West Balkans Expansion Discussion

[Aziz]

As far as I know not really, at least not for cargo, most if not all comes by ships, but if Iceland arrives, the jobs could be limited to the island. Since it's so remote, give it a different scale, like UK, and there's plenty of space to go around.

[JaDaKa]

It had been discussed in the near past and it was said most trucks in Iceland are rigids as well...
It would be nice ultimately but I think not a real priority now.

It is a bit off topic, I think once WB is out the next one should be Greece as the surrounding region will be pretty much done.
While that happens, the rest of the map rework teams should focus on Switzerland and Benelux and pave the way for the UK rework and the Ireland (etc) DLC.

[Shiva]

Mostly rigids?
Atleast the ships are loaded with semi trailers, that go to and from Iceland.
It is possible to transport truck and semi trailer combo. But that, I think is rare.

[xXCARL1992Xx]

put a dolly under it and you have a 25.25m combo and they should be allowed in Iceland also ?

[Shiva]

Yeah, if one can at the same time load a 20ft container or equivalent on the rigid.
https://transport-info.eu/Iceland
Max Height: 4.2M
Max Width: 2.55M (2.6M Fridge)
Max Length: Arctic - 18.75M / Road Train - 22M
Max Weight: 44000KG

Hmm, not sure a combo of 3x 20ft containers would work? Maybe, barely?

What is the long vehicle combos allowed in WB area?

[oldmanclippy]

This makes me wonder about the next rework: I expect Switzerland is now worked on, but what about the area after Switzerland? Normally I would say the Benelux, because it is also in the base map, and it also has a connection to the UK which should be reworked too. But with the upcoming West Balkans DLC we will have a huge quality gap in central Europe, due to the Going East DLC. So, I wouldn't be too surprised if after Switzerland the Going East DLC is reworked, despite it being a DLC and not part of the base map.

After we've seen them change course on the direction of ATS maps from Florida to the Great Lakes, I'd say that their previously stated rework strategy is now liable to change. I know I'd prefer to see Going East reworked after Switzerland and Northern Italy to get a nice high quality connection between RttBS/WB and BtBS.

That being said, I'd say it's still quite unlikely. But it would certainly be better for the map overall if they did Going East before Benelux or the UK.

[AlexxxF1]

yes, in ancient times the Slavs were pagans and used runes to communicate with each other, they had their own alphabet, otherwise how would they communicate with each other.

They obviously had a language just not a written form just like countless other ethnicities and cultures.Not sure they had a runic/hieroglyphic writing form but the Cyrillic is their first alphabet.

With the adoption of Orthodoxy, Cyrillic was also adopted from Byzantium, from the Eastern Roman Empire.

Well Cyrillic wasn't adopted by the ERE. They were using and speaking Greek as they were mainly Greeks. Both the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabets are its derivatives.

I think it's all much easier. and you are right, both Latin and Cyrillic, it all came with the spread of Christianity among the pagans.
Latin from the West Roman Empire along with Catholicism. Cyrillic from the East Roman Empire (Byzantium - the second Rome) along with Orthodoxy.

The church had no reason to keep pagan writings. Even more, all anything pagan was a danger to the church.
Therefore, all pagan monuments, temples, writings, alphabets were simply destroyed by the church.
The Church needed people, on the contrary, to accept Christianity as quickly as possible, so that they would forget about their pagan gods as much as possible, and that people would never return to paganism.

Great Moravia, the Celts, the Vikings, they were all pagans and had their own writing, alphabet before the advent of Christianity. runes or cuneiform.
Or the same Indians in North America, or natives in Australia they definitely didn’t have the Latin alphabet before 17th century, before the coming of Christians to their lands.
Until 1500-1600 years, they obviously somehow communicated with each other and somehow transmitted messages to other tribes. the alphabet can also be in the form of colored stones. or their own pagan's alphabet. wrote in the sand, on the bark of a tree. they had their own huge carved statues, their own music.

The map shows that the Latin alphabet coincides with Catholicism. and Cyrillic with Orthodoxy.
And in the north, where Christianity was one of the last, it turned out something in between Catholicism and Orthodoxy - Protestantism.
And in the north, something pagan still managed to survive. what the same runes or names of the Viking gods and their legends looked like.
and yes, some countries have switched from cyrillic to latin, for example like Kazakhstan in 2006 decided to switch from Cyrillic alphabet to Latin alphabet from 2025.

[ external image ]

[JaDaKa]

That's correct and there were customs in every ethnicity/culture that were oppressed due to the spread of Christianity etc, as it usually happens in similar cases.

What I object is that runes, hieroglyphics were only used by a "handful" of people; priests, the elite etc.
The alphabet which uses greek (or similar looking) characters is a lot easier to read and write, which it is very practical while it also allows to "build up" words and new meanings something which is harder when a symbol is equal to a whole meaning.
The evolution into a modern type of an alphabet became the better choice.

PS: Obviously I enjoy the topic and the conversation but I feel like it would suit more "General Discussion" rather than this thread..

[oldmanclippy]

I think one of the best parts about West Balkans will be that it will connect Istanbul with the rest of Europe more or less via motorways, from Istanbul to Sofia to Belgrade to Zagreb and onward. Unrealistic? Most certainly. Less of a pain compared to backtracking through Romania? Absolutely

Seriously though, getting to Istanbul is probably the biggest mixed bag in either game. It's a really cool city, one of my favorites in either game, and seeing all the tall buildings and cityscape is awesome after driving through the mostly rural eastern Balkans. But going back through Romania is a slog. I know this dead horse has been beaten so much over the past almost 3 years but still. Istanbul deserves to be well-connected. And while the most realistic way to do that would have necessitated Greece, West Balkans will be the next best thing. Same number of border crossings compared to going through Romania, assuming SCS implements Croatia properly.

Which brings me to a complaint with the blog screenshots that didn't click until now: the in-operation Slovenia-Croatia border crossing from pic 2. As far as I know, the proposed date of Jan 1 2023 for the abolition of Croatia's border crossings with Slovenia and Hungary is very likely to happen (well all we have to go off of at the moment is a comment from the Czech PM saying that they think the support is there to get them into Schengen, but of course Hungary might be a wild card). Either SCS knows this and is betting that it won't happen, or they don't know about it. Because if they are expecting those border crossings to not be functional IRL when West Balkans is released (or at least anticipating such a possibility), then why show off a blog screenshot that will need to be reworked before release? The reworks might be as simple as turning off all the lights and signals and removing some signs, or it could be as complex as removing the structure depending on how the border is handled IRL. I can't find anything about the fine details of the implementation. Either way, it does seem a bit weird to focus the one Slovenia screenshot that has been shown so far (that we know of) on something that might become outdated on the release date of the DLC.

[Aljaz]

I think this is the right answer :

The reworks might be as simple as turning off all the lights and signals and removing some signs...

I'm pretty sure border crossing infrastructure will not be demolished any time soon. Just take a look. Slovenia entered into the Schengen Area in December 2007. 14.5 years later some old police and customs infrastructure is still visible at border crossings with Austria, Italy and Hungary. I give you some examples:

SLO-AT
A1 highway, Šentilj (section Maribor-Graz): https://www.google.com/maps/@46.6894946 ... 312!8i6656
A2 highway, Hrušica/Karavanke tunnel (section Jesenice-Villach/Klagenfurt): https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4481708 ... 312!8i6656
Regional road 210, Jezersko (section Ljubljana-Klagenfurt): https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4188016 ... 312!8i6656
Ljubelj/Loibl pass - Austrian side only (section Ljubljana-Klagenfurt): https://www.mapillary.com/app/?lat=46.4 ... 957&zoom=0

SLO-ITA
A3 highway, Fernetiči (section Sežana-Trieste): https://www.google.com/maps/@45.7008921 ... 312!8i6656
H4 expressway, Vrtojba (section Nova Gorica-Gorica): https://www.google.com/maps/@45.9195129 ... 312!8i6656
Regional road 202, Rateče (section Jesenice-Tarvisio): https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4972458 ... 312!8i6656

SLO-HUN
H7 expressway, Dolga vas (section Lendava-Redics): https://www.google.com/maps/@46.5960752 ... 312!8i6656