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EU4 - Development Diary - 11th of April 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to another Europa Universalis development diary. Last week we released the 1.20 ‘Ming’ Update and the Mandate of Heaven expansion. It is almost four years since we originally released the game, and it is still growing in popularity!

We just released a hotfix to address some urgent issues, but we’re also working on a new patch called 1.21 ‘Hungary’, which will be released in late April, if all goes well.

In 1.21 we’ve worked a lot on further improving the AI, fixing bugs and balanced the game as we usually do.

You may remember the talks we had in the winter, about how we were not satisfied with Sailors. Now in 1.21, we’re solving this problem, by doing the following things. First of all, ships out on the sea, will drain 2% of their Sailor build cost each month. Now with current values and playstyles, that would not be ideal, as your sailor pool would quickly be drained.

  • Each development now provides 30 instead of 25 sailors.
  • Naval Tradition provides 20% faster sailor recovery instead of +10%.
  • Docks and Shipyards (both versions) have swapped placed in the technology tree.
  • Autonomy from Burghers Estate no longer impact sailors from development.
  • Sheltered Ports in Maritime Ideas group reduces Sailor Maintenance by 10%.

We are rather happy with the end result, a better naval game, where all buildings are viable choices, and you need to invest in having the support for a naval force.

We also strengthened the naval ideagroup, by making Naval Cadets also reduce morale damage from sunk ships by 33%, increase Press Gangs from 20 to 25% Sailor Recovery Speed, and changing Superior Seamanship from 15% Naval Morale to 10% Naval Morale and adding +10% Naval Engangement modifier (ie, lets 10% more ships fire each round).

sailors.png



A cool thing we are adding in 1.21, is a new decision to form Yuan!

In 1444, the Ming dynasty is still in its relative infancy, having taken over China from the Yuan Empire in in the late 14th century. The remnants of the Yuan still remain in our start date in the form of the Mongolia tag (something you can already see in the tooltip for previous Emperors in the Empire of China interface).

For patch 1.21 we have expanded a bit on this and added a decision for Altaic countries to restore the Great Yuan Empire and reclaim the heritage of Kublai Khan. It will require you to unite the Eastern Altaic cultures and be the Empire of China (or at least Empire rank if you lack the Mandate of Heaven DLC) and will grant claims and ideas based on the Yuan Dynasty.

yuan.jpg



Speaking of forming nations, any manchu culture nation can form Manchu in 1.21


Next week, Trin Tragula will tell you all why the patch is called Hungary...
 
Did someone say Hungary patch? That's awesome! Looking forward to it.
 
Good solution to the whole dilemma around the sailors!
 
Finally some love for the Balkans, I'd second that suggestion that someone made earlier about making Croatia a lesser partner in a union under Hungary since historically it was so and for the entire time the Croatian nobles kept their 'Sabor' (which Croatia has as one of the national ideas) and their lands the whole time. And even when, historically, the Habsburgs inherited the crown of 'Szent Istvan' they inherited two crowns.
Also, some map tweaking wouldn't hurt anybody, I see that you have added 2 new provinces, one in Serbia and one in Hungary, can we now get a correct culture and religion in the Croatia-Bosnia region as some provinces are way off for the starting period. Maybe events to change them? To keep it short, in 1444 Szrem/Srem/Sriem should be Croatian culture/catholic religion, Hum in Bosnia as well. Bosnia was a Croatian ducky (as is in CK2) and it's western provinces were the same culture. That, historically, changed due to people migrating because of the Ottoman conquest.
Speaking of which, what I wouldn't give to see decisions/events for both Bosnia and Serbia to become vassals of the Ottomans with the Bosnian one also changing the religion. Also, at the 1444 bookmark Ottomans should own Kosovo and, since they conquered east Herzegovina early in the 15th century' should probably own Travunia (not sure about that one tho since the map is not 100% correct).
Now back to Hungary and their part in all this, Hungarian kings had various relations with the Balkan states with various nobles being supported or being their vassals (at one point even the Serbian Despot), I would like to see that emulated into the game through various events and decisions. I won't go into any other details of it now as this post has already gone out of control :).

tl, dr: good to see some flavor for the 'power keg', can't wait
 
It actually appears to be increased shock damage, as the fire symbol behind it is the same as the one behind increased fire damage (if it was leader shock it would be gloves). Right now we have reduced shock damage and increased fire damage, but not the opposites (I think - unless if they were added in 1.20 and I simply didn't notice).
Reduced fire damage taken was added in 1.20 as Prussian Unique Ability in Age of (Revolutions I think). Also increased damage taken in shock/fire was added as part of the lack of mandate.
 
Is it wrong that the thing I'm most looking forward to most with next week's DD is that Trin will be writing it?
Not at all I think a lot of us enjoy Trin's work.
Hungary Patch :O?! Unbelievable. Currently Hungary is the sick man of EU4 Europe. At the start it's one of the biggest countries, and it's right in the centre, in the fray, yet it hardly has any presence. It's either in PU under Austria, and that's the end of it, or open for taking like colonial land.

Also, Yuan ideas seem to be:
Additional manpower / cavalry power
Reduced coring cost
Additional morale
Reduced technology cost
Increased Shock Damage
Reduced envoy travel time
Faster manpower recovery
Additional goods produced
I got to disagree with you there, the union with austria happens maybee 1 time in 3 and while they don't blob much I never see a non player blob over them either they simpy stay on as autria's backup band.I got to admit Hungary is one of those countries which to me doesnöt seem to weak (it's the ottomans who aren't aggresive enough) and not to strong (they don't blob over half of europe very often, a balance very rarely seen in this game.
Sailors draining from deployment at sea? Wait what? That's awesome!
Sarscasm?
Good solution to the whole dilemma around the sailors!
Really how is that a good solution? It doesn't fix the fundamental issues nor rebalance the naval actors or make the naval game relevant... In fact it's basically a band aid to make the mechanic not totally meaningless. They need to make it so that not all coastal provinces have ports.
What happens if Yuan is formed and then you lose the Empire of China? Do you get to stay as Yuan or do you go back to whatever country you were?
Since there as far as I know is no event which changes your tag against your will in the game I'm going to go with no.
 
Really how is that a good solution? It doesn't fix the fundamental issues nor rebalance the naval actors or make the naval game relevant... In fact it's basically a band aid to make the mechanic not totally meaningless. They need to make it so that not all coastal provinces have ports.
I prefer it to the complete removal of a realistic feature which now is more accurate. Then it can always be improved further, but I see this as a step in the right direction. Considering your port suggestion, given the size of most coastal provinces, most should also have the possibility of having a port.
 
YES!!! FINALLY!!! I love that aspects of the Mongol Empire are slowly being put into the Game, piece by piece. The only major thing missing by now is the ability to reform the Mongol Empire. In 1402 Timur Lane was planning to Invade China to reform the Mongol Empire, it was definitely on the minds of the various Khanates of the time, that ultimate Goal of recreating the Largest Continuous Empire in history. It could be formed by controlling parts of the Empire at it's height (Bejjing, Karakorum, Samarkand, Tehran, Baghdad, Sarai, Moscow). If the main issue pressing you here is coming up with the national ideas, as a Mongol Empire enthusiast I would be happy to provide possible National Ideas that you could then tweak to your desire.
 
Finally some love for the Balkans, I'd second that suggestion that someone made earlier about making Croatia a lesser partner in a union under Hungary since historically it was so and for the entire time the Croatian nobles kept their 'Sabor' (which Croatia has as one of the national ideas) and their lands the whole time. And even when, historically, the Habsburgs inherited the crown of 'Szent Istvan' they inherited two crowns.
Also, some map tweaking wouldn't hurt anybody, I see that you have added 2 new provinces, one in Serbia and one in Hungary, can we now get a correct culture and religion in the Croatia-Bosnia region as some provinces are way off for the starting period. Maybe events to change them? To keep it short, in 1444 Szrem/Srem/Sriem should be Croatian culture/catholic religion, Hum in Bosnia as well. Bosnia was a Croatian ducky (as is in CK2) and it's western provinces were the same culture. That, historically, changed due to people migrating because of the Ottoman conquest.
Speaking of which, what I wouldn't give to see decisions/events for both Bosnia and Serbia to become vassals of the Ottomans with the Bosnian one also changing the religion. Also, at the 1444 bookmark Ottomans should own Kosovo and, since they conquered east Herzegovina early in the 15th century' should probably own Travunia (not sure about that one tho since the map is not 100% correct).
Now back to Hungary and their part in all this, Hungarian kings had various relations with the Balkan states with various nobles being supported or being their vassals (at one point even the Serbian Despot), I would like to see that emulated into the game through various events and decisions. I won't go into any other details of it now as this post has already gone out of control :).

tl, dr: good to see some flavor for the 'power keg', can't wait

YESSSSS!!! Now is the time for Paradox to fix this historic injustice towards Croatia in Eu4, will April be the month that will go down in Eu4 History or just become a huge letdown for all that want Justice for Croatia.

Moreover, Bosnia always was (and still is) Historic Croatian lands , "Bosnjaks (muslims)" are just converted Croats and the Serbs got to Bosnia due to Ottomans occupation and aggression, case closed.
 
Next week, Trin Tragula will tell you all why the patch is called Hungary...

2 new provinces hidden by terra incognita, 1 in hungary - Pest and 1 in Serbia - Sabac?

i'd say the one in Serbia is Belgrade--which in 1444 should be in Hungarian hands, so that's a very welcome change (and if i'm not wrong, it was informed by a very informative post in the suggestions forum).

if the new Hungarian province is indeed Pest, i'd recommend changing the name of Budin to something else; you see, the Ottoman eyalet of Budin was named after Buda, a right- or west-bank constituent of today's Budapest, likely located in the purported new Pest province, while Pest itself lies across the Danube from Buda, on the east bank, in Budin province. keeping these names as they are would make the impression that both cities are on the wrong banks of the river (something the forum will never cease moaning about).

nonetheless, it's great to see some well-deserved map tweaks in the Balkans. are you guys going to look into suggestions for other changes in the region, like the ones regarding Corfu/Epirus, or making a landlocked province for Montenegro?

What are those ottomanish-coloured provinces in Hungary that are a different country? Puppet of some sort?

could it be Croatia in personal union with Hungary? although the screenshot comes from an ongoing game, so perhaps it doesn't represent any actual startgame setting.

EDIT: yeah, so i jut realized that the screenshot comes from the dev multiplayer, in which case this supposed Croatia doesn't have anything in common with the starting setup.

And pls Paradox put Vienna on the left/southern side of the danube river, like it is in real (;

it's already south of the river in Johan's screenshot. :)
 
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In 1.21 we’ve worked a lot on further improving the AI, fixing bugs and balanced the game as we usually do.

Great! There is always room for ai improvement, always!

As many other saying the same, naval game is a bit irrellavant, how about adding a +1/-1 battle modifier to coastal regions with standing heavy ships? x heavys ships per x K of army to give the bonus/malus? just a tought.
 
This is a realistic change as life in the seas was harsh during the game's time frame. The attrition is out on the sea or in deep waters? Does this mean that we can't have eternal blockades now?

What about having old ships start to wear down if we don't upgrade them after an x amount of years? This will keep players and the AI from still having carracks in the 1550s.
 
Kotor could be cut in half to make Kotor and Pristina. Epirus could be cut in half to make Yanya and Arta with the Cephalon islands being added and accessible via strait crossing. Bulgaria and Wallachia can also be given a boost.