What would people want out of a Middle East expansion?

[greywulfos]

Since the next major DLC is likely to be either content for the Middle East or South America, two heavily neglected regions in the game at the current moment, I'm curious:

What would people want to see out of a Middle East DLC?

Personally, I love the branching missions format of Lions of the North; so seeing that applied to the Ottomans and being given the choice to either drift towards a Western or Muslim identity as time progresses could allow for some really interesting gameplay for an empire that currently only really works as an obstacle to the player.

 

[flammable888]

I would like it to be about helping the ai ottomans in early game.maybe give them some more claims, manpower and the ability to help their economy.to be serious I can't see anything happening in this region unless it was for the smaller nations or for some game play in heretical branches of Islam.

 

[I like wars and maps]

I would like it to be about helping the ai ottomans in early game.maybe give them some more claims, manpower and the ability to help their economy.to be serious I can't see anything happening in this region unless it was for the smaller nations or for some game play in heretical branches of Islam.

You can only ask for mission trees not gameplay.

 

[Runite Drill]

Unsurprisingly, I'd love some good Middle-Eastern EU4 music to pump up that immersion to the max.

 

[cuendillar]

A major rebalancing effort. The Ottomans expand far too rapidly in both the Balkans and Middle East since there are no nations strong enough around to reliably hold them back. Note that this is with regards to gameplay, not historicity. I can see very little purpose in adding content to a region which primarily consist of nations that are already largely doomed for all but skilled players. That's too niche for a DLC.

A power balance between Ottomans/Mamluks/Persia would make it more interesting, without the outcome being so predictable - like in the Spain/France/Britain region or among the Indian majors. I wouldn't mind if the Ottomans occassionally managed to reproduce their maximum 1683 borders by the 1821 end date, but it'd be nice to see (for example) an Achaemenid-sized Persia roughly as often by that date.

 

[InvisibleBison]

I wouldn't mind if the Ottomans occassionally managed to reproduce their maximum 1683 borders by the 1821 end date, but it'd be nice to see (for example) an Achaemenid-sized Persia roughly as often by that date.

I agree. The less predictable the game is, the better.

 

[Vin55]

I would love to see missions for the smaller nations like Byzantium, Aq Quanulu, the Beyliks, Trazepunt, Quara and a shared Arabian Unification mission tree for the Arabian nations, rewamp maybe Ardalan and Persia, to make it better, and improve the mamelucks and ottomans, maybe also Georgia and the smaller muslim and orthodox nations in the caucasus, and ofc Bergkrabach should get a cool mission tree for Armenia. (Byzantium and Trazepunt could have a mostly shared focus tree, and a reform tree for the later maybe a nice story to retake the throne).
I think that strenghtening the mamelucks should be a priority and maybe nerf the Ottomans late game with a disaster that should fire and gives them less stabilty, IRL the ottomans had many struggles in that regard. (also for the love of god stricpt them to not go into Ukraine or Kuban region before 1550, that region is way to often taken by the ottomans, he takes moscow more often than Tunis or Lybia)

 

[necro84]

2 sets of Arabian missions - 1st for trading nations like Yemen, Aden etc. 2nd for nations focused on religion like Hejaz, Medina, Najd
Nice trees for Hisn Kayfa and Ardabil
Something more for Mamluks and Persia
Missions for beyliks and Rum. Now they get Ottoman missions as Rum but claims on Anatolia etc. are pointless because you already have this land when forming Rum
Maybe few missions for AKK and QQ
Something for Caucasus region

Forming Persia by Ardabil could give some nice bonus like 5% admin efficiency to encourage this instead of going easy way as Ajam or QQ. For AI I would prefer some military bonus instead like morale but players would abuse it

 

[greywulfos]

A major rebalancing effort. The Ottomans expand far too rapidly in both the Balkans and Middle East since there are no nations strong enough around to reliably hold them back. Note that this is with regards to gameplay, not historicity. I can see very little purpose in adding content to a region which primarily consist of nations that are already largely doomed for all but skilled players. That's too niche for a DLC.

A power balance between Ottomans/Mamluks/Persia would make it more interesting, without the outcome being so predictable - like in the Spain/France/Britain region or among the Indian majors. I wouldn't mind if the Ottomans occassionally managed to reproduce their maximum 1683 borders by the 1821 end date, but it'd be nice to see (for example) an Achaemenid-sized Persia roughly as often by that date.

I mean... First of all, most countries in America are doomed from the get-go because they'll get colonized completely by the Spanish and Portugese at the moment, so by your logic they're not worth giving any flavour content - which is a little weird to me, since flavour content is meant for the player, not for the AI.

I think the fact that Persia DOESN'T form that reliably at the moment is a problem in and of itself. There's effort put in to making sure that Muscovy will always consistently form Russia, so why is it that the Moghuls and the Safavids should be so rare in comparison?

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

I mean... First of all, most countries in America are doomed from the get-go because they'll get colonized completely by the Spanish and Portugese at the moment, so by your logic they're not worth giving any flavour content - which is a little weird to me, since flavour content is meant for the player, not for the AI.

I think the fact that Persia DOESN'T form that reliably at the moment is a problem in and of itself. There's effort put in to making sure that Muscovy will always consistently form Russia, so why is it that the Moghuls and the Safavids should be so rare in comparison?

Another problem is that even if we get united Persia that is the same size as the Safavid Empire, it still has no chance to stand against the Ottomans.

2 sets of Arabian missions - 1st for trading nations like Yemen, Aden etc. 2nd for nations focused on religion like Hejaz, Medina, Najd
Nice trees for Hisn Kayfa and Ardabil
Something more for Mamluks and Persia
Missions for beyliks and Rum. Now they get Ottoman missions as Rum but claims on Anatolia etc. are pointless because you already have this land when forming Rum
Maybe few missions for AKK and QQ
Something for Caucasus region

Forming Persia by Ardabil could give some nice bonus like 5% admin efficiency to encourage this instead of going easy way as Ajam or QQ. For AI I would prefer some military bonus instead like morale but players would abuse it

And a 3rd set of Arabian missions: Hormuz and Oman.

 

[Guibou]

It would be a good time to do a small rework of the muslim faith. For now, the way I use this religion is to just wait till it get to 75 to get that few hundred ducats. Really not as flavourfull as the reworked christian faith.

Back when the slider was new alot of people didn't approve the way it worked with the name and the effect attach to them and piety sliding one way or on another is conterintuitive, ex: you get more missionary strengh conquering muslim provinces that you dont need to convert. And the click to get money/manpower isnt really on par with other religion rework now. New monuments introducing passive piety gain or loss can debalance you.

I don't have a clear idea how to fix that. But I do like the different schools you can invite and it could take a bigger part of the religion. Certain school could favor one side of the piety slider, so that they are stronger but have to think twice about it. They could also get rid of the slidder and favor more a pirate/republic system with different ''faction" and have more than just the 2 extreme. Having passed XX% would put that ''faction'' in power with bonus and whatnot.

 

[Rawme]

a mechanic for a Muslim nation that's controlling the holy sights, mecca and madinah

 

[KaiserWilhelmI]

Wasn't the Cradle of Civilization the the Middle-Eastern expansion? It's been ages since South America was updated.

 

[DominusNovus]

I don't want that northern part of the Arabian Desert to assume my map color if I conquer just the Levant and Mesopotamia, while not ruling Arabia.

Makes expansion in the ME literally unplayable unless I turn off that feature.

 

[PurpulaPhoenixum53]

Here's what I'd love to see:

Updated Missions for Ottomans, Persia, Mamluks, Byzantium, and HIsn Kayfa
New Mission Trees for Syria, Iraq, Arabia, Armenia, Georgia, Shirvan, Egypt, Nubia/Nubian Minors,
Unit Models for Syria/Syrian Culture, Armenia/Armenian Culture, Georgia/Georgian Culture, and Unique Models for Egypt (Mamluks and Egypt should use different Unit Models)
New Music for Middle Eastern Nations and Caucuses
Tons of new DHEs for nations, cultures, and religions within the Middle East and Levant
I'd also love to see Nestorian Christianity added to the game (as a 1 or 2 province minority religion), Coptic/Khemetic Culture added (Along with the ability for them to form Egypt), and other various religious minorities (Yazidi in particular) being added. The Middle East should be a religiously diverse region as it is today.

 

[FishieFan]

I don't want that northern part of the Arabian Desert to assume my map color if I conquer just the Levant and Mesopotamia, while not ruling Arabia.

Makes expansion in the ME literally unplayable unless I turn off that feature.

Why? You can't directly control it but obviously have strong influence there.

Wasn't the Cradle of Civilization the the Middle-Eastern expansion? It's been ages since South America was updated.

We've had multiple dlcs which look back at old ones. Poland has had 4 trees at this point or something

Since the next major DLC is likely to be either content for the Middle East or South America, two heavily neglected regions in the game at the current moment, I'm curious:

What would people want to see out of a Middle East DLC?

Personally, I love the branching missions format of Lions of the North; so seeing that applied to the Ottomans and being given the choice to either drift towards a Western or Muslim identity as time progresses could allow for some really interesting gameplay for an empire that currently only really works as an obstacle to the player.

The ottomans were always going to have an Islamic identity, descriptions and apologias of mehmed ii have bled into people's perceptions over the Ottomans as a whole over time

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

Why? You can't directly control it but obviously have strong influence there.

It ruins your borders.

 

[Terixis]

Yazidism and a meme Babylon formable tag.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

Yazidism and a meme Babylon formable tag.

I think that Kurdistan should be a new formable, too.

 

[DominusNovus]

It ruins your borders.

Exactly. Its ugly.