I placed all the industries and most of the really high mountains for an added challenge. Michael emailed me the other day, and asked to have his version of the USA available for download. Luckily there are passageways throughout the water to aid you in your transportation career. Industries and towns are far apart, requiring some fancy landscaping to build routes between them. Shipping could be a valuable asset in a place like this.
Some areas are very difficult, others can be very easy.
Ships can easily be incorporated into your empire.