Ok, after hearing from a few of you, I have come up with an idea to make this map all my own. Watch the end of the posts for updates, but here is my new premise...
The following is a fanciful improbable unlikely turn of world events spanning several centuries...
Suppose instead of history being made from the European world out, just the opposite were true. Suppose the Indigenous peoples of the world expanded their territories outward. In my new map, not yet finished, Native Americans conquered Europe. The Aztec conquered southern Africa. The Zulu were pushed north by the Aztecs and conquered northern Africa, the middle east and parts of Asia. The Mongols hold most of Asia. The aboriginal Australians became the technology leaders and occupy most of the large islands of the world. The geography of the world will be the same, but the political territories will be completely different and the bonuses will be given based on Empires instead of land mass. Ships will allow passage across the oceans and capital cities will still be placed in each cultural region.
Obviously each empire/culture will have appropriately named territories. The ships will either be killer neutrals or start neutral and will allow ship-shore access.
Capitals will either start neutral or each player will start with a capital. Capitals will autodeploy +(2 to 5) depending on what works best once the game is up and running.
I am thinking that empire/culture bonuses will be a little larger than on the classic map due to the larger and widely scattered nature of the landscape.
