Animated Maps
The Newbie Game
The original animated map showed the sphere of influence of each power. A province was coloured whenever occupied by a power. It stays coloured whilst occupied.
Unoccupied provinces were coloured according to the "sphere of influence" they were in.
If an unnoccupied province was an SC, then the province was coloured according to who owns the SC.
If not an SC the province was coloured according to which power last occupied it.
In the case where a province was occupied by a power, but it was impossible to travel to a province which has a unit or SC owned by that power without crossing the sphere of influence of another power, then that province reverts to 'neutral'.
If a 'neutral' province was surrounded completely by one other power, then that province was deemed to be within that powers sphere of influence.
The colours were designed to give a feel for who owns what - the actual units will only occupy a fraction of the coloured provinces!