Hi, I was randomly checking the new map for things that I believe could use refinement. Not all are map related, though. Just a plethora of things I thought about when scrolling across the new map.
- Will roads enable troops passing through desert and tundra? Otherwise, some areas of the map will be cut off. To discourage desert road-building, road build time could be doubled for "impassible" areas.
- The floodplains in Egypt are great, but too much. Even populations of 1 and 2 would have health issues right from the start. There should be some patches of the Nile where there are no floodplains, in the version of the map I see now, every riverbound desert tile north of the Elephants is a floodplain. Hm, and another copy of the Elephants could be further north and later die out. Just like the upper mesopotamian Elephants.
- I love Mount Sinai where it is. Looks very reasonable, seeing Jerusalem where it is.
- With the new map, the very ancient times need to be more drawn out. ~35 turns cover 1000 years, that is ridiculous, especially considering the bigger map. If at least additional 50 turns can be put into the time between 3000BC and 1AD, that would be great.
- Babylon shouldn't start in 3000 BC, they are rather for 2000 BC. Check it out:
Ancient middle east 1900 BCE, where the city of Babylon was still in the shadow of the larger cities to the south, like Isin and Larsa. The centuries before had already seen the
Akkadian Empire, and much earlier the squabbling
Sumerian city states. Although, we could start with "Sumerian City States" in 3000, rename them to "Akkad Empire" around 2300, rename them to "Babylon" around 1800, rename them to "Karduniash" or "Kassites" around 1600, rename them to "Babylonia" in 1200. Eventually, after partial collapses and vassalization to Assur they can respawn as THE "biblical" Babylonian Empire
(Chaldeans) in 650 BC. Anyway, here's the
full map series. I'm sorry it's German, but names should be recognizable for an English audience, I hope.
- Will Opium be fully accessible with Calendar? I would at least delay that resource until Medicine! Also, make Opium a required resource to build Alamut, I'd say. And, are some of the Opium plots put into the 3000 BC map just to symbolize where they will be discovered later in the game? Because I think that the 3000 BCE amounts of Poppy are bit too many, like the ones in Central Asia. Some should pop up later. And I assume, there will be a Cocain variant in South America?
- Maybe Jade and Marble are only discovered with Masonry? Shouldn't matter much though. Wait, there are only 2 Obsidian resources? Are they custom-made replacements of Iron, for the Mezoamerican indigenes?
- Speaking of technologies, the "cement" technology is pretty odd, if you think about it. It makes sense in the mediterranean area (Romans and Greeks, and other cultures copied from them). But several cultures shouldn't research "Cement", especially China and India. Could they get a customized version ("Cement" with a different name)?
- The Himalaya looks pretty good, much better than the old map. Massive mountains, Tibet is limited to a very restricted place. Didn't remember there were such huge salt lakes in Tibet, but you never learn enough: Nam Co and Qinghai Hu
are salt lakes. And the salt lakes as a feature type look great, by the way.
- Europa's shapes look... different. But okay. Except for the Baltic Sea which looks weird, with such a long straight coastline in the German-Polish part. Also, the Baltic Sea seems to cover an area a bit too large, compared to the shape of Scandinavia. Maybe move the entire baltic states coastline (from Estonia to
Königsberg Kaliningrad) 1 tile to the West? Speaking of the large continental Europe, there is definitely room for a Hungarian civ now.
- Will the Viking challenge be possible with the redesigned Greenland area? Wait, I see the resources in Greenland, we're supposed to settle there... nice change!
- Not a single salt resource in South America, and what's with the resourcelessness of Argentina? Will that enormous plains just be full of cows and horses later?
- Angola should have 1 Oil field, I think, it's their primary export aside from gems (which are already present)
- Not a single resource in Northern Kongo? Or do those appear later?
- Terrain types: has someone ever modelled a bamboo forest type? Not a resource, just a different forest model? Those could look great all over Eastern Asia.
- Also, is "rare timber" a possible resource type, possibly in rain forests of Africa, South America and Indonesia? (another idea cribbed from R:I)
Okay, that's just some wild brainstorming from my side.