Just in case the map hasn't been finalized

[Mithridates VI Eupator]

Another option might be to add sápmi to that "wasteland"-province that currently covers the Sahara and the Arabian desert, and is called Eremos. Might not be possible for some reason though...

Otherwise, Sapmi and Seliun Gentis could be merged, and Gotland could be merged with the rest of Sandinavia, since, as Puupertti Ruma stated, neither the Baltic, nor Scandinavia was very important in this period. If I'm not mistaken, Tacitus wrote in the first century AD that the "Sueoni" (Swedes) lived on an island in the ocean, and went to sea in ships driven by oars, as they did not know of the sail, and this is the first we hear of them. It has been suggested that the spread of Celtic culture throughout central Europe caused the trade with southern Europe to cease completely, and this, along with climate changes, flung Scandinavia into a dark age which lasted from about 500 b.C to the first century AD. Archaeological finds have also implied that Scandinavia was indeed a backwater during this time.

Anyway, if these, and maybe also the two provinces in Ireland were merged, and if it is true that both Augila and Gaetulia are to be removed (pure speculation, I know), this would give us 5 new provinces to disperse over the map. Of these, I actually think that one or two might be put in another place in north Africa (Especially if there is to be one or maybe even two Numidian factions), maybe yet another one, or maybe more, in Greece. I know there are many there already, but I still think it has a tendency to get rather cramped down there. And then some in India or on the Iranian plateu.

But, as always, this is not up to me to decide...

Amazing.
Here's a balloon for prize:

Well thank you, kind sir!

[Connacht]

And then some in India or on the Iranian plateu.

Hmmm, but the team already stated that India won't be added because for many reasons, for instance it will require too many provinces so these new 5 provinces aren't enough and should be added in the Mediterranean area or in the Iranian lands.
Greece? Dunno, there is a bit crowded down there with Sparte, Corinth, Athen etc. perhaps instead a new province nearby, in Illyria or in Thracia.

Speaking of other things, I would also suggest to toggle the sea access from today's Jordan (I don't remember the name of the city, but it is the one on the right of Hierosolyma) and give those lands to Petra, forming what was called Arabia Petreia (instead in the EB map there is a province in the Sinai peninsula and a "Jordan/Northern Arabia" province).

Well thank you, kind sir!

Lol.

[Mithridates VI Eupator]

Hmmm, but the team already stated that India won't be added because for many reasons, for instance it will require too many provinces so these new 5 provinces aren't enough and should be added in the Mediterranean area or in the Iranian lands.
Greece? Dunno, there is a bit crowded down there with Sparte, Corinth, Athen etc. perhaps instead a new province nearby, in Illyria or in Thracia.

I didn't mean to include the whole of India. What I meant is that the three provinces there are rather big, IMO, and thus, you could divide one of them into two... maybe.

And yes, Greece is crowded, but in my experience the KH has a tendency to blitz the Makedonians and Epeiros, and thus creating one huge balkan-empire, stretching from modern Slovenia to Athens.
(They might do this anyway, though...)

[chairman]

I heard awhile back during a discussion concerning Gotland that it is where the team placed the city/province that is hardcoded as the Vanilla "Rome". They did this because the island is unlikely to be conquered very easily, thus preventing the AI from prematurely upsetting the script to end the game. I can't remember all of the details from that discussion, but that's what I do remember. AFAIK, eliminating Gotland might cause an AI or player controlled faction to accidentally end the game early by conquering the new city that is linked by hardcode to the Vanilla "Rome". I dunno.

Chairman

[Perturabo]

Chairman,

Indeed that is correct for RTW, Gotland is Rome (think maybe Rilder might have said that?). Visby is the same place in MTW2, and I can assure you the AI has no compunctions in assaulting it, in fact seems to have an unnatural fondness for it.

There might need to be some little unconquerable region (as in EB1) in the desert that can be used for the same purpose, perhaps the Eleutheroi hidout can be one and the same.

[Dumbass]

Why no just make Terhazza rome then. The Ai will never be able to conquer that.

[Megas Methuselah]

I thought they were just using the same map from EB 1.1.

[Cartaphilus]

What about Balearic islands?

If the city change to Ebussus (Iboshim) you could keep it under carthaginian rule as it is now.
But if you want to maintain the city in Majorica: Bocchoris, and the government system will be similar to what we have now, think in changing to type III or IV for more historical accuracy.

[Cartaphilus]

If you will make a new celtiberian or iberian faction maybe a new province will be needed in Hispania.
As well in North Africa with two new numidian kingdoms.

[General Appo]

Just to add here Cartaphilus, the EB team has never officialy stated that there will be two (nor one for that matter) Numidian factions. I´m sorry if this is not what you meant, but to me it sounded like you believe that they actually have.

[Cartaphilus]

I know that.
It was only a simple assumption (and not made by me), like all the posts in this thread.

I expect only one numidian faction - but another one will be welcomed too.
But if we have new factions in the area (as in Hispania) they will need some "Lebensraum" - and the fight for it will be hard.

[Fondor_Yards]

Another option might be to add sápmi to that "wasteland"-province that currently covers the Sahara and the Arabian desert, and is called Eremos. Might not be possible for some reason though...

I like this idea. No faction would conquer the lands up there, there was zero reason to at all.



Unless one of the new factions is a baltic faction, hmmmmmm?

[Mithridates VI Eupator]

Exactly!

It was hardly possible to keep such a large are, bereft of all sorts of unity or infrastructure, under direct controll. And also, none of the factions currently in had any real interests there. Its simply to far away...

[Zenith Darksea]

Unless one of the new factions is a baltic faction, hmmmmmm?

Unless the EB team has scholars with literally miraculous powers of historical research, then I doubt that one of the new factions will be in the Baltic. After all, I've already heard one of the EB team explain why such a faction can't be added (to whit - we know sod-all about them).

[General Appo]

Indeed. If such a faction for some reason was added, it would probably still only have the 4 units the Balts have now, and probably even less so since those units are divided over two rather different kinds of balts, the eastern and western ones. The "cities" would still just have generic names, not historically proven ones, the characters names would be just guesswork, I mean, everything would just be guesses. Plus it wasn´t really like they had any chance of expansion, much less so than for example the Sweboz. The Balts were to my understanding almost less advanced than the tribal system of the Germans, and an actualy unification of any more than a few semi-nomadic families or "towns" of no more than a few thousand people if even that, seems very unlikely. Nor does the conquest of any other faction appears likely, at most some Germanic or Steppe nomadic (though not actually from the sauromatae) raids would have been conducted on the very brinks of the actual baltic culture. Well, maybe in modern eastern Poland and such some Balts perhaps lived under a Germanic ruling class, but... that I really don´t know about and I very, very much doubt anything could be done with it.
No, a Baltic faction seems doomed no to appear.

[Fondor_Yards]

That was a joke, I don't think there will be baltic faction.