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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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Is architectural art tied to the building system? So that for instance if you build a church or significant building (not a tar pit or livestock pen) while having an architect employed the design of that building can be assigned to them, and then the fate of that building as an artwork follows its fate as a building? So that architectural art isn't that easily looted in a siege for instance.
 
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When the first members of the East India Company operated in England, they absorbed local cultures (married locals, learned Bengali, dressed in Indian textiles, etc.). Proselytization and forcing of ways wasn't tolerated until later on due to it might affected trade profits. Will colonization push and pull cultural power, even taking some of it back to the mainland? Or would that require being a neighboring country/promoting a foreign artist?

Will some cultures have more push due to sharing a heritage? Such as French culture affecting north Italians more than say Turkish or even Bavarian which is also next door?
 
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This is a bit unnecesary imo, I don't see why cultural influence would affect that. Project Caesar should try to avoid modifier bloat.
As long as it stays little, I think it makes sense that you're more likely to agree to surrender to a civilisation judged "more cultured" than yours rather than to "some savages unable to know what's beautiful"
 
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Can countries spread culture beyond their borders without conquest?

Would it be feasible for a strong England to convert a weakened France into majority English?
 
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... ok, why does it impact sieges?

Is it too early to ask if societal values are tied to countries or to cultures?

countries
 
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What exactly are the mechanics of the culture war? Diplomatic actions?

How exactly do you “attack” another culture?
 
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As long as it stays little, I think it makes sense that you're more likely to agree to surrender to a civilisation judged "more cultured" than yours rather than to "some savages unable to know what's beautiful"
On the other hand it may make the invaders more motivated considering the prestige of having conquered a famous city. The "The city of the world's desire" effect.
 
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Since Cultural Influence and Cultural Tradition are numbers attached to each culture, does this mean that, for example, French culture has the same "attacking" power against both English culture and Turkish culture? It feels like English pops would feel much more cultural deference towards French culture than Turkish pops would because of factors like proximity and similarity in majority religion (and of course French culture's special status in English society, what with French court language and all).
 
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On the other hand it may make the invaders more motivated considering the prestige of having conquered a famous city. The "The city of the world's desire" effect.
hopefully the chances of looting / annexing the place and its art will be factored in thanks to the game mechanics that make culture something interesting.
 
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

1 - no
2 - rank, military power, eco power
 
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