• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

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

ZLW8XrWYZLxnovNzgF_7TuPQWyWmoGGLwwD2R2susU8CbvdqziEL_Ulp-yKCubRFOexelDTDIdjssj852lmLobBEQVeYT6bSkHFEIZmWUs_H-38W79jBh1S5OiDDATUVu0nB6GXgi2ze2LmNyJ115OU

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.

qYgBGNEzv3H0jQc6eneo7kkUZgpdahDdiD2oZxQEQZsEziJaaYEGiEnn0-whjga7G0UAzf7YYhABAvScXHNozJux_FGQz5ujPQN8ey_63fuKTGJCI91U-b_fQ15sn3qbalZo_HQ4dyjmlZKWg_zOT1w

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.

uS3pA3GElx0t_YJa_9rdYdyTavbK_IEfSQP1AT3GA9nESw5PidjM0ca7CawBGS80IfNTF-gFGP7O5WDOKzR9Wt5Ffn9iPUkg7hzYRIdfnGp6EG-7ssCmrxh6kd1snKgU2LssP30gr5KJqlfgGJmfIjE

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.

ZEZWxSpKakO4WurGDUAAsx7sedtM4QfQOCQe32TQGOWyLFGbPv2JrSLjbi0NgOMzD855iLKD6JGOWancM-kU6hqp65oRF7P7ubsaNOY9_L5kdzqELF2f26rggfEojZBnW0giSvY1Xf3thtmlKDVEtqg

oh look, its eu3!

Next week, we will go into much more detail about estates and how they work.
 
  • 264Love
  • 167Like
  • 13
  • 10
  • 1Haha
Reactions:
Please tell me that estates will have something to do with the population and economics mechanics of the game, instead of just existing as their own little disembodied thing with no connection to the material conditions of the state.
 
  • 20Like
  • 3
Reactions:
Is the map above showing the locations of that region? also just wanting to know but its Location->Area->Province->State right? or do I have it wrong way?

Yes, its each location with a unique color
 
Please tell me that estates will have something to do with the population and economics mechanics of the game, instead of just existing as their own little disembodied thing with no connection to the material conditions of the state.

yes :)
 
The big map at the top has some interesting names. For example the southernmost point in Crimea is labelled as "Theodoro". Is this significant or were the location names just decided not entirely based on what they were called at the time?
 
  • 2
Reactions:
Very interesting. From the looks of it, it seems that the overarching goal of the game is taking your nation from a feudal system to a roughly post-Westphalian system. Some questions:
  1. How customizable are government types? (Can we set term limits on republican rulers, for example.)
  2. Are interregnums a thing?
  3. When you refer to countries that aren't "based on owning locations on a map," do these have government types that aren't enumerated in this dev diary, or are they specific countries?
Also, definitely a 1337 start-date.
 
  • 13Like
  • 1
Reactions:
So if country names change depending on what you own (among other things) is it possible to personally edit them, like we see in CK3? I think that would provide the ability to create your own "flavor" per say, as you have more ability to larp out your game.
 
  • 13Like
  • 2
Reactions:
Will the UI be changed (compared to an curretly basic one for testing purposes) during development?
 
  • 2
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Speaking of peace treaties, I think they would represent the times much better if we could make offers as well as demands. This has often happened in history, for example, I ask for a territory and in exchange I offer commercial advantages. This would limit the need for long and costly wars.
Depending on war, you should be able to take more provinces. For example Ottoman conquering all of Mamluks in a single war.
Or Napoleonic Wars, where Napoleon was able to conquer/subjugate almost all of Europe (through separate peace deals).
Something like that should be available to do here as well but at the same time, how do you balance it out, so someone can't just World Conquest everything in a few years. (Even though that is also possible to do in EU4)
 
  • 8Like
  • 2
Reactions:
I'd like to say on behalf of everyone: When including the call parliament mechanic, assuming it's meant to be inspired by the English parliament, which had to be called two times a year, include a mechanic which auto-calls the parliament. Perhaps even allow us to set a time interval, like allowing us to call a parliament every X months, where X would be defined by a slider. Depending on the pacing of the game though, I'm assuming it'll be a bit "dumbed down", so you have to call the parliament only every, for example, 5 years, as to not overwhelm the player (of course depending on how much of a player interaction there is with the player). Either way, having a button you have to press thorough all the game on a set time interval just feels tedious unless given the opportunity to automate.
 
  • 21Like
  • 6
Reactions: