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Tinto Flavour #10 - 14th of March 2025 - Scotland

Hello, and welcome one more week to Tinto Flavour, the happy Fridays in which we take a look at the flavour content of the super secret Project Caesar!

Today we will be showing the content for the Kingdom of Scotland. Let’s start without further ado:

Scotland is once again in peril.

A mere generation ago, our national hero King Robert de Bruce freed us from English rule alongside the famous martyr, William Wallace.

Now his successor — the bairn King David II de Bruce — lies exiled in France as our loyal nobility continues their struggle against Balliol, the English king's lackey who falsely claims the Scottish crown.

Though the people of our realm are currently united in our cause, this is not guaranteed to last. Embedded in our kingdom are deep cultural and societal divisions, especially between the wealthy English-speaking Scots burghs of the Lowlands and the Highland people who dwell in the inland hills.

The fate of Scotland is at risk.

A mere generation ago, the illegitimate King Robert de Bruce expelled the English from the country and crowned himself king.

As the legitimate heir of the previous King John de Balliol, his son King Edward de Balliol has laid a claim to the Scottish throne. Along with his English-backed supporters, he plans to fight against the usurper and return Scotland to its legitimate ruler.

Country Selection.png


Balliol.png

… The only problem for Scotland is that it starts in a civil war between the followers of King David II de Bruce, who is exiled to France, and those of King Edward de Balliol, nominally backed by England. This makes for a very different and interesting setup, therefore. Also, as always, please remember that any UI, 2D and 3D art is WIP, as usual.

This is the starting situation of the Scottish Civil War:
Scotland.png


The starting diplomatic situation of King David II de Bruce:
Diplomacy Scotland.png

France is Guaranteeing, while England is an Enemy (has selected Scotland as a Rival).

And that of King Edward de Balliol:
Diplomacy Balliol.png

England is Guaranteeing, and the Lordship of the Isles is a vassal.

Let’s start with the content related to the Civil War. Both sides have events available for them, but let’s focus on a couple that you get while starting as Scotland - the supporters of the de Bruce dynasty.

This event will trigger early on:

Maybe you can figure out which aspect gets favoured depending on the tutor you pick for the king…?

And also this one:
The King's Education.png

Halidon Hill.png

You may notice that King David’s name has changed. In the previous event, I selected the second option, the Highlander chieftain, so the culture of the king has changed, and now his name is reflecting that since it has a different variant available.

We’ve made it so the outcome of the Civil War is not an instant end game; if while playing as Scotland you lose it to Balliol, an event will pop up, so you can decide to continue playing with them (or not! That’s up to the player!). This would be the result, thus:
Edward de Balliol.png

King Edward de Balliol ruling over a once-again unified Scotland.

Let’s now move towards the structural content that you might find while playing with Scotland. This is a unique starting government reform:
Shires of Scotland.png

Scotland also has some unique privileges for the Lairds (Nobility):
Scottish Clans.png

Commissioners (Burghers):
Royal Burgh Commissioners.png

And Clans (Tribesmen) - this is the way we’re representing the Highlanders from a pop-type perspective, which also allows us to have them operating as a different estate:
Clans.png

United Scottish Heritage.png

Manrent.png

Fosterage.png

Creach.png

There’s also this law, with three different policies:
Distribution of Scots Clans.png

Direct Inheritance.png

Distributed by the Crown.png

Dynastic Holdings.png

Scotland also has two unique buildings available:
Clan Seat.png

Peel Tower.png

Also something new, Scotland has available some unique parliament issues in later ages, such as:
Presbyterian Education Act.png

College of Justice.png

And a bunch of advances; today we will show mostly late-game ones since it had been requested by you previously to show more of this type of content, and also as a good example of some plausible alt-historical content - you may notice that the advances that Scotland has available for the Age of Revolutions, when they already had ceased to exist as an independent polity (since the Acts of Union of 1707), have a historical background:

This is a specific advance for a Balliol-ruled Scotland:
Longbowmen.png

Warbows.png

Warbows2.png


Highlander Regiments.png

Scottish Highlander.png

Scottish Highlander2.png


Scotch Whisky.png

Scotch Whisky Distilleries.png


Scottish Enlightenment.png

Related to the latest, there’s a late-game event that may lead you to get this important work of art:
Wealth of Nations.png

… And much more, but that’s all for today! My fellow colleagues @SaintDaveUK and @Roger Corominas will be replying instead of me today. And for next week, we will travel south, to take a look at the Kingdom of Ethiopia! Cheers!
 
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May we have some pic more resembling archers instead of the guys with arquebuses for the unit called warBOWS?
View attachment 1266022
It appears that all Infantry, Cavalry, and Auxiliary have the same little icons. However, there do seem to be some unique "big" illustrations, like the ones used in TT banners.

3188.png

Top hat cavalry? Idk I have never seen anything like this

3192.png

Auxiliaries

3321.jpg

Some sort of late game militia

3375.jpg

A type of Chinese heavy cavalry, most likely

3537.png

Gucci gang

3612.png

Peak male performance
 
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I know I am a week late for this and I am sorry but is the color of Hungary final?

I don't like that brownish ugly and boring color. Every single country of the region got a decent color but the larges blot not.

I was hoping for Serbia like red but I won't claim theirs once they got it. I don't think Halych/Volhynia will survive long. Maybe a color change with one of them or similar to theirs?

Maybe I am alone with this problem idk. Thanks for reading.

P.s.

I like the current color of Bulgaria but if you ever change the culture color to solve the Greek Bulgarian Turkish similarity I would choose dark green for them.
 
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Unless Wikipedia’s map is wrong shouldn’t England get more territory in the south east?
Wikipedia's map is probably a little generous, but the current layout of locations in Scotland isn't conducive to actually representing the proper treaty.

Hopefully during the map review locations will get moved around/added to enhance the treaty properly.
 
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and back for the rest

  • Add what this is a policy of to the subtitle which will remove the need to add it on the bottom
  • Why are you adding the blob under the lighning bolt when you are using it for a modifier?
  • Don't like the icon for estate enrichment.
  • What does estate enrichment do?
Dynastic%20Holdings.png


  • to unclutter the 'first' line I would...
    • move the age to the title bar, right edge like with andvances
    • remove the icon for building subtype and add it after the subtitle as sush: "Building Type : Defensive"
    • Why use the noble pop type instead of the already used noble base icon in food consumption
    • For assimilation speed, would the icon be less cluttered with culture base and speed modifier
    • drop the gauge from the goods tile grey background
    • Are the 'requirements for construction' a monthly cost? is that why the building costs are separate?
Clan%20Seat.png


  • needs the "On pass" and "On fail" list subtitles
  • numbers in the societal values should be neutral and not green
  • When we are at zero can you drop the 'towards <X>' (don't know how often this will happen)
Presbyterian%20Education%20Act.png


  • Remove the available in line as the right icon in the title indicates this
  • reverse the placement of "Unlocks" and "Warbows Army Levies" to follow the typical <Icon><Thing> <effecT> style
Longbowmen.png


  • if the modifiers list is an empty set just remove the line don't list 'none', this is giving 'this page intentionally blank' vibes
  • Can we just say Levy instead of 'Army Levy/Naval Levy'?
Warbows.png


  • Change the manpower icon to better differentiate from Soldier pop type
1741984371999.png
 
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I know I am a week late for this and I am sorry but is the color of Hungary final?

I don't like that brownish ugly and boring color. Every single country of the region got a decent color but the larges blot not.

I was hoping for Serbia like red but I won't claim theirs once they got it. I don't think Halych/Volhynia will survive long. Maybe a color change with one of them or similar to theirs?

Maybe I am alone with this problem idk. Thanks for reading.

P.s.

I like the current color of Bulgaria but if you ever change the culture color to solve the Greek Bulgarian Turkish similarity I would choose dark green for them.
Idk I like this clayish one
 
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There are alternative ways of getting them.
I actually would have preferred if it was unique to Scotland (perhaps not the tag but starting as them). There should be a difference felt by the Great Britain player in 1836 depending on if they start as Scotland or England, that isn't just Scotland being a slower start to the same GB playthrough.
 
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We’ve made it so the outcome of the Civil War is not an instant end game; if while playing as Scotland you lose it to Balliol, an event will pop up, so you can decide to continue playing with them (or not! That’s up to the player!). This would be the result, thus:
Like, I don't really wanna feel all that extra pressure to win the civil war—whatever happens, I'm just gonna keep going, you know?

Plus, it kinda gives exploiters a shortcut to snag those Steam achievements with almost zero effort. Imagine if there's a super rare, grind-heavy achievement—some folks could just trigger a civil war, grab a pseudo-win, and then act like they've conquered the game for life. It's kinda ironic, no?

Also, it messes up the connection you build with your campaign since your actions don't really matter anymore. Is this just because Gen Z wants easy wins and has a shorter loyalty to games, or what? If that's the case, then cool for them, but I feel like other generations might actually want some real competition and challenge.

No offense, but I know it's tough trying to lure Fortnite and CS:GO players into the GSG. Still, handing out these pseudo-wins (besides, Ironman is R.I.P) in a genre that's all about deep tactics and meaningful decisions seems a bit off—like serving fast food at a gourmet dinner. For those of us craving a real challenge, this change just ends up watering down the whole experience and campaigns.

Regards.
 
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I think the goal of that decision is to make losing a civil war not "game over" to make for a more fun experience, but it has the cost of opening a pathway to winning civil wars most would deem... unnatural. So I say for non ironman let the ones who wnat to be unnatural be unnatural, and I don't mind a rule that this is game over to avoid exploit.

Will it also auto switch me to the winner of a non civil war if they completely take over my land to remove the 'game over' and make it a more fun experience?
 
Like, I don't really wanna feel all that extra pressure to win the civil war—whatever happens, I'm just gonna keep going, you know?

Plus, it kinda gives exploiters a shortcut to snag those Steam achievements with almost zero effort. Imagine if there's a super rare, grind-heavy achievement—some folks could just trigger a civil war, grab a pseudo-win, and then act like they've conquered the game for life. It's kinda ironic, no?

Also, it messes up the connection you build with your campaign since your actions don't really matter anymore. Is this just because Gen Z wants easy wins and has a shorter loyalty to games, or what? If that's the case, then cool for them, but I feel like other generations might actually want some real competition and challenge.

No offense, but I know it's tough trying to lure Fortnite and CS:GO players into the GSG. Still, handing out these pseudo-wins (besides, Ironman is R.I.P) in a genre that's all about deep tactics and meaningful decisions seems a bit off—like serving fast food at a gourmet dinner. For those of us craving a real challenge, this change just ends up watering down the whole experience and campaigns.

Regards.
No I think the idea is meant to be moving to a guerilla warfare scenario. My interpretation was you keep playing as an underground army of Scotland that can keep fighting for independence after a military defeat.

Which I personally support as I love the idea of trying to move underground and find a way to come back from the ashes. My only concern if this is the case that you might have lots of 'zombie nations' roaming about, so it is something that requires a certain level of balance.
 
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Which I personally support as I love the idea of trying to move underground and find a way to come back from the ashes. My only concern if this is the case that you might have lots of 'zombie nations' roaming about, so it is something that requires a certain level of balance.
if we end up with these “zombie nations” that just hang around forever, the game could get messy instead of staying challenging. an underground resistance shouldn’t be so easy to bounce back after a loss. It needs to feel like a real comeback, not just a free pass.
No I think the idea is meant to be moving to a guerilla warfare scenario. My interpretation was you keep playing as an underground army of Scotland that can keep fighting for independence after a military defeat.
it kinda misses my point. I mean, if you can just flip a civil war loss into an easy second shot, it really cheapens the whole struggle and campaign
 
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