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Tinto Talks #25 - 14th of August 2024

Welcome to another Tinto Talks, the 25th one, the Happy Wednesday where we give you lots of information about our upcoming, still secret and unannounced game, with the codename of Project Caesar.

Today we delve into the mechanics of colonialism, another aspect of painting the map.

Power Projection
One important factor that has a big impact on the colonialism game is Power Projection. Each country has a power projection value, and it is primarily to allow a country to be able to exploit those with a lower power projection. Power Projection is very dependent on how advanced a country is, where each age has an advance that gives you about +10 of it. It is also modified by societal values, rank of the country and more. One important aspect is that the +10 advance for Age of Traditions is in the advance tree from the Meritocracy.

You do not gain Power Projection by doing specific actions, like in EU4, but it's entirely based on your country's current setup.

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Sadly, the “Sweden is properly balanced” modifier has not been developed yet..


Colonial Charters
So, how does colonization work in ‘Project Caesar'? Well, you colonize by starting a colonial charter in a province for an upfront fee in gold. Then each month some of the population will be moving from the homeland to the colonial charter, until all locations that can be owned are owned by you.

In almost all cases, there are people living in a location you want to colonize, so for you to be able to have a charter to flip to your ownership there are a few rules. A location needs to have at least 1,000 people living there, and a certain percentage of the population needs to follow your state religion and be of an accepted culture of your country.

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Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged!

This percentage depends heavily on the difference in power projection of your country and the countries in the location. Yes, I said countries in plural, and next week you will understand what we are talking about. This has the implication that at the start of the game, Yuán could in theory start colonizing Europe, if it only had been closer and discovered. How the countries and pops already present in a location react to your colonization is something that will be clarified in a later Tinto Talks.

As long as you have a colonial charter, people from your owned locations will start moving to the locations in the colonial charter. The amount of people moving is rather low in the beginning of the game, but there are advances that will increase it in later ages. Societal values have an impact on it, and so does the distance to the colony.

One thing to take into account is that colonization does not magically create new pops out of thin air, and being able to create a huge colonial empire is not a feasible strategy as a low population country.

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Full speed ahead! Only 40 months per location to get to 1,000 pops!

Colonial Charters are not free, and moving people are definitely not free, and countries need to support them. The higher the population in the target province, the more expensive it is to colonize, the distance also has an impact, but colonizing in the same area or region as your capital is significantly cheaper. You can always cut costs to your charters, but that will also reduce the amount of pops moving every month.

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Not too expensive, so we can easily afford it..


Colonial Nations
When a colonial charter is finished, and all possible locations in that province have become yours, you have multiple options for what you want to happen to that charter. If the province is close, and you think you can get decent enough control over it, you may want to just keep the locations as a part of your home country. You also have the option to have the province form a new colonial nation, or have it join an adjacent colonial nation.

Colonial Nations are a subject type that can not be annexed, but has a few advantages, or disadvantages depending on your point of view, in that while they start transferring less gold than a vassal would, they also grant some manpower and sailors, while also giving part of their merchants to their overlord.

To clarify, you can make colonial nations anywhere on the map where you can colonize.

Supporting the Colonies
If you feel that your charters or colonial nations are not growing enough, there are two tools you can use in the cabinet. Both of these become available from advances in the Age of Discovery

With ‘Supporting a Colonial Charter’ you will move pops from a province you decide upon and to the colonial charter you decided. The amount of pops getting moved depends on your current colonial migration capacities, so when you use it you can about double the migration to a specific

With the ‘Supporting Colonies’ you can move 100 pops every month from a selected province to a target province in a colonial nation subject. This can be useful when you want to boost a colony and you have overpopulated provinces at home, or when you think your country would be in a better situation if you could expel some minorities.

Restrictions on Colonization
There are several ways which can block other nations from colonizing certain places, including diplomatic treaties. At the start of the game, Norrland, Finland, Karelia and Kola are under the claims of Sweden and Novgorod who have divided the area between them.

We also have the situation ‘Treaty of Tordesillas’ where the New World will be split among two Catholic powers, causing lots of interesting dynamics.


Next week we will be back to talk about the difference between countries, and why owning locations is not all there is to life…

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And what is this teaser for next week about?
 
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Yeah that just seems a little low to me even in places with no population. Is have thought it would be 2000 or even up to 5000 before you "own" the location.

That would make half of europe "not owned" at the start of the game
 
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They magically teleport.. once a month some are "teleported". In theory we could have had a delay at the start of a charter to simulate the time it takes..

A delay sounds good. I'm leery after 10K+ hours in EU4 that instant anything can cause weirdness.
 
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That would make half of europe "not owned" at the start of the game
Those are locations with preexisting settlements though, and preexisting infrastructure. I think it's reasonable to ask if a nation can actually "own" a location with a population density of less than 10 people per square kilometer (probably even below 1 person per square kilometer for larger locations).
 
It depends. In areas where there is a large native majority or you conquered, the likelihood of total assimilation is 0.

If its like east coast of USA, with low population ravaged by eurasian diseases, then yes, there is hardly gonna be that many natives left at the end of the game.
I'm eagerly looking forward to how the Columbian Exchange of diseases is represented. I would find it very interesting if it would be possible to see the native populations rebound if given an opportunity. Such as, say, a scenario in which colonists from Greenland/Iceland maintain a low-level presence in North America near the start of the game. This could give the American Indian populations time to be inoculated to the various diseases brought by the Europeans, so that when larger settler populations of English and French arrive, the result is not so one-sided.
 
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Colonization is a pet issue for me. I think it must be handled very carefully, if we want to keep this aspect of the game realistic.

Absolutism. One key point for colonization, IMHO, must be Absolutism, meaning "the player's ability to enforce his/her decisions". If Absolutism is expressed as a percentage, it is the probability the courts will rule, or colonists will accept, his/her command. More on that later.

Castaways. Some of the most successful colonies were only feasible because when the colonists arrive they were greeted by castaway fellow Europeans (usually from the same country), who had inserted themselves into local societies. This can be simulated as a probability that a ship, when is close to the coast, may sink, and some of the crew may reach the shore.

Charter. Another key point is the set of rules in establishing each colony. This is the perfect moment to determine how it works. For example:

  • Land property: by default, the entire colony is the property of the Crown. But the ruler may decide to grant the property of the land to the colonists, in return for cash or another benefit. Colonists may be allowed to purchase the entire colony and rule it as they see fit, or to buy their specific share and have complete control over it, including any ore they may find there.

  • Claims and land occupation: by default, the colony will be established within well defined boundaries. But it may be possible to grant the 'Uti Possidetis' privilege, thereby allowing the colonists to expand their dominions at will. However, these expanded dominions will not be claimed by the crown unless there is a good reason for this (and a decision is made), so it may lead to conflicts with other colonies or other colonial powers.

    The Uti Possidetis principle may also lead to conflicts between the colonists and the Crown, if, for example, gold is found in unclaimed lands. This happened historically in Brazil, and it's a very nice addition to the colonial game. On the other hand, Uti Possidetis is the fastest, cheapest way to expand colonial dominions (provided you have enough power to actually settle the lands you reached), and to search for riches in uncharted land.

  • Authority: who will rule the colony? A representative of the Crown (Viceroyalty), a specific colonist (Captaincy), or the colonists as a group (Commonwealth)?

  • How does succession work in the colony? Hereditary, appointed by the King, elected by the colonists? Some of these options are not compatible with some types of authority.

  • Goal: Perhaps the most important aspect. What will the colony's purpose be? This will of course depend on the colony's trade good(s). Will it be a haven for the outcast? A trade entrepot? A plantation? (or, as a subtype, a mining colony?) This may be defined in terms of how much freedom the colonists have, how much taxes they have to pay, and what kinds of decisions they are allowed to take for themselves. Changing these later on may lead to conflicts. Each type of colony may also have a different minimum of colonists necessary for it to be functional.

  • Workforce: The colony may allow slave labor (and colonists may even be allowed to enslave the locals, unless otherwise stated), indentured servants, or exclusively free colonists.

  • Population growth: plantations may have lower growth rates, because they usually attract more men. But if these men breed with the locals, a larger population of mixed race may occur, and this may or may not be a social problem, depending on a few factors, especially how wealthy these mestizos manage to get.
 
The landless tags are interesting, this might be a bit too soon, but I have an important question, can you interact with landless native tags in ways other than colonisation? I think you should be able to impose tribute on them for example.
 
The landless tags are interesting, this might be a bit too soon, but I have an important question, can you interact with landless native tags in ways other than colonisation? I think you should be able to impose tribute on them for example.
I have a bold hunch here: landless tags aren't special tags. They're simply tags that don't hold land at the moment. In reality, every tag will have some degree of "owned" locations and "presence" locations that might very well extend past their borders not just into unowned locations but even to locations that are owned by other countries.

A landless tag, in other words, is simply a tag that doesn't have any locations as owned. Otherwise it's a tag like any other, though the lack of any owned locations will pose problems for various mechanics.

Whether or not a particular tag, landless or otherwise, has particular unique mechanics (banking countries or whatever else), is down to the implementation for those particular tags with regards to their government type and the like. "Landless", though, is not something special in itself.
 
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Is it possible to play this nations that don't own land? As a modder, I would love the ability to mess around with the gameplay as such a nation, and as a player I love the idea of playing a nation like the blackfoot tribe from my local province and establish a realm in the new world :>
 
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Hopefully this is not a common occurrence.

Depopulating states in Imperator was not one of my favorite game mechanics. The holes sieges blew in countries were not fun, particularly with their interactions with colonization and wargoals.
I've never actually seen it happen in normal play, even with war and famine and disease and emigration, so definitely not common.
 
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Does that mean a Swedish or Danish gold coast is basically not something you are aiming to make possible? Is there a magic tech in the 17th century unlocking it? Or would there be tags in the area allowing for purchase/conquest there instead?

Swedish gold coast was basically a single fort, and that is part of mechanics talked about in a few weeks
 
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Will there be a mechanic or something that shows how the Ottomans blocked the trade through the silk road? Thus making colonisation of asia and trade around Africa more valuable?

The ottomans did not block the silk road. that is a myth.
 
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What is the reason for having colonial charters be made on the province level instead of the location level? Can they be modded to work on the location level instead?

We have had debated between province or area, but having at location would make it like an insane micromanagement game.
 
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This image gives me the powerful urge to play as the Sami and I know that there are lots of people who want to be able to play one of the Finnish cultures. I just really hope as a modder and as a player that this extra avenue of play will exist. Especially since I see that some of their lands cross into other landed nations' borders, I would love to be able to play a nation that is slowly being absorbed and try my best to stay independant and eventually reform into a nation with land ownership
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Personally, I think this is a significant drawback. It is reasonable that the distance to the capital should have an impact but it should be easier to colonise a location far away if you already have a core or fully fledged colony with excellent infrastructure much closer. Would it not be possible to e.g. make the penalty a weighted average between the distance to the capital and the nearest costal province with a harbour at a certain level of development? This would make the system more realistic in my view.

More realistic yes.

But its also a lot of distance calculation sorting, so for now its just been the capital.

In theory we could set a staging area for the colonial charter when we start it, and have it calculate distance from there. Actually, that is pretty trivial to do, and we could also weight it so that it is also likelier to take pops from that origin as well. And we could add a goods demand for it as well, and have some sort of development bonus to the origin.

Adding it to my "todo" list for when I am back from holidays..
 
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We have had debated between province or area, but having at location would make it like an insane micromanagement game.
I would have expected it to be by area, actually. Their size seems to match historical colonial charters better. And would allow countries to 'claim' a lot more land that they don't actually control, which is also quite historical.
 
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