Cairo

[retep219]

The sprawling jewel of the Fatimid Caliphate has now been created on the battle map. With the exception of one big problem, which I have found to be unavoidable, the city is, in my opinion, a considerably accurate representation of the city in the eleventh and twelth centuries.

Two overviews of Cairo. In the second, you'll see the big problem: towering cliffs. I've found these cliffs are unavoidable if I want realistic water; I tried several different locations, and on every one I ran into the same problem. You either can have the canals sunken in thirty-foot-deep gorges, or you can have towering cliffs. I went with the cliffs, because they aren't as visible as a thirty-foot-deep gorge in the center of the map, especiall when you consider the smaller size of the actual battle map.



A view of the walled city itself.


Cairo's citadel. Technically, it won't be built for another 100+ years, but, still, I thought that it added enough to the city to be worth it. It isn't THAT much of an anachronism.


A large peninsula between the canal and the Nile. Note that immediately behind the canal in the foreground is the city walls--the canal acts as a moat of sorts. This is in accordance with my maps of the medieval city, although I think I may have oversized the canal.



Three views of the suburbs. It is only from the extreme edge of the battlefield that the cliffs are very visible.





I'm doubting that the cliffs can be fixed, though suggestions are VERY welcome.

I'll do a battle test soon.

[Subuatai de Bodemloze]

Can you use a diff template? it certainly isnt the only city on a delta nor the only one in M2TW

[retep219]

Can you use a diff template? it certainly isnt the only city on a delta nor the only one in M2TW

I checked a few other templates, none of them worked. I might have just been unlucky...but still....even with a perfect template, it would require redoing the entire city.

[Subuatai de Bodemloze]

still looks pretty nice barring the huge cliffs.. Are you guys trying these in battle as well?

[retep219]

still looks pretty nice barring the huge cliffs.. Are you guys trying these in battle as well?

I just did, as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, I can only do field battles so far...that causes the AI some problems, as it does not realize that it can just walk through the city's gates an instead waits for me to send a unit through before chasing them into the city.

On the other hand, because the battle map is smaller than the battle-editor map, the cliffs are barely visible unless you are playing a battle in day in the clearest weather. And even then, you don't really notice them. Even with a smaller map, though, the entire city and a good portion of the cleared area around it are still included. Most of the areas that are not included in the boundaries of the battle map are "suburbs" in which buildings would completely block unit movement even if you could play in them.

[Meister Röhrich]

Really nice work, I like especially the peninsula!

For the cliffs: I know it's always a big problem, but you can reduce it only by choosing a map that lies lower than 50 metres, that is absolutely necessary if you want to create a river as well, otherwise it will simply look ridiculous.

PS: Please post you current project in the WIP-settlements thread so we can avoid double-work!

[Lord Willy]

Nice Nice Nice !+ rep

[spanish_emperor]

Very good but just so you know, the nile wasn't tamed back then and floods occured every year making the construction of bridges difficult. I therefore think that buildinigs in the penninsula should be removed because for large parts of the year they would be under water. Also, during the Fatamid regin, Old Cairo was the only constructed area which is called Fustat, had walls constructed of mud brick (only stone walls were the old roman ones) and was situated futher south. Cairo had begun construction during the late Fatamid era but it was Saladin and his successors which should be credited for the construction of the walls made of stone, citadel and the aqueduct later on. Fustat was abandoned because the Fatamid's seeing the crusaders attack Egypt and fearing of their capitals capture burned everything down. However, the crusaders never did so and Saladins uncle captured Egypt under the orders of Nur al Din.
Here is a map:

The walls are those by Saladin. They later extended to the citadel which was also constructed by saladins sucessors. Fustat doesn't show its remaining walls of mud brick which would be in bad condition by the mamluk era and the area largly abandoned. however you could put a stone fort there, a mosque or two. Don't listen to the diagram saying fustat was mamluk, that is just jiberish nor the walls were fatamid...i think they include the Ayyubids as Fatamids here.

[Hax]

Fustat al-Misr was founded by the Fatimids, yes. It could be that their first walls were Fatimid, I'm not sure.

What I would really like to see is the Nilometer of Rhoda on an island in the river. Just place a building there that might be fitting.

[retep219]

The walls HAVE to be there....there is no way out, that's how the game is designed to work. Sorry.

If the bridges would be destroyed by flooding, I'll try replacing them with simpler models (that theoretically could have been built by whoever is sieging the city) or just delete them altogether. Unfortunately, I cannot actually move the city itself without deleting everything.

As I said, I know the citadel is an anachronism, but...well...it doesn't actually impact the battle, but adds quite a bit to the terrain.

As for the peninsula...well...I never actually thought about the floods. Maybe I'll replace the buildings there with farms that would take advantage of the fertile soil.

[Outlawed]

Shouldn't Cairo be mainly desert not grass?