Hello PACCBET and everyone else ,
first and foremost, thank you all for taking the time an provide such high-quality feedback. It is highly appreciated and helps us a lot!
Maybe I can share some insights on the topic.
When the team designed “Fall of Empires” they wanted to avoid countries that span the entire globe, but at the same time wanted to be as historically correct as possible.
To achieve this, we fall back to historic power structures for countries like the United Kingdom and removed some Dominions and Protectorates from its direct territory. These countries, like the United Kingdom, France or Russia, still remain very big countries and more difficult countries to play. Keep in mind that it gets more difficult to play a country the more provinces it owns (e.g. penalty factors).
On the other hand, this generates buffer nations and territories all players (incl. those playing smaller countries) can conquer, without having to declare war to one of the empires right at the start.
To sum it up:
- It makes the big countries easier to play (more manageable)
- It creates buffer zones between countries
- It creates territories to conquer
Regarding Finland:
Finland acts as a buffer nation to Sweden. Finland used to be a very autonomous, if not the most autonomous territory in the Russian Empire in those days. Following suite with what I mentioned above, it suggested itself to use Finland as a buffer nation. The fact that Finland and the German Empire supported each other during the war (there were even Finish units fighting for the German Empire) adds to that train of thought.
It would be great to hear if you can follow these arguments and whether you think that adjusting these historical facts in favor of gameplay is reasonable and a good way to deal with it.
Regarding the city names:
We will look at the ones you mentioned here. Again, this is extremely helpful for us. If you find anything else in this regard, please do not hesitate to add them to your list. Especially Russian and Ottoman cities are rather tricky.
In general,…
...would you say that you enjoy playing the Russian Empire, or is there something that bothers you about it? Would be great to hear your suggestions.