Very cool, Leoreth. One minor thing - why is the Celtic capital Loch Garman (Wexford) instead of Dublin? Very glad to see Celtic Ireland as a civ in the 600 AD map, are they playable?
Please don't worry about or comment on city names. The city name manager is still not set up yet.
Why does the world look underdeveloped here? Or is this still bound to have more changes in that aspect?
No, that is the nature of the 600 AD scenario. Historically, in all relevant parts of the world it presents either the time right before or right after a serious collapse and decline after internal or external conflict. The Byzantine Empire is suffering from the overextension of Justinian's western campaigns and Justinian's plague, the defeat by the Sassanids and the Slavic breakthrough at the Danube are just about to happen. Sassanid Persia is about to collapse after its wars with Byzantium. India experienced the collapse of the imperial Guptas less than a century ago and is entering a period of deurbanisation. China has just left a period of conflict and instability that has essentially been going since the Three Kingdoms period.
Gameplay wise, this leaves a lot of room for action and freedom to the player. I think it is more interesting when cities can still grow, and there are still decisions to be made about which buildings and improvements to build. The situation is likely exaggerated, but also the game mechanics allow a recovery on these points much faster than actual history would have.
I asked a similar question about New France in the current 1700ad scenario and I recall Leoreth answering to think of the starting conditions as something that is going to set the stage for what's to come rather than as a snapshot of the starting year. I guess it's the same thing with this: Byzantines are going to lose those areas very soon so in the scope of the game it's probably not worth it to have them start with those areas under control.
Also very nice to see this update! Thank you for sharing this Leoreth!
Yeah, exactly. The purpose of the 600 scenario is not to perfectly represent the year 600 AD exactly, but rather to set the stage for history to proceed how it would from 600 AD and provide a good representation for the following centuries as well, instead of being biased towards only one particular date.
In the case of Italy, Byzantine control was tenuous and highly localised. They were in control of most cities in the scenario, but even your map that is imo misleadingly positive about the extent of Byzantine power overseas shows that the Lombards were in control of much of Italy. With Rome especially it is more important to establish it as a defensible independent city.
For the same reason Persia is already collapsed.