Interactive Map Guide version 1

[Hengest]

I beg to differ. The Papacy was an important military power in 1080 due to the Investiture Controversy, if you count Matilda as Papal which we will. The mod is certainly about politics, although you will probably only see real historical parallels in 1080 and then growing less through your campaign as your rewrite history more and more. The Papacy is the main political engine of Europe and is essential for any mod that includes Europe.
I think the majority of people are happy to have another Muslim faction in the mod.

[Hengest]

You do know that if you click on the settlements it brings up the names...?
These info boxes will later have additional info such as settlement info.

[Admiral Piett]

Not many people choose to play the Papacy in mods and they have very limited military importance throughout the time frame of the mod. I mean really, their armies are just going to sit there and patrol back and forth. This is how it is in every mod.

I'm not really complaining about having more Muslim factions, I'm just saying that the nation of Syria in this time period seems rather ahistorical, imo. According to the maps I've seen Syria was broke up into three emirates - Atabeg of Mosul, Emirate of Aleppo, and the Emirate of Damascus and all three were subjects of the Egyptian dynasty.

[SFS2008]

nice map
i am only missing the cities of syria
why is there a big hole without cities in the sahara. is this a region, that you can not conquer?
and why there are only cities in the delta of the nile (fustat misr,alexandria,dumyat) and of the top of the nile ( dongola), but no cities in the mid of nile?? This looks strange

[OdinX]

Most of that area will be dominated by PSFs; in the end it will be VERY much full. trust me.

[sumskilz]

why is there a big hole without cities in the sahara.

Odin was referring to the Nile and Syria; there really aren't cities in the Sahara.

According to the maps I've seen Syria was broke up into three emirates - Atabeg of Mosul, Emirate of Aleppo, and the Emirate of Damascus and all three were subjects of the Egyptian dynasty.

These were Seljuk territories that in the late 11th Century were independent in nearly all but name. The Atabeg of Mosul went on to found the Zengid dynasty in the early 12th Century; this is our Syria faction.

Not many people choose to play the Papacy in mods and they have very limited military importance throughout the time frame of the mod. I mean really, their armies are just going to sit there and patrol back and forth. This is how it is in every mod.

The Papacy really was a local military power for a lot of our time period, but perhaps more importantly, the papacy will also be used to represent the crusader states. This is one of the ways we are working around the faction limit.

[paradamed]

That map is awesome.So many cool factions included!

[Recon]

I like it. Overall good balance and great choice of cities. Although I don't see the great purpose of the three african cities e.i. Kano, Timbuktu and Koumbi Saleh - Not gamplay wise nor historically if I'm right. My opinion is that they are too isolated and secure from all the action on going in europe and they have no historical significance (?). I notice the coastline or maybe more the inland of the baltic and not to forget the Russian rivers looks a bit thin on cities. I think the possibiliti to relive the Reconquista and the Crusades in the Holy Land through DotS is there. But the rivalry against the wends, estonians and other pagans in the baltic region doesn't add much of a challenge nor reward through conquest of new land. I think they should have nearly the same amount of cities in the historical hot areas. How it is now...
Cities - Holy land: 14 +
Cities - Iberia/morocco: 13 +
Cities - Baltic crusades: 8 +

Add those african cities and we might have something even more relevant and challenging in my opinion.


And last what about Island for the sake of curiosity? (not that I care much)


Looking forward seeing the position of the PSF's...

[sumskilz]

All good points Recon and they will be considered. There was a lot of discussion that went into the choices that were made, but being a newcomer to the mod I wasn't in on all of it. Sub-Saharan Africa was important in this period for economic reasons but at the same time it was very much on the periphery politically/militarily. So what I'm saying is that I can see your point, but some of these things are still being considered and some may not be easily changed. This is however your opportunity to express your opinions and we are listening.

When considering the Baltic, I have to wonder if the region really had the population density to justify an equal number of provinces to the holy land. If we went on known historical facts, it appears that it is the Iranian plateau that is under populated not the Baltic. Keep in mind though, that you will not really be seeing the full picture until we are able to release the PSF version of the map. Thanks for the interest and the feedback.

[Admiral Piett]

The Papacy really was a local military power for a lot of our time period, but perhaps more importantly, the papacy will also be used to represent the crusader states. This is one of the ways we are working around the faction limit.

Hmm, well just in my opinion, I think the Papacy is a faction that could easily be sacrificed for something that is more important, such as the Crusader States without having the Pope directly control the Holy Lands.

I see what you mean about Syria, it's just that within a short period of time, that region was then absorbed into the Ayyubid Dynasty going back and forth from attempting to be independent and then attempting to restore the dynasty in Cairo. After the Ayyubids pretty much fell out, they were then absorbed by the Malmluks until the Mongol invasion. I figure if you're going to do a Muslim faction, it'd be the remainder of the Abbasids or perhaps Kwarazhem. But never the less, having another faction there does make things more interesting. It's in a unique location to provide greater difficulty for Latin Crusaders and give trouble to the two major Muslim powers.

[Woden]

Awesome job, boys.

I just wonder if it is worth to keep the subsaharian rebel provinces instead of some european or middle-eastern ones.

[true born Lithuanian]

First of all, great job guys. It has been some time since i've been so interested in new mod . And yes, to me Baltic region seems a bit too empty in settlements (I know there were almost no "real" cities there at that time but still, they where very important later). If you decide to reconcider this and add new city to Baltic, my suggestion would be adding Gardinas (Hrodno) since it has been in crossroad between Lithuanians, Poles, Ruthenians even Prussians and also was near river Nemunas. However, as someone said, the real picture of this map will appear after you will publish PSFs locations. Waiting for this impatiently, and maybe someone could reveal estimated date of this?... BTW, really wheres settlements of Iceland? Will be there any?

[Chuffy]

Awesome job, boys.

I just wonder if it is worth to keep the subsaharian rebel provinces instead of some european or middle-eastern ones.

Yeah I can't help but think it might make more sense to have one coastal province that can be captured and then have the vast interior only have a single city that is uncapturable. For one thing this would encourage the AI moors to actually move towards Spain and the rest of North Africa instead of pissing around in the Sahara and it would free up some more city slots for other areas that could use them.

Regardless DotS is shaping up to be awesome. Can't wait to play it.

[Woden]

Will be Iceland in the game?
I assume that Greenland will not be in.
But Iceland starting as rebel trying to avoid the will of the Norway King to control the island would be very cool.

Remember Snorri Sturluson!!!

[Resurrection]

Will be Iceland in the game?
I assume that Greenland will not be in.
But Iceland starting as rebel trying to avoid the will of the Norway King to control the island would be very cool.

Remember Snorri Sturluson!!!

Iceland is in and it falls under Island region with capital of Kirkwall under Norway's control. This does not mean all PSFs on Iceland will be under Norway's control of course.

[AnthoniusII]

That is what i call unique presentation...!!!
Exelent idea guys!

[daryush]

Looks really good, but I think perhaps you could add a few more in Iran. It looks a bit ... empty ....

Other than that, it's really good

[\Vazul's Ghost/]

Hi Hross! Good to see DOTS still going strong!

Interesting list, however you left out how many settlements Hungary will have.

Thanks Hross! The interactive map is awesome by the way! Can't wait to see some more of DOTS awesomeness!

[IVIarkI2I]

nicely done

[Haertelius Magnus]

NICE !!

Cologne => Köln or Koeln
Nurnberg => Nürnberg or Nuernberg

but .... why are Augsburg and Basel rebel ? More likely it should be Saxony and maybe Swabia because they fought against Heinrich IV and supportet Rudolf von Rheinfelden and Hermann von Salm