Which province should I choose as the new capital of Morocco?

[RichardOlcese]

The event The Imperial Cities for Morocco gives the opportunity to change your capital. It could stay at Fez, which mountains terrains, and have already a 2 plus 1 fort, and it lies north to the country but not coastal, closer anyway to Castile/Tlemcen. You could move it to Marrakesh, which is basically the same, mountains, fort and non coastal, but it's to the south so it's more protected. Or! You can choose another city (I don't remember if it's Meknes or Rabat) which is dryland, is coastal, and doesn't have a fort. The last option would be better if you plan to develop the province, but it's also a risk because it's less defensible, it starts with no fort, it's to the north of the country, it could be easily blockaded by a maritime power... So, which option would you choose? Fez, Marrakesh, or the coastal province? I guess the alternative here is defensiveness vs. cheaper development.

 

[Sidolowka]

Gharb (Rabat) is great because you most likely have to dev for Printing Press unless for some odd reason Spain or Portugal flips protestant. Your Fez fort also protects it from northern incursions, plus it has a trade centre so dev-ing it rakes in more trade power (Although Safi is a pretty rubbish node; I guess you can drag in more trade from Timbuktu) The only downside is that it produces grain while the other 3 provinces produce cloth/sugar, but by the time you're worrying more about production income and less about a constant existential crisis thanks to your Iberian neighbours you should most likely be able to set up a fair amount of manufactories, so you should be fine.

Meknes and Marrakech are both pretty horrible choices. They're low dev mountain provinces with no real notable benefits. The only threats from the South can be completely shut down by putting a fort in Tuat so it's not like you need more forts in the Atlas Range passes. (In fact, a Sebtah-Hodna-Tuat fort layout can completely shut down any advances towards the Maghreb in the early game bar naval invasions.)

The difference between a level 2 and 3 fort in Fez only really matters in the early game before Castille gets Iberian Wedding. After IW it doesn't matter how high the fort level is, if the Iberians cross the strait you are dead. Unless you're cheesing with straits and stack wipes, in which case it also doesn't matter what level your Fez fort is on as long as it isn't 1.

 

[RichardOlcese]

Gharb (Rabat) is great because you most likely have to dev for Printing Press unless for some odd reason Spain or Portugal flips protestant. Your Fez fort also protects it from northern incursions, plus it has a trade centre so dev-ing it rakes in more trade power (Although Safi is a pretty rubbish node; I guess you can drag in more trade from Timbuktu) The only downside is that it produces grain while the other 3 provinces produce cloth/sugar, but by the time you're worrying more about production income and less about a constant existential crisis thanks to your Iberian neighbours you should most likely be able to set up a fair amount of manufactories, so you should be fine.

Meknes and Marrakech are both pretty horrible choices. They're low dev mountain provinces with no real notable benefits. The only threats from the South can be completely shut down by putting a fort in Tuat so it's not like you need more forts in the Atlas Range passes. (In fact, a Sebtah-Hodna-Tuat fort layout can completely shut down any advances towards the Maghreb in the early game bar naval invasions.)

The difference between a level 2 and 3 fort in Fez only really matters in the early game before Castille gets Iberian Wedding. After IW it doesn't matter how high the fort level is, if the Iberians cross the strait you are dead. Unless you're cheesing with straits and stack wipes, in which case it also doesn't matter what level your Fez fort is on as long as it isn't 1.

Great answer, thank you!