MA Update #4 Discussion

[GiantMonkeyMan]

hey shifty, i noticed on all of your current maps that there is a large empty space on the borders... is this so that the fighting is focused on the center of europe? and also how are you going to achieve this without having an extra province there (perhaps by surrounding the city with impassable terrain?)

GMM

ps good preview

[shifty157]

Thanks GMM.

Thats a good question that you have.

I assume youre talking about our three dead regions. These regions (the saharan desert in the lower left, the arabian desert in the lower right, and the russian desert in the upper right) are areas that just cannot be conquered. They possess minimal to no farmable land and combined with harsh living conditions they are only inhabitted by small nomadic tribes. The result is that any imposition of a centralized government on these lands would not only be incredibly unprofitable (these lands truly provide no benefit of any sort) but would also be rather impossible.

To reflect this in the game we have created dead provinces. They are provicnes but their cities will be as far away from civilization as possible and surrounded by impassable terrain. So you can still move your armies around the province if you wish but you will never be able to conquer it (nor would you want to).

Obviously there are gameplay advantages to this as well. As you mentioned it does focus expansion toward the center of the map which is historically accurate and provides for better gameplay. We dont want the AI to have a couple of full stack armies just roaming about the edges of the map in these provinces so by moving the cities out of the AI's sight range and surrounding them the AI should completely ignore them.

However. That doesnt mean the provinces should be ignored. You will be able to recruit exotic mercenaries in these provicnes that you wont find anywhere else. We also have plans to spawn rebel raiding armies on the borders of these provinces forcing you to keep larger than normal garrisons in the area. None of this of course is yet finalized but thye are ideas that we would like to implement.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

thanks for that shifty... i've always wanted something along those lines to be done because you can't simulate the unlikely possability that the faction would have/could have invaded further in those directions if they saw profitable... also, what does it take to get on the team?

[shifty157]

Well itd be a good idea to have some skill in modding which you obviously do. Its also expected that members visit the developer forums as often as possible and partake in the discussions going on.

After that you just need to complete our Obstacle Course of Death without dying and steal a priceless work of art from a nearby internationally acclaimed museum.

So really it isnt that difficult to get in.

But really. The first thign youd have to do is go over and register at our forums. Post an introduction about yourself and what you can do. The team will then discuss in private whether or not to let you join (though i doubt letting you join will require much discussion).

Thats it. The entire process generally doesnt take too long depending on how many people are away. Just PM me once you register and ill make sure things go as smoothly as possible.

[x-dANGEr]

Now that's more exciting the M2: TW! 0-i

[Solon of Athens]

This mod looks like it is going to be awesome, good luck...

[Numio]

Looks like it'll be great!

I like the idea of unconquorable 'dead zones' too!

Just one concern is that the sample map seems to be covered with provinces which'll probably mean many more sieges and less actual battles. Do you think this'll be a problem? Just because the limit allows many more provinces doesn't necessarily mean having them is a good idea. I was just wondering what the idea was behind having so many provinces?

Also you as you intend to be the spiritual successor to EB do you plan on rehauling the trait system in the same way EB did?

Cheers