A Discussion of Geopolitics Surrounding the New Map

Hi, I am Xefjord and studying Geopolitics and playing Strategy games is a pretty big hobby of mine. The recent developer update really highlighted a lot more of the nation/node building mechanics and the empires that could spawn from them, so I thought I would take a crack at looking at the pixelated new map to try to make some geographic conclusions as to where the best regions for empire building could be.

I know that Steven said that there won't be a single best node for creating empires, and I do agree with him. Geopolitics is a balance between Geography, Demographics, and Resources. The latter two factors we can't really predict yet. But that doesn't change the fact there will be some regions blessed to have less Geographic obstacles than others, and we can make guesstimations regarding the demography and resource density of certain regions based on their biomes, topography, and access to trade with the outside world through safe ocean paths and riverways.

I have created a map with my hypothesis on what will be the best regions in the world for Empire development, which ones will be challenging, and which ones will be incredibly difficult. I have also labeled the map with numbers so we can better discuss specific regions. I want this to be an open discussion where people can give their input so the Devs can see where the community thinks the best spots will be to settle, and also so maybe we can tweak the map a little for balancing. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding my Hypothesis down below and why I labeled certain regions the way I did.

Here is my hypothesis (old, but keeping for reference to older posts):

Here is my most recent hypothesis linked below factoring in demographic assumptions from starting zones:

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Comments

Dygz

I mean... the Orcs could start from any Divine Gateway.
I think the fascinating part will be seeing how many of the servers have the various races choosing to start at their ancestral portal and how many choose to start far away from their ancestral homes.

Xefjord

Dygz wrote: »

I mean... the Orcs could start from any Divine Gateway.
I think the fascinating part will be seeing how many of the servers have the various races choosing to start at their ancestral portal and how many choose to start far away from their ancestral homes.

This is also a fascinating possibility to me as well. There is a lot of decisions I will be excited to observe, and I think while the initial month will be quite racially diverse all over as everyone picks just the biome they like the most, when nodes with racial developments get established, I think you will see players resort themselves according to those.

Say 30% of orcs are outnumbered by 40% of humans and 30% elves in the Asian biome (Their hypothesized start), then the nodes there will just be Human culture/architecture, and if an Orc node crops up in the Taiga and an Elf node in the Swamp, then I think the Orcs and Elves will migrate to those nodes respectively and prop up the node of their own race.

Dygz

Yes. Just might not be in their ancestral locations, but...

The architecture and NPC popultion reflects the race that contributes the most xp towards the next Stage.
So... that Py'Rai Town could suddenly become a Dünir City. Then we would have to see which race rallies to get the Metro. Or maybe the Py'Rai decide it's better for them to Siege the City and try again from scratch to build a Py'Rai City there.

The Tulnar might also be trying for a Metro above ground.
Seems like there would be Hell to pay if a Kaelar Village became a Tulnar Town.

Laffreux

Built an oasis in the middle of a desert !
"It is a video game idiot! Siege weapons move the same on grass, snow, sand, dirt and can pop out from no where in a minute"

More seriously, I am missing too much informations and numbers to be sure.
What we know from the 26th of august:
World is flat ! (1:00:00) Always good to know from naval perspective
Ressources won't be an issue even in a desert or an island ! (1:31:00)

With that in mind, I will start from an island and get a strong naval fleets as quick as possible then go continental and wish my political and diplomacy skills are good enough to raise an Empire.

Luckily, I am a free wanderer, world is my home and the battlefield my playground.
Unless there is Sylvanas and the forsaken

Also hope, there are Race capitals where we can see their finest architectures, meet their heroes/champions and charismatic leaders. Maybe even summon one of their champions to help smallest guild.

Dygz

Players will have to build those capitols.
The ancient cities are all ruins.
But... yes!

Asgerr

Laffreux wrote: »

With that in mind, I will start from an island and get a strong naval fleets as quick as possible then go continental and wish my political and diplomacy skills are good enough to raise an Empire.

As far as I know there is no current Divine Gate on islands, so you'll either have to swim there, or wait until you have money for a water mount or a ship.

And we need to find out if the islands do have a Node on them or not. It's not been confirmed.

aurorum

As Steven stated the world map is not circumnavigible I see anything on the central ocean being highly sought after (3, 8, 11, 10, 26, 28). And as such I think it's right of you to label most of them as swing states as they're likely to be fought over.

The longer and therefore riskier naval journey to the far sides of each continent make me a little skeptical that we'll see metropolises there without some unique draw to those coasts.

Xefjord

Asgerr wrote: »

Laffreux wrote: »

With that in mind, I will start from an island and get a strong naval fleets as quick as possible then go continental and wish my political and diplomacy skills are good enough to raise an Empire.

As far as I know there is no current Divine Gate on islands, so you'll either have to swim there, or wait until you have money for a water mount or a ship.

And we need to find out if the islands do have a Node on them or not. It's not been confirmed.

There do be sea monsters too. So swimming might be harder than one would expect

CROW3

Asgerr wrote: »

Laffreux wrote: »

With that in mind, I will start from an island and get a strong naval fleets as quick as possible then go continental and wish my political and diplomacy skills are good enough to raise an Empire.

As far as I know there is no current Divine Gate on islands, so you'll either have to swim there, or wait until you have money for a water mount or a ship.

And we need to find out if the islands do have a Node on them or not. It's not been confirmed.

Have you considered roping a few sea turtles together?

I think those mountains look too interesting to pass up exploring. By the time I get back, I’m expecting you guys to have some serious infrastructure build out.

Tulima

Interesting thread you made @Xefjord. What is your take on sea power?

You don't seem to put much stake in any of the island nations except 7. If I am going to compare the world of Verra to the real world - which probably is foolish - Sujoma could be compared to the British or Portuguese empire. I could see a lot of trade flow through the Sujoma channel from northern Elyrium and northern Vandagar. But in your map, you seem to have disregarded it completely.

If you look at any marine traffic map then you can see a lot of activity in channels and straits(eg English channel or straits of Gibraltar) which could mean profit for adjacent nations.

I realize it's a bit too early to discuss this but it is still fun to theorycraft. I'd love to hear your take on this @Xefjord.

Veeshan

Number 11,8 and 26 tbh has a huger commerce location tbh Central location close cross continental trade which i think will be huge in this game with resources probaly gonna need to be transported for high end crafting (You prob need a unique resource form each main island + a smaller one for end game crafting).

9/10, will probaly be pirate outposts or pvp minded players since ocean will be open world pvp so it possible trade routes will be move more to the south to advoid the sea closer to these islands thats assuming a node gets going on these islands. There also a pain to get to so most people will probaly rarely visit them unless one gets air route due to becoming a metrolpolis i guess.
29 a wild card could become a pvp central area due to i feel most trade will come through this area since i suspect the larger player base will be humans/elfs which nodes will probaly develop faster on most servers and the trade route between these is through south of the sea's

27 - I would like to see the lake join with the river to the east so you can use that to get trade ships out although risky but larger reward due to cargo size
5 - i think doesnt need to be opened up as OP sugest because i suspect that inlit on the ocean there will be a harbour location so u can caravan to there fairly short distance and then set out from there, could also see smaller harbours in the lake for use of boats aswell i would suspect so this isnt an issue imo compared to 27 where all ocean is miles away from the centre of the map with no rivers access

1/30- Will probaly be somewhat baron with exception of maybe specific resources required for crafting so it might see some nations there to capalise on this but they look rather small islands (Going by 50 min mount from top to bottom of continent so you might see some guild alliance try and control the whole islands. 30 probaly a bit better location wise than one due to it location upon most likly major cross continent trade routes

7 - Will probaly be a PvE heavy location due to its out of the way location the pvp player will probaly be rather rare since majority of them will tend to be closer to population hubs and trade routes.

2 - seems like an awkward biome/location however there better be a node inside a cave up there in the mountains having a cave city would be amazing/unique :P

3 - Could see pvp orinated players aswell location looks easy to defend if they have a strong naval presence, thin strangly landas makes it easier to find invaders due to less ways they can flee.

Veeshan

aurorum wrote: »

As Steven stated the world map is not circumnavigible I see anything on the central ocean being highly sought after (3, 8, 11, 10, 26, 28). And as such I think it's right of you to label most of them as swing states as they're likely to be fought over.

The longer and therefore riskier naval journey to the far sides of each continent make me a little skeptical that we'll see metropolises there without some unique draw to those coasts.

u mnight see far east/west get a metrolpolise just from being a stable spot and just popping up when somone destroyed the one in a more importasnt location

islands probaly wont see a metro pop up atleast the ocean ones unless some pvp players realy want one there for pirating

Xefjord

Tulima wrote: »

Interesting thread you made @Xefjord. What is your take on sea power?

You don't seem to put much stake in any of the island nations except 7. If I am going to compare the world of Verra to the real world - which probably is foolish - Sujoma could be compared to the British or Portuguese empire. I could see a lot of trade flow through the Sujoma channel from northern Elyrium and northern Vandagar. But in your map, you seem to have disregarded it completely.

If you look at any marine traffic map then you can see a lot of activity in channels and straits(eg English channel or straits of Gibraltar) which could mean profit for adjacent nations.

I realize it's a bit too early to discuss this but it is still fun to theorycraft. I'd love to hear your take on this @Xefjord.

Sujoma is this worlds equivalent of Greenland, large but cold and likely somewhat barren. In the old node test map they even labeled the island which is now Draakathbohr as having an Iceland like biome. Every straight line leads to rocky fjords on Vandagar, and long trips at sea elsewhere. Since node vassalization can only occur adjacent to your own node, and can't occur in far flung off places (You can definitely harass, but not really vassalize) that means the only major growth opportunity when it comes to vassals is located in the Island of 7.

The other islands really don't have much growth possibility when it comes to vassalization. An incredibly dedicated effort from an especially large guild might be able to make an empire building hub in 29, and if they can somehow grow faster than 28 they might succeed at vassalizing them instead of the other way around. But it seems like it would be quite difficult to do, and there isn't much other opportunities for that island. Meanwhile 28 has far more options than 29 even if they do or don't vassalize 29.

The big issue with islands is simply the lack of options when it comes to empire building when you can only really have vassals and not really far flung colonies.

Even if someone wants to try to set up an empire in Sujoma and control the strait on the western side of Vandagar, the nature of jagged fjords is that pirates could be hiding anywhere along the entire northern part of Vandagar and pop out to harass travelers and traders. There is a reason that the Vikings were in a really good spot to pillage and harass others from the fjords in Scandinavia. But never to really fully invade Europe outside of the British Isles.

Parsalian

Please forgive me if this derails the primary topic slightly, but wasn't there some information a long while back that there are no specific "starting zones" so much as portals that you could choose to start near? I.e. 'human' or 'dwarven' starting zones weren't really a thing so much as areas that used to be primarily inhabited by certain races prior to leaving verra and now anyone of any race can start at any of those portals? Secondly on this topic, wasn't it also stated that in general no area would be terribly far from a starting portal (or at least that the portals would provide generally equal access to most places that were intended to be reached quickly)? If I'm behind on my information regarding this, please let me know.

I only bring this up because others in the thread mentioned it. Thanks!

WHIT3ROS3

As it stands there will be four divine gateways couched in the ruins of the parent races. (Humans, Dwarfs, Elves and Orcs) You will be able to choose to start at any of the four and you will not be restricted by the race you choose to play.

Parsalian

WHIT3ROS3 wrote: »

As it stands there will be four divine gateways couched in the ruins of the parent races. (Humans, Dwarfs, Elves and Orcs) You will be able to choose to start at any of the four and you will not be restricted by the race you choose to play.

Thanks, for some reason I thought it would have been more than 4.

Vaknar

I just want to say that I have had an absolute blast reading through this thread. I love the thought and detail you've put into your post, @Xefjord . I can't for when we're able to show off a version with node placements for you to give your assessments on that!!

I geek out about stuff like this too, which made this post a quick read ^_^

I love the conversations happening here and don't be afraid to think outside of the box! 😉

Dolyem

Vaknar wrote: »

I just want to say that I have had an absolute blast reading through this thread. I love the thought and detail you've put into your post, @Xefjord . I can't for when we're able to show off a version with node placements for you to give your assessments on that!!

I geek out about stuff like this too, which made this post a quick read ^_^

I love the conversations happening here and don't be afraid to think outside of the box! 😉

If only you saw what we were coming up with outside of the forums

Xefjord

Vaknar wrote: »

I just want to say that I have had an absolute blast reading through this thread. I love the thought and detail you've put into your post, @Xefjord . I can't for when we're able to show off a version with node placements for you to give your assessments on that!!

I geek out about stuff like this too, which made this post a quick read ^_^

I love the conversations happening here and don't be afraid to think outside of the box! 😉

Glad you are enjoying it. I will continue to share my thoughts and do deeper analysis with each update we discover for the map.

Some people think there is no point in discussing real world geopolitical factors whenever this is just a game. Because it may not have the same constraints or real world benefits that certain aspects of geopolitics offer in real life.

While this is somewhat true. I think there is enough in common to make comparisons.

The biggest unknowns to us right now that could have dramatic impacts on the map geopolitics include the under realm, the location of the 5 starting spots, and castle locations.

The other area of questioning I have is in river and coast diversity. Not all rivers are navigable, and even navigable rivers are not created equal. Some are navigable for smaller boats but not larger ones, and some are filled with rapids and waterfalls, which are not good for boating either. Not all coasts are great deep water ports. Nor are they all blue water ports. Does the ocean ever freeze in the far north? Will there be under realm bodies of water? (As the waterways of the over realm will naturally flood downwards)

These are all questions that I am excited to hear the answers to.

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