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Europa Universalis IV - Development Diary 31st of January 2023 - Japan

Konnichiwa! Welcome to another week’s Dev Diary, this time around focusing on Japan. As a region, it already received a good amount of interesting content during ‘Mandate of Heaven’, with the introduction of the Shinto interactions, as well as the Shogunate. The goal of revisiting Japan is to expand its mechanics & tie them around new flavor in the form of a mission tree for Japan, new events as well as government reforms. Let’s take a look!

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[WIP] All values, art and even layouts showcased here are work in progress![WIP]​

Note, as you probably might have guessed already, Japan also gets access to the Emperor of China dedicated branch that I showcased a few weeks ago albeit the descriptions and titles are curated for immersion and accuracy reasons.

The tree will be granted upon forming Japan and it houses 30 new missions, 46 if you count the Emperor of China branch, as well as a dozen new events (both tied to the missions AND independent from it) as well as several new government reforms and even a special new unit, the Samurai.

The top half of the mission tree will deal with the internal affairs of the island, instructing you to guide the nation through military, commercial as well as administrative changes you may wish to enact. As we will see in detail further down, nearly every single mission is tied to either a new mechanic specifically made for Japan or a dynamic set of rewards.

Alongside all these cool new additions, we have also created a new special unit for Japan, the Samurai! They will not be easy to recruit and the intention is that they make about 10-25% of your forcelimit as your elite frontline, as shown below:

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Give us some ideas about what color they should be and feel free to chime in with some overall feedback regarding these very powerful bonuses​

Every Daimyo, Shogun and Indep. Daimyo will have access to the new unit either via their national ideas or via their government type, which are accessible in the base game. Furthermore, Japan has a +15% Samurai Forcelimit in its ideas!

Let's take a look at some highlights around new events and missions:

The mission ‘Bushido’ has not only been reworked from the ground up, but it also interacts with the aforementioned new special unit for Japan, the Samurai. By elevating your army professionalism and presenting a robust and powerful army, you will be rewarded with the following event:


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Kept you waiting, huh ?
These options will reform a significant part of the following 2 missions, based on your choices.
Should you choose to focus on the matter of land, you will be greeted by the mission ‘Bugeijuuhappan’ (or ‘18 types of martial arts’), a carefully curated combination of warfare techniques. Here’s Bugeijuuhappan’s reward:

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While, opting to focus on maritime warfare, would yield the mission ‘A New Naval Academy’ with the following reward:

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[This will probably be nerfed, it’s quite powerful!]​

But the dynamic nature of these missions does not stop there! The mission ‘Train the Samurai’ will also be impacted by your choice in the Book of Five Rings event as shown below:

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A very interesting part of the missions revolves around the fact that many of them will have their outcome depend on how you handle certain Shinto Incidents (if you own MoH and are yourself Shinto):


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[Glorious Nippon steel, folded over 1000 times!]

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The tree also plays around some new government reforms, as shown below:

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[That trade value will definitely be nerfed, at the very least! Please keep in mind these numbers are FAR from final]

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[Max Effect of Absolutism amplifies your current Absolutism’s potency. If 100 Absolutism grants
30% Administrative Efficiency, then “20% Max Effect of Absolutism” will amplify the 30% up to 36%]

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Before we move on to the conquest, second part of the tree, here are a few events that are independent of the mission tree:

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Moving on to the conquest branch of the tree, you will have the opportunity to seize land in both Korea and China as well as the Malacca Trade Node:

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[Should you claim the Mandate, you will be able to fabricate Tributary CBs on anyone, as long as they are weaker than you development-wise and independent]

The event ‘Fate of the Mandate’ which is granted after finishing the ‘Mandate to Rule Them All’ mission may grant you the opportunity to seize the Mandate, mid-war, and gain a powerful modifier to go with it:

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[Should you complete the mission while already a hegemon, you will gain a special easter egg modifier called 'Unleash the Shinkirou']

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The above 3 missions will have their rewards depending entirely on the current level of isolation! While we are at it, I took the liberty of changing the bonuses of isolation as I felt that the Open-side was incredibly more powerful than the Isolated side. I chose to have the extremes (0 and 4) be somewhat more powerful in most ocassions, so they are something a player will actively work towards during the entire game. Of course, this does not mean the other levels of isolation are useless, on the contrary:


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Finally, let’s take a look at the mission ‘A New Buddha?’ This one will deal with the relationship between Edo-Period Japan and Christianity:

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Note, the modifier Protectors of Eastern Catholicism will also grant Papal Influence, which is not visible right now​

Should we complete the mission by eradicating Christianity, we will gain access to the following mission and reward:

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Note; all these new reforms will also bolster the amount of Samurai you can recruit, by +10%​

Siding with the Shogun will rename your country to ‘The Shogunate’ and grant you a new and powerful T1 reform whereas siding with the Emperor, will yield the following event:

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[Note; your title with this reform is ‘God-Emperor’]

HOWEVER, if you choose (for whatever reason) to embrace Christianity in the Shinto incident, you will gain the following mission and reward:
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The above event proclaims the ending of the Kirishitan Incident. You won't need to conquer any land outside


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[NOTE; the art is PLACEHOLDER!]

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Please keep in mind the art and the numbers showcased here are a WIP!
The Government buttons showcased here were created from scratch with our new and fully moddable mechanic, which will allow you to create your own government buttons as you see fit should you wish to mod them. You can add 0 buttons or up to however many you can stuff on the UI and have them act accordingly or even evolve based on requirements or rewards you subscribe to them.

These particular ones operate much like the Tsardom buttons, but I could just as easily remove them and have a large bar in their stead, akin to the one we showcased last week for the Ottoman Decadence.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this Dev Diary. Next week we will be discussing new content for Russia with @Ogele!

This week's chapel comic, courtesy of Father Lorris:

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It is quite distasteful that Japan will be able to copy a doctrine from Korea, which was intended to give it (Korea) a fighting chance against the Japanese ai. Historically as well, the Korean ships during the war were of a different class than the Japanese in terms of design, so this decision lacks credibility in that regard. As Japan is already a powerful naval nation, I believe that this should be simply removed, or possibly replaced with a temporary (but not overpowered) buff to navy. Also, this feature is akin to giving the British doctrine to France :)
 
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I am quite disappointed with the proposed rework so far, as it fails to provide Japan with an actual unique experience. This rework very much disregards the actual history of Japan in favor of ahistorical popular myths which shows that despite having some interesting flavor it doesn't actually emulate the fractured situation of feudal japan very well. Some of the rewards and mechanic buttons are underwhelming or out of place as well.

The flavor of internal politics doesn't have to disappear as soon as you unify Japan, instead it should be expanded.

If I had to give my two cents on what an actual fun and unique Japan experience should look like I would include several things:

- Replacing or altering the traditional estates with clan groups or something that represents the different clans.
- A proper mechanic for foreigner trade ports( ex. being able to get different buffs depending on who you give out trade ports to)
- Flavor and events that deal with the disobedience of the samurai
- Actual representation on the map of clan influence in the country( ex. province modifiers).
- Emperor flavor( events that happen throughout the game where the emperor tries to sway different clans or where you have to side with either the shogunate or the emperor, which influence how an end-game imperial coup plays out).
- General focus on the internal factions of feudal japan rather than mindless blobbing( why would japan have so much focus on the mandate of heaven at all?)
- Rework how the sengoku wars work. (Rather than just hitting all the other daimyos with a stick until you win you should be able to diplomatically approach the situation and form coalitions against the reigning shogun, and how brutally you unify Japan should influence the stability of a formed Japanese nation.)


I am not a dev and I have only made a few small personal mods for EU4 and as such I am not going to make any claims about the pheasability of implementation regarding these ideas, but they are interesting ideas nonetheless that would make Japan very fun to play and I hope that the devs read this and reconsider the way Japan is being reworked.
 
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It s no secret I really like renaming my country, would you like to offer alternative suggestions ? I am all ears!
It shouldn't rename your country, at all. It's rather arbitrary and feels out of place. Renamed should only happen when there is a significant reformation in how the government functions (to the point where it sees itself as a completely different state), not just the state religion changing.
 
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1、What's the dynasty name of Emperor? Japanese royal house seems to have no family name.

2、I sincerely suggest to create something for Daimyos' mission trees. The old tree was designed for a playing process from Daimyo to a unified Japan so if Daimyos keep them, it would feel strange.

3、Will there be more special events for Daimyos? Like promoting more historical figures.

4、Former Shogunate's mechanic still hold some problems, like realising a country would create an independent Daimyo who's not loyal to shugun.

5、2-4 in a word, that I believe Daimyos need and deserve to be reworked or fixed. That's a necessary step towards using new contents mentioned today.
 
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So, let's address this. The way the Yuan missions are scripted right now is kinda convoluted in the sense that they are not tied to a tag of Yuan - if memory serves right - and rather, they are attached to certain cultures. If I were to add the EoC missions on top of those cultures, I would have to re-script the same missions into the Yuan file, with different names in the script (because same names conflict even between different files). I did this process already for Japan and it's a bit tiring and may itself present more conflicts in the future.

I know people really want Yuan to have access to these but I can't in good conscience promise it. If there is time, I will attempt it though, I got your back :D
Hey you al ready nailed with Qing and their missions (Jurchen and Manchus). I would like (and i believe many players also would like) something for Yuan. But hey i'm not complaining here since you guys are doing amaizing work.

Also regarding Qing, have you reconsider adding conquest mission for Qing on Central Asia? It's all based on their historical expansion and Ten Great Campaigns.
 
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Good job, I only have some concerns:
"+25% ships cannon
+25% hull size
[This will probably be nerfed, it’s quite powerful!] "
Stacked with +1 artillery fire (some people maybe don’t know but Artillery affects the damage of the ship)

Yeah this is broken. if there are 25% ships with 25% more life is like having +25% global naval engagement modifier but with no need for the extra ships. also if you have global naval engagement modifier from other source this will multiply with ships cannon and hull size instead of instead of being additive. Also the +1 artillery fire to the base will be multiply by +25% ships cannon so there is a lot of modifiers multipling each other this means it can go really crazy very fast.

Also, i want to point out that in the mission that gives "Artillery fire +1" or "-10% fire damage recieved-10%" or "+10% fire damage". the first one is substantially stronger than the other 2, so there is no question which one to aim to have. nerfing the "Artillery fire +1" is the easiest way to have a decision here instead of one always being "meta". other option is making the conditions to have the "Artillery fire +1" substantially harder than the others.

The mission ”expand the Gokaido” the +5 local trade value seams insane except for the fact that is unlock in tier 8 government reform and is only for the region of japan. Even though I steal feal like is to strong because it affects the bace and also has other bonus. Mybe only +2?
I love that there is a mission that only affects a region I want more of this in others mission trees. It is a nice way to give a power full bonus with out being insanely broken.
 
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There is a way to become a theocracy as japan for a long time with the ikko-ikki incident. Its also the way to become mahayana. Check shinto events: "The Amida Buddha"
I'm aware, but that's only for becoming Mahaya, not for any of the 4+ religions that Japan has easy access to: Shinto, Confucianism (religious events), Catholic (religious events), other Christian denominations (easy conversion when Christian), animism (Ainu) and then through animism basically any religion.

Dunno, maybe it's a bit too much fantasy, but a crusader Japan sounds kinda cool after converting to Catholic + theocracy.
 
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For the Samurai Regiment color, I would recommend some shade of red (probably vermillion). In addition to being one of Japan's national colors, it would invoke the Akazonae, which is what I think you would want by trying to constrain the amount of samurai regiments you can recruit.

Also, given the sudden upswing of countries getting fixed dynasty government reforms, would it be possible to implement a mechanic that defines what dynasty is being fixed for certain tags/under certain conditions? It is a bit jarring for tags with a dynasty as their country name getting fixed to a dynasty that is not their namesake by either being released or through other fringe cases, and for countries like Ming or Imperial Japan, where there wouldn't be any shortage of claimants and the naming convention wouldn't work without a specific dynasty, it doesn't make sense either. This could also help the revolution mechanic by being able to restore/enforce a specific dynasty to tags upon defeating them.
 
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Please reconsider your stance on colonization speed and institution spread speed. They are both way too fast (institutions after 1600, colonization always), making the game more like 4X than a historical one. I am only reposting this in hopes that you will take note. I will now shamelessly summon @Johan . I just want my favorite game back.
Slowing down colonization will just make taking exploration and expansion even less of a choice for human player considering how much of an opportunity cost idea groups are in every campaign. They already slowed down early colonization quite a bit.
 
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Starting to think Paradox Tinto's historical research process is just asking each other what pop history myths they know about a country.

"Uhhh I heard that the Ottomans declined because of decadence"
"Samurais are so cool steel folded over 1000 morbillion times can cut through steel"
"The Japanese worship their Emperor as a god right?"
Yet at the same time, they've been making the game the best state it's been in for quite some time.
 
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Are there any plans for making a new mission tree for the USA? I know they aren't a starter nation, but I still think they deserve more flavour than 4 unique missions.
Same goes for Brazil, Mexico and colonies in general. Maybe, like, add a generic MT for colonies that leads to independence and then have a unique one or two for the big ones. Just giving ideas...
 
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Is the Sengoku Jidai not being reworked?

If nothing else I would like to see the seppuku button greatly reworked/restricted. The only time I can think of the Ashikaga Shoguns successfully cornering a daimyo into committing seppuku (by their own initiative) in the game's timeframe would have been Mitsusuke Akamatsu, who murdered the shogun three years before start date, and even then it was by mobilizing other clans to attack him and not just something carried out willingly. The button is more reflective of the power the Tokugawa wielded after thoroughly establishing their authority, and ideally the Shogun would have to own about five or so provinces before they could start forcing daimyo to off themselves.
 
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Devs are giving attention to Korea and North east asia for 1.33, so i suggest to add very simple country name change event for Korea when it holds mandate like Dai Viet.


(Title & description is same with flavor_dai.4)
Event Title:
The Mandate of Heaven

Description:
The Mandate of Heaven is ours, taken from the unworthy and tyrannical Ming. We must name the new state that will rule over China for a thousand years.


Is trigger only by: completing the mission "Tame the Dragon"


Option:

1. Daehan(大韓)

2. Goguryeo(高句麗)

3. Remain as Korea(Joseon)


Effects after selecting any option
If Korea is the Emperor of China:
- then Korea gains 30 mandate.
Else, Korea gains 50 prestige.
(Same reward as Dai Viet one)



Reason for suggestion:
Dai Viet has name change event when they complete ‘Claim the mandate’ misssion, so Korea deserves same kind of event when it becomes Emperor. Actually it makes sense to choose new name when new country become chinese emperor because in history chinese empires used single word name (Ming明,Qing靑,Yuan元 etc…) because they think chinese empire is the greasteat nation so it has to use single word nation name. I want to add more description to this event but devs already said about translation time issue, so i suggest to use same title & description of Dai viet’s ‘The Mandate of Heaven’ event and makes different for only options. Then we don’t have to worry about transalation issue.

Suggestion description:
If name of Korea in eu4 changes into Joseon and it has fixed dynasty from confucian bureaucracy then it will makes more sense to choose new name because english name ‘Korea’ can be applied to Daehan and Joseon too. Korean empire & South Korea use Daehan as official name and North Korea use Joseon as official name but worlds call them as Korea anyway, although choosing name was important matter for Korean. But it’s game where kingdom of god can be formed. So why not? Let’s just give choices to new Korean empire for immersive play.

Option1: Daehan(大韓) - It means Great Han(韓). 韓 means people and nation lives in Korean peninsula and have Korean identity. Joseon kingdom chose Daehan as official name when it proclaimed empror(1897). Also current South Korean offical name is Daehan too. (AI choose this 100% because it was historical decision.)

Option 2: Goguryeo(高句麗 ) - Ancient korean kingdom name. Goguryeo ruled Manchuria and northern part of Korea. It was the one of the biggest kingdoms of korea in history, so many Korean loves Goguryeo and its name represents korean ambition for manchuria and china region. Because of this, there is ‘Restore Goguryeo’ mission for Korea too. I don’t think historical Joseon will choose this name in this situation because they overthrown Goryeo and so they will not use its name again but it’s game and Korean loves it. So why not?(It seems Goguryeo’s successor state Balhae was bigger than Goguryeo although its territory is not certain. Korean loves Goguryeo more so i choose Goguryeo as name)

Option 3: remain as Korea. In EU4 devs use Korea as name for Joseon kingdom. If devs use Joseon as name and give fixed dynasty to confucian bureaucracy it will be more perfect and makes sense. But I know devs will not make this decision so remain as Korea means just staying as Joseon as name.(Currently Korean translation mod translates Korea as Joseon.)

*Name ‘Korea’ was originated from Goguryeo. Korean medieval kingdom Goryeo chose its name because it proclaimed succession from Goguryeo.(Goguryeo used Goryeo as name too). Foreigners call Goryeo as Korea so ‘Korea’ became represtative name for Korean nation and people. Goryeo was collapsed by Joseon so Joseon doesn’t like to be called as Korea but European kept calling Joseon as Korea anyway. This situation has been solidified until now, so South and North Korea doesn’t have ‘Goryeo’ in official korean name but they are called as Korea now.
I hope Korea get new country name change event too.
 
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