• 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.
“This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror”


Welcome to the 7th development diary for Europa Universalis IV,
where we talk about the dominant power by the end of the Europa Universalis time frame, the country formerly known as England.
England can be considered both as one of the easier nations to play, but also one of the more challenging nations. That´s a paradox, you say?
Well, it all depends on what you wish to accomplish and what kind of empire you want to create ;)

The unique possibilities of England
What truly makes England unique to play is that the country has natural borders protecting it and that you can strengthen those borders dramatically with rather cheap investments. You can decide to let England get involved in the continent, from a safe position, or choose to isolate England and go overseas. The country also sits on a bloody nice position to control the trade from the Baltic and from North America. So the options are huge for you to take England in plenty of directions when creating your empire.

England’s Dynamic Historical Events
England is has one of the richest and best known histories. That may sound lovely for you guys, but it also means that we have had to work hard when it comes to decisions about historical events to include in Europa Universalis IV. The important countries in EU4 have a lot of events going on, so some of those major historical events have been turned into the starting points of large event chains that we call Dynamic Historical Events.

War of the Roses is an excellent example of Dynamic Historical Events. If England in the 15th century has a ruler without an heir, that means that there is a likelihood of a large event chain beginning. The player has to select who to back for the throne, York or Lancaster. This decision will throw the country into turmoil with various parts declaring for either the red or white rose, and you have to make sure to eliminate the very strong, rather resilient pretenders. What makes this interesting is that this event chain is not an event series that is guaranteed to come every time you play as England. It only occurs if all the necessary underlying factors are fulfilled. When it happens, you won't have planned for it to arrive on schedule, like many people did when they played Europa Universalis II, the last game in the series with a serious focus on historical events. We hope that this variation will gives you rather unique experiences when you play major powers.

The English Civil War will be another major event series that might encounter when you play as England, but we will not spoil it for you here yet. ;)
England also has many smaller DHE, like The War of Captain Jenkin's Ear: if they are rivals with Spain, after 1700, then you can get a casus belli on Spain. Or an event like The Muscovy Trade Company, where if you discover the sea route to Archangelsk, and its owned by the Muscovites, then there is a likelihood of this historical event happening.

England’s Missions & Decisions
We have kept the historical missions that existed in Europa Universalis III and we are expanding them for Europa Universalis IV, so you'll still see missions to conquer Scotland and colonize North America. When it comes to decisions, England still manually have to rely on the Wooden Wall, and make Calais into a Staple Port.

England’s National Ideas
The traditions that England starts with is a small boost in naval morale and a 5% boost to their trading efficiency.
The trading efficiency boost is due to the fact that the economy of England to fund their participation in the Hundred Years War was their taxation of the very profitable wool trade.

The 7 National Ideas for England are:
  1. Royal Navy : 25% higher naval force limit, and +10% more combat power for big ships.
  2. Eltham Ordinance : +15% higher tax.
  3. Secretaries of State : +1 diplomat
  4. Navigation Acts : +10% trade income, and +10% more combat power for light ships.
  5. Bill of Rights : -1 revolt risk.
  6. Reform of Commission Buying : +10% discipline
  7. Sick and Hurt Board : -50% Naval Attrition.



Reward: English Ambition
When England has gotten all seven of their National Ideas, they get the bonus of 'English Ambitions' which gives them a +100% on their embargo efficiency.

Here's a screenshot where I've cheated to show a little bit of the idea progress..

7.png

Welcome back next week, where we'll talk in detail about the enhancements we've done to the religious aspect of the game!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
But an absolutist England is nigh impossible, going by a historical development going back centuries already at the start of the game. And this is a characteristic of the nation that makes sense to express in an NI.

What? It's 350 years period we are talking about - England could end up absolutist monarchy or republic under right circumstances. It's almost four centuries of different rulers, with different skills and ambitions, with different outside factors, with many twists and turns, rebellions, coups, or even revolutions. It's not history book, nothing should be set in stone.
 
But an absolutist England is nigh impossible, going by a historical development going back centuries already at the start of the game. And this is a characteristic of the nation that makes sense to express in an NI.

??? Opposition to absolutism is not genetic. There were a lot of opportunities in English History where the country could became an Absolutist Monarchy.
You are determinism, you think: in XVIIIth century France was Absolutist and England liberal, so it's in the culture of the two countries, it's their nature, we can't change that. But during centuries there were a lot events and evolutions which change the fate of these countries. What if Charles Sturart wins? What if the Fronde wins against the royal autorithy?
 
Last edited:
After reading several DD threads, I do actually wonder if PI should completely strip nations of most of their uniqueness.

Granted, it's just an idea, they are working towards the opposite goal.

*My* problem is that no matter how much, no matter how subtlety, giving unique features to nations triggers a plethora of nationalism.

Some posts make me laugh, others make me cry, others make me wonder whether I should stop reading DD threats past the 1st post or not.

I don't know how many share my point of view, I just hope there will be a massive "turn unique bonuses off" option -directly in vanilla- that will silence most of these things.

Instead of discussing about how the game is being developed, every week the debate turns nationalistic within 3 pages.
 
??? Opposition to absolutism is not genetic. There were a lot of opportunities in English History where the country could became an Absolutist Monarchy.
You are determinism, you think: in XVIIIth century France was Absolutist and England liberal, so it's in the culture of the two countries, it's their nature, we can't change that. But during centuries there were a lot events and evolutions which change the fate of these countries. What if Charles Sturart wins? What if the Fronde wins against the royal autorithy?

In my eyes it is not about something special about the English, it is something about the institutions and regulations in place already before the start of the game. Similarly to the cities and the traders already important in the low countries at the start of the game, with the civilian rights they are used to.
 
In my eyes it is not about something special about the English, it is something about the institutions and regulations in place already before the start of the game. Similarly to the cities and the traders already important in the low countries at the start of the game, with the civilian rights they are used to.
Rights and regulations can be curbed and removed, classes can be oppressed and foreign nations can be invaded.
 
After reading several DD threads, I do actually wonder if PI should completely strip nations of most of their uniqueness.

Granted, it's just an idea, they are working towards the opposite goal.

*My* problem is that no matter how much, no matter how subtlety, giving unique features to nations triggers a plethora of nationalism.

Some posts make me laugh, others make me cry, others make me wonder whether I should stop reading DD threats past the 1st post or not.

I don't know how many share my point of view, I just hope there will be a massive "turn unique bonuses off" option -directly in vanilla- that will silence most of these things.

Instead of discussing about how the game is being developed, every week the debate turns nationalistic within 3 pages.

well it's kinda natural on a forum with thousands of users all across the world that several stubborn ppl from various countries start the same debate over and over again regardless of the OP. see the issues called "Poland" and "Ottomans" for example.

I'm quite sure Paradox is well aware and prepared for this kind of discussions could always find their ways into each and every thread.
 
Instead of discussing about how the game is being developed, every week the debate turns nationalistic within 3 pages.

Sorry but, what? Very few people here are advocating making X country better than Y country based on nationalism. Most of the debate revolves around whether or not the NIs we are forced to get constitute too significant an element of the game to make uncontrollable by the player.
 
Thinking about this a bit more, what if the specific national ideas unlocked based on what general idea group you've focused on? Say you focus on the navy ideas as Great Britain. After unlocking a few of those, you get another navy bonus specific to England. Say you focus on aristocracy ideas, you get a bonus specific to England and you don't get Bill of Rights. There would still be flavor, but it wouldn't ever break immersion if the player breaks from history. Maybe there could also be another bonus that unlocks after certain nation specific bonuses are unlocked that would benefit a more historically focused country, but would require focusing all your ideas on getting this one bonus. Thus, it might not be beneficial to go for this bonus every game.
 
Thinking about this a bit more, what if the specific national ideas unlocked based on what general idea group you've focused on? Say you focus on the navy ideas as Great Britain. After unlocking a few of those, you get another navy bonus specific to England. Say you focus on aristocracy ideas, you get a bonus specific to England and you don't get Bill of Rights. There would still be flavor, but it wouldn't ever break immersion if the player breaks from history.

I like this idea! Create a unique NI that corresponds with each 'idea group' which unlocks when you focus on it. This keeps the historical flavor while still giving players the element of choice.
 
Sounds good. The new event system sounds really good, and something I would have hoped already for EU3, instead of it going completely sand box.
 
But an absolutist England is nigh impossible, going by a historical development going back centuries already at the start of the game. And this is a characteristic of the nation that makes sense to express in an NI.

It's certainly possible. There's a precedent even: Sweden went from being a non-feudal elective kingdom to an absolute monarchy (1400s-mid 1600s), on to become the most democratic country in Europe (1720-1772) - and back to absolutism yet again! Followed by revolution and a parliamentary constitutional monarchy in 1809. All in the time frame of the game.
 
Some posts make me laugh, others make me cry, others make me wonder whether I should stop reading DD threats past the 1st post or not.
I agree, I just skim through the threat looking for dev commentary. At some point those debating these non-issues will grow tired of it.
 
I've noticed a tendency for the developers to avoid answering any questions regarding the forming of nations. And I believe they are avoiding it, because they haven't made a decision on that yet. Should ideas be kept? Should new ideas arrive? Should the ones you've managed to obtain so far remain, while a new latter list is created for the nation? And so on.

But it might not only be ideas that are problematic, it could be many other things. For instance; will a nation that splits away from its master 100-200 years into the game start with 0 ideas and thus have to spend 'leader points' on getting up to par with its neighbours, or are the advance levels kept from the nations it breaks away from (even if it receives a new set of national ideas)?
 
A good question. I'd assume they would carry over the English ideas.

I'm wondering how formables like Prussia would be handled when it is formed by the Teutonic knights. After all a theocratic order is quite different from a secular duchy.
 
IF you are going to do another dev diary for a specific country, please do it for the Ottoman Empire, it historically has been screwed over in EU games, making it nearly impossible to reach historical growth rates, when the historical growth rates of the territory could have easily been higher. Plus the janissaries, millets, and the like
 
I obviously can't see the final product yet but...

Oh no you dumbed down the part where you actually form a strategy for your nation, through national ideas, by turning some of it into a linear progression. That was one of my favorite things :(

This is nitpicking, but I'd be doing myself a disservice as a customer by not fighting you everywhere I can through harsh words. I don't really get this change, so now instead of 3 of the 12 being predetermined, 5 of the 14 are but with the added "bonus" of not being able to change those 5. It's supposed to give the nations certain character I suppose, and probably adds some value for those who enjoy the more deterministic outcomes and who absolutely hate that occasional game where the AI might go for a non-historic strategy.

So instead of having 12 ideas where every one meant a choice that mattered (that's the important part, because as with so much else, that's what strategy is), now you have 8, and 6 bonuses which you might notice and go "Oh I dinged level 25, now my boats go zooom".

I wish someone had said "All that work? Why? Lets keep the old system, add 2 more NI slots, hardcode the AI to pick certain ideas more often, and if you absolutely want to (for the sake of national character, historical fluff), give those few ideas stronger bonuses whenever it applies to specific nations to motivate players into certain playstyles"
 
Last edited: