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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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Forwarded again to our Art team so it stays red, thanks again!
At least according to https://www.worldhistory.org/Kremlin/, the Kremlin was initially built from wood, then rebuilt with white stone, later rebuilt with red brick, later painted white, and lastly painted red....
I don't suppose its viable to allow the color to change over the course of the game? Lol
 
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I would argue that "tsar" should just be the Russian (East Slavic? Slavic?) version of "emperor", why would you make the difference?
(I'm talking about naming, of course, not country level)
Maybe because in Russian these are two different words that describe different stages of Russia?
 
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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.
Ok, I got your point.

Kremlin is a wall that surrounds historical part of the city. It was built by Dmitry Donskoy. I agree. But later on Ivan III wanted to show everyone that he is a legal heir of Rome and Constantinople. He ordered to rebuild the Kremlin by Italian architects.

Dmitry Donskoy created just a wall to protect the city. Ivan III created pretending to rule the Roman empire. I guess the former action was reflected in EU5.
 
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Maybe because in Russian these are two different words that describe different stages of Russia?
tsar comes from caesar (just as kaiser in German for example) - it is synonymous to the English emperor

Peter the Great abandoned the title tsar for the title emperor (imperator). I would have to double check, but my guess is that he did it to get closer to the western powers in titulature, it was a PR move. He was obssessed with a lot of things in the west and forced a lot of them on his people as well - for example making them cut their traditional long beards or pay an extra tax from them.
 
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Thanks for this great Tinto Flavour Diary!
Question though remains (Maybe someone already asked in the 13 pages before, but still...)
In Russia forming, only Russia, Steppes and Ural, yet no White Sea Coast? Wouldn't this be also sort of a good idea to include this one as well? Both exploration and settlement of the large parts of this area by russians, were surely dated before the "formation" time.
I, may understand that it is also, seems to be included in the Scandinavia formable, but, what is wrong with having a region appear as a part for several potential formable countries. And, with the location requirements, its not even forced to own it all, both for Russia, and Scandinavia, if one will go there to do so.
Or the deal comes to idea that Muscovy MUST fight GH to obtain its status?
Thanks!
 
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Not a fan of the revisionist naming there.

I know it’s a political hot topic but calling Byzantium Roman Empire is just really uncalled for.
Byzantium is the revisionist naming, lol. It was throughout history called the Eastern Roman Empire until historians in the 19th-20th century decided calling it Byzantium would be a better choice
 
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For all the advancement, Russia truly could not survive 2 Peters in a row.
There was not a single 25-year long period in all of Russia's history from Kievan Rus' to (unfortunately) modern day when Russia wasn't at war. We can manage two warmonger rulers just fine, thank you very much.
He went to the west not in a search of civilisation, only technology.
He wasn't in search of civilisation because Russia already had one. But if you're talking about art, manners and other manifestations of western civilisations then he certainly was after those too. After all, François the first and Henry the Eight invented the beard tax for nobility, Peter the Great was just the most famous for implementing it.
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.
Rulers are almost never good for the population of their country. We (and by that I mean humanity as a whole, not just Russia) call them great when they modernise the country or secure an independence or win an existentially important war (when they make the state more powerful, basically).
After all, Ivan Grozny (Ivan the Terrible) can mean both terrible and great/magnificent.
Nope, it means fearsome, formidable, menacing, maybe awesome if you stretch the definition of "awe", but definitely not great and especially not magnificent. (Was a relatively good ruler for his time though, I'll give him that)
(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)
While I do believe in Huaynaputina's involvement in the Russian famine of 1601-1603, it was not the only and probably not even the main factor. Some historians even debate whether it had any effect at all.
 
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Some notes on language and terminology, because it's really messy right now:

> "Muscovy" is a Western European exonym, the official name of the state was "Grand Principality of Moscow" - derived from the capital city.

> The word "Kormlenije" is romanized according to the academic standard, in contrast to all the other russian words in the game which are written according to the BGN/PCGN tradition. The more appropriate spelling would be "Kormleniye" with a "y".

> The name "Russkaya Pravda" is written in modern russian, which would be weird if this legal code is also used by the Ruthenian principalities (which I assume they do). A more universal approach would be either to write the document's name in original Old East Slavic - "Pravda Rusǐkaja" or to use the English translation of the term - "Rus' Justice".

> The flavour text for "Russkaya Pravda" also uses the term "Kievan Rus'" which is a blatant anachronism. "Old Rus'" would be more immersive.

> "Preobrazhensky Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiments" is incorrect because Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky are two different units. For correctness and brevity just call this advance "Leib-gvardiya" (Russian for "Life guard regiment").

> Mistake in the historical flavour text: Grivna isn't derived from the Den'ga but actually predates it by about three centuries.

> "Prikazi" is an incorrectly formed plural. Should be "Prikazy" with a "y".

> "Razriadny" is an adjective, so it's unnatural for it to be left without a noun. The policy should be renamed to "Razriadny Prikaz". Also, it doesn't translate to "Book of Census" so you should rename the pop-out event as well. (The actual translation is "Order for the Razriads", razriad being a military-administrative unit in the Russian Tsardom)

> When Ivan IV crowned himself Tsar of Russia his realm was referred to as a Tsardom. The title of "Empire" was only adopted as part of Peter I's westernisation reforms (which aren't even mentioned here!). I hope you eventually find a way to properly simulate the change of title (and fashion) that happened in this time period.

> The word "Nakaz" is just an archaic synonym to "Prikaz" ( both meaning "[executive] order"). Since the reform refers to the Nakaz of Catherine II. The most historically appropriate alternative title would be something like "Creation of the Ulozhennaya Comission", which was the political organ enabled by the Nakaz.

> Should be spelled "Speransky's Liberalization Reform" since it's *his* reform.
 
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tsar comes from caesar (just as kaiser in German for example) - it is synonymous to the English emperor

Peter the Great abandoned the title tsar for the title emperor (imperator). I would have to double check, but my guess is that he did it to get closer to the western powers in titulature, it was a PR move. He was obssessed with a lot of things in the west and forced a lot of them on his people as well - for example making them cut their traditional long beards or pay an extra tax from them.
Yes, that's why Russia should be called "Tsardom" (which is used in the Russian language itself), and after Westernization "Empire" (which is also used in the Russian language).
 
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What is Muscovy's starting situation?
What are Muscovy's and Russia's unique military units?
How are Peter the Great's reforms handled?

I know there's a huge amount of content for Muscovy but this post could have been more informative in my opinion.

I would suggest that the "Russian Empire" formed in the 1500s be called just "Russia" until it is reformed into the "Russian Empire" in the age of absolutism (Peter the Great's reforms) which should also come with great changes to the privileges of the boyars and the parliament.

Besides, I've seen some confusion regarding what was the actual historical flag of the Principality of Muscovy. Some sources online point to this being the more commonly used flag:
muscovy.png

Which is pretty cool imo.

The question of which flags to use, particularly for the early game where most countries didn't have an official flag of any kind, was raised in the forums quite a few times. I think it would be best if the flags of some countries change each era, so that we would see the late flags of some countries like Russia, France, Spain, England, Scotland etc when they're appropriate instead of the current compromise where a single flag is chosen even if it might be anachronistic sometimes.
A somewhat dynamic flags system has to exist anyway to allow France to switch its flag into the tricolor after the revolution, so might as well utilize dynamic flags more.
 
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Ngl Moscovy/Russia being decided as more important then commonwealth(PLC) in 1337-1836 time table immensly saddens me as until very late 1600s or early 1700s(thats at least 300 years after the start date) Russia wasnt even most powerful/important nation in eastern europe, and i doubt there will be place for commonwealth in the group of 7 most important nations.


Edit: its just my opinon that Russia doesnt deserve to be 1 of 7 most important countries when there is already other country in region that was important for longer in time frame of game, especially as Russian peroid of importance started only in what would be considered late game.​

 
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Screenshot_20250523_211239_Chrome.jpg

First, nan you make it so that all the unique buildings can be built in all location tiers(rural/town/city)? It would be really annoying if for some reason my town gets downgraded to a rural settlement and the unique buildings in it like the Kremlin here would disappear forever, second why does this panel say that you can build the Kremlin multiple times?
 
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Pomor outpost looks like it will need some adjustment: specifically the 1000 laborers. The locations in question will not be high in pop EVER and as such putting half or a third of the population into a +5% econboost with some tradeaddon is, well, counterproductive.
100, 200 or at most 300 pops. Im assuming most locations will have 1000 to 2000 and eventually maybe 5k in some centuries?
Further some kind of colonial growth factor might be useful?
 
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View attachment 1305242
First, nan you make it so that all the unique buildings can be built in all location tiers(rural/town/city)? It would be really annoying if for some reason my town gets downgraded to a rural settlement and the unique buildings in it like the Kremlin here would disappear forever, second why does this panel say that you can build the Kremlin multiple times?
A building being buildable only in a certain tier of settlement doesn't mean it will be lost forever if the tier is downgraded. It could just get "disabled" and be "repaired" if the settlement tier is raised again.
Besides, how would a settlement tier be lowered in the first place? There were some examples in antiquity of cities that were completely abandoned after some major disaster and turned into a rural settlement but I don't recall anything like that happening in the game's time span.
(EDIT: I just thought of one - Cahokia would disappear. But we have seen 0 info from the devs on how Cahokia and SOPs actually work so far. Also Angkor, the capital of Khmer.)
 
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until very late 1600s or early 1700s(thats at least 300 years after the start date) Russia wasnt even most powerful/important nation in eastern europe
The Smolensk War (1632-1634) and Russo-Polish War (1654-1667) beg to disagree. :p
and i doubt there will be place for commonwealth in the group of 7 most important nations.
Because it is a union of two nations that only formed 230 years after the start date and didn't even survive until the end date.
Look, I respect Poland, they have an amazing history and culture and EU5's timeframe was arguably the most important for this great nation, but claiming it is more important than an empire that conquered 1/6 of the Earth total land area is questionable.
 
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