Question about the 90 minor powers

[CushVA]

One more quick question. It says there are 90 minor powers in the game, will you be able to communicate with (or have diplomatic relations) with countries outside of the map? For example. will you be able to talk with the US or with other territories / colonies in Africa or the rest of the Americas?

[ericbabe]

The US is in the game, though not on the map. Its merchant vessels move around and trade with nations. The US has a chance to declare war on nations that blockade ports -- I believe the chance per month is proportional to the number of ports blockaded by a nation squared. If the US enters the war it will send one (and perhaps two and very rarely three) naval fleets into the theater and will remain at war with the nation until it has lost a certain proportion of its ships in the theater.

All the other minor powers are located on the map of Europe and North Africa. Many begin the scenarios as conquered provinces -- for instance, Serbia begins the 1805 scenario as an Ottoman conquered province.

We deal with colonies that are off the map abstractly -- nations have a "colony" rating that is a measure of their foreign holdings. Colonies provide a certain level of income and count toward a nation's empire rating. They may be traded in treaties and there are two military upgrades that give a nation the ability to conquer another nation's colonies while at war with that nation.