EU4 - Development Diary - 2nd of July 2019

[Vohen]

Will it be 1.28.4 or 1.29?

If HoI4's recent transition to 64-bit is anything to go by, 1.29.

 

[Dakka]

Maybe give SE Asia's map a little touch up with all this extra time? That seemed to be the next dlc before the Golden Century fiasco.

The focus is Europe and SEA was never "going to be next" anymore than anywhere else. That was just speculation.

 

[I like wars and maps]

Sucks that I can´t get excited much since without confirmation for the reverting of the religious changing and territory corruption I will not be able to play this dlc anyway since I will just stay in 1.24 then.

 

[Gogote54]

We have previously said that we aim to release said update late this year, but this is now being moved into 2020

No problem, please take your time. Happy devs make better games, no need to crunch !

 

[SanguiniusStyle]

Why not the True #battlepope, then?

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[BrotherJonathan]

A switch to a more CK2-style mercenary system (which the screenshot seems to indicate) definitely sounds like a good idea. Then again, I haven't played in EU in ages, so I really don't have much of a basis to judge.

 

[Decius]

Awesome news!
Just one tiny question: Are there still plans to improve the Holy Roman Empire?

 

[rimworld inbox]

A switch to a more CK2-style mercenary system (which the screenshot seems to indicate) definitely sounds like a good idea. Then again, I haven't played in EU in ages, so I really don't have much of a basis to judge.

this in a nutshell so elegantly sums up the merc rework crowd.

People who don't play the game and people who die to AI ottomans.

Can't wait for 24/8/0 unsplittable merc stacks.

 

[WindingArc]

I’m glad to hear that you’re taking your time on this DLC. In the extra months, I hope you revisit certain developments that have been met with community feedback, such as the ahistorical unification of Austria (which currently stands as an enormous missed opportunity for great gameplay and more interesting dynamics).

They explained that the choice was to ensure Austria didn't fail to expand, creating a power vacuum in Central Europe. With that in mind, I don't think doing more than adding starting autonomy to the provinces in western Austria makes sense.

 

[LGSpumoni]

In the meantime, as this is an unprecedentedly long time between releases for the game, we will be releasing a free update to the game post-summer. This will be an update with the 64-bit support and bugfixes, but will not contain any of the things we've been discussing around the European Update. We'll have more details on this once the July holiday season is over.

Oh no! My plan to get caught up on the latest game mechanics will render my 34 concurrent ironman games unplayable after the update.

I thought I had four more months to get through them, but there aren't enough hours in the day now.

Please tell me that the 'summer' update will not upset my plans. ​

 

[calebman]

Hello all and welcome to today's dev diary for EUIV. Over the past eight dev diaries, our content design team @neondt , @Caligula Caesar and @Ofaloaf have been serving up a plethora of content that will be coming your way in the upcoming European Update and its accompanying expansion. There's certainly been plenty of it (and I'm told even more to come) but today I'm here to update you on the development plans for EUIV leading up to said expansion, and to tease the new mechanics to come.

As we laid out early on in the year, we intend to take our time with the upcoming European update. We have previously said that we aim to release said update late this year, but this is now being moved into 2020 for a variety of reasons, not least of all that we have many ambitions for this update, and want to give it the development time it deserves.

Unpleasant news for some, I've no doubt. I've been seeing comments along the line of wanting the expansion released as soon as possible from people excited about the content updates when we haven't even touched on the mechanical ones yet. While the expansion release is certainly a long time away, we believe that this is the best way to deliver the quality that EUIV deserves.

In the meantime, as this is an unprecedentedly long time between releases for the game, we will be releasing a free update to the game post-summer. This will be an update with the 64-bit support and bugfixes, but will not contain any of the things we've been discussing around the European Update. We'll have more details on this once the July holiday season is over.

Ah yes, July, the dreaded month where everything in Sweden shuts down, including game development studios. Devs are already entering vacation mode, so there won't be much news coming from us over the month, however I believe @neondt has threatened that he may make a few more small content Dev Diaries as he defies the Swedish Vacation Standards.

So what about after July? Well, as you've no doubt been aware, we have been focusing heavily on the content that's in our upcoming European release, but not so much the mechanics. Dev Diaries will start delving into said mechanics after the Summer Holidays and we have some meat to delve into there. In Dev Diaries of past, we have openly talked about design ambitions for Mercenaries and Estates, as well as our desires to “Make Catholicism and the Pope feel like a force to be reckoned with, rather than just another colour of Christianity and country”. We're going to dive into these and share what we've been doing to make these aspirations a reality.

Of course, I don't want to leave you for Summer with worlds alone, so here are three completely contextless screenshots from the development version of the game for all your speculative needs.

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Have a wonderful Summer everyone. Regular Dev Diaries shall return on Tuesday August 6th.

What about a much needed naval and colonial rework? There is a thread that was made with MANY good recommendations on how to improve naval combat and the overall game SIGNIFICANTLY. And with colonialism, we should have, at least, more control over the areas in which our colonial nations colonize (so no more colonizing on each other's colonial territories), when forming a nation the flag and color of your colonial nations should change to fit your nation, and when integrating a personal union or a vassal that has colonial nations, said colonial nations should either adopt your color and flag or, in the case that their colonial nations are in the same colonial region with your own colonial nations, become integrated into the relevant colonial nations founded and controlled by you. In addition, perhaps some more colonizing depth but that is already largely covered and addressed with a naval system overhaul as outlined by this thread here (which is also the thread I referenced earlier in my message) https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...er-commander-complete-naval-overhaul.1163150/

 

[rimworld inbox]

What about a much needed naval and colonial rework? There is a thread that was made with MANY good recommendations on how to improve naval combat and the overall game SIGNIFICANTLY. And with colonialism, we should have, at least, more control over the areas in which our colonial nations colonize (so no more colonizing on each other's colonial territories), when forming a nation the flag and color of your colonial nations should change to fit your nation, and when integrating a personal union or a vassal that has colonial nations, said colonial nations should either adopt your color and flag or, in the case that their colonial nations are in the same colonial region with your own colonial nations, become integrated into the relevant colonial nations founded and controlled by you. In addition, perhaps some more colonizing depth but that is already largely covered and addressed with a naval system overhaul as outlined by this thread here (which is also the thread I referenced earlier in my message) https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...er-commander-complete-naval-overhaul.1163150/

Suggestions like this are the exact example of what this game doesn't need.

There are already enough problems introduced into the game by "balancing by the lowest common denominator", with unintended consequences galore.

Where is the testing about how much naval combat works? Is there any input from people playing optimized MP with navies? How do their balance mods try to address the problem?

When suggestion length outscales actual information derived from testing the game mechanics by a factor of 10:1, as these suggestions often do, you get something that is worse than worthless.

There is a cruel irony at work.

The people who understand the core mechanics are rarely the sort to make long suggestions, because they have an understanding of the 'less foreseeable consequences' their actions could cause. Its the people who lack this foresight that tend to write gigantic walls of text, unanchored to reality.

This causes devs to assume that most suggestors don't know what they are talking about, and then when actually informed posters post, they too are ignored.

 

[withche.07]

If you are planning to revisit Golden Century:
1. Please expand colonial mechanics
2. Please reconsider to expand naval mechanics (direction in dlc was fine)
3. Please add missing historical pirate nations and fix bugged one as well (Habsan)
4. Please fix minority expulsions, as it seems historically not pleasing for Iberia.

 

[McManama]

Some GOOD stuff... finally

But what if I want only infantry mercenary regiments? Will it be still posible?

 

[Groogy]

Can we have a Government rank rework?

Do you have something in mind?

 

[Ololorium]

While I'm eager for the update, as an MP player I gotta ask: how many mercs can we expect to see? Certainly the mercspam is a bit out of hand, but if you nerf it too hard without compesating in manpower somehow, nobody will start player wars anymore as not having mercs will make them too weak. MP is already in danger of dying since developing is cheap enough now that people would often rather dev than fight (as wars take away money that could be used elsewhere, banked-up manpower in the form of professionalism, give devastation, and often cause loss of mana via bankruptcy).

Oh. I've never played EU4 multiplayer and always thought that it should be like singleplayer, but you can talk with your friends, which is probably fun. Now I know it's not like that at all. It seems really unfun, why do people even bother with it? I mean, developing provinces at low speed and being terrified of going to war in a game where everything else exists to provide for war... I'm a bit shocked.

 

[Dmitrius]

I know what you expect. But such a radical transformation from a mana-based system to a more dynamic-based system would be impossible. EU4 has developed so much since its release and changing its core would almost mean abandoning most of its previous expansions. The works it takes will be also unimaginable. You can still expect such transformation happens in IR though as it's still quite new, but you may not expect it for EU4. Such change could only happen for EU5 but not an expansion of EU4. You can still have a more dynamic system in EU4 though by using mods like Meiou and Taxes.

Nope, I dont want mana gone. As you said, the expansions and core mechanics are way too dependent on it.

What I would like to see however are:

Characters playing a bigger role in politics in their countries.

Expansion of dynasties and royal marriage/personal union mechanics.

Sliders that determine how much mana comes from the ruler and how much comes from the state administrative structure (absolute governments relying solely from rulers and parliamentary or republics coming from government). With reduced impact from stability and more balanced stats whereas really good absolute monarchs have greater capacity for really high stats.

Expansion of parliamentary and republic mechanics across the board.

_____

None of this requires the removal of mana.

 

[withche.07]

I might foresaw what is going to change with estates rework, I wish we could have lot more communities for internal situations.

For ui: I want estates window to be more improved, as they are annoying for beginners to handle. Maybe there should be bars (instead of percentages) we track, hovering over option can show how much this bar will be affected.

I would love to see more nation/region specific estates for accuracy, (as Ottomans Tımariot Sipahi replacing nobility as military class) India feels fresh with these. China can also have more estates. Idk for sure. Ashkenazi Jews for europe as estate may work.

I would love to see empires having lot more internal mechanics. Estates are bit annoying cause of limitations, I mean instead of these huge classes/caste where we should assign or deassign, why dont we have more detailed small parts of community? I mean these type of communities may just not necessary to deal with, but can still feel rewarding if you invest in.

Like scientists/researchers, for innovation.
Like artists, for positive events
Farmers, miners, soldiers, statesmen, architech/builders, engineers etc

Also adding up more characterics to people is very entertaining.
Advisors/merchants having traits I mean, why not?

even diplomats having traits?
(faster or slower relation improvement/
better or worse rebel support/
increasing or decreasing claim times/
effecting war support of allies etc)

 

[zweihander]

This will be an update with the 64-bit support and bugfixes

Sorry that I have very few knownledge on how computer works, but what is the benefit of 64 bit support?

 

[tioperete]

They explained that the choice was to ensure Austria didn't fail to expand, creating a power vacuum in Central Europe. With that in mind, I don't think doing more than adding starting autonomy to the provinces in western Austria makes sense.

They can just make AI Austria to unify most of the times, while leaving the player go for it.