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I like how the bonus system works, though really, I think there ought to be a sort of duel colony option for some of the places that changed hands, much like you've used with Egypt. Places like the German colonies could be duel colonies with Britain, Cameroon with France. This way, it gives a player to sort of build a little more like piece by piece and grow his empire. It also inclines players to desire Britain and France as there are more options available. This makes sense because Britain and France dominated the continent.
Accepted, I think this is a great idea. The are similar mechanics to this in Napoleonic Europe and the work beautifully there.
deally, you want Europe to be static and the conflict and movement to primarily occur in Africa... given its ability to yield easy and quick bonuses
Absolutely correct.
Though I'd recommend the European powers and Turkey be starting positions and deploy higher, say 5, to encourage static gameplay up north. It will be a good and true to history dynamic to have Europe concerned about the balance between continental and colonial obligations
If we can do this I'd be in favor of starting the European start positions with 5 rather than the regular 3. I'm also considering giving all Colonial powers a +1 auto deploy, but we can debate the merits of this later in gameplay.
The only major gameplay element that I think you ought to add is a European one way attack on at least one of their major colonies. I'm thinking Britain to SA, Germany to German East Africa, Belgium to Congo, and Portugal to Angola. This way you get the Europeans able to land and conquer Africa, but Africans stuck in Africa... true to history and also makes some of the more harder to achieve bonuses, such as Portugal, easier to achieve. Maybe, even consider killer neutral ocean territories, giving European players a chance to make landings, ect. In fact, I think killer neutral sea territories would really liven up the gameplay.
Accepted, I added a Naval superiority territory. It's a killer neutral that any Colonial power can take. From Naval Superiority you can attack and conquer a large number of territories on the west coast.
And here's a list of some revisions you ought to consider:
Put in Zululand instead of Basutoland
Bechuanaland was South Rhodesisa.
accepted, accepted
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ought to be one colony, as it was, and keep the duality.
I left them spilt because it would be too large of a territory otherwise, and would be way too effective of an eastern choke point, but I took the "Egyptian" out of the name.
You've got to put in the modern Algeria and call it Algeria... it was considered part of France proper and the primary French colony... scoot Tunisia to its place.
Equatorial Africa ought to be a duel colony with Germany... it was traded for Germany being ok with French Morocco.
accepted, accepted.
Belgium might need a little more easily defended African territory, their weakness is their continental position.
Or a higher bonus pay out.
or the two African neutrals... you might want to consider a duel bonus that only rewards with Italy and Italian Horn of Africa with Ethiopia and France with French Africa and Morocco.
I might do something like that, I'm not really sure how that would work yet since the neutrals don't yield a bonus. Unless adding the neutrals simply increased the bonus worth for the colonial power.
The European neutrals... I don't like them. I'd be in favor of ditching them completely and bordering Italy with Germany. Turkey's threats came via through its colonies (WWI Mesopotamia and Palestine) and not through land attacks in itself (Salonika and Gallipoli). Given Turkey's proximity to Africa, I'd say there is sufficient threat to its power without bordering the European powers via the continent.
For now Declined. I think Europe needs a back door entrance. It also keeps Turkey from being so easily defended.
As for West Africa... I think you ought to add it in and put the labels in the sea. Guinea-Bissau, Gold Coast (especially with the Asanti wars there), Gold Coast, Ivory Coast... these would make great neutral starters and +1 bonuses. This reflects their richness in resources though precarious defensive position. It also makes a great way to increase a player's bonus a little by a quick land grab.
Accepted. The tricky part is the Ivory coast since it belongs to France, but I want it to be it's own bonus. A simple note in the legend should explain it well enough but inevitably a lot of people just skip over that kind of thing and get confused any way, but I can't be held accountable for that.
Lastly... impassables. I'd say increase them
I probably will.