I was really looking forward to this, the Cold War is probably my favorite era in history and I was pretty jazzed to have a grand strategy game where I could try and shape a Communist paradise. Sigh, guess its back to Tropico for that (Vicky doesn't count, since you get to spend so very, very little time as Commies).
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ComradebotLord of DinosaursHouston, TXRegistered Userregular
Man, the EvW thread announcing the cancellation... what a shithole. The entitlement is kinda sickening, with various folks cursing Paradox for wasting their time.
Oh no, you wasted a few minutes a week reading up on a game that wasn't out yet. But you know what? The people who actually worked on the game spent countless hours toiling away at it, and now it'll never see the light of day.
And then come the claims that it happened just so they could one day tack a Cold War DLC onto HOI4, just as when MM was cancelled there came the claims it was so they could tack the features onto EUIV (didn't happen). I know it sucks, but damn people. Damn.
Why can my PC handle CKII but struggles with Victoria 2?
The POPs and the world market. Its a lot more CPU intensive than any other Paradox game.
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"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
They've been announcing the new WoN stuff. And have unleashed another shit-storm by announcing that they've added an Auto-Add Papal influence point mechanic that is only available with the DLC. I really don't know if Paradox is just trying to antagonize their fanbase at this point.
Also should we maybe make an EUIV/GSG thread now?
Anyways here's the other dev diaries:
Welcome to the first of several dev diaries of the next EU4 expansion Wealth of Nations.
By now you have probably heard a bit about the upcoming expansion, there have been some press about it, but in particular you have been able to follow some of the new features in our Developer MP stream (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...XMdqg5ADde-G2o) Still, I will take this opportunity to just quickly go through what you can expect from it.
More gameplay, less fluff
The previous expansion had a few really visible game altering things such as a completely randomized new world, a new type of dynamic nations which changed how you controlled your American colonies and completely new mechanics for the native americans, perhaps a bit disrespectful to call it ‘fluff’, but bear with me. These features required quite a big investment in development time and made a big impact on how you play EU4. For Wealth of Nations you can look forward to towards more features but perhaps less headline grabbing features, in other words more interesting gameplay changes but perhaps not so many features that force you to completely rethink your priorities.
A focus on trade
The main focus of this expansion is going to be trade, as the name suggests. We are not, however going to change the the base concept but instead we are going to look into what we can do to strengthen the strategic choices and sharpen the conflicts that come from trade. We are going to add Trading Companies that allow for more specialized trading empires, we are going to add new diplomatic actions and types of peace treaties, privateers and things like that.
Not Just Trade
Just as with the previous expansion, Conquest of Paradise, not all features we add are going to fit the chosen focus. When we design features for our expansion we they usually fit the bill of either the what the expansion is about or what we really want to see in the game sooner rather than later. Like the Fervor features specially for the Reformed religion or a brand new mechanic dealing with competition among nations that we have not told you about yet, more on that in a later dev diary (or in the MP stream in a couple of weeks).
Some Free thing, some Not Free thing
As always some new features are going to be in the expansion and some in the major patch released at the same time. We want to be able to add radical changes, but we don't want to add features to expansions that are vital for the game balance or require us to remove old mechanics, so you get them for free. This is a living game that will hopefully continue to evolve for many expansions to come.
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Talking Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations – Dev diary 2: Trade Improvements
Time for the next Dev diary where I tell you a little bit about the features that will appear in the upcoming Wealth of Nations expansion for EU4. In this dev diary I will dive straight into some of the trade improvements we are doing and a especially on the thinking behind them. Bear in mind that we are still working on and tweaking these features so some of them might change between now and release.
Enhanced Merchant Republics
Merchants republics are among the theoretically really strong nations in the game. They have a extra merchant (giving them not only the merchant but a higher naval force limit), that have extra trade efficiency and on top of that a bonus to trade steering. Add to that the, frankly, a little bit OP ability to elect rulers. Yet you rarely see nations like Venice or the Hansa grow to conquer the world. One reason for this is their geographical weakness, especially the Hansa lacks strategic depth. Then add that to what I mentioned earlier, the trade republics are kind of dangerous. This, first order of business for Denmark - take out the Hansa and for Austria - take out Venice. So we started thinking, what kind of extra thing can we add to an expansion that adds an extra layer to the Merchant Republics.
In Wealth of Nations, trading with a merchant republic is no longer a zero sum game. When a merchant republic trades in a region this will add value to the goods that are produced in the region (technically we are increasing the amount of goods produced) in proportion to how big a share the Merchant Republic is taking of trade in a region. This means that as the likes of Venice and The Hansa are spreading their tentacles and send their merchants to take over the trade lanes the nations they are trading with becomes richer and until the point where the other want to become traders or Venice is threatening to become a land power, its a win win situation.
Main Trade Port
In the game trading is currently centered on your capital. Thats where you direct your trade and where you collect your money. In the base game you have some options, you can collect in other places anyway but take a trade power penalty or you can simply move your capital. In Wealth of Nations we are adding a new concept, the Main Trade Port that is the new place where you collect trade with your merchants. This trade port is easily visible in the trade mapmode and can be relocated using diplomatic power. Now as France for example you have a choice, do you go for a Mediterranean strategy or an atlantic strategy, and you don't have to relocate from Paris to do it.
Inland Trading
One aspect that we felt we wanted to add to is to make the option of inland trade nodes more attractive. On sea you can send trade ships in addition to conquering provinces and making trade deals. On land however, there are no ships. We figured that we wanted to change the dynamics of how trade works inland. We figured that if we wanted to do that one way would be to make the quality of your trading be much more influential inland. After all, trading on the oceans is all about controlling the sealanes and having lots of ships and ports while inland you are much more dependant on having access to local traders, making good deals and all that stuff that makes for a good trader. In Wealth of Nations at the moment, certain trade nodes have been marked as inland, in these trade nodes your trade efficiency is really the biggest factor in deciding how much power you get. For example for having a merchant present you will now get 50 extra trade power per trade efficiency so great trading nations have it easier inland, but on the other hand low stability will decrease inland trading so having a stable nation will also be a different factor on inland trade.
Changing role of traders
Finally a small ergonomic little thing that is making it into this expansion as a free feature. At the moment in EU4 if you have a merchant collecting trade and you want change the role of the trader you have to recall him and then send him out again. After you download the 1.6 patch you can now just change the trader from collecting to steering and he will just change what he is doing, no travel time involved. Thats just one example of all the little improvements and additions we are adding for free with the patch accompanying the expansion.
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Wealth of Nations Dev Diary 3:Companies and Canals
So, it’s time for the third dev diary on the Wealth of Nations expansion for EU4. This week I will talk a little about two brand new concepts, Trade Companies and Canals. This week all the stuff I will be talking about will be in the expansion and not in the free 1.6 patch.
Trade Companies
In Conquest of Paradise we looked at colonisation in the western hemisphere when we added Colonial Nations. With that feature you got independant colonial states that had their own goals and live their own lives but they could also expand your empire on their own and if you weren’t careful they could break free. Now when we add Trade Companies to Africa and Asia in Wealth of Nations we wanted to give them a very different feel. While colonisation in the west is about sprawling empires with a lack of control, trade empires in the east is a bit more specialised affair.
So, again we have divided parts of the world into a new type of regions but thats where the similarities ends. When you add provinces (something that you choose to do, and you can revoke it again) to a Trade Company you will still retain control of it but the way you gain benefits from it change. First of the province will produce radically less tax and manpower, but on the other hand it will provide a massive boost in Trade Power (we are still toying with the numbers here) and its also going to add 0.5 Naval Force Limit per province.
This makes the Trade Companies first and foremost a tool for Trade Empires, if you are the Mughal Empire and you are conquering India you are probably looking to increase your tax base and the amount of troops you can raise. On the other hand if you are Portugal you already have overseas penalties to manpower and you are instead looking to improve and extend your trading empire.
Now there are other little effects of Trade Companies. Most importantly, if your Trade Company is dominating the region (currently holds 51% of the modified province trade power) you are getting an extra merchant. This means that if you come into a region as a Trade Power you will start looking for the really good trade provinces (with the 1.6 patch we are also adding new icons to the trade map mode so you can better find the river estuaries etc) and with your superior Trade technology you have a good chance to dominate trade in the area. What we are looking to do is create layers of conflicts where Trade empires have each other as their main adversaries and have local alliances with the more primitive powers. To help that area we are also making it so that you can no longer westernize if you are only neighbour to a trade company (normally one of the requirements is that you have a high tech neighbour) on the other hand you can westernize if you own a core of an advanced nation.
Finally on the subject of Trade Companies, they are not going to be the powerful independent actors that Colonial Nations are but there will be frictions through a number of events where you can choose how to manage the friction created between yourself and your companies.
Now, on to one of the more controversial subjects.
Canals
Yes we are adding Canals to the game. In Wealth of Nations there are three buildable canals, Suez, Kiel and Panama. The latter is probably the least realistic but we wanted to add these three to give players that manage to build global empires something extra to strive for. Canals are basically massive building projects that when finished will be visible on the map. During these expensive projects you will also get events that allows you to face up to the historical difficulties of such projects. Canals will allow ships to sail through them, can be blocked by fleets and will also grant a substantial province Trade Power bonus to the owner so that you can use the canal to redirect the flow of trade (and no, it doesn't alter the trade routes but on the other had you already have trade routes across the canal routes). An interesting side effect of this is for future expansions and mods is that the canals are basically construction projects with events that can trigger during building and with on map objects when you are done so there is the possibility to add more interesting province specific works in the future.
That was it for this week, next week I will talk a bit about the new Religion Mechanics that are coming with Wealth of Nations.
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Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations – Dev diary 3: Naval Improvement
Welcome to the third EU4:Wealth of Nations Dev Diary. Last weeks theme was some of the improvements to the trading side of the game. This week I am going to cover more of the naval side of Wealth of Nations. The main focus of this expansion is trade but as you know navies and control of sea lanes is one of the most important factors in dominating trade.
Privateers
With the Wealth of Nations expansion we are adding the option of using privateers as a way to damage the trade of your opponents. This is added to allow you to hurt an opponents trading empire even if you can’t outcompete him at a certain point. Your light ship fleets now have the option of going on a Privateer mission just like going on a Trade Patrol mission, there are however some major differences. First of all the ships that go on a Privateer mission will raise the Jolly Roger, they will still be your ships but you can clearly see what they are up to. These ships will not give trade power to you but to the Pirate faction. The Trade Power they get will be a multiplier on what they would be worth on a Trade Patrol, so its a great way for a smaller nation to hit above its weight and also, while they keep a lot of money for themselves some of the loot will be sent back to you. There are however risks, if you send out privateers other nations will get upset and the people you steal from will get a Trade Conflict Casus Belli against you. There are other consequences as well as we have added a bunch of new historical events that triggers based on privateers.
New Blockade Mechanic
As you probably know, in EU4 if you place at least one ship outside an enemy province it will be considered under blockade. We felt that it was a bit strange that to fully blockade a country you placed one ship outside every port no matter how big or small. As one of the free features in this expansion we are changing the blockade system. Instead of fully blockading say the city of London with a lonely frigate, each ship now has a blockade value currently base on the sail speed of a vessel (more maneuverable ships catch more smugglers) and a blockade efficiency modifier. To fully blockade a province your blockade efficiency needs to match the base tax of the province, so its easier to blockade a small fishing village but harder to blockade London. These values can change between now and release, but you get the idea. We have also added an onmap interface that quickly shows that a fleet is blockading and to what percentage.
Detach Obsolete Ships
Another one of the small free features that makes life as an EU4 player a bit easier is the Detach Obsolete Ships button. It is active on fleets where you have ships that are older than the newest model and if you click it, said ships will separate into a new fleet for easy scrapping.
5 new ships
Speaking of ships, we noticed that there was a lack of certain shiptypes in the technology tables so we decided to add some new ones, these are:
- Great Frigate (Next after Heavy Frigate)
- War Galley (Between Galley and Galleas)
- Galiot (Between Galleass and Chebeck)
- Brig (Between Flute and Merchantman)
- Trabakul (Between Merchantman and East India Main)
We’re adding these ship-types in the free part of the expansion but if you buy WoN you get cool new models for them as well.
Trade patrol behaviours
Personally I hate when you find yourself at war with a bigger naval power and they quickly sink your trade fleets. As a free part of the expansion we are adding the option of setting your trade fleets to automatically return to port at the outbreak of war. After the war is over though, they will return to whatever they were doing at the start of the war. Since its an option, you have a choice to make, is your trade-fleets strong enough to fight of possible attackers or should they always hide at the outbreak of hostilities.
That was it for this week, next week I’m planning to write a bit about Trade Companies.
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Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations – Dev diary 5: Religion
The theme for this weeks dev diary will deal with the wholly uncontroversial topic of religions, and in particular which one is right and which one is wrong.
Just kidding The dev diary will however cover what we are adding in the area of religions in Wealth of Nations. Note that all of these changes are part of the Wealth of Nations paid expansion; they will not be in the large free update that traditionally comes with our expansions.
Reformed
First up is the Reformed Religion, the Calvinist faith that was particularly embraced by the Dutch in this time frame. We figured that doing something for the Dutch would be an appropriate thing for our trade themed expansion. It is a distinct religion in EU4 and has an increasing chance of spawning in a European province that has been Protestant for a long time. It also has an increased chance of appearing in nations that have selected more innovative ideas.
For Wealth of Nations Reformed nations can direct the industriousness of their people via a new concept called Fervor. The player will get a base value of 2 Fervor points per month if the nation is at peace and 1 per month if it is at war. Like most things in EU, this rate is also infuenced by things like prestige and stability. If its not used it’s stored. So how do you use it? Reformed nations have 3 place to focus their Fervor: Trade (Global Trade Power and Trade Steering bonus), War (Morale of Armies and Morale of Navies) and Stability (National Revolt Risk and Diplomatic Reputation). The player can activate one or more of these but each will cost 5 Fervor each month, which means that your nations needs to be fairly stable and at peace the be able to run one permanently - but you can also save up so run several at once for a power boost in times of crisis or expansion. We have also changed one of the Reformed religions regular modifiers from +10% trade efficiency to +2 tolerance for heretics, instead.
Hindus
Since we are adding East India Companies to Asia and Africa, we wanted to see if we could add something more to make it more interesting to play in India as a local and not just as a European conqueror. For one thing, we have added about 50 new events for Hindu rulers that deal with the Hindu religion (and we’ve added some nice new art for ambience). We have also added a personal deity system.
If you have the WoN expansion, Hinduism will lose its regular modifiers. Instead you get to pick a deity to follow. You can choose from Shiva, Ganesha, Surya, Ganga, Shakti and Vishnu. Each god has its own bonuses (and also specific interesting events as mentioned earlier). The ruler picks a deity for life, but when the ruler dies you get to pick a new one (though there is also a rare event that lets you change while the monarch lives). This is going to add an interesting new dimension as you build your Hindu empire in an interesting part of the world that we might revisit in the future in another expansion or add-on.
Papacy
And finally, as a little extra to those who buy Wealth of Nations, you will now be able to automate cardinal influence, by using a checkbox next to each cardinal. With that checked the game will automatically assign enough influence to selected cardinals to keep your guy ahead in the competition. This is mostly to avoid the busy work of fighting to add +5 here and there to keep France out of the Throne of Peter.
That’s it for this week. Next week, we will talk a bit about the diplomatic additions that come with Wealth of Nations.
I'm all for a EUIV thread! I might provide a Ragusa AAR once I'm done with my first playthrough as Portugal (because I still don't really know what I'm doing, especially with trade).
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
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Just beat the Ottomans in our first war. I had 78k troops.
They had 240k plus 60k from their ally in Prussia.
I won.
/flex
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?760477-A-joint-statement-from-BL-Logic-and-Paradox-Interactive
Was looking forward to that game.
To quote Eric Cartman...
God fucking damnit.
I was really looking forward to this, the Cold War is probably my favorite era in history and I was pretty jazzed to have a grand strategy game where I could try and shape a Communist paradise. Sigh, guess its back to Tropico for that (Vicky doesn't count, since you get to spend so very, very little time as Commies).
Oh no, you wasted a few minutes a week reading up on a game that wasn't out yet. But you know what? The people who actually worked on the game spent countless hours toiling away at it, and now it'll never see the light of day.
And then come the claims that it happened just so they could one day tack a Cold War DLC onto HOI4, just as when MM was cancelled there came the claims it was so they could tack the features onto EUIV (didn't happen). I know it sucks, but damn people. Damn.
Avoiding them is usually a good idea.
Though I gotta say I'm not super disappointed to see EvW go. I was pretty interested at first but the more I saw the less I liked.
The POPs and the world market. Its a lot more CPU intensive than any other Paradox game.
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
Think I am going to try a game around Afghanistan and Kasmir.
They've been announcing the new WoN stuff. And have unleashed another shit-storm by announcing that they've added an Auto-Add Papal influence point mechanic that is only available with the DLC. I really don't know if Paradox is just trying to antagonize their fanbase at this point.
Also should we maybe make an EUIV/GSG thread now?
Anyways here's the other dev diaries:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/189266/europe-universalis-iv-wealth-of-nations-coming-soon-to-a-papacy-near-you?new=1