EU4 - Development Diary - 14th of April 2020

[skylin]

Merchant republic stuff

Paradox seems hesitant to give much love to merchant republics because they actually used to be by far the best government in the game. I myself would constantly switch to a merchant republic through an old mechanic of taking both economic and trade ideas.

I guess they want to avoid them rising to such prominence again.

 

[Sergeant Major Gross]

On another note we´re less than a day away from another Dev Diary and so far only one question (about art) has been aswered by a dev in this thread

 

[Twoflower]

Yes I do mean the Bavarian Flanders swap with Austria which caused a coalition war which I forgot the name of. Some German name starting with an H or R I don't remember. I should remember, I read 500 pages of a 1400 page history book on Prussia not too long ago.

There were actually two crises in relatively short succession:

1. The War of Bavarian Succession of 1778. Elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria died in 1777 without a male heir, which marked the extinction of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs (one interesting side note: a main reason for the extinction of the Bavarian line was their immense success in getting non-inheriting sons elected as bishops, who obviously could not sire legitimate heirs). According to the dynastic treaties of the house of Wittelsbach, this meant that the Wittelsbach lands, split up since the Treaty of Pavia of 1329, were reunited under the remaining Palatine Wittelsbachs (which actually was the Pfalz-Neuburg branch which had gotten Jülich-Berg in the Kleve succession crisis and had inherited the Palatinate in 1690).
Since Austria was not particularly happy about another large, wealthy state on its doorstep and held something of a grudge against Bavaria because of the War of Austrian Succession of 1740 and because of the temporary loss of the imperial crown to Bavaria from 1742 - 1745, Emperor Joseph claimed Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate for Austria on more or less fuzzy grounds.
The new elector of Palatinate-Bavaria, Karl Theodor, wasn't actually that interested in Bavaria, and even less interested in a war with Austria, and therefore agreed to ceding the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria (though, notabene, not Upper Bavaria including the city of Munich) to Austria in exchange for some money and Habsburg "Further Austria" (Vorderösterreich, the scattered Habsburg possessions in Southern Swabia, including the cities of Freiburg and Constance).
This, however, prompted the intervention of Frederich the Great, who did not want to see his Austrian rivals expand and particularly did not want the Habsburgs to gain territories anywhere near the Hohenzollern margraviates of Ansbach and Bayreuth, which Brandenburg-Prussia was set to inherit.
Prussia, supported by most German princes, declared war on Austria and quickly invaded Bohemia. Due to abysmal weather, and because both Prussia and Austria did not really want a repeat of the Seven Years War, there was not much actual fighting, and the war was dubbed "Kartoffelkrieg" (potato war) by the Prussians and "Zwetschgenrummel" (plum squabble) by the Austrians, because it consisted mostly in the opposing armies commandeering food and supplies. This "War of Bavarian Succession" was quickly settled by the Peace of Teschen, with Austria gaining just a small portion of Lower Bavaria, the Innviertel. Perhaps the most significant historical impact of this war was that it made the most infamous son of the largest village of the Innviertel, Braunau am Inn, born a little more than a century later, an Austrian.

2. The Fürstenbund (League of Princes) of 1785. As it turned out, Karl Theodor really had no interest in Bavaria, he was quite unpopular with his new Bavarian subjects and he hated having to reside in Munich. Therefore, he was very open to Emperor Joseph's proposal of trading the whole of Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands. This would have resulted in a nice contiguous territory alongside his hereditary possessions in the Palatinate and Jülich-Berg, and there was a strong implication of an elevation to King of Burgundy.
Again, it was Frederick the Great who threw a wrench into this quite grandiose scheme. He formed the Fürstenbund, originally an alliance of the three major protestant states in the empire, Prussia, Hanover (ruled by the King of England) and Saxony, but which soon included basically most protestant princes of the empire and the catholic Archbishop of Mainz. The goal of this alliance (formed by the guy who had actually fought against the Holy Roman Empire in the Seven Years War) was to preserve the constitution and the territorial status quo in the empire.
This made Joseph and Karl Theodor give up on the exchange for the moment. By 1793, Frederick's successor, Frederick Wilhelm II, actually was willing to agree to the deal in exchange for Austria's support for the Second Partition of Poland. However, at that point, Austria was already no longer in control of the Austrian Netherlands.

TLDR: Now what does this mean for the game? There could be an event chain or decision modeling this (since territorial exchanges are not possible within the normal game mechanics). On the other hand, these were very specific conditions that happened quite late in the EU4 timespan - which would probably very hard to translate to a decision/event that works and makes sense in the game.

 

[Battlex]

There were actually two crises in relatively short succession:

1. The War of Bavarian Succession of 1778. Elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria died in 1777 without a male heir, which marked the extinction of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs (one interesting side note: a main reason for the extinction of the Bavarian line was their immense success in getting non-inheriting sons elected as bishops, who obviously could not sire legitimate heirs). According to the dynastic treaties of the house of Wittelsbach, this meant that the Wittelsbach lands, split up since the Treaty of Pavia of 1329, were reunited under the remaining Palatine Wittelsbachs (which actually was the Pfalz-Neuburg branch which had gotten Jülich-Berg in the Kleve succession crisis and had inherited the Palatinate in 1690).
Since Austria was not particularly happy about another large, wealthy state on its doorstep and held something of a grudge against Bavaria because of the War of Austrian Succession of 1740 and because of the temporary loss of the imperial crown to Bavaria from 1742 - 1745, Emperor Joseph claimed Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate for Austria on more or less fuzzy grounds.
The new elector of Palatinate-Bavaria, Karl Theodor, wasn't actually that interested in Bavaria, and even less interested in a war with Austria, and therefore agreed to ceding the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria (though, notabene, not Upper Bavaria including the city of Munich) to Austria in exchange for some money and Habsburg "Further Austria" (Vorderösterreich, the scattered Habsburg possessions in Southern Swabia, including the cities of Freiburg and Constance).
This, however, prompted the intervention of Frederich the Great, who did not want to see his Austrian rivals expand and particularly did not want the Habsburgs to gain territories anywhere near the Hohenzollern margraviates of Ansbach and Bayreuth, which Brandenburg-Prussia was set to inherit.
Prussia, supported by most German princes, declared war on Austria and quickly invaded Bohemia. Due to abysmal weather, and because both Prussia and Austria did not really want a repeat of the Seven Years War, there was not much actual fighting, and the war was dubbed "Kartoffelkrieg" (potato war) by the Prussians and "Zwetschgenrummel" (plum squabble) by the Austrians, because it consisted mostly in the opposing armies commandeering food and supplies. This "War of Bavarian Succession" was quickly settled by the Peace of Teschen, with Austria gaining just a small portion of Lower Bavaria, the Innviertel. Perhaps the most significant historical impact of this war was that it made the most infamous son of the largest village of the Innviertel, Braunau am Inn, born a little more than a century later, an Austrian.

2. The Fürstenbund (League of Princes) of 1785. As it turned out, Karl Theodor really had no interest in Bavaria, he was quite unpopular with his new Bavarian subjects and he hated having to reside in Munich. Therefore, he was very open to Emperor Joseph's proposal of trading the whole of Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands. This would have resulted in a nice contiguous territory alongside his hereditary possessions in the Palatinate and Jülich-Berg, and there was a strong implication of an elevation to King of Burgundy.
Again, it was Frederick the Great who threw a wrench into this quite grandiose scheme. He formed the Fürstenbund, originally an alliance of the three major protestant states in the empire, Prussia, Hanover (ruled by the King of England) and Saxony, but which soon included basically most protestant princes of the empire and the catholic Archbishop of Mainz. The goal of this alliance (formed by the guy who had actually fought against the Holy Roman Empire in the Seven Years War) was to preserve the constitution and the territorial status quo in the empire.
This made Joseph and Karl Theodor give up on the exchange for the moment. By 1793, Frederick's successor, Frederick Wilhelm II, actually was willing to agree to the deal in exchange for Austria's support for the Second Partition of Poland. However, at that point, Austria was already no longer in control of the Austrian Netherlands.

TLDR: Now what does this mean for the game? There could be an event chain or decision modeling this (since territorial exchanges are not possible within the normal game mechanics). On the other hand, these were very specific conditions that happened quite late in the EU4 timespan - which would probably very hard to translate to a decision/event that works and makes sense in the game.

Yeh does kinda sound more like an organic war of succession, or claiming the throne, but only taking some land due to low manpower on both sides

 

[Twoflower]

Yeh does kinda sound more like an organic war of succession, or claiming the throne, but only taking some land due to low manpower on both sides

Except that Austria did not contest the rights of the Palatine Wittelsbachs to Bavaria - it just "fabricated claims" (if you want to apply EU4 terms) on several Bavarian provinces - and that the war was not Austria against the Palatinate over a personal union with Bavaria, but Prussia against Austria over Austria gaining the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria in an exchange deal agreed between Austria and Palatinate-Bavaria.
It was a "War of Bavarian Succession" because Frederick the Great claimed to act in the interest of Karl Theodor's heir (i.e. the King of Prussia disputed Karl Theodor's right to deal away parts of his Bavarian lands).
All that said, I am not sure that the complexities of this historical anecdote need to be represented in EU4. EU4's organic war of succession probably come close enough to creating similar situations in-game.

 

[Twoflower]

Yeh does kinda sound more like an organic war of succession, or claiming the throne, but only taking some land due to low manpower on both sides

Except that Austria did not contest the rights of the Palatine Wittelsbachs to Bavaria - it just "fabricated claims" (if you want to apply EU4 terms) on several Bavarian provinces - and that the war was not Austria against the Palatinate over a personal union with Bavaria, but Prussia against Austria over Austria gaining the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria in an exchange deal agreed between Austria and Palatinate-Bavaria.
It was a "War of Bavarian Succession" because Frederick the Great claimed to act in the interest of Karl Theodor's heir (i.e. the King of Prussia disputed Karl Theodor's right to deal away parts of his Bavarian lands).
All that said, I am not sure that the complexities of this historical anecdote need to be represented in EU4. EU4's organic war of succession probably come close enough to creating similar situations in-game.

 

[rwglaub]

When will the launcher be fixed?

 

[grotaclas]

When will the launcher be fixed?

What problem do you have with the launcher? If you have problems with mods since the 2020.5 update yesterday, this thread might help you. If you have other problems it is best if you make a new post in the tech support forum

 

[rwglaub]

I have a game in progress with ET. When I click on resume, it does not launch. When I click on play, it does not launch. So much for a fix.

 

[Groogy]

Hey! I just want to let people know that today's development diary will be a bit late as I had the day off yesterday so I could participate in the Ludum Dare Game Jam.

I'm starting to write the DD right now

 

[grotaclas]

Ihave a game in progress with ET. When I click on resume, it does not launch. When I click on play, it does not launch. So much for a fix.

If you can activate ET in the launcher, you probably have a different problem than the people in the other thread. Please make a new thread in the tech support forum and explain what exactly happens when you try to launch the game.

 

[redlex]

Hey! I just want to let people know that today's development diary will be a bit late as I had the day off yesterday so I could participate in the Ludum Dare Game Jam.

I'm starting to write the DD right now

Good luck @Groogy, hope to read it before lunchtime, Cyrus was with you yesterday ?

 

[hop]

 

[Groogy]

Good luck @Groogy, hope to read it before lunchtime, Cyrus was with you yesterday ?

Yepp, Cyrus was Executive Producers of my game