Confirmed: 9 Sanctuaries at launch.

[Miir]

Probably should clarify that I don't want continent locks. Merely I'm not a fan of static footholds. (or Sanctuaries).

However I do believe that the current system is flawed and will result in statemates and gameplay stagnation. Here are a few maps of Indar I recreated for this discussion.

First here is the current system and where my original stalemate assumptions came from. This shows the 3 empire footholds. (disclaimer I made this based on this image and the top was cut off so I made some guesses)


Next I tagged all the main bases in yellow which I imagine will play an important role in the game.


Next given the close proximity to each foothold (2 to 3 hexes) I tagged which empire would likely have the best advantages to take the bases.


From there I just filled in the rest of the hexes around the bases. These are sort of gimme's since they all are within a couple hexes of the foothold. What's left (the black areas) is what would be considered the "front lines" and will likely change often. Not to say people won't attack outside of those areas it's just that it will be considerably harder to maintain a push so close to an enemy foothold. Thus leading to the "stalemate scenario".


What I'd prefer they do is get rid of the footholds and utilize the "green zone" around the perimeter of the map.


In this "green zone" empires would be able to randomly deploy "Forward Operating Bases (FOB's)" to stage attacks from.


The major benefit I see to this is it would randomize the areas of the map that people would be coming from and it would also allow an entire continent to be captured (though unlikely)


In the event that one empire was just clearly better than the rest and managed to take over the entire continent. It would still allow the other two empires to re-deploy their FOB's and start to attack again to get a foothold.