With the exception of the Lepanto I never see Syria occupied.

syria

bohemia???? u nutz? its a key province for any stalemate line and for any attack between R/A/G

syria by a looooong shot.

either that or Ireland.

why do you say bohemia, invictus? syria seems about right.

Definately Switzerland.

Switzerland is very relevant.

I think Barents Sea. Heligoland Bight and Skagerrack are also rarely used.

p.s. Nice username, squidge.

On the other hand, here are the provinces that have 7 neighbors. These I believe are always key provinces:

Tyr Sea
Munich
Galicia
English Channel
Rumania
Venice

Did I miss any?

North Sea

Syria is definitely the least relevant province. Clyde is also up there on the list.

has 11

Once England puts a fleet in the Barents Sea, StP is either gone, or useless because it has to defend. That makes Barents Sea relevant.

Ireland isn't a province. Neither is Switzerland. They're unused spaces.

Even NAO has it's uses, because a fleet can go from Norwegian Sea to MAO so quickly.

It's got to be Syria. Used only for the Lepanto. I think that's why the Damascus variant is interesting, moving the SC there, although with only 3 touching provinces, it's a dead zone.

jBalcorn,
Besides North Sea have 11, MAO has 8, Western Med has

I'd say Albania is quite irrelevant, other than at the very begining.

How the hell did I miss the North Sea?

I miscounted on MAO. :-(

I agree that Syria is the least used territory. It works if a northern power (most likely Germany) is pushing a land attack on Turkey through Russia, and it is used in the Lepanto.

Albania isn't as useless as you'd think. It's critical for Turkey expanding into Austria or getting ready to convoy armies to Apulia.

I'd suggest Skagerrak, the Heligoland Blight, and Finland be considered as runners up.

Tuscany is kind of a dumb province.

ionian sea borders 9, if i counted right.

i'd give heligoland bight second place.

tuscany and albania can both play a crucial role in who controls the mediterranean in the mid/end game. finland and skagerrak are not as important but do factor into what happens with scandinavia. so i'm not sure what the third least important province would be.

I've completed 52 games and out of those North Africa remained the same sandy colour through-out in 15 games, meaning that even though it is in a pivital position it wasn't even entered let alone fought over.

It gets my vote for being the most important unimportant province in the whole game.

all provinces have their importance, even Syria not only for a lepanto but also for a russian attack on turkey...
but my real point: how did Ska get thrown in there??? that province is of key importance in almost any serious game.

I would have gone for Clyde, myself. Opening play rarely involves it, unlike Syria, although Syria is often uncontested after the opening

ireland is the most irrelevant, and i think the north sea is the most important

Clyde? Clyde is often the most critical province in attacking England.

everybody is forgetting about north africa because its that unimportant. unless france and italy are having a fight for the midatlantic then north africa cant even do anything really

I've seen Heligoland mentioned, but it is vital for Germany's defence because England can't stab into Kiel woth his North sea fleet.

i think north africa is quite important in games with a stalemate line. in several unavoidable draws i've been in, it's been pivotal.

I would have said Clyde is the least relevant. I would have picked Syria, except for the Lepanto which was at one point the most common opening here on phpDip. With that in mind, I'd say Syria is almost as important as North Africa.

i must say - Syria is definitely the least important... the question is what is the 2nd least important:

Clyde, North Africa, Tuscany, Finland are the real candidates...


a 3rd tier might include Albania, Hel. Bight, Livonia, Gascony, Wales

but if there is 80%+ agreement on Syria (which I think is about right) then what is the 2nd most unimportant?

I vote for Clyde

North Africa is critical for control of the Straights of Gibraltar. I've had at least one game where control of North Africa was the key to a win.

Hel is important not because it's useful, but without it Germany is much weaker since Nth attacks Kiel.

I guess the point is that the map was created after years of game testing, and every province is important in some way.