Field of Glory: Empires is a grand strategy game in which you will have to move in an intricate and living tapestry of nations and tribes, each one with their distinctive culture.
Set in Europe and in the Mediterranean Area during the Classical Age, experience what truly means to manage an Empire.
So, playing as Tanais in the Persia start because of a book I like, slowly working up to fight the mighty persion empire and a new region/province appeared from nowhere.
Didn't notice any popup, didn't click anything to make it appear, so all in all very confused and wondering what is going on, and is this a bug or a hidden feature as I cannot easily find any reference to it...
Only just realised Sarmatia Orientalis also appeared and wasn't there at the start. So what am I missing?
Several extra provinces open up and become available over time, such as Voronesa or Sarmatia Orientalis indeed near Tanais' starting province, or Kazakia/Aralia Occidentalis & Orientalis to the east (near Sogdiana/Massagatae starting province), Polonia Meridionalis/Prusia farther west on the way to the Mare Balticum, Norvega/Scandinavia far to the north, then Sudana/Sahara Orientalis & Occidentalis in Africa (also one region from Mauretania Occidentalis is locked at the start).
Makes the game board slightly more dynamic as you may think you're safe from independantists/bandits when playing in a border of the map (I've found the random rapinatore spawns to work better in that regard), not caring for the most basic protection for such remote territories; however sometimes you just really long for these extra regions/provinces as your safest bet for expansion. I've found it to be especially true when playing in the eastern steppes of Chorasmia/Sogdiana/Bactriana (I mean, otherwise in 330 BCE scenario you go against Seleukos/Indian nations or the plethora of nations between the Pontus & the Caspium, whereas in 550 BCE you're guaranteed to compete with Persia) or in western Africa and competing against Qart-Hadasht (Carthage). In a smaller measure the far north too (Norvega/Scandinavia) when the Goth/German provinces are active and there's a lot of fighting with neighbours going back & forth, where managing those lands conquered & reconquered several times over generates so much decadence (and moves around all population feeding your slave markets) that you no longer feel like developing them.
Settling regions bordering them increases the chances of their unveiling according to the game manual; I suppose it would be possible to mod a scenario to unlock them all from the start, but I haven't taken the time to check that out!
If you're uncertain which parts of the game board may be unlocked yet, check the minimap; unlike the ordinary view of the board (where you may notice sometimes the picture of settlements on a veiled territory), the minimap does display all playable regions. On the main view, mouse over a territory you think may be unlocked later on (or a province's name); if it makes a region light up on the minimap, you can be sure it is unlockable at some point (could be turn 20 or 200)... sometime... "soon"! :)
