EU4 - Development Diary - 9th of October 2018

[PrimeYuri]

-So Tenerife will be portugese most of the times? They will always be faster with a colonist.
- Portugal still too weak compared to all areas that got new maps last year.
- Why nerf the Kingdom of Navarra instead of buffing it like it should have been? And on the other hand make Galicia 4 provinces? Navarra was more important.

 

[raikaria]

Hope Spain can finally compete against France at last following this, and be the superpower it is meant to be till 18th century.

18th Century? That's a bit generous; considering Spain was such a mess it had to declare bankruptcy 4 times in the period of 1557-1596. Not to mention the Independence of the Netherlands, the loss of the Armada, complete failure of economic policies which led to spiraling inflation...

Major power; yes. Superpower? Spain was never this. In the early periods of EU4 the Superpower was the Ottomans, and in the later periods it was GB and France. The only part of the timeframe you could claim Spain as a superpower was perhaps the mid 1500's; before aformentioned Bankruptcies. But it's rather difficult to claim that Spain was the strongest nation; significantly above all others to the degree you could call it a Superpower at any point.

 

[Malauder]

RIP Navarra
I hope that at least they will rework Navarra's traditions:

Traditions:
+20% Naval force limit modifier
−20% Light ship cost

 

[the glory of plain]

was expected the two southern province reshape into three or four new one
hoping for new mission tree of portugal aragon morroco and maybe tunis

 

[AlphaSonic]

18th Century? That's a bit generous; considering Spain was such a mess it had to declare bankruptcy 4 times in the period of 1557-1596. Not to mention the Independence of the Netherlands, the loss of the Armada, complete failure of economic policies which led to spiraling inflation...

Major power; yes. Superpower? Spain was never this. In the early periods of EU4 the Superpower was the Ottomans, and in the later periods it was GB and France. The only part of the timeframe you could claim Spain as a superpower was perhaps the mid 1500's; before aformentioned Bankruptcies. But it's rather difficult to claim that Spain was the strongest nation; significantly above all others to the degree you could call it a Superpower at any point.

I think you can be considered a superpower when you survive 4 bankrupcies while owning half the World.

 

[deserk]

A little underwhelmed by the changes to Navarre, was expecting at least one new province for it. The loss of it's coastline is indeed historical, but something should be done to compensate for that. The addition of either Tudela or Lower Navarre (with Saint Jean Pied de Port as capital) would be welcome, both relatively important cities within the crown of Navarre at this time. Also, Navarre's naval focused ideas don't exactly make much sense now does it? And from a historical perspective it makes no sense for the tag of Navarre specifically and seems more tied to the history of the Basques under the Crown of Castile.

 

[cristofolmc]

As a spaniard, I must say its painful to see the most independentist province of Catalonia, Lleida, being part of Aragon. Where did the devs get this from?

Also, Castilla la Vieja isnt a real province, over there should be Valladolid. What kind of research do you guys do????

PS: You add an ahistorical kingdom of Asturias for the sake of new tags, but dont release the ACTUAL historical kingdom of Mallorca that was in fact an existing actual kingdom under the Crown of Aragon. Great job.

PS2: As a Valencian myself, Valencia isnt so far up north lol.

 

[The Havoc]

18th Century? That's a bit generous; considering Spain was such a mess it had to declare bankruptcy 4 times in the period of 1557-1596. Not to mention the Independence of the Netherlands, the loss of the Armada, complete failure of economic policies which led to spiraling inflation...

Major power; yes. Superpower? Spain was never this. In the early periods of EU4 the Superpower was the Ottomans, and in the later periods it was GB and France. The only part of the timeframe you could claim Spain as a superpower was perhaps the mid 1500's; before aformentioned Bankruptcies. But it's rather difficult to claim that Spain was the strongest nation; significantly above all others to the degree you could call it a Superpower at any point.

People tend to overestimate the impact of bankruptcies in Spain, when most of them were intended to avoid paying to the Welzer, Fugger and other families. Spain was indeed a superpower until the end of the 30 years war, when the France of Louis XIII took their role.

 

[jady]

No infos for more hotfixes for 1.27?

 

[swietymiki]

Looking closer to Aragon makes me feel that zero attention went into the placement of the cities there.

Tarragona, Urgell, Pirineo, Lleida... All are placed in the wrong location.

Exactly the same happened in the Poland update, which is sad. Apparently looking in Google Maps where the city (that still exists) should be placed is too much effort for the current game designers. Disagrees inbound.

 

[Mindel]

Are there any plans to add impassable areas to the Iberian peninsula? The topography of the region isn't entirely flat, and it could be more interesting for gameplay to have obstacles to maneuver around.

 

[dayalu]

18th Century? That's a bit generous; considering Spain was such a mess it had to declare bankruptcy 4 times in the period of 1557-1596. Not to mention the Independence of the Netherlands, the loss of the Armada, complete failure of economic policies which led to spiraling inflation...

Major power; yes. Superpower? Spain was never this. In the early periods of EU4 the Superpower was the Ottomans, and in the later periods it was GB and France. The only part of the timeframe you could claim Spain as a superpower was perhaps the mid 1500's; before aformentioned Bankruptcies. But it's rather difficult to claim that Spain was the strongest nation; significantly above all others to the degree you could call it a Superpower at any point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto Only because you mention the Ottomans.

 

[sbytheway]

Hmm, I think I'd have liked to see some more granularity, still lots of big blocky provinces in there. Maybe some wastelands to represent the hillier bits too

I'm guessing this means Iberia isn't the main focus?

 

[Mingmung]

Exactly the same happened in the Poland update, which is sad. Apparently looking in Google Maps where the city (that still exists) should be placed is too much effort for the current game designers. Disagrees inbound.

Agreed. I happened to make a thread about Poland a while ago. The devs should just use Google Maps...

 

[Husein]

18th Century? That's a bit generous; considering Spain was such a mess it had to declare bankruptcy 4 times in the period of 1557-1596. Not to mention the Independence of the Netherlands, the loss of the Armada, complete failure of economic policies which led to spiraling inflation...

Major power; yes. Superpower? Spain was never this. In the early periods of EU4 the Superpower was the Ottomans, and in the later periods it was GB and France. The only part of the timeframe you could claim Spain as a superpower was perhaps the mid 1500's; before aformentioned Bankruptcies. But it's rather difficult to claim that Spain was the strongest nation; significantly above all others to the degree you could call it a Superpower at any point.

Those are all matters of mismanagment rather than inability. Armada isn't written in stone, neither are poor economic policies and bankruptcies. Spain had the basis and ability to go toe to toe with French and Ottomans had it been better managed.

 

[Alarico]

No kingom of Majorca, no province of Cartagena (which had the most important shipyard in the mediterranean coast of Spain) and Lleida badly placed.

 

[johnleeyx]

I’ve also taken another look at North Africa

Has Berber North Africa been touched up too? Berber as one huge jarring culture should be broken up into Tachelhit, Riffian and Kabyle etc.

 

[Mingmung]

No kingom of Majorca, no province of Cartagena (which had the most important shipyard in the mediterranean coast of Spain) and Lleida badly placed.

Cartagena was in decline because of Atlantic trade. It's either Murcia or Cartagena.

 

[FAB11AN]

18th Century? That's a bit generous; considering Spain was such a mess it had to declare bankruptcy 4 times in the period of 1557-1596. Not to mention the Independence of the Netherlands, the loss of the Armada, complete failure of economic policies which led to spiraling inflation...

Major power; yes. Superpower? Spain was never this. In the early periods of EU4 the Superpower was the Ottomans, and in the later periods it was GB and France. The only part of the timeframe you could claim Spain as a superpower was perhaps the mid 1500's; before aformentioned Bankruptcies. But it's rather difficult to claim that Spain was the strongest nation; significantly above all others to the degree you could call it a Superpower at any point.

Typical thought xDD. Spain didn´t declare any bankruptcy in that period, nor has it declared ever in her history, those "bankruptcy" were just a method to get debt in short periods (1 to 5 years mostly) to debt in long periods(like 20 years). Spain was probably wealthier than the rest of europe combined for some time, its problem was that getting money to the Netherlands to pay soldiers from Mexico could take more than a year, and obviously soldiers won´t fight if they don´t get paid, so Spain took debt until it could get cash so the State didn´t collapse. Spain was THE superpower until the end of the 30 years war, and it was one of the biggest superpowers until the napoleonic wars. Even Castile or Aragon were one of the superpowers in the 15th century so I see no reason why that couldn´t be reflected

 

[Zaragoza]

Welcome all to today’s dev diary, where I’ll be covering the long-awaited Iberian and North African map update coming in the 1.28 ‘Spain’ update.

View attachment 409269

Nations released for the sake of example

As things currently stand, though as always things are subject to change before release, Iberia consists of 571 development over 63 provinces. This includes the Macaronesia area but now excludes Labourd, which has been returned to the French region.

In Aragon, the distinction between the Kingdom of Aragon, the Kingdom of Valencia, and the Principality of Catalonia has become more pronounced. Tarragona is now rightly in the Catalonia area, and the province of Valencia has been split so that Castello and Xativa have become separate provinces. Valencia itself has the potential to be a very rich city indeed, as the player’s actions can lead to it becoming a major producer of silk. The three major Balearic Islands have become provinces in and of themselves, linked together by a strait and comprising their own Area.

Likewise, Galicia has seen itself grow from 1 province to 4, and now has an Area all to itself.

Portugal and Granada have been gifted one additional province each: Aveiro and Malaga respectively.

Last but not least, many citizens of Navarra are looking a little confused as they wonder where their coastline has gone. Wedged between major powers and with no immediate means of escape over the ocean, Navarra will be a very challenging nation in 1.28.

New releasable nations:

Valencia: The Kingdom of Valencia was a major constituent part of the Crown of Aragon in 1444. In 1.28 the former kingdom of El Cid will be a releasable nation.

Asturias: The Kingdom of Asturias ceased to exist long before our start date, but it nicely fills the absence of releasable nations in the region.

View attachment 409270

I’ve also taken another look at North Africa. Here we can see several new provinces along the coast, including those belonging to new nations that can emerge during the game.

The province of Demnate allows a route through the Atlas mountains; a convenient shortcut and potentially a deadly choke-point.

The Canary Islands have been split between Gran Canaria and Tenerife to represent the somewhat incomplete Castilian conquest and colonization of the islands.

For the masochists among you who play as Granada, they now have a core on the province on Ceuta.

New releasable nations:

Salé and Tétouan: Home to some of the most infamous Barbary Pirates, these nations will be releasable in 1444, and may emerge dynamically in the course of the game in the style of Habsan.

View attachment 409271

Finally, I’ve made some minor changes to the eastern Maghreb. The province of Kairwan has been added for Tunis, and the addition of Sabha has allowed a more aesthetic redrawing of Fezzan’s borders.

That’s all for today. Next week, @Groogy will reveal some of the new features coming in the as yet unnamed Immersion pack to be released alongside 1.28.

Aragon has some mistakes. Lérida/Lleida itself is not part of it. Also, the areas are weird, since Zaragoza is in the center of the area its former province used to occupy, so now its province is oddly shaped now with the cities badly placed (Zaragoza city is approximately in Lleida province right now). It will be more realistic to split Calatayud or Tarazona for the western part with the frontier between Castille and Zaragoza that move Zaragoza from its place. Lleida itself should occupy part of the Tarragona and Urgel provinces instead.

Edit: the crusader maps is not exacty was I suggest, but more or less ressemble it. Tarazona/Calatayud were the main fortresses in the western border with Castille, with Teruel being the southern stronghold. Zaragoza itself acted as capital in the center and its sobrecollida (tax district) controlled the central part of the river. Now, the Zaragoza district is split but any conquest from either West or East will go directly up to an area without natural borders.