• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Status
Not open for further replies.
So what have we done lately? Well, plenty of stuff that will go into 1.14 and the next expansion. Lots of stuff we are not ready to talk about yet, but this week we'll give you information about some new systems.

The first one is the new areas system, which will be a part of the patch.

Areas are a new type of region, usually consisting of between 3-6 provinces, and with no province being in more than one area. A new areas mapmode will show you which provincs are in what areas. This will be used for various mechanics we will explain more next week.

And then we have a feature which will be part of the as of yet unnanounced expansion.. The Victory Cards system. This is a feature that is primarily designed for multiplayer games, as it is introduced to reduce hugboxes and permanent allianceblocks.

At the end of a campaign, the top countries end up with 15-20K in score, so our goal was to create a system that could provide 30-50% more score for those that are willing to go for it.

And thus, we introduce the Victory Cards.

Starting in 1450, and every 100 years after you will be able to get a Victory Card if you have at least 300 development. Of course if you don't qualify for 1 at a given date, you will get 1 as soon as you qualify for it.

A victory card grows in score value every month if you own, control & core every province in its area, and it takes 20 years to grow to its maximum, and 20 years to drop to zero from its maximum.

The area selected is slightly randomised, but average development matter & it must be adjacent or within 1 seazone of any part of your nation or its subjects. Only provinces belonging to potential or current rivals are take into consideration, and you are far more likely to get ones on nations ahead of you in score or belonging to other players.

The first card is worth 1000, second 2000, third 3000 and the final 4000 points.

Here I've loaded up a savegame from 1.13 in our office MP campaign, and in the first 2 months I've gotten 2 victory cards to basically fight my game-long-hugbox-friend France.

b2c37OO.jpg
 
It would be great if at an arbitrary date (c. 1750) that all possible national cores for each culture would appear in each province. This is historical as the American Revolution and the France Revolution was a big factor in the development of Nationalism right across Europe.
 
  • 9
  • 5
Reactions:
New areas could be used in many ways, for example changing how fabricate claims work would be nice. Claiming these new areas instead of claiming single provinces would be quite the improvement. If war is declared with a CB to claim the area then talking these provinces should be preferred (or allowed), taking anything else - if not disallowed - should bring significant penalties.

Also one of the ugly things about alliances in EU4 in general is how these large countries are strong and extremely stable and alliances are mostly permanent. That France for example is pretty much invincible in EU4, only player (and he needs to be at least decent, if not well skilled) with large empire can bring it down and that takes aaaa lot of effort. Country wide revolts, instability and revolution/independance mechanism should play a huge role - something more like CK2 revolt system would go a long way in EU4 to make the game more dynamic and interesting.
 
  • 9
  • 1
Reactions:
This is really only meant for MP games that want to play with score, AI does not get victory cards and you don't get them in SP period.
 
  • 191
  • 67
Reactions:
D'aww, multiplayer and score, the two things I care least about in PDS games. Oh well. :) Looking forward to more expansion details!
 
  • 23
Reactions:
Points schmoints. But hey, it's not a game-breaker or anything, so fair enough.
 
  • 3
  • 2
Reactions:
This week development diary has left me confused, but I'm happy to wait next week for Paradox to show more information about the area system.
 
  • 4
Reactions:
This is really only meant for MP games that want to play with score, AI does not get victory cards and you don't get them in SP period.

Sounds good - it would sound like a rather odd mechanic to put into SP (and I'm a little surprised MP devolves into hugboxes - there's no backstabbing and backroom deals, and sudden shifts in alliances?), but you'll have the metrics to know it needs it.

Am very curious about the new areas - kind of half-way between regions and provinces? Am looking forward to hearing what they'll be used for :).

As an aside, I'm a little curious as to how the term 'hugbox' made its way into the EU4 lexicon, and what it means in that context. In terms of meanings, the only two I could find with a cursory google were an actual hug machine (who wouldn't want to hug France, awwww :)) and a derogatory term for internet communities that reinforce each other and don't tolerate dissent. Here, as far as I can understand, it sounds like the term refers to deadlocked blocks of alliances?
 
I don't care about the victory cards, but as long as they're optional in multiplayer it's nothing negative at least.

The areas system sounds like it could make for a lot of improvements though, looking forward to reading what they're gonna affect.
 
  • 3
Reactions:
Oh yeah, wasteland colored and proper "colonial" names. Now thats an improvement I care about. Nothing worse than a big grey hole inside your shiny empire.
 
  • 22
Reactions:
I'm trying to understand what an area beneath region and province would be. Would Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northumberland and Cumbria be under the area title of "The North"? Is there a reason to care about these new areas in single player?
 
How about adding some control over our ruler stats so we aren't at the mercy of random chance.

Ruler cards ;), when you complete a chain of task your leader improves.

I wouldn't improve the rulers per se (there were some terrible, terrible rulers during the period), but I would extend the MP generation to the ruler plus advisers plus institutional state apparatus, and give the player some control over that.
 
  • 2
Reactions:
Status
Not open for further replies.