caphyre
Chieftain
First I started updating other civs' city names in Russia, but it lead to...
...reviewing almost ALL eastern part of the map, and even more.
It appeared that these territories had the same issues as Russian city names and city placement.
Which regions have been reworked:
Scandinavia: new cities in Jutland, Scania, and the north of the peninsula itself, north is completely reworked;
The Netherlands: some cities rearranged, new cities added;
Germany: some cities rearranged;
Occitania: many cities rearranged, some new cities;
Poland, Russia, Hungary and Transylvania, Maghreb: some new cities;
Baltics: some cities rearranged, some new cities;
Balkans, Anatolia, Levant, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania: fully reworked.
Most Mediterranean islands now have 1 city per tile: Civita, Corfu, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, and Syracuse are the only ones which occupy 2 tiles.
Which civs have been reworked:
Arabic civs: more correct transliteration in some places, filled empty settleable tiles of Maghreb with new cities;
Bulgaria: expanded names list a little bit northward and southward, up to Morea;
Byzantium: Latin language replaced with Greek, now the territory of former Western Roman Empire is less covered;
French civs: added diacritical marks;
German civs: expanded to Scandinavia, Balkans (without Morea), west and especially northwest of Russia;
Hungary: expanded to the all Balkans (except Morea) and some northwestern and northeastern territories;
Iberian civs: corrected some city names, added diacritical marks to Portugal and Spain;
Italian civs: corrected some city names (especially for Genoa), corrected and expanded colonies in the coast of the Black Sea;
Lithuania: expanded to all Poland and nearly half of Russia, added diacritical marks;
The Netherlands: expanded to surrounding territories, removed names in the Near East;
Poland: corrected some city names, expanded a little to west and southwest, also nearly half of Russia covered now;
Russian civs: expanded westward and southward up to Balkans, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia;
Scandinavian civs: corrected some city names, added diacritical marks;
Scotland: just made up to date with all changes;
Turkey: this is what has triggered all the work. Corrected all city names on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Many other names were corrected too. Expanded to territories up to Vienna, but Transylvania is covered only partially.
Also now lists are synchronized with each other, with almost no overlaps. But, as an example: Galich, which occupies 3 tiles for Kiev/Novgorod. 2 of them are Stanislawow for some later civs, because these cities are pretty close to each other, but Stanisławów (modern Ivano-Frankovsk) has been founded only in the 17th century by Poles. The same situation is with nearby Bender and Tiraspol, and some other cities in Scandinavia, Anatolia and Northern Syria.
The file with all changes is attached.
But there are some issues.
Two civs need to change their spawn tile a little bit. They are Arabia and the Netherlands (1st and 4th screenshots).
Damascus occupies tiles selected with orange. That iron tile seems like the most accurate place for Damascus.
The Netherlands currently spawn at Utrecht, Amsterdam occupies only one tile, selected with orange.
Also I think it wouldn't be too much to add one land tile to northeast of Amsterdam. Maybe moving the iron source somewhere southward will be required.
Oh, also almost forgot to say that pre-placed Sinop is on the wrong tile too, it should be one tile eastern.
More about Arabia.
There are some areas that are too fertile. They are not selected with green on 1-3 screenshots and marked as "DESERT" for Arabia/Cordoba/Morocco.
I think there is also required rearrangement of resources and oases. Also I have marked two tiles as "LAKE" (Chott el Jerid).
Cyrene should be focused to be razed, because I couldn't find any significant city on that tile relevant for Middle Ages, no any information about Sidi Rafaa, even the name in Arabic for more correct transliteration. Need a focus for AI to found 2-3 cities in that area instead (Ajdabiya, Derna, Benghazi/Al-Marj).
...reviewing almost ALL eastern part of the map, and even more.
It appeared that these territories had the same issues as Russian city names and city placement.
Which regions have been reworked:
Scandinavia: new cities in Jutland, Scania, and the north of the peninsula itself, north is completely reworked;
The Netherlands: some cities rearranged, new cities added;
Germany: some cities rearranged;
Occitania: many cities rearranged, some new cities;
Poland, Russia, Hungary and Transylvania, Maghreb: some new cities;
Baltics: some cities rearranged, some new cities;
Balkans, Anatolia, Levant, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania: fully reworked.
Most Mediterranean islands now have 1 city per tile: Civita, Corfu, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, and Syracuse are the only ones which occupy 2 tiles.
Which civs have been reworked:
Arabic civs: more correct transliteration in some places, filled empty settleable tiles of Maghreb with new cities;
Bulgaria: expanded names list a little bit northward and southward, up to Morea;
Byzantium: Latin language replaced with Greek, now the territory of former Western Roman Empire is less covered;
French civs: added diacritical marks;
German civs: expanded to Scandinavia, Balkans (without Morea), west and especially northwest of Russia;
Hungary: expanded to the all Balkans (except Morea) and some northwestern and northeastern territories;
Iberian civs: corrected some city names, added diacritical marks to Portugal and Spain;
Italian civs: corrected some city names (especially for Genoa), corrected and expanded colonies in the coast of the Black Sea;
Lithuania: expanded to all Poland and nearly half of Russia, added diacritical marks;
The Netherlands: expanded to surrounding territories, removed names in the Near East;
Poland: corrected some city names, expanded a little to west and southwest, also nearly half of Russia covered now;
Russian civs: expanded westward and southward up to Balkans, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia;
Scandinavian civs: corrected some city names, added diacritical marks;
Scotland: just made up to date with all changes;
Turkey: this is what has triggered all the work. Corrected all city names on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Many other names were corrected too. Expanded to territories up to Vienna, but Transylvania is covered only partially.
Also now lists are synchronized with each other, with almost no overlaps. But, as an example: Galich, which occupies 3 tiles for Kiev/Novgorod. 2 of them are Stanislawow for some later civs, because these cities are pretty close to each other, but Stanisławów (modern Ivano-Frankovsk) has been founded only in the 17th century by Poles. The same situation is with nearby Bender and Tiraspol, and some other cities in Scandinavia, Anatolia and Northern Syria.
The file with all changes is attached.
But there are some issues.
Two civs need to change their spawn tile a little bit. They are Arabia and the Netherlands (1st and 4th screenshots).
Damascus occupies tiles selected with orange. That iron tile seems like the most accurate place for Damascus.
The Netherlands currently spawn at Utrecht, Amsterdam occupies only one tile, selected with orange.
Also I think it wouldn't be too much to add one land tile to northeast of Amsterdam. Maybe moving the iron source somewhere southward will be required.
Oh, also almost forgot to say that pre-placed Sinop is on the wrong tile too, it should be one tile eastern.
More about Arabia.
There are some areas that are too fertile. They are not selected with green on 1-3 screenshots and marked as "DESERT" for Arabia/Cordoba/Morocco.
I think there is also required rearrangement of resources and oases. Also I have marked two tiles as "LAKE" (Chott el Jerid).
Cyrene should be focused to be razed, because I couldn't find any significant city on that tile relevant for Middle Ages, no any information about Sidi Rafaa, even the name in Arabic for more correct transliteration. Need a focus for AI to found 2-3 cities in that area instead (Ajdabiya, Derna, Benghazi/Al-Marj).
Also exchanged a tile from Verona to Tuscany. I'm grasping at straws here to give a researched reasoning why other than it just seems to correspond better to maps; and, as with the case of Lombardy and Liguria, a city probably isn't going to be settled there anyway so mechanically it doesn't make any difference really. However, I have put yet another knife in the backs of the Venetians. From my somewhat researched opinion, I figure the Görz city tile is better off in the hands of the Carinthia province, as it was an Austrian port. I also put the Trieste tile in the Dalmatia province, as I feel it is a better ethno-geographic representation of that place for the time period of the game. Again, not super committed to the changes here, but just wanted to offer some alternatives.
It is one tile larger, however. And you'll notice that Brandenburg is gone?? From here on it's a bit more of a work in progress. The Northern and Eastern Germany area underwent some awkward from of expansion throughout the timeline of the mod, that I didn't feel was properly represented, but the reality is that Brandenburg and in particular Berlin are sorry to put it bluntly but essentially irrelevant for the vast majority of this game's timeline, to the best of my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong. Berlin did not become a notable city even after the Hohenzollern family established their rule in the 15th century, and did not grow a significant population until Frederick I took the city for the Kingdom of Prussia. Up until the 11th or 12th century the area of Brandenburg was primarily inhabited by the Slavic Wends. Clearing the current iteration of Brandenburg out of the way makes room for a substantial Upper Saxony which better suits the timeframe of the mod, and facilitates the expansion of a proper Pomeranian province. Stretching from Mecklenburg to Prussia, the elongated Pomeranian province makes a more suitable shape for both the early game as well as still fitting the boundaries of the Prussian kingdom, without excessively dividing provinces. These changes resonated down to Poland where I honestly started to grow tired of the project I put on myself, and I adjusted the old province boundaries without a lot of thought. The changes are there because they're aesthetically preferential to me but by no means carefully considered. I did push the border of Poland up a row and west to the Oder. Whether this is an anachronism, I'm not certain. But I figured it was a fair exchange for the beefed up Pomerania. Also not sure whether consideration should be put into a stable province for G'dansk for Poland or just having Pomerania as a border province is fine. 
