I had a little bit of inspiration last night and I have put several hours of work into this so far. But I want to put it up here to get some ideas as I work on it over the next few days.
I am going to try and build an event engine to replace all country-based event triggers and replace them with condition-based triggers instead. So instead of the French Revolution always happening in France, it will happen in the country that looks the most like France did under the Old Regime. Instead of the English Civil War always happening in England, it will happen in any country that resembles England under Charles I. Random events will be expanded and triggered more precisely. Instead of everyone getting generic nobles-on-rampage events, only specific types of countries will get them.
While a more perfect system might be possible, given the limitations of the triggering mechanisms I really have to settle for DP sliders as the primary motor of the event engine. I have created four categories of "belonging". In each category, a country can only belong to ONE type; though some may be similar.
Government Systems:
High Aristocracy + High Centralization = Absolutism
Low Aristocracy + High Centralization = Divided Government
High Aristocracy + Low Centralization = Feudalism
Low Aristocracy + Low Centralization = Oligarchy
Political Philosophies:
High Innovative + Absolutism = Enlightened Absolutism (Bourbon France)
Low Innovative + Absolutism = Classical Dictatorship (Absolutist Sweden)
High Innovative + Divided Government = Parliamentarism (Post-Civil-War England)
Low Innovative + Divided Government = Military Dictatorship (English Commonwealth)
High Innovative + Feudalism = Elective Monarchy (Polish Commonwealth)
Low Innovative + Feudalism = Classical Monarchy (Habsburgs)
High Innovative + Oligarchy = Republic (Dutch Republic)
Low Innovative + Oligarchy = Military Dictatorship (Heriditary Stadholder)
Economic Philosophies:
High Mercantilism + Absolutism = Effective Mercantilism (Bourbon France)
Low Mercantilism + Absolutism = Ineffective Mercantilism (Absolutist Sweden)
High Mercantilism + Divided Government = Economic Nationalism (England with Navigation Acts)
Low Mercantilism + Divided Government = Economic Liberalism (England without Navigation Acts)
High Mercantilism + Feudalism = Guild Economy (Germany)
Low Mercantilism + Feudalism = Szlachta Economy (Polish Commonwealth)
High Mercantilism + Oligarchy = Classical Plutocracy (Dutch Republic)
Low Mercantilism + Oligarchy = Constitutional Plutocracy (United States)
Military Doctrines:
High Offensive + High Land + High Quality = France/Prussia/Sweden
High Offensive + High Land + Low Quality = Ottoman Empire/Russia
High Offensive + Low Land + High Quality = England
High Offensive + Low Land + Low Quality = ???
Low Offensive + High Land + High Quality = Austria
Low Offensive + High Land + Low Quality = Poland
Low Offensive + Low Land + High Quality = Dutch Republic
Low Offensive + Low Land + Low Quality = Venice/Portugal/Denmark
Goals of this Engine:
I will be using these to try and accomplish three primary goals.
1. Create Motivation to actually want some slider settings (high aristocracy, for example).
2. Get rid of some of the predictability of the event engine in MP.
3. Make it possible to escape some natural/deterministic limitations placed on some countries.
Example:
Right now, the Netherlands is doomed to low manpower and France is blessed with high manpower. These are just two of a multitude of advantages, but I will stick with just manpower for this example. Now, lets say that each PLAYER goes in the opposite direction of history using this engine.
The Dutch player becomes more aristocratic and centralized, but stays very innovative. They are now much more like Bourbon France than the historical Netherlands. So instead of the Dutch event file, they get events that more closely resemble that of France. They have problems with their nobility, they get events that centralize their power, boost their manpower base, gain conscription centers, and build a very powerful military.
The French player becomes less aristocratic, but stays innovative and centralized. They are now much more like England. So instead of the French event file, they get events that more closely resemble that of England. They have problems with their parliament, parliament restricts army recruitment, they gain shipyards, and build a powerful navy.
I am not so much interested in penalizing people for their DP sliders as I am for giving them benefits that the DP sliders dont give but should. Plutocratic nations should be richer, aristocratic nations should have bigger armies. Right now, only the first of those statements is true.
Potential Problems:
1. Some historical events are going to be really hard to simulate; inheritances for example.
2. Morale changes in the betas make Quantity and Defensive almost worthless until late in the game. Potential solution would be to consider anything less than 8 a low setting.
3. I am sure there are going to be more problems, I just havent encountered them yet.
Request to the MP Community: Please help me! Provide me with your ideas for new events in this vein. Do you think certain types of random events are not good and should be removed (inflation loss or mine expansion, for example)? Do you have any good ideas for a new kind of random event? Do you have a good idea for how to adopt a historical event to a trigger-based event? Do you have any ideas for tweaking my definitions or adding some new definitions? Finally, do you think this is a good direction to take events?
I am going to try and build an event engine to replace all country-based event triggers and replace them with condition-based triggers instead. So instead of the French Revolution always happening in France, it will happen in the country that looks the most like France did under the Old Regime. Instead of the English Civil War always happening in England, it will happen in any country that resembles England under Charles I. Random events will be expanded and triggered more precisely. Instead of everyone getting generic nobles-on-rampage events, only specific types of countries will get them.
While a more perfect system might be possible, given the limitations of the triggering mechanisms I really have to settle for DP sliders as the primary motor of the event engine. I have created four categories of "belonging". In each category, a country can only belong to ONE type; though some may be similar.
Government Systems:
High Aristocracy + High Centralization = Absolutism
Low Aristocracy + High Centralization = Divided Government
High Aristocracy + Low Centralization = Feudalism
Low Aristocracy + Low Centralization = Oligarchy
Political Philosophies:
High Innovative + Absolutism = Enlightened Absolutism (Bourbon France)
Low Innovative + Absolutism = Classical Dictatorship (Absolutist Sweden)
High Innovative + Divided Government = Parliamentarism (Post-Civil-War England)
Low Innovative + Divided Government = Military Dictatorship (English Commonwealth)
High Innovative + Feudalism = Elective Monarchy (Polish Commonwealth)
Low Innovative + Feudalism = Classical Monarchy (Habsburgs)
High Innovative + Oligarchy = Republic (Dutch Republic)
Low Innovative + Oligarchy = Military Dictatorship (Heriditary Stadholder)
Economic Philosophies:
High Mercantilism + Absolutism = Effective Mercantilism (Bourbon France)
Low Mercantilism + Absolutism = Ineffective Mercantilism (Absolutist Sweden)
High Mercantilism + Divided Government = Economic Nationalism (England with Navigation Acts)
Low Mercantilism + Divided Government = Economic Liberalism (England without Navigation Acts)
High Mercantilism + Feudalism = Guild Economy (Germany)
Low Mercantilism + Feudalism = Szlachta Economy (Polish Commonwealth)
High Mercantilism + Oligarchy = Classical Plutocracy (Dutch Republic)
Low Mercantilism + Oligarchy = Constitutional Plutocracy (United States)
Military Doctrines:
High Offensive + High Land + High Quality = France/Prussia/Sweden
High Offensive + High Land + Low Quality = Ottoman Empire/Russia
High Offensive + Low Land + High Quality = England
High Offensive + Low Land + Low Quality = ???
Low Offensive + High Land + High Quality = Austria
Low Offensive + High Land + Low Quality = Poland
Low Offensive + Low Land + High Quality = Dutch Republic
Low Offensive + Low Land + Low Quality = Venice/Portugal/Denmark
Goals of this Engine:
I will be using these to try and accomplish three primary goals.
1. Create Motivation to actually want some slider settings (high aristocracy, for example).
2. Get rid of some of the predictability of the event engine in MP.
3. Make it possible to escape some natural/deterministic limitations placed on some countries.
Example:
Right now, the Netherlands is doomed to low manpower and France is blessed with high manpower. These are just two of a multitude of advantages, but I will stick with just manpower for this example. Now, lets say that each PLAYER goes in the opposite direction of history using this engine.
The Dutch player becomes more aristocratic and centralized, but stays very innovative. They are now much more like Bourbon France than the historical Netherlands. So instead of the Dutch event file, they get events that more closely resemble that of France. They have problems with their nobility, they get events that centralize their power, boost their manpower base, gain conscription centers, and build a very powerful military.
The French player becomes less aristocratic, but stays innovative and centralized. They are now much more like England. So instead of the French event file, they get events that more closely resemble that of England. They have problems with their parliament, parliament restricts army recruitment, they gain shipyards, and build a powerful navy.
I am not so much interested in penalizing people for their DP sliders as I am for giving them benefits that the DP sliders dont give but should. Plutocratic nations should be richer, aristocratic nations should have bigger armies. Right now, only the first of those statements is true.
Potential Problems:
1. Some historical events are going to be really hard to simulate; inheritances for example.
2. Morale changes in the betas make Quantity and Defensive almost worthless until late in the game. Potential solution would be to consider anything less than 8 a low setting.
3. I am sure there are going to be more problems, I just havent encountered them yet.
Request to the MP Community: Please help me! Provide me with your ideas for new events in this vein. Do you think certain types of random events are not good and should be removed (inflation loss or mine expansion, for example)? Do you have any good ideas for a new kind of random event? Do you have a good idea for how to adopt a historical event to a trigger-based event? Do you have any ideas for tweaking my definitions or adding some new definitions? Finally, do you think this is a good direction to take events?
