About the central turkey geography; I'm not a scientist but i lived there for around 6 years and traveled across the plateu called
Anatolia (Asia Minor) and can share my observations if you care;
Anatolia is a highland seperated from the mild Mediterranean climate by
Tauros Mountains in the south, and sheltered from the rough Siberian colds coming through Russia by
Caucasian and
Pontic Mountain ranges. It's rugged in the west, with hills and mountains cut in valleys by Gediz and Menderes rivers that flow to Aegean Sea. Kizilirmak, Yesilirmak and Sakarya are other major rivers that flow to Black Sea, creating large arable zones perfectly fit for grain production. Moving toward the east; the altitude rises and valleys become steeper as mountains rise until they form the majestic
Mount Ararat on the easternmost point. These glacier covered mountains provide the sources for two major rivers that has given birth to countless civilizations throughout history:
Euphrates and
Tigris.
I don't want to go through every minor detail here, but if you want an ideal simulation of Anatolia in limited game tile description; you would have graaslands in the coasts, seperating plains through lines of mountain ranges in the south and the north, and hill ranges parallel to the mountains seperating coastline in the west (vertical towards Aegean Sea). Depending on your space and design,
Mount Ida (Kaz Dagi) to the north of Izmir, right below Dardanelles strait;
Mount Olympos (Uludag) south of Marmara Sea; and
Bolu Dagi, to the east of Marmara Sea could be added for a nice flavor.
The above mentioned rivers are important to place, and those concerned about space should at least add
Sakarya and
Kizilirmak rivers along with Tigris and Euphrates.
Lake Van to the east is a major lake not to be skipped, while the
Tuz Golu (Salt Lake) is optional as it dries up in the summer, but you can place it along with other minor lakes of the south west.
The mountain ranges in the north are covered with thick coat of forests as well as parts of north Thrace (west of Marmara), while Aegean and Mediterranean coasts are mostly covered with pine forests. Originally the entire penninsula was covered by forests in history but through heavy human settlement and widespread animal husbandry (especially goats,
see Angora goats) the bulk of the highlands have become deforested.
Grain is a major product of Anatolia along with animal husbandry which should give plenty of
sheep,
chicken and
cows to the highland plains.
Aegean and Marmara coastlines are famous for quality
wines, grapes and olives (not a civ4 resource).
Mediterranean coastline around the rich and warm grasslands of Adana region (Iskenderun Korfezi - Alexandretta Bay) is a major cotton plantation area (again not a civ4 resource), where
rice and sugar beets are also cultivated.
Black Sea coastline, which is filled with
fisheries are perfect for peanuts, tea and tobacco (none available in civ4).
The area around Marmara Sea is very rich in
marbles, hence the name Marmara (marmora) derives from marble itself.
Stones are probably one thing you can find in every part of Anatolia as there's plenty of hills and mountains to quarry.
East of Marmara, on the mountains of Black Sea coast,
coal is abundant. Also in the mountains of the eastern Anatolia,
copper,
iron and
aluminum are being mined since the early records of history (except for
Uranium which is a later discovery, yet still plenty of resources exist in the same region). Copper is also to be found in the western hills and mined along with
gold and
silver.
Silk has been a major export material of Bursa, just south of Marmara Sea and an important resource for the textile industry. Bursa silks were a heavily sought product in the markets of Europe for many centuries.
Salt is needless to say a natural product of the massive Salt Lake that lies in the center of the highlands. It is also harvested from the minor salty lakes along the Aegean coast.
Horses have first been domesticated by the Turks in Central Asian steppes, but soon became a major commodity of the ancient world; Perisan; Mesopotamian and Anatolian civilizations being the first to utilize them in wars pulling chariots, while the nomadic steppe peoples; turks; mongols and scythians were natural born horse archers.
Potassium nitrate, commonly known as
Saltpeter, can be found along the Aegean hills or the mountains to the east.
Another major production of the whole region is various kinds of fruits (apples troughout the lands and fine oranges and lemons to the Mediterranean coastline), hovever the only fruit in civ4 is banana which is native to South East Asian jungles.
Like the tobacco, corn is another foreign resource to Anatolia brought from the Americas after the age of discoveries.
Along with it's unique strategic location as a bridgehead and crossroads between East and the West, North and the South, Christianity and Islam; all of these resources both natural and mineral, should be easy to explain the major conflicts on the Anatolian Penninsula through the ages and why it was the homeland to the first civilizations as well as how they grow to become mighty empires. The riches of Anatolia draw many colonizers and invedors from Celts to Greeks; from Persians to Romans; from Arabs to Vikings; from Turks to Crusaders; all of them fighting their way into Anatolia, settling and establishing their own cities, founding empires and fighting the next wave of invaders over and over again for many centuries with the last major war for grabbing Anatolian land fought between Turks against British and French as well as their allies Greeks and Armenians between 1919 and 1922.
For game balance purposes you can take some of them out of course, but the real life is not so perfectly balanced as we know and those who would prefer historical and geographical accuracy should be given the option.
The first war ever recorded in history was the Battle of Kadesh fought between Hittites and Egyptians (Ramses II). The peace agreement written in both languages that established the borders of both countries can be seen on the wall of main hall of United Nations; (a gift from Turkish Government).