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EU4 - Development Diary - 23rd of October 2018

Hello! We’ll finally reveal some features of the upcoming Immersion Pack coming with the 1.28 patch. However I need to warn you: HEAVY USAGE OF CODER ART INCOMING!

Our artists nor me have had time to get our hands on the new features yet to make sure the interface is up to par for user usage. So everything is just how the programmer left it. Terrifying thought.

We’ll start with a feature only available to the Catholic Iberians. Establishing Holy Orders. Keep in mind numbers are as usual up for tweakage!

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These are inspired by Jesuit Reductions in the new world but an Iberian nation can put them anywhere as long as the nation own the entire state and that it is fully cored and stated. The available orders are: The Society of Jesus, The Order of Preachers and The Order of Saint Francis.

When an order is selected for a state these following effects are applied to all provinces in that state.
  • Jesuit Order
    • +1 Tax Development
    • 1.5% Local missionary strength
    • -10% Local Build Cost
  • Dominican Order
    • +1 Production Development
    • Removes slaves if trade goods and replace it with something else
    • -30% Culture Conversion Cost
  • Franciscan Order
    • +1 Manpower Development
    • -3 Local Unrest
    • -0.05 Local Monthly Devastation
Each of these costs 50 monarch power to put in place, 50 of the type that order represents. Administrative for Jesuits, Diplomatic for Dominican and Military for Franciscan. As an overlord of a colonial nation you can still place these in their land. The AI will know if a player is involved and restrain itself from placing these orders themselves letting the player optimize their usage.

For the few that manages to recreate the Cremé Pheonix, an Andalusian Muslim, we'll see what we can do for you ;)



Next Feature is one for every colonizer which we have done together with trying to improve the Colonial Diversity, to try and prevent the Colonial AI to spend so much dip points on purging away cultures. Instead allowing the Americas to become the melting pot of cultures it was. Also yet again I warn you that everything you see is in a state of work in progress.

upload_2018-10-23_9-16-44.png


With Expulsion of Minorities feature you can now tell those damned Puritans in East Anglia to head off to Plymouth Harbor and get on the Mayflower.

Using this costs you diplomatic points akin to how much it would take to culture convert in that province, but upon colony completion it both converts the religion and culture of the province while making the colony have the old religion and culture of home. Also upon completion you get some extra development in the finished colony based on how big the home province were for the minority you sent to live in the colony.

Besides the Culture conversion cost modifier reducing the cost to do this action, in Exploration ideas there is now an idea that will also reduce this cost if you own the Immersion Pack.



Now I’m going to hand it over to our beta who have helped us out with the map in this iteration and helped us overhaul the Spanish Main.

Hello, I’m Evie. You may remember me (as GuillaumeHJ) from old Dev Diary classics like “How to add provinces to Western Africa without getting bored” and “There’s no such thing as too many provinces in North America”. For those of you who joined us since Art of War: nice to meet you.

As you can probably gather, I’m here to talk to you about more map changes. After all, it’s one thing to add provinces to Spain, but much of Spanish history in the Europa Universalis timeline happened outside Spain, in the part of the world that would receive the apt name of “Spanish Main.”

Stretching from the coast of Texas all the way to the mouth of the Orinoco, across the Caribbeans, and back into Florida, the Spanish Main was the heart of the Spanish colonial empire, where the great Treasure Fleets sailed to gather the wealth of the New World. As a result, the “Spain” update also includes extensive additions to the region.

upload_2018-10-23_9-27-8.png


Map-wise, the changes are extensive – upwards of eighty new provinces and twenty new tags in Mesoamerica, Central America, the Southwestern United States, the Caribbeans, Florida, Colombia and Venezuela. But Cuba and Hispaniola are now up to nine provinces. Colombia and Venezuela get a plethora of new provinces as well along the coast, bringing them much closer to the density found in Central America. The lion’s share, of course, goes to Mexico, especially the heart of Mesoamerica.

upload_2018-10-23_9-27-37.png


The most important (and by far the most requested) of those provinces are, without a shadow of a doubt, the two we split off from the original Mexico province, representing Texcoco and Tlacopan, the two cities that (along with Mexico-Tenochtitlan) formed the Aztec Triple Alliance. Reducing the Valley of Mexico and the Aztec power base to a single province always felt wrong, so when the opportunity came to update the region’s map with smaller provinces, adding these two was the very first item on the list of changes that needed to happen.

More than new provinces, though, the heart of the update is the new tags. Nine in Mesoamerica proper, six in the Mayan regions, six in the deserts around the US/Mexico border, and one each in Central America and Colombia bring a great deal of depth to the region. Who are they? Read on to find out.

upload_2018-10-23_9-27-56.png


Mesoamerica

Northwestern Mesoamerica, beyond Colima and the Tarascans, is often thought of as a void, but actually it was a Greece-like patchwork of cities. Representing them all is beyond the scope of this patch, but we’ve added two of the more significant local powers, Tonala and Xalisco, to bring relief to the area.

At the northern edge of Mesoamerica lived a plethora of people that the Aztecs collectively called the Chichimeca (roughly compared with the Greek “Barbarian”). Though they didn’t have the great cities of Mesoamerica proper, they played a fundamental part in regional history, and provided formidable resistance to Spanish expansion for half a century. For them, we’ve added three tags: Otomi and Guarames are two of the more significant people, while Chichimeca covers a variety of smaller groups.

Near the Chichimecan, we find a historical oddity: a Mayan group that wandered far from Yucatan and Central America, to the opposite end of Mesoamerica, the Huastec people.

Closer to the Aztecs, a number of additional states represent various regional powers of some note. To the south, Coixtlahuaca, a mixtec kingdom, fell early when their king defied the Aztecs. To the south-east, Teotitlan became a loyal ally of the empire. To the west, meanwhile, Matlatzinca served as a buffer between Aztecs and Tarascans - until the Aztec invaded it, precipitating war with their powerful rivals.

The South: Mayans, Central America and Colombia.

Further south, the Yucatan peninsula was home to about sixteen Mayan polities in this timeline. Having them all would, again, be impossible, but instead of just having the two rival dynasties of Cocomes and Xiu (whose rivalry dominated Mayan politics in the era), we’ve added two of the better known late post-classic city-states, in the form of Can Pech (Campeche) and Chactemal (Chetumal).

In south-eastern Mexico, a pair of additional Mayan tags add depths to the Tabasco and Chiapas regions. In the former, they’re the Yokotan (or Chontales), who claim descent from the ancient Olmec civilization. In the later, the Tzotzil, one of the more significant local group, serve a similar role.

In Honduras and Guatemala, the Kiche kingdom no longer can afford to get complacent – their perennial rivals (and erstwhile vassals), the Kaqchikel, are now in the game plotting to gain the upper hand, while further east, the Chorti people could also turn into quite the threat.

In Colombia, the Tairona, sister people to the Muisca (who are already in) form a new addition at the northern edge of the country, where the last of the Andes come to die in the Atlantic.

Last, but not least, we have our first non-Mayan Central America tag, based in the coastal jungles of Nicaragua: the Miskito people, who remained independent of Spain long enough to become a British protectorate instead.

The North: Pueblos and Natives.


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To the north, we find ourselves drawn to the upper end of the Rio Grande valley. There, the old Pueblo tag has been split in three to represent the various groups that together formed the Puebloan people. In addition to the old Pueblo tag (now limited to the Rio Grande valley itself), we now have the Keres tag (covering famous pueblos like Acoma and Zia, to the west of the Rio Grande), and the Zuni one, near the New Mexico/Arizona border.

Beyond the Rio Grande valley, our additions take the form of Native American tags. Adding depths to the Apachean people on top of the already-present Navajo and Apache tags, we find the Lipan and Mescalero ready to make trouble for colonizers in New Mexico and Texas, where they were a formidable obstacle to the Spanish historically. Further west, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, California finally get representation of its native people in the form of the Yokuts. Finally, in the deserts of north-western Mexico, the Yaqui people, who resisted Spanish then Mexican dominion into the twentieth century, join the fray.

Together, all these additions bring a lot more depth to the areas of the map that ended up being conquered by Spain.


Thanks Evie! Next week I'll be back to talk about more features, one of which that Sweden had quite an excellence of building ....
 
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I like that the new world is seeing some attention, but the overarching question remains the gameplay. New world has been a wait-mandated RNG fest with little agency since patch 1.13. Cool as the new tags are, I still want to do something with them as opposed to doing nothing for over half the game.
 
are there any new mechanics or events for the only Spanish colony in the far east, like some events regarding the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade or mission for Spain to colonize Cebu?.I mean its the Iberian update after all so i guess that there should be new things for the Philippines.
 
Literally the one good thing I liked about colonies is that they would quickly culture and religion convert to contain unrest. Now this becomes the burden of the overlord? Great! Any more bright ideas on how to make vassals and colonial nations more idiotic, self destructive and less desirable to the overlord? Look forward to enjoying the tedious task of putting down the never ending spawn of rebels from the minorities I send to the new world, cause you know the AI colonial nations are dumb AF (excuse the profanity, used it for emphasis) when it comes to putting down rebels.
 
Ok, I'm feeling a noob right now. I don't understand the minority thing, I mean, when you (or your CN) colonizes a province in America, it automatically gets your culture and religion, so what's the point? Can someone explain please?

I would like to suggest that the Carribbean isn't a Colonial Region. It should be a normal region where you can directly own the provinces, like the Bermudas province. It always has felt weird that Caribbean is a small Colonial Nation. Or maybe a make a Trade Company region. Or part of the Mexico colonial region (New Spain).

Also I don't like the fact that South America has big colonial regions and North America has little ones. Canada and Alaska/Cascadia should merge into a single one, and California should merge with Mexico or something.

North America:
- Canada
- Thirteen Colonies
- Lousiana
- Mexico

South America:
- Colombia
- Peru
- Brasil
- La Plata

Carribean: normal territory, Trade Company or a new special status.
 
Ok, I'm feeling a noob right now. I don't understand the minority thing, I mean, when you (or your CN) colonizes a province in America, it automatically gets your culture and religion, so what's the point? Can someone explain please?

I would like to suggest that the Carribbean isn't a Colonial Region. It should be a normal region where you can directly own the provinces, like the Bermudas province. It always has felt weird that Caribbean is a small Colonial Nation. Or maybe a make a Trade Company region. Or part of the Mexico colonial region (New Spain).

Also I don't like the fact that South America has big colonial regions and North America has little ones. Canada and Alaska/Cascadia should merge into a single one, and California should merge with Mexico or something.

North America:
- Canada
- Thirteen Colonies
- Lousiana
- Mexico

South America:
- Colombia
- Peru
- Brasil
- La Plata

Carribean: normal territory, Trade Company or a new special status.

Problem is that this work poorly with Catholic mechanics.
 
Well, I had the notion this would be an "Iberia" patch, but it seems to be less and less the case...

There's been more re-work done toward central and north America, other than the Iberian and north African region... A north America region, that in all fairness would have made more sense to approach during the Rule Britannia update (?!), while at the same time - no changes noted toward south America, or even maybe the African coast?

In all fairness, map re-work for the colonial regions is appreciated, but it would make sense to have these done in relation to the nations that supposedly the immersion pack is approaching? Unfortunately, it seems to be quite "Spain" centered, although even if taking this into consideration, we'd be better off looking at central America + South America instead.

The contrast between the number of provinces that seems to be placed will result in early colonial nations that are more powerful than Portugal it seems (?)... I noticed other people stating that "for gameplay balance purposes" Portugal wouldn't get more provinces, but then these colonial regions are getting the same amount of provinces, that one of the colonial powerhouses of the time? I fail to see where this makes sense from any perspective...

I was really looking forward to this Immersion Pack since it would have a lot to offer from any of perspectives that one could consider - North Africa and Iberia map updates, more flavor in Iberia and/or North Africa, colonial regions (Spanish and Portuguese) map re-works, more flavor to colonial regions (Spanish and Portuguese) among other things (Spanish Habsburg mechanics for ex, a lot of different approaches are possible really)... but so far, there seem to be some (sorry to say) sort of random choices + map reworks in colonial regions that (although of course relevant in the context of colonial expansion of the time) aren't relevant in the context of an "iberia update" (oh, apologies - "Spain" update) - they ("they" meaning north America) would have make more sense in Rule Britannia OR anything pertaining to any future french/low countries immersion pack or expansion.

I just don't know what to expect so far from the final iteration of this pack...
 
Also I don't like the fact that South America has big colonial regions and North America has little ones. Canada and Alaska/Cascadia should merge into a single one, and California should merge with Mexico or something.

Cascadia must definitely be a different colonial region from Canada. British Columbia was settled from the West coast, separately from the Eastern part of today's Canada, which is natural due to the vast inland distances that separate them. British Columbia had in fact a separate administration from Canada until 1871.

It makes sense to merge California and Mexico. The colonial regions should reflect the historical administrative regions of the time, and California was part of Mexico.
 
I thought I would pop by in the thread to tell you that I have relayed your feedback to the team – the thread has been thoroughly read. The work you guys have done is very good both in form and substance. We especially appreciated the attention to detail brought to statistics regarding demography and population, it gives a good sense scale even though we do not represent development on a 1:1 scale (it is not implemented directly) due to game balance. Regarding the map reworks, these are good; the team especially appreciated the aesthetic of some of the new borders.

Overall it is a very good thread, it appears you managed to strike a balance between map design and game balance issues. We will definitely draw inspiration from it either in the short or long term. As previously mentioned in my closing response to the main Dev Diary thread from the 9th of October, this is something that we may be able to look at post-launch. Again, this is dependent on deadlines and development milestones.

Well, I had the notion this would be an "Iberia" patch, but it seems to be less and less the case...

There's been more re-work done toward central and north America, other than the Iberian and north African region... A north America region, that in all fairness would have made more sense to approach during the Rule Britannia update (?!), while at the same time - no changes noted toward south America, or even maybe the African coast?

In all fairness, map re-work for the colonial regions is appreciated, but it would make sense to have these done in relation to the nations that supposedly the immersion pack is approaching? Unfortunately, it seems to be quite "Spain" centered, although even if taking this into consideration, we'd be better off looking at central America + South America instead.

The contrast between the number of provinces that seems to be placed will result in early colonial nations that are more powerful than Portugal it seems (?)... I noticed other people stating that "for gameplay balance purposes" Portugal wouldn't get more provinces, but then these colonial regions are getting the same amount of provinces, that one of the colonial powerhouses of the time? I fail to see where this makes sense from any perspective...

I was really looking forward to this Immersion Pack since it would have a lot to offer from any of perspectives that one could consider - North Africa and Iberia map updates, more flavor in Iberia and/or North Africa, colonial regions (Spanish and Portuguese) map re-works, more flavor to colonial regions (Spanish and Portuguese) among other things (Spanish Habsburg mechanics for ex, a lot of different approaches are possible really)... but so far, there seem to be some (sorry to say) sort of random choices + map reworks in colonial regions that (although of course relevant in the context of colonial expansion of the time) aren't relevant in the context of an "iberia update" (oh, apologies - "Spain" update) - they ("they" meaning north America) would have make more sense in Rule Britannia OR anything pertaining to any future french/low countries immersion pack or expansion.

I just don't know what to expect so far from the final iteration of this pack...
 
Not to nitpick too much, but is there some way we could keep those southwest native tags from migrating? Many of them may have moved between winter and summer locations but they weren't really nomadic. The yaqui especially resisted invasion because their land was considered absolutely sacrosanct. I know some Yaqui and they're still pissed about it.
 
Cascadia must definitely be a different colonial region from Canada. British Columbia was settled from the West coast, separately from the Eastern part of today's Canada, which is natural due to the vast inland distances that separate them. British Columbia had in fact a separate administration from Canada until 1871.

It makes sense to merge California and Mexico. The colonial regions should reflect the historical administrative regions of the time, and California was part of Mexico.
I understand, but IMHO it doesn't make much sense to have poor CN like Cascadia and then huge and strong ones like Mexico or Brasil.

Colonial regions should be more or less balanced in size, without messing too much with history of course.
 
There's been more re-work done toward central and north America, other than the Iberian and north African region... A north America region, that in all fairness would have made more sense to approach during the Rule Britannia update (?!)

Huh?

1024px-Spanish_Empire_Anachronous_en.svg.png


California and Texas were part of the Spanish Empire and later Mexico, why would updates to them warrant inclusion in Rule Britannia instead of here?
 
I understand, but IMHO it doesn't make much sense to have poor CN like Cascadia and then huge and strong ones like Mexico or Brasil.

Colonial regions should be more or less balanced in size, without messing too much with history of course.
You also have Colonial Guyana, smaller than the others in South America. I don't see the problem with Guyana or Cascadia being poor in comparison to Mexico or Brazil, it was that way historically. The rocky mountains are not such an ideal place for profitable plantations of cash crops as Brazil, nor a densely-populated region from the start as Mexico or Peru.