europa-universalis-iv
How does the game compute the nearest unblockaded core province with a port? I am playing as Ming and have cored and colonized Midway islands (picture below). However, the game still says my closest unblockaded core is in Gubbi Gubbi (Australia). How is this computed and why is Midway Islands not my closest port?
There's no easy way to find a specific country in the country selection unless it is listed as an interesting nation (listed at the bottom, see red freehand circle #1) or you have prior knowledge of the country's history and geography at the chosen game start time. If it's not listed as an interesting nation and you don't know where it is, the easiest way is to simply Google it. In case its location has changed over time (such as Ghana), you might have to read some history to find it.
To help your specific case, Timbuktu is an inland province in Mali on the border of Songhai (red freehand circle #2).
If you scroll down on the countries page of the eu4 wiki there is a table of coutries and their corresponding capitals.
Along with their tag, government, tech group, religion and culture.
Best Answer
You need a) a core and b) a dock (or any better port). Since you cored it, you probably forgot to construct a port in Midway.
The calculation is the same as the distance measurement used for sea attrition. I am not certain if it is affected by trade winds, that could be another reason.
(In older versions you could also rent port access from another country, iirc, but that was removed around 1.5-ish.)