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EU4 - Development Diary - 17th March 2016

Hi everyone and welcome to another development diary for Europa Univeralis IV.


Today we will be covering a much-anticipated mechanic. For times where a nation you love is being attacked and you are unable or unwilling to sign an alliance or when you simply want to make your idle standing army work for their bread, we introduce Condottieri.

Condottieri DD 01.jpg


Condottieri are armies which you have rented out to other nations in exchange for money. Condottieri armies will remain in control of the nation who has offered them but they will fight and die for their recipient country marking their recipient’s enemies as their own.


When renting out your army as Condottieri, you are able to negotiate the fee for your services, which is set as a multiple of their monthly maintenance, from 0x all the way up to 5x, with the first 18 months paid upfront. If you are confident that you are leaving behind enough of a garrison, you can send out a sizable amount of your army, up to 20 units (increased by +available mercenary ideas) to earn money for you on the battlefield.


Once rented out, Condottieri will be hostile to the recipient’s enemies and will be able to fight and siege in the name of the paying nation. They will also have the military access which their recipient country has but these enemies will have access to the Condottieri’s homelands too, so they cannot simply seek refuge at home. In addition to the fee that you have charged your recipient country, your units will also gain 50% more prestige and army tradition for fighting as Condottieri.

Condottieri DD 02.jpg


After 18 months have passed, either side may cancel the arrangement and the troops will go back to being a regular army. The agreement can remain for as long as both parties are satisfied. Naturally, should a nation find themselves at war with a nation who is renting their Condottieri, the contract will be cancelled. Furthermore, if the paying country finds themselves at peace, they can end the contract before the 18 months are up.

More to come next week!
 
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I hope AI will also use this in proper way, not like forts...
Unless goal is to make game even easier for player...
 
Condottieri looks great! But I have one question. If I'll give my troops as Condottieri to other nation and my armies will suffer casualties in battle and, because I have manpower, I will be reinforcing my army, will I get extra coins for additional costs of maintenance? What I mean is, if you suffer casualties, your armies cost more to maintenance than armies that suffered no casualties. Will Condottieri take this fact into account or not? If no, then one should think if Condottieri are really profitable as you need to send them to fight to be useful, but because of casualties in battle you'll need to pay additional maintenance for reinforcing. If yes on the other hand, it will mean that burning manpower thanks to Condottieri might be easy way to gain fast cash.
 
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Looks good to me. A question: If I can afford it in long-term, can I simply offer my divisions for free, as a strategic matter? Think of this as military aid, especially if I wish to redress the balance of power in continental Europe in my favor while playing England / Britain and wish to focus on colonizing and expansion outside the Europe.
 
Looks good to me. A question: If I can afford it in long-term, can I simply offer my divisions for free, as a strategic matter? Think of this as military aid, especially if I wish to redress the balance of power in continental Europe in my favor while playing England / Britain and wish to focus on colonizing and expansion outside the Europe.

Yes, the lowest maintenance modifier is 0.
 
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Does this take up a relation slot?
 
People thinking this feature is OP, think about the loss of manpower and the distance between your army and your country when someone declares war on you.


I really like this feature, as it is something more than warsubsidies, but less than declaring war. But I do have some questions, can you rent out a fleet as well?

And can you rent out 20k max, or per country. So for example Switzerland can rent out 20k to the Netherlands and an additional 20k to France?
 
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People thinking this feature is OP, think about the loss of manpower and the distance between your army and your country when someone declares war on you.


I really like this feature, as it is something more than warsubsidies, but less than declaring war. But I do have some questions, can you rent out a fleet as well?

And can you rent out 20k max, or per country. So for example Switzerland can rent out 20k to the Netherlands and an additional 20k to France?
According to DDRJake earlier we cannot rent navies. But other than that I wholeheartedly agree with you. It looks awesome and people decrying it as OP seem like they aren't really thinking of all the implications with fighting someone else's war.

I'm excited for this, and it will be fun in multiplayer once in a while throwing a 20k stack at my friends just to mess with them
 
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People thinking this feature is OP, think about the loss of manpower and the distance between your army and your country when someone declares war on you.


I really like this feature, as it is something more than warsubsidies, but less than declaring war. But I do have some questions, can you rent out a fleet as well?

And can you rent out 20k max, or per country. So for example Switzerland can rent out 20k to the Netherlands and an additional 20k to France?
It's uber-OP for OP nations. They have the biggest armies, the endless merc pool, and now other nations' armies.
 
Will this system end up like loans, and countries only accept the offers if they are DESpERATE for troops?
 
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It's uber-OP for OP nations. They have the biggest armies, the endless merc pool, and now other nations' armies.

That is, unless perhaps Paradox put in malus modifier where nations are unlikely to rent out armies to them based on the size of leasing countries' current army size. Great Britain was a great power in Europe and yet it still hired mercenaries from German states. Clearly, there need to be a way to better approximate the historical reality or at least historical plausibility without sacrificing the balance.

Also, there should be distance modifier and maybe culture modifier. I find it highly implausible that Indian states should be allowed to rent out armies to European states if said states does not have any presence near them or in India. Also, I am not aware of Muslim countries having rented out armies to any European armies but I believe there has been instances of the reverse, for example, with Hungarians being present at the Fall of Constantinople.

Even better, it may really come down to how adequate they are to the needs of the employer. A country with highly advanced tech might be more reluctant to hire armies from nations of much lower tech who may not be up to the tasks that the potential employer expects.
 
The AI will not be willing to hire a Condottieri which it does not have the money for or if it is drowning in debt.

In a similar vein, you cannot hire out Condottieri to a nation who is at war with a nation you have a truce with, to prevent you from curb-stomping a nation you have already fought with and to prevent you from being attacked by a nation you just peaced out with.

Can I rent out my armies TO nations I have a truce with. IE as England I beat up France and after my war ends Austria jumps on them. While I hate the slimy French, assuming I have not rivaled them, can I save them from Austrians growing too strong?
 
Now with condottieri, is it going to be more of a guessing game again how strong your target will be? In particular, I am thinking about the possibility that someone sends condottieri to secondary war participants.

Not that much different with regular mercs that AI likes spamming and that are built in like 20 days. Only the player will probably be trolly enough to rent condotierri for free to make sure to spank rivals fighting OPM :p
 
How will the AI use this feature? Will I expect the Ottomans joining with 50k men in my war against an OPM?
 
I was thinking the same thing. The Hessian achievement didn't really make sense when it was first introduced, and now that there's a proper mechanic for lending your army abroad, it makes even less sense.