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CKIII Dev Diary #26 - Map Scope

Salutations!

As a continuation from last week, I will be talking about the scope of the map and, perhaps more importantly, showing you how it all actually looks. Get ready for a very screenshot heavy DD!

Europe
Europe has been reworked from the ground up. We made sure to give all of Europe proper attention when painting baronies and counties. It was important for us to make sure we have a good and consistent quality level across the map. I’m sure you’ll find eastern Europe in particular fleshed out with a lot more detail than what you may be used to in CK2.

26_01_kiev.jpg


26_02_novgorod.jpg


Since we’ve already shown bits and pieces of Europe in screenshots and videos, let’s have a look at a few specific locations, and what special buildings they have available. Starting with France, it felt like an obvious choice to include Notre-Dame, one of the most recognizable cathedrals of the time period.

26_03_notre-dame.jpg


26_04_northern_france.jpg


26_05_aquitaine_burgundy.jpg


Next up, Iberia. Featuring two major rivers, plenty of hills and a few special buildings. In the county of Granada you’ll find Alhambra. While merely an old ruin at game start, it can be upgraded to offer some of the highest fortifications in the game.

26_06_northern_iberia.jpg


26_07_southern_iberia.jpg


26_08_alhambra.jpg


Speaking of special buildings. The city of the world’s desire, features not one, but two, special buildings. This makes Constantinople a very spectacular holding, and if that isn’t enough, it also has the highest development level in the game.

26_09_theodosian_walls.jpg
26_10_hagia_sophia.jpg


26_11_greece_anatolia.jpg


Before moving on, I’ll just leave this culture screenshot right here:

26_12_what_cultures_now.jpg


The Middle East
The Middle East has seen the same level of attention and rework as Europe, with some particular attention spent on updating history across the region. For example, the Seljuks control a vast empire in 1066, properly representing their historical borders. They have a plethora of different cultures as their subjects and may fall apart if not careful.

26_13_seljuk.jpg


Development in the region is above your average starting levels. Baghdad, for example, starts out with one of the highest levels of development in the game — bested only by a few other locations such as Constantinople! Baghdad also has one of the single most impressive special buildings available, the House of Wisdom.

26_15_house_of_wisdom.jpg


26_16_baghdad.jpg


26_17_nishapur.jpg


26_18_jerusalem.jpg


Africa
Africa has seen some of the greatest additions to the map. No longer cut in half, the Sub-Saharan kingdoms have plenty of space to expand in as we have included the entire Nigerian coast.

26_19_west_africa.jpg


We have a total of five different pagan faiths to play as, giving you plenty of different options. A solid first pick would be Benin, within the Niger delta. They start off with a decent development level and access to a special building: The massive construction that is the Walls of Benin.

26_20_faiths_west_africa.jpg


26_21_benin.jpg


26_22_walls_of_benin.jpg


Some cultures will start with the ability to sail major rivers, allowing them to use the Niger to quickly ferry troops back and forth. The coast on the other hand, will be open for everyone to use. You won’t be able to sail around the African coast to reach Europe however, or vice versa. That route is blocked by impassable sea, since it was often difficult, if not impossible, to sail along the western coast due to storms and rough seas. No viking raids in Africa, I’m afraid!

26_23_ghana_niger.jpg


26_24_coast_of_guinea.jpg


26_25_impassable_sea.jpg


Let’s not forget the Horn of Africa. Expanded to include Mogadishu, the area offers more space to play in, with christian, muslim, jewish, and pagan rulers all wanting a piece of each other.

26_26_ajuraan.jpg


26_27_ajuraan_close_up.jpg


Finally, let's mention Egypt. A rich area that has a lot of floodplains, good development levels, and even a couple of special buildings. All encompassed by the Nile, a major river with green and lush vegetation.

26_28_egypt.jpg


26_29_pyramids.jpg


The Far East
Looking east, the map has been expanded to include the entirety of Tibet, along with a small extension of Mongolia, accompanied by a whole set of new cultures and faiths!

Starting with Tibet, the area has a whole bunch of independent realms since the Tibetan Empire is long gone by the time of our two start dates. There’s a wide range of rulers of different faiths and cultures spread out across the plateau. The two most prominent faiths being Bön and Nangchos, a Buddhist faith syncretized with different Tibetan beliefs and practices.

26_30_tibet.jpg


26_31_tibetan_faiths.jpg


26_32_lhasa.jpg


Turning to Mongolia, there is a powerhouse present in both bookmarks. In 867, you have the Kirghiz Khanate, and Great Liao in 1066. Counties and provinces include Karakorum and the entire area surrounding lake Baikal.

26_33_baikal_867.jpg


26_34_mongolia_1066.jpg


Expanding Tibet and Mongolia left us with a small empty space in the south, and we really couldn’t have that, now could we? So we went ahead and filled out Myanmar (or Burma) down to the Gulf of Martaban with brand new baronies and counties. Which gives you two rather interesting starting options. In 1066, you’ll be able to play as king Anawrahta of the Pagan Kingdom. Starting shortly after his conquest of the Mon kingdoms to the south, most of the area will already be under his control, giving you a great opportunity to push into India! Alternatively you can start as Pagan in 867, yet a small and upstarting kingdom, allowing you to play with the unique faith of Ari Buddhism.

26_35_pagan.jpg


26_36_shwedagon.jpg


I’ll wrap it up here. Otherwise I’ll end up posting screenshots all day. Do you think I missed an important area somewhere? Let me know and maybe, just maybe, I’ll see if I can’t share some more.
 
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When CKIII was announced last year, I was a worried about the game being mostly a graphical upgrade without many features of the complete CKII, like the Sims series. I'm very happy now to see that CKIII seems to have improved over CKII in many areas, even without considering the future development after release.
 
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I'm looking forward to see how culture works, great job.
 
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I see both German and Italian culture were split up.
This I like
 
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I'll just say I'm rather disappointed Africa got so much attention for 1066, but China and Japan as prominent feudal states of the world did not.

EDIT: for those giving me the red X, I don't mind Africa got attention, the lack of East Asia is what I'm complaining about.
 
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Lots of nice things, congratulations on the hard work, but i got say, the map graphics are still quite underwhelming.
 
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Can we ask for a screenshot on Hungary's provinces on the map?
Edit: I'm saying provinces as I'm curious about how they look compared to the historical counties in the kingdom
 
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Salutations!

As a continuation from last week, I will be talking about the scope of the map and, perhaps more importantly, showing you how it all actually looks. Get ready for a very screenshot heavy DD!

Europe
Europe has been reworked from the ground up. We made sure to give all of Europe proper attention when painting baronies and counties. It was important for us to make sure we have a good and consistent quality level across the map. I’m sure you’ll find eastern Europe in particular fleshed out with a lot more detail than what you may be used to in CK2.

View attachment 576512

View attachment 576513

Since we’ve already shown bits and pieces of Europe in screenshots and videos, let’s have a look at a few specific locations, and what special buildings they have available. Starting with France, it felt like an obvious choice to include Notre-Dame, one of the most recognizable cathedrals of the time period.

View attachment 576514

View attachment 576515

View attachment 576516

Next up, Iberia. Featuring two major rivers, plenty of hills and a few special buildings. In the county of Granada you’ll find Alhambra. While merely an old ruin at game start, it can be upgraded to offer some of the highest fortifications in the game.

View attachment 576517

View attachment 576518

View attachment 576519

Speaking of special buildings. The city of the world’s desire, features not one, but two, special buildings. This makes Constantinople a very spectacular holding, and if that isn’t enough, it also has the highest development level in the game.

View attachment 576520View attachment 576521

View attachment 576522

Before moving on, I’ll just leave this culture screenshot right here:

View attachment 576523

The Middle East
The Middle East has seen the same level of attention and rework as Europe, with some particular attention spent on updating history across the region. For example, the Seljuks control a vast empire in 1066, properly representing their historical borders. They have a plethora of different cultures as their subjects and may fall apart if not careful.

View attachment 576524

Development in the region is above your average starting levels. Baghdad, for example, starts out with one of the highest levels of development in the game — bested only by a few other locations such as Constantinople! Baghdad also has one of the single most impressive special buildings available, the House of Wisdom.

View attachment 576526

View attachment 576527

View attachment 576528

View attachment 576529

Africa
Africa has seen some of the greatest additions to the map. No longer cut in half, the Sub-Saharan kingdoms have plenty of space to expand in as we have included the entire Nigerian coast.

View attachment 576530

We have a total of five different pagan faiths to play as, giving you plenty of different options. A solid first pick would be Benin, within the Niger delta. They start off with a decent development level and access to a special building: The massive construction that is the Walls of Benin.

View attachment 576531

View attachment 576532

View attachment 576533

Some cultures will start with the ability to sail major rivers, allowing them to use the Niger to quickly ferry troops back and forth. The coast on the other hand, will be open for everyone to use. You won’t be able to sail around the African coast to reach Europe however, or vice versa. That route is blocked by impassable sea, since it was often difficult, if not impossible, to sail along the western coast due to storms and rough seas. No viking raids in Africa, I’m afraid!

View attachment 576534

View attachment 576535

View attachment 576536

Let’s not forget the Horn of Africa. Expanded to include Mogadishu, the area offers more space to play in, with christian, muslim, jewish, and pagan rulers all wanting a piece of each other.

View attachment 576537

View attachment 576538

Finally, let's mention Egypt. A rich area that has a lot of floodplains, good development levels, and even a couple of special buildings. All encompassed by the Nile, a major river with green and lush vegetation.

View attachment 576539

View attachment 576540

The Far East
Looking east, the map has been expanded to include the entirety of Tibet, along with a small extension of Mongolia, accompanied by a whole set of new cultures and faiths!

Starting with Tibet, the area has a whole bunch of independent realms since the Tibetan Empire is long gone by the time of our two start dates. There’s a wide range of rulers of different faiths and cultures spread out across the plateau. The two most prominent faiths being Bön and Nangchos, a Buddhist faith syncretized with different Tibetan beliefs and practices.

View attachment 576541

View attachment 576542

View attachment 576543

Turning to Mongolia, there is a powerhouse present in both bookmarks. In 867, you have the Kirghiz Khanate, and Great Liao in 1066. Counties and provinces include Karakorum and the entire area surrounding lake Baikal.

View attachment 576544

View attachment 576545

Expanding Tibet and Mongolia left us with a small empty space in the south, and we really couldn’t have that, now could we? So we went ahead and filled out Myanmar (or Burma) down to the Gulf of Martaban with brand new baronies and counties. Which gives you two rather interesting starting options. In 1066, you’ll be able to play as king Anawrahta of the Pagan Kingdom. Starting shortly after his conquest of the Mon kingdoms to the south, most of the area will already be under his control, giving you a great opportunity to push into India! Alternatively you can start as Pagan in 867, yet a small and upstarting kingdom, allowing you to play with the unique faith of Ari Buddhism.

View attachment 576546

View attachment 576547

I’ll wrap it up here. Otherwise I’ll end up posting screenshots all day. Do you think I missed an important area somewhere? Let me know and maybe, just maybe, I’ll see if I can’t share some more.

I know this is off subject but it's a question I've wanted to ask for awhile. I wanto know whether vassal titles will still be determined by the lieges culture or will it depend on the vassal? Ex. If I'm playing as a norman king of England will my saxon vasaals be counts or earls?
 
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Hope my below average CPU will handle this, and more things are rendered now by GPU as well.

I also love the foreshadowing on some wonder descriptions.
 
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Another awesome Dev Diary. Thanks!
I love that Venice now resembles itself. And I can't wait to see the HRE territories in greater detail!
Too bad that smaller cultures like Carantanian aren't making a comeback though.
But the consistency of detail throughout the map is amazing! Especially in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The special building feature is also a nice addition. Anything that adds flavor and individuality to a realm is a plus in my book.
 
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Seconding the wish to see Britain, and to hear about some more of the special buildings - Offa's Dyke was mentioned at one point!

We do indeed have Offa's Dyke! It's far from as spectacular as some other special buildings, though it does exist in several baronies, providing a small advantage bonus in combat.

-Can you build more GreatWorks/ Special buildings?
-Are holdings within the province fixed? Like do you have a fixed amount of construable holdings like CK2
-I hope you can choose to place holdings within the province (instead of dividing a province into say, 5 holdings) i'd like to know if the province could be divided into like, 10 locations for possible holdings but with fixed amount of possible holdings (this way we could have more strategy in sieges and realm planning)
-I love the African map

We have a number of pre-defined special buildings. Some of these exist at game start, while other will have to be constructed. They are spread out across the map fairly evenly, though certainly not everywhere. They are intended to be something of a contested hotspot that you'll want to conquer.

A barony may only have a single holding, and the amount of baronies are fixed. Not all will be constructed from game start however, leaving room for new holdings to be built as you make progress.
 
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@Servancour

Map looks good! Especially Mesopotamia looks impressive.

However I see the Keban and Karakaya dam lakes have been added around around Kharpert. These are obviously modern constructions and were not present at the time.
 
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We had no screenshots of Scandinavia, the Baltic, Finland, Iceland (it is not necessary to see), the Balkans, and India (India only has a screeshot of the religion map, the Arabian Peninsula does not have either.
 
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You won’t be able to sail around the African coast to reach Europe however, or vice versa. That route is blocked by impassable sea, since it was often difficult, if not impossible, to sail along the western coast due to storms and rough seas. No viking raids in Africa, I’m afraid!

Best part of the DD!
 
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