I am pleasantly surprised to see the great King Christian as the face of the upcoming patch, as that might mean that some of it will be focused on Denmark. So, in order to dissect what the patch is going to be about, it might be a good idea to look at what characterized Christian IV, and also Denmark in this time period.
Christian IV was a man of great ambition, above all. He inherited a country which possessed an incredible position in the Baltic, that allowed it to have the Sound Toll. As such, Christian was one of, if not the, wealthiest monarchs in all of Europe, which allowed him to fund all sorts of personal adventures without interference from the Rigsraad. Christian was extremely interested in trade, architecture, war, expansion and above all - the navy, and his fortune allowed to take care of all of these interests. He set up several trading posts in India and Africa, and made several attempts to set up colonies in the Americas and on Sri Lanka, he built tons of new cities, Glücksburg, Christiania, etc., and buildings, Børsen, Rundetårn, etc. Yes, he wasn't all that fortunate in war, as he lost two out of his three wars - the Thirty Years' War and the Torstenson War. He was brave, yet not that great a general - he was on the other hand a very good admiral, something that you can't say about many monarchs.
There can be no doubt that Christian IV had a lot of faults, he had a tendency to be overly optimistic, to overestimate Denmark's strength, and underestimate the strength of his foes. But he also had a lot of good traits, he had a constant stream of youthful energy, and was always full of ideas, hopes, dreams and ambitions. Yes, Denmark was no doubt weaker at the end of his reign than it had been at the start, but that was more or less due to how extremely unlucky he had been.
Frederick III, Christian's second oldest son, succeeded his father, and the next couple of years went by with the Rigsraad, lead by the future traitor Corfitz Ulfeldt, trying to consolidate its power over Denmark. In 1657 Frederick went to war with Sweden, yet the conflict soon turned disastrous as the Belts froze over, the Swedes were able to cross the ice, and force us to cede Scania, Halland, Blekinge, Bornholm and Trondhjem at Roskilde. However, Charles X soon began to regret that he had let the Danes off "easy", he now wanted to completely eradicate Denmark, to raze Copenhagen to the ground, and conquer Sweden's archnemesis.
Despite losing lots of territories, Frederick III is in my opinion one of the greatest kings that we've ever had, because what followed next, is, at least in my opinion, the most glorious moment in the history of Denmark.
As news spread that the Swedish king had returned to conquer Denmark, a strong sense of nationalism, patriotism and duty suddenly erupted in all of Denmark. Frederick declared that he would die in his nest, Copenhagen, and every Dane united around him. The Swedes laid siege to Copenhagen, whilst people such as Svend Poulsen Gønge waged a guerilla war against them in occupied territory. After a Dano-Dutch victory at the Battle of the Sound, Charles no longer had any hope of starving Copenhagen into submission, and so he was forced to assault the city. Every inhabitant of Copenhagen participated, and the King personally lead from the front. It was a decisive Danish victory, the Swedes were forced to retreat to Fyn, their army was annihilated at the Battle of Nyborg, and they were forced to give us back Bornholm and Trondhjem in the following peace deal.
His heroic leadership during the Assault on Copenhagen had made Frederick III immensely popular, and further more - the disastrous wars of 1643-1645 and 1657-1658, and the treachery of Corfitz Ulfeldt convinced everyone that the nobility was unfit to have a say in governing of Denmark. It allowed Frederick III to launch a coup d'état, which instituted the absolute monarchy, and did away with the decadent Rigsraad, which had weakened Denmark so fatally for the last two decades. It gave Denmark a new life, and also turned Denmark into the most militarised country in all of Europe. In "An Account of Denmark, as it was in the Year 1692", the English ambassador, Robert Molesworth, compared Denmark to a military dictatorship, with the King as the dictator. The old nobility had been done away with, and replaced with the military - the new first estate. The King allowed himself very few luxuries besides grand military parades, that showcased Denmark's might to the populace, and the outside world. Danish foreign policy was fueled by one goal, and one goal alone - to regain Scania, and get revenge for the Treaty of Roskilde. From a military standpoint, Denmark had succeeded in this goal during the Scanian War, where Sweden more or less had been defeated. Scania was under complete Danish control by the end of the war, the Danish Navy ruled the seas, the Swedish navy no longer existed, and Sweden itself was on verge of bankruptcy. Sweden was saved only thanks to Louis XIV.
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This is a pretty simplified history of Denmark in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it might help to give us an idea about what this patch will be about. Here are some of my guesses:
Unique Government Types
I've suggested this before, but we might see it now - an unique government form to represent the Rigsraad, and perhaps even the Danish absolute monarchy, which was somewhat distinct from other absolute monarchies, as it actually had a constitution - the King's Law, in which it was written that the King shall from this day forth be revered and considered the most perfect and supreme person on the Earth by all his subjects, standing above all human laws and having no judge above his person, neither in spiritual nor temporal matters, except God alone. This government form should probably give some buffs to the navy, as the Danish Navy was one of the best in the world, and produced some of the greatest sailors and officers in all of Europe.
Fort and Navy Overhaul
This seems like a real possibility, as they've already said that they're changing the ZoC. What I would like to see is a mechanic that makes both navies and forts more useful, and would force both the AI and player to actually assault forts from time to time. If there's an enemy fleet outside the province that you're sieging, then you shouldn't be able to starve it into submission, as the fleet should be able to supply the city with food and other goods.
Construction/Development Overhaul
Currently, development is often a waste of points, as you've got plenty of more important stuff to use them on. This might be the patch that finally fixes this issue, perhaps by making development cost money instead of monarch points.
Thirty Years War Overhaul
The Thirty Years War was one of the most important events in European history, it marked the transition between religion and nationality being the deciding factor in diplomacy and politics, yet in EU4 it often triggers very early, and isn't all that important over all. You don't have different phases, with different powers joining in, and overall it just doesn't feel like the truly game changing war that it should be. This patch might do something about that.
