Europa Universalis IV announced

[MadImmortalMan]

Is the last age going to be a time bomb of forced nation disintegration?

[Caliga]

Who am I kidding... I'll still pick it up when it goes on sale later.

Done.

Playing LOL OTTOMONS again and my first RM resulted in me getting a consort from Dulkadir.  Can I get rid of her somehow and get one from an awesomer country?

[Josquius]

CK2 doesn't work well for Byzantium.  You're just too big and powerful,  it's hard to lose.

[Solmyr]

CK2 doesn't work well for Byzantium.  You're just too big and powerful,  it's hard to lose.

IRL Byzantium lost only at the end of CK2.

[Valmy]

CK2 doesn't work well for Byzantium.  You're just too big and powerful,  it's hard to lose.

It is hard for Byzantium to lose. It is not so hard for your dynasty to lose though.

[The Minsky Moment]

CK2 doesn't work well for Byzantium.  You're just too big and powerful,  it's hard to lose.

IRL Byzantium lost only at the end of CK2.

The fourth crusade is less than halfway through the timeline.

[Caliga]

Playing LOL OTTOMONS again and my first RM resulted in me getting a consort from Dulkadir.  Can I get rid of her somehow and get one from an awesomer country?

Problem: solved.

[garbon]

In 1.20 of @E_Universalis , we've merged protectorates and vassals.. Enjoy!

In 1.20, we're changing quite alot of how subjects work. Daimyo's no longer cost a diplomatic relation. @E_Universalis

[Phillip V]

Japan looks busy.

[Caliga]

In my current Ottoman game it's 1614 and I'm now in Janissary Decadence.

Since I recently conquered most of Hungary I have no further territorial ambitions in Europe, so I am wondering if I should purge the Janissaries or not.  If I do so I'll lose their various bonuses and the tech penalties for being in perpetual decadence should matter less if I can keep Europe from attacking me and am now only fighting shitty second-rate countries in Africa and India and shit.  Also, being in one disaster prevents you from being in another one simultaneously, right?

So maybe I can just live with decadent Janissaries for a while?

[Valmy]

CK2 doesn't work well for Byzantium.  You're just too big and powerful,  it's hard to lose.

IRL Byzantium lost only at the end of CK2.

The fourth crusade is less than halfway through the timeline.

That was cheating.

In any case the timeline now starts at 769.

[Syt]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/02/europa-universalis-iv-mandate-of-heaven/

Space is getting grander and more interesting thanks so the Utopia dlc for Stellaris, and Crusader Kings II is receiving a rabble of Monks and Mystics next week, but Europa Universalis IV [official site] hasn't been left out. On April 6th, the tenth expansion will be released. It's called Mandate Of Heaven and it adds an objective system based around semi-dynamic ages (from Discovery to Revolutions) to the world while introducing new mechanics for the Empire of China, daimyos and Shogunate of Japan, and Manchu.

The Mandate of Heaven is in the game currently, causing the Ming Dynasty to collapse into a death spiral if they lose it. Essentially, it means that the Emperor is considered an appointee of the divine, legitimised by the gods themselves. It's impossible to be any more legit than that, but if the mandate is lost, the entire Dynasty finds it extremely difficult to recover.

In the expansion, handling of the mandate and its power will be far more involved, allowing the use of powerful divine edicts, and negating the need for legitimacy entirely. Instead, the Empire of China will use Meritocracy, a system of power tied directly to the skill levels of advisors. There are other changes in that part of the world, including the use of tributaries and a revamped Confucianism, but the biggest changes might be in Japan.

Paradox are rebuilding Japan in the image of Sengoku, their 2011 strategy game. The spread of Western technology and religion, isolationism, a war of unification and control among the daimyos, and a harmonisation mechanic that rewards the Shogun who can keep everyone on the same page. The unification of Japan sounds like a game within a game.

Globally, there are now four ages to move through, each of which comes with objectives that unlock new abilities, which are only available in a single age. Once the world (and your nation) moves on, the ability is lost. Some of the abilities are unique to certain nations, but there are seven generic ones for each age.

Mandate of Heaven also brings some smart UI modifications and a whole bunch of other changes, which we'll look at it in more detail shortly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ijdgWnd2Yo

[jimmy olsen]

Maybe I should finally get this. 

[Caliga]

So maybe I can just live with decadent Janissaries for a while?

I lived with them for like 25 years, it turned out.

I finally purged the Janissaries after a huge war with Persia, where I was victorious but only took Bahrain and some shitty Caucasian province (goal had been to take Tabriz) because I got burned out on fighting them and their ally Bahmanis.  I purged the Janissaries right after the war ended.

It's now 1672 and after that war, I decided I had no more ambitions in Europe and the Middle East and so am now converting into a mighty colonial empire.   I colonized all of Australia so now have the colony of Ottoman Australia, and have two projects going on simultaneously: one is the conquest of Madagascar, which is partially completed (two northern provinces taken and are now Sunni) and will probably be done in another decade or so, after which I'm aiming to take Zanzibar and destroy the Kilwa and Mombasa sultanates.  I will then be the undisputed master of the Indian Ocean, since I already control Socotra, the Mascarenes, Comoros, and the Maldives (where the inhabitants are now mostly Turks).

The other project is the conquest of the spice islands.  I have a colony off New Guinea I'm using as a springboard to fabricate claims and am about to attack Ternate.  Once Ternate is annexed, I'll attack Majapahit (Java) or conquer Ceylon next depending on which seems to be weaker at that time.  The only European colony so far is a British one on Christmas Island.

I've also got a conquistador discovering Polynesia right now who just finished exploring Samoa and Tonga.

[garbon]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/eu4-development-diary-7th-of-march-2017.1003421/

Hello everybody. When rounding off last week's Dev Diary, I was planning on bringing up a certain mechanic which has everyone who has touched it dazzled and not wanting to ever be without it. Something about Diplos and building with macros, I forget. Those who have been poking around the store page and done some leg work have been speculating over it.

In view of that and how I do love to read speculation, I will let you stew over what it could be for a couple weeks and instead take this week's Dev Diary talk about the first of our religion overhauls: Confucianism

It's high time Confucian got the spotlight. It's been a troubled child of religions in EU4, existing almost exclusively in China and Korea without its own mechanics. For owners of Mandate of Heaven though, that changes with the introduction of Confucian Harmony.



Confucian nations will have a value for the Harmony in their nation. As it grows, so too does their tolerance of the True Faith. By default, it grows by one every year, faster if they keep stability high and complete Humanism Ideas. Low Harmony will reduce tolerance of the True Faith as well as causing higher costs in development and hurting Meritocracy.

So keeping your nation's Harmony high will ensure good times for your nation, but there is a choice to be made. Converting provinces in your realm will cause Harmony to fall, scaling on the development of the province you convert, so at least in the short term, wiping out heathens may cause rough times for your nation.

For Confucian Nations though, they have the unique ability to Harmonize with other religions and religious groups. While Tengri nations have the ability to instantly Synchronize with one other faith, Confucian nations can gradually adopt and mesh with many religious. For Heretics, they can choose to gradually Harmonize with that religion, treating it as the True Faith. For Heathens, this process applies to that religious group.

Harmonizing with a religion is a process taken in the religious tab. A religion or group to Harmonize with is selected and the process of adapting with their beliefs will begin. This process will cost 3 Harmony per year, so more stable empires will have an easier time adopting new faiths, and will tick up a progress bar from 0 to 100 by 3 per year. Harmonizing is a long process punctuated with events, but the end result will be a religion or religious group that is treated as True-Faith for your nation for the rest of the game (Assuming you yourself remain Confucian)



Each Harmonized religion also gives a nation-wide bonus for 25 years



My totally Legit Korea in the above screenshot will now enjoy +2 tolerance of the True Faith for 25 years. Some of the other religious bonuses include:

Muslim: +10% Trade efficiency
Shinto: +10% Infantry Combat Ability
Jewish : +33% institution Spread

We'll leave the others for you to explore, and next week we'll discuss another religious mechanic added in Mandate of Heaven