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EU4 - Development Diary - 6th of November 2018

It's Tuesday, and that means it's time for another EU4 dev diary. This week and next I’m going to be showing off some of the new mission trees, events, and national ideas coming in the 1.28 ‘Spain’ update and the accompanying Immersion Pack.

NB: Most mission icons are currently using placeholder art

Let’s start with the star of the show, Spain itself:

spanish missions.png


The Spanish mission tree is available to nations beside Aragon that form Spain, while Castile immediately has access to a reduced version of the tree prior to forming Spain.

For the most part these missions follow Spain’s historical expansion overseas; from the Pillars of Hercules to California and the Philippines, the Spanish Empire was one of the largest the world has ever seen. Driven by the quest for gold and silver, Conquistadors such as Cortez and Pizarro will join your service to lead the conquests of Mexico and Peru. You’ll also be encouraged to spread the word of God in the New World by establishing Holy Orders in your colonies.

Spain will also have opportunities to expand in Europe. If the Iberian Wedding or Burgundian Succession don’t work out for you, permanent claims on Naples and Wallonia will help you seize your rightful inheritance through conquest. With a foothold in the Netherlands, Spain can then pursue powerful Personal Unions with both England (depending on their religious choices) and Austria, with the ultimate goal of establishing a Universal Monarchy.

We’ve also split up the National Idea sets for Castile and Spain, as we did for England and Great Britain in Rule Britannia:

Spanish national ideas:
Code:
SPA_ideas = {
    start = {
        land_morale = 0.15
        global_colonial_growth = 25
    }
 
    bonus = {
        discipline = 0.05
    }
 
    trigger = {
        tag = SPA
    }
    free = yes        #will be added at load.

    devout_catholisism = {
        papal_influence = 2
    }
    inter_caetera = {
        idea_claim_colonies = yes
        colonists = 1
    }
    gold_fleet = {
        global_tariffs = 0.15
        global_prov_trade_power_modifier = 0.1
    }
    spanish_armada = {
        heavy_ship_cost = -0.1
        leader_naval_manuever = 1
    }
    spa_casa_de_contracion = {
        envoy_travel_time = -0.33
    }
    spa_cortes = {
        free_adm_policy = 1
    }
    siglo_de_oro = {
        prestige = 1
    }
}

 spa_casa_de_contracion:0 "Casa de Contratación"
 spa_casa_de_contracion_desc:0 "We must extend the reach of the House of Trade of the Indies. Our colonial agents must have a presence in every part of the world to ensure the smooth functioning of our empire."
 spa_cortes:0 "Rein in the Cortes"
 spa_cortes_desc:0 "Each constitutent Kingdom in the Spanish realm has its own corte, an assembly of the most powerful elements of society in the region. There is often tension between the Crown and the Cortes over such issues as taxation and regional autonomy. We must rein in these institutions so that they primarily serve the Crown rather than their own interests."

Castilian National ideas:
Code:
CAS_ideas = {
    start = {
        land_morale = 0.15
        missionaries = 1
    }
    bonus = {
        artillery_fire = 1
    }
    trigger = {
        tag = CAS
    }
    free = yes        #will be added at load.
    the_reconquista = {
        army_tradition_decay = -0.01
    }
    spanish_inquisition = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.02
    }
    cabildos = {
        production_efficiency = 0.1
    }
    inter_caetera = {
        idea_claim_colonies = yes
        colonists = 1
    }
    infantas = {
        diplomatic_reputation = 1
        heir_chance = 0.33
    }
    salamanca_scholars = {
        global_institution_spread = 0.1
    }
    nueva_planta = {
        yearly_absolutism = 0.1
    }
}

 cabildos:0 "Cabildos"
 cabildos_desc:0 "Representing the interests of the cities, the 'Caboldio' councils have a wide variety of functions and duties. They are responsible for both advocating the interests of the city to the Crown and for many aspects of local governance. We must continue to establish Cabildos in newly-founded or newly-conquered cities, particularly in the New World where the need for Castilian institutions is felt most severely."
 infantas:0 "Infantas"
 infantas_desc:0 "The Princes and Princesses of the Crown are among our most valuable assets. They can be sent as royal envoys, married off to secure alliances, or appointed as regents when the need arises. It is important that we ensure that our monarch's loins continue to bear fruit."
 salamanca_scholars:0 "School of Salamanca"
 salamanca_scholars_desc:0 "Based in the University of Salamanca, the School's interests lie in fields as diverse as theology, economics, and political philosophy. As one of the leading schools of thought in the Catholic world, its entrenched presence in Castile ensures that our nation is always at the forefront of intellectual affairs."
 nueva_planta:0 "Nueva Planta"
 nueva_planta_desc:0 "It is time to assert true royal authority in the realm; under a single set of laws and a common language, a renewed and centralized Castile will directly appoint officials and enshrine the absolute rule of the monarch."


aragon missions.png


Aragon has an entirely different focus, with a distinct Mare Nostrum theme. An Aragonese player will be encouraged to dominate the Mediterranean both militarily and economically. This mission tree will take Aragon into southern France, Italy, the Maghreb, Egypt, Anatolia, and Greece.

Aragon also has access to several purely economic missions. By establishing trade dominance in the Genoa node and developing the city, Valencia will gain access to the rare Silk trade good as well as a sizable bonus to production of this luxury resource. Completing Aragon’s economic missions will reward the player with the versatile ‘Golden Century’ modifier, giving a 1% reduction to all monarch power costs for 100 years.

portugal missions.png


Portugal’s mission tree is larger than any other in the game besides Great Britain with Rule Britannia. Like the Spanish mission tree, it is largely concerned with the recreation of Portugal’s historical overseas empire, particularly in Brazil and Asia. Missions have been added for the conquests of Malacca, Oman, Ceylon, and other ports in the East. When Portugal has discovered the Far East they will have the opportunity to negotiate for the purchase of two historically important ports: Macau and Nagasaki. In Brazil the Portuguese player can lead the Bandeirantes in the search for gold in Minas Gerais and acquire an increased chance to discover Gold as a trade good in all of their new colonies.

brz.jpg


The times were not always kind to Portugal. In 1807, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, the situation became so dire that the Portuguese court abandoned Lisbon, fled to Brazil, and made Rio the new seat of government. This will be represented in the game as a decision available to Portugal should they find themselves in dire straits. Your tag will change to Brazil, and Portugal will be released as a junior partner controlling your remaining European provinces. Note that by doing this you will lose access to Portuguese missions.

Not shown but will be in the final version: taking the decision will also change your primary culture to Brazilian.

Navarra missions.jpg


Finally we have Navarra. Navarra’s mission tree will be entirely free for anyone playing on the 1.28 ‘Spain’ patch. As you might expect, this mission tree takes the player down a very different path than history intended. Navarra must reclaim its unjustly stolen coastline, and from there pursue an invasion of France that can culminate in a Personal Union. With access to the sea, the New World beckons. In homage to the time-honoured strategy of migrating to the Americas to escape the cutthroat politics of Europe, Navarra will have the opportunity to move their capital to Terranova if they so choose.

Some of you may have noticed that Navarra’s starting monarch is also Aragon’s designated heir in 1444. A new event chain will bring Navarra under a Personal Union with Aragon if Navarra remains independent upon the death of King Afonso. If Navarra is being controlled by a player, they can of course choose to accept this union. But a truly ambitious player can instead reject the union and instantly gain a Restoration CB on Aragon.

nav_event.jpg


That’s all for today! Next week I’ll be back with more mission trees and national ideas with a focus on North Africa.
 
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@Anarchya
Dude, you should improve the legibility of your rant.
I agree that it's a rightful one, but you definitely need to break lines at some point.

Dude you should read again what I said.. What didnt you understand in my point? Weakness of Portugal in game? Lack opf provinces? Low development? Did you read that that i said that in last forums of this update we talk about the lack of provinces? we draw maps with more provinces for Portugal.. suggestions.. and we got only Aveiro? the portuguese weakness in game? even DEVs said that they "are tired" seeing Portugal ruling its empire from.. Africa? What you didn't understand?
 
Brazil emerging with generic national ideas:
This isn't intended to be something you are rewarded for. Hence losing stability and prestige when you do it. It exists for roleplay and for the AI when appropriate. I think we're all a bit tired of seeing Portugal ruling over the Americas from West Africa.
You don't need to give Brazil amazing, turbo-charged national ideas. But generic ideas are simply boring. Instead just give Brazil something appropriate for its diminished context and/or adapted from the NIs of its former Portuguese overlord. Keep the maritime, trade, and colonization bonuses. Drop the absolutism and tariff bonuses. Add locally-important bonuses like inflation reduction (for gold mines) and attrition reduction (for jungles).
 
Dude you should read again what I said.. What didnt you understand in my point? Weakness of Portugal in game? Lack opf provinces? Low development? Did you read that that i said that in last forums of this update we talk about the lack of provinces? we draw maps with more provinces for Portugal.. suggestions.. and we got only Aveiro? the portuguese weakness in game? even DEVs said that they "are tired" seeing Portugal ruling its empire from.. Africa? What you didn't understand?

Relax, he didnt mean it that way. I'll make your point later, if you want, and make sure it gets passed across clearly.
 
Before I only believed that paradox hate Spain.


Now i know it.


Please developers, change the ideas.
I think they had a bad experience in Ibiza, I mean blame the Germans! They have taken over and made a mess!
 
Dude you should read again what I said.. What didnt you understand in my point? Weakness of Portugal in game? Lack opf provinces? Low development? Did you read that that i said that in last forums of this update we talk about the lack of provinces? we draw maps with more provinces for Portugal.. suggestions.. and we got only Aveiro? the portuguese weakness in game? even DEVs said that they "are tired" seeing Portugal ruling its empire from.. Africa? What you didn't understand?

I understood everything you wrote. And I said that it was an acceptable rant. I'm just saying that it was a hard reading because you didn't use paragraphs or broke lines, you kept writing everything in the same continuous starting paragraph and never stopped.
It was a suggestion in better legibility, but never mind then...
 
There is the event "A Very Strategic Marriage" for Spain that forces Austria to cede the BI to Spain if it fires.

That event is bugged (or rather designed in a wrong way)

Austria needs to inherit Burgundy through the royal marriage route rather than the emperor route of the inheritance and that basically never happens. And even in the 1/1000 chance it does the Habsburg event has to happen afterwards
 
Brazil emerging with generic national ideas:

You don't need to give Brazil amazing, turbo-charged national ideas. But generic ideas are simply boring. Instead just give Brazil something appropriate for its diminished context and/or adapted from the NIs of its former Portuguese overlord. Keep the maritime, trade, and colonization bonuses. Drop the absolutism and tariff bonuses. Add locally-important bonuses like inflation reduction (for gold mines) and attrition reduction (for jungles).
Dude you should read again what I said.. What didnt you understand in my point? Weakness of Portugal in game? Lack opf provinces? Low development? Did you read that that i said that in last forums of this update we talk about the lack of provinces? we draw maps with more provinces for Portugal.. suggestions.. and we got only Aveiro? the portuguese weakness in game? even DEVs said that they "are tired" seeing Portugal ruling its empire from.. Africa? What you didn't understand?

Its an insulting backdoor of button to give to a specific country. It should be mechanically available to all potential colonial powers (like Brittany and Navarre). To give it to Portugal alone is to throw dust into people's eyes about how they're giving us flavor.

Except its not flavor, it's cynicism.

They might as well give us a "game over" button. What player would wanna reenact this unless they start at the 1801 bookmark?
 
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I like the idea of immersion, but they should be greater or cheaper and never unbalance the game. I belive Britain became too powerfull since rule britannia and other european powers of that age cannot match. The English channel trade node is super rich in 1444 without reason (equal to genoa), and when the city of Venice was richer than the entire kingdom of France, the venice trade node is quite poor. Furthermore, is very clear the total absence of experts creating new contents for some places, especially those of the "south": Catholicism stopped in time, Portugal has no real chance of becoming a world power even in 1500, north america has much more provinces than south america, USA has a unique mission tree and events, while south america is generic... Despite USA be the great power today and the war for independence in 1776, it was not until the war of 1812 that Europe saw US as an independent nation de facto. This immersion pack to iberian peninsula and its colonies doesn't seems to correct it.
 
@Anarchya after mind-blowing "Dharma" DLC where India got a like 50% more development and who knows how many more provinces, tags and super powerful ideas (discipline + discipline + more discipline + fire damage at last) it's kinda weird to see how European-based patches are even not close in terms of quality and balance (Poland patch was extremely rushed, now Iberia patch has nerfed NIs that didn't need it and nations with lackluster NIs received no buffs).
 
Please consider just balancing the game for mp games. You can steamroll the ai without a single national idea just because it doesn't know how to use troops or ships and, I'm not blaming paradox for that, I'm certain is almost impossible to make the ai as good as a half decent player. So, if in sp games the player is always going to destroy the ai, why don't focus the balance in mp games, where your enemies are humans that will know how to play. I feel that since Art of War you guys just gave up balancing, just said hey let's Buff some random Indian nation because of yes. The reality is that since mandate of heaven patch there have been crazy buffs to nations that had 0 impact in world history at the time, and I know it's a sandbox game and that you can make a wc with ulm, but that doesn't mean ulm has to have the best ideas. In the first patches of the game (I've been playing for a really long time) sp games were more fun than now, due to the fact that if you did a great empire with Yemen it was because you played well, tried to be intelligent, not because your national ideas were better than the Mamluks. Right now the best idea set in the world is the Hindustani one, it's just the best, and I'm talking for mp games, as the game I believe has to be balanced for those. But after Hindustan you got Japanese shogunates (After this rework Date has more heavy ship combat ability than Spain, even though I sincerely doubt they even built more than 5 heavy ships), Oda has better combat modifiers than France, etc. Ottoman and France ideas, the 2 most powerful military countries in the age now have worse idea groups than countries like Mewar, Oda, etc. It just doesn't make sense I'm sorry. Sweden, a country that was a regional power for a few years has the best military idea set of the whole Europe, if we add to them their special events (because in a merc spam meta having +50% available mercs in an event puts you way ahead of Prussia, or having 1 more avaliable policy than the rest of Europe makes you have 1 military modifier in lategame than no other country can get). I could write pages putting examples of how some nations for arbitrary reasons have ideas that are stupidly good and some that were the "winners" of this time period have horrible ones. Just think about the French one with native assimilate, I'd rather have reduced inflation cost than that, same wit ottoman discount to reduce war exhaustion.

And now what do we have in this coming patch. A map rework that doesn't solve any of the problems Iberia had, that is poorly done and that doesn't represent what Iberia was at that time, a map rework in America that makes the island of La Hispañola have the same amount of provinces than Portugal. Some random buttons to put orders that nobody is ever going to use in mp game because you will never want to boost tax or manpower for your colony when that only makes them have more liberty desire, and as tax doesn't pay you, really, why in the world is anybody going to use that button, maybe the production one, but as colonies are nerfed as hell (as the new colony system makes native provinces have stupid amounts of dev, then your colony starts boosting his provinces when he can't colonice, so the result is more dev that makes it so you can't even tax the colony without having to spend mp every 6 months to get LD down) and then colonial tariffs got nerfed by half, really, why in the world is anybody going to pay mp to receive nothing, even if I manage to get my colony to 100 tariffs it's just going to give me 50% of production and trade (not even tax) and the colony is going to have high LD always.

Then flagships, random feature that doesn't change anything in naval combat because you are always going to annihilate the ai and in mp games England wins always after getting the first national idea. And what do Flagships do!!?? Well they just add some bonuses for extra cost. Why in the world would Castille want one of this if she cannot even maintain (sailors) a navy of 10 heavy ships and all to get a slightly better ship which is way more expensive. We have the trade power modifier which is op as hell, the atrittion that nobody is ever going to use in mp, and remember in sp you destroy the ai always. And hey, this is the best of all, let's give Sweden a unique battleship that is better than the Spanish one. Why? Yes, because Sweden was so important in naval war in this time!!!!!!! Yeah, their major naval accomplishment was getting her flagship sunk on her launching day (the ship was cool though, I saw it in Stockholm). Why in the world England has no unique flagship, I really can't understand it. England, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands were the major naval power in this time by far. And if adding unique flagships is just a modifier, why not add it for ottomans, Venice, Korea, Genoa and lubeck. There you have it, more unique content with a few clicks.

And then there is this last dev diary, where Spain just get random pu missions because of yes, a few go conquer America, conquer Philippines and 0 flavour content. I don't know there are hundreds of unique things that happen in Spain during that period that have nothing to do with conquering America, expelling minorities and doing random pu. You got since building Seville as the greatest port in Europe to Salamanca 's debate, the Mesta Council, embracing the comuneros revolt, the bourbon industry program, the Golden century, fighting pirates. I feel the mission trees are just an easy way to make up content. Instead of saying hey let's make the Spanish player feel like he is playing Spain, no, it seems you do a let's put a lot of conquer everything missions. I can conquer everything with every country guys, if I'm playing Spain I want to feel like I'm playing Spain, not just a yellow spamming name, this is the biggest mistake that in my opinion all the dlc since mandate of heaven have made. Not all eu players want to go wc, or spam their names, a lot of us like your games because we like history, not just painting a map, and note this is for sp games, so you can't say I'm focusing only in mp. Portuguese aragonese trees are the same, just conquer conquer conquer, colonice something, conquer conquer conquer, discover something and conquer. I hope you realize the mission system is OK, but if you overuse people won't like it. Flavour events, unique mission paths that make me do some reform in the country, then have to conquer something, then build a city, then have to establish trade with someone, then build some industry and then have a civil war (just an example) are fun and make people feel like they are progressing and playing that specific nation. I feel so sad when I read comments saying that the best is being Aragon and then have Spain missions.I really can't understand it, maybe it's me, but if you just want to conquer a lot of stuff why even bother with having a mission tree.

And finally the idea changes. I belong to what I think is the largest Spanish mp games community, I've never seen campaigns like those, where there are battles with 2 millions in each side, countries that have force limits up to 1,8 million, income of more than 2k gold, and this without having to paint the entire map. I believe this mp games are the ones with the most level and the most balanced of all. There were 91 people inscribed for the mp and 44 play regularly with 3 commentators, always in vanilla. I say this as a prove that the game has to be balanced for mp. Until now. After seeing how the balance is going in the game we are thinking seriously about making our own mod just to make the game a bit balanced, just to make sure England can beat the rest of the world in a naval battle where she has 4 time less navy, of make sure that Sweden won't win just because it can spam more mercs than anyone, or that America isn't useless and more like this.I please ask you to take balance serious, you just keep adding more and more and more and more and more modifiers without control or balance. Because yes, when you give naval traditions for having world ports you are making ideas that give naval tradition worse, when you give 15% manpower as a government reform you are making manpower modifiers worse, when you give 2 promoted cultures in government reforms you are making humanist ideas laughable and there are hundreds of examples like this. I really like this game and I think most of the community does, but what is also true is that the game has some really serious core issues that aren't addressed and I think that's making the community not want eu4 dlc.
Because a few buttons are cool for 1 or 2 plays but why would I ever want for example flagship if naval combat is always won by the UK in mp or in sp the ai will never be able to beat me.
I hope you take these things into consideration and sorry if I sound agressive.
 
Yeah I know that they are trying but still the expansions were going slowly downhill since Mandate of Heaven. But I think most of the people are too critical about Paradox. They just want to give us IMMERSION. Aren't you all so IMMERSED from does incredible IMMERSION packs? Those mission trees and unit packs (which you can barely see) are giving me so much IMMERSION that I really feel like I was being robbed in 15th century. AMAZING!
I'm joking. I haven't bought any immersion pack and I love Paradox but they need to be more creative with their DLCs. And the community shouldn't buy everything they throw at them. I fear that Paradox is slowly turning into EA. Their DLCs feel more and more forced and... tasteless. Don't get me wrong I don't hate Paradox and I don't hate their policy but i find their DLCs boring. This is very subjective but I wasn't exited about any EUIV dlc since Rights of Man and I haven't bought any since Mandate of Heaven. They are just boring to me. I remember when Paradox expansions gave you more freedom, more possibilities, when they added more to sandbox gameplay and replayability. But now they just add more fancy buttons and tie your hands. I don't know maybe it's just my feeling.

I get the feeling we are both fans of Red Letter Media lol
 
What makes me very sad is that the community is truly awesome but the devs don't consider our suggestions enough :(

The ideas suggested by the community really got me pumped for the Immersion Pack. Some of them were pretty awesome, especially for a role-player like me, and would have added some real flavor! The real Immersion Pack though will be the second DLC I don't buy in a row... And I wanted an Iberia Pack so much :(
 
Still in need for a good reason to not buy this DLC on a discount.

I thought they learned from two consecutive negatively-reviewed Immersion Packs. A lot of people just insta-buy things, doesn't mean it's any good. Quite the contrary; just more updated buttons and updated modifiers in already existing mechanics that shouldn't even carry the DLC, nor its pricing. We need something groundbreaking and new which doesn't deal with modifiers or just adds some buttons to already-existing mechanics. Where's the creativity?

If Paradox do include new and groundbreaking features in their DLC, they come under heavy fire from another, equally vocal, group of critics. Throwing accusations like "paywall", "this should have been in the base game from day one", "didn't they learn from development/Common Sense?", etc etc.

They're going to get review-bombed no matter what they do. :(
 
So, to recap everything so far:

1) We got a blatantly incompetently-done map revamp to the point that the devs have acknowledged a correction thread started by forum posters;
2) We got a Spanish Main map revamp that makes the first point look even worse;
3) We got a flagship modification system that has pissed off Britain players and snuck a dumb Sweden meme in that everyone is mad at;
4) We got an "national idea revamp" that has changed one or two things about Castille and left everything else the same (Portugal still a paper tiger for some reason);
5) And we got a mission tree revamp that, while extensive, missed huge interesting and ambitious opportunities and bloated itself with one-province-conquest missions;

.....

Golden Century, indeed, lol :v

Is anyone who knows anything thorough about the history of these empires satisfied so far?

I’m still hoping for something School of Salamanca-y for Humanist players.
 
“The capital will move to Rio de Janeiro if owned, or else to a random province in the Brazil colonial region.”

Wait what? We could find ourselves with a 1/1/1 inland capital just because we do not have Rio de Janeiro but instead we own a godly-developed Bahia??

This should be changed ASAP. The new capital would be the Capital of the Brazil Colonial Nation that Portugal has. Not Rio de Janeiro because “railroading” or else too bad you’ll play the lottery.

This makes no sense.
At least, "go back to Bahia", Salvador.;)
 
Are there going to be any changes to the HRE?

At the very least unique HRE flags for nations that reform it?

Britain's mission has a unique flag in the artwork yet it still gets the German flag.
 
Hmm... looks like Paradox skip history class about Spanish Empire and they just bring 1800 british navy to 1400 era; mexican culture? again a 1810 event bring back to 1444. Maybe is hard for Paradox believe that a Iberian country was so powerful in the EUIV time period.

If you have time read the forum and there is a lot of people that dont just read wikipedia and know very well the time period of the game. Rule Britannia was really fictional DLC, maybe more adequate for Vicy III, but now we are talking about 1 of the mayor powers of the time, with a huge potential; in colonization, diplomacy, wars in all the continents very early, naval and land supremacy (Ottoman empire rival), massive conversions in the new world,HR emperor and defender of Catholic religion,etc; so please get close to the big expectations of the fans.