Hello all.

Sadly we can't yet talk about the big feature of Common Sense, Subject Interaction.. As we are completely redoing the interface for it, so it has to wait until next week.

Instead, we'll talk about a major change to the Holy Roman Empire, and give you the new achievements for 1.12.

Imperial Authority and Reforms

Imperial Authority has had a significant rework in 1.12. The old system tended to advance or retreat authority in big lurches and was very open to exploits. It also did not take into account how well the Empire was doing overall, and there was little benefit for the Emperor to maintain a large number of member states.

This has been changed in 1.12, as many of the events that gave Imperial Authority have been replaced with ticking values. The monthly change to Imperial Authority is now displayed in the interface, and will depend on factors such as:
- Whether there is peace in the Empire
- Total number of member states
- The amount of HRE territory held by outside powers
- The amount of HRE territory held by heretics & heathens
- The number of electors and free cities

An Emperor who is doing a good job will see their Imperial Authority naturally grow without having to resort to methods such as annexing states when authority is at 0 only to release them again later, while an Emperor that allows outside powers and heretics to dominate the Empire will find themselves unable to pass reforms entirely.

As part of this change, we've also revised the old 'Imperial Integrity' modifier for having more than 25 princes. We felt this modifier was both too strong and too arbitrary, so it has been removed. Instead, the HRE reforms were buffed to provide more of an incentive for members to vote for reform.

Achievements

Baltic Crusader - As Teutonic Order or Livonian Order conquer all of the Russia Region and make it Catholic.
Neither Holy, Nor German - Get 7 free cities in the HRE that are not of German Culture, as Emperor
Colonial Management - Have 3 colonial governors directly appointed by you at the same time.
Voting Streak - Get through 11 Issues in a row in Parliament
An Industrial Revolution - As GBR, all in english region, with 25 development.

City of Cities - Create a City with 60 development.
One Family to Rule them All - Have your dynasty on 8 thrones at the same time.
This is My Faith - Become Protestant and get maximum amount of traits.
Bleed them dry - Have 10 different War Reparations being paid to you at the same time.
Subsidize my Love - Subsidize 3 different allies at least 50% of their monthly income without running a deficit.

Take that Habsburgs! - As Hungary, Conquer all of Austria.
The White Elephant - As Ayutthaya conquers all provinces in Indochina region
The Buddhists strike back - As Ceylon conquer all of India and convert it to Theravada.
Better than Napoleon - As France, conquer Vienna, Berlin & Moscow.
Big Blue Blob - As France, hold 100 european core provinces before 1500.

A Full House - Have 3 Vassals & 2 Marches at the Same time.
Black Jack - Maintain 21 different overseas Subjects with more than 5 provinces each, without anyone having more than 50% Liberty Desire - Trade Companies does not count.
A Decent Reserve - Gain at least 1M Manpower.
The Six Nations - Form a federation of at least 6 nations as the Iroqious.
The Bohemians - Conquer and core Dublin as Bohemia.

Komenoi Empire - Make Trebizond into an Empire.
Lucky Lucca - As Lucca, own Lucknow!
A Fine Goosestep - Form Prussia and get 125% Discipline.
Meissner Porcelain - As Saxony own all chinaware provinces.
All Your Trade are Belong to Us! - Have highest tradepower in Genoa, Venice, & English Channel, while gaining 300 income per month.

 

[chrnno]

Yeah the problem is that irl France was strong enough to survive the onslaught of the unholy PU federation of Burgundy, Austria, Bohemia, Castille, Aragon, Naples and Milan.

This evil familial organisation also contained France for centuries...

Not true. France had a long standing alliance with the Ottoman Empire for the vast majority of the EU4 period against their mutual enemies in the Habsburgs which began precisely after being defeated by that alliance. Twice. Despite allies such as Venice(in both), Papal State, Milan, Florence and England for the second.

To be honest it is far more impressive that the Habsburgs managed to with such a loose coalition and significant internal problems(which were a greater problem than their external enemies) oppose both France and The Ottomans for so long than anything the two did.

 

[Philadelphus]

Doesn't Paris start with at least 40~50???

Don't forget that there's a base number of building slots and terrain can further modify that. Mountains and jungle give fewer slots, and I think it was mentioned the minimum is one so the default has to be at least two, maybe even three. Other terrain like farmland gives more slots, so Paris likely has at least three slots to begin with, possibly four or five. So it would only need at most 30 development to start with in order to have 6 building slots.

Admittedly we still don't know exactly how difficult this achievement will be, but you'll have to at least double the starting development of Paris as France.

 

[StelarCF]

the big feature of Common Sense

Hurrah, they're gonna fix the balkans!

 

[Te. Kenzo]

Not true. France had a long standing alliance with the Ottoman Empire for the vast majority of the EU4 period against their mutual enemies in the Habsburgs which began precisely after being defeated by that alliance. Twice. Despite allies such as Venice(in both), Papal State, Milan, Florence and England for the second.

To be honest it is far more impressive that the Habsburgs managed to with such a loose coalition and significant internal problems(which were a greater problem than their external enemies) oppose both France and The Ottomans for so long than anything the two did.

Also, don't forget the Protestant princes of the Empire. Great problem for the habsburg.

 

[Mauer]

Subject Interaction.. As we are completely redoing the interface for it

Finally.

 

[Duke of Britain]

French eh? First of while population certainly helps it in no way shows the strenght of a nation, not then not today.

First of all, population certainly did show the potential of a nation back then and still does today. The actual strength of a nation is then judged by how effectively it can make use of its population and resources. France had both. The thing is that France (And Spain as well) suffered greatly thanks to wars, both as a state and as a region. Germany was not the one that suffered constant war through the period, no matter how devastating the 30YW was.

And france have had a claim to all the provinces of burgundy and lotharingia for centuries yet over this period they only managed to take a handful.

Complete fantasy. The Duchy of Burgundy (Which did not include HRE Burgundy, France-Comte) was an appanage of the French crown, while Flanders was a de jure vassal of the French. Other than that, there were no claims on the lands controlled by the Dukes of Burgundy and certainly not to the lands of the old Lotharingian crown or Middle Francia for that matter.

And when did france win agaisnt all of europe the only instance I can think of is napoleon and again outside the game era, and he didn't win he died imprisioned in exile. He like later Hitler showed that taking land in war isnt that hard, holding on to it is the real challenge.

There were many other factors in play. It is impressive that the Habsburgs held France (and the Ottomans) on, yet it is also impressive that France could oppose the massive Habsburg Empire during its peak. Ever heard of the Italian wars? In spite of Spanish advancements (the Tercio), as well as the sheer power of the Habsburgs, the French would go on to keep the fight for decades and, through it, cause a Spanish bankruptcy sometime after the war.

That's a simplification, of course, but you get the hang of it. France was the major power of western Europe following Spain's downfall and its army was one of the best, which Elán is meant to reflect, IMO. If the Prussians get +20% morale and all those other modifiers, so should the French. Someone else suggested +Artillery CA, which would also work.

I'll not even mention how you were wrong about Napoleon, seeing as other people have done that arleady.

 

[Shadowstrike]

I like the HRE changes. I'm playing Austria now, and it never made sense why I should let the imperial princes fight, annex each other, and then liberate them, instead of just putting my foot down in the first place. These changes make you actually have to shepherd the HRE flock, instead of waiting for them to get stronger and then beating them down. I suspect that with the level of IA gain indicated (you'd get all 350 IA needed in just over a century, based on the rate shown here) , there won't be any more IA gains from liberating or force-converting imperial princes, defending the empire, or even passing the HRE crown from generation to generation. Instead, you'd be motivated to do those things to keep the rate of IA gain constant. I can't guess whether adding provinces will be retained since that never happened historically, though I suppose having provinces leave the HRE should reduce IA; though it would also reduce IA loss so it might be more of a wash than it is now. My guess though is that this will make HRE unification much more common and stopping that process will be a big thing for France to try to achieve.

 

[Metz]

Based on the rate shown in the first image, you get 3 IA per year. so in 33-34 years you'll have 100 IA for a reform. That is of course if things stay calm for 33-34 years. If you add in issues and wars, it may take 40 years or so for the first reform. Eventually things will slow down when the Reformation and the 30 Years War start.

 

[Shadowstrike]

Except you only need 50 IA for a reform (and I miscounted - there are 8, which require 400 IA, possibly 450 if you want to max out IA before revoking the privilegia). At 3 IA per year, that's 16.66 years (thanks for fixing my silly math error, by the way). Granted, if you lose the +0.1/month for maintaining peace, you drop down to half of that, but that's still a respectable 30 years per reform, which projecting forwards would put HRE unification somewhere in the late 1600s. Basically, if the emperor can mostly hold down the reformation, the HRE is going to unite (which isn't a bad thing IMO, as it balances out France's expansion). Even with the reformation going as well as it did historically, it'll still take some effort to prevent the HRE from coming together before the end of the game.

 

[Sirbab]

Just noticed the two Icons under the emperors CoA. These are new right? Any Hints to what they might stand for?

No, they are not new, they just moved a bit.

 

[noobeless]

There's bo way you could conquer and CORE, don't forget you have to vote the provinces, 100 provinces as Sweden in the 54 years before 1500

no way? If you consider someone have conquered the world with Ryukyu, so don't tell me that it just cant be there for being possible. some of the achievement they make are insanely hard.

 

[Rainbow Mirage]

Big Blue Blob - As France, hold 100 european core provinces before 1500.

Instructions unclear: Became the BBB as Bastar.

 

[grommile]

Why not with Sweden too?

Because "Big Blue Blob" is France's memetic name in the EU player community, not Sweden's.

 

[commanderx]

Will there be any special events in regards of Baltic Crusade ?

 

[Krajzen]

Will there be any special events in regards of Baltic Crusade ?

They would need to be rather alternate history so... I really don't think so...

Personally I have been not very excited by this DD as I am not very big fan of HRE and to be honest this week's DD describes rather minor stuff when compared with revolutionary content of some other DDs (Development, Forts) or at least big regional changes (Protestant buff, Buddhist buff'n'split'n'flavour). Oh well, now I am excited to see this entire Subject Interaction stuff - if it brings changed UI it is probably big new feature.

 

[Metz]

You will now have to stop France from blobbing and stop Austria from forming the HRE. Spain and GB need a buff too.

 

[Lemont Elwood]

I hope this subject interaction stuff includes ways to basically force Subjects to do certain things at the cost of Liberty Desire.

 

[Golladan]

Doesn't Paris start with at least 40~50???

From the first "Tall" dev diary:



From what I learned about the new achievements: France can get most of them pretty easily.

Unless the values have changed, Paris would start with 38 development.

 

[IsadorBG]

Not true. France had a long standing alliance with the Ottoman Empire for the vast majority of the EU4 period against their mutual enemies in the Habsburgs which began precisely after being defeated by that alliance. Twice. Despite allies such as Venice(in both), Papal State, Milan, Florence and England for the second.

To be honest it is far more impressive that the Habsburgs managed to with such a loose coalition and significant internal problems(which were a greater problem than their external enemies) oppose both France and The Ottomans for so long than anything the two did.

What is untrue ? That France was strong enough to survive the Hasburg or that they contained French expansion for centuries ?

Not sure on which part of my post you disagreed. You post imply that France allied with the Ottois is stronger than the Hasburgs which mean it is even stronger than I suggested.

We are talking of Spain at its peak,half of Italy the whole lowland, Austria, Bohemia and a good chunk of Hungary.

That's more than half of western Europe. And the richest half !

And the Hasburg were allies with Persia too you know.

 

[TheDungen]

You realize Napolean died in 1821, you know the year the game ends? So how can the Napoleonic era not be in the games time frame? You're literally changing history to suit your opinion.

I actually had no idea which specific year the game ended. Which I have already apologised for.