Most worthless province? - Post your opinion!!

[Zim]

There's a North African province, the first one west of Tunis I think, that seems to be a magnet for attacks by sea from Italy and Iberia, and has little economic potential ad a low growth rate. I'd rate it second most worthless in its region after the one Tristan mentioned, Ajaccio, which is attacked by even more factions.

Inverness has also been pretty worthless in my games, unless I'm playing Scotland and turtling (in which case it's useful until I conquer my first other castle). It has a low growth rate and doesn't make much money even if converted to a city, and is in a pretty poor position to supply troops to anywhere. I suppose the only good thing about it is that noone lands troops there.

Some of the crappier far eastern steppe settlements would make such a list as well. They may not be targets for lots of AI attacks, but they make up for that by not only being worthless but taking so long to get to. Every turn an army is moving towards one is a turn's wasted upkeep, and the payoff for getting them is extremely small. I suppose at least they're good places to bleed the Mongols before they reach your more valuable settlements.

[Dead Guy]

Dongola

Trade: Poor
Troop Supply: Useless if you have Gaza etc
Public Order: if you're not Egypt, horrible.

And to top that off, if a rebel stack spawn there I never have the energy to even recruit some militia to squash it!

Jedda is pretty smashing too... All of these provinces that have long land routes are also great if the flood/earthquake bug strikes, so it takes 7 years to pass through =)

[Gray Beard]

Durazzo takes the cake for worst province because if you are the Byzantines you have to hold it to keep it from becoming a jumping off place for the Sicilians and as a buffer against the Venetians. However, it is so small, very isolated because of the terain and simply worthles unless you can hold for something like 150 years. And yet Thesiloniki Constantinople and Corinth are to far away to protect each other so you have to take it and keep a big honking hairy legged army garrisoned there to protect the other three places from a Venetian sneak attack until you can take Ragussa. Then you have to defend it to keep the Sicilians landing there and turning your flank.

[Ramses II CP]

Fortaleza (sp?) in Brazil. Horrible public order problems, incredibly distant from everywhere, frequent storms, no sea trade zones nearby, and if you happen to lose it to rebellion it will be ~10 turns before you can get troops all the way back to it to recapture it.

Oh, and the trade goods aren't that impressive. The only times I've taken it were for story reasons.

Dongola and Jedda can have sea trade which, if nothing else, boosts your income at Cairo. Dongola, Arguin, and even Jedda have trade goods that it's worthwhile to park a merchant on. Provinces that are heavily contested just mean that you can have some fun battles! Since when is that a negative?

I would say only Bulgar approaches the uselessness of Brazil, but even Bulgar has land trade routes and can be used as a bulwark in the Mongol or Timurid wars.

No contest. Fortaleza.

[Grombeard]

Durazzo takes the cake for worst province because if you are the Byzantines you have to hold it to keep it from becoming a jumping off place for the Sicilians and as a buffer against the Venetians. However, it is so small, very isolated because of the terain and simply worthles unless you can hold for something like 150 years. And yet Thesiloniki Constantinople and Corinth are to far away to protect each other so you have to take it and keep a big honking hairy legged army garrisoned there to protect the other three places from a Venetian sneak attack until you can take Ragussa. Then you have to defend it to keep the Sicilians landing there and turning your flank.

That's definitely it! Couldn't have said it better! It takes ages until it grows and it's at a horrible position where you would need something... stronger... than some wood sticks placed around a few huts. So mostly i just leave it alone and take the castle north of it...

[glyphz]

I also think Durazzo is the most worthless province, but that's based on my limited experience, meaning in all of my campaigns not one has yet to go farther than 80 turns, so I havent gone to the New World, nor held the NE provinces yet.

a 400 pop. village at the start located between 2 potentially dangerous foes (Venice, Byzantines) that want it. A large garrison is needed to protect it w/c costs a ton more than what Durazzo can offer you. Indeed, in 2 campaigns of mine (Sicily, Venice), I gave the province to the Pope, and he was so happy to get it that he would have been on his knees kissing my iron greaves in private if he had the chance . I offer it very soon after taking a large hit in the Pope-O-Meter, due to conquering Christian settlements. I believe that's better than getting at an early war w/ a neighbor just for a slow growing, high-maintenance town.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ajaccio and Cagliari, once with port, tend to create more income than some inland provinces of the same population, though I am still squeezing the most out of v1.0 before upgrading to v1.2/3, where i heard AI tend to be more aggresive . I guess I might also give Ajaccio to the Pope if multiple factions are so obsessively attracted at that island resort.

Dongola and Jedda do get some trade income from ports and definitely add to Cairo's trade, but they're not top priority and only go after them when I have an army to spare. It does get annoying though when you try to wipe out the Egyptians quickly and turn those pesky Egyptian stacks to rebel, only to find them take Jedda or Dongola. Tsk!

Inverness as well as all settlements in the British Isles become cities once they're all mine. Separated from the main continent, there is no need to have a large garrison, and the trade becomes very nice later on. I'd leave a high chiv general (or maybe 2 + some boats) to guard the isles, and increase public growth in all settlements (esp. dublin. caenarvon, york and inverness) till at least 6000

[Rhyfelwyr]

I was going to say Ajaccio, but then Ramses reminded me about Fortaleza.

In one campaign, I saw a Papal army, Milanse Army, Spanish Army, and Portuguese army all on Ajaccio at the same time, surrounded by their fleets. And the Moors travelled there shortly after as well. And in other campaigns the Sicilians often show interest in Ajaccio after they take Cagliari. Its just an absolute nightmare to defend, you need an expensive fleet just to ferry reinforcements there.

As the Turks I've found Durazzo doesn't cause too much trouble, I've had it attacked by the Papacy (bizarelly agressive in this campaign), but that is all, although I have admittedly wiped the Byzantines out.

Dongola and Jedda seem to be generating some good income for me just now, although I did have trouble with public order in Jedda, largely because a couple of Heretics had been camped there.

Fortaleza is a waste of space as a settlement, you don't even need to conquer it to use it resources, which is all its good for. At least if you convert Mikosukee and the Cuban city to Castles you can reinforce your armies when fighting the Aztecs.

Trebizond is another pretty useless settlement, very slow growth and is stuck behind a network of mountains. I suppose it can reinforce armies in Tblisi/Yerevan when the hordes arrive.

And Arguin is pretty useless.

Nicosia isn't good for much either.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Arguin.

It's only neighbor is Timbuktu. And it's more valuable for merchants if someone ELSE holds it for trading purposes.

Ummmm how about Helsinki for an actual province near real factions?

It's like the tiniest in the game, and is barely worth having as a recruiter of basic horse. It's worthless as a trading partner until 100 turns have passed.

I dont use new world provinces because by the time you've gotten to the new world the game is over.

Bottom line: Arguin is the MOST WORTHLESS PROVINCE EVER

No strategic value. No economic value. More useful for someone else to hold it for your merchants to make more money.