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Tinto Flavour #20 - 23rd of May 2025

Hello, and welcome one more week to Tinto Flavour, the happy Tuesdays & Fridays in which we take a look at the content of Europa Universalis V!

Today we will be taking a look at the content of Muscovy, and its ‘successor state’, Russia, after Grand Prince Ivan III ‘the Great’ proclaimed himself ‘Sovereign of All Russia’. This is a special TF, because it’s the first one in which we show the content for one of the seven ‘Tier 1’ counties, those that we consider the most important in the 1337-1836 period, and thus, that have the most content in the game.

Let’s start taking a look at it, as usual:

The Grand Principality of Muscovy stands at a crossroads of political maneuvering, and economic troubles under the Tatar Yoke, and an ongoing power struggle among East Slavic principalities, each vying for supremacy within the fragmented Rus' territories. The Tatar invasion continues to cast a long shadow over the region and Muscovy, like many other Rus' principalities, remains a tributary to the formidable Golden Horde.

Guiding Muscovy through these complexities is Grand Prince Ivan Rurikovich, a leader keenly aware of the delicate balance required for survival under Tatar dominion. He has skillfully managed the principality's affairs through diplomatic initiatives and strategic alliances and now seeks to consolidate power and enhance Muscovy's standing within the Yoke, with aspirations to unite the Rus' land under one banner.

Country Selection.png

As usual, consider all UI, 2D and 3D art WIP.

Muscovy1.png

Muscovy2.png

This is the starting diplomatic situation of Muscovy:
Personal Unions.png

Muscovy starts in a Personal Union with a bunch of principalities, including Novgorod, which is a Republic that elects its rulers among those of other countries.

Tatar Yoke.png

This is the current starting state of the Tatar Yoke, with Muscovy being entitled as the ‘Grand Prince of Vladimir’ - or, in other words, the ‘tribute collector’ for the Tatars. We won’t talk about this feature today, but in the Tinto Flavour devoted to the Golden Horde.

These are some of the privileges that the Russian countries have available from the start:
Privilege Kormlenije.png

Privilege The Ryad.png

Priviliege Tysiatskii Office.png

Also, this starting Legal Code Policy:
Policy Russkaya Pravda.png

Here you have some of the advances available for Muscovy and Russia through the ages, as usual:
Advance Gatherers Tribute.png

Advance Pomestnoe.png

Advance Zasechnara.png

Advance Imperial Guard.png

And now let’s move into the narrative content. Muscovy has 109 Dynamic Historical Events available, while there are another 73 unlockable after having formed Russia, which makes for a total of 182 available DHEs - that’s what being a ‘Tier 1’ country means, in regards to content. Many of them will unlock very different types of other content assets, as you’ll see now:

Event Campaigns against Novgorod.png

This is an event that may trigger if Novgorod elects another ruler, as happened historically.

Kremlin.png

Kremlin2.png

If you build the Kremlin, there will be further events related to it.

Event Denga and Ruble.png


Event Prikazi.png

Reform Prikazi.png


Event Book of Census.png

Reform Razriadnyi.png


Event Sophia Komnenos.png

ReformByzantine Court Ceremonies.png

If Byzantium falls, and some other conditions are met, you might be able to marry a Greek princess, and proclaim your country as the ‘Third Rome’.

If you expand your country, you might be able to form Russia at a certain point:
Form Russia.png

Russian Empire.png

Russian Empire2.png

The Russian Principalities account for approximately 460 locations, so you need to conquer some more from the Golden Horde to get to the 508 required. I forced it through the console to show it to you, but one of our QA testers made a recent run, and he was able to form it around 1500, OOC.

When the Age of Reformation starts, there will be this advance available for the Russian countries:
Siberian Frontier1.png

That unlocks:
Pomor Outpost.png

Settle the Frontier.png

It’s also possible for a unique disaster to trigger, the Time of Troubles:
Time of Troubles1.png

Time of Troubles2.png

Time of Troubles3.png

Time of Troubles4.png

Time of Troubles5.png

Time of Troubles has many different events happening, on top of the DHEs:

If you overcome it, there’s even more late-game content, of course:

Reform Collegium.png


Reform Nakaz.png


Reform Speransky.png


Event Bolshoi.png

Bolsoi Theater.png

… And much more, but that’s all for today! As today is Friday, this will be the schedule for next week:
  • Monday -> Tinto Flavour about Venice and Genoa
  • Tuesday -> Tinto Flavour about Serbia and Georgia
  • Wednesday -> Tinto Talks about the Orthodox and Miaphysite religions
  • Thursday -> Third ‘Behind the Scenes’ video!
  • Friday -> Tinto Flavour about the Roman Empire, AKA Byzantium
And also remember, you can wishlist Europa Universalis V now! Cheers!
 
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Why does Russia form with southern Ukraine, Kuban and even central Asian areas but Ukrainian minors are just free? At least show a properly unified Russia. Just inconsistent. Show Russia even smaller without all those regions mentioned above just to show their "natural" realm borders or include Ukrainian minors into Russia.
 
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Is the Russian flag dynamic? Will the eagle have the coat of arms of the country that formed Russia? Will the crowns be removed from the flag if Russia is not a monarchy?
Yes, it was confirmed in the Tinto Talk about formables.
Here's Russia's flag when it is formed by Yaroslavl:
1748021445533.png
 
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I think that the transition from the tier 1 Principality of Moscow to the tier 4 Russian Empire should have an intermediate stage, the tier 3 Tsardom of Russia. Additionally, the flag of the Russian Empire should be changed to a tricolor (white, blue, and red), as it was historically.
 
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I think that the transition from the 1-tier Principality of Moscow to the 4-tier Russian Empire should have an intermediate stage, the 3-tier Tsardom of Russia. Additionally, the flag of the Russian Empire should be changed to a tricolor (white, blue, and red), as it was historically.
Moscow is tier 2 i thought. WOuld make a lot more sent to have Novgorod and Moscow as Tier 2
 
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My guess for the seven Tier 1 countries would be Russia/Muscovy, England/Great Britain, France, Castile/Spain, Ottomans, Austria, and "China" (as in Yuan and Ming). I could also see Japan being one, but I'm not sure which of these other seven they would replace.
 
Originally, it was built in red, as natural colour of bricks.
View attachment 1305102
Simon Ushakov's icon "Praise to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The Tree of the Russian State. It was made in 1668, and we clearly see that Kremlin is red.

View attachment 1305104
And this is Sforza castle in Milan. Really reminds me something (fact about italian architectors, invited to build Kremlin)


But, it was painted white after, i agree
View attachment 1305103
1797, Gerard Delabarte.
We see kremlin is white

Then, again red)
Please, don't do it! Kremlin originally was red. The red Kremlin can be seen in Simon Ushakov's "Genealogy of the State of Muscovy", created in 1668. In 1680, it was painted white. So, for the first 200 years, it was red. Moreover, some of the Kremlin towers were not painted when the walls were. You can see it on some pictures from various years.
Forwarded again to our Art team so it stays red, thanks again!
 
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Attempt 2

Must Have Map Change: Dukagjini should be where Koman is currently, and where Dukagjini is currently should be renamed Mirdite.



Suggested Changes:

Prizren shouldn’t extend as far into Albanian borders, possibly split what is currently Koman in half with the left sides new name being Dukagjin and other half Tropoje, with the piece of prizren currently extended into Albania being part of Tropoje.

Montenegro should be split highlighting “Old Montenegro” and The Brda region. The Brda region unified with Old Montenegro after defeating their common enemy the Pashalik of Scutari (Battle of Krusi). Podgorica should be smaller with the northern halve going into the Brda region.
 

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I think that, even if its not a carbon copy, there should be heavy flavor overlap. Any content for a fictional nation of Ruthenia would be inherently alt-history, and if anything my fear is that Ruthenia would just have a small token flavor that ends by midgame. It has a lot more in common with Russia than Spain and France as in your conquistador comparison.
Well, in any case, Ruthenia would have less content than Russia, although a certain amount of unique content can certainly be added, as many events happened in the region despite its limited sovereignty. Some elements would overlap with Russia, but there certainly wouldn’t be heavy flavor overlap, considering that most of the Russian narrative content is simply not relevant for Ruthenia. The Siberian frontiers are also not relevant, given that Ruthenia is very far from any uncolonized land, including Siberia. Although big part of starting content (like laws and privileges) would be simillar I think
 
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You're making a common mistake, the Moscow Kremlin are the red walls surrounding the historical city. What you're thinking of is the St. Basil's Cathedral, located right next to one of them.
One of the architects of St. Basil's Cathedral was Italian. I'm wondering why it's not mentioned in the tinto flavor, seems iconic and historically relevant enough.View attachment 1304991View attachment 1304990
Are you sure?

Wikipedia says: "Grand Prince Ivan III organised the reconstruction of the Kremlin, inviting a number of skilled architects from Renaissance Italy, including Pietro Antonio Solari, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marco Ruffo who designed the new palace for the prince.", see the link:

Actually, a lot of famous Russian buildings were designed by Italian. I guess, half of historical Saint-Petersburg was done by Italians. They were the best at that time. And Russia pretended to be the third Rome. Princess from Byzantium, buildings in Roman style.
 
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Personally, I think the color of the Kremlin should be a game rule. A lot of players have strong opinions on if it was Red, White, or perhaps even Blue. Picking any one color risks alienating us.

/s
 
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Now it's almost perfect.:)

Almost because, hopefully, after the Peter's the Great reforms get implemented, the 'Boyars' name will change to 'Dvoryanstvo' (or 'Gentry Assembly') as actually Peter I fought the 'Boyarstvo'.

Btw, will there be 'The Table of Ranks' government reform?
1. Just changed 'Boyars' to 'Boyarstvo', for consistency with the rest of the estates.
2. The Table of Ranks is an advance:
Advance Table of Ranks.png
 
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Where did two thirds of the muscovite population go!? :eek:
It was 1 million before, did two consecutive black deaths hit Russia at the same time?
Maybe one Peter the Great happened to Russia. For all the advancement, Russia truly could not survive 2 Peters in a row. He went to the west not in a search of civilisation, only technology. Russia spent almost all of his reign in a war with somebody (I think with the exception of 1-2 years during the whole span of him ruling over Russia). I am mostly saying this, because I find it fascinating and would actually like to see some situations where a "great" ruler is not always the best for its own population. After all, Ivan Grozny (Ivan the Terrible) can mean both terrible and great/magnificent. There are some cool nuances in the vast lands of Russia.

As for my guess what happened here, I would say crop failure would be the most likely (crazy story - in 1600, there was a volcano eruption in Peru, which in 1601-1603) led to harvest failure in Russia, among other places, which also affected the rule of Boris Godunov and the whole False Dimitry campaign), some sort of plague would be my second guess.
 
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Are you sure?

Wikipedia says: "Grand Prince Ivan III organised the reconstruction of the Kremlin, inviting a number of skilled architects from Renaissance Italy, including Pietro Antonio Solari, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marco Ruffo who designed the new palace for the prince.", see the link:

Actually, a lot of famous Russian buildings were designed by Italian. I guess, half of historical Saint-Petersburg was done by Italians. They were the best at that time. And Russia pretended to be the third Rome. Princess from Byzantium, buildings in Roman style.
You are referring to the reconstruction in the 1400s, and not the construction. See Wikipedia's article for Dmitry Donskoy, "The most important event during Dmitry's early reign was to start building the Moscow Kremlin; it was completed in 1367." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Donskoy.

The construction event should NOT require good relations with Italians, but perhaps a reconstruction event could.
 
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Here's some humble suggestions for making the requirements tooltip more readable

eu5_tooltip.png


1. Move the checkboxes on top of where the pipes branch off so it's a lot more obvious what the relations are
2. Give the checkboxes light outlines so they're easier to distinguish from the dark background
3. Make the pipes themselves lighter for similar reasons
 
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