Beautiful maps of SSHIP: let's visit Iran

[Lifthrasir]

I found the same info already but I'd like to find something about the population number. The other thing is the is made as a fortress/citadel, it would give a huge advantage to the faction able to conquer it. We need to consider the gameplay and balance a as well.

[j.a.luna]

Your idea about castle is good Lifth althought if Kermansha was a important centre of trading and interchange of resources and people should be a city no?

[bigdaddy1204]

The secret to success I think would be recruitment. For example, the city of Hasankeyf is only a castle, but it gives recruitment options to many interesting and useful units. Kermanshah is one of the centres of Kurdish civilisation; it would be cool to be able to train units like Kurdish swordsmen and peshmerga cavalry in their homeland.

[achilles-91]

I agree about kermanshah and kurdish swordsmen. Can u tell me what is peshmerga cavarly ? I guess kurdish heavy cavarly. If so, i would realy love to see them. Salah ad din used them, they had they're faces covered in mail if i remember well.

[Lifthrasir]

This is what I found about Kermanshah:

Under the Saljuqs, Kermanshah was still militarily and economically important because of its location at the intersection of the great highway linking Baghdad to Khurasan with a trade route to Tabriz and Ardabil (Lambton, 1968, p. 222). For much the same reason, the region became a bone of contention in regional conflicts that punctuated the history of Iran beginning in the 12th century. In 1197-98, the Chorasmian emir Miānjoq plundered Kermanshah (Rāvandi, p. 398). Kermanshah was on Hulāgu’s line of march from Hamadan towards Baghdad, and in December 1257 his army devastated the town and massacred its inhabitants (Boyle, p. 347). Thus, by Mostawfi’s time (ca. 1340), what had been a medium-size town was merely a village (Nozhat al-qolub, ed. Le Strange, p. 108; tr., pp. 106-7).

I've put in bold the interesting info. So, considering that Konjila is a castle, if it is replaced by Kermanshah then it will be a castle or a town.

[Lifthrasir]

After discussion, we (SHIP team) have decided that there won't be any settlement change for now. Kermanshah won't be added.

[bigdaddy1204]

OK, I understand.

What about the climate/greenery of Iran?

@achilles91: my apologies, I was mixing things up, peshmerga cavalry are a unit in Broken Crescent.

@Lifthrasir: I just wanted to say thank you. SSHIP is one of the most played games on my PC, whether things go how I want or not it's still one of the greatest games. Hooray for SSHIP!

[Lifthrasir]

The reason why we disagree to add Kermanshah is that we're convinced that in wouldn't add anything to the gameplay due to its location. As MWY pointed out, at least Konjikala has a mnior use once he Mongols appear.

The climate map will be slightly changed but I won't guarantee it for the next release.

And thanks for your kind words

[Aenima]

Now that that's been discussed, more pics plz

Seriously, those photos are incredible!

[Lifthrasir]

I don't think that this is the right place for it if it is just to see pics without any relating purpose linked to the mod. From my point of view, the Travelers' Lodge would be better

[bigdaddy1204]

Well, the main reason I created this thread was to get the campaign map scenery improved to a more realistic look, in the same way we did with Iraq before, which was very successful. The discussion about Kermanshah was much less important than the overall look of the scenery in the region. Today, when I play in Iran I am wondering how there can be large cities in the middle of an inhospitable desert. How can there be a great empire here? It kills the game for me. We know that the regions from Hamadan to Shiraz and from Alamut to Rayy are some of the greenest in the entire middle east. The land is wet with lush green tropical forests, plenty of wild flowers and rich grasses, and deep snow in winter. It would be nice to see that in the game.

To answer your question Aenima, there are many great pictures of these places on Pinterest and google images showing the scenery. But Lifthrasir is right, posts here should have some connection to the game.

To support my point, here's a photo taken in Qazvin, which is to the south of Alamut. In our game, this area is shown as totally barren. But in reality, it looks like this. You can see why I don't feel the game is representing things accurately.



Edit - and here's another one, taken in Taleqan, which is directly beween Rayy and Alamut, i.e. to the south of the mountains, in an area which the game shows as barren rock desert.



Now let's compare that with the game map. Here's our map, and you'll see I have labelled the locations where the two photos above were taken.



And one final point: the area to the northeast around the Atrak river is too barren (I have circled it on this map). Here's what that area actually looks like:

[bigdaddy1204]

A few days ago, I downloaded EB II for the first time and started playing. It was interesting to see the campaign map and compare against my favourite mods (SSHIP and BC). There are some things I liked, but some other things I didn't like.

• For me, the way they have north/east Iran in EB II is quite close to perfect.
• However, the bad side (of EB II) is that the Zagros mountains in the south (not shown in the pictures) are almost totally flat in EB II, which looks very bad
• I posted these pictures because it shows this region in a way that is very close to what I was asking
• SSHIP is amazing and awesome. I hope these screenies didn't offend anyone. My intention is just to show possibilities. Thanks for reading, and see you soon

[Lifthrasir]

EBII map, all of it, is more flat than ours. Nothing to do with climates. But, yes, I got your point

[Lifthrasir]

As I'm done with some other map adjustments South Poland here and Nile delta here for those who haven't noticed them yet), I'm bumping this thread to find easily all info I need
As I'm not familiar with Iran (just been close to it, at sea about 12 km from Bandar Abbas, bloody foggy that time, couldn't see more than 100 meters away ), I'll probably post some WIP here to get inputs and to correct my changes if necessary

[Jurand of Cracow]

I have two requests, actually.
One: do you know how does genetivus in Arabic look like? (I know there's a different language in Persia, but I'm just using the opportunity ;-) Eg. Moldavia -> Comes Moldaviae -> Knyaz Moldavskyi -> Emir ???? (with latin script, sorry).
Second: I'd be happy if somebody has a look at the map, then read this entry (and the links in this entry ), then one may have at this file, and - please provide me useful information on the following regions and settlements:
-Ar-Raqqah
-Al-Mawsil
-Baghdad
-Al-Wasit
-Al-Basra
-Al-Ahsa

Persia

-Hamadan
-Alamut
-Ray
-Esfahan
-Shiraz
-Kerman
-Yazd
-Nishapur
-Merv
-Konjikala
-Gorganch

Cheers!

[Lifthrasir]

I've found something for you JoC but more related to your PTF minimod. I'll post the stuff in there

[Lifthrasir]

Ok, let's start the fun
Below, 1st preview of changes for Persia: the Turkmesnistan border:

- Current version's map:



- Next version's map:



No major changes there. I've just made the river's sides slightly greener and have added trees.
If it's fine, I'm moving to the next part

[j.a.luna]

Good progress
Btw, the next part is mesopotamia? With riverS Tigris and Eufrates?(bigdaddy suggestion)��

[Lifthrasir]

That has been done by MWY already and is in the current version. You're late Mate

[Lifthrasir]

Following my previous post about the map change (see a couple a posts above), here are some more previews of Persian map:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

- Turkmenistan Border:

This part should be more or less in its final version.

- North Persia:
Current Map:


Next version's Map:

This part should be more or less ok too. A few more trees along the mountains may be (to be confirmed).

- West Persia:
Current Map:


Next version's Map:



For this part, I will probably add some more trees. I just need to do a bit of more research.

Note: I've messed up a bit the part around Tabriz but I've started to correct my mistake

Comments?