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EUIV - Development Diary - 3rd of December 2019

Hello! So finally another Dev Diary is upon us. This one I’ve been teasing over the weeks of what it would be.

So if you haven’t guessed it by now or you haven’t been following my sadistic tweets, what I’ve been spilling the beans on the past mondays are features we call Centers of Revolution and Revolutionary Zeal! The Revolution is some of my favorite features of the game, together with the League Wars. So I’ve always wanted to expand more upon it, make it more than just a mad dash of destroying your country and then getting a nice unique government as a reward. So me and the team got working on expanding on this feature for the new expansion.

So let’s start at the beginning, how does the revolution even start? So from here we wanted to do something where we tied it into the world of the game instead of having a disaster based mainly on your amount of loans. Instead it’s troubles that happen over time and slowly stack up until your people have had enough. So let’s start with the initial conditions needed. First you need a decent population for a revolution to even get going, you need to be an absolute ruler, then for each 30 development province there’s a yearly chance that the Revolution will start.

But of course that is not fun we want some player agency for the player as well, either to try and minimize that his people pick up the pitchforks or that they do. Things that can affect how likely the province is to be the match that ignites the tinder are but not limited to:
  • Absolutism, the higher absolutism the more likely.
  • Neglection of the Third Estate influence while you rely heavily on taxation of their production.
  • How urbanized the province is, the more development it has the more likely it is.
  • You’ve just lost a horrific war causing you to sit on high revanchism.
  • Or you are an embarrassment to the world, your prestige is nowhere to be seen.
  • You hand over control of the grain to the merchants wanting a more laissez-faire approach.
  • An immense national debt that you do not deal with.
Our Content Designer, @Caligula Caesar who has worked on this feature also wrote some detailed text giving some more historical context to things as well.

Historically, the French Revolution rather took everyone by surprise, but in hindsight we can see plenty of events that were significant to its build up and even foreshadowed things to come. We translated these to the game with a series of events inspired by pre-revolutionary France for countries eligible to have the Revolution. Depending on which options are picked in them, the Center of Revolution will be significantly more likely to spawn in your lands. The events we added include:

The Flour Wars – chafing under the harsh restrictions the government places on their trade (among other things preventing them from raising prices in a famine and mixing chalk or ground up bones into the flour), the grain merchants desperately plead for you to liberalize their markets, allowing them to make far greater profits, which they faithfully promise to pass on to you. However, if you do so, you risk being seen as culpable for the people’s suffering should a famine strike soon after:
upload_2019-12-3_9-32-0.png

The Reforms of <a level 3 master of mint> – if you have a talented and prominent master of the mint (cough, cough Neckar), they might propose an ambitious set of reforms that will probably make you better off but will certainly improve their own standing…

The National Debt – having a high national debt will provoke widespread worries, and the people will demand action. You get a choice of which set of uncomfortable reforms to pick – either raise taxes and deal with higher unrest, or reorganise the administration of the economy in return for a stability hit.

The Third Estate’s Demands – if you derive 75% or more of your income from trade and production combined but have particularly unhappy or uninfluential Burghers, they will be understandably upset and demand you make certain concessions to them:
upload_2019-12-3_9-32-37.png

Eventually, the various grumblings will begin to solidify into a full-blown revolutionary movement that threatens to bring chaos - or enlightenment, depending on your viewpoint - to the continent...
upload_2019-12-3_9-32-59.png

The Estates are mentioned here quite a bit, with our overhaul of the estate system we've been working very hard to try and integrate the Estates as a long term thing you deal with internally which then will have effects on the rest of your empire. For instance how Estates interact with absolutism and so on is one case. And here with having them involved with the Revolution is one way for us to do that as well.

So now after you’ve gotten out your pitchfork, you are all hooked on these hip new ideas of equal worth, what happens next? The province the revolution starts in becomes a Center of Revolution, it’s birthplace.

upload_2019-12-3_9-33-43.png

While doing this dev diary I discovered a bug where the Center of Revolution has no Revolution, which obviously is wrong.

This Center will continuously spread the ideals of the revolution further and further across the continent, three provinces at a time and quite quickly as well. When the people have realized that the guy in charge is just so because he has a very expensive hat, the local autonomy of the provinces will be raised equal to half of the absolutism of the empire (So 100 Absolutism would be 50 Local Autonomy), Subjects as well will gain up to 30% Liberty Desire as their population gain revolutionary ideals.

Now you are not meant to be stuck like this of course, there are some ways to combat the peasants getting uppity with your rule. An ineffective way but short term solution is to fight Revolutionary Rebels, this will remove the spread from several provinces but it’s not a long term solution. The cowards but very slow way is to just straight up surrender and adopt the Revolution but you are going to have to wait and try to keep your empire from breaking apart for quite a long time.

upload_2019-12-3_9-34-4.png

Important to say is that any numbers/requirements might still be a bit work in progress as of writing this. Also I noticed after us implementing these features that the AI is a lot better at maxing out Absolutism than I expected which is a happy surprise.

The quick and much more fun way is the new Revolution Disaster. The disaster have gotten a total makeover for the new expansion. The prerequisites of the disaster have changed a bit now focusing on the spread of the revolution within your borders. Besides that a lot of writing has been touched up on, making it better and interesting. But most importantly we wanted it to no longer feel like you have to game the system and destroy your nation on purpose to become Revolutionary if that is what you want to do. So now you get a choice when the disaster starts. Are you Revolutionary or Reactionary?

upload_2019-12-3_9-34-30.png


Now this is important, if you want to turn revolutionary you have to pick the revolutionary side and defeat the reactionaries. If you pick the reactionaries and lose, you will become revolutionary republic but you will be heavily penalized that might lose you the chance to become revolutionary Target, we’ll get to why that is a bit later.

When you do turn Revolutionary you will be prompted with most likely a unique text describing specifically how your people liberated themselves. @Caligula Caesar have written a lot of different unique texts for several major countries all over the world. Yes all over the world, while the Revolution is most likely to happen in Europe, we are no longer locking the mechanics solely to that continent.

upload_2019-12-3_9-35-35.png

As if the Ottomans weren’t scary enough already

Now when you are finally Revolutionary, besides getting access to the old mechanics like factions and the Revolutionary Target, we’ve also added a bit more things to spice things up. First up is Revolutionary Zeal, a feature that replaces Absolutism to fit better with your new government, I mean the commoners did take up arms because of the King’s overreach in power.

upload_2019-12-3_9-35-48.png

Featuring what we imagine would be the Swedish variant of the Committee of Public Safety.

The Max Zeal is dictated by various factors, like your government, Great Power Status, Golden Era and how much the Revolution have spread to your provinces. Zeal itself you can gain from things like Strengthen Government, Supporting Revolutionary Rebels in a Reactionary Country, Spreading the Revolution at the end of a Musket, but can also lose it by losing wars or by being at peace with a reactionary neighbor.

Right now the modifiers that Revolutionary Zeal has is very much placeholder and were based on some older design that has since changed. So we will be switching them out for something “sexier”. Currently they are this at 100% Zeal

  • +40% Administrative Efficiency
  • +100% Government Reform Progress Gain
  • +50% Reinforcement Rate
What would you want the Revolutionary Zeal effects to be? What would be the driving factor of the people’s fervor to push on the revolution?

Anyway the functionality of the Zeal does not end there. It also functions as a measure of how good of a revolutionary state you are. If you are not constantly pushing forward and onwards then what kind of fraternity of humankind are you fighting for? This opens up for the next thing, someone else can claim you are a traitor to the cause and a failure to take the Revolutionary Target from you. When someone goes through the Disaster or Adopts the Revolution but do not come first or qualify to become Revolutionary Target, they become a Junior state of the Revolution, simply put a Republic that have accepted the egalitarian ideals that were born in the Center of Revolution. If one of these Republics have a higher Zeal than the target they can take over the torch of the Revolution.

Here's why you want to win as the Revolutionaries in the Disaster. If you lose as the Reactionaries you will start at 0 Zeal making it impossible for you to keep or stay the Target.

upload_2019-12-3_9-36-25.png


And as long as you are a Revolutionary State but not the Target you can not turn into an Empire or Dictatorship. When you fall down to low Republican Tradition there is instead a chance that the country is taken control of a Committee to safeguard the Revolutionary principles.

Now let’s return to the Reactionaries. What if you don’t want to give people their rights to freedom and equality, what if you are a bit more old fashioned? First you can side with the Reactionaries in the Disaster, if you are successful your land will be protected from the influence of the dangerous ideas coming from the commoners as you’ve proven with might that your authority is absolute and should not be challenged. But you can also of course directly attack the root of the problem by declaring war on the Revolutionary Target to dismantle the revolution. Upon victory the center will be destroyed but if they have managed to spread to another major urban center then they might get a second chance. If there is no Revolutionary Target for 20 years straight it will be deemed that the Revolution failed and the peasants will stop having these futile fantasies.

Last for the Revolutions I want to cover the new government reforms we’ve given them. So I asked @Meka66 to just add a few, replace the absolutism ones and make something interesting. He gave me a "got you fam" and now If I’m counting this right, the mad lad, has made +20 unique reforms for the Revolutionary Nations.

upload_2019-12-3_9-36-49.png

Yet again, warning that these numbers will most probably be tweaked in the future.

Here’s a little taste of what’s available to the Revolutionary Empire. Numbers as per usual subject to change after balancing.

A lot of these affect the Revolutionary Zeal of the country but also replacements have been made where it makes sense to fit with the narrative of your country compared to the old ones. Here are some examples.

  • Military Electorate will pick the ruler from your General staff, give Army Tradition and Land Leader Fire.
  • As Guiding Principle of your Government, besides the old Republican ones you can pick between Revolutionary, Equality, or Imperial Principle. Which each focuses on one of the Revolutionary Factions.
  • The Feuillant System will let you utilize the States General mechanics with their own modifiers on each end.
Code:
liberte_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        rr_girondists_influence = 0.1
        num_accepted_cultures = 2
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

egalite_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        rr_jacobins_influence = 0.1
        republican_tradition = 0.25
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

fraternite_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        rr_royalists_influence = 0.1
        culture_conversion_cost = -0.2
        harsh_treatment_cost = -0.25
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

legislative_assembly_reform = {
    icon = "parliament_hall"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        yearly_revolutionary_zeal = 1.5
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 10
    }
}

national_constituent_reform = {
    icon = "ballot_box"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        improve_relation_modifier = 0.15
        diplomatic_upkeep = 1
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 10
    }
}

feuillant_reform = {
    icon = "crown"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
        republican_tradition = -0.1
    }

    ai = {
        factor = 0
    }

    conditional = {
        allow = { has_dlc = "Res Publica" }
        duration = 4
        has_term_election = yes
        states_general_mechanic = {
            revolutionaries = {
                land_morale = 0.1
                republican_tradition = 0.1
                yearly_revolutionary_zeal = 0.25
            }

            monarchists = {
                diplomatic_reputation = 1
                manpower_recovery_speed = 0.1
                global_unrest = -1
            }
        }
    }
}

two_chamber_reform = {
    icon = "parliament_hall"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        free_policy = 1
        republican_tradition = 0.15
    }
   
    ai = {
        factor = 1
    }
}

absolute_president_reform = {
    icon = "king"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        all_power_cost = -0.05
        election_cycle = 1
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2
    }
}

revolutionary_council_reform = {
    icon = "politician"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        max_revolutionary_zeal = 10
        election_cycle = -1
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2
    }
}

revolutionary_principle_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        rr_girondists_influence = 0.1
        land_morale = 0.1
        global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2
    }
}

equality_principle_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        tolerance_heretic = 2
        tolerance_heathen = 2
        rr_jacobins_influence = 0.1
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2
    }
}

imperial_principle_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        rr_royalists_influence = 0.1
        ae_impact = -0.1
        province_warscore_cost = -0.1
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2
    }
}

equal_electorate_reform = {
    icon = "politician"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        global_unrest = -2
        global_tax_modifier = 0.1
        female_advisor_chance = 0.33
        rr_jacobins_influence = 0.1
    }
   
    ai = {
        factor = 1
    }
}

three_classes_reform = {
    icon = "black_market_consortium"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        administrative_efficiency = 0.1
        rr_girondists_influence = 0.1
    }
   
    ai = {
        factor = 1
    }
}

military_electorate_reform = {
    icon = "nobleman"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        leader_land_fire = 1
        army_tradition = 0.5
        rr_royalists_influence = 0.1
    }
    custom_attributes = {
        generals_become_rulers = yes
        has_term_election = no
    }
   
    ai = {
        factor = 1
    }
}

president_for_life_reform = {
    icon = "man_on_podium"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    has_term_election = no
    potential = { 
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        republican_tradition = -0.5
        monarch_admin_power = 1
        monarch_military_power = 1
    }
    effect = {
        change_adm = 1
        change_mil = 1
    }
}

government_for_people_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = { 
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        max_revolutionary_zeal = 20
    }
}

become_rev_empire_reform = {
    icon = "king_2_highlighted"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes

    potential = { 
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
   
    trigger = {
        has_reform = revolutionary_republic_reform
        faction_influence = {
            faction = rr_royalists
            influence = 75
        }
    }

    modifiers = {
    }
    effect = {
        if = {
            limit = { has_government_attribute = states_general_mechanic }
            set_country_flag = had_states_general_mechanic
        }
        set_country_flag = populists_in_government
        lose_reforms = 7
        change_government = monarchy
        add_government_reform = revolutionary_empire_reform
        if = {
            limit = { has_country_flag = had_states_general_mechanic }
            country_event = { id = dutch_republic.33 }
            clr_country_flag = had_states_general_mechanic
        }
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 0
    }
}

legion_of_honor_reform = {
    icon = "king_2"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        leader_cost = -0.1
        nobles_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        maratha_exclusive_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        rajput_exclusive_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

imperial_nobility_reform = {
    icon = "people_walking"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        advisor_cost = -0.1
        nobles_influence_modifier = -0.2
        maratha_exclusive_influence_modifier = -0.2
        rajput_exclusive_influence_modifier = -0.2
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

imperial_decree_reform = {
    icon = "king"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        max_revolutionary_zeal = 20
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

consulate_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        global_autonomy = -0.05
        max_states = 3
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

emperor_of_the_revolution_reform = {
    icon = "revolutionary_republic"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        yearly_revolutionary_zeal = 1.5
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

enlightened_monarchy_reform = {
    icon = "queen"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes
    potential = {
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
    modifiers = {
        global_unrest = -2
        num_accepted_cultures = 2
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 2.5
    }
}

become_rev_republic_reform = {
    icon = "king_2_highlighted"
    allow_normal_conversion = yes

    potential = { 
        is_revolutionary = yes
    }
   
    trigger = {
        has_reform = revolutionary_empire_reform
    }

    modifiers = {
    }
    effect = {
        if = {
            limit = { has_government_attribute = states_general_mechanic }
            set_country_flag = had_states_general_mechanic
        }
        set_country_flag = populists_in_government
        lose_reforms = 3
        change_government = republic
        add_government_reform = revolutionary_republic_reform
        if = {
            limit = { has_country_flag = had_states_general_mechanic }
            country_event = { id = dutch_republic.33 }
            clr_country_flag = had_states_general_mechanic
        }
    }
    ai = {
        factor = 0
    }
}

There is so much content packed into the Revolution now that I had to stop somewhere. But for some honorable mentions we have The French Reign of Terror, The Dutch King fleeing by fisher boat, The English Storming the Tower and so much more.

upload_2019-12-3_9-38-3.png

upload_2019-12-3_9-50-24.png

upload_2019-12-3_9-50-50.png

upload_2019-12-3_9-38-48.png

upload_2019-12-3_9-39-46.png

[ROBESPIERRE HEAVY BREATHING]

And that’s it for Centers of Revolution and Revolutionary Zeal, I’ve probably missed some detail here or there but I’ll try and answer any questions you have.



Next is also the Burgundian Inheritance. Not exactly related to this except they got the best Revolutionary Tri-Color Flag. But I’ve seen a lot of questions about how will the Burgundian Inheritance work now with us reworking it and we haven’t been exactly super clear. My guiding principle for this change has been that the Inheritance should be playable for the Player and @Meka66 who have been implementing the rework has been following that and I think he’s better suited to explain it.

The Burgundian Inheritance has been overhauled completely is now something that Burgundy has some control over.

The old Burgundian Inheritance event was somewhat inaccurate in how it represented the chain of events that led to the partition of the Duke’s territories. Although Charles de Bourgogne died without a male heir, he did have an eligible female heir; Marie.

As Marie, Burgundy is presented with a choice as to which royal house it wishes to marry into; France, the Emperor, a strong ally, or stand against its would-be overlords and fight for Burgundian independence.

A Burgundy who sides with the Emperor will be completely subject to the Emperor’s will. This triggers an Imperial Incident wherein the Emperor must choose what to do with his newfound territory and whether or not he wishes to make concessions to France. One option available to a particularly sadistic Emperor is to make Burgundy look more like a typical member of the HRE and fracture all of Burgundy’s holdings into HRE princes.

Siding with France will leave Burgundy’s realm largely untouched, although the Emperor may demand the return of his lowland territories.

Any Christian nation with a royal marriage with Burgundy is eligible to inherit the Burgundian throne, and as such, Burgundy may choose to seek the support of a nation nobody expects, like the Spanish for example.

Whoever Burgundy chooses to devote themselves to, they shall fall under a personal union for a number of years. After some time has passed, Marie will die and her realm shall be inherited in its entirety by her senior partner.

Of course, Marie can choose to stand alone against the odds and fight for Burgundy’s right to rule itself! This will inevitably bring Burgundy into conflict with both France who wishes to end the Bourgogne dynastic claim to their kingdom, and the Emperor who wishes to regain the Imperial territory in the low countries. Though this fight against two of europe’s strongest powers will be difficult, some interesting rewards await a Burgundian player who can succeed against the odds and defend their country against their would-be overlords.​



Before ending this dev diary I want to also acknowledge some concerns that the community has had on some features. The Big Three, Corruption from Territory, Trade Companies and Continent Restrictions on Capitals. We are looking into improving these, updating them to new mechanics, to completely overhauling. But to exactly what I don’t have anything concrete that I can give for now but I do want to say what the teams intent is and giving you the opportunity to comment.

Trade Companies are an old feature and have been neglected when it comes to upgrading them to newer features. It’s something we will look into, making it work a bit more nicely with “new features” such as autonomy. If we’re happy with the results this would probably also ease up on the requirements for where you can move your capital as it would not be needed anymore. Corruption from Territory's original intent was to reintroduce some sluggishness or penalties to conquering land rapidly, to not make each time you gain a province as effective as the previous one as you are growing past what your administration can manage. Originally this was coring’s task in the game mechanics. I remember in EU3 for a province to become a core was something like 50 years. In EU4 however the time it takes to get a core has gotten shorter and shorter as obviously people didn’t like to wait 50 years. Now of course Corruption from Territory is not having the intended effect so we’ll figure out something else to accomplish a way where the snowball doesn’t keep being as effective throughout your conquest spree so you get diminishing returns.



I hope you’ve enjoyed this dev diary! The Yuletide is coming upon us meaning the next Dev Diary will be on the 14th of January. But as long as nobody catches me I’ll keep leaking secrets about what the next diary will entail. So until then!
 
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So Revolutions looks like a second Court and Country?

What I mean is that there's a bunch of hoops you jump through for high-powered benefits at the cost of some short term pain.

Can see it being fun the first few times you go through it. After that not so much.

Edit: Props for the communication around mechanics non grata though
 
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Christian (likely Orthodox or Coptic) Ottomans inheriting Burgundy would be a great opening move into crippling Europe in the early game.

Oh come on, the most fun would be a Georgian or Ethiopian Burgundy!
 
It's kind of a tangent, and I don't know if its already possible or not, but the word "heaven" made me think of this:
Can the Papacy get the Revolution?

The Kingdom of God has been replaced by the Angels Republic of Heaven!
 
I agree.

Tha complains towards Trade Companies doesn't come because they are bad, it comes because they are overpowered in comparison to Colonial Nations.

The solution is to nerf TC and to buff CN, in terms of trade and income.
The only thing i would change in TCs is the fact you can't change religion. I personally think it should be available. (at a higher price) If the colonies system were to be improved, i don't see a need for TC nerf to be honest.
Maybe i'm the only one, but i think the TC system is ok as it is, mostly because i think with a proper colony system most of the TC boosts would be somehow balanced. I just don't like the fact you can't change the religion on the TCs (except the sunni ofc)
 
I agree.

Tha complains towards Trade Companies doesn't come because they are bad, it comes because they are overpowered in comparison to Colonial Nations.

The solution is to nerf TC and to buff CN, in terms of trade and income.

No, the complaints are becuase :

1) They are overpowered in comparison to pretty much any avenue of expansion and the only non-TC expansion really worthwhile to invest into is the expansion that gets you to TCs, keeps enemies from getting TCs, and/or secures the value from the TCs.
2) Not having access to them is a massive disadvantage to Asian nations.
 
Revolution being reworked is a great news indeed. However i didn't see an enlightenment reference anywhere, will revolutions continue to be seperated from enlightenment in 1.30? It's weird, there shouldn't be revolutional ideas spawning without an enlightenment institution presence. Tying it with embracing the institution itself could cause some gameplay problems yes but you can walk around that with an enlightenment being present in the province condition for revolution being spread methinks.
Agreed!
Also a very late game nationalism is missing from the game. After revolutionary ideals being floating around, modern nationalism thought was borned in regions that met with enlightenment ideals already. Representing this in the game would make the late game feel different and add a little bit flavor as well. In Eu4, most efficient strategy is always going humanist, because nationalism is absent. After nationalism started, that humanist empires have a lot of people with different culture/religion should lose their advantage completely and live the fear of falling apart. Like Ottomans did in history sort of. This would make the religious idea expansionism more viable in the very late game.
Again a good point! A multi-cultural empire (i.e. not France) should be rather averse to the revolution. Also empires that profit from the status quo, like Prussia (great special government), Russia (again special government) or Austria (emperor of the HRE). Not sure if it already does, but becoming a revolutionary republic should make them loose their old perks.
 
Not sure if it already does, but becoming a revolutionary republic should make them loose their old perks.
Their old perks are tied to their special government.
 
Before ending this dev diary I want to also acknowledge some concerns that the community has had on some features. The Big Three, Corruption from Territory, Trade Companies and Continent Restrictions on Capitals. We are looking into improving these, updating them to new mechanics, to completely overhauling. But to exactly what I don’t have anything concrete that I can give for now but I do want to say what the teams intent is and giving you the opportunity to comment.

Trade Companies are an old feature and have been neglected when it comes to upgrading them to newer features. It’s something we will look into, making it work a bit more nicely with “new features” such as autonomy. If we’re happy with the results this would probably also ease up on the requirements for where you can move your capital as it would not be needed anymore. Corruption from Territory's original intent was to reintroduce some sluggishness or penalties to conquering land rapidly, to not make each time you gain a province as effective as the previous one as you are growing past what your administration can manage. Originally this was coring’s task in the game mechanics. I remember in EU3 for a province to become a core was something like 50 years. In EU4 however the time it takes to get a core has gotten shorter and shorter as obviously people didn’t like to wait 50 years. Now of course Corruption from Territory is not having the intended effect so we’ll figure out something else to accomplish a way where the snowball doesn’t keep being as effective throughout your conquest spree so you get diminishing returns.
Very well! I'm looking forward to a DD on game balance. :)

Also, with all the changes coming which will heavily change the base game (balance changes, mercenaries, estates, ...), do you think a public beta would be asking for too much? I mean, just to make sure you can collect player feedback on these changes before all is set in stone, you know?
 
I know my comment is coming late but i would say, that most players i know, stop their campaigns because of late game tedium and lack of flavor and not because they are the strongest nation on the map. Otherwise no one would play france or ottomans past 1500.
Lack of flavour might be a reason but being already unstoppable is also a very significant reason, everything you do in the game has the goal of getting your stronger and more prepared for the next war, if there is no one who can pose a threat to you in the world... Why bother continuing?
I tend to agree that there should be some more mechanics to prevent nations from becoming unstoppable, and it should be harder to sustain yourself at your zenith. An interesting game is composed of ups and downs not a steady exponential growth.

Although adding flavour to the late game is undoubtedly a good move on Paradox's part.
 
You already get corruption for territories that are not yet cored as a territory, which can slow you down. Of course the aspects of overexstention, and aggressive expansion do this much better. It is unclear why we need corruption from too many territories on top of that.
 
Before ending this dev diary I want to also acknowledge some concerns that the community has had on some features. The Big Three, Corruption from Territory, Trade Companies and Continent Restrictions on Capitals. We are looking into improving these, updating them to new mechanics, to completely overhauling. But to exactly what I don’t have anything concrete that I can give for now but I do want to say what the teams intent is and giving you the opportunity to comment.
Religious conversion "balance" didn't make it into the Big Three? TCs & capital movement restrictions are pretty tightly linked, as you yourself point out.
 
just to clarify, can there be only one centre of revolution in the world at a time? or can there be more than one?
 
@Groogy

Before ending this dev diary I want to also acknowledge some concerns that the community has had on some features. The Big Three, Corruption from Territory, Trade Companies and Continent Restrictions on Capitals. We are looking into improving these, updating them to new mechanics, to completely overhauling. But to exactly what I don’t have anything concrete that I can give for now but I do want to say what the teams intent is and giving you the opportunity to comment.

Trade Companies are an old feature and have been neglected when it comes to upgrading them to newer features. It’s something we will look into, making it work a bit more nicely with “new features” such as autonomy. If we’re happy with the results this would probably also ease up on the requirements for where you can move your capital as it would not be needed anymore. Corruption from Territory's original intent was to reintroduce some sluggishness or penalties to conquering land rapidly, to not make each time you gain a province as effective as the previous one as you are growing past what your administration can manage. Originally this was coring’s task in the game mechanics. I remember in EU3 for a province to become a core was something like 50 years. In EU4 however the time it takes to get a core has gotten shorter and shorter as obviously people didn’t like to wait 50 years. Now of course Corruption from Territory is not having the intended effect so we’ll figure out something else to accomplish a way where the snowball doesn’t keep being as effective throughout your conquest spree so you get diminishing returns.

i like how theres a dev diary related to rebels just a couple of days after i start adding ideas on how to improve rebels to my test mod, cool coincidence :D


my rebel mod idea is really simple, the problem with rebels is that they spawn annoyingly often yet arent even a viable threat after early game since all they cost you is the money and manpower to kill them which if you have enough eg 500dincome and 500k manpower you dont even care about losing say 5-10k troops killing the rebels.

So the solution is to make them more of a threat while less annoying
i do this by increasing the amount of rebels from dev then decreasing their spawn rate through smaller increase progress amount and reduce the % chance per unrest for it to increase.

I added a passive autonomy increase so instead of spamming rebels and having to do the whackamole minigame unrest makes it take longer to reduce autonomy and with enough can push provinces to 100% if you dont have enough autonomy reduction or force it down to make them spawn and kill them.






For the territory corruption the best thing i can think of is to replace it with civ4 style maintenance.

Make state maintenance apply to all provinces and territories instead of only states so just Maintenance.


for example you have a territory with 1d income and 1d maint so at 100 autonomy it costs you 1d and at 75% you gain .25 and still lose .75d so you get 3 options,
you reduce its autonomy and or brute force develop it until it pays for itself or
you could develop your other provinces so their income pays for themselves + your new provinces.

This type of maintenance basically kills 2 birds with one stone by slowing the snowballing in a way that still gives you many good options to counter it while adding a late game money sink to counter the stupid amount of income you can get.

Currently territory corruption basically only affects poor nations outside of europe since you dont care about having to pay it down if you still end up making 1000d a month. thats why it railroads you into only going for trade companies and why people move their capital so much in the first place

Next add more sources of increased maintenance

On top of increasing the maint cost from distance and maybe even the base amount,
Do things like replacing corruption from too many territories to increase maintenance instead
this will lower the profit margin for all your territories as you need lower autonomy for them to be profitable making them lose more and more money with high enough autonomy and maint modifiers.

you could also do things like add 2% maintenance for each 1% of inflation and probably tons of other maint sources as well.


Make Autonomy Harder to decrease overall and especially for snowballing blobs

No matter what you do the key to good anti snowballing mechanics is to focus on Efficiency.
You can do this just by focusing on MAINTENANCE and AUTONOMY.

wide blobs that expand too fast become more and more inefficient with their resources as it gets harder and harder for them to lower autonomy in their provinces while their maintenance costs start increasing more and more.
Tall nations should be far more efficient with their resources and have an easier time lowering autonomy to 0 while having far lower upkeep from maintenance costs.

you dont even really need to add mechanics like corruption to slow down snowballing or the penalty for too many territories. even if balanced well they are just not neccesary.

The challange for tall nations should be getting 0 autonomy in all provinces for max efficiency by stacking autonomy reduction modifiers and using estates to decrease it while trying not to give them too much power

The challenge for wide nations should be about trying to make their income increase fast enough to keep up with increasing maintenance from expansion as they blob so they can snowball faster.


btw is it possible to mod territories to have state maintenance? bc at the very least i want to add it to my own mod so i can test it more.

Edit: Another good argument for maintenance is that it can scale alot better than corruption.
corruption is such an exterme mechanic that if it was high enough to increase even with all corruption reduction ideas&maint then basically every nation would over time be locked at 100 corruption, thats why it only goes up to .8 max from territories.

With maintenance there is no upper limit on how much you can have, for example you could have a nation that has say 100k income that can still Net lose money by having 99-101k total upkeep from maintenance+other.
At the same time youd have an opm with say 10d income and only around 1 maintenance so it only affects the nations snowballing out of control rather than every nation that gets slighty too big.
 
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Religious conversion "balance" didn't make it into the Big Three? TCs & capital movement restrictions are pretty tightly linked, as you yourself point out.

Not to mention that adding the ability to convert TC provinces would be a buff so they can benefit from Tolerance of the True Faith.

Benefits of trade companies over land you own:

Can buy a core for ducats.
0% autonomy floor without paying for full core or using a state slot
No counting towards territories for corruption
Access to OP buildings
No penalty for I accepted culture
No penalties from religion due to intolerance
Do not contribute to religious unity
Do not add to cost of embracing institutions
Merchants
Can upgrade centres of trade without using state slots
The non-trade company land gets bonus goods produced adding to your potential trade income
Plus 100% trade limit and bonus naval force limit.

All this is in exchange for -100% sailors, manpower, and tax additive multipliers.

The only time I had any real disadvantage from a trade company was as Portugal when I had taken zero non-trade company land so I couldn’t sustain any manpower, it i quickly got to the point where I had tons of money for mercenaries.

You don’t do crazy things with Asian nations to get your capital in Europe because TCs are better than (which I haven’t even mentioned the issues with). You do it becuase TCs are far better than conquering land yourself.
 
This seems like an excellent way to spice up the late game, and to make high Absolutism less OP. Also glad the devs are finally talking about balance issues, as some of these have been a major source of community complaints for months now.
 
im not certain government reform progress is the best modifier considering by this stage in the game players have already maxed their reforms and are mostly just sitting on it while it does nothing

i imagine becoming revolutionary probably knocks you back a few reforms so it might be handy for a little while but itll swiftly become completely useless again unless you grant us something else to spend it on. maybe it could be used to bump stab or strengthen government or something?

aside from that, im pretty excited to try all this out. stellar dev diary, lads, monthly is def the way to go, love the beef on this one
Maybe in general, but republics take a very long time to max out their tree, what with having ten tiers. And since the revolution makes you a republic, that boost is gonna be helpful to get the last tiers before game end.

That is, if they aren't shortening the republican reform tree or altering its pace in some other way.