Is Sicily the best duchy in this mod?

[Starki113r]

This single duchy has 8 provinces, with between them 40 holdings worth of territory.

... Isn't that a bit overkill? I've seen the Strategos of Sicily go on to consolidate the entire Theme under his control and manage to fight off the rest of the de jure Kingdom of Sicily by himself. I know it's ahistorical, but if the region really needs to be that developed it really should be split into two duchies.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

Off the top of my head, Diyar Rabia in northern Syria/Iraq could probably rival Sicily.

 

[Starki113r]

Off the top of my head, Diyar Rabia in northern Syria/Iraq could probably rival Sicily.

It's close. 8 provinces, but it has 32 holdings compared to Sicily's 40.

 

[Moarice]

From what I see duchy of Bohemia is stronger, with 42 holdings, but has 1 less province and lacks access to sea.

 

[zijistark]

Then there's the Duchy of Brittany. We'll probably merge two provinces in Brittany, though. Sicily is definitely getting a treatment right now with an Italy overhaul in the works, but the RL County [Duchy] of Sicily was a pretty impressive title, so although it was discussed, I don't think it's losing any provinces[1], and definitely, the island was one duchy in title terms.

[1] It might be losing the center, landlocked "fortress" province. I defer to @theKing1988 and @Aasmul regarding this.

 

[Urzhail64]

Bohemia is pretty good, but then Bohemia was a very rich land at least until the 30 Years War which REALLY devastated Bohemia. (aprox 30% pop loss) with the Swedes throughly looting the land - in fact a good number of Bohemian loot can be found in museums in Sweden - Queen Christina really liked her books. Until the 30 Years War, Bohemia was the gateway between Eastern Europe and Western Europe which made it a very rich land indeed.

"The Thirty Year's War - Europe's Tragedy" by Peter Wilson is a pretty good book if you want to see what it did to Bohemia. It even goes into detail on how the war affected the population, economy and the land during and afterwards.

Referring to the SWMH setup of course.

 

[Moarice]

Then there's the Duchy of Brittany.

Nope. 36 holdings. Still smaller than the two afromentioned duchies.

 

[Ese Khan]

Sicily is definitely getting a treatment right now with an Italy overhaul in the works, but the RL County [Duchy] of Sicily was a pretty impressive title, so although it was discussed, I don't think it's losing any provinces[1], and definitely, the island was one duchy in title terms.

I see one less province in Sicily in the current dev version. There's one less province in the west.

 

[theKing1988]

I see one less province in Sicily in the current dev version. There's one less province in the west.

Indeed. New province setup is based on the Norman divisions on the Island. Geraci, Collesano, Butera, Aderno, Paterno, Modica. Previously there were 7, now there is only 6.

Stay tuned for additions in Tuscany, Romagna and Umbria though

 

[Urzhail64]

Indeed. New province setup is based on the Norman divisions on the Island. Geraci, Collesano, Butera, Aderno, Paterno, Modica. Previously there were 7, now there is only 6.

Stay tuned for additions in Tuscany, Romagna and Umbria though

Looking forward to seeing what you're doing with those provinces.

 

[StarlightTW]

Besides which, if Bohemia was the gateway between the east and west of Europe, Sicily was also centrally located in the Mediterranean and was a very important port. If not for the frequent invasions and economic devastation which plagued it historically, it might have become far more significant than it was, even. So it's not out of the question that if it tends to be stable in someone's game that it would be very powerful. That being said, it's also a juicy target for both Christians and Muslims to fight back and forth over it, and I've seen this happen in my most recent game.

 

[zijistark]

Nobody is actually concerned with a historical duchy [county] having more holding slots than others, right? I mean, even in terms of balance [which is secondary in priority to historical representation], one cannot actually take significant advantage of the 40+ holding slots in Sicily unless they've already "won" -- in which case they deserve it. Admittedly, certain ways of playing in the County of Sicily can feel a bit OP (think: Convert to Merchant Republic), but a truckload of stuff can "feel OP."

I play a lot of HIP multiplayer -- a setting in which one would think they'd be concerned about relative balance with other players moreso than, well, singleplayer, and I couldn't give two shits whether another player has a bigger capital duchy than me. If the game boils-down to maximal exploitation of the capital duchy levy bonus, then a) you probably don't understand how that bonus works very well in realistic terms (even with duchies half that size, it pays far better to balance building "wide" and "tall"), and b) you're probably not playing at an appropriate level of difficulty wherein such details cannot be realistically exploited much vs. the many other, bigger factors affecting your challenge.

I do, of course, understand how big duchies like that-- esp. when united under one independent realm, are a bit annoying with respect to CBs like holy war which will result in a massive gain from 1 or 2 wars.

 

[greyborea]

This Italian overhaul has me hooked!

 

[zijistark]

It's the Italian overhaul combined with rolling back the playable timeline to start at 1043. Maybe the time draws near for a DD / sneak peek?

 

[Zylathas]

It's the Italian overhaul combined with rolling back the playable timeline to start at 1043. Maybe the time draws near for a DD / sneak peek?

Rolling the playable timeline back to start at 1043? Will 867 no longer be supported?

 

[Ese Khan]

Rolling the playable timeline back to start at 1043? Will 867 no longer be supported?

Of course it will still be there. With some tweaks here and there, mostly outside of Europe.