Leoreth, Considering that you are working on Asia. It would be a good idea to pay some attention to Persia. Considering that the Achaemenid Empire was almost identical to the Roman Empire in size and population, I think some kind of similar treatment should be given to them. By having them accurately conquer the entire middle east we can solve several problems that plague the early game:
-We can solve the Babylon problem which includes that civ lasting too long and founding too many cities.
- If the Persians conquer Tyre we can accurately represent both Pheonicia and Carthage. This means that when Tyre is conquered, the capital will flip to Carthage which can also get a granary and harbor along with 2 settlers and a workboat for the AI. I am adding the last part with the buildings, settlers and the workboat because honestly in my last few Roman games Carthage was pathetic, it had a population of 1 with no building and no cities around it. I would even suggest spawing a settler (for the AI) in Spain or Sicily by random chance along with a settler in North Africa.
-If we can accurately have the Persians found 1-2 cities in Anatolia, this would be extremely helpful later on in the game for the Romans, Byzantines and the Turks. But this would require you to compromise the geography of Sardis a little bit so that the city can represent Ankara or Ikonium late game. Ankara would be prefered as the city is not represented in 600 ad so this will add some diversity to the game.
I also wanted to know if you have any interest in somehow represnting the Alexandrian Conquests?