Someone develop something, damn it!
Fine, then.
Alright. For those who haven't heard already, I am going to be doing a vaguely I&B/DoC inspired IOT in the area around the time of the first wave of colonisation. It will have a new map (courtesy of Nedim), with two types of provinces.
One type is your standard, good 'ole blob, with a name upon it. Generally speaking, these will do what you expect - be land - and can be subdivided amongst players.
The second type are ports. Ports are inherently more important - they're keys to trade, and, without them, you can neither be a coloniser, nor found a colony.
The world at the start is largely unknown, and, as a result, must be manually explored to reveal NPCs and colonised, one port or province at a time.
Now, colonies themselves are managed somewhat indirectly by the players. Players can manipulate the division of their overseas land into as many colonies in whatever structure as they wish, providing an individual name and flag for each, however, these colonies have all sorts of indirect management and careful attention that you must note to them.
There will be teching, and other things I haven't entirely fleshed out yet, but I'm going to note in advanced that all players will start in Europe.