Honestly, I would prefer not to make any changes to the initial setup. If you are going to start as a count, then you ought to accept the disadvantages inherent in that choice. Anyway, a South Italian count is as wealthy as many a Duke of the poorer northern lands.
Touching the question of whether or not we should start close together, could we have some input from the other players on what you prefer? I will try to summarise the two options:
- (My preference) We start close together, say in the region Germany-North Italy-France-North Iberia-England, and expect that some Dukes will be conquered in the course of the initial skirmishing. These players will then be given new positions on the periphery.
- Pros:
- Instant human-human interaction; no initial period of bashing the AI as fast as possible in order to grow strong.
- No guarantees of who will be in control of a given nation, or even that a particular nation will unify; it would be quite possible to end up with the British Isles split between a northern and a southern dynasty. Alt-hist for the win!
- Cons:
- Some humans are going to lose out, with possible hurt feelings.
- Possible imbalances in the power levels of new positions.
- Possibility of a rather patchwork map of Europe upon conversion.
- (Sid's preference) We start far apart, roughly one to each historical nation, or perhaps two for large ones such as Russia and Germany.
- Pros:
- Everybody is more or less guaranteed to be in the same nation throughout.
- Definite spheres of influence upon conversion.
- Cons:
- No human-human wars or alliances at the beginning of the game; a long period of having nobody to fight except the AI.
- Possible imbalance when one player is highly successful in his own region, where the other players will have difficulty uniting to drag him down; for example, the Russian player managing to unify the Big Green Blob, or Byz scoring a major success against the Seljuks.
If I missed any pros or cons, let me know; but at any rate, let's hear your preferences.