTok, but I know it numbs the mind. YouTube shorts, in a similar way, numb the mind. But, of course, we're a strategy game. Our minds won't go numb. Let's focus on YouTube. YouTube implemented YouTube shorts as a platform separate from the traditional video. In a similar way, atwar should implement atwar shorts as a platform separate from the traditional "game," but retaining the characteristics of the game just as YouTube shorts retain characteristics of the video.

There are several ways to approach a platform like this. I'm not going to theorize about the best way to implement a platform. Instead, here's words:

Mapmakers naturally have an urge to go above and beyond the call of duty, creating maps with exquisite detail and historical accuracy. For maps on the atwar shorts platform, the effort spent on detail and historical accuracy should, instead, be spent on optimizing the game play experience. What the fuck do I mean, "optimizing the gameplay experience"? To answer this question, let's think about YouTube again: one of the characteristics that distinguish YouTube shorts from YouTube videos is video length. So, how does the "length" characteristic translate to a characteristic found in atwar? Here are the characteristics I can think of:
1. Map size
2. # of countries
3. # of cities
4. # of cities divided by # of countries
5. # of unit types

The length characteristic for YouTube shorts must have a value under 60 seconds. The value for each of the 5 characteristics I listed above should be any combination of values compatible with turns that are either instantaneous or only a few seconds long. If atwar doesn't need to remember much, then atwar should be able to handle instantaneous turns. We already have 60 second turns. Reducing turn length by a factor of 60 should be possible on a super small map.

Easy. Two birds with one stone.

Of course, mapmakers might have no incentive to do this, which is why map-making for this platform should be centralized. A team of elite cartographers, summoned from the fiery pits of Mordor, with at least 10 years experience should be put up to the task. And if they decline, they should be consigned to the hellish pit from whence they came. And so, with this in mind, they should, as I mentioned before, optimize the gameplay experience consistent with the 5 limitations mentioned above. But what the fuck do I mean by that? Think about it in terms of Minecraft. So, let's say you made some terrain that looks great in creative mode. But how the fuck is a player in survival mode going to traverse the terrain? You can't just look at it in creative mode and assume that players in survival mode are gonna be able to deal with that shit. You've got to edit small details of the terrain to make sure that players in survival will have an enjoyable experience. I guess maps can be optimized empirically through trial and error and shit. But that's not reliable because this game lacks big player population. So, instead, do whatever the natural implication is here. It can't be rocket science. I guess you can think of gameplay experience as a variable. And so, let's say you can quantify gameplay experience on x-axis and frequency of the experience on y-axis. I would expect that there would be many local maximums for specific gameplay experiences. For example, you might frequently get combinations of players that, when in a single game, together experience a certain type of experience. And so, accounting for this frequent experience through cartography would make sense.

Moving on: interface. The interface for this platform should be a lot like the education platform I proposed several months ago. There should be a centralized platform with maps set forth by the elite cartographers in order to kick-start the platform. At which point, decentralized maps can be put through if they meet the limitations (but they should have to get approved by the centralized elite class).

Then, you get something approximating atwar shorts.