We don't have nearly as many girls!
yeah interesting map.. like blid said the gold mines should be opened up...i would also add more space between the 2 gold mines @ 6 and 9 o clock. i guess it could turn into an interesting battle if there were enemies at those positions.
i'd also get rid of the water @ bottom left and replace it with another corner gold mine like all of the other corners. whichever players start the left side of 6 o clock and the bottom side of 9 o clock are at obvious disadvantages late game.
Maybe I'm stating the obvious but this is played a team of four on one side and another team on the other side (Fixed Order, not Random). So, you can't get an enemy close to your mine.
Experience showed that there are no disadvantages to any player positions in terms of mine location. When you expand (whether it's to the islands or the upper right corner) you do that in agreement with the team leader and the rest of the team. It's not a matter of who's the closest to the mine but who needs it most.
We did discuss having a mine in the lower left corner too but if you have both oil and gold there then it would be too strong a position.