Trust me, you might be very interested to read this, even though it is quite long...

DON'T CLICK THE LINK UNTIL YOU READ, IT WON'T MAKE SENSE OTHERWISE https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=52894

For a while, I've been thinking about making a map that truly represents advancements in technology and information, and it's been very tough trying to think up a way that might truly represent it, and this is where this map has been conceived.

Right now this map will not begin proper construction until after I have finished all my current projects and can put my full effort into it. So it probably won't start for another month or so. However I thought it would be important to develop the idea so that when I do start making it, it's the best that I can make.

The map will be set starting in 1444, and will feature the Americas, and a zoomed in version of Western Europe. The point of this will be to represent the beginning of the age of exploration.

There will be three types of technology, Colonial, Military and Administrative. Each country in Western Europe will be assigned one that suits their historical leaning. For example, nations like Portugal would have Colonial Technology, whereas something like Aragon would have military technology.

For the example I will use Portugal. At the start date Portugal would begin with it's sovereign lands at the time, with all links between them, however the nations capital would have one extra connection. This connection would lead to a square in the corner of the map(slightly represented in the link above). This square would contain 64 territories set up in an 8x8 format. This would apply to all forms of technology, and each country would have it's own unique square for its technology. Now the player would work their way through this 8x8 square in a snake and ladderesque way, this would mean that one square would only connect to the one next to it, so it would take 64 turns to work your way to the end. (That is a long time, I know, but this map is intended for Multi-Day, veeeerrry long games). Upon reaching the end square you would have completed the technological square and receive a gift. This would vary depending on the type of technology you have. For Portugal's Colonial ideas, the final square would lead on to One territory in the 'New World' which is to say the Americas. This one territory would probably be where Portugal first established themselves in the New World, so as to make historical sense. This would therefore represent the technological advancement and the 'discovery' of the new world. Portugal would then proceed to 'Colonize' (annex empty territories) in the New World.

Now to explain Military Technology, lets use Aragon as an example, Aragon's capital would, in exactly the same way as Portugal's Capital, lead on to Aragon's Technology square and the player would work their way along in ideally 64 turns. At the end, once Aragon finishes the square they would receive a large TPT bonus. Therefore representing an advancement in Military technology.

Now for Administrative technology, for a country such as Denmark. The square system would work in exactly the same way and the player would work their way along the 8x8 squares in exactly the same way, and upon reaching the end. Something quite more complicated than the other two technologies would occur. The final square would link to an enlarged version of the map of Denmark in another corner of the Map. This would feature more territories and therefore more bonuses and it would also make it much much much more difficult to invade this kind of nation, because an invader would have to work their way through 64 territories to get to the enlarged map. This represents how difficult it would be to invade an organised and well prepared nation in real life.

So those are the basics of the map and the idea of technology. What do you think? I personally believe that it might be very fun and that these types of technology are actually balanced because Colonisation adds to your Military incomes slightly while also making it very difficult for other nations to dismantle such a nation. Military Technology means you can put up much more of a fight and defend better against invading nations. And Adminstrattive technology as said before adds slightly to your income and adds to the difficulty of invasion.

Such a game played on this map, would mean that it would depend on more than just positioning, luck, strategy and tactics. It would depend on friends, allies, support for your wars and aggression against your wars. It would realistically put you in the position of having to prioritize armies for defence in wars over technology or perhaps the other way around, depending on how you want to play. It would add many aspects to the game, although it would be long and perhaps a bit more confusing.

Another reason I'm posting this is because the map would be quite simply massive, with perhaps 1500 territories or so, and I don't want to make something that big if no one will be interested in playing it. As well as that, I'm going to need testers that are prepared to play lots of long games on what will be (throughout development) not as fun as it would be complete.

So should I make it in a month or should I never make it?

PS: Thanks for reading through so much

Edited 2/5/2016 23:01:58

I did think of that and I don't think anyone that plays on the map would put in a blockade card, unless they wanted to ruin the gameplay.

Portugal is now complete just so that everyone can see how it'd work, I won't be doing anymore until I finish the middle east map.

I like the concept, but 64 territories for progress are wayyyyy tooooooo much. No one would play this imho.

Edited 2/6/2016 00:04:54

How many would you suggest?

I would reduce it to 10-15, to make that playable. That game as you suggest would be practically impossible to finish. Consider that someone will invade the country succesfully. Then he will need another 64 turns to utilize that completely or at least to valuable extent, simultaneously fighting somone else. Maybe he will lose, and the whole cycle repeats.

That is quite a fair point indeed, I'll reduce it to 18 and it will vary upwarss to 22 depending on how good the nation was historically, so spain colonially would be 18 whereas france would be 22

Reporting for testing.
Also, A suggestion: In regards to Colonial expansion, you should add a rule not allowing people to work another person's tech tree backwards.

I like this idea. I had thought of something similar, but my idea required using custom scenarios to set up progressively bigger neutrals, so that the whole thing was kind of like a technology tree which you have to 'research' by investing lots of armies to break down the neutrals.

I figured the only possible reward would be bonus income, but I like your idea of just having a really long pathway to some other region of the map.

Now, playing devil's advocate, there is a serious possible problem. If you end up with a trolling type of opponent, you can end up having to spend a long long time trying to eliminate him if he doesn't want to surrender. I don't know how serious that possible problem is. Maybe there is some way to prevent it. Maybe not. But it's something to think about.

I like this idea for a map, maybe if you just reduce the progress territories, it will be playable. In order to avoid people from making the path backwards, just create bonuses including the rest of the path.

Example:
-Tech X is unlocked at #5. Tech X bonus will then include #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5.
-Tech Z is unlocked at #11. Tech Z bonus will then include #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10 and #11.

It will become stupid to work it backwards as you won't have a result before reaching the province #1. Another argument for this is that when a country loses it's capital, it's power shrinks even if it has a huge colonial empire.
Maybe for denmark this won't be necessary (If I understand your idea of having a very hard to take country).

Yes the colonial power would shrink very much because bonuses in the new world are very weak compared to european ones

Well, you may also add some improvements to the colonies (at least for the principal regions).