The Atlantic Coast

[NodachiSam]

What is the point of this piece of water? It doesn't even have a port? The only province that it attachs to is the Sahara Desert, which of course isn't usable. Was that what they originally made it for? Does anyone know?

Also, has anyone ever put anything there? The only use it seems to function now is to soak up ai boats. :book:

[ichi]

If it wasn't there it would be possible to attack Morocco from the Atlantic.

ichi :bow:

[Martok]

If it wasn't there it would be possible to attack Morocco from the Atlantic.

ichi :bow:


Ironically, it also gives you a way to invade Morocco from the north without having to put boats in the Straits of Gibraltar--which isn't always the friendliest of waters. ~;)

[Advo-san]

Fine answers.... I was also wondering about this piece of land.... Seems logical now..

[NodachiSam]

That makes sense. Thanks for answering.

[EatYerGreens]

I forget the name given for Morocco's castle structure. Is it Marrakech?

It would have made sense if the port had opened into the Atlantic Coast sea area as it would then represent either Casablanca or Rabat, which are cities on that piece of coast. Marrakech is well inland.

As for uses? More often than not, I see the AI ignoring this bit of sea and it can be handy if you wish to end a naval-only conflict (ie where you have no land border adjacent to the enemy) by using it to break contact with all enemy AI ships for a year.

There is a known issue with the graphic for Tunisia's port being positioned in the Gulf of Sidra Sea area, yet troop movements only work when the ship chain extends to the next sea area to the west. It could be there's a similar bug with the positioning of Morocco's port.
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EDIT: I think I meant to say Gulf of Gabes. Without the game running, I can never remember which way round they are!
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At the moment, it works in our favour by not needing ships stationed in Atlantic Coast at all but, if I knew how, I'd be tempted to mod this to see what effects it has on the game. One wonders how much of the AI's failure to set up trade networks efficiently is rooted in mis-positioned ports.

Given the PAIR of land bridges in Morocco (one would be bad enough) there's not as much motivation for Almos to build one there purely for troop movement purposes. Shifting the port position by modding would probably give that sea area more importance in the game and maybe stimulate the Almos to trade properly. On the other hand, they'd need 5 ships to get a trade link to Egypt, instead of 3. Assuming they war with Spain from the outset, that's their only realistic option and that's 15 years of shipbuilding (AND no troop training) before they get any kind of economic return. Would they even bother?

[WesW]

The port for Morocco was originally set in the Atlantic Coast. It screwed up the AI pretty bad, so I moved it to the Straits for the Medmod way back in v1, over two years ago.
The port for Tunisia was indeed a bug, and probably the result of a last-minute change.

[EatYerGreens]

Sorry for not replying sooner, Wes. I think the forum cookie messed up, so I didn't see this thread as containing unread items. Only just found this, down on page 2!


The port for Morocco was originally set in the Atlantic Coast. It screwed up the AI pretty bad, so I moved it to the Straits for the Medmod way back in v1, over two years ago.

Now that is odd. It took me nearly a year to get around to installing VI, so I've a good recollection of both games in their default state. Since I knew I was going to add VI, I think I consciously chose NOT to install the 1.1 patch, so if you had a hand in that one, I didn't get to see the difference.

I now have a dual-install, for purposes of multiplayer but I've not launched any campaigns in MTW 1.1 yet.

Basically, I can't remember EVER seeing a port for Morocco in the Atlantic Coast sea region.

The only difference I can think of is that my copy of the game was manufactured in the EU. THere isn't an obvious date stamp on it but my guess is that it was at the tail end of the manufacturing run and maybe had changes like this incorporated into it on the CD. Early edition (2003?) US-made disks might have been the only ones to have Morocco's port in Atlantic Coast.

It's a real pity that it screws up the AI as I was going to ask around to find out how the ports can be repositioned on the map. If I was a modder (I'm not), this is something I'd look to change, so that the user has to build an extra ship to trade to or from here but, at the same time, a blockade in the Gibraltar straights can't cut your link completely.

The real trouble is that it will mess badly with troop movements. If the land bridges were modded away, the Almos would need two ships to get anything in or out of Spain, meaning you'd have to gift them a starter fleet and hope they use it correctly. Also, I think Cordoba would be their only landing point - they'd need a third ship to get troops into Granada, if I recall the sea zones correctly.

In other words, you can't mess around with the port/sea zone interfaces willy-nilly, as the joins between sea areas and land areas are just as important. The AI probably messes up its ship positioning because it prioritizes troop movements and regards trade income as a handy side-effect, instead of a fundamental reason for being. It will get confused when the two paths fail to coincide.



The port for Tunisia was indeed a bug, and probably the result of a last-minute change.

I saw a thread somewhere where the fix for this was described and it seems it could be done with some simple text file changes but I haven't tried it myself. I'm in mid campaign at the moment and wary of making such changes in case it triggers gamesave corruption and so on.

[ToranagaSama]

It's a real pity that it screws up the AI as I was going to ask around to find out how the ports can be repositioned on the map. If I was a modder (I'm not), this is something I'd look to change, so that the user has to build an extra ship to trade to or from here but, at the same time, a blockade in the Gibraltar straights can't cut your link completely.

Dude, you need to d/l the MedMod asap!

Your TW gaming will never be the same....

[EatYerGreens]

Dude, you need to d/l the MedMod asap!

Your TW gaming will never be the same....

I know, I know. Trouble is I've got TWO campaigns on the go already and am determined to get at least one vanilla campaign completed before I go trying any mods. I've put in so many hours of effort that I can't simply jack them in and start again... for the umpteenth time.

I'm a complete stranger to High and Late periods as I never seem to get that far before the gamesave gets corrupted. On top of that, I had two HDD failures in as many years, so I'm getting tired of starting over...

As if that wasn't enough, my current HRE/GA/Early campaign is the first time I've played on Hard difficulty and I find this challenge enough. I am NOT storming the map and show few signs of doing so for a good while yet. I think I should be allowed the satisfaction of beating the thing a few times before I advance onto more sophisticated gameplay.

I'm reliably informed that even self-styled expert players were shocked to LOSE their first campaigns in MedMod. A long string of previous successes means you can take that sort of thing on the chin and get fired up for another attempt but, for me, it would just be a depressing experience and I can well do without that sort of thing from a game - you know, things you play for enjoyment?

I will try it out, eventually but don't hold your breath.