I, for one, strongly favor a general program of reducing the number of different resources easily available to a given civ. Currently, it feels like most civs end up with 1 (or 2) of a huge number of resources, making large cities too easy and limiting the need to trade. I see that olives have been slipped in as another resource while I was away. I view this as a step in the wrong direction as far as game-play is concerned. Scarcity and simplicity are important.
Hello! I like the olives actually because they're so region-specific, but overall I agree about scarcity and simplicity. I think it's good to aim at vanilla ratios, e.g. having around the same amount of total health and happiness so that these factors do not become trivial, especially with supermarket/grocer equivalents available so early in the game. For scarcity, I think BTS works more or less like this:
strategic: max. 1 per player
marble/stone: 0.5 per player
bonus: 0.5-1 per player
It could be something to aim for.
This is great! Extremely helpful, and interesting - I had a hard time finding data on historical resources (and even terrain, surprisingly) when I was first creating the map, and I went with a normalized resource setup to make things 'equal'. Even the more accurate resource placements are likely to be more modern than historical. I'll happily make the changes that you suggested, and anything else you'd like to contribute would be more than welcome.
I can see a lot of resources like marble, salt, silver and gold are mostly in their historical locations already. So below is a list of suggestions with more scarcity and concentration in mind (so whenever I suggest adding something I mean moving it from a less important location). Dates are added if you ever use that resource-placing script.
Salt
I'd say that apart from the omission of the major sources near Hamburg and Krakow (13th c.), salt is placed accurately: Austria, Hungary (rock salt - 13th c.) and specific places in the Mediterranean. I don't know the sources in North Africa and Levant, I imagine they're accurate as well, it's just that the proportions look skewed, as if Europeans relied on Arab salt. I think since Arabs/Moors only trade with Europe here, their salt output could be reduced considerably (currently 12 between Morocco and Turkey not counting islands).
Furs
The furs Serbia could go, possibly Scotland too, leaving Sweden and Northern Russia as the historical exporters.
Honey
The major exporters were Novgorod and Castile. Russia looks OK but the latter isn't reflected and could be used for concentration.
Marble
The only thing that doesn't match with my data is marble in France and no marble in southern Spain, but I can't really argue for either.
Timber
- Major exporters were Sweden, Northern Russia, Hansa along Baltic coast and Germany along the Rhine
- Shortage in England was particularly bad even before colonial times - they should be an importer
- Same with Holland; it'd be nice to force them to import though I imagine they're already crippled.
- France/Burgundy could do as importers as well
- Hungary never had much forests, they could do without timber
- Venetian nearby source of timber is correct and should definitely stay
- I recall reading that Portuguese were quite self-sufficient, largely because of massive re-planting efforts; I'd move one of the Spanish sources to Portugal to reflect that
Silver
Most historical silver mines are on the map already. For addition/concentration I'd suggest more in Saxony (#1 European source for centuries) and Bohemia (#2 source, made Bohemia very rich, currently 0). These could appear in 12-13th c. if scripted.
For removal: 2 or all 3 Silver in Sweden. While Sweden was famous for its silversmiths,
apparently their single silver mine operated from 15th c. and was only enough for local minting. Silver was imported, looted and remelted (vikings accumulated a lot in the past).
I don't know anything about the silver placed in Southern Russia and Anatolia but it looks lonely and minor
Gold
Not sure about that gold in Sweden, but other than that the placement looks good, with Hungary as the only major European source (14th c. if scripted)
Copper, Sulfur
Saxony was also the most important source of medieval copper. Austria was rich in metals as well. Extra copper and sulfur taken from elsewhere would make them the historical strategic locations. Deficit of food could offset this, partially done already. Going further, honey and/or deer in Saxony could be removed.
Sweden was exporting copper since the Middle Ages and has none. That would offset that silver removal.
Sicily is mentioned as the main source of world's sulfur "from the Middle Ages down to the end of the nineteenth century".
Fish
Major exporters: Norway & Sweden. Again I'd recommend moving a few loose fish there.
Wheat/rye
You probably want a lot of it, but for some extra +/- :
Major exporters:
- Kievan Rus & Muscovy (OK though it's a bit of an overkill atm)
- Poland (could use 1 more)
- Egypt (has 0... move from Damascus?)
- Sicily (OK)
Major importers:
- Sweden (so 0)
- Novgorod (way too much wheat in Northern Russia)
- Netherlands (again)
- Portugal (OK)