Welcome to another development diary about Europa Universalis IV. This time we talk about something that will be in the next major patch we do.

One of the parts of the game that has not changed much since eu1 is the concept of technology groups and technological development around the world. We’ve added concepts like westernising, and tweaked that one, but in the end Europe has a huge advantage from day 1, and lots of fun gameplay options are limited the further away you are.

So this is what will happen in 1.18, when it is released this autumn..

A nation’s technology group no longer affect technology research.

There is now a concept called Institutions, which will affect your technology research. There are seven different institutions that appear over the game, and if you don’t get them to spread into your country and then get embraced by your government, your technology costs will slowly rise.

Each institution will appear in a province fullfilling certain factors, and then slowly spread around the world. The nation owning that province will gain prestige and monarch power.

Every year the penalty for not having embraced an institution will grow by 1%, so there is a gradual process.

When an institution has spread to at least 10% of your development, you can embrace it in your government, removing the penalty permanently, and also giving a bonus to your nation. The cost to embrace depends on the amount of development in your nation without the institution.

All institutions spread over borders (including 1 seazone away), if relations are positive, and the spread is based on development in the province getting it. There are also lots of other factors related to the spread.

So which are the the seven institutions then?

Feudalism
This is present from the start in almost all the world, except among the hordes, new world and sub-saharan africa. It will slowly spread into neighboring lands, but it is not quick.
Bonus: Gives 1 extra free leader.
Penalty: 50%


Renaissance
This appears in Italy after 1450, in either a capital or a 20+ development province. It will spread quickly through high development in europe, particularly through italy, but can only spread into provinces that have feudalism already.
Bonus: 5% Cheaper Development & 5% Cheaper Buildings
Penalty: 20%


Colonialism
Appears after 1500 in a port province in Europe, who’s owner has the Quest of the New World idea, and have discovered the new world. And will spread very quickly through any port in countries with colonies.
Bonus: +10% Provincial Trade Power
Penalty: 20%


Printing Press
This arrives after 1550, most likely in germany, but can happen in any protestant or reformed province. It will spread quickly in Protestant and Reformed territory, but also into capitals with dip tech 15.
Bonus: 5& Cheaper Stability
Penalty: 20%


Global Trade
This arrives after 1600, in a center of trade in the highest value trade node, and will spread quicker into provinces with trade buildings.
Bonus: +1 Merchant
Penalty: 20%

Manufactories
This arrives after 1650 in a province with 30 development and a manufactory, and will spread quicker into provinces with manufactories.
Bonus: +10% Goods Produced
Penalty: 20%

Enlightenment
Arrives after 1700 in a province that either is a seat of a parliament, or is a province in europe owned by a monarch with at least 5 in all stats. Universities & Parliament Seats spread this institution.
Bonus: 25% Cheaper Culture Conversion
Penalty: 30%
​

What does this mean?


The progress of Europe is not guaranteed, but most importantly, a nation in Asia or Africa is no longer crippled from day 1, and forced to avoid spending power on ideas and development.

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We’re constantly tweaking the spread factors, but here are some screenshots from mid 18th century in a hands-off game from this morning.

This is the institutions mapmode, where green are provinces that have all the enabled institutions, and yellow are don’t have them all.

And here is the technology mapmode, of the same game.

Some other aspects that has changed include the following
- New World Native Reforming will give you all institutions that the one you reform from has.
- Trade Companies are available to all technology groups.
- Lots and lots of triggers on western techgroups have been changed to check for specific relevant institutions.

 

[net.split]

Whoops, thanks for the correction on Colonialism.

That seems bad. Not sure why that's restricted to Europe; AI elsewhere isn't going to colonize anyway, or at least not to the point where they can form CNs. This just means custom starts in Africa and East Asia that colonize can't possibly obtain this benefit, which is awkward, especially for the East Asian player who has to jump through a lot of hoops to get this Institution to spread to their country. If my Manchu decides to colonize California, why do I have to wait another century to have a shot at getting Colonialism Institution?

Hope that one gets tweaked before release.

 

[peenerz]

The Chinese invented the printing press long ago though

 

[Ephafn]

This is the institutions mapmode, where green are provinces that have all the enabled institutions, and yellow are don’t have them all.

Please use different colors than bright green and bright yellow. I am colorblind and I can barely distinguish them, making such a map mode 99% useless to me. Making the green darker would fix the problem.

 

[Demetrios]

The Chinese invented the printing press long ago though

Again, if you had read the thread, including the developers own posts, then you would have known that "Printing Press", as an institution in the game, does not represent the invention of the printing press, but later developments.

 

[Atlantians]

So Malabar is far more advanced than Great Britain in 1750? Another patch I'm not going to play then.

This game has lost all sense of direcion in its development.

Why don't you just remove all tags from Europe instead and make it a colonizable region for ROTW countries. So we can be done with this fantasy history.

Wow, you are, like, way out of sinc with reality.

Europe, for the last several patches and DLC has been repeatedly buffed while ROTW has been hampered and nerfed.

This rework allows a more natural alternate history to form.

 

[Atlantians]

Again, if you had read the thread, including the developers own posts, then you would have known that "Printing Press", as an institution in the game, does not represent the invention of the printing press, but later developments.

Yes, the 'Institutions' are cultural institutions, not established systems, but broader concepts that have been accepted into the cultural milieu.

@Johan , good work.

However, what do you think you will do about societies that flourished without Feudalism and fell to other things?

For instance, the Byzantines, or the Chines, will they be embracing the Feudal institution or will Aristocratic Autocracy be a substitute?

Will there be a possibility to add into the game different starting institutions depending on tech group that gives certain advantages and disadvantages, to increase variety and flavour?

 

[Beagá]

Wow, you are, like, way out of sinc with reality.

Europe, for the last several patches and DLC has been repeatedly buffed while ROTW has been hampered and nerfed.

This rework allows a more natural alternate history to form.

After Ming and Ottomans westernize sucessfully they are as scary as any western country. The new changes in theory will make that even more possible as modernization will be done in steps, rather than the big leap in the Westernization process, which really are the only moment where it´s really easy to balkanize those. I know few people play after 1700, but those who do, and don´t challenge much those blobs in the East, see how scary they become once they have the same military tech.

 

[krall1]

In my opinion, embracing an institution should not automatically make all your provinces adopt it. Rather, those provinces which don't have it should be very upset (and be able to spawn reactionary rebels), and the likelihood of it spreading within your country should be greatly increased. If the reactionaries win, you lose your adoption of the institution and can't adopt it again until, say, 20 years have passed.

I've no idea how much money it'll cost to adopt the change, so I'll just say that if dealing with the adoption penalty is particularly harsh by itself, the money cost could be reduced.

I agree with this idea, and I would like to add something to it. You should be able to increase spreading rate from economy tab with a new panel. (not sure how to name it but the think that army/fleet maintenance etc.) That way you can make sure they spread faster.

Other than that these rebels might be a big problem for big empires like Ottoman and Russia, like the cost of the institutions isn't enough. Also "an institution has spread to at least 10% of your development, you can embrace it in your government" part could be a big problem for the empires too since they already have at least hundreds of developments.

But I like this big 'revolutionary' changes, I believe they should keep coming.

Sorry if I have made any mistakes, English isn't my first language so I hope you could understand what I said.

 

[Metz]

Here's my counter-proposal for Institutions:

1400 - Feudalism
1450 - Renaissance
1500 - Public Literacy
1550 - Scientific Revolution
1600 - Colonialism
1650 - Globalism
1700 - Enlightenment
1750 - Industrial Revolution
1800 - Ideological Politics

Renaming "Printing Press" to "Public Literacy" conveys the same idea while avoiding the China and Gutenberg issues. Colonialism is shifted up to 1600 because that is about when the Spanish Empire would have been going very strong; instead of going directly from the Printing Press to Colonialism, the Scientific Revolution (very important, and somewhat separate from the Renaissance) is added.

Global Trade is renamed to Globalism because that sounds better. Manufactories is renamed to "Industrial Revolution" and trades places with the Enlightenment; industrialization is more significant of a historical process than the industrious revolution (which I suppose Manufactories is supposed to represent), and the Enlightenment technically began in the late 1600s (though, like colonialism, it took a while to become significant). Finally, Ideological Politics is added to keep the new-institution-every-fifty-years theme.

It wouldn't be a terrible idea, either, to have it be possible for parallel Institutions to develop, and to make their spawning locations more generic.

Renaissance: Favors regions with high amounts of Base Production, trade value, and balkanization. Favors Italy and Greece.
Public Literacy: Favors regions with high amounts of Base Tax, educational buildings (if any exist), and a strong presence of Clergy. Favors Germany.
Scientific Revolution: Likely to develop in the same region as Public Literacy or Renaissance. Favors regions with high technology.
Colonialism: Favors regions with high trade value that are also in nations with colonies.
Globalism: Favors regions with high trade value that are also in nations with trade companies.
Enlightenment: Favors regions with high amounts of Development (in general), Innovative or Humanist ideas, and constitutional forms of government.
Industrial Revolution: Favors regions with high presences of minerals (especially late game Coal resources), Development in general, and economic buildings.
Ideological Politics: Favors regions with revolutionary or constitutional governments.

So, only the Renaissance/Public Literacy/Scientific Revolution would be very biased in favor of Europe, and it could still end up in a place like Japan or India. Colonialism/Globalism and Industrial Revolution/Ideological Politics would tend to go together as well.

What about renaming Globalism to Mercantilism? Globalism has a modern age implication and is associated with free trade. During the 1650s you had the British, French, and Dutch trying to extract whatever they could from the Caribbean islands and the beginning of the trade companies setting up efficiently in the East Indies. Colonies were geared to trade exclusively with their "overlords" and then if someone else wanted a product they'd have to buy it in Europe.

Also, we got to look for a better name that Printing Press or Public Literacy. There has got to be some sort of word that ends with -ism that fits the era and the concept.

1450 is too early for Renaissance. Perhaps switch it for Humanism and replace Public Literacy with Renaissance to imply that Humanism has reached its peak and has become "Renaissance thinking"?

 

[LRDK]

Will this be a DLC or Patch feature

 

[fatedkoga]

So Europeans are no longer inherently better, maybe now idiots will stop calling the game racist.

How will this effect fantasy nations in the new world? Can't imagine Vinland having a surplus of Italians.

Will this change effect the unit pips of less western nations?

 

[pphair]

Will this be a DLC or Patch feature

Patch. Its too game-changing to be behind a paywall. Like autonomy.

 

[Canute VII]

What about renaming Globalism to Mercantilism? Globalism has a modern age implication and is associated with free trade. During the 1650s you had the British, French, and Dutch trying to extract whatever they could from the Caribbean islands and the beginning of the trade companies setting up efficiently in the East Indies. Colonies were geared to trade exclusively with their "overlords" and then if someone else wanted a product they'd have to buy it in Europe.

Capitalism? (First stock companies were introduced, trading companies, etc.)

 

[Demetrios]

1450 is too early for Renaissance. Perhaps switch it for Humanism and replace Public Literacy with Renaissance to imply that Humanism has reached its peak and has become "Renaissance thinking"?

The Italian Rennaissance was definitely in full swing by 1450. For example, Donatello died in 1466, and if he wasn't a Rennaissance artist, what was he? (Well, other than a turtle of course. )

 

[SignedName]

Again, if you had read the thread, including the developers own posts, then you would have known that "Printing Press", as an institution in the game, does not represent the invention of the printing press, but later developments.

The "Printing Press" should definitely be renamed to "Mass Literacy" in that case.

 

[Metz]

Capitalism? (First stock companies were introduced, trading companies, etc.)

But Capitalism has connection with freedom of business and profit which in other words implies free trade. What they were doing was state coordinated even though there were private investors. There was an exclusive focus on national territories and oversea colonies for the sake of profit back in Europe.

 

[SignedName]

What about renaming Globalism to Mercantilism? Globalism has a modern age implication and is associated with free trade. During the 1650s you had the British, French, and Dutch trying to extract whatever they could from the Caribbean islands and the beginning of the trade companies setting up efficiently in the East Indies. Colonies were geared to trade exclusively with their "overlords" and then if someone else wanted a product they'd have to buy it in Europe.

Globalism was a thing before the modern era, you know. China would not have exploded in population if not for New World crops, and Spain would not have become so fabulously wealthy if not for trade with China or the silver from South America and Mexico.

 

[DàbiànLājīdàrén]

But they're not Protestant, so clearly they never bothered printing anything.

The Buddhists were actually the first to use collectivized printing methods during the Tang because they considered the proliferation of Buddhist texts to be a holy endeavor and the text matter itself to be holy matter. I'm sure everybody's just poking fun at the Printing Press though. I myself have no problem with how it's portrayed in the game, at least from how the devs described it. As long as the tooltip doesn't say something stupid like how printing didn't exist prior to the 1400s and how nobody could afford books until suddenly the printing press made people smart then it's fine.

 

[0m4ll3y]

In my opinion, embracing an institution should not automatically make all your provinces adopt it. Rather, those provinces which don't have it should be very upset (and be able to spawn reactionary rebels), and the likelihood of it spreading within your country should be greatly increased. If the reactionaries win, you lose your adoption of the institution and can't adopt it again until, say, 20 years have passed.

I've no idea how much money it'll cost to adopt the change, so I'll just say that if dealing with the adoption penalty is particularly harsh by itself, the money cost could be reduced.

Also, I'd argue that the Enlightenment should come before Manufactories, and Manufactories could be renamed to the Industrial Revolution.

I like this idea. It makes the system even more interactive and also integrates it with other mechanics (stability, autonomy, other rebel related things). Its also more internal mechanics and can make 'peacetime' (peace between states that is) gameplay more fun.

Here's my counter-proposal for Institutions:

1400 - Feudalism
1450 - Renaissance
1500 - Public Literacy
1550 - Scientific Revolution
1600 - Colonialism
1650 - Globalism
1700 - Enlightenment
1750 - Industrial Revolution
1800 - Ideological Politics

I also like this.

 

[Lemont Elwood]

What about renaming Globalism to Mercantilism? Globalism has a modern age implication and is associated with free trade. During the 1650s you had the British, French, and Dutch trying to extract whatever they could from the Caribbean islands and the beginning of the trade companies setting up efficiently in the East Indies. Colonies were geared to trade exclusively with their "overlords" and then if someone else wanted a product they'd have to buy it in Europe.

Also, we got to look for a better name that Printing Press or Public Literacy. There has got to be some sort of word that ends with -ism that fits the era and the concept.

1450 is too early for Renaissance. Perhaps switch it for Humanism and replace Public Literacy with Renaissance to imply that Humanism has reached its peak and has become "Renaissance thinking"?

Mercantilism could work, but with "Globalism" I was picturing a united, global trade network and the beginnings of modern diplomacy (the Westphalian system).

The Renaissance actually began in the 1300s, 1450 is plenty early enough.

I also think that some Idea groups could work well with creating/spreading Innovation. The likelihood would be based on the average number of Ideas taken per province in the region, probably.

Feudalism - Aristocracy
Renaissance - ???
Public Literacy - ???
Scientific Revolution - Innovative
Colonialism - Exploration
Globalism - Trade
Enlightenment - Humanism
Industrial Revolution - Economic
Ideological Politics - Influence

As per somebody else's suggestion, East Asian countries could have special mechanics regarding these Institutions. China and Japan, for example, both had Public Literacy from the start, but they were resistant to other Institutions' spread. I can see a situation where Japan has the ability to either embrace Globalism and become flooded with kirishitan. Or China adopting the Enlightenment, but losing the Mandate of Heaven.