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EU4 - Development Diary - 14th of March 2017

Good day everyone, it's another bright and sunny day in glorious Stockholm, or rather, I wish it were. To distract from the grim grey reality of this cursed latitude let's delve into the second Religious overhaul present in Mandate of Heaven: Shintoism.

One month ago we got a Dev Diary covering changes to the Governance of Japan. As many of you I'm sure are aware, we model Japan with the strong but mechanically lacking Shinto religion. Shinto belongs in the Eastern religion group and are eligible to compete for the Celestial Throne and as part of Mandate of Heaven, Shinto nations will also have their own Isolationism mechanic.

eu4_154.jpg


Shinto nations will have an Isolationism level, 5 stages from Open Doors to Closed Doors each giving their own national effect. Japan starts in 1444 under the Ashikaga Shogunate before their Sakoku period of Isolation and as such is at an "adaptive" level. Periodically, this Isolationism level will be challenged by Incidents. Up to 8 of these Incidents can trigger throughout a campaign, depending on the situation in and around Japan.

eu4_153.jpg


Each incident can fire once per campaign and are spaced out by at least 30 years. They will spawn events giving choices on the issues they present in the vein of accepting new ideas, goods and people in Japan. Depending on how you react to these choices, your Isolationism level may draw closer towards open doors or closing off from the world as well as a 50-year modifier to your nation at the end of each Incident's event chain. Which path you wish to take is up to you and how you wish to shape your nation.

Isolationism level bonuses:

Open Doors
technology_cost = -0.05
embracement_cost = -0.1​
Adaptive
global_institution_spread = 0.1
development_cost = -0.1​
Selective Integration
idea_cost = -0.1
build_cost = -0.10​
Isolationism
culture_conversion_cost = -0.15
missionaries = 1​
Closed Doors
war_exhaustion = -0.03
stability_cost_modifier = -0.15​


eu4_152.jpg


Each Shinto nation will face these Incidents independently but the mechanic does not exist in a vacuum for each nation. The Shogun will gain a bonus to prestige for each Daimyo who has the same level of Isolationism as they do and conversely, suffer for each who does not. The Shogun has the power to force their subjects closer towards their own Isolationism level but at a great cost to their Liberty Desire.

the 8 Incidents in the game are:

  • Shushi-Gaku Neo-Confucianism
  • Nanban Trade
  • Proliferation of Firearms
  • Spread of Christianity
  • Rising Shogun Authority
  • Ikko Ikki
  • Wokou Pirates
  • Urbanization
Since each have their own triggers, it's not a given you will see all 8 if, for example, you do not get a port for Wokou Pirates or Christianity is wiped clean off the map preventing its spread.

Exciting stuff, but I want to take this opportunity to look at Japan itself too. We have spiced up Japan with map changes, new provinces and many new nation tags in the Islands, as well as re-writing a lot of the old existing events for the Japanese. Additionally, we have given unique National Ideas to all starting 1444 Japanese nations to stand in line with our goal of revitalizing the region. I'd like to extend a thank-you to community members @chatnoir17 and @Grand Historian for their extensive contributions towards these. Suggestions are always appreciated towards the development of our games.

I'll share just a few of these Idea Groups with you who enjoy reading our script files:

Code:
UES_ideas = {  #Uesugi
    start = {
        army_tradition_decay = -0.01
        production_efficiency = 0.1
    }
 
    bonus = {
        infantry_power = 0.1
    }

    trigger = {
        tag = UES
    }
    free = yes
 
    ues_kanto_kanrei = {
        diplomatic_upkeep = 1
    }
 
    ues_yamanouchi_and_ogigayatsu_branches = {
        army_tradition = 0.5
    }

    ues_kamakura_office = {
        reinforce_cost_modifier = -0.25
    }
 
    ues_dragon_of_echigo = {
        land_morale = 0.1
    }

    ues_nokizaru = {
        spy_offence = 0.2
    }
 
    ues_agakita_shu = {
        discipline = 0.05
    }
 
    ues_denkoku_no_ji = {
        idea_cost = -0.1
    }
 

ITO_ideas = { #Ito
    start = {
        spy_offence = 0.2
        global_garrison_growth = 0.25
    }
 
    bonus = {
        global_trade_goods_size_modifier = 0.1
    }

    trigger = {
        tag = ITO
    }
    free = yes
 
    ito_gokenin_family = {
        prestige = 1
    }
    ito_alliance_with_tsuchimochi_clan = {
        free_leader_pool = 1
    }
    ito_land_of_gods_landing = {
        ae_impact = -0.1
    }
    ito_anti_shugo_movement = {
        province_warscore_cost = -0.05
        core_creation = -0.1
    }
    ito_network_of_fourtyeight_fortifications = {
        defensiveness = 0.2
    }
    ito_sympathy_to_christians = {
        tolerance_heathen = 2
    }
    ito_foresty_development = {
        build_cost = -0.1
    }
}

TTI_ideas = { #Tsutsui
    start = {
        defensiveness = 0.2
        land_morale = 0.1
    }
 
    bonus = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.02
    }

    trigger = {
        tag = TTI
    }
    free = yes
 
    tti_warrior_monk = {
        infantry_power = 0.1
    }
 
    tti_winner_of_eikyo_civil_war = {
        war_exhaustion = -0.01
        prestige_from_land = 0.25
    }
 
    tti_kasuga_shrine = {
        prestige = 1
    }
 
    tti_mountainous_province = {
        hostile_attrition = 1
    }
 
    tti_nara_city = {
        legitimacy = 1
    }
 
    tti_wise_opportunist = {
        ae_impact = -0.1
    }
 
    tti_kofukuji_temple = {
        idea_cost = -0.1
    }
}

Map Changes, new nations and new National Ideas are all free parts of the 1.20 update, while all things Isolation related are paid feature of the upcoming Mandate of Heaven Expansion, which releases for $19.99 on April 6th 2017

That wraps up Japan and Shintoism nicely, and next week we will be talking about an extremely exciting feature which is going to truly make your Diplomats work for their non-existent salaries. See you then!
 
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Do the Oda clan get some special national Ideas too ?. Sadly they only show up later in the game iwould love to unite Japan with them. Maybe they can be formed in the national dicision thing as the clan who ownt he province there so we could still get nobunaga :D

Not at this time. We chose to focus on the tags available at start for now but we would love to add more in the future :)
Hopefully which Daimyo you'll pick will be a real choice now and not just "how much development do I want to start with?".
 
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A question that occured to me when I read about people making valid points about open door boni being a bit underwhelming:

Will there be events associated with your current level of isolationism, like with idea groups? If so, maybe if we'd have an idea about what sort of things we can expect from that, people wouldn't get quite so irritated, I suppose.
 
Not at this time. We chose to focus on the tags available at start for now but we would love to add more in the future :)
Hopefully which Daimyo you'll pick will be a real choice now and not just "how much development do I want to start with?).

Well duh. It's now obviously a choice of which Samurai model has the prettiest helmet.
 
Not at this time. We chose to focus on the tags available at start for now but we would love to add more in the future :)
Hopefully which Daimyo you'll pick will be a real choice now and not just "how much development do I want to start with?).
Oh thank you @Trin Tragula for the fast answer. Since i loved the Total war Shogun a lot i think some of my favorit clans from there are on the Map so i will play with them. I never just focus on dev i like to rp my nations :D
 
It hasn't changed in what it requires but it has changed in how you do it (it always required that you be Japan).
For people with the DLC the most straightforward way to do it is to have the incident and go all christian and then form Japan to switch :)
So you will still need to become Christian before making the tag switch?

Sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing it working in practice.

Also, I like the unit models; I spot three different ones at least for Japan. Not sure if thatis because there are three different ones in the pack or if it is because the Vanilla units got updated. I would very much like to see the renders :)
 
Are we just going to float by the French flag in the bottom right of the screen? Is that just there for debugging or perhaps some feature that is still yet to be announced?
You don't often see the revolution target, do you? It's been in the game since Art of War and 1.8.
 
While I can't really agree with requiring you to form Japan before switching to Christianity, I have to say you've really outdone yourself by giving all the Clans unique NIs at start. Kudos to all of you at Paradox (and @chatnoir17) and thanks a lot for the mention, too.

As for Shintoism itself, I love the isolation mechanic, but I don't think it'd be the best for a religious mechanic. Still, I look forward to being able to play it, along with those incredible looking unit sprites. Do we keep a clan-unique unit sprite when we form Japan? I'd love to have the Otomo sprites throughout the game.

Also, Shinto still only has one bonus?
 
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Also, I like the unit models; I spot three different ones at least for Japan. Not sure if thatis because there are three different ones in the pack or if it is because the Vanilla units got updated. I would very much like to see the renders :)

Vanilla ones appear to have been updated in addition to what appear to be clan-specific sprites.
 
At the end of the chains you get a modifier for 50 years dependent on your choices as well.

For both the Ikko Ikki and the Christianity incident the extreme versions of the end will not see your state religion officially changing (as that would remove the incidents and japanese mechanics), it is just seen as you giving this religon a favored status above the others.
If you do eventually form Japan however you will then be able to make Christianity or Buddhism the official religion if you so choose (and the factions you previously backed will be disappointed in you if you don't).
With all due respect this did not answer the question, what about countries that are Shinto but neither the Shogun or Daimyos? I assume they get the Isolation Mechanic on their own little bubble with no interaction to the Shogun and it's Prestige correct?
 
Discipline is 5% now (but that was already decided before we redid the set) but infantry combat ability remains at 15.
There are other bonuses that are out of the normal range though.

I don't see the whole picture, I don't know how you've compensated the 5% Disc loss, but I see the tendency here: homogenization. Most of unique idea sets (some of them seem to be really OP) are "equalized". It's not bad, because some idea sets (IMO, like Russian) are really lackluster, but changing a perfectly beautiful and well-fit set is sad.
You know, it was really cool to see some nations with more than 5% Disc in NIs when you browse EU4 Wiki, and it was even more fun to play such nation. a considerable part of EU4 nations have +5% Discipline and/or 10% Morale and this is boring, I mean really boring. Nerfing +10% Disc to +5% Disc is like nerfing French Elan(!), the most iconic European NI to 10% Morale to me.
 
With all due respect this did not answer the question, what about countries that are Shinto but neither the Shogun or Daimyos? I assume they get the Isolation Mechanic on their own little bubble with no interaction to the Shogun and it's Prestige correct?

It answered the first question, I missed this part :)

Non Daimyo Shinto countries also get incidents but may not be able to get all 8 (most notably you can only get the shogunate Authority incident if you are the subject of a Shogun). It should also be said it is also quite possible to go through an entire game even as a Daimyo without getting all of the incidents.
And of course Shinto countries that aren't daimyo or shogun will not have their isolationism impacted or impacting the shogun.
 
I don't see the whole picture, I don't know how you've compensated the 5% Disc loss, but I see the tendency here: homogenization. Most of unique idea sets (some of them seem to be really OP) are "equalized".
You know, it was really cool to see some nations with more than 5% Disc in NIs when you browse EU4 Wiki, and it was even more fun to play such nation. a considerable part of EU4 nations have +5% Discipline and/or 10% Morale and this is boring, I mean really boring. Nerfing +10% Disc to +5% Disc is like nerfing French Elan(!), the most iconic European NI to 10% Morale to me.

The +10% Discipline was absurd combined with +15% Inf Combat and +20% Manpower, and quite frankly I think it was just a holdover from before Discipline values got halved across the board with Japan getting overlooked like it usually was. Prussia used to have +7.5% Discipline but that got nerfed with their unique Gov Type. The only other nations I can see justifiably getting something above +5% Discipline per their historical feats would be Spain, the Knights, or the Shimazu.
 
I like the changes, but I'm concerned that in just a few short years after the game start Japan is going to be divided between just a few daimyo. There need to be some mechanics, somewhat like those of the HRE, that allow new Daimyos to appear or old ones to be reborn.