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CKIII Dev Diary #26 - Map Scope

Salutations!

As a continuation from last week, I will be talking about the scope of the map and, perhaps more importantly, showing you how it all actually looks. Get ready for a very screenshot heavy DD!

Europe
Europe has been reworked from the ground up. We made sure to give all of Europe proper attention when painting baronies and counties. It was important for us to make sure we have a good and consistent quality level across the map. I’m sure you’ll find eastern Europe in particular fleshed out with a lot more detail than what you may be used to in CK2.

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Since we’ve already shown bits and pieces of Europe in screenshots and videos, let’s have a look at a few specific locations, and what special buildings they have available. Starting with France, it felt like an obvious choice to include Notre-Dame, one of the most recognizable cathedrals of the time period.

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Next up, Iberia. Featuring two major rivers, plenty of hills and a few special buildings. In the county of Granada you’ll find Alhambra. While merely an old ruin at game start, it can be upgraded to offer some of the highest fortifications in the game.

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Speaking of special buildings. The city of the world’s desire, features not one, but two, special buildings. This makes Constantinople a very spectacular holding, and if that isn’t enough, it also has the highest development level in the game.

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Before moving on, I’ll just leave this culture screenshot right here:

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The Middle East
The Middle East has seen the same level of attention and rework as Europe, with some particular attention spent on updating history across the region. For example, the Seljuks control a vast empire in 1066, properly representing their historical borders. They have a plethora of different cultures as their subjects and may fall apart if not careful.

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Development in the region is above your average starting levels. Baghdad, for example, starts out with one of the highest levels of development in the game — bested only by a few other locations such as Constantinople! Baghdad also has one of the single most impressive special buildings available, the House of Wisdom.

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Africa
Africa has seen some of the greatest additions to the map. No longer cut in half, the Sub-Saharan kingdoms have plenty of space to expand in as we have included the entire Nigerian coast.

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We have a total of five different pagan faiths to play as, giving you plenty of different options. A solid first pick would be Benin, within the Niger delta. They start off with a decent development level and access to a special building: The massive construction that is the Walls of Benin.

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Some cultures will start with the ability to sail major rivers, allowing them to use the Niger to quickly ferry troops back and forth. The coast on the other hand, will be open for everyone to use. You won’t be able to sail around the African coast to reach Europe however, or vice versa. That route is blocked by impassable sea, since it was often difficult, if not impossible, to sail along the western coast due to storms and rough seas. No viking raids in Africa, I’m afraid!

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Let’s not forget the Horn of Africa. Expanded to include Mogadishu, the area offers more space to play in, with christian, muslim, jewish, and pagan rulers all wanting a piece of each other.

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Finally, let's mention Egypt. A rich area that has a lot of floodplains, good development levels, and even a couple of special buildings. All encompassed by the Nile, a major river with green and lush vegetation.

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The Far East
Looking east, the map has been expanded to include the entirety of Tibet, along with a small extension of Mongolia, accompanied by a whole set of new cultures and faiths!

Starting with Tibet, the area has a whole bunch of independent realms since the Tibetan Empire is long gone by the time of our two start dates. There’s a wide range of rulers of different faiths and cultures spread out across the plateau. The two most prominent faiths being Bön and Nangchos, a Buddhist faith syncretized with different Tibetan beliefs and practices.

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Turning to Mongolia, there is a powerhouse present in both bookmarks. In 867, you have the Kirghiz Khanate, and Great Liao in 1066. Counties and provinces include Karakorum and the entire area surrounding lake Baikal.

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Expanding Tibet and Mongolia left us with a small empty space in the south, and we really couldn’t have that, now could we? So we went ahead and filled out Myanmar (or Burma) down to the Gulf of Martaban with brand new baronies and counties. Which gives you two rather interesting starting options. In 1066, you’ll be able to play as king Anawrahta of the Pagan Kingdom. Starting shortly after his conquest of the Mon kingdoms to the south, most of the area will already be under his control, giving you a great opportunity to push into India! Alternatively you can start as Pagan in 867, yet a small and upstarting kingdom, allowing you to play with the unique faith of Ari Buddhism.

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I’ll wrap it up here. Otherwise I’ll end up posting screenshots all day. Do you think I missed an important area somewhere? Let me know and maybe, just maybe, I’ll see if I can’t share some more.
 
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These board game tokens that are supposed to be holdings still displease the heck out of me.
The rest does look great though!
 
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Just north of the Great Liao (in Mongolia), there is a place called "Shityy" Lol.
man, Hyped to invade the West with Great Liao
 
I love the map. I already said that the last time. But it shows some cool stuff.

It seems some provinces in some regions have been fused in comparison to the final version of CK2, but that is in certain regions ok (better one county with three baronies than two with one I say in this regard, especially looking at the Novgorod-Region where everything aside of Novgorod was rather limited). But there are so many more things that are finally in. There is no longer a cut off Somalia and same goes for the rest of Africa.

And the small vacuum between Mongolia and Myamar seems interesting. I assume it will be solved in the future (not with the release, but later).
 
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This is an awesome dev diary to begin with... but sadly it didn't cover a few important regions:
Carpathian basin
Scandinavia
Northern Germany
Aquitaine
Nubia etc.
A screenshot that shows all the world that is represented could have been awesome too (expecially with different mapmodes).
 
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I have to ask, which culture is "Cisalpine" supposed to represent? The term hasn't been used for centuries in Italy by the time of the game to describe Northern Italians.
 
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The map look very impressive !

The big chunks of impassable mountain in the alps is a bit strange, however.
Good bye Valais :(.
Some place in royal Burgundy seem to need a bit of improvement (like bi cultural Savoy, Vaud in Bern county or Aosta and Bresse misplacement) imho.

But the expansion of the map in the south is great, making sub-saharian africa more playable (and less like a dead end).
 
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what's the placeholder for china ? There must be a big gap between mongolia and indochina
No need for a placeholder, I think. The game apparantly will cover Tibet and other parts for modern China.

I would like to know if the map will go Northwest to Greenland, it would be fun to settle it as a viking. Maybe also Vinland (Northamerica)? This options occured through events in CK2, I wonder if we would have them in CK3 :)
 
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I'll just say I'm rather disappointed Africa got so much attention for 1066, but China and Japan as prominent feudal states of the world did not.

EDIT: for those giving me the red X, I don't mind Africa got attention, the lack of East Asia is what I'm complaining about.

Oh don't worry, that's what I'm respectfully disagreeing with you about
 
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@Servancour
However I see the Keban and Karakaya dam lakes have been added around around Kharpert. These are obviously modern constructions and were not present at the time.
Duly noted. I'll see if we can get that fixed.

Will buildings like the Pyramids and the Hagia Sophia get graphical models on the map like they have in CK2?

Is there a graphical distinction between buildings of different cultures on the map? I honestly can't really see any.

Some special buildings will be visible on the map. Both the Pyramids and the Hagia Sophia are examples of those. We haven't added them all of them to the map just yet.

There is a difference, yes. It might be difficult to tell from the zoom level I used for most of the screenshots though. They won't look the same in India as in Europe for example.
 
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A question I wasn’t in time to ask on the Heresy dev diary; will heresies still spawn regardless of anachronisms? I always found it annoying when Lollards would take over in the 900’s, despite Lollardy being founded in 1381.
 
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I remembered from a previous screenshot of Southern Italy that both Amalfi and Trapani seemed to have disappeared at county level. Can you confirm, and in case give us the reasoning behind this demotion?
 
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This looks pretty cool im quite surprised with the increase attention to Africa however i was wondering why include Mongolia , Tibet and parts of China but not China as a whole? Its kinda strange because i rather not have Jade Dragon Part 2 Electric Boogaloo but a good DD nonetheless still waiting on that Secret Society DD
 
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