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The holy Swedish month of July is over and our workforce has been steadily trickling back into the office, resigned to the fact that sunlight is a luxury we won't be seeing for another 11 months. With that lovely thought in mind, let's return to our weekly dev diaries and talk about a new feature for our upcoming yet unrevealed expansion for Europa Universalis IV: Coptic Holy Sites.

Copts have had a rough time. Way back in EU's history they were simply represented as the Orthodox faith before getting their own religion within the Christian group, but even then they lacked their own flavour, destined to be left in the Horn of Africa and Armenia with hungry neighbours and their Patriarch being locked up and bullied in Mamluk-held Alexandria.

Well no longer! A feature in the upcoming DLC is a Holy Sites system unique for Coptic nations. Any nation which follows the Coptic faith will have access to a screen showing their Holy Sites. There are 5 in total, detailed with who is currently controlling them and the faith followed by the province. It is the Copts' holy mission to see these restored to Coptic control.

Armenia.jpg

As shown above, Armenia (Who I released&played as from QQ) can open their Coptic menu and see the state of their Holy Sites. If a Holy Site is held by any Coptic nation and the province itself follows the One True Faith™ then all Coptic nations will be granted a blessing from the Patriarch. You are able to pick from the 5 available blessings but be sure that you or your Coptic friends hold onto your possessions tightly, as losing ownership of a Holy Site to a nation of another faith will lose you the blessing until it is returned to Coptic hands.

Ethiopia blessings.jpg


In 1444 the only Holy site in control of the Copts is Aksum, in the far north of Ethiopia. This will allow all existing Coptic nations to pick one blessing of their choice from the above list.

Legitimize Government: +0.5 Legitimacy
Encourage Wariors of the Faith: +10% manpower recovery
Send Monks to Establish Monasteries: +1.5% missionary strength
Promote Territorial Rights: -10% Core creation Cost
Will of the Martyrs: +5% discipline

Unlike other religious mechanics, the Coptic Holy Sites will collectively make all followers of that religion stronger. It makes no difference in the available Blessings if your nation or another Coptic nation holds the Holy Sites. Should the Copts fight back from their perilous position in 1444 and secure their Holy Sites, they will be that much stronger. Co-operate with other Coptic nations and share the Patriarch's blessings

Coptic Playground.jpg


Alongside the Holy sites and Patriarch Blessings, Copts will have a healthy dose of unique flavour events and missions to drive their liberation of the Holy Sites. Coptic Holy Sites will be a paid feature in the upcoming DLC, which will be released alongside the free 1.18 patch.

Next week I'll pass the reins back to Johan, as we return to see what changes have been going on in the Throne Room
 
Well...

Ottoman WC just got a whole lot easier.

Coptic is Christian- can be Emperor and get PU's alongside having all those potential bonuses which are vastly more helpful than having a slider for Piety.
Exactly, it just blows out Orthodox (the current common opener) in almost every possible way but very early game.
 
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While it's all nice and dandy I still consider swapping to muslim a lot better due to Dhimmi if nothing else. But at least now Coptic is not a total waste of time.

It would be nice to make the -6% tech decision (Din-i Illahi) more of a generic decision for holding heathen lands.
 
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>.> if i go catholic ottos i go pure, lucks have once catholic province in Syria, but you have to be quick to get there and secure it, then normal from there >.>(i also tend to change it up to prot or reformed once they break) Coptic is just that much further to go though (fully though mlucks and a healthy chunk of Ethiopia... your talking 1480-1500 under idea conditions(Nvm the directional AE head wave from that)
 
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A combination between Protestant and Crusader Kings.

Considering you need to actually hold specific provinces one would think that some bonuses would be a bit stronger (looking at you 0.5 legitimacy)
 
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Maybe it also acts as +RT.
Considering most of the bonuses are a literal copy-paste of Ethiopia NIs you'd expect the Legitimacy to be 1 (the discipline bonus is the same, the coring cost is the same, the missionary strength is sliiightly better than what ETH has and they got original with the manpower recovery; ETH has a flat manpower modifier)
 
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At last EU4 dev. diary, but i`d liked to see something new to battles rathen then religion. Get more army planning options or, if you already did, make a diary about it.
 
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Time to add kachen principality and a couple of assyrian coptic/miaphysite provinces?

Also perhaps some events relating to the st: thomas Syriac church in Malankara?

Ps. Jerusalem ain't a holy site

Anyway, love this
 
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A religious update for Asian cultures could be very nice, also for "boring" religions, I mean, I would like to make Sintoism way more interesting in my Weabooland (Japan) world conquest. Holy sites look like something Catholic and Orthodox could have too if they dont have it already.

At last EU4 dev. diary, but i`d liked to see something new to battles rathen then religion. Get more army planning options or, if you already did, make a diary about it.
Maybe something interesting could born of a mayor Religious update. I mean, how many soldiers fought like lions because they had a strong belief in god? Swedish, Muslims, Spaniards. Maybe religious modifiers that really affect battles.
 
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>.> if i go catholic ottos i go pure, lucks have once catholic province in Syria, but you have to be quick to get there and secure it, then normal from there >.>(i also tend to change it up to prot or reformed once they break) Coptic is just that much further to go though (fully though mlucks and a healthy chunk of Ethiopia... your talking 1480-1500 under idea conditions(Nvm the directional AE head wave from that)
... but Armenia is just next to the Ottos!

At last EU4 dev. diary, but i`d liked to see something new to battles rathen then religion.
I am alright with how the combat works, especially with fort changes in 1.18. Meanwhile there are important religions that lack literally any flavour(confucian, shinto, coptic up to this point...)

Also, shouldn't coptic be renamed to myiaphysite? A bit longer name but would fit a religion in both Armenia and Ethiopia much better.
 
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Exactly, it just blows out Orthodox (the current common opener) in almost every possible way but very early game.

And don't forget, holy war cb on seriously just about everybody. In the past you either had to get proper cbs on some strong group, be it ortho, Catholic or sunni. But now the only ones you can't holy war are bad tech low development Africans.
 
Maybe something interesting could born of a mayor Religious update

I am alright with how the combat works, especially with fort changes in 1.18.

I don't like that armies lack national variety and only tech. level/ideas affect your battles. In new expansions i hope to see army builder options simmilar to Hoi4. Pikemen/swords/gunfire infantry has so much different strategy options that are currently simplified to "infantry unit".

Also any improvments/changes to religion are great :)
 
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