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EU4 - Development Diary - 16th of February 2021

Hello everybody and welcome back to another EUIV dev diary and it has been a while for me!

Shortly before EUIV moved over to sunny Barcelona, I devoted some of my time to reworking Australia as I felt the current map of the continent was a bit lacking and very annoying to own what with all these little unconnected islands amidst the wasteland. On top of that, the continent being an entirely uncolonized block of nothing before colonialism seems a little inaccurate, given how lively the continent actually was before the Europeans arrived.

So, first thing to note is that Australia is now entirely connected through colonisable provinces, with the great Pilbara now connecting the north and west of Australia.
20210215172646_1.jpg

Another important rework comes in the form of the new states Australia now enjoys. What I wanted out of this is I wanted Australia to be on par with the other colonial regions in the game in terms of province count and strategic importance.
20210215170805_1.jpg

When shaping the states and provinces, I wanted to hit a nice balance between pre and post colonial Australian borders, so state borders are largely determined by colonial Australian state boundaries, while provinces are more determined by the distribution of Aboriginal peoples. All provinces also have both their Aboriginal and colonial names depending on who owns the province.
1613408346626.png

The Australian Gold Rush can now be yours, with Australian provinces enjoying a high chance of gold and some provinces in the south having a chance for gems, and a few key provinces able to produce coal.
20210215172855_1.jpg

Next, I’ll highlight some of the playable nations down under. Up north we have the Larrakia Federation composed of all of the top-end nations you see here, with Larrakia and Tiwi enjoying a unique set of national ideas. The Larrakia federation was responsible for much of pre-colonial Australia’s wealth through trade with the Makassarians. This trade also brought with it some Islamic influences, though the Aboriginal people of Australia never fully converted.
20210215170717_1.jpg

LAR_ideas = {
start = {
global_trade_power = 0.1
trade_efficiency = 0.1
}

bonus = {
global_ship_trade_power = 0.2
}

trigger = {
tag = LAR
}
free = yes #will be added at load.

LAR_makassar_trade = {
merchants = 1
global_foreign_trade_power = 0.1
}
LAR_federation = {
diplomatic_upkeep = 2
}
LAR_dreaming = {
global_autonomy = -0.05
}
LAR_dowed = {
legitimacy = 1
republican_tradition = 0.2
global_unrest = -1
}
LAR_ceremonial_scarring = {
shock_damage = 0.1
}
LAR_hospitality = {
diplomatic_reputation = 2
}
LAR_kenbi_land_claim = {
core_creation = -0.15
}
}

TIW_ideas = {
start = {
female_advisor_chance = 0.75
shock_damage_received = -0.2
}

bonus = {
leader_land_shock = 1
}

trigger = {
tag = TIW
}
free = yes

TIW_yiminga = {
may_recruit_female_generals = yes
global_manpower_modifier = 0.2
}
TIW_dreaming_totem = {
tolerance_own = 2
}
TIW_kulama = {
production_efficiency = 0.1
}
TIW_purrukapali = {
naval_tradition_from_battle = 0.5
}
TIW_marriage = {
heir_chance = 0.5
global_unrest = -1
}
TIW_isolationism = {
land_morale = 0.1
}
TIW_one_people = {
culture_conversion_cost = -0.25
}
}

Moving along down south we have the Eora people, the original inhabitants of the Sydney area.
EOR_ideas = {
start = {
diplomatic_reputation = 1
light_ship_power = 0.15
}

bonus = {
num_accepted_cultures = 2
}

trigger = {
tag = EOR
}
free = yes

EOR_lifestyle = {
naval_morale = 0.15
}
EOR_bands = {
state_maintenance_modifier = -0.25
}
EOR_enduring = {
religious_unity = 0.25
tolerance_heathen = 1
}
EOR_protect = {
manpower_recovery_speed = 0.1
global_sailors_modifier = 0.1
}
EOR_sacred = {
own_coast_naval_combat_bonus = 1
}
EOR_pemulwuy = {
land_morale = 0.15
}
EOR_berewaldal = {
merchants = 1
global_foreign_trade_power = 0.1
}
}

The Kaurna people, first inhabitants of Adelaide.
KAU_ideas = {
start = {
female_advisor_chance = 0.75
global_tax_modifier = 0.3
}

bonus = {
development_cost = -0.1
}

trigger = {
tag = KAU
}
free = yes

KAU_totemic_matriarchy = {
may_recruit_female_generals = yes
tolerance_own = 2
}
KAU_pangkarra = {
governing_capacity_modifier = 0.1
}
KAU_coastal_pangkarra = {
global_ship_trade_power = 0.2
}
KAU_redgum_shelters = {
build_cost = -0.15
}
KAU_communal_ownership = {
global_unrest = -2
}
KAU_old_tjilbruke = {
stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
reform_progress_growth = 0.15
}
KAU_south_australia_act = {
core_creation = -0.2
}
}

Palawa, first people of Tasmania.
PLW_ideas = {
start = {
stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
land_morale = 0.1
}

bonus = {
monarch_military_power = 1
}

trigger = {
tag = PLW
}
free = yes #will be added at load.

PLW_oyster = {
production_efficiency = 0.1
}
PLW_dual_identity = {
legitimacy = 1
num_accepted_cultures = 1
}
PLW_darwin = {
shock_damage = 0.2
}
PLW_parlevar = {
ae_impact = -0.15
}
PLW_writers = {
technology_cost = -0.1
}
PLW_survivors = {
fire_damage = 0.1
}
PLW_enduring = {
manpower_recovery_speed = 0.25
}
}

Kamilaroi, one of the most populated collective of Australian nations.
GMI_ideas = {
start = {
land_morale = 0.1
shock_damage = 0.1
}

bonus = {
land_forcelimit_modifier = 0.33
}

trigger = {
tag = GMI
}
free = yes #will be added at load.

GMI_sacred_caves = {
core_creation = -0.15
}
GMI_land_of_languages = {
num_accepted_cultures = 2
}
GMI_fertile_soils = {
development_cost = -0.1
}
GMI_dhulu = {
diplomats = 1
envoy_travel_time = -0.25
}
GMI_matrilineal_lineage = {
legitimacy = 1
republican_tradition = 0.2
female_advisor_chance = 0.5
}
GMI_familial_law = {
global_autonomy = -0.05
}
GMI_red_kangaroo = {
global_unrest = -2
}
}

I would have loved to have made ideas for all nations in Australia, but alas time was not on my side there so if you do not have unique ideas, you will get the shared Aboriginal Ideas.
generic_aboriginal_ideas = {
start = {
tolerance_own = 1
stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
}

bonus = {
shock_damage = 0.1
}

trigger = {
culture_group = aboriginal_australian
}
free = yes

aborig_art = {
prestige = 1
}
aborig_fire_stick_farming = {
development_cost = -0.1
}
aborig_walkabout = {
movement_speed = 0.1
}
aborig_outback = {
land_attrition = -0.1
}
aborig_sacred = {
global_tax_modifier = 0.1
}
aborig_dreamtime = {
religious_unity = 0.2
}
aborig_music = {
improve_relation_modifier = 0.2
}
}

But Aboriginal culture is not a single monolithic entity, so it has been divided into its own group. If we were being entirely accurate about this, almost all provinces in Australia would be their own culture, so some generalization has been done for gameplay purposes.
20210215173636_1.jpg

On top of all these new nations, the Aboriginal Australians also have access to the new Alcheringa religion! Most commonly known to colonizers as “Dreamtime”, Alcheringa refers to the vast distinct religions found among the Australian population. Though each people usually have their own distinct faith, most Australian faiths have a concept of “Dreamtime” or “The Dreaming”, a time of myth and legend that simultaneously occurred in the distant past and continues to occur around us every day.
20210215173412_1.jpg

Every Aboriginal people has their own pantheon of gods and “Dreaming Stories”. Alcheringa uses a system similar to the Fetishist cult system, with new stories becoming unlocked via missions.

These missions vary in what you must do, from defeating enemies in battle, to building an oceangoing vessel for the first time, to turning the Makassar trade on its head and dominating trade in the Moluccas.

The Aboriginals also enjoy all new unit models.
image (21).png


That’s all for this week, hope you all enjoy my last hurrah of EUIV content.
 
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in eu 5 i hope we can colonize primitve provinces. something like a double ownership. inluding conflicts. double ownership would also be a solution for trade companies. you do not buy a province, only a part of it. and you do not (have to) conquer provinces directly, you only force your own trading city. something like an megacorp slot in stellaris.

just brainstorming.
Buying “trade rights” for a specific province or something like that, where you get the trade power (and production benefits maybe) of a given province without outright ownership, so the owner still gets that province’s tax and manpower. That would be cool too.

Protectorates did something like that, but with entire nations, too bad they were removed.
 
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Just want to say that I haven't played EU4 in a long time, and mostly played American tribal nations / colonies which I thought was great at the time. I often play "weak" - as in starting as weak, bad technology etc so to see Aboriginal nations popping up is exciting even if I'm probably going to be crushed to death from colonisers.
 
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As a resident of Wollongong which was recently lumped together with Sydney by the NSW government for Covid lockdown purposes, words cannot express how glad I am to see Sydney and Canberra finally bow to the might of the Glorious (and Totally Real) State of the Illawarra!
 
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Then they would not really be colonists any more.
In the end colonization is something to do apart from conquest, but with more and more native tags it gets displaced by simple conquest which is already a solution to nearly everything.

To be more concrete, with this change there is no need anymore to colonize Australia, or at least to do it yourself. You can simply conquer the 5 tribes in north Australia (easy as all are costal and thus can be cored at the same time) which is enough to create a colonial nation which will colonize the rest.
Even if someone else colonizes Australia "the normal way", because that takes so much longer by the time this colonial nation gets created the one who did so through conquest will have a huge headstart and will easily be able to win a colonial war.

And this is the case for most colonial regions. I think only the Caribbean, Brazil and La Plata you actually have to colonize instead of just conquering enough to get a colonial nation.

Creating tags everywhere simply destroys the complete colonial game system or at least devalues it a lot.
I think you are missing the point that there was never any such thing as "normal colonisation". Nobody colonised anywhere that humans were not already inhabiting to some degree. In this case, colonists become something like the "influencers" that you find in games such as Pride of Nations, which allows 'advanced' nations to improve the infrastructure and technology (in the widest sense) of peoples living in places of political or strategic interest to them in return for influence, culminating in power over them. Along the way, colonists are sent out as specialists, developers and purchasers of land to develop in 'advanced' ways. It has never been that there was no political structure at all present before this process started; it's just that factors like disease, displacement and the powerful cultural influence of more concentratedly materialist societies are naturally corrosive to those structures.
 
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Those are valid concerns, but it seems to me that a better solution than just making much of the (inhabited) world colony-fodder would be to give some other role to colonists. Imagine, perhaps, some other form of diplomatic deal - similar in concept to transferring trade power or military access - that allows colonists to be assigned to culture-convert provinces in exchange for technological help and/or protective alliance. Maybe call it "protectorate"...
We had protectorates before but they got ripped out
 
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@Meka66
Oceania Expanded is a great mod, reading the topic I discovered that you are the creator, haha, so, your update in Australia will probably be good and fun.
Some chance for a Wiradjuri tag? I had the impression that Wiradjuri and Bathurst War are relatively famous.
Thanks for the work.
 
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An article not long after the game came out labeled it a Genocide Simulator, and while one may quibble the point, the treatment of indigenous or aboriginal people as hostile barbarians only fit to be attacked or assimilated certainly wasn't a point in Europa Universalis' favor.
One can eradicate cultures in this game and many other Paradox games. It's a very popular feature. This can also be correctly called genocide. But you haven't complained about that. I personally think either both of it is ok, or none of it. Accordingly I'd rather have the old colonisation areas back, just like I don't want the change culture feature removed.
 
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Old colonization areas being empty remove replayability value, believe it or not there are a non-insignificant number of players that like to frequently play tribal nations.
 
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Old colonization areas being empty remove replayability value, believe it or not there are a non-insignificant number of players that like to frequently play tribal nations.

Really? I player at least half a dozen games as a custom nation in the New World, as Mayans, Aztecs, Incans and NA tribes and I never thought to myself that the game would be much better if all the empty areas were instead colonized.

As a matter of fact, starting in regions surrounded by OPMs makes the game a hell of a lot easier than not having those nations around because they quickly increase your development and give you cash injection after each war. What they also do is make colonization more tedious (having to declare the at on all of the OPMs that exist solely to be conquered).
 
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Still much weaker than what you can get with Protestantism, Reformed or Orthodoxy.
I don't understand what's your complaint here.
I don't understand why the "disagree"s what are you disagreeing about?

If you want me to elaborate on why those religions are better than Alcheriga, here's why:
+15% tax and +25% relationship improvment
vs
+1 diplo rep -5% shock damage recieved
These are more or less balanced depending on your playstyle.

But then, with Alcheringa you can only choose 1 story, while protestants can choose 3 aspects.

Stability:
-2 unrest
vs
-1 unrest, -10% stability cost and +0.25 Yearly Legitimacy

Military
+10% land morale, +5% army speed
vs
+5% land morale, +5% Naval Morale, +2.5% discipline and +10% manpower recovery.

Economy:
-5% development cost, -10% construction cost,
vs
-5% development cost, +10% production efficiency, -5% idea cost

Unless Alcheringa can unlock some absolutely broken stories as the game goes on, Protestantism beats Alcheringa at any of these cathegories.
+1 possible advisors,+2 tolerance of heretics
vs
-5% shock damage recieved, +1 diplo rep
Yes, Alcheringa has a slight edge here, but it doesn't compare to the imense disadvantage they have in mechanics

Stability:
-2 unrest
vs
-2 unrest, +1 diplo rep

Military
+10% land morale, +5% army speed
vs
+10 land morale, +10% naval morale

Economy:
-5% development cost, -10% construction cost,
vs
+10% trade power, +10% trade efficiency

The only one that can be argued about is the economic one, otherwise Reformed is undeniably superior to Alcheriga, and what's more? You can easily keep the 2 economic focus on at all times, and only raise the military one during wars, so Reformed is Multiple times superior to Alcheriga.
-10% stability
+1 Tolerance of true faith
vs
+1 diplo rep
-5% shock damage recieved
again, slight edge on Alcheriga untill we get to mechanics:


Stability:
-2 unrest
vs
-3 unrest, -25% harsh treatment cost

Military
+10% land morale, +5% army speed
vs
+5% discipline, +10% manpower recovery

Economy:
-5% development cost, -10% construction cost,
vs
-10% development cost, -10% construction cost

Holy heck, Orthodox icons are indisputably, objectively superior to Alcheriga stories in every way, not to mention the absolutely broken provincial modifiers such as -3 unrest and +33% manpower

Alcheriga is definitely not "too strong", It's "above average" at best, and only because there are still religions without mechanics such as animism, judaism and Zoroastrianism lowering the bar. Comparing it to the ones with actual mechanics and its perfectly average. No better than Hinduism, Sikhism or any Muslim faith.

And why shouldn't they be as good as the Western/Middle-Eastern/Asian ones? I can understand the complaints about Aboriginal national ideas being too good compared to some other nations, or lacking historical justification to be that good. But as far as religion is concerned you simply cannot make any objective claim that X religion deserves better bonii than Y. And you can pretty much justify any bonus for any religion, so their bonii are perfectly fine.

In fact, the devs claimed they want to give strong bonii to some tags to make them more appealing for player and/or reward dificult starting positions, but i belive Religion and Missions are best answer for this. Religion/Unique goverment reforms ought to attract the player to play said tags and the Missions would reward them from pulling it off.
 
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Really? I player at least half a dozen games as a custom nation in the New World, as Mayans, Aztecs, Incans and NA tribes and I never thought to myself that the game would be much better if all the empty areas were instead colonized.
I am refering to old versions of the game where there existed much more empty land and less tags in certain parts of map, the old game had less replayability value compared to the game today, before CoP and El Dorado dlcs was impossible to have a fun game in Americas for example, before the first free sub-Saharan Africa update some years ago was impossible to have a fun Kongo early game in Central Africa, etc.
I am not saying that all empty provinces should have OPMs, in my opinion the basic EU4 game mechanics don't support this situtation very well.
The best case scenario for EU4 is a middle ground between these 2 extremes, the region must have enough tags to give to the player something to do until the point where he can interact with the rest of the world but can't have a inflated number of OPMs because this make the region a cakepiece or a chore.
 
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The cultural assimilation feature is one of many options in dealing with different culture provinces, and can represent many things, not all of which fall under the destruction of the relevant culture (it can simply represent a change in what the majority or predominant culture in a region is, since EU does not represent minorities). And of course, that option remains available for every country, including any country that replaces the old gray zones, which can still be culturally assimilated, so it's not like you can do things to Europeans that you can't do to Natives.

In the "gray" provinces, mass killings and assimilation are literally the only two ways of interacting with the inhabitants. Trying to say that's equivalent to the above is really nonsensical. It's a frankly horrible system. It's also highly inaccurate to the timeline, where complex webs of alliances, negotiations, rivalries and conflict were the norm between Europe and Indigenous people - and reflects a more Victorian era perception of natives.
 
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The cultural assimilation feature is one of many options in dealing with different culture provinces, and can represent many things, not all of which fall under the destruction of the relevant culture (it can simply represent a change in what the majority or predominant culture in a region is, since EU does not represent minorities). And of course, that option remains available for every country, including any country that replaces the old gray zones, which can still be culturally assimilated, so it's not like you can do things to Europeans that you can't do to Natives.

In the "gray" provinces, mass killings and assimilation are literally the only two ways of interacting with the inhabitants. Trying to say that's equivalent to the above is really nonsensical. It's a frankly horrible system. It's also highly inaccurate to the timeline, where complex webs of alliances, negotiations, rivalries and conflict were the norm between Europe and Indigenous people - and reflects a more Victorian era perception of natives.
You can twist it any way you want, but replacing one culture with another, even if the original culture would not be eradicated 100%, still falls under the definition of genocide. Besides, the idea that the previous culture becomes a minority is your own fantasy, but not what happens in the game. You could also imagine that the options in colonisable provinces are just "turning people into minorities", but there it mysteriously becomes something bad for you.
Like I said, either both of it is ok, or none of it.
 
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You can twist it any way you want, but replacing one culture with another, even if the original culture would not be eradicated 100%, still falls under the definition of genocide.
How? Genocide, by definition and etymology, involves killing people. Lots of people. Because of their genes (who they are, not what they have done). Changing their culture might just mean (re-)educating them or teaching them a different language. There's plenty in that to dislike and disagree with, but it's not genocide. Killing them or letting them die of the hardships you inflict is genocide.
 
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Both of you are wrong about the definition of that word, but as this is not a legal debate on the matter and this has no bearing on the actual point, I'll let that stand.

The actual point, and the main problem, which redsimon isignoring, is that culture change is one option out of many to deal with wrong culture provinces. Whatever that option represent, that's what it is: one option. You can interact with those provinces without changing their culture at all.

With the gray provinces, mass killing or forced culture change are literally the only two ways to interact with the natives. You don't get any option other than to remove them from the map. If you want any sort of interaction with the province (ie, anything other than leaving it empty and ignoring it), you have to make the natives disappear.

These are not the same. Claiming they are is an outright false equivalency. (And spare me "this is historical". It's in no way, form or shape an accurate representation of Native-European relations, even from the European perspective, in the vast majority of the EU time period. It's at best a very, very simplified take on Native perception by Europeans in the Victoria time period)
 
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e.g. France as recently as the last century had examples of "culture conversion" where regional dialects and traditions were banned from schools and in public. Not pleasant but a long way short of genocide.
 
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Buying “trade rights” for a specific province or something like that, where you get the trade power (and production benefits maybe) of a given province without outright ownership, so the owner still gets that province’s tax and manpower. That would be cool too.

Protectorates did something like that, but with entire nations, too bad they were removed.
Bengal-English events gave England a trade modifier in the delta, but Bengal got institution spread.
How? Genocide, by definition and etymology, involves killing people. Lots of people. Because of their genes (who they are, not what they have done). Changing their culture might just mean (re-)educating them or teaching them a different language. There's plenty in that to dislike and disagree with, but it's not genocide. Killing them or letting them die of the hardships you inflict is genocide.
It's cultural genocide but not actual genocide. In paradox games it always is the thing you're removing cultures rather than making an ethnically homogenous land
 
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Not anymore.

In 1.30 Judaism is followed by Semien and Dembiya in Ethiopia, and Zoroastrianism only in Yazd, but in 1.31 a second Zoroastrian Province is being added in Gujarat. And given that Indian Sultanates have big tolerance buffs, it is a lot more likely for that province to stick around into the mid and late game, while Yazd and the Jewish provinces are probably going to get converted pretty quickly.

You also have to take into account that the dev actually really liked Zoroastrianism because of Hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are cool.
Fair.