Hi everyone and welcome to the first development diary after Rights of Man. We have been extremely happy with the enormous popularity of this release, and aim to improve on this level of quality.

We did a survey of the community on Rights of Man, and the features you seemed to love the most was the ruler personalities, leader traits and the consort mechanic.

Here is a quick list of what some of the team’s personal #1 favorite feature is!

• Johan - Disinherit Heir
• LittleFido - Ruler Personalities
• Starnan - Ruler Personalities
• Trin Tragula - Ruler Personalities
• BjornB - Consort Mechanics
• Forzaa - Great Powers
• Anona - Ruler Personalities
• DDRJake - Ruler Personalities
• MrNibbles - Ruler Personalities
• Imse Vimse - Ruler Personalities

We are aware of the problems some people have with multiplayer and aim to release as soon as we have solved the problems. Meanwhile we are working on a 1.19 patch that we aim to have in public beta in the second week of November, with a final release before the end of the month.

So what is 1.19 then? Well… It’s a really meaty and big patch with new cool and free features. We’re adding some new options to the game, enhancing mechanics for different expansions, improving AI, changing zoc, tweaking game balance, and much more.

1.19 will obviously have a name, and a focus.. Try to guess the name from this new loading screen..

 

[Wagonlitz]

The following is what Wikipedia says -

Christian was reckoned a typical renaissance king, and excelled in hiring in musicians and artists from all over Europe.

Christian was an agile dancer

Christian IV is renowned for his many city (town) foundations

Furthermore, Christian is also known for many erections

So clearly this will have something to do with advisors, dancing, founding cities, and erections.

If you want to take that angle on him then Hamlet was not set in Denmark for nothing. Back in the late 1500s/early 1600s (i.e. when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet) Danish royalty was famous/infamous all across Europe (i.e. the important part of the World) for their parties. Frederik II (the father of Christian IV) threw huge, elaborate, weeklong parties at Kronborg (where Hamlet is set) repeatedly. In fact he died in 1588 (leaving 11 years old Christian IV to rule) due to having partied too long. He and Christian had attended a wedding in Slesvig (was something like Frederik II's brother getting married) and that had been a week of intense drinking. On their way home Frederik II collapsed from the intense drinking and died shortly afterwards. The priest looking over him said the still famous words, that if only Frederik II had drunk less, he'd have lived much longer.

Christian IV obviously didn't listen to that priest since he continued his father's tradition of throwing elaborate parties. At one of them in 1632 he lost his son in law and prime minister, Frants Rantzau; the reason? That party had already lasted for days (i.e. several days of intense drinking) when Frants decided that the best place to take a leak was in the moat. Lo and behold he was so drunk that he managed to plump into the most while taking a leak and when the guard got him fished out he had already drowned.

That's the kind of parties we're talking about here. So yeah, you probably could call both Frederik II and Christian IV party kings.

 

[Edraii]

No. He was the king who in 1520 had had enough with Sweden trying to escape, so he decided to publicly execute the Swedish élite in the center of Stockholm in what later has been called the Stockholmian Bloodbath. Oh and he did it despite having issued a general amnesty to these people. They were all partying in the castle celebrating how Christian II had once again become de facto king of Sweden, when Danish soldiers came in and rounded up everybody and led them to the execution square.
He also took revenge on the main agitator, Sten Sture, who had died earlier that year. From Wiki: "It has been claimed that Christian also took revenge on Sten Sture's body, having it dug up and burnt, as well as the body of his child. Sture's widow Lady Kristina, and many other noblewomen, were taken as prisoners to Denmark.[6]"

Surely such an action would never backfire horrendously down the line /Sarcasm
In hindsight, Swedish kings could thank Christian II for this

 

[Wagonlitz]

Surely such an action would never backfire horrendously down the line /Sarcasm
In hindsight, Swedish kings could thank Christian II for this among other things

As if you haven't done comparable things. You just kept being butthurt even when you gained the upper hand.

 

[Edraii]

As if you haven't done comparable things. You just kept being butthurt even when you gained the upper hand.

What's with the hostility man? I was simply sincerely thanking Christian II for helping to create the conditions that would make it much easier for a great absolutist monarch wield and exercise his will. Doesn't change the fact that Denmark never really got back to a position of superiority for any extended time after said monarchs came around either.

Was honestly just making a combined joke/observation, to my understanding the Stockholm Bloodbath really did go a long way to creating the conditions that let the absolutist monarchs do so much with (compared to other monarchs) little resistance. After all, absolutist monarchs usually have a much easier time of it when a lot of the old nobility is to weak to oppose.

 

[Wagonlitz]

I didn't mean to be hostile. So sorry about it if it came across like that.

Doesn't change the fact that Denmark never really got back to a position of superiority for any extended time after said
monarchs came around either.

Actually you can thank Louis XIV of France for that. In the Scanian War of the late 1670s we actually pretty much had taken Skåneland back and beaten Sweden, but Louis XIV demanded status quo ante bellum lest France was to enter the war on Sweden's side. Bloody Frenchmen.

Getting Skåneland back would have meant that Denmark got into the superior seat again.

 

[Edraii]

I didn't mean to be hostile. So sorry about it if it came across like that.
Actually you can thank Louis XIV of France for that. In the Scanian War of the late 1670s we actually pretty much had taken Skåneland back and beaten Sweden, but Louis XIV demanded status quo ante bellum lest France was to enter the war on Sweden's side. Bloody Frenchmen.

Getting Skåneland back would have meant that Denmark got into the superior seat again.

As I recall while the Danes had initial success but by 1777 were getting pushed back in Scania, in fact I'm pretty sure both Landskrona and Kristianstad was retaken by 1778. Could Denmark push back again without french intervention? Maybe they could, but it was not as hopeless for Sweden in that region as you make it out to be. Not sure Brandenburg was willing to commit to helping take that area.

I'm not going to dispute that the Danes had naval dominance however, that entire war was a disaster for Sweden on the Naval front. I'll also agree had they retaken that region history would likely be rather different. However I'm not sure I want to live in a world where we don't get the Shenanigans of Karl XII, while ultimately disastrous they make for some great historical reading.

 

[Wagonlitz]

As I recall while the Danes had initial success but by 1777 were getting pushed back in Scania, in fact I'm pretty sure both Landskrona and Kristianstad was retaken by 1778. Could Denmark push back again without french intervention? Maybe they could, but it was not as hopeless for Sweden in that region as you make it out to be. Not sure Brandenburg was willing to commit to helping take that area.

It was in the 1670s; not the 1770s. Also as far as I'm aware we were winning until the French intervened. Though I could be wrong. @Admiral Fisker posted some pages back that we actually pushed Sweden to the brink of bankruptcy; don't know if that's true though.

 

[Edraii]

It was in the 1670s; not the 1770s. Also as far as I'm aware we were winning until the French intervened. Though I could be wrong. @Admiral Fisker posted some pages back that we actually pushed Sweden to the brink of bankruptcy; don't know if that's true though.

Merely a 100 year typo

Feel free to look it up if you feel like it, but to my recollection the Danes had evacuated out of Scania by 78', however with Sweden having lost holdings in Pomerania to Brandenburg and with Danish naval dominance, well... I think it would be fair to say that while Denmark was not winning the land war, they did hold the overall strategic advantage.

As for Swedish finances... My memory isn't to exact on the matter, but I'm pretty sure Sweden being near bankruptcy was a running gag trough Sweden whole "Great power" era. Goes hand in hand with the constant wars and fighting wars way above Swedens weight class, being a poor country with a low population and all.

 

[Wagonlitz]

Feel free to look it up if you feel like it, but to my recollection the Danes had evacuated out of Scania by 78', however with Sweden having lost holdings in Pomerania to Brandenburg and with Danish naval dominance, well... I think it would be fair to say that while Denmark was not winning the land war, they did hold the overall strategic advantage.

We had some defeats yes. Though IIRC we were in a position where regaining at least part of Skåneland was quite certain.

 

[The Great Guardian]

We had some defeats yes. Though IIRC we were in a position where regaining at least part of Skåneland was quite certain.

If i remember corrtecly you had some winnings in germany and wanted to take back skane. But that was mostley becuse of brandenberg prussia great military strategy. Denmarks position in the war was mostly wreaking the swedish navy. Yes denmark did invade skåne. But they never succsesfully took control over any major city even when a big part of the people wanted to be danish again. But they failed to take over the cities mostly becuse the danish army decided to plunder skåne. witch made the local population very angry with the danish becuse they did not want their belonings stolen from them. This gave the swedes time to build upp a new army and push the danish out of the country. By the end result the danish army had retreated. The danish were the victors of the seas while Swedish were the victors over the land.
Witch gave sweden a almost neutral peace deal witch the help of the french.

 

[Exder]

Why did you change the development mapmode? it looks horrible now and is completely useless due to every province (even London) being red.