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Tinto Talks #4 - March 20th, 2024

Welcome to the fourth iteration of Tinto Talks!

Today we’ll give you an overview of the different mechanics of the Government part of the game. There will be development diaries going into much more detail for these later on.

First of all, we have 5 different government types in the game, which determines a fair bit of what type of mechanics you get access to. As an example, a Republic does not have access to royal marriages, and a Steppe Horde has a different view on how war, peace and conquest works compared to other types of countries.

  • Monarchy, which uses Legitimacy
  • Republic, which uses Republican Tradition
  • Theocracy, which uses Devotion
  • Steppe Horde, which Horde Unity
  • Tribe, which uses Tribal Cohesion

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An illustration from our game..

These, together with country rank, government reform, and local flavor gives countries names like “Crown of Aragon,” “Kingdom of Sweden,” “Principality of Wales.” Not all countries are countries that are based on owning locations on a map though; more on that in later development diaries.

Each country also has a ruler, or they may be in a regency, if there are no possible adult heirs.

One of the most defining parts of the government of a country in Project Caesar is the Estates mechanic. This has been one of the core parts of the game, with a full connection between the population and the estates. Keeping the estates satisfied while keeping their powers low is an important part of the gameplay loop. In this game, the Estates are also active entities and will do things on their own if they get enough power.

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Two government reforms, one culture specific and one government specific.

As time passes, different government reforms and reform-slots will be available. They can also be based on tag, culture or religion.

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These are the two available possibilities in the Law 'Language of Pleading' for the country I tested.

Something that is different from a reform is what we call a Law. A Law can have several different policies you can pick from, and several laws have unique policies only available to certain tags, religions, cultures, government types or other factors.

There are some drawbacks to adding new reforms or policies though, as it takes a few years for it to have full effect, depending on your country's administrative efficiency. (Yes, it's a name for something else in another game, but it fits here.)

Regularly, if your government allows it, you can call in a Parliament. If you don’t do it often enough the estates will start to get irritated, but each parliament has issues that need to be resolved, and the estates will have agendas they want done for their support. Of course, you also have options to push through what you want from a parliament, if you are willing to accept the demands of the estate, like changing a particular law.

Another part of the government is the cabinet, which also grows in size as you become more advanced, allowing you to do more things. This is something that can be viewed as a hybrid between EU4 Advisors and the CK2 council actions.

Some of you may remember the domestic policies from EU2 and EU3. In Project Caesar we are bringing the idea back in the form of Societal Values. There are seven that we took from these games, one that was split in two, and we added four new ones, bringing the total to 13 different Societal Values. Societal Values are primarily affected by what other actions you do, like what policies you pick in a law, or what reforms you pick. As with so many other things in our game, this is not an instant action, but a gradual change over time.

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oh look, its eu3!

Next week, we will go into much more detail about estates and how they work.
 
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My hunch is that the EU5 time frame might be:

1336-1836 - a perfect 500 years of play.
 
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After carefully examining the map I feel that we will have an earlier start date.
I hope this does not imply the end date will be earlier compared to EU4, but that the blobbing will be more difficult, and more rewarding, taking more time.

Given the greater complexity and intended realism, the internal mechanics and estate hassles and the less arcadey "click for big change" attitude of Project Caesar, a 500 years old game would be a joy to play. But I'm afraid they might plan to cut the game at an earlier century while blobbing empires were still historically large, just to attempt to force in some other game series in those years.
Please no.

Additionally I think the population/pops can bring a diversity gameplay that will make colonial nations much more interesting. Please don't butcher the late game now that it has actual potential.
 
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I'm already curious how modding will go. Of all the paradox games I've found eu4 the easiest to make mods for, and newer releases have become somewhat more difficult. I know paradox cares about the modding scene quite a bit, but how easy it will be to add my own government reforms and estates and so on?
 
Not really. To simulate the rise of standing armies, logistics and mass mobilization of that era, you will need better systems in place that do not fit a late medieval era.
Imperator already has a system where you gradually progress from levies towards standing legions. You're making it sound like this is some impossible feat.
 
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Can a monarch try to force decisions and face the consequences if they lack support for it (similar to available laws in Victoria 3) or will actions be blocked (greyed out buttons) until you have enough X to purchase/activate the decision like in EU4?
 
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Is it possible to add a setting to adjust transparency in the political map mode in the upcoming Project Caesar? In games like EU4 where most player play in the political map mode, having a solid color representing each country's territory makes it easy to distinguish between what's yours and what isn't, and it looks pretty, but it makes it difficult to determine what terrain your are fighting on or moving through. Terrain almost becomes an afterthought since it isn't cleary visible when using the political map mode, which most players use as their default map mode. Where as games like CK3, Victoria 3, and Imperator: Rome, have transparency when you zoom in, which makes it easier to determine terrain. Please reconsider!
 
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Imperator already has a system where you gradually progress from levies towards standing legions. You're making it sound like this is some impossible feat.
Not impossible feat, but napoleonic gameplay would fit another game better.
I'm not bothered anyway, but if I would tame my expectations for napoleonic timeline.
 
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Are these like tribes that were conquered but still retained their chiefs? This would revolutionise rebellions/revolts
This is an interesting suggestion for the not-on-the-map countries. Someone else suggested the HRE. I can see where they're coming from, but I don't see how you could have the player controlling Austria and the AI running the HRE or vice versa (assuming the Hapsburgs rule both); that doesn't sound fun at all.

I can think of three other classes of entity that didn't control whole locations but might be counted as countries in Project Caesar:
  • Trading companies, such as the East India Companies. They controlled armies and navies and influenced trade, but didn't necessarily control territory (or the game regards it as the territory of their states). Seems most plausible to me. And it would be fun to play as the VOC even if there Dutch Republic was run by the AI.
  • Monastic orders like the Jesuits and Dominicans. Basically a side game where you build abbeys and send missionaries into other cities etc., a bit like CK2 Orders.
  • Pirate bands are counted as countries in EU4. They never really controlled territory. I'm not very keen on them but we know Mr Andersson likes them so it's a possibility.

Are we going to get anything similar to the character models and court view like in ck3?
I hope not. It makes sense in CK3 because it's partly an RPG; it really matters if you are fat or thin. But it discourages modding because making 3D models of people is hard and PDX further restricts it by only supporting very expensive software. And every penny spent on a better GPU is a penny not spent on PDX, so it's not even in their own interest. I hope Project Caesar has characters that are full of life but displayed with 2D art, like CK2 and Imperator HoI4.

EDIT: Thank you to @RetconCrisis for the correction re Imperator.
 
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Crazy idea but seems no one plays in the late game except for a few in EU4, if Project Caesar is EU5, if we have an earlier start date than 1444 what about it goes to 1699, so it leaves a gap so if Paradox made a new, modern, revamped March of the Eagles on a global map, it could go from 1700 to the start date of Vicky 3 so it can be a game in itself based on line infantry and cannons
 
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Looks like we see some of the societal values:
Monthly progress to Aristocracy +0.10
and
Monthly progress to Serfdom/Free subjects +0.10

These are flat modifiers - I wonder if there is something counteracting them. Like an increasing modifier to an equilibrium level, the further away from it you get. Otherwise these modifiers would just make the country go full aristocracy over time.
 
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It is nothing related to the EU4 system, nothign with tiers or so.
Vic3 get out of this body

Or not, I would actually like to see VIC3-styled laws into EUV
- abolish serfdom
- legalize / abolish slavery
- set religious tolerance (get population boost from religious refugees as Poland/Hungary… while displeasing your clergy estate) VS persecute heretics (displease your Protestant burghers, and have them migrate to your colonies in America), etc…)
 
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