Hello everyone, and welcome to this weeks development diary for EU4.

This week I want to talk about the loadingscreens of EU4. Our goal is to add to the pool of loadingscreens every time we do a major update, so that you have a large variety of cool pictures to view while the harddrive is booting up the game.

Each picture represents one country in the game, and we do not plan to have more than 1 loading screen for each nation. There is also one of the most iconic leaders of that nation on the picture, as well as a location which represents that nation.

And when making expansions, it is very much important that the country picked fits the theme for it.

Original Game
We shipped with 5 different loading screens, representing about half of the major powers of the era.
Sweden - Gustavus II Adolphus & Stockholm Archipelago
Spain - Isabella & Carribean Islands
England - Elizabeth I & Cliffs of Dover
France - Louis XIV France & French Farmlands
Ottomans - Suleiman the Magnificent & Haga Sophia

Conquest of Paradise
Iroqouis - Hiawatha & Niagara Falls

Wealth of Nations
Venice - Andrea Gritti & City of Venice

Res Publica
Netherlands - Maurice of Nassau & Windmills at Canals

Art of War
Russia - Catherine the Great & Siberia

El Dorado
Aztecs - Montezuma & Tenochtitlan

Common Sense
Austrai - Charles V & The Alps

And for our new 1.13 patch, we are adding a loading screen for Poland, with Jan Sobieski and the Jasna Gora Monastery!

We still aim to have pictures for Portugal, Denmark & Prussia of the europeans majors, but it needs to fit thematically for the expansions. Not that I can think of any important Danish ruler through history.. pokes @Groogy

 

[DrLulz]

Not that I can think of any important Danish ruler through history.. pokes @Groogy

How about Christian II as a ruler for Denmark? I cannot think of a single misstep or bad thing he did . We can have him on the background of Stockholm with the dead bodies of Swedish nobles scattered at his feet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_II_of_Denmark#Stockholm_Bloodbath)

Seriously though, this:

Christian IV of Denmark, is probably one of the more interesting kings of Denmark.

He started the the construction of some well known danish landmarks, Rundetårn among one of these.
He intervened during the thirty years war on the protestans side, though Denmark lost.
And he's part of the "2nd national anthem" of Denmark, also known as the royal anthem; "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", in english; King Christian stood by the lofty mast.
Also, he currently holds the longest reign as king of Denmark at 59 years.

Christian IV is without question the most iconic Danish King between 1444-1821

 

[damnt512]

Rush for Vienna was one the most stupid mistake that ever our rulers ever did and through whole my life never heard anything good bout it, maybe in West is viewed like this but not amongst people who know a little bit more history than bs that is taught in schools.

hmm since i'm not from europe i was not taught much about it's history, but i do know about the battle of vienna, it is quite famous. it is also probably the inspiration from the lord of the rings at the battle of minas tirith with the whole massive cavalry charge

 

[DarkShb]

Never forget

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator

#not-a-king
#not-an-infant
#Portugalisinthisgamebecauseofhim

 

[Phalanx300]

Nice to see the Maurice turned into a proper loading screen. The art was just too good not to use, also I totally agree with that policy of one leader for each nation. Adds something new each time you wait!

 

[giant_sloth]

May I humbly suggest Bohdan Khmelnytsky for the rebels DLC?
In that black&red attire of his

Oh, and with a burning magnate palace in the background, of course.

 

[Martin_Mortyry]

May I humbly suggest Bohdan Khmelnytsky for the rebels DLC?
In that black&red attire of his

Only if we also get a loading screen with Jeremi Wiśniowiecki.

 

[Te. Kenzo]

Charles V for me rapresent the empire in general. Is nice that now we have netherlands, and I hope for Frederich of Prussia.

 

[OliverDeBra]

Charles le Téméraire! This will cause all the suffering, as well as today.

 

[Zylathas]

My top 10 list:
1. Vlad the Impaler with the Impaled ones, but better candidates for romanians will be Michael the Brave or Stephan III the Great
2. Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia, with Rome in background
3. Oda Nobunaga and Kyoto
4. Seonjo of Joseon and with turtle ships
5. Shah Ismail I of Persia
6. Jean Parisot de Vallete, the grand master of Malta Knights
7. Shunzhi of the Qing dynasty
8. Sonni Ali of Songhai Empire
9. Ahmud al-Mansur of Morroco
10. Matthias Corvinus of Hungary

I agree that even though we already have an italian a pope should be one of the main characters. This period was extremely important for the papal states (even more then the middle ages I'd say) so I definitely think we need a pope loading screen.

I;d support Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia although I think Giovanni Dei Medici might be a better candidate.

 

[Galaahd]

Better candidates for De Medici would be Cosimo or Lorenzo imho.

 

[Martin_Mortyry]

WHY BYZ ISN'T A LUCKY NATION!?

Their capital got pillaged by the Turks after 200 years of struggle caused by their former vassal. Hah, so lucky!

 

[Kalandros-X]

*Byzantium intensifies* Can you please add Konstantinos XI and Theodosian Walls of Constantinople?

 

[Kalandros-X]

Mansa Musa for Mali

With huge stacks of gold in the background

 

[riadach]

Red Hugh O'Neill!

He's been mentioned.

 

[KlinkerFyren]

Christian IV of Denmark, is probably one of the more interesting kings of Denmark.

He started the the construction of some well known danish landmarks, Rundetårn among one of these.
He intervened during the thirty years war on the protestans side, though Denmark lost.
And he's part of the "2nd national anthem" of Denmark, also known as the royal anthem; "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", in english; King Christian stood by the lofty mast.
Also, he currently holds the longest reign as king of Denmark at 59 years.

Also he (along with his companions) is said to have drank all the booze in London, while visiting there.

 

[Pyske]

Any chance we could get a loading screen associated with one of the figures for the Women in History DLC?

 

[Ornlu Wolfjarl]

How about some historical quotes instead of tips at the loading screens?

 

[Kerham]

i never saw the Aztec & Netherland ones, despite having all expansions including CS?

 

[CzokletMuss]

How about more stronk Slavic warriors?

 

[Lostintheclouds]

Austria helped PLC only two times around Kraków and retake some cities in Prussia. Thanks to war with Ottos we took completely destroyed Podole and that's all where Austria took quite land grab. Besides saying it was unfortunate it's a little bit insulting, they invaded PLC prior to it by seizing Spisz and didn't mind entering alliance with its enemies Prussia to kill PLC instead of siding with them to retain so called balance that Europeans powers where freaked about. Moreover Habsburgs were PLC enemies from the begining everytime PLC wanted to kill Teutons they intervened to stop fighting. Only waving interest from Habsburgs to help them and conversion it allowed to vassalize them.

Apologies for coming off as insulting, did not mean to do so. If Spisz = Szepes County as I understand it per the Treaty of Lubowla the territory was collateral for a loan under Polish administration and custodianship but not actual Polish territory. Taking Spisz by force without paying back the loan plus interest especially when the PLC was too weak to defend itself or at least negotiate from a better position was certaintly underhanded but calling it an outright invasion borders on excessive. I'm not European or that versed in the history of the area, so please do correct me if i'm mistaken. As far a I know they were reluctant participants at least for the 1st partition, no excuse but not minding to enter an alliance with Prussia to partition Poland would be a mis-charaterisation. Now when it comes to the 3rd partition that I completely agree with your sentiment though by that point Revolutionary France was Austria's main concern not Prussia. As for intervening in wars between the Teutons and the PLC, to my knowledge that Austrian intervention in that only occurred once in the war of 1519-1521 and that was because of the Ottoman invasion of Hungary so all the Christian powers would assist Hungary (which by the way had a Jagiellon King same dynasty as Poland at the time) . Any prior interventions were those of the Holy Roman Emperor who was not necessarily a Habsburg at least not until 1438. To my knowledge the only other battle in which PLC and Austrian troops fought on the same side again after Vienna during the Great Turkish War was the Battle of Parkany, after that it appears as though their campaigns diverged, the PLC focusing on Podole and Crimea, the Imperial Armies focusing on Hungary down to Nis in Serbia. Results in the Treaty of Karlowitz would've been a reflection of what the parties occupied at the time and from what I can find with a couple of quick searches areas that could've gone to Poland were probably under Russian occupation. The Nine Year's also broke out in 1688 so I'm pretty sure imperial forces were exhausted by 1699, Russia went on to fight the great northern war from 1700 so she peaced out as well. I think the lack of gains per se were more a weak diplomatic position as well as PLC wanting to avoid gaining to many territories populated by cossacks to avoid more cossack uprisings which weren't great for stability. Again please do correct me if I'm wrong and apologies if I come off as insulting again.