Civilizations:
England
1. More settlers and maybe one or two more workers needed, England is way to big and way to bare, it needs to have more cities. Dark Ages England was a time of broken up kingdoms and fiefdoms; this should be represented more by independent cities, a few which don't flip to you
2. Resources are too spread out in England, they should be closer to potential city sites, for example compare London in RFC to London in RFC Europe, the resources are too far away from it, I would say put them closer to London to have a stronger impact (also around the Exeter, Plymouth area)
3. The English should start off with basic ships that can transport units across the water, again think of RFC, and how you start off with 3 galleys
4. Boulogne and Cherbourg are TOO weak, they are immediately captured by the French and there is no way of helping them out since you don't have any ships! I say the French and English shouldn't be at war from the start (since the English in 1066 were the Normans pretty much). And instead of having Boulogne, try to better represent the Normans by taking out Boulonge and adding Rennes (or Brest) and Cherbourg, and have them heavily defended, since these were the main fortresses of the Normans, and shouldn't collapse so easily.
5. Dublin is too well defended, the idea that they switch to crossbowmen is unbelievable, they should just have 2-3 archers no crossbowmen, or else the PC English will never invade Ireland
6. Whatever happened to the Normans?? 1066 is the year they come and invade England! Where are they represented? If anything you should start off in Rennes and have London flip to you or at least represent them by having another city in France (a total of 3) all well defended. The Normans were even more powerful then the French King! (for further info listen to: Norman Centuries, an excellent podcast)
Cordoba
1. I was very impressed by Cordoba and how great of a civilization it has become, I was especially impressed by how far it can reach in Europe, in every game it was able to take Toulouse all the way in Southern France, so the historical side of it is definitely ok, but something which bugged me to no end was the fact that they never expanded into Morocco, or North Africa for that matter. Especially since Morocco is so lush and rich now, I'm surprised the computer doesn't go for those spots, what I think needs to happen now is that there should be independent cities in North Africa which flip to them at 1040, the year the Almoravids took control of Spain, so with this change of powers, should come th rest of the independent cities in North Africa, or alternatively just have the independent cities flip when Cordoba is founded.
The Ottomans
1. Like the Cordobans, the Ottomans have been vastly improved from the last version I played them as, they have definitely taken huge strides towards becoming the real Ottoman Empire, but there should be some sort of incentive for them to change there capital from Bursa to Constantinople/Istanbul, I don't know how Rhye did it for RFC, but in Rhye's game they always switch from Sogot to Istanbul once they've taken it. Also if the AI is ever going to be able to take Europe or at least the Middle east they need more troops and a bigger area of expansion when they arrive, this will help them invade more territory, a good idea would be to have the Bulgarians at war with them so they would be able to expand into the Balkans quickly
2. The Ottomans power is sort of useless I find, either it should be changed to the normal RFC power of culture, or the percentage rate at which they get extra drafts should be lowered from 70% foreign culture to at least 40-50%, but that is up for debate.
3. A good idea for the Ottomans so for them to perhaps have some cities in the Levant flip to them, maybe that will help spur there capture of the Middle East
4. The Ottomans need to have more unique city names in the Middle East (Levant) because when they captured Al-Qods it was called Jeruslam also, when they captured Antyka it was called Antioch, more unique names should be added.
The Spanish
1. The Spanish should be given extra troops, like a LOT more troops around the 1400's, to represent the real reconquista of Spain by Ferdinand and Isebella (so around 1470), I have seen too many times the Cordobans never collapsing and holding on to Spain for too long or they just collapse by themselves, and the Spanish NEVER take back their cities, and instead become vassals of England (ironic
) or France. You could turn the Reconquista into an event that spawns units in North Eastern Spain. Also it would be even cooler if the army spawned with some religious persecutors like 5 of them.
Bulgaria
1. I don't have much to say about the Bulgarians, they were done quite well I suppose, but there is a bug in there UHV. The UHV stated that I needed to control all of Moesia, Thrace etc by 1400AD, but I got the goal just when I finished having my borders completely surround the area, so I didn't have to wait until 1400AD. I think there was also another bug for the other two UHV's, but I will look into that.
The Map:
1. Much more Independent cities are needed scattered across the map, especially around North Africa which is a huge waste of space since no one ever colonizes it. And for the few that are spread around Europe, they need to be better defended, too often do I see destroyed city ruins of barbarian, or independent cities
2. England is too big in general, it should be much smaller then France
3. There should be independent cities in Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Southern Greece (south of Athens) preferably Sparta
4. Why is Sicily an island? It makes controlling the place so much harder for the AI and for humans, just do what Rhye did in RFC, have a small land bridge which connects the boot of Italy with Sicily
5. Since Alexandria is part of the Byzantine Empire, I understand that they would add more defenders if necessary, but it becomes hard for the Arabs to expand Westward if they can't even capture an Independent Alexandria, there should be less defenders controlling Alexandria basically. Also the city of Cairo should be added, first as a Byzantine city with Christianity in it, and later an important Arab city, since Cairo was the regional capitol
6. More dense forest is needed in Northern Europe (including England) to make sure that there progress is checked, but instead what should happen is that when the Europeans finally are able to cut them down, they should get a bigger production boom from them, bigger then the normal cities. Also once again more independents are needed in Northern Europe
7. Marrakesh should be placed closer to Tangier, or else it is never captured and stays as a barbarian city for the rest of the game, either put it closer with less defenders or else just have it flip to the Cordovans when they arrive.
8. There should be a byzantine- Arab city in between Sour and Antakya (one more city for the crusaders to take as well). Some good once could be: Beirut, Byblos, Tripoli etc
Things in General:
1. Research rate is way too fast for all civs, this really shouldn't be, the only civs that should be speeding through at the beginning are the Arabs, Cordobans and perhaps the Byzantines. Each technology should be worth more research points or else your just speeding through the game, overall the game speed should be reduced for better gameplay or else your just speeding through the eras.
2. If you can have custom leader heads for all the other civilizations I'm quite sure you can have them for the Arabs who are misrepresented by Saladin, who only came much later and never controlled such a vast area, Saladin should be replaced by another Umayyad caliph who would best represent this area. Also on the topic of custom leader heads, Leopold and the Cordoban leader head could be given custom leaders heads, and also just as you vastly improved Sweden's leader head, please do the same to the Venetian leader whose eyes make him look as if he is blind
3. Still too many wonders that give away all the civics, I'm sure you guys can be more creative then that, plus it ruins the historical aspect to the game, if you need any help coming up with some, just ask.
4. Also the wonder, "The Dome of the Rock" should just spawn in Jerusalem once the Arabs take it or when Islam is introduced, also the same for the tomb of Al-Khalid, but that wonder I'm morel lenient about
5. Why is Temple Mount a wonder? If anything it should be a normal building or at best a national wonder, cities all over Europe and especially the Middle East had Jewish quarters. And instead of giving a merchant, let them give the city extra trade routes (or have 1 merchant, one extra trade route) but it should cause something like 2 unhappiness due to the unrest it would cause, but the amount of unhappiness is up to debate.
6. There should be more Jews in Muslim Spain and the Middle East in general to show the tolerance and something which the Spanish should have with them during the reconquista event is a lot of religious persecutors added so that they can have Spain with only one faith.
Questions:
1. What happens if you invade the Papal States, I'm Venice and I control all of Italy except for Rome, is it ok if I just invade them?
2. Do you guys think there will ever be Hotseat for this game?
And please if there are any questions please ask me and I will go further in detail, as I couldn't write too much for each one.
