Suez Canal in the year 1483?!

[Baybars]

How is India able to move his ships from the Red Sea into the Eastern Med? Especially when the intervening land provinces are owned by Egypt! There was no Suez Canal back in 1483, and even if there was, there is no way ships could sail down it through enemy territory without getting blown to bits by surrounding cannons/troop fire.

Let me give you a little history lesson: The way that ships were moved from the Med to the Red (and vice versa) in pre-modern times, was to sail them up the Nile River, and then drag them OVERLAND from the closest point in the river to the town of Al Suwais (modern Suez) at the mouth of the Red Sea.

Thus, it makes sense to have ships pass between the the Med/Red seas, but ONLY if the intervening land province (in this case Alexandria) is also owned by the same power. So if India captured Alexandria, only then should he be allowed to move his ships through. All other players should be forced to take the long route to the Med (I.e. around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa).

I suggest you program this into the game code as an enhancement, to improve the realism of the game.

[Vox1]

Well Baybars, it appears that the 1483 version of the Suez Canal works BOTH ways since you built a fleet in the Red Sea zone to match mine which was effectively blockading your Eastern Med ports and keeping my last island outpost free of Egyptian domination. Then you slipped out of the Red Sea area into the middle of the Med. to meet up with your piratical Portuguese and Hungarian counterparts. It would seem to ME that if you have a fleet in one sea zone you SHOULD be able to blockade the ports within that sea zone and FORCE a combat....that is IF you are at WAR with the other nation...which Egypt and India (Delhi) currently are.
Vox

[Baybars]

Yes, my friend I couldn't agree with you more on your point about naval blockades. That is only realistic. However, the 1483 program doesn't work that way. I'm a programmer myself, and the way they've developed the game, blockades are not possible because combats are decided based on the ENDING position of the units only, not on the interfering units. What I am referring to is the interfering LAND PROVINCES, which is easy to program because you simply break the link between the two naval provinces, unless the owner (of the land province, in this case Alexandria) is the same as the owner of the units being moved (which is true in my case of Egypt). Not difficult from a programming point of view (Spell, feel free to comment on this).

All said in done, the game has been an entertaining one. LOL-- my "piratical" Portugese ally- yes they are and also true to history! (Portugues were pirates indeed!) Anyway, its 4:30am here in the Middle East so I gotta go.. Ma'salaam