Time for your .92B beta update from Egypt. Sorry, I will use the vanilla country names as I can remember the spelling far more easily. The follow questions/observations are in no particular order, just things I noticed or came to mind.
1. You say you added three new provinces, where and what are they called?
2. Should/do global standing affect all players the same? In other words, if I as a muslim faction declare a jihad against Rome and win, does my global standing go up with everyone? Should it go up with muslims, down with catholics, and remain unchanged with orthodox?
3. Should global standing be affected by distance? Do the Scotts really care what I am doing in Egypt to my neighbors as much as the Turks do?
4. Does moving THROUGH an opponents territory but not ending the turn standing in it affect global standing? If so, does this apply to the AI players as well?
5. The loading of saved games, and the initial set up seem to take significantly longer than the .92a version. The progress bar doesn't move at all for a long time, and then suddenly it quickly fills up and you are able to play. It is as if the computer is in some loop looking for information and then decides it cannot find it, lets load what we have.
6. Does Byzantine no longer start with Naples? Does Venice now start with but one city?
7. Speaking of Venice, have you programmed anything special for them so that they are more mercantile in nature other than given them some initial advantages? In other words, once they have grown a little will they just be like everyone else but with significantly greater economic resources or will they stay small but try to manipulate the global economy?
8. In .92a, the Iberian rebel towns were predominantly muslim. Now they are not. Was this intential? I do realise that the regions are partially muslim 35 to 40% so. How does this affect the global standing for both the Moors and the catholic factions for taking these rebel towns?
9. Are the cities of Constantinople and Lund intended to be 'blocker' cities that prevent land passage beyond them? If so, if there a way to let non-military units pass, ie, diplomats? Would that even be desired?
10. Murrakush and Morocco show up on the campaign maps as orange colored dots at the beginning of the game.
11. Are the historical updates given at the beginning of the turn that you have added suppose to happen in the year they did historically or have you added some random factor to allow a little variance? (They are not happening in the exact years mentioned.)
12. Should Afghan javelin men be purchasable in the Jeddah region?
13. Some of the diplomatic missions seem a little too short. They often are only given 5 turns to complete and take a full 4 turns to get there. So, yes you can still do them, but only if you start right away.
14. Is there a way to make gifted military units (ones awarded by the game for completing missions) have a free upkeep? Would this be a desired effect?
15. At the start of the game, Tunis is held by Fatimid rebels. As Egypt (the Fatimids), should I sail over there and take it, how would that affect my global standing?
16. There are noticeably fewer rebel spawnings. As Egypt with large territories, I believe I like this. I also believe you said this was intentional.
17. In .92a, you have large rebel formations in most of the free regions. They are gone in .92b, was this as intended.
18. There are a few grammatical/spelling errors in the custom historical updates, but they do add a lot more appeal to the game.
19. When completing some diplomacy successfully, I sometimes get a verbal message saying the diplomacy was a failure.
20. Does global standing really go down if I win a battle with an overwhelming force? If so, might I ask why?
As Egypt:
Turn 2 - I ally with the Turks.
Turn 3 - I capture Amman.
Turn 5 - I open trade with the Byzantines. They offer an alliance, I decline.
Turn 6 - Portugal and the Moors ally.
Turn 14 - I have my little empire. Qahirah (should this be al-Qahirah), Al-Iskandariya (should this be little al), al-Kafuh, Asqalan, Dongola, Jeddah, and Amman (I HIGHLY recommend giving Amman a port at Aqaba, the only port in all of Jordan. Otherwise, although expensive, the best strategic move is to convert Amman into a castle and then to convert Asqalan into a city.)
Turn 17 - Regions gained since start of game: Egypt (me) 4, France 1 on turn 17, Spain 1 on turn 13, Byzantine 1 on turn 17, and the Papacy 1 on turn 17.
Turn 18 - a lone Turkish general is walking next to rebel controlled Edessa. The rebels do not molest him.
Observation - the cities are generally better defended, but still very lightly so. They tend to have 3 units in them instead of just 1 as in previous editions. There are some AI made forts with powerful stacks of units camped on the borders of their countries, but with little strategic value or purpose (no one is at war). On the other hand, rebel cities tend to have larger defenses the longer they are left unconquered.
Turn 19 - a Moorish general had been standing in Morocco at the land bridge for several turns and finally moved to attack Sevilla coinciding with an historical update regarding this invasion. But he could easily have attacked several turns sooner. Was this a scripted event? If so, does scripting it hold back what other options the Moors may have taken?
Also in turn 19, my relations are so-so with the Byzantines and reasonable with the Sicilians, either one will blockade my port and start a war several times over the next few turns. I reload and they do not re-engage.
Turn 28 - it is now 1094. Other than the port wars mentioned above, not another war has happened anywhere on the globe. Territorial gains stand at: Byzantine +2, France +1, Spain +1, Hungary +1, Papacy +2, Moors +1, and Egypt (myself) +4. France is invading rebel held Iberian towns. No territories have rebelled. I have completed the tour of my empire and placed a total of 63 watchtowers so that I can see rebels in my distant desert areas.
I know much of the watchtower/fort information is hard-coded, but there are some significant disadvantage for the Egyptians and the Russians in this regard due to territory sizes in their areas of influence.
Also, does any one know the 'added' value that watchtowers are suppose to give to trade? Would it be possible to increase the watchtower line-of-site range so that fewer are needed on the big map we use? Or lower their cost?
On a similar topic, I would suggest adding the region of Barca to the west of Egypt and breaking up Libya. With the wide expanse of Libya, the Egyptians are forced to move east and north more so than to the west. Eventually, it is easier for them to take on the Turks and then the Byzantines rather than the Moors. This is somewhat non-historical in nature.
I believe the AI needs to be a bit more aggressive and it still seems a bit slow going. But over all I am enjoying the game. I will keep providing updates as I get them.
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Originally Posted by Erioluk
