I think that Australia could be depicted better than it is on the WitP map. There are, in my view, some problems with the current map at the moment:
- The routing of railways is very innacurate.
- Darwin is shown connected by a railway/highway link, which is not correct.
- Some rail/highway links are missing.
- Some of the terrain is innacurate, although most if it is reasonably correct.
I realise that these problems do not have a huge effect on gameplay, although the way that Darwin is connected to the rest of Australia may have a considerable effect on its defence and maintenance. But these things bug me a great deal since WitP is meant to be a historical simulation. There has obviously been a great deal of care taken with the various OOBs, ship and aircraft stats etc., so why not expect the same level of accuracy in the map? Especially since Australia takes up such a large chunk of the map, and is an important, if not central, part of the theatre.
I decided to try to make an improved Australian map, and I have completed a first draft, which I am adding to this post. This map is only a rough, low resolution map, and it is a work in progress. A lot of it was drawn very quickly, from only a few sources, and there will be many small innacuracies in exact rail/road routes, terrain types etc. It is simply meant as a suggestion as to how the map could be changed. A better and more accurate version could be made later.
I am hoping that this map can provide some raw material into a process of improving the WitP map, at least as far as Australia is concerned. I believe that the actual appearance of the map in the game can be modded, as well as the bases, but it seems to me that the rail and road routes themselves are hard coded and would need to be modified by Matrix. I have no idea how willing they would be to do this.
Here is a short list of the mods that I have made:
- Rail and road routes corrected, and some new ones added where I think they may be important.
- Terrain modified (not much different from the current map, but I think mine is more accurate, although some of it is still calculated guesswork).
- A few new bases are shown, although I don't really know if it is a good idea to add new bases.
- Added a few rivers.
The bases that I have added are:
- Broken Hill: If resources represent mining output, then I think that this location should be a source of some Australian resources.
- Katherine: The terminus of the railway south from Darwin. I am not sure about this, the railway may have been exteded further by the time of WW2, so I will look into this further.
- Cloncurry: Terminus of the railway going west from Cairns.
- Geraldton: Terminus of the railway north from Perth.
I have only added these bases for illustration. it might not be a good idea to add more bases to Australia.
So - Am I just wasting my time in proposing changes to the Australian map?
As I said above this map is probably not very accurate as I drew it very quickly. Feel free to suggest further improvements, or point out faults with what I have done already. Any fellow Aussies interested in hepling out?
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