098 teaser: MAP CHANGES by JoC

[Jurand of Cracow]

Guys,
This is a teaser for the SSHIP 098. One of the features of this iteration of the mod will be adjustments of the campaign map. They are in the following areas:



I. Around the North Adriatic Sea:
- provinces of Veneto and Dalmatia are extended along the coast.
- province of Verona has access to the as the river Pad (it also means cutting the overland trade connection from Venice to Bologna, alas, Venice has the overland connection to Croatia (and perhaps to Dalamatia, but it's not yet decided).
- positions of the resources are adjusted in Veneto, fish added for Ragusa, etc.
- Dalmatia's port shifted to the spot where Split is.
- Croatia and Bosnia are cut off the sea (I still hesitate if Carinthia should not be).
- port of Bologna moved a bit south (just to look nicer).
- shifted the western borders of Bologna a bit west and re-placed Bologna's resources (to fulfill the usual goal: no resource on a road).



II. Hungary and around
- Szekesfehervar has been moved one tile north (as it was in reality, I'm not sure if Balaton wasn't bigger in the Middle Ages).
- Gyulafehervar has been moved two tiles north (I think it's a better place historically, and also visually on the map).
- Varad was moved a bit to the east (perhaps more historical).
- a major change in the west: Upper Hungary borders now Austria (as a result the roads look better).
- Austria province got a few tiles: in the south-east wood on the borders with Hungary, and two tiles from Moravia.
- Krakow and Halych borders have been moved a bit south to go along the mountains ridges.
- a few resources were repositions (wine to Eger, glass to Pannonhalma, linen to Buda etc.).
- western borders of Alfold (Varad) are now between Tisa and Danube (not along Tisa).
- Bosnia western borders moved a bit west (ie Croatia lost a bit of land).



III. Germany
- capital of Sachsen (or Ostafalen) was moved from Hamburg to Magdeburg - historically the latter was really important city in the 12c. (and later), but the main reason is having too much concentration of cities in the North (Bremen-Hamburg-Liubice), while the middle of Germany was rather empty. Now the mines in the Harz are very pronounced next to Magdeburg.
- Brandenburg was shifted one space to the east, to make just some space from Magdeburg.
- Praha was moved two spaces west to lie on the left bank of Vltava (as Hradchany castle does, but the main reason was that the roads make perhaps a better grid now).



IV. Greece
- Arta was relocated to the right place: north of the bay; its port was moved to the Lepanto space (mainly to have that road south).
- Korinthos was move one space to its historical place (it will block the passage, so might be reversed it in the future if proven to be a problem), the port was placed on the Modon space (previously on Coroni).
- Attica and Beotia are now part of the Korinthos province (it's been renamed: Hellas, as the thema in 10c was called), not Makedon - it has impact on trade as Thesalonikai had previously that silk; there's also a land connection Korinthos-Arta.
- port of Chersonesos is now in the Caffa space (again: nice long road that otherwise wouldn't be), with re-positioning of resources.
- port of Khandax is now in the Canea space (also to get that road), resources were re-positioned again.
- borders of Epirus and Albania have been moved east to go through the mountains (historical: these mountains' slopes were not in the economic space of Thesalonikai).



V. Around the Caspian Sea:
- Saqsin has now border with Derbent (as a result: no direct access to this sea for the great steppe province with Sarkel, they have economically little to do with the sea and coding will be easier).
- Urgench is cut from the Caspian as it was historically by the Kara Kum desert (again: easier for the coding purposes).
- Sharukan province is connected to the Bulgar province (so Aqtobe is cut from Ryazan) - more rational economic development those provinces.
- port of Baku moved a bit south, port of Kutaisi up north along the Black Sea coast to Abkhasia - this is just esthetical.



VI. In the Middle East:
- city of Halab moved one space south.
- port of Tripoli moved south to the space of Gibelet (to enlighten a bit the shore).
- borders between Halab, Damascus, Tripoli, Antioch, Edessa provinces slightly modified.
- the names of the provinces adjusted to the Arabic versions (Heskif : Diyar Bakr, Mosul: Diyar Rabi'a, Edessa: Diyar Mudar), fixed double use of As-Sam.
- Baghdad province borders now Damascus province (so Al Ahsa is cut from Ar-Raqqa - the problem with Al Ahsa has always been it had too many trade connections and was getting hefty income).
- port of Cilicia moved from Layazzo space to Adana space (just to make the wester part more visible).
- city of Ascalon moved one space south to make a bit more space from Jerusalem.



VII. Other areas:
- city of Murcia moved one space north-east to make the river crossing for the agents possible.
- also Wroclaw was moved one space to the east, for similar reason (EDIT: but then it was moved back).
- fish in the Lund province stack together on the tip of Skane (to entice a merchant, as it was with the Hanseatic ones in the late Middle Ages), while the port shifted east.
- province of Sharukan has now trade connection to Volga Bulgaria (while Aktobe has the number of connections cut).
- province of Napoli has overland connection to Reggio.

You'll see those changes in a version that will be released pretty soon.

There're plenty changes in the size of the settlements and the buildings inside - but this is another issue.

[Nemesis2345]

I would highly advice the Fortress of Sis in the Middle East to not block the only passage there , i noticed the AI has troubles going back from crusades through that path , it might not be related specifically to this but its just my guess.

[j.a.luna]

Woow big changes to the campaign map! Just one thing Jurand, remember that the region of Pamplona (Basques) was an independent kingdom at the time of the beginning of SSHIP,
(Kingdom of Navarra), therefore as I explained previously in other posts, they should be rebels with a strong garrison and NOT belong to the kingdom of Aragon. So that you also take it into account in the next version and be the most historically correct.

[WitchKing]

Great work! Really looking forward to the 0.98 release!

[kostic]

Bigre ... it's a lot of changes! Well done for Jurand's work!

[Mamlaz]

Superb stuff.

Africa still looks horrible enough for me that I will again avoid it though haha

[Sana Kan]

Superb stuff.

Africa still looks horrible enough for me that I will again avoid it though haha

Agreed on both counts lul (maybe the north African borders would be nicer if they were closer to the Mediterranean coast).

[Jurand of Cracow]

I'm thinking about changing the Africa borders by extending Sijilmasa province to entire Sahara and Saharan approaches but for not now. The recent changes (some are actually included in the initial info) are as follows:

* the settlement of province Wallachia moved from Severin to Târgovişte (ie far to the east) to make it more historical for the next centuries (it will be a capital in 14c) but more importantly to make that area actually a space to play for the player (it serves as a gateway between the steppes and the Balkans) and to make the AI behavior more rational (any big hole in the map that perplexes the AI, and here it's crucial given the proximity of big settlements of Byzantium).* four provinces made landlocked (their borders changed so that their coasts were given to the neighboring provinces) because of historicity issues (they were not related to the sea) but also taking into account the number of land connections important for the trade income: Sidjilmasa, Tayma, Carinthia, Sarkel.
* borders of Ostfranken (ie Nurnberg) extended to the borders of Sachsen (ie means also cutting of Nordfranken from Brandenburg), the city of Nurnberg moved one space north to make the road network look nice.
* borders of Schwaben (ie Ulm) extended to Ostfranken (Nordfranken cut from Bayern - but fear not, it's still very rich), a new ford created on the border with Bayern, and it all produced created two roads on either side of the Danube.
* port of Bremen moved to the Wesermundung, port of Magdeburg (ex-Hamburg) moved south and a nice road is created.
* other ports moved: Brest (so that of Rennes), Syracuse (Palermo), Limerick (Dublin), Slupsk (Gdansk), Kopenhagen(Roskilde) - all to make the map more lively by creating additional roads.
* settlements switched from a city to a castle: Tarabulus
* several provinces have their names changes (eg. Tmutarakan -> Cicassia)
* ownership of the island of Fyn switched from province Jutland (Ribe) to Sjealand (Roskilde)
* many small changes to the borders of the Krakow province so that the road grid is interesting (in particular: separate track directly to Poznan, separate track to Plock)
* a few bridged introduced on the Polish rivers: 1 on Odra, 2 on Warta, 1 on Notec.
* fertility of the provinces reviewed again and a few lowered a notch.

This is summed up here:

[Mamlaz]

The Africa problem is the huge ass provinces making borders ugly, nothing more.

Perhaps take inspiration from the Titanium Africa+Arabia solution;

https://i.imgur.com/TQFvDtp.jpg

[stefdim7]

The only thing I miss in Africa is a settlement/ seperate region at Cyrenaica!

[Jurand of Cracow]

Guys
to show you what I mean by "many small changes to the borders of the Krakow province so that the road grid is interesting (in particular: separate track directly to Poznan, separate track to Plock)" here is the pic comparing versions 097 and 098.
It must be done by trial and error because it's the game engine that produces the road grid on the basis of the terrain, positions of the settlements and the borders of the provinces.

[Mamlaz]

Yeah that looks much better.

Also Gromislaw is such an epic name.

[Just let me post]

It seems the AI road workers cooperated nicely

Gromislaw is epic indeed (for those interested: Grom = thunder (but in a sublime / old fashioned way), islaw = most slavic name suffix, also from sława = fame or słowo = word)

[Jurand of Cracow]

(VII) MAP
* (SIGNIFICANT CHANGE) two capitals of the provinces moved within their provinces to make it more historical but, more importantly, to make that area actually a space to play for the player and to make the AI behavior more rational (any big hole in the map that perplexes the AI):
-- capital of Sachsen moved much south-east and renamed (Hamburg -> Magdeburg: it is still for some centuries a dominant archbishopric in the east of HRE, and the northern HRE coast was overcrowded with cites: Bremen - Hamburg - Lubeck).
-- capital of Wallachia moved to the east and renamed (Severin -> Targoviste: it will be a capital in 14c, and in the game it serves as a gateway between the steppes and the Balkans).
* a few minor adjustments of placement of settlements (Brandenburg, Szekesfehervar, Gyulafehervar, Varad, Ascalon, Halab, Arta, Korinthos, Chandax).
* slight adjustments to placement of some ports:
-- Crete: to Chania space, Morea: to Modon space, Epirus: to Naupaktos space.
-- Westfalen: port of Bremen moved to the Wesermundung, Sachsen: port of Magdeburg (ex-Hamburg) moved south and a nice road is created by way).
-- Brest (so that of Rennes), Syracuse (Palermo), Limerick (Dublin), Slupsk (Gdansk), Kopenhagen (Roskilde), Sis (Adana), Tripoli (Gibelet), Baku (a bit south), Kutaisi (a bit north) - all to make the map more lively by creating additional roads.
* a few provinces (eg. Tmutarakan -> Circassia, Heskif -> Diyar Bakr, Mosul -> Diyar Rabi'a, Edessa -> Diyar Mudar) and two settlements renamed (Aktobe -> Kiçi-Saray, Casteddu -> Caller).
* (SIGNIFICANT CHANGE) changes in the borders of the provinces:
-- four provinces (Sidjilmasa, Tayma, Carinthia, Sarkel) made landlocked (their coastal areas were given to the neighbouring provinces) because of the historicity issues (these regions were historically not related to the sea) but also taking into account the number of land connections important for the trade income.
-- moved borders of Morea to include Attica and Boetia, renamed "Hellas"; moved borders of Epirus and Albania east (to encompass also the mountains).
-- ownership of the island of Fyn switched from province Jutland (Ribe) to Sjealand (Roskilde)
-- borders of Ostfranken (ie Nurnberg) extended to the borders of Sachsen (ie means also cutting of Nordfranken from Brandenburg), the city of Nurnberg moved one space north to make the road network look nice.
-- borders of Schwaben (ie Ulm) extended to Ostfranken (Nordfranken trade cut from Bayern - but fear not, it's still very rich), a new ford created on the border with Bayern, and it all produced created two roads on either side of the Danube.
-- many small changes to the borders of the Krakow province plus a few bridged introduced on the Polish rivers (1 on Odra, 2 on Warta, 1 on Notec) so that the road grid is interesting (in particular: separate track directly to Poznan, separate track to Plock).
- Saqsin has now border with Derbent (as a result: no direct access to this sea for the great steppe province with Sarkel, they have economically little to do with the sea and coding will be easier).
- Urgench is cut from the Caspian as it was historically by the Kara Kum desert (again: easier for the coding purposes).
- Sharukan province is connected to the Bulgar province (so Aqtobe is cut from Ryazan) - more rational economic development those provinces.
- borders between Halab, Damascus, Tripoli, Antioch, Edessa provinces slightly modified.
- Baghdad province borders now Damascus province (so Al Ahsa is cut from Ar-Raqqa - the problem with Al Ahsa has always been it had too many trade connections and was getting hefty income).
* switches castle <> city (the end-goal is to make each region having access to a reasonable number of castles, 35-40% per region): Erzurum, Ani, Silves, Polotsk, Dyrrachion, Tarabulus, Rennes, Volodymyr turned into castles, while Prague, Corinthos into cities.
* after years of discussions on historicity in the TWC forum, two provinces were turn independent (Pamplona, Sinope) - Aragon and Byzantium will have to conquer them.
* fertility of the provinces reviewed again and a few lowered by 1 (all provinces).
* many adjustments in the placement of resources (esp. Seljuks, HRE, Byzantium, Anatolia).

[j.a.luna]

great success in making Pamplona as an independent kingdom! it is totally historical!
In the game they should be called "Kingdom of Navarra", its people are called "Basques" (vascos in spanish) and they should have a large garrison of soldiers to make it difficult to conquer them, (they were not incorporated into Spain until the 16th century).
even later, a single Basque unit could be made by eliminating the historic NO unit called "Basque archers", perhaps a unit of Basque mountaineers, similar to the resistant almogávares ...
https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reino_de_Navarra

In general, great improvements for the sship map!!!

[Jurand of Cracow]

A few minor modifications:
- iron added to Brandenburg province,
- in Sicily salt moved to the proper place between Marsala and Trapani, and silk moved to the neighbourhood of Grigenti (although I'm not sure about historicity of this position),
- slight adjustments in the position of wool and cattle in Murcia,
- silver near Vrhbosna moved to the Srebrenica place in the Drina valley (still not sure if it shouldn't be to Srebrenik...),
- gold in Raska changed into 2x silver and moved to the Morava river - should be near Nove Brdo, but the place is in the Nis province, so just in the neighbourhood,
- timber added to provices of: Croatia, Bosna, Raska, Karinthia, Nis, Wallachia, Triadica (mainly to prevent trade between those provinces but prompt outward trade to the coastal regions),
- luxury goods added to Zara (a similar resource was already present in Ragusa).
Some buildings changes:
- all neutral settlements have been revised and landowners and builders buildings were added in the required places;
- York has a church, not a small church (it was the second most important ecclesiastical center in England);
- Raska has mines from the beginning (provides good starting income for Serbia, and it's not very unhistorical).
- Utrecht is upgraded to large town, and many buildings were upgraded as a consequence.
A few Polish names added.

[kostic]

Good job !

[a Dictator's Cigar]

- Raska has mines from the beginning (provides good starting income for Serbia, and it's not very unhistorical).

Brilliant edit that will serve the military capacity of the Serbian armies early in the game. love it!

[Jurand of Cracow]

The only thing I miss in Africa is a settlement/ seperate region at Cyrenaica!

This would be justified only we we'd introduce an additional faction in Ifrikyya - the Zirids/Hafsids. But we'd need a moder to do it, and another faction would have to be removed.

[Jurand of Cracow]

A few minor modifications:
- iron added to Brandenburg province,
- in Sicily salt moved to the proper place between Marsala and Trapani, and silk moved to the neighbourhood of Grigenti (although I'm not sure about historicity of this position),
- slight adjustments in the position of wool and cattle in Murcia,
- silver near Vrhbosna moved to the Srebrenica place in the Drina valley (still not sure if it shouldn't be to Srebrenik...),
- gold in Raska changed into 2x silver and moved to the Morava river - should be near Nove Brdo, but the place is in the Nis province, so just in the neighbourhood,
- timber added to provices of: Croatia, Bosna, Raska, Karinthia, Nis, Wallachia, Triadica (mainly to prevent trade between those provinces but prompt outward trade to the coastal regions),
- luxury goods added to Zara (a similar resource was already present in Ragusa).
Some buildings changes:
- all neutral settlements have been revised and landowners and builders buildings were added in the required places;
- York has a church, not a small church (it was the second most important ecclesiastical center in England);
- Raska has mines from the beginning (provides good starting income for Serbia, and it's not very unhistorical).
- Utrecht is upgraded to large town, and many buildings were upgraded as a consequence.
A few Polish names added.

Further changes to the map
- port of Brugge moved a bit NE, Ghent moved S
- province of Nizza enlarged a bit
- Bologna moved S, Palermo moved N
- metals near Milano deleted (no just 1)
- salt moved closer to Utrecht
- many hidden_resource river deleted (so river_ports will be there not available)
- Ascalon has a HR desert that makes building of upper levels of farms not possible

Furthermore, the mecenary pools have been improved a bit, with the new Kostic units.