Sorry for dredging up an old thread, but I quite like this idea, and I just want to toss in my two gold.
I think the proposed region expansion looks pretty good, but personally I would add the region from the East Indies up as far as Korea and Japan. Not because I'm a Japanophile (though if you accuse me of that, I won't deny it!), but because that was actually a major region for piracy. You could have wokou pirates sailing out of Japanese ports, European competition in the Spice Islands, Koxinga's kingdom on Taiwan, and Korean turtle ships!
As the game takes place during the Tokugawa era, Japanese ports would be closed to most non-Japanese ships, though they could include the port of Dejima that Dutch ships would be allowed into. But if they were going to include this area of the map, I'd love for them to make it possible to play as an East Asian character as well, including as a Japanese wokou. Just as if they were going to include the Mediterranean, they should make it possible to play as an Ottoman or North African character so the player can be a Barbary corsair.
AI-controlled non-European ships should be restricted in which map regions they appear in--it would be weird to be attacked by Barbary corsairs in the East Indies or wokou in the Caribbean. But the player shouldn't be restricted. If I want to play as a Japanese renegade who has left Asia to make his name harassing the Spanish Main, and I'm willing to take the time to sail all that distance, that should be allowed, I think. |