Quote Originally Posted by Gaius Magnus
...Although I doubt we will see a TW game that has undefined territories, which is what we would need for a game set in the 'Age of Discovery'.
I see your point, but you are wrong on this my friend. The territories ARE defined, but they are unrevealed until a certain event, be it colonization or city size, etc.

Why this? I'll elaborate:

Imagine landing your small army in South Africa or elsewhere. You see no borders, there is no territory ownership, but you DO see some of things the land has to offer: Iron, gold, amazing new resources that will make your faction rich! But wait, are all of these resources in one territory? You push inland and discover two different "colonization slots" or whatever they will be named. You know it is expensive as hell to colonize, so you leave your army there to defend your new found spot while you wait for your colonists to arrive. When they do, you pick a spot and set it up. One of two options then happen, depending on which direction the developers take the game:
(1) your land claim is made and the boundaries of the region are revealed. You now know the limits to your land and its benefits. You also have a greater understanding of what that neighboring colonization spot has to offer, encouraging you to continue your expansion.
(2) Your land claim is made and you begin recieving the fruits of the land (gold, tradeable goods, whatever). But you do not have borders yet, because the future of the colony is uncertain and their is insufficient political clout to establish borders. Once your city reaches a certain size, it's future is assured unless it is conquered. But either way, at this point your borders are revealed and you get the bonuses that having borders grant (such as a diplomacy option to demand invaders get out or else, or an option to grant a right of passage).

Either way, there are great benefits to this, especially for huge land claims. It make it harder to pinpoint the perfect spot to form a colony becasue you have to find it (and you have no borders to help outline the region).

Any CA developers have time to comment on this? Is this even a possibility or are there severe coding restrictions?