The North Bay against the South Bay, with the water in between. The north holds Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Solano. The south holds the Peninsula, San Jose and Fremont. Between them are San Francisco and the East Bay, and the only ways across the water are bridges.
At a glance#
- 46 provinces: 21 plains, 9 forest, 2 mountain and 14 urban.
- 18 cities, 4 of them capitals: Santa Rosa and Napa in the north, Palo Alto and San Jose in the south.
- Modes: 1v1 and 2v2.
- No rivers. The water is the obstacle.
Two ways round, and bridges across#
The land runs all the way round the Bay, but the north is cut off from it by water. It reaches the rest of the map only over its bridges:
- The west way: over the Golden Gate from Southern Marin into the Sunset and Richmond, then through San Francisco and down the Peninsula.
- The east way: over the Carquinez or Benicia–Martinez bridges from Vallejo into the East Bay, then down through Hayward to Fremont.
Four more bridges cross the middle of the Bay, from one way round to the other:
- the Bay Bridge, San Francisco to Oakland;
- the Richmond–San Rafael, San Rafael to Richmond;
- the San Mateo, San Mateo to Hayward;
- the Dumbarton, Menlo Park to Fremont.
A bridge is an ordinary border: you can move, attack and support across it. An army heading down one side of the Bay can turn and cross to the other in a single move, so watch both sides.
The sides#
Each 2v2 player has a bridge or a border of their own to the middle.
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| North: Marin and Sonoma | Petaluma, San Rafael, Santa Rosa | 9 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| North: Napa and Solano | Fairfield, Napa, Vallejo | 9 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| South: the Peninsula | Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City | 9 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
| South: San Jose and Fremont | Fremont, Milpitas, San Jose | 9 infantry, 3 armor, 1 artillery, 1 plane |
In a 1v1, each side holds both of its halves.
| Side | Home cities (capitals in bold) | Starting units |
|---|---|---|
| North Bay | Fairfield, Napa, Petaluma, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Vallejo | 18 infantry, 6 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
| South Bay | Fremont, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Jose | 18 infantry, 6 armor, 2 artillery, 2 planes |
The neutral middle#
Six cities start neutral: San Francisco (7 infantry), Oakland (10 infantry), San Mateo (6 infantry), Richmond (5 infantry), Walnut Creek (5 infantry), Hayward (5 infantry).
- San Francisco and Oakland have the biggest garrisons, Oakland the bigger. They hold the ends of the Bay Bridge.
- Hayward and San Mateo border the south. In our bot test games the south almost always takes them in the first few turns.
- Richmond and Walnut Creek are the nearest cities over the north's bridges, and in our bot test games the north usually gets them.
Terrain#
- The capitals are urban. Santa Rosa, Napa, Palo Alto and San Jose defend at +50%, and armor attacks into them at ×0.5. So do San Francisco, Oakland and the inner East Bay.
- Mount Diablo and the Santa Cruz Mountains are mountain. Any stack that enters one stops there for the turn.
- The Half Moon Bay coast is a slow forest road down the ocean side of the Peninsula, from Daly City to the hills behind Redwood City and Menlo Park.
How it plays#
In our bot test games, a game runs about thirty to thirty-five turns. The opening is a race for the cities just over each side's bridges and borders. After that, the fight is on both sides of the Bay at once, and the bridges let either side switch fronts quickly. Almost every one of them saw an attack across one of the four middle bridges.
Tips#
- Look at the far side of every bridge. A stack next to a bridge threatens the province across it as much as its land neighbours.
- Don't leave a bridgehead empty. San Rafael, Hayward and Menlo Park each sit at the end of a bridge across the Bay, and Vallejo at the end of both bridges over the strait.
- Oakland is the hinge. It touches the Bay Bridge, Berkeley, San Leandro and Hayward, so whoever holds it can go either way.
About the map#
Provinces are groups of census tracts, merged into cities and districts. The far edges of the nine counties (the Sonoma coast, Lake Berryessa, Dixon, eastern Contra Costa and southern Santa Clara County) aren't on the map, and neither are the small islands (Treasure Island, Angel Island, Alcatraz). Alameda is. The sides are game blocs, not real factions.