So I briefly looked around and haven't really seen anyone mention the seemingly arbitrary placement of some of the Inland sea tiles. While there are some odd cutoffs that appear out of place (I'm thinking of the Skagerrak area, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Gulf of Aden), there are also some areas that appear painfully neglected - namely the South China Sea, the Timor Sea, the Banda Sea, the Java Sea, the Sulu Sea, and the Arafura Sea. As far as I can tell, the design decision to include the Japanese Islands but exclude much of the waters of modern Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam seems somewhat arbitrary.
Anyway, I decided to quickly put together a map of where I think the Inland Seas should actually be. Some of the changes are simply small little adjustments to "feel better" (one additional sea province for the Baltic sea, the splitting of one province for the Mediterranean Sea, and a province and a half to the Red Sea) while others are more to "make more sense"/balance out naval combat (South-East Asia and the Caribbean). The map can be found here. Light teal represents current provinces that provide Inner Sea Bonuses, the Dark teal represents provinces I think could benefit from having Inner Sea bonuses, and the Green represents provinces that could be split, with one part providing Inner sea bonuses.
In detail changes/thoughts, starting from the far North-West and moving East and South. I may also refer to this sea depth map.
Hudson Bay: This area is fairly landlocked and shallow. While there isn't much combat here and it is cold water, it could be considered an inner sea. The area is, however, fairly isolated, so it may be better to ignore.
Gulf of Saint Lawrence: Another area that is reasonably shallow and reasonably landlocked. This area is also fairly isolated and small in provinces, so possibly also easy to ignore.
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea: This area is fairly large, full of warm water, and has lots of land that may be contested by multiple parties. While some areas of this area are fairly deep (relative to the Baltic Sea and parts of the South China Sea), the area has many natives that might want to resist the advances of Portugal/Spain. Without hovering over the provinces, a player might assume the waters are inner sea based their setup. It may also be good to provide some additional tools to American natives to resist Europeans. The provinces marked as Green could be cut along the middle of the Islands with the inner portion being inland sea, something that is done in parts of Japan and with Taiwan.
Irish Sea: This is another fairly isolated area that is surrounded by a good bit of land (also fairly shallow water). Additionally, the area is heavily contested by the Irish who need to survive the British conquest to get much of anything done. Enabling this area as inner sea might give a well positioned navy a chance to delay the British navy for a short while to wait for allied reinforcements (the Irish nations, being small and relatively poor in base tax, can build up a small navy that doesn't bankrupt them with gallies).
The English Channel: Somewhat of an offhand thought. The distance between Great Britain and Normandy/Brittany is fairly small here, somewhat shallow, and protected from much of the ocean. On the other hand, these nations are ones that probably should be more balanced with Blue water fleets rather than White water ones. I don't think this area should be included, especially because few of the nations here would need gallies to provide legitimate navies and is fairly isolated, but I thought I'd include it anyway.
Strait of Gibraltar: This area is one I always found myself annoyed with when I played a lot as Morocco; a reasonable portion of my fleet would be gallies in the early game to use against my neighbors, but the Strait of Gibraltar would always be one province I would have to remind myself not to move into. It would make more immediate sense to split this province slightly, taking the Eastern portion and merging it into the next province. With that change, it's much quicker and easier to remember where the inner sea bonuses for this region begin and end. The difference is somewhere between 2 and 4 land provinces (and not even an actual strait crossing!!).
Skagerrak: Another area along the lines of the Strait of Gibraltar; the area is surrounded by land just like much of the provinces of the Baltic Sea, but doesn't have any inner sea bonuses. Making this an inner sea might help empower Norway somewhat as there capital is linked to this province, possibly enabling them to resist a free Swedish navy. All that aside, it seems to make a little more sense to end the bonuses here rather than in the province just before it.
Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea: Another area similar to Skagerrak that could be extended to include a few more provinces that "feel" like they should belong, looking at the large amount of land surrounding it. The second province marked is green because I don't think bonuses should extend much beyond the actual horn of Africa. Small change, and one that I don't think would change too much outside of the feeling of the game.
The Caspian Sea: This one isn't serious at all, since the Caspian Sea sees very little play outside of acting as a barrier. There are a lot of provinces here, however, that could be contested, so might add some measure of gameplay. It would mean adding an area where ships could only play around in and never get out, so... probably not worth it. Thought I should mention it anyway since it is a pretty large sea.
South-East Asia Area: I'll just lump this entire area into one, even though there are some geological differences between the various seas. This area is a very large and very populace area with quite a few states vying for control, especially versus colonizing powers such as Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. The Siam and Malacca areas are both warm, shallow water areas that just almost scream to the player: Gallies! As it stands at the moment, gallies are only useful for a player in this region against the Ming and the various Chinese states that pop up if and when the Ming collapse. Against the colonizing powers of the West, however, these ships become fairly useless necessitating a switch to heavier ships to counter these opponents. In many parts of this area, the water appears to be much shallower than in the Mediterranean Sea. Areas marked in green can be cut up along the lines of the outer islands, just as Japanese islands are (and as I suggested within the Caribbean).
Coast of North-Eastern Japan: The large sea region here has always proved be fairly irritating for Japanese nations, often causing ships to dock for a month for repairs as this one province is not only the only province that is not an inner sea, but is also an open sea tile (I don't have the game open this second, but I'm pretty sure this is the case). This doesn't make much sense as the outer coast of the Southern half of the main island is an inner sea. This province needs to be reduced in size so it no longer cuts through a large swath of Japanese water without an apparent reason.
Anyway, I decided to quickly put together a map of where I think the Inland Seas should actually be. Some of the changes are simply small little adjustments to "feel better" (one additional sea province for the Baltic sea, the splitting of one province for the Mediterranean Sea, and a province and a half to the Red Sea) while others are more to "make more sense"/balance out naval combat (South-East Asia and the Caribbean). The map can be found here. Light teal represents current provinces that provide Inner Sea Bonuses, the Dark teal represents provinces I think could benefit from having Inner Sea bonuses, and the Green represents provinces that could be split, with one part providing Inner sea bonuses.
In detail changes/thoughts, starting from the far North-West and moving East and South. I may also refer to this sea depth map.
Detailed Changes
Gulf of California: Not an important change, since it is just one province and rarely sees much combat. Never the less, it is still an area that is fairly tight and protected form the ocean. Safe to ignore.Hudson Bay: This area is fairly landlocked and shallow. While there isn't much combat here and it is cold water, it could be considered an inner sea. The area is, however, fairly isolated, so it may be better to ignore.
Gulf of Saint Lawrence: Another area that is reasonably shallow and reasonably landlocked. This area is also fairly isolated and small in provinces, so possibly also easy to ignore.
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea: This area is fairly large, full of warm water, and has lots of land that may be contested by multiple parties. While some areas of this area are fairly deep (relative to the Baltic Sea and parts of the South China Sea), the area has many natives that might want to resist the advances of Portugal/Spain. Without hovering over the provinces, a player might assume the waters are inner sea based their setup. It may also be good to provide some additional tools to American natives to resist Europeans. The provinces marked as Green could be cut along the middle of the Islands with the inner portion being inland sea, something that is done in parts of Japan and with Taiwan.
Irish Sea: This is another fairly isolated area that is surrounded by a good bit of land (also fairly shallow water). Additionally, the area is heavily contested by the Irish who need to survive the British conquest to get much of anything done. Enabling this area as inner sea might give a well positioned navy a chance to delay the British navy for a short while to wait for allied reinforcements (the Irish nations, being small and relatively poor in base tax, can build up a small navy that doesn't bankrupt them with gallies).
The English Channel: Somewhat of an offhand thought. The distance between Great Britain and Normandy/Brittany is fairly small here, somewhat shallow, and protected from much of the ocean. On the other hand, these nations are ones that probably should be more balanced with Blue water fleets rather than White water ones. I don't think this area should be included, especially because few of the nations here would need gallies to provide legitimate navies and is fairly isolated, but I thought I'd include it anyway.
Strait of Gibraltar: This area is one I always found myself annoyed with when I played a lot as Morocco; a reasonable portion of my fleet would be gallies in the early game to use against my neighbors, but the Strait of Gibraltar would always be one province I would have to remind myself not to move into. It would make more immediate sense to split this province slightly, taking the Eastern portion and merging it into the next province. With that change, it's much quicker and easier to remember where the inner sea bonuses for this region begin and end. The difference is somewhere between 2 and 4 land provinces (and not even an actual strait crossing!!).
Skagerrak: Another area along the lines of the Strait of Gibraltar; the area is surrounded by land just like much of the provinces of the Baltic Sea, but doesn't have any inner sea bonuses. Making this an inner sea might help empower Norway somewhat as there capital is linked to this province, possibly enabling them to resist a free Swedish navy. All that aside, it seems to make a little more sense to end the bonuses here rather than in the province just before it.
Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea: Another area similar to Skagerrak that could be extended to include a few more provinces that "feel" like they should belong, looking at the large amount of land surrounding it. The second province marked is green because I don't think bonuses should extend much beyond the actual horn of Africa. Small change, and one that I don't think would change too much outside of the feeling of the game.
The Caspian Sea: This one isn't serious at all, since the Caspian Sea sees very little play outside of acting as a barrier. There are a lot of provinces here, however, that could be contested, so might add some measure of gameplay. It would mean adding an area where ships could only play around in and never get out, so... probably not worth it. Thought I should mention it anyway since it is a pretty large sea.
South-East Asia Area: I'll just lump this entire area into one, even though there are some geological differences between the various seas. This area is a very large and very populace area with quite a few states vying for control, especially versus colonizing powers such as Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. The Siam and Malacca areas are both warm, shallow water areas that just almost scream to the player: Gallies! As it stands at the moment, gallies are only useful for a player in this region against the Ming and the various Chinese states that pop up if and when the Ming collapse. Against the colonizing powers of the West, however, these ships become fairly useless necessitating a switch to heavier ships to counter these opponents. In many parts of this area, the water appears to be much shallower than in the Mediterranean Sea. Areas marked in green can be cut up along the lines of the outer islands, just as Japanese islands are (and as I suggested within the Caribbean).
Coast of North-Eastern Japan: The large sea region here has always proved be fairly irritating for Japanese nations, often causing ships to dock for a month for repairs as this one province is not only the only province that is not an inner sea, but is also an open sea tile (I don't have the game open this second, but I'm pretty sure this is the case). This doesn't make much sense as the outer coast of the Southern half of the main island is an inner sea. This province needs to be reduced in size so it no longer cuts through a large swath of Japanese water without an apparent reason.
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