I was thinking, maybe a similar system to the fortresses in the EL tempest expansion could be put in place as single tile islands/ atolls? So while large archipelagos like the Phillipines or Indonesia could still exist as regions you can settle, there would also be single-tile islands that aren't exactly settled but can grant control over an ocean region, or at least give a zone of control around it. Think places like Okinawa, Guam, the Canary Islands, or the Maldives, which can't support a large population but can support a military base or trading post. These islands would start off as neutral, like the Fomorians but replaced by native islanders, and could later spawn roving armies of pirates that would attack trade routes in neutral waters. They could be pacified and claimed by naval units, but would need a special project in one of your cities to build a naval base to properly claim the atoll and some surrounding ocean tiles. This would then grant a bonus of some sort to your naval units in the region.

I like the underwater base in James Bond ' the spy who loved me`. How about evil masterminds in the late games and however beats one gets a technologie of him/her/it ?                                An underwaterbase could be one of it, a moon base wouldproberbly be over the top.

Maybe in the Modern Era, we can build Sea World Districts? :P

grug wrote:

I was thinking, maybe a similar system to the fortresses in the EL tempest expansion could be put in place as single tile islands/ atolls? So while large archipelagos like the Phillipines or Indonesia could still exist as regions you can settle, there would also be single-tile islands that aren't exactly settled but can grant control over an ocean region, or at least give a zone of control around it. Think places like Okinawa, Guam, the Canary Islands, or the Maldives, which can't support a large population but can support a military base or trading post. These islands would start off as neutral, like the Fomorians but replaced by native islanders, and could later spawn roving armies of pirates that would attack trade routes in neutral waters. They could be pacified and claimed by naval units, but would need a special project in one of your cities to build a naval base to properly claim the atoll and some surrounding ocean tiles. This would then grant a bonus of some sort to your naval units in the region.

This sounds promising. We do know that such bases were critical resupply points for various factions, so claiming a region of ocean by building a base on them makes sense. What tech level would you need to claim them, and how do they change as the eras advance?

Dinode wrote:

grug wrote:

I was thinking, maybe a similar system to the fortresses in the EL tempest expansion could be put in place as single tile islands/ atolls? So while large archipelagos like the Phillipines or Indonesia could still exist as regions you can settle, there would also be single-tile islands that aren't exactly settled but can grant control over an ocean region, or at least give a zone of control around it. Think places like Okinawa, Guam, the Canary Islands, or the Maldives, which can't support a large population but can support a military base or trading post. These islands would start off as neutral, like the Fomorians but replaced by native islanders, and could later spawn roving armies of pirates that would attack trade routes in neutral waters. They could be pacified and claimed by naval units, but would need a special project in one of your cities to build a naval base to properly claim the atoll and some surrounding ocean tiles. This would then grant a bonus of some sort to your naval units in the region.

This sounds promising. We do know that such bases were critical resupply points for various factions, so claiming a region of ocean by building a base on them makes sense. What tech level would you need to claim them, and how do they change as the eras advance?

If they were far from the shore you would need compass at least to access them, although there could be some islands (like in the Caribbean or Mediterranean) located on relatively shallow seas accessible early on. Maybe a Polynesian or Viking faction could also have a head start in trying to capture these atolls, or the Polynesians could get special buildings or bonuses from them, like building a moai instead of a trading post. And in the modern era, maybe the military bases on atolls could be used to build air strips, allowing for an island-hopping campaign like WWII?

Any pirates in the ocean regions would probably be at about the average tech level of the world, so their tech would advance similarly. As in our world, I would expect most small islands to be claimed by the end of the industrial era, although if there were pirates using battleships or something maybe they could be like the pirates in Captain Phillips.

grug wrote:

Dinode wrote:

grug wrote:

I was thinking, maybe a similar system to the fortresses in the EL tempest expansion could be put in place as single tile islands/ atolls? So while large archipelagos like the Phillipines or Indonesia could still exist as regions you can settle, there would also be single-tile islands that aren't exactly settled but can grant control over an ocean region, or at least give a zone of control around it. Think places like Okinawa, Guam, the Canary Islands, or the Maldives, which can't support a large population but can support a military base or trading post. These islands would start off as neutral, like the Fomorians but replaced by native islanders, and could later spawn roving armies of pirates that would attack trade routes in neutral waters. They could be pacified and claimed by naval units, but would need a special project in one of your cities to build a naval base to properly claim the atoll and some surrounding ocean tiles. This would then grant a bonus of some sort to your naval units in the region.

This sounds promising. We do know that such bases were critical resupply points for various factions, so claiming a region of ocean by building a base on them makes sense. What tech level would you need to claim them, and how do they change as the eras advance?

If they were far from the shore you would need compass at least to access them, although there could be some islands (like in the Caribbean or Mediterranean) located on relatively shallow seas accessible early on. Maybe a Polynesian or Viking faction could also have a head start in trying to capture these atolls, or the Polynesians could get special buildings or bonuses from them, like building a moai instead of a trading post. And in the modern era, maybe the military bases on atolls could be used to build air strips, allowing for an island-hopping campaign like WWII?

Any pirates in the ocean regions would probably be at about the average tech level of the world, so their tech would advance similarly. As in our world, I would expect most small islands to be claimed by the end of the industrial era, although if there were pirates using battleships or something maybe they could be like the pirates in Captain Phillips.

By that you mean Somali pirates, yes? They're not really at a modern tech level aside from having speedboats, and pirates only really exist off that coastline in today's world.

Not really, there are pirates in other places.

ImperatorTempus42 wrote:

grug wrote:

Dinode wrote:

grug wrote:

I was thinking, maybe a similar system to the fortresses in the EL tempest expansion could be put in place as single tile islands/ atolls? So while large archipelagos like the Phillipines or Indonesia could still exist as regions you can settle, there would also be single-tile islands that aren't exactly settled but can grant control over an ocean region, or at least give a zone of control around it... These islands would start off as neutral, like the Fomorians but replaced by native islanders, and could later spawn roving armies of pirates that would attack trade routes in neutral waters. They could be pacified and claimed by naval units, but would need a special project in one of your cities to build a naval base to properly claim the atoll and some surrounding ocean tiles...

This sounds promising. We do know that such bases were critical resupply points for various factions, so claiming a region of ocean by building a base on them makes sense. What tech level would you need to claim them, and how do they change as the eras advance?

Any pirates in the ocean regions would probably be at about the average tech level of the world, so their tech would advance similarly. As in our world, I would expect most small islands to be claimed by the end of the industrial era, although if there were pirates using battleships or something maybe they could be like the pirates in Captain Phillips.

By that you mean Somali pirates, yes? They're not really at a modern tech level aside from having speedboats, and pirates only really exist off that coastline in today's world.

That's a good point about modern tech level for piracy. Maybe some modern naval ships would require strategic resources like oil, so pirates would effectively be limited to transport vessels, ships that can nuisance sea lanes but not naval powers. But pirates are found in a few places outside Somalia modern day, like the Straight of Malacca and the Gulf of Guinea. And some organized crime uses boats for smuggling, which obviously isn't piracy exactly but could fill a similar role.

 Also, in our world once the navies of great empires set out to protect their trade routes piracy was more or less stamped out, and I could see the same happening in the game world once the various factions reach a certain naval tech level. So the actual times that pirates would survive well into the contemporary era would be limited by the same forces as in real life, and the presence of modern day pirate ships in the game would pretty much just be a motivator to make sure all the atolls are claimed if you want your trade routes to be safe.