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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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Is Italy going to have mission tree?
It would make sense to have mission trees for some of the major formables, the way Bharat and Hindustan have one.
 
Oh yeah I very much think that the whole Ditchmarchen meme has gone to far. Ditchmarchen wasn't communist.

Let’s be honest, if it were serious Dithmarchen shouldn’t even be a tag, it should be a modifier that takes away a bunch of autonomy and local trade power until either an event or a decision allows you to send in the army and crush the rebellious peasants. With that in mind, I think we can accept it being a bit memey.
 
I love new mission trees. I am glad you are using your valuable dev time on this.

Please make sure that every country in Europe with at least 2-3 provinces has a nifty mission tree. OPMs would be a nice bonus, especially the Free Cities, which I hope will be considered for additional mechanics and gameplay features.

HRE countries that I most hope get some attention in your new expansion:
  1. Holland/Netherlands
  2. Brandenburg/Prussia
  3. Savoy
  4. Milan
  5. Switzerland
  6. Palatinate
  7. Lubeck/Hansa
 
Suggestion;

Brandenburg should have a mission or event to PU the Teutonic Order if/when they form Prussia. Historically the TO reformed in to Prussia, which was then inherited by BB. I wish this could be better reflected in game, though I understand that's probably much easier said than done considering the TO's starting position.
 
Suggestion;

Brandenburg should have a mission or event to PU the Teutonic Order if/when they form Prussia. Historically the TO reformed in to Prussia, which was then inherited by BB. I wish this could be better reflected in game, though I understand that's probably much easier said than done considering the TO's starting position.
Brandenburg has an event to form a PU with Prussia if they have 100 opinion of Brandenburg.
Edit: It has a mean time to happen of only 12 months, so it is almost guaranteed to happen if the conditions are met.
 
I would love to have some mission trees that are added to the base when certain events happen. For example, for Electors, for those who get a center of Reformation, become Defender of the Faith, become a Great Power etc. These would be permanent additions once the event triggered, and include a 'regain XXX' if the status was lost. Alternatively these could be worked into a tree generic to all European powers, and/or folks who had provinces in Europe as a Decision.
 
Prussia wasn't really a part of Germany until 1871. It was in the same situation as Hungary; A Kingdom held in personal union with a "lesser partner" within the HRE, but still not the dominant partner of the union. The main difference was that Prussia happened to have a lot of Germans and was eventually added to Germany in 1871.
There was no defined borders of Germany until 1871, and Prussia was certainly German.

So, to explain the best way I can, the Prussian Kingdom was similar to William the Conquerer’s situation, if a bit switched. He was King of England in his own right, yes, but he was Duke of Normandy under France. England and Normandy were a bit more geographically and culturally isolated than Prussia/Brandenburg, so it was a bit more separate governance in Will’s situation. But regardless, they were both the Independent Kings of Prussia and the HRE Princes of Brandenburg.
Yeah but the question wasn't the HRE it was Germany and Prussia was as much Germany as any place in this era.
 
My suggestion for the istrian gulf and venice island. Coastline is based on HOIV map which is the same used on EUIV.
Ofc It can be improved, but this way it is closer to reality than it is in 1.28.3

Venice.png
 
King in Prussia rather than King of Prussia.

That was because of the Poles. "Royal Prussia" (ingame the West Prussia area) was controlled by the Polish kings, so claiming to be the King of Prussia would've been seen as an affront against Warsaw. The Hohenzollerns stopped using "King in Prussia" starting in 1772 when most of Royal Prussia (excluding the city of Danzig) fell to them in the First Partition of Poland.

Still Brandenburg-Prussia was in a weird state of limbo until 1806, with the Hohenzollerns being de facto kings but de jure being nothing more than margraves when dealing with HRE stuff.

There was no defined borders of Germany until 1871, and Prussia was certainly German.

Borders of the German Confederation in 1815 (in red):

Map-GermanConfederation_de.svg


Prussia proper is not part of the German Confederation, however with the extension of the Confederation's borders in 1848 the entirety of the Prussian state, with the exception of the area surrounding Poznan/Posen, was added to the German Confederation.

And actually, Prussia wasn't even the only time a title outside the proclaimed territories of the HRE was chosen to not offend the Habsburgs. When the Dukes of Savoy wanted to be kings in the early 18th century, they took the title "Kings of Sardinia" because Sardinia was technically not part of what was legally considered Italy, while Savoy was. And while Italy had de facto long stopped being a part of the HRE, the local rulers still preferred to rpetend they still were when the French became to pushy.
 
There's still a long time before the release of our European expansion, so do let us know if there are any other minor nations you think are deserving of a little extra love.
I’d like to see Urbino (yes, I understand it’s Italian and not German like this DD) get some missions. It was a pretty famous for being a center of the renaissance and it’s condotierri as well. Savoy and S-P will also need some serious attention given that not only would they go on to unite Italy after the game’s timeline, but a fairly notable regional power during the timeline, particularly in the earliest wars against the first French Republic.
and various other territories the Wittelsbachs had once held (e.g. Brandenburg and the Netherlands).
Hopefully something is done with the Dutch Revolts so they are a bit more dynamic other than “if you aren’t Dutch or your Capital isn’t Dutch you get Rebels forever”.

Furthermore, Carthage Council of the Indies Government reform must be destroyed [or changed]
 
Hopefully something is done with the Dutch Revolts so they are a bit more dynamic other than “if you aren’t Dutch or your Capital isn’t Dutch you get Rebels forever”.

If I were paradox, I'd turn it into a disaster similar to "Emperor of China in name only". Though unlike triggering a disaster, it triggers the Netherlands declaring independence.
 
Prussia proper is not part of the German Confederation, however with the extension of the Confederation's borders in 1848 the entirety of the Prussian state, with the exception of the area surrounding Poznan/Posen, was added to the German Confederation.
And it was only for 3 years, as the decision was reversed in 1851 and all the lands added in 1848 were removed from the Confederation.

There was no defined borders of Germany until 1871, and Prussia was certainly German.

Yeah but the question wasn't the HRE it was Germany and Prussia was as much Germany as any place in this era.
I'm not disputing Prussia being German, but it wasn't necessarily part of Germany. For half of the game's time frame, it was considered a Polish fief, and it was not connected to the rest of Germany. One could say that it was made part of Germany after the First Partition of Poland in 1772, when it was physically connected to the rest of Germany, and it was definitely a part of Germany by 1867/1871.
I'm not sure why we're discussing Prussia btw. How about this: Bavaria was the first (modern) kingdom in modern day Germany.
 
If I were paradox, I'd turn it into a disaster similar to "Emperor of China in name only". Though unlike triggering a disaster, it triggers the Netherlands declaring independence.
How would that work? If you don’t own all of the Netherlands you get rebels?
 
As many others said, I'd like to see something for Lübeck (maybe shared with the other hanseatic cities). Other than that, I'd say Hanover/Westphalie, Swabia, maybe Palatinate or a common mission tree for the small theocratic electorates, and of course the unified Germany and HRE. Not mentioning the tags outside of modern Germany.
 
Interesting ideas. In particular, I am a bit curious about mentions of a "German Confederation." Will this be similar to the way the NGF/SGF works in Victoria (a formable tag tied to culture as a precursor to a united Germany), or will it be specific to a certain nation or nations? Also, do you have any information on how you are planning to divide up the new mission trees for the rest of Germany? Are you going to do it by culture (ex. "Westphalian missions")? By government type (ex. "Free City missions")?