Dev Diary 98: Germania, Balancing and Request for Feedback
Salvete!
Today we'll be presenting the large Germania tree but before we do that, first some general balancing work that is being done.
Over time Invictus trees have gotten increasingly elaborate and powerful to the point they're extremely unbalanced. While the elaborate trees are great, we are making an effort to curb some of the most powerful modifiers you can get and the vast amount of free claims which AI would also take.
If you have any tree that you feel is very much unbalanced, do list them and we'll take a look at them to see how we could make them a bit more balanced without hurting the flavour they provide.
In addition, we'd like you to leave feedback if possible about anything you think Invictus has introduced that may be unbalanced, bugged, not fun to play, etc.
It can be about anything and if it is within the power of a mod to change without expanding the scope of the mod beyond it's vanilla+ nature. (Aka, we will not be introducing any new mechanics or fundamentally reworking vanilla mechanics.)
One such example of a change we're making is re-introducing the ability to get prisoners from annexed countries.
We do read every comment on the forums, Reddit or Discord about Invictus even if we don't respond directly.
Now with that being said, time to present for Germania for which i'll hand you over to Zorgo.
Hello everyone, it’s Zorgo with a sneak peek at some content that will be released in our holiday update, but before we jump into it, please indulge me with a little rambling beforehand.
As I prepare to show off what I've been working on, there’s an old saying that comes to mind, one that has been attributed to half a dozen artists ranging from Igor Stravinsky to John Lennon; “good art borrows, great art steals”. This was a guiding principle for this new mission tree, which reworks some pre-existing content in fun ways. Germania owes a huge debt to Albion in particular; it's available to multiple nations, assists the player in forming a higher-tiered tag, and has loads of flavor and general mayhem along the way, so special thanks to supermash for showing the way forward.
But there's still tons of original content waiting for you, even if you notice that a thing or two from other mission trees have been added to this dish. The more flavor the merrier, I say! With a splash of Boihaemian colonization and a cheeky pinch of Parthian terrain modifier sprankled right on top, baby you’ll have a stew going before you even know it.
But yes, it's basically reskinned, more balanced Albion with new localization, modifiers, event chains and objectives. Since I’m in an aphorism-dispensing mood, here comes another hackneyed one liner to wrap up this already longwinded intro; “it takes a village…”, so, as always, I’d like to give shoutouts to supermash, peterson, Pureon and Shinymewtwo for helping with code, ideas, artwork, models, support and inspiration. And away we go!
This new mission tree will be available to any tag that can form Germania, and all of those trees that we reworked in our last content update will be able to play this mission once they’ve completed their first (and/or second) mission tree. If you don't have unique content at game start, once you own fifty territories within the lands needed to form Germania, the tree appears.
The variety of starting locations will allow for some absolutely amazing/cursed playthroughs, but more on this later when we take a look at some of the new flags that have been added. For today’s roleplaying purposes, we will be following along with the Nuithonians, who have done a decent job of unifying their homeland and are now ready to level up.
And here’s a nice blurry pic that shows off the size of the tree. The left side focuses on all things barbarian; raiding, fighting, enslaving, pillaging, with options to colonize a barbarous wasteland at the edge of civilization. The chunk of the tree in the center is focused on growing your nation's infrastructure, and the right side deals with war and government.
Let’s check out the right side, where war councils will determine the direction in which your armies should expand. There will be diplomatic consequences for your aggressive ambitions, but don’t let the mewlings of your weak neighbors deter you from fulfilling your destiny as a mighty conqueror. You’ll send your armies throughout Germania Magna, Scandia and Venedia, destroying all that foolishly oppose your power - any lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes are fair game.
The way these initial tasks work is as follows; conquer a good portion of your home provinces and then you will receive claims on the rest of the region. One by one, your enemies will fall before your armies.
There aren't too many conquest tasks outside of these initial ones; this tree is focused on building up your nation, not subjugating your neighbors. Economic growth will remain an important objective, and you will need access to foreign markets if you desire to sell the valuable trade goods that you have in abundance, so you better start building!
The mania for building up your infrastructure might even see your Tribal Chieftain order the armies to spend the campaigning season in your capital instead of raiding settlements.
Riches await you if you’re able to get the amber trade up and running…
If you are able to get enough capital civilization level (values still to be changed), you’ll be rewarded with stability and access to even more infrastructure missions.
It should come as no secret that many of the territories needed to form Germania are uncolonized tiles, so there will be some assistance in populating the wildlands.
Keeping in mind how annoying it is to constantly move tribesmen and slaves manually in order to colonize settlements, these next tasks were borrowed and modified from the Boihaemia tree. You’ll be able to quickly colonize the basin as long as you have the manpower and gold to make it happen. The culmination of your brazen theft of Boihaemian clay will consider the question of their status within your growing realm; should you have Gallic friends or thralls?
As you become more powerful and centralized, the thorny question of the future of your government will be raised. Who is better equipped to rule over your people; a Republic dominated by the tribal Elders or a dynastic line of Kings? You’ll be presented with two paths, but before any of your plans can be set into motion, you’ll have to suppress the power of the elites that helped you become what you are - a dangerous period for the Nuithonians.
Depending on which branch you take (embrace glorious Republic play, you cowards), you’ll receive rewards and honors befitting your station.
(Modifier values still to be changed)
Even if your ambitious Tribal Chief decides to give up power, forming a Germanic Republic with its messy politics and penchant for perpetual squabbling instead of claiming the crown, the “Bloodline of the Germanic Kings” will still be available to you; think of it as a way of acknowledging the achievements of your predecessors, even if they voluntarily relinquished ultimate power to the Senators of a Republic.
One of my favorite additions to this tree is only available at the very end; an event chain you’ll gain access to if you are able to secure the services of a zealous High Priest. We will circle back to the task “Cities in the Forests” in a bit.
Once this religious ritual has been completed, your High Priest will begin to receive strange visions.
I’m not going to spoil what happens on the event chain, but I am going to show off what you will be rewarded with if you are found worthy by Wodenaz - a massive thanks to Pureon for making this new Great Wonder.
Now that we have sort of followed some branches all the way to the end, we return to the top to take a look at some other tasks in the central branch. These are an entire group of missions that will unlock once your technology isn’t completely terrible; another throwback to Albion. This Germania tree might already be stretching the limits of historical plausibility, but you’ll have to have the technical know-how if you’re really trying to build up your society.
In rapid-fire succession, a whirlwind glimpse of yet more infrastructure tasks.
You get the gist; build up your technical expertise and stockpiles of goods in order to lay the foundation for what’s to come…and in your case, that happens to be building cities.
If you really tech up and acquire the knack for building impressive cities in the middle of the forests, you’ll gain access to a special modifier - thanks again to peterson for implementing this in the Parthia tree and looking the other way as I shamelessly yoinked it.
As cities sprout up throughout Germania, some will pressure your ruler to abandon your barbaric past, but rest assured that you will uphold your traditions in the face of a changing world.
There will be many benefits to becoming a civilized society, and you will be personally responsible for making decisions that will impact countless generations to come. How will your records be kept? What will your policies towards foreigners be? What army units will comprise the backbone of your legions?
If you’re worried that all of this soft civilizing stuff will ruin the experience of playing as the feared Germanic tribes, then you will have fun with these tasks on the left.
There is a “Colonial Adventure” event chain where you will send colonists into the Fennic wastelands in search of a location to build a trading city, and I added an option to tag switch over to Soodak once all is said and done. Why, do you ask? Because this will finally create a tag in-game that allows you to form Duna, a tier one country that is currently impossible to make at the moment. The Androphagians were once able to take the decision, but I removed this option in order to not mess up their tree. This has finally been changed, so feel free to start your campaign over as a Fennic settled tribe on the island city of Soodak! You’ll lose access to the Germania tree and probably won't have an awesome tree of your own that was made by two of our devs, but you’ll gain bragging rights as one of the first players to form Duna.
Soodak will also get a pretty sick flag, if that's reason enough to entice you to switch over. The land cursed by the sun will have a proper banner, thanks to our Master Vexillologist Shiny - more on his other contributions in a bit.
I haven’t even gotten to any of the “advanced infrastructure” tasks that will see you make your capital into a true imperial city and regional trade hub, but all good things must come to an end and so, too, must this Dev Diary. Let’s look at the last task before we go; one of the final things you’ll be able to do after forming Germania is select a powerful modifier that will define your people in the decades to come.
What these modifiers do exactly will remain a secret, but you'll get a juicy boost for twenty five years that will allow you to double down on the choices you've already made in the tree.
Before I go, we will take a look at some of the other flags created by Shiny for when you take the decision to form Germania. There are a bunch of new variants that have been added, and some are pretty interesting. Are there secret options available, including some choices that require having specific ruler traits? Of course there are, but let’s look at a few of my personal favorites without spoiling everything. What happens if you start as Frisia, invade Britannia, form the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom, and then return to the continent in order to form Germania? You’ll get this super fun flag.
Are you crazy enough to start as Chattia, form Francia through your two mission trees, and then turn eastward to form Germania? Well, this is the banner your armies will carry into battle.
Just look at these borders and those glorious map colors.
As you can see, there is plenty of flavor and adventure waiting for you in this new tree; the culmination of our efforts to rework all of the older Germanic missions and give them some mid to late game content. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon!
