Obviously nowhere is 100% accurate, and you need to sacrifice some amount of detail to keep the game playable. But I would say sub-Saharan Africa is the worst offender by far, not only in how inaccurate it is and how much of a disappointment it is to play as a result (either as an African state or as someone else interacting with Africa), but also in how much potential they are letting go unexploited.
If the devs would rework this stuff, I think Africa would be much more of an interesting continent. At present, playing an African country usually feels like going through the motions, when I could be playing a European or Asian country with way more immersion and flavor.
- huge amount of countries missing entirely. Half of the Hausa kingdoms, Borgu kingdoms, Mossi kingdoms, half of the Malagasy kingdoms, Lozi, Kwararafa, Gwiriko, Kenedougou, fractured states of the Wolof Empire, Bamum, Baguirmi, Kotoko, Dar Runga, Mandara, Kanem, Ouaddai, Shilluk, Fazughli, Dendi, Igala, Nri, Ife, Ilorin, several coastal trading states like Aro, Nembe, Warri, Opobo, Calabar, Bonny, Douala, Whydah, Koya, Ngoyo, Fulani jihad states besides Sokoto, era of the princes in Ethiopia. The Zulu empire isn't even there. Nor any Boer republics, or Lesotho, or Eswatini, or the Gaza kingdom. I could go on for a while. In most of these examples, there is actually a province there with the correct name, indicating that they clearly know about the history, but the state is completely missing from the game. Why put them in at all?
- half of the countries that are there, are inaccurate still. Most of the Congolese countries didn't exist in 1444. For example, Yaka culture only originated as a result of Lunda expansion. Kong, Dahomey, and Maravi also did not exist in 1444. Most of these don't coalesce a century or two later (the same thing with several of the states I mentioned above). They actually represented this with Asante who appear in the 1700s or so, so there's no excuse.
- Province map should be redrawn. Several places, like Igboland or Yorubaland, that are full of multiple cities and kingdoms are represented as one or two static provinces, half the time still uncolonized (Comoros). Sometimes they are fused with other areas, like Igboland's one province being shared with Igalaland. Some places, like the interior of Cameroon, or Kivu, or Equatoria, or Barotseland, or Limpopo, are just labelled as "wasteland". For some places like most of the Congo basin or the Sudd, wasteland actually makes some sense, but it's dramatically overused. On the other hand there are provinces like Lobi, Hombori, or Atakora that probably should be uncolonized. Although, most uncolonized provinces were actually subdivided into several insignificant kingdoms/chiefdoms and should still contribute to trade nodes or be able to be raided for slaves.
- Culture is laughingly wrong. Putting "Yoruba" for all of southern Nigeria, lol. Putting in provinces that are Dogon or Senufo territory in real life, and labeling them as Dyula or Songhai. Dyula culture for all of Liberia and Sierra Leone. "Sawabantu" for Calabar. Nubian culture for Ouaddai and Darfur. "Senegambian culture" from Senegal to Guinea. Several new cultures need to be introduced. Plus, several provinces in the interior of Africa taking the colonizer's culture makes no sense. Some of the cultural groups also seem arbitrary. I would propose making a single Sahelian cultural group, putting Nubian culture with Cushitic/Horn culture, and Jukun and Sawabantu should be included as West African.
- religion. The Sahel will typically turn out either completely Muslim or completely fetishist without any in between. In actuality the situation was pretty stable, with a Muslim elite ruling over an animist population for several centuries. There weren't revolts of "fetishist zealots", nor would any of these empires be able or willing to actually convert their populations so easily. Same thing in Nubia and southern Ethiopia, Christianity or Islam could be the ruling religion but the local population would keep on practicing the indigenous religion just as before. Hausa kingdoms and Bornu are also depicted as Muslim from the start, although the vast majority of the population was still animist. Same thing with the Swahili coast.
- territorial administration/political decay. There was constant fracturing and replacement of states in this period of African history, but states like Funj or Great Fulo are quite easy to overcome. There needs to be a harsher value of decline in certain states. Also, African empires frequently actually worked more like systems of vassalage/tribute. I would recommend that in addition to separatist revolts, a province automatically becomes an independent city-state if the autonomy gets too high, especially for the Oyo, Benin and Kilwa empires. European powers frequently supported the independence of local kingdoms. To prevent unrealistic blobbing, there should also be minuses for expanding too many areas away within Africa, sort of like overextension but lasting longer.
- There is insufficient importance given to the dimension of environment. Cavalry straight up does not work in jungle regions. Sahel kingdoms were unable to hold much of the forest regions, and vice versa. Europeans generally weren't able to effectively control more than very small areas around coastal or river trading posts until the late 1800s due to a lack of adequate technology. There needs to be a way for Europeans (and Africans) to have trading posts or settlements in provinces that belong to African kingdoms, that can serve as a means to trading power or supply of slaves, or eventually real conquest. I believe this also would make the colonization of the Americas a lot more realistic.
- Several historical events that dramatically alter the cultural or political landscape are missing. Specifically the Fulani jihads (which installed like ten new states and islamized the entire Sahel), several migrations/invasions that come with the decline of Mali or Songhai which introduced states like Gwiriko and Kong, Mfecane which also results in several new states across Southern Africa, and the Great Boer Trek, Arab migrations into Nubia which weakened Christian Alodia, the cultural shift of Nubia to an Arabic-speaking country, the Mahdist war which Islamized Sudan as a way to revolt against Ottoman overlords, the Islamization of several parts of West Africa as a response to European colonization. The Oromo migrations are there but do nothing to challenge/erode the kingdoms they go through, and half of the time they end up in Somalia which makes no sense. I know a lot of these happened after 1821, but I would really appreciate them being able to trigger if the conditions are met.
- Possibly the biggest thing missing of all, the slave trade. There are no mechanics and a painful lack of events. The Atlantic slave trade was the reason behind the formation of half of the states I listed in my first point. They constantly had to raid neighboring territories or kingdoms for slaves. In the Sahel, this had a religious element as it was justified to enslave infidels but not Muslims. Plus, in the new world there are never any slave revolts, no maroons, and no accounting for the religion or culture of the slave population. Haiti is represented as a Western country. The Indian Ocean slave trade also should be more present. In the late 18th century, it caused several new states to arise in the African interior and expanded the reach of Islam. I think there should be a new mechanic for demand for slaves, and individual provinces can be temporarily depleted of slaves much like gold, forcing kingdoms to look for alternative sources in order to keep up their income/prestige/keep autonomy low. Slave raids would trigger devastation.
- Development is insulting. This one pretty much applies to everywhere outside of Europe, although it's somewhat understandable for the Americas because of the huge population decimations after contact. Oyo was a city with an estimated 60,000 people in 1500, yet it is represented with 7 development. This has to be adjusted. Some more centers of trade could probably be added as well.
If the devs would rework this stuff, I think Africa would be much more of an interesting continent. At present, playing an African country usually feels like going through the motions, when I could be playing a European or Asian country with way more immersion and flavor.
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