November/December 2013 Lite Challenge: Virtù et fortuna

[Azélor]

As you might know, this is a map taken from the game Europa Universalis 4 (vanilla). The game starts in 1444 during the Ottoman siege of Varna and we are now in february of 1717. I stopped there because a new king has been crowned and the country need to change it's policies since it's power starts to shrink. I present a map of my empire but I won't tell you which one it is. I will let you guess before.

This will serve as a base map and it will be redone in another projection. Of course, this map as already been modified because in this game, winning countries tend to take territories in a very strange fashion. So I did some changes but most are for esthetical reasons and do not affect the balance of power too much. For example, I exchanged Catalonia for Florida between Spain and France. Seems fair... Anyway, it looked ugly.

This is not the WIP
eu4_map_POR_1717_02_15_1 copie - Copie.jpg

Funny facts:

Norway (light blue) and Syria (purple) where kicked out of their homeland
And Norway is one of the few colonial power
England was not annexed but the throne was passed to the French because they had a marriage (but not Ireland)
England had only colonized Groenland
Afghanistan is a strong independent republic (even stronger than in the picture since I gave some of its land to Persia)
Portugal has as many ships as all the others countries combined
Byzantium still exist
India is not owned by Spain, Spain is darker
Nigeria (Hausa) in independent but same color as Portugal
Nobody lives in Groenland and Amazonia but they are technically under French and Portuguese influence
There are still a lot of nomadic states
The Holy Roman Empire is not useless

[Azélor]

###LATEST WIP###

wrld-bm-6-jpg - Copie copie.jpg

Now I hesitate between a beige parchment texture for the background that would fit the era better (with a pale blue sea) or a dark blue that would make the countries stand out and the map possibly more unique.

here's an example with a dark background:

Sans titre-1.jpg

But I think I still need to work on the country’s borders first.
White means that the territories have not been claimed by any country yet.

[Azélor]

Any thought about the country’s borders, especially in Europe/India?

here's a partial WIP

asia preview.jpg

[fabio p]

I have a question: is it going to be a world map?

As for the borders, in my opinion it is important to know which will be the definitive colour of the sea (by the way I think a pale blu for the sea could be better), which countries will have coloured border (maybe you want to colour only few of them?).
Your overall scheme is not clear at the moment, so it's difficult to give suggestions!

And as for the guessing game, if the title says something, I think your colonial empire's motherland could be located in Italy....

[Azélor]

No it's not an Italian country but I admit that it's not a bad guess. These are 2 important concepts that come from Machiavelli and in italian it would be Virtù e fortuna if i'm correct. Unfortunatly it's in latin and it's not Italy. You can have better idea of which country it is by looking at the first picture.

About the question: yes a world map but I don't know about the colors yet. All country will have border and colour.

###LATEST WIP###

wrld-bm-6-jpg - Copie copie.png

[Tomalak]

[Warning: Personal Opinion Ahead!]
Since you are going for a colonial focus, using limited coloring could help emphasize the connections between mother country & colony, while leaving unrelated nations a paler shade. For example, you could paint a country one color, the outline its colonies in that color, leaving colonial nations faded in the center and not outlining the non-imperial nations at all. This would keep things more focused and simple, on an otherwise cluttered map (as any world political map is likely to seem).

[Azélor]

[Warning: Personal Opinion Ahead!]
Since you are going for a colonial focus, using limited coloring could help emphasize the connections between mother country & colony, while leaving unrelated nations a paler shade. For example, you could paint a country one color, the outline its colonies in that color, leaving colonial nations faded in the center and not outlining the non-imperial nations at all. This would keep things more focused and simple, on an otherwise cluttered map (as any world political map is likely to seem).

Yep I thought about making something special for my colonies. Probably adding a color layer over the land.

Playing Frnace feels almost like cheating after a while, unless you always have most the Europe at you back. England never colonize while Spain and Portugal are much weaker. France here used to control Catalonia and Wallonia, so it's even more powerful but I modified the map a bit. You are right I would have invaded Brittany but not England if I where France. I would also be ashamed of not having colonies elswhere than in North America.

And yes I think I will also need to adjust the colours.

[Falconius]

Oh man, this game is so good. I would've guessed France is the one you are playing at first, but it really is hard to tell. I'm playing France at the moment and it is awesome. I see that Brittany is still around though lol so maybe you aren't.

I like the border fade a lot, but that said it doesn't seem to have enough definition between them for my eyes for some reason. I feel like I want a line between the two. Possibly since some of the fades come off stronger than others.

[Falconius]

Oh it's totally like cheating. I'm also playing a game as the Netherlands/Burgundy and was always wondering why France so totally trounced me whenever they got testy. And now I know. In my game as France though I destroyed Burgundy early on (like almost immediately, but they started it) and it got divided between me and Austria and now Austria is slapping me around some. It's humbling.

In that case I'd have to guess Portugal since they seem to be everywhere, and also they got the American colonies on both coasts which is what I like to do too.

Are you keeping all the indicated countries there? If so, doing colour variation for colonies could make the map even more complicated to read unless as you say you do a layer over the land. The difference between the yellows and the greens are very slight as it starts out.

[fabio p]

It is not to make the pain in the ass , but, yes “Virtù e fortuna" is Italian, "Virtù" with the accent on the "u" is Italian, whereas Latin is "Virtus". “Fortuna” is the same word, but with a semantic shift between Italian and Latin (where in Italian means good fate, in Latin means simply "fate", "destiny", which is also the meaning that has the word “fortuna” in Machiavelli's writings). "Et" could be both a latin and a medieval/renaissance italian conjunction (today in Italian is replaced by the simple "e" except in telegrams). Hence the title "virtù et fortuna" sounds Italian, not Latin….if you want a latin title it should be “Virtus et Fortuna”

As regards the map: I quite agree with Tomalak, but if I was you I would go with one part of the world, rather than the whole world .... much more focus and less problems! But it’s your choice and I want to be proved wrong on this one!
So, let's see how it goes!