@general amora, you're doing a very good job, keep doing it ^^. Maybe you could add a connection between Turkish Cyprus and Turkey; Turkish Cyprus is already a turkish puppet and it makes sense to do it as it's very close to Turkey. Maybe a few provinces representing the external powers on the region (american, and russian fleets as well as some russian bases at the caucasus and kazakstan) as their really crucial in the region and would be missed if not represented.

@Tabby Juggernaut (Zephaniah), yea of course we should add RP clans players. As for rules, the lack of in-game rules also make interesting maps. If there's a warmonger USA, other nations will fight him hard off (perhaps under russian banner?), it will also add to the roleplay, in other words, let the players decide in-game what to do. But we'll need rules to give points to every actions in-game, so a neutral moderator on every game in order to count those is needed. It would also be funny to have extra archivements in-game that could reward points.
Example extra-objectives:
-Israel must survive (USA)
-Israel must die (Iran)
-Iran influence must be countained (USA, Saudi Arabia and Israel)
-Russian influence must be countained (USA, Saudi Arabia and Turkey)
-USA influence must be countained (Russia, Iran)
-Kurdistan must be independent (Kurd Forces)
-Territorial integrity must be restored: Irak integrity restaured (USA, Irak and Iran), Syrian integrity restaured (Syria, Russia and Iran), Yemen integrity restaured (Iran or Saudi Arabia, depends on whom manages to win the war)
-ISIS must be defeated (Everyone)

I was wondering whether I should add city maps for the three most populous in the middle east, so Cairo, Istanbul and Tehran. I would have them worth only at most 3 tpt but they would add an interesting tactical standpoint, they would give opportunities to have things such as embassies, what do you all think? And they would add many more territories.

Edited 1/31/2016 19:30:55

It is a good idea.

@general amoora, I believe you should not add city maps, I think the map will become too large with city maps. Besides, these cities won't see much action, as they're in the middle of the countries and are then not key in any roleplaying. Maybe a small city map of Jerusalem might be good (10 provinces Max), but Cairo, Istanbul and Tehran are not (in my point of view) interesting for this map.

If you do cities, then definitely not Cairo, Istanbul, and Tehran. These cities are big, populous and important yes, but barely any actual action happens around them because they're quite stable.

Some ideas if you actually do cities.

Jerusalem (some interesting skirmishes here with Jordan (historical) / Palestine)

Aleppo (must-have, if cities. Almost every group in Syria has some sort of outpost in this city)

Ramadi (not sure about this one. It is the city in Iraq with the most conflict between ISIS and Iraq)

Aden (not the biggest city in Yemen, but there is conflict between ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the government, and the Houthi rebels may make a push for it soon, seeing as they're close to taking Taizz)

Perhaps a close-up of Sinai? Either that or Arish. Not big, but there is some ISIS presence.

Maybe Dara'a as well, but there would already be Aleppo, and Aleppo is a lot more important.

Perhaps Baghdad? We may see some future fights here, but idk.


I don't know about cities, really for this map.

I REALLY think you should add:

Istanbul - Should enable a lot of possibilities for ancient templates, too. Byzantium/Constantinople ftw!

Cairo - Biggest growth in the region. It's stable NOW, but was stable not long ago, and stability may not continue for long.

Jerusalem - It's a holy city for everyone in the region. Need I say more?

Aleppo - Battle of Aleppo templates sounds pretty fun.

Baghdad - Not too stable and an important city.

Not a must, but good additions:

Damascus - Capital of the country going through a super violent conflict.

Raqqa - Capital of ISIS.

Mecca - Holy city for most of the region. Would be interesting and helpful for ancient templates too.

Tehran - Persia isn't being properly represented as the regional power they are. Stable? Sure, but had many uprisings and problems in the past. Could be a good addition.

Iskandariyya - Historically important, good for non-modern templates and still a big city nowadays.

Zephy I think you're thinking too historically. This is a modern map, and I think historical countries would look really weird on it :S

It would, but then again, don't we always use the modern maps for historical games? Flanderson's europe, world nations, afro-eurasia gargantuan...

Also, they are still ridiculously populous and important today, so why not? Good on both ways.

Leave the cities for the bigger middle east map you said you will make. There's no need for cities here, it won't add much but complicated connections everywhere.

Damascus - the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, the cultural and religious center of the Levant and was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750.
Today, Damascus is the centre of an metropolitan area with an estimated population of 5 million and is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries.

@Tabby Juggernaut (Zephaniah), maybe that's a thing that can be balanced through customization. But I'd agree maybe Israel could have more provinces and perhaps special bonuses to represent american aid.

Israel's overall bonus will put it on par with Egypt or near enough, but I don't think that the small bonuses should be too high because thatwould make the region much too overpowered and much too unbalanced if we're talking in terms of gameplay. As for the maps, I am now sure that I won't be adding any of Tehran, Cairo or Istanbul as they wouldn't be too fun. But I am thinking about making a Jerusalem and a Mecca. They would both be very small but they would provide an interesting religious aspect to the game. They are also located in strategic locations with Jerusalem being between Israel and the West Bank. And Mecca, although not on any borders is a much wanted city for rebels such as ISIS and different religious presences in the region, such as shi'ites, conquering it could lead to points in the types of gameplay that you've been talking about

Edited 2/1/2016 07:28:40

Still think Istanbul would be good, specially since recently there have been bombings there, and would open up for a lot of possibilities being the most important city in the region.

It would be nice if a map will be made where you can play the Arab Spring/21e century wars of middle east and north africa.

True, Wohoo, that'd be very nice. Most diplos I play are historical because modern day ones tend to stagnate due to the amount of peace.

Sorry to ask but I can't find a map of it myself right now, does anyone know what sort of region is actually controlled by the kurds or has a map of it. I can find loads of ones on where Kurds are found but none on what area is actually controlled.

Thank you in advance

Edited 2/1/2016 18:57:36

Those are areas with kurds in them but what area do the kurds control?

Tabby shows a good map of where the Kurds control land in Iraq and Syria. For Syria, the territories are: Tal Abyad, Ras Al Ayn, Qamishli, Hasakah,

I'll do the same for Iraq if you want when you finish Iraq.

Kurds have some independent corners in Turkey, but they're not notable enough to be territories on your map, I don't think.

For the groups in syria this map is very good and a good aproximation of the area they control.

I've found a few weeks ago a very good article in a french paper (if you need help with the translation, I'll help you) that shows in details the evolution of the war in syria (it shows both controled and influenced surfaces)

http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/visuel/2016/01/19/syrie-irak-deux-annees-de-guerre-cartographiees-acteur-par-acteur_4849580_4355770.html