I'm not playing in this game, but since this have been debated in the modding forums, I'd like to add another view.Daniel A said:His claim was good although his reason was not perfect. The claim for SWE having a port by the sea in any scenario is not only avoiding the trade tariffs, a more complete description of the reasons is
- this strip of land was used for export not merely to avoid the Sound due but probably more because it was a shorter road to the Sea from some parts of Sweden, for instance some parts of Bergslagen, with its iron, which was connected to this land strip via e.g. Klarälven and then lake Vänern and finally Göta Älv
- whether there were any naval military base or not is not a prerequsite in this game for having a port (from where you got this notion is a mystery); do you for instance believe there was a naval military base in Baffin Bay just because EU has ports there, they were perhaps afraid of a military attack in that area well suited for military operations :rofl:
- and last but not least: Sweden did own this piece of land with its port (at a place where some 200 years after the game starts Gothenburg was founded)
Thus the existence or non-existence of the Sound due in this game has nothing to do with the fact that Sweden did own this strip of land and that it had many effects on the nations involved some of which are excellently portrayed in the game and some else not.
Besides the Sound due is partly implemented in this game by giving Sjaelland a very high tax value, only the reverse is not implemented, i.e. a reduction of trade income and an increase of price of import products for other nations.
Denmark had a complete stranglehold on the fortress of Älvsborg until mid 16th century. Sweden lost it in first thing in almost every war against the Danish, and for this reason never used it as a naval base until this coast became secure, since any fleet here would have been trapped. This weak spot was so well known that even if it was important for trade in peace time, it had little military value, and strongholds were built in the middle of Västergötland province, since it wasn't until the invading forces came that deep that any chance of resistence was possible. Sweden was completly unable to project any power whatsoever on the sea outside Älvsborg.
This situation fundamentally changed when Bohuslän and Halland became Swedish.
So what is the best approximation to model this? Location of ports mattter little for trade, so military reasoning far outweights civil ones in this case. Västergötland should be without a port, and Sweden shouldn't be able to use the western coast until one of the Danish/Norwegian provinces are taken. That's how it was historically. Even if Västergötland got a port by then, we cannot model that, but at least we can model the need for Sweden to take one of the Danish/Norwegian provinces to be able to access the sea in wartime.
There might be other ports that are wrongly places in this map and others, but that's not a reason in itself to add another unhistorical port.