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EU4 - Development Diary - 30th of June 2016

The skies are blue, the sun is shining and Sweden is very nearly shut down for Summer. I'm not kidding, this whole country just turns off in July like you pulled out its batteries. None the less, before the great productivity purge we're here for one more development diary for Europa Universalis IV.

A fair few forumites were clairvoyant enough to predict this after we added Ruler Personalities. Indeed, as part of the upcoming expansion we will have Leader Traits

Gainint trait.jpg


At the conclusion of any battle the leader involved has a chance to gain a trait. This trait will, unlike Ruler Personalities, always be a bonus. Current chance of gaining a trait is set to 2% multiplied by the Army Tradition gain from a battle (this, like most numbers during development, is subject to balance changes) which can be set in the defines.

Leaders are limited to one trait each and that trait will affect all units under their command. In battle, the trait of the commanding general (the one whose shock/fire pips are used) will affect all units on their side.

Some of the traits:
Goal Orientated:+10% Movement Speed
Hardy Warrior: -20% Attrition
Siege Specialist: +15% Siege Ability
Born to the Saddle: +50% Cavalry Flanking Range

leader trait battle.jpg


Of course, Admirals can gain traits too. Same rules as generals except the chance is based on naval tradition from battles.

Buccaneer: +25% Privateering Efficiency
Prize hunter: +5% chance of capturing enemy ships
Ironside: +5% Ship Durability
Extortioner: + 15% Light Ship Trade Power

naval trait.jpg


There are 22 traits in total, many with combat modifiers which have been added to the game for use in modding (and in National Idea changes which we will show later). It's worth noting that Heirs, Monarchs, Conquistadors and Explorers can also gain traits from combat.

Leader Traits are a paid feature in the upcoming [name removed] expansion. There are many more features and changes to come but you're going to have to hold out for 5 weeks on more news since as I mentioned, this country is going to shut down for a month. I'll be back with the next dev diary in the first week of August.

Leader death.jpg


Great generals are like Swedish Summer, never lasting quite as long as you want.
 
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Also that -1.2 in the army interface is probably the local unrest reduction from the army. It's 0.25 reduction for every 1.000 troops, and this army have around ~4800 men, so it will provide 1.2 unrest reduction in this province.
 
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Excellent addition! Though I would have liked to see you guys take it some steps further by fleshing out generals even more. What about the number of pips slowly increasing with experience? Or perhaps letting powerful generals be supported by pretender rebels in case of a succession crisis.
 
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but rulers can be easily die in battles especially for ottomans. whenever i look at AI ottomans ruler history in ledger, their ruler are dying twice as much than europeans. because they are fighting all the time. (this means a lot of stability losses or increasing chance to low legimacy rulers and long regencies)

i suggested before this diaries started, AI should only appoint monarchs as military leader if they have militarist character. appointing the monarch with diplomatic character as military commander is ridiculous.
 
I'm not kidding, this whole country just turns off in July like you pulled out its batteries.

I'm imagining you all having to have spent the past couple of weeks stockpiling canned goods in preparation for all the shops being shut for a month.
 
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Another really solid step forward, though I do think 1 trait per leader is a bit on the conservative side. Likewise, I'm still holding out hope for an actual age/health value for everyone.
 
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EDIT: It's the last dev diary? It's like Christmas just ended.

Far from it. The next 4 weeks will not have any dev diaries due to summer vacation, after which there will be more DD's for the upcoming expansion. We are not even close to having covered all its features and changes.


How is it determined what trait is gained? Random chance or some connection to the type of action your leader is taking part in? Does ideas have any impact?

Random but only eligible for relevant traits. Meaning that a general who does not fight with cannons will not be getting an artillery-related trait and an all-cavalry general will not become Master of Arms.

what is cavalry flanking?

Cavalry have a base flanking range of 2 meaning that even if they have no units opposite them on the battlefield, they can strike a target up to 2 units to their left or right.. +50% will up this to 3. Tech also increases this value.

Infantry have a base flanking range of 1, Artillery have a base flanking range of 2.
 
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Far from it. The next 4 weeks will not have any dev diaries due to summer vacation, after which there will be more DD's for the upcoming expansion. We are not even close to having covered all its features and changes.




Random but only eligible for relevant traits. Meaning that a general who does not fight with cannons will not be getting an artillery-related trait and an all-cavalry general will not become Master of Arms.



Cavalry have a base flanking range of 2 meaning that even if they have no units opposite them on the battlefield, they can strike a target up to 2 units to their left or right.. +50% will up this to 3. Tech also increases this value.

Infantry have a base flanking range of 1, Artillery have a base flanking range of 2.
OMG! JAKE QUOTED ME! I'M FAMOUS! HI MUM!

Jake, are we finally going to be able to see how old our generals are?
 
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OMG! JAKE QUOTED ME! I'M FAMOUS! HI MUM!

Jake, are we finally going to be able to see how old our generals are?

Generals don't have age value as far as I know, it's just that they are subject to the death rolls, and eventually they die. (but I may be mistaken :p)
 
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Will the traits gained be completly random or will we be able to influence it a little bit, so for example an admiral leading tons of heavy ships is more likely to get heavy ship combat ability and such?
 
That's what it was?! It looked to me like a stick and a magicka robe.

In that case, maybe it means armies can now rebel and defect.
Interesting.


It's how much rebel suppression that army has.
Right now rebel suppression is 0.25 for every 1k that army has 5k living units so its 5x0.25= 1.20
Very usefull quality of life improvement! Removes the need for counting exactly how many guys you need to prevent rebels :D
 
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Current chance of gaining a trait is set to 2% multiplied by the Army Tradition gain from a battle (this, like most numbers during development, is subject to balance changes) which can be set in the defines.
I don't like the fact that it is proportional to army tradition. The AT gain from battles is very unreliable in my experience.
 
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