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EU4 - Development Diary - 14th of May 2019

Welcome again to another EU4 Dev Diary. This week, I will be presenting a few of the German mission trees we have been working on that will come as paid content for those who buy the expansion that will accompany the large European update planned at the end of the year.

Our aim with the expansion is to provide the major powers of continental Europe (from Brest to Constantinople) with sizeable mission trees (15+ missions), adding to each country’s unique experience. These will be paid content. We also hope to (time permitting) add smaller, free mission trees of around 5-10 missions to various other interesting countries that, for one reason or another, we were unable to give full mission trees.

In the context of Germany (today, I speak of Germany in the modern sense of the word), Brandenburg-Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony have been given full mission trees, and we hope to add a few missions for the other regional formables (Franconia etc) and electors. I also hear @neondt has a soft spot for Dithmarschen, and certain other beloved minors may get some additions.

Now, onto those missions we’ve made.

NB: Most new missions presented have wip mission icons and will receive new ones before release.

Bavaria (available to Munich, Landshut, Ingolstadt and Bavaria)

Bavarian Missions.png


Bavaria already has a few free missions. These have been reworked a bit to reflect Bavaria’s new starting position and supplemented by a further 15 missions. In terms of conquests, the existing missions broadly focus on Bavaria’s historical gains over our time period, so the new missions go a bit further and represent the aims that a more successful Bavarian state may have had, giving you the chance to reclaim lands owned by the Bavarian stem duchy at its height (c. 975 AD) and various other territories the Wittelsbachs had once held (e.g. Brandenburg and the Netherlands). Furthermore, the new conquest mission tree includes the opportunity to request that the Emperor grant you the Palatinate’s elector status if you PU them (it also gives the appropriate CB to do so) and lets you set up your dynasty in Cologne.

Further branches of the new mission tree focus on developing your homelands and your nation’s capabilities, dealing with new ideas that might emerge among your subjects over the course of the game, and of course, assuming Bavaria’s rightful position among the states of Germany.


Saxony (available to Saxony and Thuringia)

Saxon Missions.png


Saxony had no country-unique missions. As one of the key powers of the HRE in the first half of our period, we decided to correct this and have added 16 new missions. The conquest missions focus, on the one hand, on avoiding the fragmentation with which they were beset in history and conquering lands that had once been part of the Saxon stem duchy (e.g. Brunswick, Westphalia), and on the other, on replicating the exploits of the likes of Frederick Augustus I, also known as Augustus II the Strong, who became the King of Poland-Lithuania as well as Prince-Elector of Saxony.

A further branch focuses on the prestige of the Prince-Elector and entails the foundation of Wittenberg University, winning the religious wars, spreading the dynasty far and wide (a branch of it still rules Britain under the name “Windsor”), and taking on the title of King.

Finally, the economic branch gives you the opportunity to change Dresden/Meissen’s trade good to porcelain, make Leipzig a centre of trade (it became an important commercial centre over this period) and industrialise Saxony.


Brandenburg-Prussia (available to Brandenburg and Prussia)

Brandenburg Missions.png


Like Bavaria, Brandenburg and Prussia already had a few missions. These have been incorporated into their new, larger mission tree, which focuses on the one hand on Prussia establishing itself as the preeminent German state, the unification Germany under them, and their conquests in the east; and on the other on replicating the feats of military organisation the Prussian state achieved in the 18th century, and generally on Prussia having the appearance as well as the military of a great power of Europe. Furthermore, in a tribute to alt-history, a couple of missions were dedicated to making a success of Brandenburg’s (historically abortive) colonial ambitions.

Note: The missions Army Reforms and An Army with a State only become available once Prussia is formed.

That’s it for today. Next week we’ll be back to map changes, with @Ofaloaf presenting the new-look Italy.
 
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My guess is August. I think the next one is Italy, then Italian missions, then France, then some more missions, then Balkans and finally Balkan missions. That would be 6 weeks. At that point, Summer vacations should start for PDS.
I think that France will be the last country (and you forgot Netherland + Burgundy). And Something tells me that it will takes a huge lot of DD just for France and its minors. IMO this Magna Europa DLC will be the huge Rework needed by France (major of majors in EUIV) and Italy and they should get way more attention that the HRE…. That needs a lot of attention since it wasnt reworked since Common Sense.
 
I think that France will be the last country (and you forgot Netherland + Burgundy). And Something tells me that it will takes a huge lot of DD just for France and its minors. IMO this Magna Europa DLC will be the huge Rework needed by France (major of majors in EUIV) and Italy and they should get way more attention that the HRE…. That needs a lot of attention since it wasnt reworked since Common Sense.
I forgot the Netherlands, yes. The order of the dev diaries and their exact content wasn't really my point though. They have at least 6 weeks worth of map and missions dev diaries. After that, they'll more or less close down for summer. Unless they post dev diaries from a Spanish beach, I'm expecting the mechanics dev diaries to start in or around August.
Why would France need a huge amount of dev diaries, though? If Germany only needed two, I don't think there is that much more to cover in France when it comes to maps and missions. The map is just one dev diary, and are there really any French countries that require huge mission trees other than France, Brittany and Burgundy? Maybe Provence/Anjou? Huge, fleshed out mission trees for French vassal states seems like a bit of a waste of time to me. Unless player controlled, they're only really there to keep France busy for a couple of decades. And you'll probably just form France if you start as one of them anyway.
For Italy, I can see more countries get missions (at least the big five), but the map updates would be quite limited, I think. At least compared to Germany and the Balkans. Probably France as well. Apart from Venice, Italy currently is one of the better parts of the EUIV map. I can see at most 15 provinces added to mainland Italy. Add 5 on the islands, and you're at 20 new provinces. More than that would be overkill for vanilla.
For mechanics, there might be more dev diaries for France and Italy, but that's later.
 
Paradox, I would like to point out that Austria's German name Österreich literally means "Eastern Realm" and so I propose that Austria be moved into the eastern technology group.
what
 
Well, it's quite obvious, Byzantium is really the Eastern Roman Empire, and it's in the Eastern Group and Westphalia is in the Western tech group, so logically, since Austria means Eastern Realm, it must be put into the eastern tech group. By extension, Norway must be put into the Northern Tech Group.
 
Well, it's quite obvious, Byzantium is really the Eastern Roman Empire, and it's in the Eastern Group and Westphalia is in the Western tech group, so logically, since Austria means Eastern Realm, it must be put into the eastern tech group. By extension, Norway must be put into the Northern Tech Group.
What tech group should the Netherlands be in?
 

The Eastern Realm is a natural fit for the eastern tech group, simple as that. Austria has long been distinguished by its ties to Eastern Europe...a case can be made that Austria is not Central Europe but in fact the northernmost country in the Balkans...it is rumoured that at one point Saints Cyril and Methodius were composing a form of Cyrillic adapted for Austrian-dialect German. Eastern tech also grants access to their vaunted cavalry models. Let the Austrian hussars charge to victory against the French and Ottomans!
 
The Eastern Realm is a natural fit for the eastern tech group, simple as that. Austria has long been distinguished by its ties to Eastern Europe...a case can be made that Austria is not Central Europe but in fact the northernmost country in the Balkans...it is rumoured that at one point Saints Cyril and Methodius were composing a form of Cyrillic adapted for Austrian-dialect German. Eastern tech also grants access to their vaunted cavalry models. Let the Austrian hussars charge to victory against the French and Ottomans!
what
 
Now that we're at it, could you guys finally fix the Elbe bug, it´s been there since you introduced canals, would greatly appreciate it ( and would lead to more players build the kiel canal)

For those who don't know: Once you finished building the Kiel canal the Elbe River makes a U-Turn leaving Hamburg and ending in Lauenburg, and even without the bug you can see how "crooked" the estuary is ( not being in a straight line, but going zig zag in Hamburg)

For reference I've put some screenshots up, of the Elbe Estuary and 2 other Estuaries, and a screenshot of the destroyed Estuary after building the canal.
 

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Well, you would think that by Hiram's first maxim it would be put into the low tech group, but I would propose that instead, as it was in control of the East Indies, the Netherlands rightfully belong in the eastern tech group.

What about the Aztecs?