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Tinto Talks #37 - 13th of November 2024

Hello everyone and welcome to another Tinto Talks. This is the Happy Wednesday, the day of the week where we tell you information about our super secret game with the code name Project Caesar.

This week we will talk about art and culture; not why it's important to the world, but the impact it has in our game. To begin with, every Culture in Project Caesar has two important attributes: Cultural Influence and Cultural Tradition.

Cultural Influence

This is the attack power of a culture in the context of culture war, representing how impressive it appears to other cultures, and the reach it has beyond its own borders.

It has a monthly increase depending on prestige, some cultural buildings and also increases upon the completion of a work of art.

influence_1.png

The influence of the English is weak… for now..


Cultural Tradition

This is the defense power of a culture in the context of culture war, representing how strongly this culture's traditions resonate with its people.
Tradition has a monthly change dependent on relevant buildings, but also on the amount of art you have in your country. The average literacy of your nobles also have a significant impact on your cultural tradition as well.

cultural_tradition.png

Some nested tooltips, you can also see the details of every location by hovering over that value as well..

As you may see in the screenshot above, the primary culture of the country is the one benefiting from your art and nobles.


Culture War
So what is cultural influence and cultural tradition impacting then. Well, we have this concept called Culture War which impacts several aspects of the game. For the part where culture is relevant, the cultural influence of the “attacking” culture is compared against the cultural tradition of the “defending” culture. If it's positive you will get bonuses, but if it's negative, you will face penalties.

There are plenty of diplomatic actions where having a dominant culture is a benefit for the other country to accept your deals, not to mention the fact that building a spy network is far faster if you have a cultural dominance.

This also has an impact if you have conquered some land and want to integrate it, as if your cultural influence is bigger than their traditions you will integrate the territory faster. This is also valid if you want to annex a subject.

You also assimilate people faster if you have a higher cultural influence than the pop’s culture’s traditions. There is also a small impact on sieges as well.



Cultural Investment
One of the most important advances in the Age of Renaissance is the ‘Patron of the Arts’, this one is early in the part of the tree that requires the Renaissance Institution, and it allows you to invest into culture. The cost of this depends on the size of the economy and how many artists you wish to employ.

patron.png

How can you be a renaissance man without sponsoring the arts?

There is a direct impact from the investment you make each month on your prestige as well as an impact on the skill of the artists and the art they create.

There are some countries outside of Europe that already start with advances that unlock investing into culture.

Artists
These are characters that appear in countries that are investing into culture. They will spend their time creating new art, or figuring out what art they should create. They will also increase their skill over time, depending on how much money you will throw at them. If you get frustrated with them not producing new art, you can always commission art directly by throwing even more money at them.

Various buildings and advances can impact the skill floor and ceiling of a new artist as well.

artist.png

One artist that exists at the start of the game..

If you have less than double the number of the supported artists in your country, you can always poach an artist from a smaller and less rich country. That artist will then move to your country and all the art they create will benefit you, however the influence of the culture of the country you invited him from will increase.

There are several different types of artists, and they create different types of art.
  • Painter
    • This type of artist creates images by depicting the world or purely from their imagination. It is done by applying pigment, coal or other sources of colors to a solid surface like a canvas or a wall. Famous painters of the era include Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Raphael.
  • Sculptor
    • A sculptor shapes clay, stone, marble, wood, and other materials into art. Famous sculptors of the era include Donatello, Michelangelo, and Gianlorenzo Bernini.
  • Composer
    • This is an artist that creates music, including anything from a motet to a symphony. Famous composers of the era include Johan Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Carl Michael Bellman.
  • Writer
    • A writer describes artists that can write anything from a poem to a novel, as well as writing entire plays. Famous writers of the era include William Shakespeare and many more of lesser talent.
  • Architect
    • Architects are the artists that design the buildings that create the beauty of our cities. This also includes monuments, mansions and palaces. Famous architects of the era include Minar Sinan, Christopher Wren, and Michelangelo.
  • Philosopher
    • This type of artist defines reality and helps us shape our understanding of our existence. Famous philosophers of the era include René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and Baruch Spinoza.
  • Jurist
    • An expert in legal matters, proficient in analyzing and commenting on the different legal codes. Famous Jurists of the era include Bartolus de Saxoferrato, Francisco de Vitoria, and Jeremy Bentham.
  • Scientist
    • A person of knowledge and a scholar of thought, questioning the aspects of nature which have been granted as given in the past. Famous Scientists of the era include Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, and Joseph Fourier.
  • Iconographer - Only for certain religions
    • Iconographers create religious icons. Famous iconographers of the era include Eulalios, Georgios Kallergis, and Manuel Panselinos.
  • Metalsmith - if you have metallurgy
    • Metalsmiths are skilled artificers, capable of creating anything from decorative weapons to kingly regalia. Famous metalsmiths of the era include Johann Joseph Würth, Vidal Astori, and Jehan Cambier.


Works of Art
A work of art is something that an artist has created. When the art is created, it will directly increase the cultural influence of the primary culture of the country that the artist is working in. Not all artists will necessarily live in a capital, or create their art there either.


work_of_art.png

There is of course art already present at the start of the game..


When a location is conquered through a siege or normal occupation, there is a chance for Works of Art to be looted or destroyed. If it's looted, it will be transferred to your capital, so you can create a nice Museum a few centuries later. Having some art in your country has some benefits, increasing your prestige and traditions.


art_in_country.png

You might become more innovative if you have lots of art though..

There is also a direct benefit to all locations that have works of art as well, depending on how much of the art you have, and it provides some good benefits.

art_in_location.png

A true melting pot..

Prestige
This is a concept that has existed in many of our previous GSG and it is present on Project Caesar as well. Here it's a value between 0 and 100 and will decay to 0 if nothing else increases it, where the decay is bigger the higher the prestige is.

Prestige in this game is heavily tied to the cultural part of the game, but it also has an impact on diplomacy and trade.


prestige.png

If the nobles were just a little bit more happy…


Stay tuned, as next week we will go into detail about all the societal values we have.
 
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Hi

1. Will an artist take up a court spot or is it not connected to this feature?
2. I might overseen this in previous posts, but if prestige will be tied mostly to culture, diplomacy and trade, what will be the biggest indicator of country's power? Will it be just some plain ranking? One of my biggest issues with EU4 is that you always knew how strong were other countries, how many batalions and ships, when in reality this knowledge (or more likely lack of it) was absolutely crucial to a possible outcome of war
 
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Interesting. How static/dynamic are the artists and works of art? Will the renaissance always result in the same artists in Italy and Balgium, regardless of who occupies the land or how the development is, etc?
I'm pretty sure there will be both historical and dynamic ones spawning at different times
 
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do certain works of art have differeent ways of being stored/used like composers songs or an architects building or is it always assumed its just paper if its smt abstract like that
 
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I'm not sure if I like the implications...

You can basically become the best culture in the world by doing a bunch of art thus making everyone want to assimilate - kinda reinforcing the idea of uncultured natives that had to be civilised. I'm also afraid of the Vicky 2 situation where you could up your way to a GP by just building universities.

Can you alleviate my fears..?
Also - culutre war doesn't sound like a good name for the mechanic, because... you know.
 
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Are there benefits from the type of artist hired beyond the works of art they make?

What sort of works of art do philosophers or scientists make? Books?

Do different types of art contribute different benefits for being held?
 
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First of all - very cool dev diary. Love these proposed mechanics!!

Now - does hiring an artist of another culture impact the power of that culture? For instance, much of the renaissance art in Germany came from italians hired by the various states. If a small German state hires an Italian artist, does this improve Italian cultural power?

Edit: Never mind, I think the dev diary just answered my question :) Does this mean that some countries might have ways of producing loads more artists than they can use and that this can be a mechanic for spreading the cultural influence of your particular culture? I am thinking again of Renaissance Italy exporting artists all over Europe...
 
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what are some examples of dynamic works of art names after the start? or will future created artworks all exist irl? what happens if i produce 100 paintings as a minor culture like the romansh?
 
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I'm already looking forward to the freakouts when someone finds that their countries most famous works aren't considered magnum opuses.

Ok, hold on.


  • Painter
    • This type of artist creates images by depicting the world or purely from their imagination. It is done by applying pigment, coal or other sources of colors to a solid surface like a canvas or a wall. Famous painters of the era include Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Raphael.
  • Sculptor
    • A sculptor shapes clay, stone, marble, wood, and other materials into art. Famous sculptors of the era include Donatello, Michelangelo, and Gianlorenzo Bernini.
  • Composer
    • This is an artist that creates music, including anything from a motet to a symphony. Famous composers of the era include Johan Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Carl Michael Bellman.
  • Writer
    • A writer describes artists that can write anything from a poem to a novel, as well as writing entire plays. Famous writers of the era include William Shakespeare and many more of lesser talent.
  • Architect
    • Architects are the artists that design the buildings that create the beauty of our cities. This also includes monuments, mansions and palaces. Famous architects of the era include Minar Sinan, Christopher Wren, and Michelangelo.
  • Philosopher
    • This type of artist defines reality and helps us shape our understanding of our existence. Famous philosophers of the era include René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and Baruch Spinoza.
  • Jurist
    • An expert in legal matters, proficient in analyzing and commenting on the different legal codes. Famous Jurists of the era include Bartolus de Saxoferrato, Francisco de Vitoria, and Jeremy Bentham.
  • Scientist
    • A person of knowledge and a scholar of thought, questioning the aspects of nature which have been granted as given in the past. Famous Scientists of the era include Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, and Joseph Fourier.
  • Iconographer - Only for certain religions
    • Iconographers create religious icons. Famous iconographers of the era include Eulalios, Georgios Kallergis, and Manuel Panselinos.
  • Metalsmith - if you have metallurgy
    • Metalsmiths are skilled artificers, capable of creating anything from decorative weapons to kingly regalia. Famous metalsmiths of the era include Johann Joseph Würth, Vidal Astori, and Jehan Cambier.
 
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how can architectural works of art be looted? like the St Mark's Basilica shown in the image
and also why would a architect moving from country A to country B make all their art benefit country B if their art are literal buildings constructed in country A?
 
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A lot of internal and passive flavour with these newly added features. This game is turning out to be something where playing tall won't be boring and you will be thoroughly engaged even when you're not at war.

Quick question: If you, as the player of England, poach a Norman artist from France and he creates a work of art, does it benefit the English cultural dominance or tradition, or does it benefit the Norman cultural dominance or tradition, or both or neither or one of each or - you get my question.
 
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Hm, the conflict was definitely an important aspect of international competition, but this presentation almost feels to me like something more at home in Victoria (or a Civilization game, if you don't care so much about the realism).
 
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how can architectural works of art be looted? like the St Mark's Basilica shown in the image
and also why would a architect moving from country A to country B make all their art benefit country B if their art are literal buildings constructed in country A?
Gold or marble fixtures ripped off and carted away. Maybe a fire breaks out during the plundering and it burns to the ground.
 
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Very cool! I just didn't really understand what a culture war is though. How does it start? Why/where does it happen? How does it end? What does it represent- what historical or other thing does it reflect?
 
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Tradition has a monthly change dependent on relevant buildings, but also on the amount of art you have in your country.

Does looted art count for cultural tradition as equally as art created in the country? Are all effects of art lost for the creating country when it's looted or destroyed? Seems funny if a country that creates nothing but loots its neighbors is considered more cultured than a country that creates a lot but loses it. Especially when considering that some of the forms of art listed below are not dependent on unique items. Sure, the original manuscript of a national epic may be looted, but there are copies, and the epic still is about the country of origin, not the country that looted the manuscript. In many cases, even if there is only one item, eg only copy of a painting, it may still depict something more relevant to the creating country than the looting country. And even if it's a universal topic, people will still remember where it was created. Being able to loot something gives some kind of prestige, but not the same kind as being able to create something.

There are several different types of artists, and they create different types of art.
  • Painter
  • Sculptor
  • Composer
  • Writer
  • Architect
  • Philosopher
  • Jurist
  • Scientist
  • Iconographer - Only for certain religions
  • Metalsmith - if you have metallurgy

Are you sure jurist and scientist are best classified as artists?
 
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