Sher Khan's suggestions
So the Broken Crescent project seems to be well underway. Lots of great skins and research has already been done. This leaves me with the question of just what can I do now to help? Meh, I'll start with just a few suggestions. I hope I don't mention things already discussed in length, so please feel free to comment or add in with anything that may help.
I'd like to discuss in length the possibilities of the Broken Crescent campaign. As we know, Medieval II is built around the workings of Europe and the Near East, but with heavy emphasis and detailed work on the Western reaches of the map. Feudal Europe was a very different place than the Muslim world, and I think this demands a complete overhaul of the campaign buildings and bonuses they give, considering the differences in culture and geography.
At this time, the Middle East was, and still is, a very arid region with vast stretches of desert. Therefore, except for coastal regions, populations were centered around the great river systems of the area, namely the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile.
There are three main sources of income: farming, trade, and taxation. Farming is the simplest to discuss - all regions in proximity to fresh water have great farming potential, especially compared to arid regions of the area.
Trade, however, can be discussed in length because of it's importance to the Muslim Middle East.
- I propose having a chain of settlements extending from Syria to the edge of China that will have a 'Silk Road' trade bonus. This will make settlements that otherwise would be landlocked become incredibly important should they lie in the middle of this important overland trade route. This trading network will certainly give nations like Persia a huge economic boost (realistic I'm sure) since they straddle many of these territories. And, the more settlements held along the Silk Road, the greater the wealth acquired - much like the trade made from owning a string of port cities in Vanilla M2TW. This will not only balance the campaign (huge land mass without a giant Mediterranean for trade) but allow players to amass huge trade incomes without having to own port cities.
- Some settlements have famous river systems, such as Baghdad and Cairo. I suggest these settlements be given some form of trade bonus from river trade similar to sea trade (much of the economy of Iraq, for example, traveled up and down the two rivers, between Mosul and Baghdad). This will make settlements with rivers produce cash flow from its rivers other than as an indirect source of farming income. It will also make these cities of even greater importance for economic reasons, and will balance out against the Silk Road cities to the East and North.
- Caravansararies buildable in cities as well as castles. These buildings should of course provide possible recruitment of bedouin tribal warriors, but it should also provide a tax bonus to any city with it. Travel in the region was almost entirely by camel caravan, and taxes on incoming and resting caravan camels provided an excellent source of tax income for cities like Baghdad and Cairo. Perhaps there could be a way to enable some cities, regions, or perhaps some factions only to build larger caravan stops that could have greater tax bonuses as long as they lie on pilgrimage routes. Arabian income, and honestly everywhere, taxed pilgrim roads, and because of the Hajj, this proved lucrative for the local rulers. They not only provided stables for camels, but inns and amenaties for caravan travelers.
- There should be little reason for paved roads to provide anything but a movement bonus. Trade at this time was done purely by pack animal and not wheeled carts. Thus the paved road neither aided nor promoted trade and Islamic rulers had little reason to build or maintain them. The Latin kingdoms of course would rely on paved roads, so it seems proper to leave them with trade bonuses from roads.
- The ribaat should make an appearance as a buildable structure in castle regions. They should be described as border forts and possibly give piety or mysticist bonuses to Imams (since we can't divide between Sufi, Sunni, and Shi'a). At the same time, these forts should enable the recruitment of ghazi warriors.
- High level mosques should provide some form of bonus to law or some other form of public obedience. Islamic rulers solidified their authority by having their names read during Friday prayers, so I'm certain this could be a welcome addition to the game mechanic and a new incentive to build mosques, even in regions with 100% religion. Prayer was very important at this time, and this should be reflected with how much sway the mosques and gatherings had over public order.
- We should include the madrassa, an academy line of buildings that should give piety bonuses to imams recruited in the city, but also offer good educational traits to governors in the city, including knowledge of math, science, and engineering (useful for war perhaps?).
I'll be using this thread to post more and edit some ideas as I develop them and as I find time to pin them down.
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Originally Posted by mirage41
