• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

CK2 Dev Diary #95: Amending Africa

Greetings!

We’ve shown you plenty of map changes already, including updates to Russia, Scandinavia, and most recently Italy and the Alps. But surely, we couldn’t do all of these wonderful updates without looking at the continent that deserves it the most, right?

So let’s have a look at Africa.

You read that right. Africa is finally getting the love and attention it deserves! Northern Africa and Mali have long needed an update. Where counties resembled squares and rectangles more than anything else. But no more!

Let’s start with the northern kingdoms. The kingdoms themselves remain the same. Only Mauretania has been renamed to Maghreb, and has along with the kingdom of Africa been placed in the Empire of Maghreb. Mainly to break down the very large Arabian Empire slightly. On the county level, every single county has been repainted in order to place them where they should be and give the borders a much more natural feeling.

01_updated_maghreb.png


02_updated_k_africa.png


All in all, the new provinces and additional holding slots will make North Africa stronger than before. But to offer additional protection against aggressive Holy Wars from the major powers of Europe, we’ve increased the number of sea zones slightly in the mediterranean. The stronger realms of central Europe will now have to first conquer their way down to the coast of Iberia, Southern Italy, or go through Mallorca or Sardinia, before they will be able to reach the shores of Africa. This should give the realms in Africa some time before the Europeans attempt to make their way onto the continent.

As for Mali. The area has about twice the number of provinces compared to what they had before. This in turn allows for more than just the lonely kingdom of Mali to exist, which has been split into the three kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay. One kingdom for each of the major powers that inhabited the area during the timeframe of the game. They’ll all still be part of the empire of Mali, which is finally no longer the only empire with a single De Jure kingdom.

03_updated_mali.png


Here is an overview of the De Jure kingdoms:

04_west_african_kingdoms.png


Updating the existing parts of the map is not the only thing we’ve done for Africa however. Kanem-Bornu and the region around lake Chad is now on the map as well! The area consists of the two kingdoms Hausaland and Kanem. These consist of three and four duchies respectively and together form the empire of Kanem-Bornu. So not only do we get new rulers and titles to play with, but it allows both east and west to move across the continent without always having to expand north and, usually, through a Muslim blob that more often than not forms in Northern Africa and Arabia. Instead, you’ll be able to cross Africa through Ghana/Mali in the west, through the Sahara and the Fezzan corridor in the center, and finally through Wadai and Abyssinia in the east.

05_kanem_bornu.png


Let’s not stop there though.

To make Africa more distinct from other regions, a second trade route has been added to the game; the Trans-Saharan Trade Route.

06_trade_route.png


It requires either Horse Lords or Jade Dragon to be unlocked and functions very much like the updated Silk Road from 2.8. There is however, a certain twist to it. The base value of the trade route is very low. Granting next to no bonuses to the counties it passes through. What you need to do in order to benefit from it, is to control certain locations along the trade route and construct unique production buildings in established trade posts. To be clear though, these are merely special buildings within the trade posts just like you would upgrade a trade post on the Silk Road. These buildings represent some of the trade goods that historically had a large impact on the trade in the region. The most important of these will be the Gold Mines.

08_gold_mine.png


There are two Gold Mines located on the map, both of them in the kingdom of Mali. The Gold Mines will allow Mali to amass great wealth. Just like they did historically. If you would prefer to do it differently and take the mines from them, conquering Africa will very much be worth the effort. Not only will Gold Mines greatly increase the value of the Trans-Saharan trade, it will also grant the owner a large bonus to the county’s income. There will also be some flavour events that can trigger for anyone owning them.

Remember that what I’ve shown here is still a work in progress and things may be subject to change. Now, let’s wrap up the dev diary with some smaller additions.

We’ve renamed the West African religion to simply “African”, as to not exclude the newly added region around lake Chad, and updated the Patron Deities accordingly. The religion will also get a new set of shields for displaying the CoAs on the map.

african_shields.jpg


I hope that you look forward to these changes and the overall improvements for Africa!
 
Last edited:
  • 1Love
Reactions:
So I'm an idiot but where are most African Americans from originally and is it on the (new) game map?
Mostly Southwest Africa. Largely the coastal regions between what is today Senegal to Guinea. Because the in-game map doesn't stretch to the coast, a lot of this region isn't represented in game.

That said, your best bet might be playing in the southern or western portion of the Kingdom of Mali. Of all the regions in the game, modern day African Americans would most likely be able to trace their ancestry to those regions. Likewise, if you find any regions in the new update that have Yoruba culture, those would also be good. Genetic studies have suggested that around 50% of the overall ancestry of African Americans can be traced back to the Yoruba peoples of the region, with Mande (which already exists in the game) forming a smaller proportion.

Hope that helps with what you were looking for.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_history#African_origins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans#Genetics
 
I have a better idea; why don't you mind your own business? Nothing I said broke the rules here, nor did I suggest anything that did.

Lots of people play where their ancestors are from. I don't see why I can't do the same.

You didn't break rules, but opened a potentialy racist debate, which I warned against, that's all.

You can play where your ancestors came from. I would only assume that if you are really interested in your ancestors, you would know where they came from...and would not need to ask here. But can I judge you for not knowing it? Sure not.

So since Ireally dislike this your confrontational tone... so if it helps, let's just skip it, ok?

This map expansion into Africa is really awesome and I'm glad our community helped to make it this good...

And if you want to help with African history, it is indeed very interesting and I can help you... but preferably elswhere ;)
 
You didn't break rules, but opened a potentialy racist debate, which I warned against, that's all.

You can play where your ancestors came from. I would only assume that if you are really interested in your ancestors, you would know where they came from...and would not need to ask here. But can I judge you for not knowing it? Sure not.

So since Ireally dislike this your confrontational tone... so if it helps, let's just skip it, ok?

This map expansion into Africa is really awesome and I'm glad our community helped to make it this good...

And if you want to help with African history, it is indeed very interesting and I can help you... but preferably elswhere ;)

First off what you quoted wasn't directed to you. All I replied to you was "it's not relevant to the game, but relevant to me". So from my perspective I wasn't confrontational to you at all, and if it matters I didn't really think you were either. I certainly think the other poster was rude and I responded in kind.

As far as my ancestry is concerned, it's true that in general I've never really cared about it IRL. I really only care because of this game, and since I've noticed a lot of people on this forum know a great deal about history and geography I thought I'd ask. I did do a google search prior to asking and I think the page I went to claimed that most AA's ancestry could be traced to Niger, but from the county maps shown it wasn't really clear to me what would be considered Niger, if it was in the game at all, so that's why I asked the question.

I honestly think you and others are making a bigger deal of this than it needed to be.
 
First off what you quoted wasn't directed to you. All I replied to you was "it's not relevant to the game, but relevant to me". So from my perspective I wasn't confrontational to you at all, and if it matters I didn't really think you were either. I certainly think the other poster was rude and I responded in kind.

As far as my ancestry is concerned, it's true that in general I've never really cared about it IRL. I really only care because of this game, and since I've noticed a lot of people on this forum know a great deal about history and geography I thought I'd ask. I did do a google search prior to asking and I think the page I went to claimed that most AA's ancestry could be traced to Niger, but from the county maps shown it wasn't really clear to me what would be considered Niger, if it was in the game at all, so that's why I asked the question.

I honestly think you and others are making a bigger deal of this than it needed to be.

So here's basically how it is:

"African-American" has two definitions - that of narrowly the African diaspora in the United States, and the wider African Diaspora in the Americas. The latter was enslaved by kingdoms from along the West African coastline from Guinea to Angola, and mostly consists of slightly-more-inland populations like the Twi (Ashanti in particular) and the Congolese.

The diaspora in the United States specifically is a bit more condensed. While I would personally advise African-Americans seeking roots and heritage to look to developments unique to the African-American community, such as Louisiana Voodoo and the Gullah language, there's certainly no harm in going further back to where it began.

The majority of African-American genetic backtracing connects the community to the Yoruba people of Nigeria. This continued until the bitter end, with the last living slave taken to the United States overseas being a Yoruba villager named Oluale Kossola (Cudjoe Lewis) who was kidnapped by Dahomey warriors and shipped to Alabama as part of a bet (the bet being that he would be able to pass through without ever being searched, as the transatlantic slave trade was illegal by then). Yoruba accounts for over 50% of all African-American ancestry. Also detected was very significant admixture of Malinke (Malians) and, to a small extent in certain individuals, admixture from groups more commonly enslaved outside of the United States.

While the Yoruba are not on the map of Crusader Kings 2, the Malinke are in the form of Mande culture. The historical founders of the Mali Empire, they hold an extremely rich (figuratively and literally) heritage. Nigeria is somewhat on the map as Hausaland, but the Hausa are, despite a thoroughly West-African culture, technically more closely related to Semites, Berbers, Egyptians, and Cushites (like Somalis and Beja) than they are to the Yoruba. Mande and Soninke are the only Niger-Congo cultures on the map, so those would be your go-to. Mande in particular, because of the Malinke.

So: Hausa is geographically closest, Mande is most accurate culturally speaking. From there, it's your choice, friend.
 
Last edited:
Lots of people play where their ancestors are from. I don't see why I can't do the same.
I kind of agree. You do you bro. ;) If you're African American, I think most of our ancestors did indeed come from west Africa. People I've seen do genetic ancestry tests have commonly found they're from Nigeria and Benin (mostly), Togo, Ghana, and Cameroon; and to a lesser extent, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast ) and Sierra Leone. (A minority also came from Congo and south Africa as well too.) Honestly, I would leave other ethnicities (and how similar you think they look) alone. People get offended way too easily.
But on a more CK related noted, I'm personally really looking forward to playing on the newly refurbished west Africa region as Songhai. Or maybe one of the central kingdoms... I'll see on Nov. 13th. It can't get here soon enough lol. :D
 
Im mostly iberian white on the one side of the family but somehow have a smidge of ethiopian, berber, mali and i think bantu (area south of ethiopia) which makes sense as apparently one of our ancestors married a former slave. Theres also english, french, german, maybe turkish, greek... my ancestors are from the entire ck2 map except for arabia and everything east of persia
 
I know there are reaction buttons (and I used them) but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped me out.
 
While the Yoruba are not on the map of Crusader Kings 2, the Malinke are in the form of Mande culture. The historical founders of the Mali Empire, they hold an extremely rich (figuratively and literally) heritage. Nigeria is somewhat on the map as Hausaland, but the Hausa are, despite a thoroughly West-African culture, technically more closely related to Semites, Berbers, Egyptians, and Cushites (like Somalis and Beja) than they are to the Yoruba. Mande and Soninke are the only Niger-Congo cultures on the map, so those would be your go-to. Mande in particular, because of the Malinke.
We have also Nilo-saharan Songhay culture. It is also near to Niger.

Great post. Very interesting reading.
 
There should be several more wastelands on the map.

True, but I consider the eastern Caspian coast the most obvious candidate.
 
Just sometimes. :D

Millennials are so offended. Back in my day we just threw ourselves to the floor tantruming when a negro touched our water fountain.
 
True, but I consider the eastern Caspian coast the most obvious candidate.
Is it so desolated? I was thinking more about Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut in Persia and the Sinai in Egypt.
 
Honestly, I would leave other ethnicities (and how similar you think they look) alone. People get offended way too easily.

just wanted to point out that that wasn't me.