I drew up a map with some preliminary changes I think would add a lot to the playability and the ability to add new revolter nations and ease the cultural construction of areas. One problem I noticed is the line I drew to create Utica is too far to the west, but that can be easily fixed. I've drawn this up from historical maps from the time period (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/). Egypt would be in for a major renovation, consisting of basically the Greek religion and cultural province of Alexandria, Kyrene and Barka, while the provinces of Paraitonion, Memphis, Ammonium, Oxyrynchos, Hibis, Thebai, Pselchis and Pelousion would be native Egyptian religion and culture. Sinai would be another Nabatean barbarian province, and Nubia would either be a small kingdom or a dangerous horde-producing province. The egyptians would hence be able to colonize much of what is present day western Egypt and Eastern Libya, as well as the eastern desert regions along the Red Sea, making things a bit more dangerous for them in terms of barbarian invasions.
Another split along the Libyan coast would reflect that the settlements really didn't extend inland, and make colonization of the interior much more difficult. An expanded Phoenicia and Israel would ensure these cultures/religions would survive a bit longer, in fact in my own mod game I've already created a Syrian culture which replaced much of the Phoenician and Assyrian in this region. Antioch would be greek in culture and religion, while Halab (Aleppo) would be native Syrian in culture and religion.
Italy would have several more provinces and would better reflect the fact that it is only recently unified by the Romans, with the very real possibility existing that Samnite, Etruscan, Oscian or Greek revolter nations could appear here if the Romans lose their grip on power. Similarly the other Phoenician colonies in North Africa (like Utica) often resented Carthaginian dominance, so we should make revolter nations there possible as well. Ideally I'd like to develop my own mod to the point where nearly any province might gain some sort of independence.
I didn't mark it here but I've already altered the cultures in Mesopotamia and added a new religion, mesopotamian_pantheon, under the semitic pantheon, as well as removed the Egyptian pantheon from the Hellenistic one to its own grouping. I think this will make it more interesting for the Ptolemies and could create events to allow them to either impose Greek gods or work to actively fuse the two. The Greeks in Egypt really were foreign rulers, and no one until Cleopatra even bothered to learn the native language. The idea of a resurgent native Egyptian nation revolting is definitely something I want possible.
As for Greece, bringing in more island territories makes sense right now, but should for instance, a separate Attica or a split up Thessaly or a Peloponnese with four provinces be considered? My biggest dislike about the game thus far is that once you reach a few hundred years into the game, there are really only two or three nations that are any sort of threat to you, I would like to see a lot more nations out there, a lot more difficulty holding together a large empire in the early stages, a lot more resentment from subject peoples, a lot more cultures which cause that resentment, and slower transformation of culture and religion tied much more to civilization level of the province.
Another split along the Libyan coast would reflect that the settlements really didn't extend inland, and make colonization of the interior much more difficult. An expanded Phoenicia and Israel would ensure these cultures/religions would survive a bit longer, in fact in my own mod game I've already created a Syrian culture which replaced much of the Phoenician and Assyrian in this region. Antioch would be greek in culture and religion, while Halab (Aleppo) would be native Syrian in culture and religion.
Italy would have several more provinces and would better reflect the fact that it is only recently unified by the Romans, with the very real possibility existing that Samnite, Etruscan, Oscian or Greek revolter nations could appear here if the Romans lose their grip on power. Similarly the other Phoenician colonies in North Africa (like Utica) often resented Carthaginian dominance, so we should make revolter nations there possible as well. Ideally I'd like to develop my own mod to the point where nearly any province might gain some sort of independence.
I didn't mark it here but I've already altered the cultures in Mesopotamia and added a new religion, mesopotamian_pantheon, under the semitic pantheon, as well as removed the Egyptian pantheon from the Hellenistic one to its own grouping. I think this will make it more interesting for the Ptolemies and could create events to allow them to either impose Greek gods or work to actively fuse the two. The Greeks in Egypt really were foreign rulers, and no one until Cleopatra even bothered to learn the native language. The idea of a resurgent native Egyptian nation revolting is definitely something I want possible.
As for Greece, bringing in more island territories makes sense right now, but should for instance, a separate Attica or a split up Thessaly or a Peloponnese with four provinces be considered? My biggest dislike about the game thus far is that once you reach a few hundred years into the game, there are really only two or three nations that are any sort of threat to you, I would like to see a lot more nations out there, a lot more difficulty holding together a large empire in the early stages, a lot more resentment from subject peoples, a lot more cultures which cause that resentment, and slower transformation of culture and religion tied much more to civilization level of the province.
