My suggestions:
1. New province of “Lille” created corresponding to what is known as “French Flanders”. Trade goods – cloth, culture – Flemish.
2. Cloth production province modifiers added in Ghent and Bruges provinces.
3. Addition of Scheldt river Estuary in Antwerp
4. Addition of Severn river Estuary in Bristol
5. No trade center in Holland province in game start year 1444. Trade center moved from Antwerp to Holland province by event when The Netherlands are formed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Antwerp
6. Province of East Frisia moved to Lubeck trade node or Ems river estuary modifier removed.
7. Culture in Breda province must be exactly the same as in Brabant – Flemish (?).
These are small and easy to implement changes and are exactly what I’m missing from history point of view in Low Countries.
Lets take a look at big picture of Flanders first:
And then to Scheldt river basin region:
And nice overview on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_urban_centers_in_the_Low_Countries
1. New province of “Lille” created corresponding to what is known as “French Flanders”. Trade goods – cloth, culture – Flemish.
2. Cloth production province modifiers added in Ghent and Bruges provinces.
3. Addition of Scheldt river Estuary in Antwerp
4. Addition of Severn river Estuary in Bristol
5. No trade center in Holland province in game start year 1444. Trade center moved from Antwerp to Holland province by event when The Netherlands are formed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Antwerp
6. Province of East Frisia moved to Lubeck trade node or Ems river estuary modifier removed.
7. Culture in Breda province must be exactly the same as in Brabant – Flemish (?).
These are small and easy to implement changes and are exactly what I’m missing from history point of view in Low Countries.
Lets take a look at big picture of Flanders first:
This is County of Flanders and it looks very similar to the one we see in game as Vlaanderen & Ghent provinces. It includes big part of modern Nord department of France with Lille, Dunkirk cities and etc.
Then I will group Low Countries to 4 historical regions – Flanders, Wallonia (including Hainaut), Brabant & Netherlands (Northern provinces):
Flanders – 2 provinces (Ghent & Vlaanderen)
Wallonia – 5 provinces (Hainaut, Cambray, Namur, Liege & Luxembourg)
Brabant – 5 provinces (Brabant, Antwerp, Breda, Loon & Limburg)
Netherlands – 5 provinces (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelre & Friesland)
Development these regions have in game now:
Flanders – 34
Wallonia – 73
Brabant – 87
Netherlands – 88
282 development in total.
Historical population in year 1820 covering exact province borders of those regions in EUIV game:
Flanders – 1.75 million (with 600k included from Nord department of France)
Wallonia – 1.7 million (including Luxembourg & 300k from Nord department of France for Hainaut/Cambray)
Brabant – 1.4 million
Netherlands – 1.9 million
If I distribute these 282 development acc. census of 1820 I get:
Flanders – 73 development (compared to actual 34)
Wallonia – 71 development (compared to actual 73)
Brabant – 59 development (compared to actual 87)
Netherlands – 79 development (compared to actual 88)
Say I exclude French lands and count only modern borders of Low Countries, I still get:
Flanders – 53 development (compared to actual 34)
Wallonia – 65 development (compared to actual 61, this counted without Cambray now)
Brabant – 65 development (compared to actual 87)
Netherlands – 88 development (compared to actual 88)
I hope it’s obvious that Flanders is missing development at expense of Brabant lands, if we assume population as one of key factors for development. And these are numbers of year 1820, while history suggests Flanders position to be even more dominant in year 1444 with Flanders being economic center of Burgundy and etc etc. It’s exactly this region of Low Countries in essence which is famous for textile production & trade. And I won’t be much wrong stating that Flanders was heartland of wealth and most urbanized region in Low Countries for big part of EUIV timeline. All it lost compared to middle ages is Brugge as leading trade center (because of silting of river Zwin), but Flanders urban cities never collapsed and famous cloth production continued throughout all centuries.
So what I want to point out is that importance of Flanders is not reflected in EUIV nearly at all. Say Vlaanderen province with 15 development is even below average province in Low Countries, yet with French lands included it would be by far the most populous and wealthy province ("bigger" even than Holland province). So boost of development (at expense of Brabant provinces) would be good idea, but I would do it in different way. I would go as far as splitting Vlaanderen into 2 provinces which would represent historical moment when part of Flanders was occupied by French. Lille itself starts the game as one of 3 capitals of Burgundy and ends the game as one of biggest cities in France. Doesn't it really deserve province?
And on top of this I would do one more boost for Flanders area – placing provincial cloth production modifiers in Bruges & Ghent. I see more and more such modifiers added with every update, and there are no other provinces across the world which would deserve cloth production modifiers more than these 2 flemish provinces.
Then I will group Low Countries to 4 historical regions – Flanders, Wallonia (including Hainaut), Brabant & Netherlands (Northern provinces):
Flanders – 2 provinces (Ghent & Vlaanderen)
Wallonia – 5 provinces (Hainaut, Cambray, Namur, Liege & Luxembourg)
Brabant – 5 provinces (Brabant, Antwerp, Breda, Loon & Limburg)
Netherlands – 5 provinces (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelre & Friesland)
Development these regions have in game now:
Flanders – 34
Wallonia – 73
Brabant – 87
Netherlands – 88
282 development in total.
Historical population in year 1820 covering exact province borders of those regions in EUIV game:
Flanders – 1.75 million (with 600k included from Nord department of France)
Wallonia – 1.7 million (including Luxembourg & 300k from Nord department of France for Hainaut/Cambray)
Brabant – 1.4 million
Netherlands – 1.9 million
If I distribute these 282 development acc. census of 1820 I get:
Flanders – 73 development (compared to actual 34)
Wallonia – 71 development (compared to actual 73)
Brabant – 59 development (compared to actual 87)
Netherlands – 79 development (compared to actual 88)
Say I exclude French lands and count only modern borders of Low Countries, I still get:
Flanders – 53 development (compared to actual 34)
Wallonia – 65 development (compared to actual 61, this counted without Cambray now)
Brabant – 65 development (compared to actual 87)
Netherlands – 88 development (compared to actual 88)
I hope it’s obvious that Flanders is missing development at expense of Brabant lands, if we assume population as one of key factors for development. And these are numbers of year 1820, while history suggests Flanders position to be even more dominant in year 1444 with Flanders being economic center of Burgundy and etc etc. It’s exactly this region of Low Countries in essence which is famous for textile production & trade. And I won’t be much wrong stating that Flanders was heartland of wealth and most urbanized region in Low Countries for big part of EUIV timeline. All it lost compared to middle ages is Brugge as leading trade center (because of silting of river Zwin), but Flanders urban cities never collapsed and famous cloth production continued throughout all centuries.
So what I want to point out is that importance of Flanders is not reflected in EUIV nearly at all. Say Vlaanderen province with 15 development is even below average province in Low Countries, yet with French lands included it would be by far the most populous and wealthy province ("bigger" even than Holland province). So boost of development (at expense of Brabant provinces) would be good idea, but I would do it in different way. I would go as far as splitting Vlaanderen into 2 provinces which would represent historical moment when part of Flanders was occupied by French. Lille itself starts the game as one of 3 capitals of Burgundy and ends the game as one of biggest cities in France. Doesn't it really deserve province?
And on top of this I would do one more boost for Flanders area – placing provincial cloth production modifiers in Bruges & Ghent. I see more and more such modifiers added with every update, and there are no other provinces across the world which would deserve cloth production modifiers more than these 2 flemish provinces.
And then to Scheldt river basin region:
Probably most of us know what is Antwerp and what part it played in history of EUIV timeline. But probably not all of us know how and why it became one of the greatest ports & commercial centers. And answer is simple – Scheldt river.
Scheldt river might be not the longest one, but it covers most of so called Southern Netherlands – richest area in northern Europe. And so Antwerp was trade hub for area represented by Arras, Vlaanderen, Ghent, Antwerp, Brabant, Hainaut & Cambray provinces in EUIV. If we have Thames, Ems or Weser rivers with estuary modifiers in EUIV, then Scheldt river easily deserves one as well. And I would think that significance of Antwerp with just trade center modifier is also not presented well enough – river estuary + trade center modifiers would definitely be more accurate. At least for period until The Netherlands were formed, and that’s why I propose event which moves trade center from Antwerp to Amsterdam.
Then I don’t won’t to go on England stuff too much, but Severn river with Englands 2nd most important port Bristol (for majority of EUIV timeline) also deserves spotlight.
With all this implemented we would have very nice balance in English Channel trade node - 2 river estuary modifiers and 1 trade center in England, 2 estuary modifiers and 1 trade center in Low Countries and 1 river estuary in France.
NOTE: province of East Frisia with Ems estuary must be moved to Lubeck trade node because it’s not on English Channel at all and hasn’t anything to do with trade history of English channel. Or at very least Ems estuary should be removed to make this province insignificant for trade.
Scheldt river might be not the longest one, but it covers most of so called Southern Netherlands – richest area in northern Europe. And so Antwerp was trade hub for area represented by Arras, Vlaanderen, Ghent, Antwerp, Brabant, Hainaut & Cambray provinces in EUIV. If we have Thames, Ems or Weser rivers with estuary modifiers in EUIV, then Scheldt river easily deserves one as well. And I would think that significance of Antwerp with just trade center modifier is also not presented well enough – river estuary + trade center modifiers would definitely be more accurate. At least for period until The Netherlands were formed, and that’s why I propose event which moves trade center from Antwerp to Amsterdam.
Then I don’t won’t to go on England stuff too much, but Severn river with Englands 2nd most important port Bristol (for majority of EUIV timeline) also deserves spotlight.
With all this implemented we would have very nice balance in English Channel trade node - 2 river estuary modifiers and 1 trade center in England, 2 estuary modifiers and 1 trade center in Low Countries and 1 river estuary in France.
NOTE: province of East Frisia with Ems estuary must be moved to Lubeck trade node because it’s not on English Channel at all and hasn’t anything to do with trade history of English channel. Or at very least Ems estuary should be removed to make this province insignificant for trade.
And nice overview on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_urban_centers_in_the_Low_Countries
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