[Map] Ibn Battuta's Legacy 2 - An alternative vanilla map WIP

[elvain]

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the holidays season and sorry for the radio silence... I have been working on new updates. Apart from already revealed improvements of the Maghreb (which are now mostly done), I did some research of the Niger bend area and central/eastern Sahel, so let's show you what is going to be included in the next, relatively big update
There are going to be changes of the de jure structure in the "Niger bend" which influences the kingdoms of Jenne, Songhay, Gurma and Gur. The Niger bend area received almost 20 new counties and lot more baronies. And then there is some improvement in the Kanem area - the core duchy of the mighty kingdom which formerly had just 2 counties now has 6 of them and has greatly increased density of baronies. Hope you will soon be able to enjoy it. (the yellow framed provinces are newly added, orange framed provinces were added in previous versions of IBL)

 

[elvain]

the mod has been updated, you can check it here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416949291 The new version includes overhauls of:
- Niger bend areas (Gurma and Gur kingdoms, as well as kingdoms of Jenne and Songhay)
- Kanem and western Bornu areas
- cultural overhaul of the Sahel - 2 new heritages (Saharan + Gur) and 7 new cultures (Zarma, Kibsi, Lobi, Kurumba, Dagomba, Gbagyi and Bade/Bedde), redistribution of the Sahelian (now Ayneha) and Mande groups

(all changes of the Sahel after the 1.4 update - the new counties/duchies and baronies marked

(overhaul of Sahelian cultures - all the new cultures underlined, you can see borders of old/vanilla cultural heritages how they now look in IBL. The 2 new heritages marked)

- Eastern Maghreb
- few dozen new playable dynasties in few dozen new and old counties in the Maghreb and the Sahel hundreds new characters
- improved genealogies of most Berber tribes in the Maghreb, where many of the main confederations now work as dynasties and their tribes as their dynasty houses

(IBL vs vanilla map of Maghreb with new counties marked)

(map of playable characters in 1066. Newly playable characters added to IBL are marked)

(map of playable characters in 1066. Newly playable characters added to IBL are marked)

(the new IBL dynasty tree of the Zanata dynasty. The central part shows expanded genealogy of the Maghrawa tribe. The other lines show other Zanata tribes - Banu Ifran and its sub-tribe Banu Warku; Banu Wanzamar, Maranjisa, Miknasa, Banu Rashid etc.)

- lastly there is new empire of Lower Niger, which includes kingdoms of Benin, Nri, Banzaland and Yorubaland.

Now, what's to be expected from Ibn Battuta's Legacy next?

First I will take a short break, but I don't think I'll be able to stay away from maps and map editing, so I'll keep working on another update...
I do have some plans (see below) and also if you have some particular suggestions (+ sources) about some regions, please feel free to share them and I will gladly take look at them to expand IBL.
Also if you'd have some suggestions and sources for the areas mentioned below, they will be more than appreciated.

Now finally, what's the plan?
- Firstly I will come back to Europe for a while and do some work there. I've received some great suggestions to improve Carinthia and Low countries. In order to connect the Carinthian overhaul to my previous work in Bohemia and Hungary/Slovakia, I will most probably also look at Austria for potential additions. Also, I can't rule out looking into Germany as well.

- additionally - there are 2 more parts of Sahel which still need some additional research:
a) the Banza area south of Hausaland, especially the areas between Benue river and southern Hausaland. I already researsch to add a new culture there and replace the Hausa outside Hausaland. The work has already been started...
b) the Darfur corridor between Darfur and Wadai. As side effect of my research in other areas, I found out some nice sources, which should help me improve the cultural setup and hopefully also add some provinces there.

Lastly, to keep with the mod's name, I think I will look at Arabia. I came across some sources, which will allow some minor additions to the region, so this is one of areas I would like to look at in the near future.

Some more potential areas of interest?
- Sicily, France, Baltic area

 

[Zeeg]

the mod has been updated, you can check it here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416949291 The new version includes overhauls of:
- Niger bend areas (Gurma and Gur kingdoms, as well as kingdoms of Jenne and Songhay)
- Kanem and western Bornu areas
- cultural overhaul of the Sahel - 2 new heritages (Saharan + Gur) and 7 new cultures (Zarma, Kibsi, Lobi, Kurumba, Dagomba, Gbagyi and Bade/Bedde), redistribution of the Sahelian (now Ayneha) and Mande groups
View attachment 944874View attachment 944876


- Eastern Maghreb
- few dozen new playable dynasties in few dozen new and old counties in the Maghreb and the Sahel hundreds new characters
- improved genealogies of most Berber tribes in the Maghreb, where many of the main confederations now work as dynasties and their tribes as their dynasty houses
View attachment 944878

View attachment 944875

View attachment 944877

View attachment 944879


- lastly there is new empire of Lower Niger, which includes kingdoms of Benin, Nri, Banzaland and Yorubaland.
View attachment 944881


Now, what's to be expected from Ibn Battuta's Legacy next?

First I will take a short break, but I don't think I'll be able to stay away from maps and map editing, so I'll keep working on another update...
I do have some plans (see below) and also if you have some particular suggestions (+ sources) about some regions, please feel free to share them and I will gladly take look at them to expand IBL.
Also if you'd have some suggestions and sources for the areas mentioned below, they will be more than appreciated.

Now finally, what's the plan?
- Firstly I will come back to Europe for a while and do some work there. I've received some great suggestions to improve Carinthia and Low countries. In order to connect the Carinthian overhaul to my previous work in Bohemia and Hungary/Slovakia, I will most probably also look at Austria for potential additions. Also, I can't rule out looking into Germany as well.

- additionally - there are 2 more parts of Sahel which still need some additional research:
a) the Banza area south of Hausaland, especially the areas between Benue river and southern Hausaland. I already researsch to add a new culture there and replace the Hausa outside Hausaland. The work has already been started...
b) the Darfur corridor between Darfur and Wadai. As side effect of my research in other areas, I found out some nice sources, which should help me improve the cultural setup and hopefully also add some provinces there.

Lastly, to keep with the mod's name, I think I will look at Arabia. I came across some sources, which will allow some minor additions to the region, so this is one of areas I would like to look at in the near future.

Some more potential areas of interest?
- Sicily, France, Baltic area

What a beauty, THANK YOU

 

[Wixelt]

What a beauty, THANK YOU

It is certainly an incredible mod.

 

[elvain]

Here is a little preview of what's going to be added next: I'm back in Central Europe, now between the Danube and the Adriatic sea and here comes a first preview shot of Austrian and Carinthian marches...

Plus a small bonus - there is one small, yet relatively important change in Hungary. One important city was moved to its propper bank of the Danube, and another small change touches it... I wonder who finds out what is it

A small hint can be taken from this another screenshot - dynamic de jure duhy setup - differences between 1066 and 867

 

[elvain]

The mod is updated to 1.10 for a couple of days already, I only wasn't able to post it also here.

But there is also some more exciting news:

As was already mentioned at several places, there is an ongoing work on adapting Ibn Battuta's Legacy to a better map projection and compatch with Rajas of Asia. Finally the project is advanced enough to allow me this announcement and show you some first previews of the work, the planned scope and some vague timeline.So... here you can see how the current IBL will look on the map projection used by Rajas of Asia.

The Sahara and central Sahel are already adapted to the new map projection, so is Bohemia. Other regions are being added, step by step.Considering the current pace, I believe that the compatch should be ready this year. If things go well, it could even be done during mid autumn, but some of you know how tricky it can get with my time estimates.

here are some first shots of the current project

You can see how the Sahara kingdoms look, when we compare the regular RoA projection and how with this compatch.
On the county setup you can also see, that in the central Sahara, some provinces were added even when compared to the previous IBL setup.

And even larger changes happened in Hausaland and Bornu areas:

The new projection gave me more space and fixing the previous projection's distortions required some more additions to the map, so there is about a dozen new provinces and several new counties.

As displayed on the first picture in this post, the same is going to happen to other regions which already were overhauled.In particular I'm very excited that there will be more space to add some more provinces to Egypt and the Levant and the Middle Niger area with the heartland of medieval Wagadu/Ghana and Mali

 

[Wixelt]

Will there be a rework of terrain in Yemen and around Persia?

 

[elvain]

Will there be a rework of terrain in Yemen and around Persia?

Some Persian provinces' terrain is already fixed.

I have no particular plans for Yemen ATM.

I remember some Steam used had some suggestions, like special terrain, which I don't find very viable, nor making it their mountains regular mountains... and the discussion that followed didn't turn into nothing productive...

Would you have anything particular in mind? I'm ready to take suggestions. What would need change, and how it should be changed?

 

[Wixelt]

I was mostly thinking about the use of hills/mountains you mentioned.

 

[Ksiendzu]

Great news
Will IBL2 work with RICE mod? I always use it with RoA.

 

[elvain]

I mostly thinking about the use of hilks/mountains you mentioned.

thanks. Please feel free to give suggestions... any particular ideas where terrains should change.. and most importantly - why?

I should note, that I don't really plan to import terrains used for Europe to Middle East, unles very necessary.
Although I totally agree with the critic,that MENA region shouldn't look nowhere as desertish as it does and I'm ready to make it generally look greener, it shouldn't mean changing terrains.
Terrains do define, how province looks, but to be honest, it's their least important function.
Terrains used in MENA are base for military and many cuktural bonuses to local cultures and disadvantage Europeans, when they expand there.
If I give Yemeni, Persian or Maghrebi provinces terrains like regular hills or mountains, it means that cuktural and mikitary bonuses will disadvantage MENA local cultures and advantage Europeans, which is something I want not to happen.

So, as mentioned in the steam discussion, if you think that some provinces should be for instabce more fertile, or something else, I'd much rather prefer to edit cultural traditions to provide local cultures some additional bonuses - the ability to increase fertility in desert mountains etc.

Just please don't let this discourage you from suggesting improvements. I'm really interested to read what you want improved and how

 

[elvain]

Great news
Will IBL2 work with RICE mod? I always use it with RoA.

it deffinitely works

 

[elvain]

I was mostly thinking about the use of hills/mountains you mentioned.

now, to expand what I wrote above... the idea is:

- rename "Desert mountains" to "Arid mountains" to better reflect that it is used in wider areas than just simple deserts
- use Arid hills for at least some parts of Arabia, although Yemen's high altitudes aren't the best for this terrain
- adjust the physical looks of MENA in general, to make it look less desertish

Alternatively "Dry hills" could be renamed into "Dry highlands" to represent MENA hills and mountains like High Atlas, or Yemeni mts as oposed to the purely desert mountains of the Sahara

and in regards to Yemen:
adjust Yemeni cultural traditions so that:
- they would neutralize negative bonuses of the Arid hills/mountains terrain into some actual bonuses, inparticular in regards to agricultural production
- add special building, which would reflect the ability of the Yemeni people of high mountain arid farming

if you have any other ideas, or think of better way than this, please feel free to share them.

The point is: although Yemen was far more fertile than what one imagines as "desert mountains" we should face reality and accept the fact that as fertile as Yemen was and is, the mountains of Yemen are no Alps or the mountains of the Balkans on one hand, or the Ethiopian highland on the other hand, which are totally green and abundant with water streams.
And with that in mind, I don't think it would be a good setup to have Swiss, Scottish or Basque mountaineer cultures to have the same abilities and possibilities in Yemen as local Yemenis - things necessary for making Yemen fertile did not apply in the Alps and vice versa.

 

[elvain]

here is the latest progress of the Rajas of Asia compatch - here you can see revised Wagadu. While in the original IBL I stayed relatively low with adding new provinces, with Miller projection I decided to add also provinces based on Soninke oral histories, to make the region much more dense... and you can see that there is LOT more provinces now
(counties and baronies added by original IBL marked in blue, the ones added recently with Miller projection are marked yellow)

 

[glitchpoke]

this looks absolutely incredible, can't wait to see what you have planned for East Africa as well!

 

[elvain]

this looks absolutely incredible, can't wait to see what you have planned for East Africa as well!

Thanks,

to be honest, I don't have much of real plans. I only did some very preliminary research and my sources so far are all rather general ones.
That said, if you - or anyone else - have some recommendations or (even better) sources which would help with that area, they would be greatly appreciated

 

[elvain]

IBL is finally updated to 1.11 (Peacock). Hope you will all enjoy it and once I'm back from another work trip, I will finally add some new stuff. Now, let's all enjoy the game on 1.11 with IBL https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416949291

 

[elvain]

The long overdue compatch of Ibn Battuta's Legacy with Muslim Enhancements is finally out.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2717728700

• it's up-to-date with most recent IBL, ME and recent CK3 version
• my apologies, that some ME features temporarily don't work (Siqili localized names), should be fixed relatively soon (much sooner than it took me to do this update)

 

[elvain]

as posted while back, the work on Miller projection and adapting to Rajas of Asia allows me to expand the map to the Swahili coast of East Africa:

As I recently resumed the work on the projection, here is some preview of what's in the kitchen:

 

[Wixelt]

Will there be a provincial connection between Atlantic/Indian Central Africa?