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Tinto Maps #20 - 27th of September 2024 - The Steppes

Hello, and welcome one more week to the weekly encounter for map lovers! This week it’s also directed at horse lovers because we will be looking at the Eurasian Steppes, plus the Urals! So let’s start with the maps without further ado.

Countries:
Countries.jpg

Colored Wastelands.jpg

A glorious, Golden Horde! It is at its power peak, under the reign of Uzbeg Khan, so it's a much more menacing presence for its neighbors. However, it has its some internal issues that need to be managed, as you’ll notice in some of the maps, and in the future when we talk about the content for Hordes. The Golden Horde also heads its own IO, the Tatar Yoke, as shown in a previous Tinto Maps:

Tatar Yoke.jpg

We have already corrected the Ruthenian countries that are under the Horde’s Yoke, although we still have to correct the Russian principalities, which will be done in the corresponding Tinto Maps review. We’re also aware that we need to improve a bit the coloring of the IO, to mark not only the Golden Horde as the overlord of these countries, but also that Muscovy holds the title of the Grand Principality of Vladimir, which makes it the ‘enforcer’ of the Yoke. These fixes are also planned to be done in a few weeks.

Societies of Pops:
Societies of Pops.jpg

Societies of Pops 2.jpg .jpg

A bit up to the north, we have some Societies of Pops! This means that the territory of Western Siberia won’t be empty land, but will be populated by these people, which can be interacted with.

BTW, I’m not showing this week a dynasty map because, well, only the Borgijin dynasty rules over the lands of the Golden Horde, of course!


Locations:
Locations.jpg

Locations Western Siberia.jpg

Locations 3.jpg

Locations 4.jpg

Locations 5.jpg

Tons of locations today… You might notice that the density location is in a progression from west to east, from the most densely settled areas to the less settled ones. You may also notice that we’ve followed a design of ‘settler corridors’ in Western Siberia, setting those parts of the land that were habitable, usually on river valleys.

Provinces:
Provinces.jpg

Provinces 2.jpg


Areas:
Areas.jpg


Terrain:
Climate.jpg

Topography.jpg

Vegetation.jpg

The terrain is interesting here, as there are two main ecological areas. The first is the Steppes, Flatlands with Sparse and Grasslands vegetation, with either Cold Arid or Continental climates. And then we have the Siberian Arctics Forests, which are completely different, of course. On a note, the Urals were set as Hills, as they’re a quite settleable area, but we’ll probably make a review with your feedback, and add some mountains there.

Development:
Development.jpg

The whole region is not very developed, you might notice the difference with India, from last week’s Tinto Maps.

Harbors:
Harbors.jpg

There are some harbors in the Steppe region… In the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, of course! As usual, we’re open to feedback on this matter.

Cultures:
Cultures.jpg

Plenty of cultures! One note: Although we planned to work on the religious and cultural minorities of the region during the summer, we ended up not having enough time to add them. So what we’ll be doing today is showing the rough outline of ‘cultural spheres’, and then we’ll add the minorities during the review of the region. In that sense, feedback is very well received.

With that said the only note that needs to be made in terms of the cultural design is that we divided the Tatar cultural group into some differentiated regional cultures, being Crimean, Mishary, Kazani, and Astrakhani. We’re also aware that some of the cultures, as Mari and Chuvash, might be a bit displaced, as noted in the Russian Tinto Maps, so we’ll review and correct that with your feedback.


Religions:
Religions.jpg

Regarding Religions, the matter is a bit worse, as the big Sunni blob is just because the main religion of the Golden Horde is Islam, after the conversion of Uzbeg Khan, but that’s obviously incorrect. Also, as we have been able to forecast development time on how Pagan divisions will be during this autumn, we will make a comprehensive review of the region as well, to get a good distribution of ‘Shamanist’ Paganism, Tengrism, and Sunni Islam.

Raw Materials:
Raw Materials.jpg

Raw Materials 2.jpg

Raw Materials 3.jpg

Regarding the raw materials, the Steppes have plenty of Livestock and Horses, quite logically, although there are regions with some other goods. And up to the north, the main materials are Lumber and Fur. Apart from that, I want to mention the mineral hub in the Ural Mountains, with plenty of Copper, Iron, Gold, Lead, and Coal. That makes it a very mid and late-game interesting spot, and playing as Muscovy/Russia, I’ll tell you that you definitely want to expand into that region, as it will fulfill some of your material needs by that time.

Markets:
Markets.jpg

Markets! Big region, with lots of markets, although you may noticed that we changed the coloring of the locations that have 0% market access, which is the case in several areas. In any case, the market centers are Kaffa, Astrakhan, Saray-Jük, Kunya Urgench, Samarkand, Almaty, and Chimgi Tura. BTW, these names are much easier to notice in the game’s UI, as they’re beside the market centers:

Markets 2.jpg


Population:
Population.jpg

This week we’re showing only the country population mapmode, as there are some location numbers here and there which are failing, due to the already known issue with our pop editor (and which are on the way to be fixed). In any case, the whole population of the region is around 6.5-7M, of which around 6.3M are part of the Golden Horde. As I said, it’s a menacing country…

And that’s all for today! This is going to be my last Tinto Maps in a while, as I’ll be on vacation for 3 weeks during October (you might have noticed that I didn’t have any during summer), so one of the Content Designers in the team, @Roger Corominas , will step in and be in charge of the next 4 Tinto Maps. It’s in good hands, as Roger is an Experienced CD, who has been working and focused on Project Caesar for more than 3 years, at this point (this is why you might not know him from EU4, as other CDs in our team). In any case, he will be starting with the regions of Xinjiang, mostly ruled by the Chagatai Khanate, and Tibet.

I’ll keep reading and answering you during next week, and then I’ll be back in a month from now. See you!
 
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Still they already existed its just the dominant one was the Blue Wing during the start due to Ozbeg Khan.But there was also a White Horde Khan in the Eastern half called Mubarak Khwaja.The division should be reflected in game.
Wikipedia is laughably wrong here. Source: it can't tell whether Mubarak Khwaja or Ilbasan are khan for this period.

Don't trust Wikipedia for anything related to the Khanates. It makes errors all over the place.

The internal divisions of the Golden Horde aren't significant until the Great Troubles, when the difference between the Orda Ulus and the Batu Ulus (and the Sufids ruling out of Urgench) become relevant.
 
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You have location called Engels in the Middle Volga region, next to Saratov. This particular naming is really weird and ahistorical, since town of Engels got its name in 1931 after well-known German communist. In 1747 - 1931 the town (or better say village until 1914) was known as Pokrovsk. Still not ideal name, but Pokrovsk is much better fit than Engels. Engels is also very inconsistent naming since a location next to it, Baronsk, was renamed to Marx (after another well-known German communist) in 1920.

You also have a lot of other Soviet-era naming anachronisms all other the region: Proletarsk is the most prominent one. Proletarsk literally means "town of proletariat" and got this name in 1925. Until 1875, this location had very authentic Tatar name of Kara-Chaplak.
 
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Mangazeya was an important trading post that had international importance until being purposefully destroyed by the government. It would be good if the region is able to develop as such and to have some options to maintain it instead by encouraging Sea trade vs land route. It might need a trickle of goods from empty lands to properly represent the effect it had on the surrounding areas
 
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I've been looking forward to seeing the Golden Horde in all its glory! Don't worry Theodoro, you may not be as flashy but you've been noticed as well!

I don't know if this would be better saved for after a full Siberian Tinto Maps, but I was wondering how far north and south the map will go?
 
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As a full suggestion: Urgench should just be "Urgench", not "Konye Urgench". "Konye Urgench" is just to distinguish the historical site of Urgench from the modern town.
 
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1. Not yet, but we'll take note of them.
2. Not currently.
3. We already have a design implemented for the Cossacks, although it's too early to talk about it.
Related to 2 (but admittedly less so to this Tinto Maps), will there be any attempt to simulate the large-scale migration of Ashkenazi Jews from (mostly) German-speaking regions to Poland and Eastern Europe during the high and late middle ages? I can post this somewhere else if more helpful.
 
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Also wanted to add that I think the province name of Saray-juk (little Saray) should be Atyrau as Atyrau means "River Delta". I understand that Saray-Juk was the main trade city and capital of the nogai horde, but I guess I am petitioning to make some of the names in the Kazakh Region more Kazakh...
 
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I am also going to restate something I said in the Persia TM, because I feel it fits better here, that being Tashkent should be on the map. At the games starting point, it is not doing too well (recovering from Genghis) but throughout the games time span it becomes extremely important once more, especially under Timur in slamming the Golden Horde, and later being a center for learning, scholarship, and coinage well within the games time frame.
Tashkent/Binkath is the capital and biggest city of Chach. You could argue for a rename or a split but it's not unrepresented.
 
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