In addition to handling the emigration side better (administration), I'd also like to see an immersive interaction with natives (diplomacy) and colonial skirmishes based on forts and navies if applicable (military) implemented.
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Although clearly beyond the scope of EU4, and no doubt the ROTW fans would object, but I think it would be cool if the game scrambled the geography outside what was known to the European nations at start and just put the various ROTW cultures & nations sorta in the same area. There would be a "New World" in between Asia & Europe and it would have Incas, Aztecs, Hurons, etc... in it someplace, but differently layed out every game. There would be some Asia off the starting map to East with China, India, Japn, etc... in it, but different every game. There would be some Africa south of the Sahara someplace, but again different every game.
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No. That's just terrible.
What if you play a country just on the edge of where the distortion happens?
Besides, if you're making changes like that, why not have it possible for an entire continent to just not be there?
Or why not keep China the same and scramble everything that isn't China?
In addition, this would need the country select screen to be done entirely differently - possibly the "select a flag" thing from some of the earlier Paradox titles - thus making impossible to select someone who ruled a particular province unless you knew the actual entity with that land at the time.
What if you play a country just on the edge of where the distortion happens?
Besides, if you're making changes like that, why not have it possible for an entire continent to just not be there?
Or why not keep China the same and scramble everything that isn't China?
In addition, this would need the country select screen to be done entirely differently - possibly the "select a flag" thing from some of the earlier Paradox titles - thus making impossible to select someone who ruled a particular province unless you knew the actual entity with that land at the time.
You wouldn't. Such a system presumes only European countries are playable (as I said, the ROTW fans wouldn't like it), and generally you would know the provinces adjacent to your own at start. The "distortion" would be only in what is TI at start for European countries.
I suppose you could with the Americas & Australia. With Asia & Africa it was pretty much known by Europeans that something was out there. The Americas & Australia were unsuspected until stumbled upon.
Because the name of the game is "Europa Universalis", not "China Universalis"? A Sino-centric game would probably not be exploration-focused at all, unless it is an alternate history that assumes the voyages of Zheng He were the start of a new focus for China, rather than a sort of 15th Century Apollo Program (quickly abandoned and the technology lost). I suppose Paradox could do their own take on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (and I'd probably buy it), but I don't think "Europa Universalis - China" would be a good name for it.
Yes you would, with the caveat that only what was not TI to Europeans at the start date would be available to choose from. It would be pointless for starts much after 1500, of course, but such an option for starting early games would not preclude an option to start at any time with a historical map (and with a historical map you could play any nation).
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IIRC, Johan said there will be a link between traderoutes and colonies, so I figure colonists will follow these routes.
I think one of the big issues with colonization is with discovery. One of the big questions is why go westward? In real life it was the spice trade. In EUIII it is because we know what lies beyond.
I think exploration should be "privatized" or "outsourced" to an AI expedition. The player could give a vague goal or region it would like to send the expedition but which provinces are discovered would be decided by the AI. One benefit I think a system like this would have is that a country would actually have to invest in each exploration rather than discover half the new world with a total cost of 150 ducats on explorers and conquistadors plus the maintenance cost.
I think exploration should be "privatized" or "outsourced" to an AI expedition. The player could give a vague goal or region it would like to send the expedition but which provinces are discovered would be decided by the AI. One benefit I think a system like this would have is that a country would actually have to invest in each exploration rather than discover half the new world with a total cost of 150 ducats on explorers and conquistadors plus the maintenance cost.
What I think would be cool would be some kind of delay for things happening far away. If you send an explorer away, you'll get estimates of where he might be and when he returns he reports his discoveries to you. You will then have the ability to set up trading companies and grant them the right to a monopoly in a certain area or allow them to have a standing army or send troops yourself instead.
Colonies could be a little like CKII. Instead of controlling a province, you could control and establish settlements, but so that different countries could control settlements in a province. Each settlement would have an economic value and the control of a province would not be a goal, but rather a recognition of the status quo. Or it could be used to underline the status of the province as a colony or a regular state.
You would have the ability to conduct diplomacy with native tribes in the province (or grant that right to your trading company). The state of the natives as a tribe, an empire or anything in between could also be determined in a level of control over provinces within their realm allowing for a more gradual level of statehood, rather than the binary level in EUIII.
Colonies could be a little like CKII. Instead of controlling a province, you could control and establish settlements, but so that different countries could control settlements in a province. Each settlement would have an economic value and the control of a province would not be a goal, but rather a recognition of the status quo. Or it could be used to underline the status of the province as a colony or a regular state.
You would have the ability to conduct diplomacy with native tribes in the province (or grant that right to your trading company). The state of the natives as a tribe, an empire or anything in between could also be determined in a level of control over provinces within their realm allowing for a more gradual level of statehood, rather than the binary level in EUIII.
I now realize that multiple settlements in a province will not happen, but I still hope my ideas are appreciated.
I just remembered when I read how Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (compilation of all places known to the Portuguese at the time) reported how D. Manuel ordered Pedro Álvares Cabral to discover Brazil.And how Pêro da Covilhã was sent via land to India, to obtain informations on sea routes and the origin of the spices.
Yeah ... The first colonial powers pretty much knew there was land where the Americas are long before Columbus got sent on his suicide mission. The story about Vinland was never truly forgotten and Brazil in particular wasn't discovered by accident. The issue was always finding a safe passage to reach those lands, not knowing how long the route would take, and not knowing the details of what (or who) you'd find there.
The old colonisation system is the same as the old trade system which Paradox said they never liked. You just send in a colonist/merchant and wait.
I think the best thing they could do is allowing multiple colonisators on 1 province. Combined with an improved spy/cov ops system the player could support a faction of his favour and try to controll that province this way. In general there should be %s for population and religion. Different nations competing for the same province colony would also add a lot of fun to the game I think.
I think the best thing they could do is allowing multiple colonisators on 1 province. Combined with an improved spy/cov ops system the player could support a faction of his favour and try to controll that province this way. In general there should be %s for population and religion. Different nations competing for the same province colony would also add a lot of fun to the game I think.
One of my pet peeves has always been the inability to colonize along rivers - something which was historically incredibly important towards colonization patterns in the New World and Africa (why the French claimed parts of current-day Illinois before anyone had even claimed Western Virginia. I almost wish they eliminated the province system in the New World, Spain, Africa, Siberia, and Northeast Asia completely, and allowed the placement of forts/settlements from which influence radiated (more quickly along waterways than inland.) Multiple nations can have influence in one area at once, and once it reaches a certain number, perhaps claims could be staked out.
I had a similar idea. Basically split the ocean into regions of 3 or 4 sea provinces each. Then when you take QFTNW it gives you the option to spend a merchant to send an explrorer and launches a message system where you chose one of two options (go East to the Indies/go West to the Indies for Iberia for example. For India you'd probably have 'seek a route to China/ seek a route to Europe'). At that point it then works by percentages on discovering the sea region next on the route, a sea region off the route (small chance at which point it becomes a random neighbouring sea region), a land province (which ends the exploration and gives you the merchant back) or the ship sinks (which ends the exploration without getting the merchant back, and would increase in percentage the longer the series occurs.
Well, I suspect colonists will be send along side trade routes and I hope trade routes will follow rivers, so there is good hope it would work the way you describe.
I agree with the person who suggested more interaction with natives and more than one type of colony. There should be trading posts, crown colonies, and charters with different economic and growth effects. There should also be colonial regions or viceroyalties, not just a province by province basis.
Eh... what??? You need to stop reading crackpot books. Read any account of Columbus' life and you'll see neither the man (nor anyone at the Spanish court) had an idea that there was a whole undiscovered continent lurking beyond the Atlantic horizon. Columbus explicitly requested money to find China, India and Cipangu, not some empty continent. The geography specialists at the Spanish court knew the world was around 40,000 km in circumference, and they knew Prolemy's and other authors' estimates on where China and Japan would be. They knew it would be an enormous distance and that Columbus' voyage would very much be a venture into the unknown.
The Portuguese had been experienced seafarers since the 1450s, if they knew all that you need to explain to me why they went around Africa instead of looking for Brazil as you say.
Colombo had been in Porto Santo (Madeira) to conduct studies of the oceans, the results of that indicated him that there was land to be found to the West.
Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis
How D. Manuel instructed sailors to discover Brazil in 1498.
The Spanish court has known about Vinland, and has known stories about lands beyond the Azores for a while now, same as the Portuguese. The problem was that the same Azores current which occasionally brought strange flotsam from the West also made the exploration in this direction seem problematic.
If people were convinced there was nothing to be found until China, nobody would have sent three ships to their doom. Even so, the chances were so minuscule that no sane captain wanted to sail in that direction. This is why Columbus - with his insane and clearly wrong idea about the distance involved - had to fight so hard to get those ships in the first place.
The Portuguese also had a colony at Cape Verde at this point, and a pretty good idea how for South America was from that point (just about 2500 km) from their contacts with the African nations and their stories. They clearly didn't know the extent of the continent, or that it indeed was a continent and not just another bunch of islands, but they knew where to look and Cabral took the straightest possible route with his expedition.
I would point out a different problem with colonization. In EU3 you get colonists in a specific rate. One per year for example. The problem is, this colonist come out of nowhere. If you are a german OPM with a population of 10.000 in your province you can colonize the whole new world with thousands of colonists. This is really annoying. If you sent a colonist the population in your provinces should be decreased accordingly. A pop system like victoria is not neccesary for this to be implemented. I see many benefits from this. First small nations are not able to build large colonies. Second, the pace of colonisation would be dependend on the actual population growth, so early colonization is restricted, but in the late game no problem. Third from a gameplay perspective it gives the player intersting choices as how to use its population. Colonization decisions would be really important. In EU3 you send your colonists just everywhere, and paint america or africa in you color. Which is rather boring.
As a sidenote i would add, that I would like to see, that my soldiers are also drawn from my population. Another choice to make. Do I use my population for war or colonization or for production at home?
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I can see, that I will get a lot of answers, who will oppose such war restriction, as warmongering is no longer possible with this. *ironie on* And the EU series is all about warmongering and war and battle and .... *ironie off*
As a sidenote i would add, that I would like to see, that my soldiers are also drawn from my population. Another choice to make. Do I use my population for war or colonization or for production at home?
Edit:
I can see, that I will get a lot of answers, who will oppose such war restriction, as warmongering is no longer possible with this. *ironie on* And the EU series is all about warmongering and war and battle and .... *ironie off*
The rate of colonists depends on your number of ports and a couple other things, it's not fixed. And the people you send into the colonies don't just come from your own lands. This is not Victoria II, you don't play a nation state. Lots of people may be willing to take a ship to your colonies and live under your benevolent rule.
All you do as the state is you finance the ships and the organization of the colonial effort. You don't pick who should go, or where they should attract colonists from.
