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Tinto Flavour #2 - 17th of January 2025 - Florence

Hello, and welcome for the second week to Tinto Flavour, the new series in which we will show the flavour content of the latest super secret Project Caesar!

Today we will be taking a look at Florence! I hope you get visually stunned by what you see, but not a rapid heartbeat, fainting, confusion, or hallucinations, as it happened to Stendhal when he visited the city in 1817. So, let’s start!



The Florentine domain stands strong at the cusp of a new age! Our republic has stood the test of time and is located in a prime position to take advantage of our region's prosperity and affluence. Around us, rivaling states and potential allies all make their moves in a bid to influence and expand their territory in Italy. \n\nHowever, few are as well known for their aptitude in arts and cultural influence as our forums of thought in Florence. Under the guidance of a capable administration and an educated people, the coming century will elevate our people and have us shine brightly as pioneering innovators during a time of great enlightening.

Country Selection.png

As usual, please consider the UI, 2D and 3D art as WIP.

We have two elements here that appear in the Country Selection screen, AKA the Lobby. The first is the flavour immersion text that countries with unique content have. They have dynamic localization keys, which are the two words in bold that appear in the text, and which while hovered, allow to check a game concept. The second is a screenshot of the country name, flag, ruler, and the three main elements that define the country - Government Type (Republic), Country Type (Settled Country), and Country Rank (County). The courtroom illustration is the generic one for European countries, but it can potentially be unique.

Let’s jump into the country itself...
Florence.png

Tuscany is a lovely place, isn’t it?

The Republic of Florence is a Signoria, which is a unique, major Government Reform for Italian countries:
Signoria.png
Signoria Description.png

This reform unlocks a Succession Law, the Elective Potestate:
Elective Potestate.png

Florence also has a unique Estate Privilege for its ‘Senate’ (the flavour name of ‘Nobility’ for Republics, the ‘Signoria Council’:
Signoria Council.png

And a unique Estate Privilege for the Burghers, ‘Florence Guilds’:
Florence Guilds.png

This unlocks a unique Socioeconomic Law, the ‘Primacy of Florentine Guilds’, in which you can pick one of three different policies to embrace, promoting one of the three different types of Guilds:
Primacy of Florentine Guilds.png

Primacy of Florentine Guilds 2.png

Florence has another unique policy for the Legal Code Law, which is the 'Consiglio Maggiore':
Consiglio Maggiore.png

Florence also has unique advances, 13 in total, spread among the different Ages, of which I’m going to show a few selected ones:
Arte della Lana.png

Fiorino d'Oro.png

Florentine City Militia.png

Uffizi.png

You might notice that 3 of them have unique icons/illustrations, while the one for the Florentine Citizen Militia still uses a generic one.

Speaking of the Florentine Citizen Militia, it unlocks a unique type of Army Levy Unit:
Florentine City Militia 2.png

Florentine City Militia 3.png

And the Uffizi unlock a unique building:
Uffizi 2.png



All that I’ve shown you so far is what we internally consider ‘structural content’, that is, the type of content that would show up and could be (mostly) checked when starting a new game and digging and hovering over the different panels in the game. Let’s now start with the ‘narrative content’, the one that appears dynamically as you play the game. Oh, and one comment: although we usually have a minimum amount of 'structural content' and 'narrative content' for each country with unique flavour, it's widely diverse, so some countries have more 'structural ones' than others that have more 'narrative content', and vice versa, with others having a balanced amount of each type.

Florence can suffer two disasters during the game, an outlier in the game. You may see that they have some associated effects as long as they’re active, and that they also have associated events that may also trigger (8 for the Ciompi, 13 for Savonarola). Here you have the first one, the 'Ciompi Revolt':
Ciompi Revolt.png

Ciompi Revolt.png

And here the second one, 'The Rise of Savonarola':
Savonarola 1.png

Savonarola 2.png

Savonarola 3.png

Savonarola 4.png

The background illustration is the generic one, but it will receive a unique one. Oh, also, inviting Savonarola to Florence might not be a wise decision…

Besides disasters, there are a bunch of interesting flavour DHEs (‘dynamic historical events’) that can happen to Florence, of which I’m going to show you a selection.

The first is the creation of the Medici bank, in the form of a Building Based Country, ruled by a member of the Medici family, of course:
Medici Bank.png

If you select the first option, you will continue playing as Florence, while the second makes you to continue playing as the Bank of Medici! This is not a common type of content, at all, but a very special one, worth showing.

The event creates a building in the location of Florence, a Bank, and also an independent BBC, the Bank of Medici:
Bank.png

Bank of Medici.png

Two more banking countries are starting in Florence in 1337, the Banks of Peruzzi and Bardi:
Peruzzi, Bardi, Medici.png

It also showcases the Medici, after triggering the event.

There are more events related to the Medici's rise of power in Florence, but let me not reveal all the interesting content today, so let’s continue with other events…

An interesting historical character in Florence’s 14th century is Sir John Hawkwood, an infamous condottiere:
John Hawkwood.png

If you decide to hire him, you will be able to hire a unique mercenary company, the ‘White Company’, led by Hawkwood as general:
White Company.png

We also have some famous artists from the Florentine Renaissance, such as:
Leonardo Bruni.png

Da Vinci.png

Donatello.png

Do we have here two of the Ninja Turtles, maybe?

But besides characters, you also have events that may be related to buildings, such as the construction of the Duomo of Florence, that may end up with a unique Work of Art:
Event Florence Cathedral.png

Duomo.png



… And much more Florence-related content, as there are dozens of unique flavour events! But I think that this is enough showcase for today, as we don’t want to spoil the fun of starting a game for the first time! Next week we will be taking a look at the unique flavour content for Novgorod, cheers!
 

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Is there any content related to:
  • Florence eventually forming the Grand Duchy of Tuscany?
  • Florence vs Pisa warring?
  • A florentine becoming pope (Leon X)?
  • Florence during whatever situation you have for the Italian wars?
 
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1737131009776.png

Maybe this privilege can give more satisfaction for the nobility estate considering that they form the government. This will make privilege more neutral rather than purely early-game "remove as fast as possible" thing
 
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This looks good. Thanks for the breakdown of Florence.
 
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Is there flavor for the Medici bank (or any bank "country" for that matter) becoming the main bank of the pope? Historically this was very crucial to them for generating money and economic/political influence and it would be fun to have a mechanic that represents this. I think that there should also be more flavor regarding the florin coin besides just a +10% tax modifier. The florin was the main gold coin Europe used for important transactions and there should be some amount of prestige or flavor related to minting it, for example it could be a funny mechanic if the game let us debase the florin and ruin the economy.
 
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Wouldn't 2d characters look so much better and interesting? Since the 2d art in paradox games is really the crown jewl anyway. It would just blend in with the background and I don't consider the look of a character to be the main part of the game so I would't want it to pop out that significantly eighter.
 
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One thing I kinda dislike in EU4 is how some countries have those evil privileges at the start. In EUIV, the player never gives any of this kind of privileges and they are something that only appear at the start. It makes it weird. It gives the impression that the rulers before the game starts were very stupid. Somewhat similar to the situation of Poland in EUIV.

It would make sense to give this privileges under harsh conditions, like "give this privilege or have huge revolt while you are at an important war". But, if it were to be that way, I would expect to have similar situations during the gameplay. Instead we have various situations starting with evil privileges but hardly any situation were we want/have to to give evil privileges. For me is way to gamey, like, the country is a puzzle to solve but once you solved everything is perfect. I'm of the opinion that it should be more of a continuous struggle of power.

That being said, I thing this is solved by making the player give (or be forced to give) this privileges so that the rulers before the game start do not sound so stupid. Possible ways:
1) have evil privileges be enforced during the game by the nobility in exchange for support in hard times.
2) Have some positive aspect of the privilege, even if very situational.

In summary: less strictly evil privileges and more trade offs with hard and lasting effects.
It has a positive effect (our Senate is slightly happier), so not purely evil. Is more of a matter of improving its gameplay balance, I think.
 
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But so if a signoria is surrounded by only one country it will be doomed to be in a sort of PU under that country? I don’t recall many times in which Florence ruler was the ruler from another country
 
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"As usual, please consider the UI, 2D and 3D art as WIP."

Any chance that we can get a TT soonish about the general feel and look you are going for? Design goals or templates? Maybe it is because I cannot see your vision, maybe it will help me accept it.
 
Wouldn't 2d characters look so much better and interesting? Since the 2d art in paradox games is really the crown jewl anyway. It would just blend in with the background and I don't consider the look of a character to be the main part of the game so I would't want it to pop out that significantly eighter.
With 3D characters, you can create much more unique characters and actually much more similar to real personalities, whereas with 2D you are limited in this area or they can be repetitive.
 
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I also noticed you mentioned Florence is an outlier with 2 disasters. Is it an outlier because other countries have more than 2? Or an outlier because other countries only have 1 or less? 030
 
It widely depends; as I mentioned in other posts, sometimes how we think that it fits better, how are the other types of content implemented for the country, etc.
Does having the work of art also provides the same effects of the building? Does it prevent the building? I mean, could I have the work of art "Cathedral of Florence" and also build a cathedral in the Florence location?

I see the old Civilization issue of having build the Great Library of Alexandria and then needing to build a library in the city campus. It felt too gamey and they eventually fixed that.