Consider reapportioning the British, Ottoman, Italian, and German provinces, and even the French, Austrian, and Russian provinces, so that there is more variation than what we see in many other European variants.

Consider making the Caspian Sea playable.

Keep in mind France and Austria-Hungary will need substantial advantages since they are surrounded by corner powers.

It would be interesting if Britain and the Ottoman Empire had equal access to Africa with Spain.

The lack of neutrals between Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Otttoman Empire looks problematic.

Aesthetics time!

NAMES It bothers me on this map, like WWII, how some territories have names that run through borders, sometimes restricting readability. I would change that however you feel is necessary. Another thought is to only name home SC's after cities, and nothing else. All other territories (in my opinion) should be geographical features, etc.

COLORS Also like WWII, I don't like how Russia is basically the same color as the movement arrows. Especially for this time period, I feel as though Russia should either be white or purple. This change allows for an Austria-Hungary that could look like they do in Classic (this is less of a suggestion and more of a if-you-want-to). And I have always thought of Ottoman Empire as inherently yellow, although that could just be the Classic influence.

The map looks like it's mostly taken from Classic which I think is hugely detrimental and doesn't really reflect the time. I think instead, it should borrow from "enlightenment & succession" which is closer to the time period.

I also think that Spain should be cut out; they weren't a major player in the Napoleonic Wars politically but rather as a centre of guerilla war between Britain and France; meanwhile their prescence weakens France significantly, when this should be a game where France should be powerful.

Further; Prussia definitely should be a power since they were a major rising star and power of the time.

Similarly, like the 1700s variant, there should be a Cairo and Tripoli territory, or ambitious French players who want to have a go at Napleon's Africa Campaign. Speaking of; The Ottomans also had a bit of territory in the Caucasus which you might want to show.

Walachia & Moldavia intoduced as buffer zones or else under-value the Balkans give some hope of Peace between Austria & the Ottomans. The alternative being to make all of the eastern nations tightly wound and ready to fight eachother unless France gets too big since for the most part, that's what happened.

Generally; I think Germany & Italy should both be diced up more and made very valuable; consult with the 1700 map for ideas on how. Spain should removed as a player while giving the Brits Gibraltar and making Prussia a contender.

I'll throw together a suggestion shortly.

Here's a bit closer to what I like. The initial centres and Nation layout are based on 1700 and may need to change in some ways but it gives a general idea; http://i39.tinypic.com/2vnjix3.png

This sort of makes Italy & Germany the major battlefields which they were historically. There's some definite disadvantages and needs balancing but I think this is a better foundation.

Umm, if this is a Napoleonic variant, France needs to be much stronger than they are in your version, Faux. Maybe France could start with Flanders and Rhine or Milan as "Satellite States" as they historically had. Of course it all depends on the time-frame...

To clarify it's supposed to be a 1789 variant

@General Cool: I meant to give France an extra-SC or two. I based it off a similar start date to Synapse; 1793 start date which gives Austria control of Belgium and thus an upperhand in Germany, while France had no client states at that point. Making Piedmont and/or Corsica an SC and maybe move the start date slightly later in order to make it Post-Belgian take over would balance things out.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be opposed to moving back the start date slightly, to make Poland Neutral Ground between the Three Powers there and thus weaken their initial start point.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up, 1789 seems like an okay starting point. Corsica does look like it would make a good extra SC from the balance point to the Ottomans in Italy.

What about Malta? Buonaparte made his name there

I've revised the map according to this; [Warning, Large File]; http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/central_europe_1789.htm

Here are two revised version with different start dates;

1879: http://tinypic.com/r/ocmcx/5: France remains the same but Poland is not Partitioned, weakening the Eastern Powers to be more on par with them. They don't have as much control over Germany, but have a much better chance at Spain since Ireland has been demoted. This makes them more of a potential Corner-Power with a lot to gain out of early neutrality and slow expansion but they're still a strong player.

1795: http://tinypic.com/r/27x19vp/5: My mistake in the last draft was that the partition of Poland came after the fall of the Austrian Netherlands according to this source. This gives France more leverage in the German expansion while close borderlines make Austria and Prussia very tense and thus have a bit more trouble with this line of assault, thus opening up a more Blitzkrieg-y style if they go that route.

I like both maps but I do prefer how much more open Germany is to the French with the '95 start date, though Austrian Belgium also has potential for interesting diplomacy.

One down side is that I think there's a natural alliance breakdown of France-Prussia-Ottomans v. Britain-Austria-Turkey, though either side over coming these disadvantages would be in a strong position. Prussia is in the weakest position if alliances unfold this way and would need to try to win order with Austria or Russia to have a decent chance at survival, but that isn't too far from the traditional problem of the Eastern Triangle.

@Synapse: Malta's not a bad Idea, especially if it still looks like France needs a Corsican SC after the new revisions.

I concur with the inclusion of Prussia, it's a must for a Napoleonic variant.

And a final update until people critique it;

1789: http://tinypic.com/r/2aey1r6/5
1796: http://tinypic.com/r/10gfes9/5

Changes: Added Names for all Areas [New Shortened Areas: Pommeria (Pom), Polosk (Pol), Danzig (Dan), Mecklenberg (Mkb), Bradenberg (Brb), Seville (Sev), Gibraltar (Gib)], Divided up the "Mid Atlantic Ocean" into the "Celtic Sea", "Pillar of Heracles" & "Atlantic Ocean" regions, this is to prevent Britain from being able to move Ireland to Portugal in the first round in the 1796 version.

Ireland is made a neutral SC in 1789 version, this is represent the tensions in Ireland at the time and to prevent England from having too many SCs while keeping Ireland important enough for the Napoleonic Invasion of Connaught to still matter [and make it possible for the French to stall them in the first round].

Definitely needs some testing, but it should be usable at this stage.

The bottom-left corner feels so wasted. Not sure what you could do about that though.

I was thinking about adding African SCs for the Spanish Port towns in Morroco but I think that might make Africa too valuable [Ottoman Empire already starts pretty strong; I might make Georgia into a Turkish Neutral for the 1789 version like I did with Ireland]. Otherwise, yeah, I don't think there's much to be done.

I feel like in a game, it'll fill up quickly with a race for Iberia between France and Britain that will keep things interesting, the more broken up Naval territories and general design philosophy make it hard to stalemate so it should be active in a game barring an AngloFrench Alliance.

Maybe not SC's but Africa definitely needs more territories. Change Morocco into Rabat and Ceuta and Algeria into Algiers and something else. Make Corsica a SC in between two sea territories. What is Pol? Smolensk should definitely be a Napoleonic territory - it was the last place on the march to Moscow.

Pol is Polosk, which had only recently been assimilated by Russia [1773, I think]. I was considering adding Smolensk but I feel that would crowd the map with Polosk already being its own territory.

I felt that Smolensk's importance is reflected in basically being on the line of the Moscow and Lithuanian territories.

I'll see what I can do with Corsica and Morroco, pending a bit more feedback [also because I am busy today]

Updated Version with Corsica made more important and Georgia Made Neutral. I considered adding Malta, but the Maltese Sea already serves the function of a solid naval stalemate line for the Mediterreanian.

I stand by Smolensk's unimportants, while having experimented with Africa, I feel Rabat and Ceuta either reduce the importance of Gibraltar, are irrelavant or [if made SCs] drastically over value the Spanish/African Theatre.

Forgot to post the actual map; http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2drcr3p&s=5

And the 1896 Version: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=28a17ox&s=5

Proposed Start Positions;

France: Fleets in Brest & Marseille, Armies All Other Territories.

England: Army in Liverpool, Fleets all Other Territories.

Aust: All Armies

Prussia: Fleet Danzig, Armies all other territories.

Russia: Fleet Ingria, Crimea. Army Moscow, Ukraine, & Riga (1796 Version). I'm not sure for Novgorod.

Turkey; Army Constantinople, Macedonia. Fleets all other territories.

I'm really sorry for the ridiculous number of double posts & anyone who's been annoyed by them, I'll try to think harder and remember things but I'm used to having an edit button.


Comments? Ideas for Novgorod? Preference for 1789 v. 1796? Volunteers to code for Labdiplomacy? All are welcome.

I think France would preferably have 6+ scs, encourage it to become a coalition of everyone vs France war.

Also Milan should be neutral, not Austrian. Venice should be Austrian because it was controlled by Austrai

That would be a later start date; Venice was still independent prior to the Napoleonic Wars, meanwhile the Austrians had Milan from 1713 under the treaty of Utretch until 1796 when it was conquered by Napoleon and declared the Cisalpine Republic [Thus is Austrian during the start date of 1786 as the game presumably starts in January]. Thus this game is still set in the revolutionary period where the Italian Campaign and the eventual meteoric rise of France are just beginning.

Setting it at a later date is possible however and I've drawn up two post Italian Campaign maps;

1804/Ascension; http://tinypic.com/r/141o65t/5; This Map only uses Territories under Direct French control during the Coronation of Napoleon. Austria has lost Milan but annexed Venice while France has moved to the edge of the Rhine and annexed Genoa while reshaping Italy. Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire while the Ottoman Empire assassinated the Russophilic leaders of their vassals in Wallachia and Moldavia putting them more directly under Ottoman Authority.

1805/War of the Third Coalition; http://tinypic.com/r/2aez6gm/5; This Map uses Napoleon's Satellite States at the start of the War of the Third Coalition. Spain, Hanoveria [Marked as Hamberg on map as a nod to the soon to be formed state of Westphalia], Netherlands [then the Batavian Republic] and Italy are all allies or dependants of France. Westphalia is made Prussian in this version to mark the various Prussian vassals along Central Germany and to account for the loss of Madeburg [again due to Westphalia].

These are slightly more "Everyone Vs. France" from the outset but are much harder to balance. The reshaping of Germany was apt though; I don't think the Enlightenment&Succession was right even for its time, now it's set to be roughly 1808 Germany. I may apply this to the older maps, though I might divide Wes there into Mdb (Prussian, NonSC) and Han (Neut, SC)

My mistake, I thought this would be an 1801 start date

Also, updated Germany for Earlier maps, since Westphalia, Mainz and Hesse were all in the wrong locations. There's still some rough elements and some SCs might be wise to cut here [There's now a total of 8 Neutral SCs in Germany] but this is relatively more historic, for whatever that means to Game balance [Prussia once again gets the short end of the stick here with Mdb distancing them from Germany but they still have a good shot at a lot of SCs including a far stronger bid on Saxony].

1789; http://tinypic.com/r/2drcr3p/5

1796; http://tinypic.com/r/wrkl13/5

*The 1789 up there is the wrong link. Here's version 1.4;

1789; http://tinypic.com/r/1znn39g/5

Recommendation (at the very least, for future reference...): Ditch the image site you're using and repost your stuff here: http://forum.webdiplomacy.net/

Apologies, I`m signed up there now though it`s not letting me post anything. Once I figure it out, I should have my variant up proposals up.