Thanks.
Yeah, I am getting pretty detailed with this. Perhaps a little too detailed. At the moment I'm doing multiple things at once. I'm still trying out new faction colors (somewhat based on colors that factions used) and symbols as well as battle banners. Banners for the Shimazu, Mori, Oda, Takeda and the Hojo are as good as finished. I ultimately plan to use 3D standards as royal standards, so every faction can have a unique standard (golden umbrella for the Oda clan, golden fan for Tokugawa clan, etc.).
I'm also still constantly reworking the map using Google Maps. When I'm investigating and discovering locations of other minor castles, I sometimes have to rework the geography to make them work and fit on the map. Sometimes I need to move them a little bit to prevent these castles from blocking a path completely, even for agents such as diplomats. And while doing that I'm starting to have a better understanding of the geography of the area, discovering mountain passes and rivers that look only a bit off sometimes on my current map and at other times are totally wrong. As of now I've already added some 100 permanent forts, based on actual locations of castles and forts. Thing is, how much is enough? How detailed do I want it to get? It's still nowhere near as extreme as the Dominion of the Sword mod, and the final amount will probably never get that extreme in this mod, but the number of forts will still be a considerable amount if I continue this route.
Then there's the puzzle of finding out the correct geography. Is a mountain pass fit enough for using as a route for armies to march through? Sometimes it's just not that obvious. For example: How did the Takeda end up exerting their influence in northern Hida province? Did they use a mountain pass that leads directly from Shinano to Hida province or did they go through Mino province after taking control of a number of castles in that region and went into Hida from the south? Did they use the mountain pass east of Matsumoto leading directly to Takahara Suwa? Did they use a mountain pass located a bit more to the south ending in the areas around Ta? It's both interesting and frustrating, involving a bit of guess work.
Then there's the dilemma of which castle I should make the main castle of a province. For example: In northern Shinano the Ogasawara clan had Hayashi castle as their main castle, but when the Takeda clan conquered the Ogasawara territory the Takeda decided to use a smaller sattelite castle of Hayashi on the flatland, called Fukashi, as the main castle of that area which was to become the well-known Matsumoto castle. Similar story with Katsurao (main castle of the Murakami clan in Shinano) and Toishi, which was a minor mountain castle, but can be seen as a precursor to the later Ueda castle located on the flatland. Now, should I be using Hayashi and Katsurao as main castles of their respective provinces or should I use Fukashi/Matsumoto and Toishi/Ueda instead?
Sigh... It's never that simple once you know the historic details...
Anyway, it's good to see that I inspired you to do something of your own. Keep it up! Perhaps you might indeed give me some ideas. Date and Shimazu? Lol, indeed a bit far-fetched, but who knows what could have happened?