Starting Positions??

[Basil 11]

Just a question - are the starting positions shown on the minimaps at the start final, or just rough outlines?, as I noticed a few small errors according to my own knowledge:
firstly, Pisa should have control over Corsica and a loose hold over Sardinia; the English should rule over Maine aswell as Normandy;
and, the Byzantines were present in the Naples area until 1130, and the Amalfi area until 1127. :hmmm:

Correct me if I am wrong, DotS team, and I am in no way trying to belittle the amazing work done by the team over the past year - I was just trying to help make sure that the mod is as accurate as possible.

[Brammius]

I thought the Byzantines were expelled out of Italy in 1071 when the Normans took Bari.

[Basil 11]

I thought the Byzantines were expelled out of Italy in 1071 when the Normans took Bari.

Yes, you are right there, but I have been reading about this subject in particular - Sorrento, Amalfi, Gaeta and Naples were all 'Greek duchies'; and did not fall to the Normans until the early 12th century.

I am not sure about the exact level of control the Byzantines themselves had over these areas, but according to my sources they did owe fealty to the Empire in the year 1080.

[Chuffy]

I'd say they are more rough outlines more than anything else. The 2nd map pictures you see with the red boxes show a few of the factions holding different areas.

[Basileos]

Yes, you are right there, but I have been reading about this subject in particular - Sorrento, Amalfi, Gaeta and Naples were all 'Greek duchies'; and did not fall to the Normans until the early 12th century.

I am not sure about the exact level of control the Byzantines themselves had over these areas, but according to my sources they did owe fealty to the Empire in the year 1080.

Yes it is correct.those cities were half-autonomous greek duchies.
but those duchies were realy ilands in a sea of norman territory. if we wanted to represent it that way, the byzantines would have large regions in italy,instead of "islands", which wouldn't be correct at all.the byzantine power in italy would also be unrealistic big.

I tought that it was seen on the geographical map in preview that pisa had controle over corsica. i know that corsica is not shown with a white colour on the map of the first dia about pisa.
Another such minor mistake is that on the first dia of castilla-leon, you'll see that toledo is part of christian spain. on the (geographical) map of the second dia, you see that castilla-leon only holds the extreme north of Spain ( galicia,asturias and a bit to the south of that), so it doens't have Toledo on that map. In game, Spain won't start with toledo, as Toledo was still an muslim taifa state in 1080.
what i want to say is that the map of the second dia of a faction preview is more correct if you want to see the correct starting regions of a faction. if i remember it well, pisa/ florence have also corsica and sardinia on the second map.

EDIT: i have watched the preview again. sometimes is the starting position of the first map correct, and sometimes is the starting position of the other map correct,so you're right if you're a bit uncertain about this.

[Basil 11]

Thanks for the reply, Basileos.
I think the decision about the Byzantine prescence is a good one - I wondered if it would make Byzantium to prevelant in Italy, too...
And shame on me for not noticing the Toledo error!