Europa Universalis IV announced

[garbon]

Or someone has a lack of self-control.

[Josquius]

The slowness with which modern games load and save is enough to keep me from save and reloading these days. Though I would oft do it in earlier times.
Ironman mode is too scary for me. I don't trust the game deleting saves of its own accord.
And sometimes it is fun to experiment with doing something wacky before finishing a session.

[Zanza]

I decided to try a role-playing game of EU IV - so I picked a country that only exists for ruthless expansion and warfare: The Timurid Empire.

My first action was to declare war on Qara Qonuylu on the first day to retake my cores in Iraq. After that, some expansion into the Uzbek Khanate and taking three provinces from Delhi. I remember that you could annex all of Delhi in one war in earlier patch versions. Not this time though.

When the Ottomans declared on the Mamluks to take the Levant, I also attacked and took all the provinces along the Ottoman border to cut them off from the Mamluks. They white peaced out and don't have the mission anymore, so I guess I have a free hand in taking out the Mamluks. I diplo-annexed Nejd, Baluchistan and Sind.

While expanding is fairly easy as the Timurids, I have to slow down now to save admin points. You need one technology (about 1000 points), then seven admin ideas (2800 points), 3 stability and 200 admin points until you can reform your government. That is necessary to form the Mughal Empire. I've got the tech and the first idea and I currently get 8 admin points per month, so I need about 30 years.

The rivalry choice is one of the weakest points of the game at the moment. In my current situation I can only pick the Ottomans (okay) and the Ming (huh? They are far, far away).

[garbon]

First dev diary for the new DLC.

Welcome to the first developer diary for the Res Publica mini-expansion for Europa Universalis 4. In this diary we'll be looking at the various ways in which Merchant Republics are expanded and fleshed out in both the expansion and the patch, as well as the new 'National Focus' mechanic.

Trade Posts
With the Res Publica expansion, Merchant Republics will now have the option to create a Trade Post in provinces they own. A Trade Post costs 50 administrative power and gives the province +15 trade power and +1 naval forcelimits. Each Merchant Republic can only have a single Trade Post in each node, and cannot create Trade Posts in their home node. This makes territorial control of outposts such as Venice's Crete far more important to a Merchant Republic that wants to pull a large amount of trade home.

National Focus
With the Res Publica expansion, all nations will be able to set their National Focus. National Focus can be set to either Administrative Power, Diplomatic Power, Military Power, or unfocused. When set to a power, the National Focus increases the base gain to that power by +2 but reduces the base gain in other powers by -1, so a National Focus in Administrative gives the player a base power gain of +5 administrative, +2 diplomatic and +2 military instead of +3 to each when unfocused. This allows a country to focus power into a category where they have a need, for example due to a new idea group, being behind in technology, or having a monarch with poor abilities in that category. The National Focus can be changed every 25 years.

Merchant Republic Factions
Included for free in the 1.7 patch is a faction system for Merchant Republics similar to the one for Ming. Merchant Republics will have three factions, The Guilds, The Traders and The Aristocrats, and will be able to spend monarch points to increase the backing for the faction they prefer so that faction is in control. If The Guilds are in control, the republic gets +10% national goods produced and -10% build cost but -10% national manpower. If The Traders are in control, the republic gets +10% global trade power and -10% naval maintenance but -5% to tax income. If The Aristocrats are in control the republic gets +10% land morale and -10% land maintenance but -15% foreign trade power. For those that own the expansion there are also quite a few new events for the Merchant Republic faction system.

Technology Changes
Lastly in this dev diary, we're making some tweaks to the neighbour bonus and technology groups that are included for free in the 1.7 patch. We felt that the reduction of the neighbour bonus in 1.6 was too harsh on nations that needed to catch up after Westernizing or from falling behind due to a poor monarch, so we've increased the neighbour bonus back to -5% for each technology level you are behind the tech leader in your tech group, with a maximum reduction of -75%. To encourage countries to stay on the cutting edge of administrative and diplomatic technology instead of waiting for the neighbour bonus, we've instead introduced bonuses for nations that are ahead of time in those technologies, with nations that are ahead of time in Administrative tech gaining +20% production efficiency and nations that are ahead of time in Diplomatic tech gaining +20% trade efficiency. No additional bonus was added for nations that are ahead of time in Military technology, as the military advantages are bonus enough.

In addition to these changes, we've also made life a little easier for some of the slower tech groups by removing all monarch power penalties associated with technology groups, so Chinese nations will no longer gain -1 to all monarch powers, African nations will no longer gain -2, and so on.

In the next dev diary we will talk about the Dutch Republic mechanics and new idea groups, so stay tuned!

[Zanza]

All of that sounds good. I like the bit about trade posts as it allows you to compete in trade without conquering all of the high trade power provinces. This seems especially potent if it counts towards the 50% trade power necessary to get the trade company bonus.

[garbon]

New Dutch stuff doesn't sound that interesting.

Dutch Republic
If you do not have the DLC, then the Dutch Republic is just another normal republic type with no special abilities.

First of all, the Dutch Republic do not get the normal election events. Instead they operate on a unique set of rules. They have a unique mechanic which is called "Statists vs Orangists", which is how much power each side has in the Republic.

When the Statists are in power, you get +10 naval force limits and +5% trade power, while your republican tradition increase quickly, and when the Orangists are in power, you get +25% land forcelimits, and 10% cheaper stability, while the republican tradition does not increase by normal means.

If Statists are in power, then an election will be held if it has been at least 4 years since last election. You get two random candidates to pick from, one that will strengthen the Statists and one that will strengthen the Orangists.

If the Orangists are in power, then the current ruler is in power until he or she dies, or statists comes into power again.

You can not directly change the support for either of these, but there are a large set of events associated with the republic, that will impact the support.

Of course, it is now easier for the Netherlands to get the event allowing you to pick the Dutch Republic government form, as it will trigger within a decade or two after forming the nation.

Ideas & Policies
We added quite a lof of new modifiers that are used for ideas, policies and other parts of the game.
build_power_cost, global_ship_repair,vassal_forcelimit_bonus, years_of_nationalism, accepted_culture_threshold, culture_conversion_cost, diplomatic_annexation_cost and ship_durability.

There has been some minor tweaks to some existing ideagroups, most notably:
Grand Army is now 20% land forcelimits (down from 25%)
National Conscripts is now 10% faster regiment recruitment speed instead of +25% global manpower.
Consolidated infantry, cavalry and artillery cost ideas in Quantity into a single regiment cost idea.
Added ideas to Quantity: Forced Labor System (-20% building power cost) and Expanded Supply Trains (-10% land attrition).
Religious Ambition is now 25% cheaper culture conversion.


We added 3 new ideagroups. Humanism, Influence & Naval, with Maritime being the new name for the old naval ideagroup. Some ideas have been moved there from other ideagroups.

Humanist Ideas - ADM
Tolerance: +25% Religious Unity
Local Traditions: -2 Revolt Risk
Ecumenism: Heretic Tolerance +3
Indirect Rule: -10 Years Less Nationalism
Cultural Tiers: 50% less required for losing and gaining accepted cultures.
Benevolence: +0.33 Better Relations over Time
Humanist Tolerance: Heathen Tolerance +3
Bonus: -10% Idea Costs

Influence Ideas - DIP
Tribute System: +25 Vassal Income
Claim Fabrication: -33% Fabricate Claims Time
Integrated Elites: -25% Diplomatic Annexation Cost
State Propaganda: -10% AE
Diplomatic Influence: +5 Diplomatic Reputation
Postal Service: -25% Envoy Travel Time
Marcher Lords: +33% Forcelimits from Vassals
Bonus: Diplomatic Upkeep +1

Naval Ideas - MIL
Boarding Parties: +1 Leader Naval Shock
Improved Rams: Galley Power +10%
Naval Cadets: +1 Leader Naval Fire
Naval Glory: +100% Prestige from Naval Battles
Press Gangs: -10% Naval Maintainance
Oak Forests for Ships: Heavy Ship Power +10%
Superior Seamanship: +10% Naval Morale
Bonus: Ship Durability + 10%

[Zoupa]

So I picked this up on Steam last week. Played eu2 to death but never played eu3. I'm utterly lost with trade and merchants.

Can someone explain it to me pretty please. I'm pretty retarded when it comes to economics so keep that in mind. I've looked and read up an watched YouTube vids but still can't figure it out.

TL; DR version: playing France in 1444 scenario. What do I do with my merchants?

Thanks guys

[Liep]

Trade won't really net you that much early on. Your home node is Bordeaux, and you will collect revenue from there. Goal is to make that trade center as profitable as possible by redirecting trade from other nodes to that one. You can only direct trade downstream along the arrows on the trademap

Place a merchant directing trade in Genoa, you can then chose with the arrows which way you want to send trade, automatically it should choose to send it to Bordeaux, but if not, select that.

Until the colonisation begins Genoa is the only node you can direct trade from to Bordeaux, after that there is also the Western Europe node.

You can place the 2nd merchant somewhere where you can direct trade to the Genoa node, making that stronger, and in effect also make the Bordeaux node stronger.

You can assign light ships to trade nodes within trading distance to amplify your trade power (amount collected or transferred).

Hope that helps, but better players will surely correct me.

[Drakken]

If you move the merchant from Antwerp (to Genoa) though you will lose all the trade income from the provinces in that node. You can only automatically collect trade from your home node; leaving a merchant there only grants a bonus in trade power.

My advice for early game France is to leave the merchant collecting in Antwerp and move the merchant from Bordeaux to Genoa. What you lose in trade power in Bordeaux can be compensated by light ships and/or trade buildings.

[Viking]

So I picked this up on Steam last week. Played eu2 to death but never played eu3. I'm utterly lost with trade and merchants.

Can someone explain it to me pretty please. I'm pretty retarded when it comes to economics so keep that in mind. I've looked and read up an watched YouTube vids but still can't figure it out.

TL; DR version: playing France in 1444 scenario. What do I do with my merchants?

Thanks guys

Trade Quick and Dirty

All production becomes trade. That trade then moves month by month through trade nodes until it is collected. Normally trade is distributed evenly between outgoing nodes. The three final nodes are Antwerp, Venice and Sevilla.

Steering. You can use your merchant to steer trade. This is done by placing a merchant in a node and picking which of the outgoing directions you choose. The effect of this is that rather than having your trade power split evenly between nodes ALL your trade power goes the way the merchant prefers. Merchants will also steer any unsteered trade power forwarding from a node as well. With only one merchant steering a node all the trade power forwarded will go that merchants preferred way. Merchants also provide a small boost to trade value.

Collecting. You can use your merchant to collect trade or you can let trade be collected automatically in your home node. Collecting with your merchant in your home node will add 10% to your trade income there. Collecting outside your home node comes with a large malus to trade power (not trade value). So collecting in a node where you have 100% trade power is always fully profitable.

My suggestion for france is to forward from Genoa to Bordeaux with one merchant and collect in Antwerp (provided you collect at least 10% of what you collect in Bordeax). If you don't collect 10% in Antwerp, collect in Bordeaux.

The important thing for early trade for the french is to conquer the trade nodes of Caux, Bordeaux and Provence all of which are easily takable. For Maximum effect economically expanding into Sevilla is relatively pointless, expanding into London, Frankfurt or Lubeck only makes sense if you have power in Antwerp. Expanding into Antwerp and Genoa makes sense for France.

[Grallon]

EU has been like that ever since the first release, though.  It's like Johan and company WANT the New World to have been colonized faster than was possible or something and are trying to rewrite history.

Recently reinstalled this, bought all the DLCs that came out since my last playthrough, and started a game as France.  It is now 1570 and I've already colonized Quebec fully - after ousting England.  Amusingly as soon as it turned into the French-Canadian colonial nation it added English as an accepted culture next to the cosmopolitan one - there goes my attempts at correcting the vagaries of our history.  The territories corresponding to New-England are now Louisiane and will become the US if they ever get independent.  Anyhow I do find the appearance of colonial nations much too fast.  And I find it *very* bothersome that the natives also colonize pretty fast.  I think it should be drawn out much longer.  Historically Quebec had only 65000 inhabitants in 1763 when France ceded hers North American possessions to England.



G.

[garbon]

The natives do move to quickly. I had one game where North America (apart from PEI) wasn't ever colonized by EU powers as the natives had taken up all the spots. There were a couple half-hearted attempts to dislodge natives in Florida but native coalitions drew on a lot of manpower (/successfully attacked colonies in Mexico) and Europeans gave up.

[Liep]

Is there a mod somewhere that changes how conversions work? I'd like it to be much more difficult/costly/rebel-inducing to avoid the Balkan becoming Muslims within a fortnight of Ottoman rule, or the other Greek isles Catholic for that matter.

[garbon]

Is there a mod somewhere that changes how conversions work? I'd like it to be much more difficult/costly/rebel-inducing to avoid the Balkan becoming Muslims within a fortnight of Ottoman rule, or the other Greek isles Catholic for that matter.

There might be something in the defines but I don't know offhand.

[garbon]

Finally bit on the DLC. Johan said it'll be out next Wednesday.

Elective Monarchy
We added in the government form for Elective Monarchy in the 1.6 update, but we did not add any special or unique mechanics for it there. These come with the Res Publica expansion, and creates a unique experience. If you don't have the expansion, they work like before, just as a flavor name.

In an elective monarchy, you always have at least 1 heir. When your current monarch dies, you automatically get a new heir with 2+d4 in all stats, that is between 25-40 years old, from a local noble dynasty. He starts with low support, but is the preferred heir unless a foreign nation intervenes.

All other monarchies of the same religion group, that are not elective themselves, gets a new diplomatic action called "Support Heir". That creates a foreign heir in the elective monarchy with 1+d4 stats and the same dynasty as that nation has. Every month your diplomat is present you have a chance, depending on your diplomatic reputation and their opinion of you to get +1 support for that candidate.

If your candidate wins the election in that elective monarchy, you get a nice boost of power, as well as prestige and legitimacy, while boosting the relations between your nations.

If any heir happens to die, a new one is spawned, inheriting the support from the previous one of the same dynasty and backer.

As a player in an elective monarchy, you sometimes really want your own local noble, as they tend to have better stats. You have a new button where you can spend l5 egitimacy for 5 backing on your local noble.

There are also events that happen when you have a foreign heir as top candidate, and events that trigger when you have a foreign monarch on the throne.

New Decisions
If you are a country below ten provinces, and are western, easter, ottoman or muslim, you can now become a merchant republic if you have a weak heir, and are very trade focused.
There are also decisions to move away from merchant republics to other type of republics.


Poland
Poland can now turn elective monarchy as soon as they are out of their regency, by event, as they start as a normal monarchy.
Pacifying the Sejm will change the government away from Elective to Absolute Monarchy.
Sejm complying to your policies will now happen 50% of the time instead of 5% of the time.
Rival Changes
Countries that are 50% or more apart in tech speed can no longer set each other as rivals.
Countries that have chosen you as a rival are now always available to be set as a rival.
You can no longer buy provinces from or sell provinces to rivals.
Powerprojection added when vassalising rivals, or fully annexing them.
Misc Fun Stuff
Rebalanced and added decisions across religions to make sure they have similar chances to get high missionary strength. (AKA, Rejoice ROTW)
Elections now use scaled republican tradition, so all republic forms are balanced against each other.
Removed manpower impact from productionsize, to be tied to increased by 5% from each military tech, scaling basically the same as 1.5 and earlier.