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..

 

[MAHak]

So Johan's, the ruler of Paradox, favourite feature is 'Disinherit heir', hhhhmmm interesting....

 

[SolSys]

... enhancing mechanics for different expansions ...

I must say I'm really happy to see older expansion mechanics still getting polished.
I'm hoping to see a better integration with other expansion mechanics.

 

[atestarossa]

As a norwegian I get all fuzzy seeing Christian Quart. He was the king that cared about us. The king who actually spent time in Norway. Who built Kristiansten, Kristiania, Kristiansand; Røros and Kongsberg.

So no mind then that he probably was a warmongering king, and even one who failed at it, and that the reason I still think fondly of him now, 400 years later is probably just propaganda. Christian Quart <3

 

[margustoo]

Could you guys fix EU4 provinces that are in modern day Estonia. Dorbat and Livland are still
Latvian even though they were then and are now mostly Estonian..

Also I hope that we see some mechanics for Livonian War* and Great Northern War.. 2 major wars
that utterly changed balance of powers in Eastern and Northern Europe. Sadly there's barely events,
mission etc. that cover this period in EU4.

* I recommend looking up who was Magnus, Duke of Holstein aka uncle of Christian IV

 

[zukodark]

Skåne is by law part of Norge. They're just an especially rebellious part.

 

[Niels.p]

I'm betting its going to be named the danskjävlar patch

 

[Topias]

I call it the 1.19 "Nice dress, dork" patch.

 

[Palaiologos]

Any plans on working on the much neglected Eastern Europe? Hungary, Serbia, Wallachia, Georgia, even everybody's fave old Byzantium? The orthodox brati dont even have unit gfx unlike some bizare tribes in West Africa.

 

[crowdemon]

Does this mean we will get another expansion before the end of the year?

 

[civ_v_freak]

Now, now, he didn't say they were "fixing" ZOCs, just changing them. Much easier to stay honest that way.

I suppose they intend on "fixing" the movement rules around ZoC:s so that they work intuitively, but yeah I know what you're saying.

 

[KingOfPrussia-]

Tell the HOI team to release dev diaries earlier please.

 

[fufie]

As a norwegian I get all fuzzy seeing Christian Quart. He was the king that cared about us. The king who actually spent time in Norway. Who built Kristiansten, Kristiania, Kristiansand; Røros and Kongsberg. So no mind then that he probably was a warmongering king, and even one who failed at it, and that the reason I still think fondly of him now, 400 years later is probably just propaganda. Christian Quart <3

Christian IV barred Norway from buying cheaper grain and food from abroad, insisting that Norway had to buy expensive danish grain. The norwegians that starved to death might not have had such a rosy view of him as you do. The mercantilistic policies was a drain on norwegian finances (metal, fish, ..). Add also the many norwegians that died during his useless wars, and his stubborn rejection of meritocracy in favour of danish nobility. The navy had norwegian men and know-how, but useless danish nobles leading it in disastrous ways.

The attempt to paint him as great started iirc during the discussion of renaming Kristiania to Oslo, and the opponents of the renaming painted a far rosier picture of him than he deserved.

Gamewise, I guess christian iv events should give denmark some mercantilism while Norway gets higher LD.

 

[Kawllie]

As a dude from Kristianstad in Skåne I feel a connection towards the upcoming expansion.

Paradox here me out here on a bit of a pitch:
Split Västergötland into two provinces 'Västergötland' and 'Elfsborg' adding a province of interest in the Lübeck trade node that provides a bonus to embargo if controlled within the Lübeck trade node. It would be easy to create flavourful and fun interactive events between Denmark and Sweden as well as making the Scandinavian provinsial map not so dull.

I'm sure the peeps @Paradox knows exactly what sort of historic events would fit there but if someone is interested I can tell you about it.

Another detail is split the god damn Skåne province up already! I'm not asking for the culture 'Scanian' to be default but at least go for the Malmöhuslän and Kristianstadhuslän approach. There is really not much sense for the United Skaane at this time period.

Questions about Scania culture and history any of you forumdwellers? I got you fam just hit me up.

 

[Sanny]

So this will be a huge polishing patch? Nice. The game could really use that.

 

[Gratak]

No 1.17, 1.15, 1.13 etc was free patches too.

But yes its gonna be a patch mostly about fixing bugs. So not gonna be alot of new content in it.

Those were all pure major bug and balance fixes. If they actually bring quite a bit of new stuff with 1.19 that would be new. Although I guess I would prefer more bug fixes...

 

[riadach]

The Skåne patch? That sounds cool but alas it's not correct

Would annoy groogy no end.

 

[LukeCorn]

Hmm I'm curious what it will be, and as always I'm looking forward to the next book that gets highlighted!
The praise of Folly by Erasmus would be a great name in the paradox tradition of silly book names.
Baron de Tocqueville with Democracy in America would be hilarious but probably not so relevant.

Godspeed Johan and team!
(Also, team Starnan! Austriae est imperare orbi universo!)

 

[BritNavFan]

Christian IV of Denmark ? The prosperity update

Yeah that's Christian IV of Denmark for sure.

Something I love about Paradox forums... there are people (plural) here who can just casually recognize Christian IV of Denmark, for example, from a painting.

 

[Florryworry__]

So Denmark's getting an elective monarchy next patch?

 

[SolSys]

Those were all pure major bug and balance fixes. If they actually bring quite a bit of new stuff with 1.19 that would be new. Although I guess I would prefer more bug fixes...

The balance patches do tend to include some new content as well - though it's usually in the form of UI/flavor and not a new mechanic.