In most variants it is impossible to get a two-way draw. You just have to be aware of the fact and go for either a 3way draw or for the win.

Ahh. I see now. +1 kaug

there is the possibility of a neutral NPC nation controlling an SC to give a nice even number. or a CD'ed player could hold onto one.

The goal in this game isn't 2 way drawing. The goal is the solo.

GOTTA WIN WIN WIN NO MATTER WHAT!

If the game starts with neutral SCs, then a two way draw is always technically possible.

The rule book does not state that a solo is "the goal" of the game. Thankfully, it leaves it more vague. I think this makes this game much more interesting than any other game.

One more Map is Crowded. The first time I've played it, I found an excellent ally. But while the game was ending, we realized that the Map had 35 SCs. Surprise! The 2-way draw we planned was impossible, and we sadly start to fight each other.

I'm not against Maps with an odd number of SCs. You can consider the impossibility of a 2-way just as a feature of the Variant. But I think you should be warned before you join the game. I believe that each Variant Page should report the number of SCs in the Map.

But even/odd SCs is only the most evident characteristic. Expanding this thought, with both the purpose of helping players who play a Variant for the first time and the purpose of helping new Variant's developers, I believe that each Variant Page should report the basic characteristics of its Map. A sort of 'Standard Table' like this:

Total number of Territories [all: seas+lands]
Number of SCs (and SCs/Territories ratio or SCs/nonSCs ratio)
Number of SCs required for a solo (and a warning if it's not 50%+1 as in Duo or WWIV)
Number of lands [inland+coasts](and lands/Terr ratio)
Number of coasts (and coasts/lands ratio)
Number od inlands (and inlands/lands ratio)
Number of seas (and seas/Terr ratio or seas/lands)...

This is just an example and, if Oli likes it, we could discuss it and modify it.
Everybody knows that the SCs/nonSCs ratio is very low for Duo and "infinite" for Pure. So everybody adapts his strategy to this information. But you can't always calculate this ratio with a glimpse, expecially in large maps.
Well, having this information for each Map would help players to realize how their strategy should be likewise. And would help new Variants' creators to understand to what, the Map they're developing, reassembles to.
It would be the 'Identity Card' of a Map.

Thoughts?

Very good idea.
This should be no problem to implement.
Other suggestions what you need on the variant-information page?

I must say I was rather surprised to realise that the winning point for Viking was somethign like 25%.

for games with 35 centers, you could require 1 more than half of the centers to win, or...

it is possible to pus the game to a stalemate with three players, and then wait for the third player to resign...

this would work fairly well if they only had a non-home SC left and you manage to destroy their unit (without taking the supply centers)

neither option is ideal, imo, but at least the first does take the principle of 'winning' being the assumption that you can take the whole board once you have a majority of the centers.... it just forces you to take an extra (19/35 in the case of crowded)

A method to get more suggestions could be scrolling the Variant list. "Pure" gave me the 'SCs/nonSCs ratio' idea.
So, i.e., "Crowded" could suggest these 'crowdness' ratios:
- Territories/Powers
- SCs/Powers
basically averages of avaliable Terr or SCs per Power.
Is "Viking" more or less crowded than "Crowded"? :-)

Very less. But you have the feeling it is very crowded! What's wrong? Well, it's because in Viking each Power starts with a lot of units and there are also Neutral units. So one more interesting ratio could be: Starting Units/SCs. A very high result for Viking, but not as high as Crowded or Pure: 100%. Or, slightly different, we could use NeutralSCs/PowersSCs.

Mmmm...perhaps fantasy is better than a method :D, But I'm afraid fantasy would bring us to have hundreds of ratios that would make the ID Card of a Map unreadable. I believe we should choose the most 12-18 significant ones.

how about rather then including the percentages, just the info:
Number of territories
Number of SC
SC required to win
Number of land territories
Number of sea territories

That way percentages are easily calculable.

Number of territories is easy calculable too, just watch the map. Same for SCs. And land or sea territories. It just takes a few minutes, so why should we include this stats at all?
Fasces, my point is to have a tool you can use very easy and quickly each time a player or a developer needs it. If you have to look for your pocket calculator or open an excel file each time you want to know one of the most significant ratios, the purpose of the idea would be lost.

Perhaps, to keep good the readability (legibility?) of a Variant Page (I guess this was your intention) we could put into the VP only the very most important data:
- Number of territories
- Number of SC
- SC required to win (and a warning if it's not 50%+1 as in Duo or WWIV or Viking or Economic ...)
and then set up a page (for expert players or developers or... just curious people) where you may find all the data, ratios or whatever, in a way you can easily compare two or more variants. Look at this page:
http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/member_list.php?
When you open this table you find it sorted by ID. When you click on the head of a column you get it re-sorted by that characteristic. Try! Click on "Draw"!
This way you can compare all the variants, by each characteristic, without making unreadable each VP. I strongly hope Oli can do it and find the time.

Last words about ratios. Those ARE the interesting informations. When I join a new variant game for the first time, I don't wonder "How many Territories has this map?" (well, for WWIV, I did :D). I usually think something like "Wow!What a map! Let's see... what's this desert? Are there so little SCs? and... uhmmm... I feel like I could build only 2 fleets and win. Are there so little seas?" or, maybe, after the first spring "OMG, I can't move! Are there so many Powers? so many starting units? so little nonSC?"
The answers to all these questions are ratios. Actually, I wouldn't wonder these questions at all if, before joining, I could read the answers. I don't want to spend a whole afternoon with my pocket calculator. Please let me find 'em.