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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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Oh yeah I very much think that the whole Ditchmarchen meme has gone to far. Ditchmarchen wasn't communist.
 
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I really hope the dev team will focus more on missions that aren't the usual "conquer X" or "subjucate Y" which can get pretty boring.
Wholeheartedly agree. Those missions are kinda boring and can ruin diplomacy some times. We need different bonuses, the one of Poland are rather cool. (UP, Vassalization, dev)
 
Nothing bad about this content, but I hope to see substantial changes to this update than more provinces and missions... they really are a lazy path of least resistance, easy enough for a single modder to complete in a few days.

Though on the subject of simple and easy changes, could Paradox please put Breton and Albanian into the Celtic and Byzantine groups respectively? Not to mentioned the sheer silliness of having Karelian and Finnish in separate groups.
 
Is Hungary included in the scope of the DLC? I'd very much like for the situation of the central European powers to be reviewed.
Mostly, I'd just like for Hungary and Poland to be set as historical friends, and development revisions, because I feel that both Hungary and the Ottomans are way too weak currently.
 
I mean... AI Ottomans tends to be a crapshoot between Holding On and tearing apart like tissue paper. So I can see them labeled as Too Weak because of that. The AI just doesn't seem good at managing itself after easy conquests through Levant, Arabia, and Serbia play out. They seldom seem in danger of disappearing entirely but they definitely do hit a wall where more aggressive AIs start plinking them apart like the Timurids.

Least when I'm watching the Runs and removed enough not to be involved directly in what's going on.
 
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True enough Brandenburg should be reformed not Protestant and only by the union with Prussia should they become Protestant and even then the royal family remained calvinist while being the head of religion for a protestant state..

I‘m sure reformed with +2 Tolerance of heretics(of reformed) and Prussian NI will be enough. No Protestant!
 
Huh?
Bavaria was the leader of the Catholic Union, it obtained an electorate as a result of the Thirty Year War, it was Louis XIV's main ally in the Empire and a big player in the War of Spanish Succession, it obtained the emperorship briefly in 1742 and tried to take over the Kingdom of Bohemia, it was united with the Palatinate and Jülich-Berg in 1777, expanded massively (taking over, to use the new map presented in last week's dev diary, the provinces of Augsburg, Regensburg, Ansbach, Nürnberg, Würzburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth and Achaffenburg) and became a kingdom in the Napoleonic Wars.

We might have a different definition of important. Taking over the mentioned provinces is not what I call massive expansion but rather as infighting with other local minor powers. Becoming a Kingdom by Bonapartes grace is hardly an achievement, fighting in the war of succession and getting forced out of it in 1704 (in a war from 1701 to 1714) hardly qualifies for me as a major player in the war.

I am fine with Bavaria getting a mission tree in general, I do however feel that they (as does Dithmarschen) get priority over other more important parts and the way the Dev diary reads is that the named 4 are the only ones getting a full tree, with some missions for other formables. This is, to say the least, very disappointing.
 
Wouldnt it be cool to have a mission about an alliance between Bavaria and France? IRL a long standing one existed (from the end of the 30YW until Napoleon..) and aimed to protect Bavaria against Austria mainly, then Prussia, and for France to keep influence in the HRE, and contain Austria.

Climbing to 80 Trust or Something like that would grant some bonuses. For instance :
-better relations with the electors for Bavaria; +1 diplo relation (to increase the chance of Bavaria being the Emperor, which happened in 1742 with the support of French King Louis XV)
- Prosperity / Yearly prestige for France and some dev bonus (for the Bavarian Queen and princesses and their influence on Paris); and maybe some military bonuses has it seems to me that soldier from Bavaria were third only to Scottish and Swiss in the French royal army

That sounds like a nice idea, although I would add Mali to that as well, reducing the opinion of other electors (who have a negative opinion of France) of Bavaria.
 
Just as I said in the Imperator thread about NIs, I'm just dropping here to tell how I dislike mission trees as some cheap ways to "differentiate" countries and give them bonuses coming from thin air in the context of the game.

I can now leave you to your celebration of "flavour" and "historical accuracy".
 
Im happy that you created three German Mission trees, but in my opinion you forgot two Nation which should get relativly large focus trees. One is Lübeck where you should be able to rebuild the Hanse and be able to expand into america ( German colonial power ).

The other one should be Württemberg ( Swabia ). Swabia should be a formable Nation , and because it had two relatively Influential Emperor ( Friedrich I Barbarossa / Friedrich II). My suggetion would be after you have formed Swabia ( by conquering upper and lower swabia) you can create the house of Württemberg-Hohenstaufen. the Mission tree after this desicion should be first you take your old land back ( Sundgau , Baden , the eastern Swiss land ,) you should have Mission to reclaim the allemmain states and expand into italy. After your Expansion into italy you are faced with the desicion to either support the legacy of Barbarossa by conquering the holy land and be the leader of the catholic league or Support the legacy of Friedrich II
and crush the papacy.

In my opinion These Focus trees would make an great Addition to the ones you created.

(sry for my bad english)