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“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!
 
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In the new DLC for CK2 there are several new events for Byzantium. Would you call those deterministic?

Are there events that trigger at certain dates/periods, based on events that happened at these dates/periods? Are there events for certain dynasties nudging them to perform historically? Are there 'tradition' bonuses that members of some dynasties get throughout the whole game? If not (I'm sure there's no such thing) then they are not deterministic.

2. I do however believe that an event that directly effects outcomes regardless of player action is deterministic.

I invite you to name one thing that follows the parameters of number 2 that is confirmed to be in EU4.


Automatically given National Ideas 'nudging' towards historical outcomes. WTF man? Didn't you read dev diary? ;)
 
Automatically given National Ideas 'nudging' towards historical outcomes. WTF man? Didn't you read dev diary? ;)

He said things that directly affect outcomes regardless of the player's actions. The new NI's don't force you to do anything nor do they make your game unfold in a specific way. They're simply useful if you want to follow that route, but they're always entirely optional to use.
 
Are there events that trigger at certain dates/periods, based on events that happened at these dates/periods? Are there events for certain dynasties nudging them to perform historically? Are there 'tradition' bonuses that members of some dynasties get throughout the whole game? If not (I'm sure there's no such thing) then they are not deterministic.

And the events in that dlc are just as those that will be in EU4, they only happen AFTER player actions.

Automatically given National Ideas 'nudging' towards historical outcomes. WTF man? Didn't you read dev diary? ;)

Not an event.
 
The determenism debate is over.

Post #12. But don't worry, 22 pages latter dead horses are still being flogged.
 
And the events in that dlc are just as those that will be in EU4, they only happen AFTER player actions.

Ahh - brilliant argument, there's no difference indeed - I've been a fool.

Not an event.

Yes - that solves everything. Not an event. Thank you.


Post #12. But don't worry, 22 pages latter dead horses are still being flogged.

Since this is fundamental idea behind mechanics presented in DD, Johan would have done better by just closing the thread. ;)

But it is indeed not going anywhere.
 
Since this is fundamental idea behind mechanics presented in DD, Johan would have done better by just closing the thread. ;)

But it is indeed not going anywhere.

Perhaps you should quit bringing it up back up at every turn then. This DD was about England's NI's, yet almost every response you've posted has been about determinism, even after you were told that such a topic should be dropped. Ending every post with a sarcastic remark about determinism and throwing a winking smiley at the end does not mean that you're innocent from beating the topic to death.
 
Perhaps you should quit bringing it up back up at every turn then. This DD was about England's NI's, yet almost every response you've posted has been about determinism, even after you were told that such a topic should be dropped. Ending every post with a sarcastic remark about determinism and throwing a winking smiley at the end does not mean that you're innocent from beating the topic to death.

You've been equally active in this debate, by replying to me and others by repeating same thing over, and over, and over again - almost all of your responses were about determinism. So don't try to wash your hands at my expense. Yes I were told to stop, but others picked it up. Guess why - this is what ultimately this DD is about.

I'll leave it here.
 
You've been equally active in this debate, by replying to me and others by repeating same thing over, and over, and over again - almost all of your responses were about determinism. So don't try to wash your hands at my expense. Yes I were told to stop, but others picked it up. Guess why - this is what ultimately this DD is about.

I'll leave it here.
Most of my responses have been to Chamboozer and have been about the appropriateness of England's ideas. Most of the discussion in this thread about determinism has rather been your posts or responses to your posts. The fact that you brought it up immediately and were quickly told to drop the subject, and yet still bring it up continually after then says enough.
 
You've been equally active in this debate, by replying to me and others by repeating same thing over, and over, and over again - almost all of your responses were about determinism. So don't try to wash your hands at my expense. Yes I were told to stop, but others picked it up. Guess why - this is what ultimately this DD is about.

I'll leave it here.
How is this DD about determinism? It's clear to me that you don't understand it.

Try re-reading it, and re-reading the previous DDs.
 
Ahh - brilliant argument, there's no difference indeed - I've been a fool.

I'm sorry, I'll spell it out then. If it happens before you take action, it's out of your control. None of the events in question happen unless you the player have already taken action and effected conditions for them to fire. You love to argue that your precious right to play ahistorically is some how being infringed on with an event tied to conditions that reflect history even in the losses fashion. Play the way you want to play when the game comes out, 10% to boats, or some war over flowers is not going to stop you.

Yes - that solves everything. Not an event. Thank you.

It's not the end of the world if you can't answer the question.

It's clear that you have pushed your argument to the most extreme. No one here is arguing against... what do you call it? Realism? Generic Context? Which ever word we would, could, or should use, most here are simply presenting the proposal that determinism is in fact not this great and powerful evil upon Paradox games you make it out to be no matter the level of effect it does or does not take in their games. You started out with perfectly reasonable ideas and it has come down to statements of absolutes, making any resolution of ideas impossible. I no longer find any merit in perusing this debate any further. Paradox will make their game, modders will take it from that point. I'll just leave it at that.
 
Its good that Paradox is considering dynamic font sizes. It should make the game more accessible for those who have difficulty with small font.

More seriously, I don't understand what you are talking about, but suspect that a) it bears little to no relation to the DD and b) your real point is that you fear change.
 
Since this is fundamental idea behind mechanics presented in DD, Johan would have done better by just closing the thread. ;)

I told you guys to stop the argument.

Now I don't read this thread every day.. so this just pissed me off.
 
oh, one thing I haven't noticed before:

the idea tab says that lvl 10 unlocks a new idea - and it is also called "Modern Theocracy". does that mean we may have different types of theocracies in the game? "classic" bishoprics vs. something like how Calvin imagined government?
 
oh, one thing I haven't noticed before:

the idea tab says that lvl 10 unlocks a new idea - and it is also called "Modern Theocracy". does that mean we may have different types of theocracies in the game? "classic" bishoprics vs. something like how Calvin imagined government?

"Modern Theocracy" is probably the name of the tech that unlocks the idea slot. I guess we will have much less techs, but each tech now has a name and a big impact.
 
"Modern Theocracy" is probably the name of the tech that unlocks the idea slot. I guess we will have much less techs, but each tech now has a name and a big impact.

well I guess there is a reason for such name :) why name it "Modern Theocracy" if not adding something to the available types of governments in connection with the name?
 
The French navy under the latter years of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the early years of his son outmatched the English or the Dutch navies (during the 1680s).

Yes, & that's what I meant by "Sure, the RN was bigger (it wasn't always in the 17th) than the French..."

It's a tricky question, how to determine the strength of a navy, which you can sustain. Several nations did rise to prominence, all but the RN fell by game end. And even Britain's relative strength fluctuated. In so far as anything can be said to correlate, it would be how much trade is carried by your ships, or even better, in ships manned by sailors you can recruit, and officers who can serve in your fleet. (Note that this isn't quite the same as "of your nationality"; that was something which didn't reach the modern position until post-game. There were even French sailors in Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar.)

So I don't know how to make it work, only that my efforts in EUIII haven't worked well. I hope it will be better in EUIV.
 
So scotland would forget all those elements that meant scotland only because in real life, Great Britain was created by England?

Except in real life Scotland formed a PU with England, Scotland being the senior partner, and then formed GreatBritain some 100 years later.

In the new DLC for CK2 there are several new events for Byzantium. Would you call those deterministic?

1. I believe an event that can only be triggered by the PLAYER's actions cannot be defined as deterministic.

2. I do however believe that an event that directly effects outcomes regardless of player action is deterministic.

I invite you to name one thing that follows the parameters of number 2 that is confirmed to be in EU4.

It's difficult to come up with anything for 2 since we've seen so little, however a DHE that has the wrong trigger has been confirmed. (War of the Roses. Scripting we have been told so far says "No heir", Henry VI had a legitimate son before the official startdate of the war). This stands a good chance of affecting the player regardless of actions, unless the scripting is a lot more forgiving than it seems so far.

Of course, we might have the comet :p
 
well I guess there is a reason for such name :) why name it "Modern Theocracy" if not adding something to the available types of governments in connection with the name?
THat tech can be about organising the Church itself.
It's difficult to come up with anything for 2 since we've seen so little, however a DHE that has the wrong trigger has been confirmed. (War of the Roses. Scripting we have been told so far says "No heir", Henry VI had a legitimate son before the official startdate of the war).
Exept, IRL, the war actually was trigered by the lack of heir, but as any war, it didn`t started at once, and the existance of the heir at that point, didn`t metter, the war would happen anyway.

Which is why, having an event, that triggers event chain of war of the roses, have no heir, is actually the correct representation of history, while it is your assumption that the event would trigger war at once, that is wrong:
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.