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“This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror”


Welcome to the 7th development diary for Europa Universalis IV,
where we talk about the dominant power by the end of the Europa Universalis time frame, the country formerly known as England.
England can be considered both as one of the easier nations to play, but also one of the more challenging nations. That´s a paradox, you say?
Well, it all depends on what you wish to accomplish and what kind of empire you want to create ;)

The unique possibilities of England
What truly makes England unique to play is that the country has natural borders protecting it and that you can strengthen those borders dramatically with rather cheap investments. You can decide to let England get involved in the continent, from a safe position, or choose to isolate England and go overseas. The country also sits on a bloody nice position to control the trade from the Baltic and from North America. So the options are huge for you to take England in plenty of directions when creating your empire.

England’s Dynamic Historical Events
England is has one of the richest and best known histories. That may sound lovely for you guys, but it also means that we have had to work hard when it comes to decisions about historical events to include in Europa Universalis IV. The important countries in EU4 have a lot of events going on, so some of those major historical events have been turned into the starting points of large event chains that we call Dynamic Historical Events.

War of the Roses is an excellent example of Dynamic Historical Events. If England in the 15th century has a ruler without an heir, that means that there is a likelihood of a large event chain beginning. The player has to select who to back for the throne, York or Lancaster. This decision will throw the country into turmoil with various parts declaring for either the red or white rose, and you have to make sure to eliminate the very strong, rather resilient pretenders. What makes this interesting is that this event chain is not an event series that is guaranteed to come every time you play as England. It only occurs if all the necessary underlying factors are fulfilled. When it happens, you won't have planned for it to arrive on schedule, like many people did when they played Europa Universalis II, the last game in the series with a serious focus on historical events. We hope that this variation will gives you rather unique experiences when you play major powers.

The English Civil War will be another major event series that might encounter when you play as England, but we will not spoil it for you here yet. ;)
England also has many smaller DHE, like The War of Captain Jenkin's Ear: if they are rivals with Spain, after 1700, then you can get a casus belli on Spain. Or an event like The Muscovy Trade Company, where if you discover the sea route to Archangelsk, and its owned by the Muscovites, then there is a likelihood of this historical event happening.

England’s Missions & Decisions
We have kept the historical missions that existed in Europa Universalis III and we are expanding them for Europa Universalis IV, so you'll still see missions to conquer Scotland and colonize North America. When it comes to decisions, England still manually have to rely on the Wooden Wall, and make Calais into a Staple Port.

England’s National Ideas
The traditions that England starts with is a small boost in naval morale and a 5% boost to their trading efficiency.
The trading efficiency boost is due to the fact that the economy of England to fund their participation in the Hundred Years War was their taxation of the very profitable wool trade.

The 7 National Ideas for England are:
  1. Royal Navy : 25% higher naval force limit, and +10% more combat power for big ships.
  2. Eltham Ordinance : +15% higher tax.
  3. Secretaries of State : +1 diplomat
  4. Navigation Acts : +10% trade income, and +10% more combat power for light ships.
  5. Bill of Rights : -1 revolt risk.
  6. Reform of Commission Buying : +10% discipline
  7. Sick and Hurt Board : -50% Naval Attrition.



Reward: English Ambition
When England has gotten all seven of their National Ideas, they get the bonus of 'English Ambitions' which gives them a +100% on their embargo efficiency.

Here's a screenshot where I've cheated to show a little bit of the idea progress..

7.png

Welcome back next week, where we'll talk in detail about the enhancements we've done to the religious aspect of the game!
 
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How can The Netherlands hope to have a large share in the Mediterranean and East Indian trade, like they had in history (The Netherlands had a far more valuable share in both compared with England in the 17th century), if the trade route south from Flanders goes to London first? Even the Navigation Act couldn't break Dutch dominance initially (the only Dutch trade suffering from this were direct consumption from England initially), but with this layout for trade routes I fear the English can strangle Dutch trade easily : /

Currently in internal balancing we have the problem of Burgundy dominating Europe due to the Antwerp trade node :)

Also, there are trade links from north sea, from germany, from france, and from iberia.
 
This looks good. I hope many of the AGCEEP events will be replicated in some way they are awesome.
 
so glad there going to get financial buffs england was always soo dirt poor in eu3 compared too france which historically it wasnt..... in fact englands economy was worth three times that of france by the early 1700s acording to a docementary i watched recently by the end of the game great britain should be more powerful than the next 3 biggest powers combined

I found that England was actually too rich in EU3. England was dirt poor compared to France. Tudor England was too poor for an army. EU3 England can easily land massive armies in Egypt, Turkey or Scandinavia when the real England couldn't afford to cross the channel with more than a skeleton force. Even in the hundred years war England's armies were way smaller than what they can summon in EU3 or CK2, the French were just too disorganised to fight England properly.

England was basically just a sideshow in dutch-french conflicts in the late 17th century.
 
there will be a few around.

So I'm guessing the next one will be about how Poland's space gets painted red and white and some times blue and yellow by the dutch?
And also why the blue and yellow layer gets 6th place???? :p

Ok... that was a bad joke about the Tier thread ... o_O
 
Currently in internal balancing we have the problem of Burgundy dominating Europe due to the Antwerp trade node :)

Also, there are trade links from north sea, from germany, from france, and from iberia.

I'd suggest some kind of political limit to Burgundy. In 1444 Burgundy was, unlike all other major powers at the time, a collection of counties, duchies etc. The privilleges of these states should be a major check on Burgundian expansion. Holland didn't want to pay for wars in France, and Flanders didn't want to pay for wars against Guelders. A truly united Burgundy should be a dominant power, but such unity should only be achieved when serious obstacles are overcome.

And, I really like how EU4 is looking right now.
 
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Currently in internal balancing we have the problem of Burgundy dominating Europe due to the Antwerp trade node :)

Also, there are trade links from north sea, from germany, from france, and from iberia.

Good to know you're working on trade balance!
I hope Antwerp won't be nerfed too much though (It'd be a pity if it won't have a good share of Asian trade in the mid game) ;)
 
We've heard a lot about the War of the Roses starting, but in which ways can it end? Is there a possibility of a peace under a new Tudor dynasty, perhaps, or does York or Lancaster always right out win?
There were still Yorkist pretenders well into the reign of Henry VIII.
 
There were still Yorkist pretenders well into the reign of Henry VIII.

Sure, okay, Cardinal Pole and all of that good stuff. Right. But that really wasn't my point. I was asking if at the end of the war will we have generations of Lancaster or York dynasty rulers. Is there any scenario in which a third dynasty ends up on the throne?
 
Sure, okay, Cardinal Pole and all of that good stuff. Right. But that really wasn't my point. I was asking if at the end of the war will we have generations of Lancaster or York dynasty rulers. Is there any scenario in which a third dynasty ends up on the throne?
Ah, I see your point, sorry. Hopefully the Tudors aren't set in stone -- it was a long shot that Henry won (primarily thanks to French and Breton mercenaries I believe) and his wife had a much better claim to the throne anyway, hence the dynastic union.

And yeah, the idea that the entire event sequence only comes about because Henry VI has no heir is completely wrong anyway. It's odd to base such an important and well-known civil war on something so historically dubious.
 
I'm sure that mods adressing this issue would pop up after release - it shouldn't be hard to remove DHEs. I may be wrong, but National Ideas and Traditions seems to be hard-coded feature though.

You should just be able to give every country the same empty ideas, even if getting them every 3rd idea is hard coded.

And a boost in light ships that late means they are still useful in lategame?

Light ships only appear late game. They aren't the same thing as galleys.
 
Hear hear. A certain person is not going to ruin this DD too.

This is quite offensive. That discussion can go overboard, and that someone can get tired of it, it is true. That you go around accusing someone who simply is discussing a gripe with the game they are looking for it is not tolerable, though.

So, please. That the debate should not end up covering all DDs is true. But do not make those who do not agree with you appear as trolls. We are not.
 
What is "combat power"? Do we not have fire/shock/morale anymore?

yes you do.. its something that makes combat more interesting.

And a boost in light ships that late means they are still useful in lategame?

hell yes.