Ok, thanks you guys. This was helpful, if a little bit annoying. Unfortunately, now my empire has spiky borders... Kind of annoying . Also, had to restart my game since I made Hanno wander in the desert for 10 years...

However, if any of you know, can you tell me if this will be the same in the next version? I realize the enormous difficulty in keeping control of the Sahara, however didn't Alexander march across a desert once thought impossible to cross? I mean, maybe it would just take a lot of effort but it could be done in the next version or something?

It seems like the achievement of taking the desert would be very worth it to whoever managed it, due to the huge deposits of minerals and such that are very abundant, as well as camels and salt and all kinds of goodies.

And, why was the Rub-Al Khali made unconquerable? The same reasons would motivate the Arabians to conquer it, and the Arabs in particular would be able to "Administrate" the sands well, considering a lot of their land is no better, excepting the coastlines.


Excuse my ramblings on the frustrations of an unconquerable desert, but I thought it would be better to ask these things and hope one day I can lead a huge army to its death in the desert for no other reason than to RP a mad king... (Or a king who found future-schematics to automobiles or some such nonsense and wanted oil )