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Europa Universalis IV - Development Diary 5th of July 2022

Welcome to our next Development Diary for Europa Universalis IV! The majority of the new content for the upcoming DLC has been revealed so far and all that is missing are two nations - one of them is an island nation which almost never sees the light of day.
gotland.png
Prior to 1.34 Gotland was a province occupied by a rebel stack led by the Danish ex-king Eric of Pomerania. This has changed now and Gotland is selectable at the start of the game with Eric as its ruler.

Originally a commercial center situated in the crossroads between the merchants of Russia and Germany, Visby has quite an interesting history during the century prior to the beginning of the game. Home to privateers such as the Victual Brothers and the bastion of a former Danish King, Gotland ended up being the guarantee of peace between the Teutonic Knights and the monarchs of Denmark. Coupled with a fresh new mission tree, its very own great project and unique new paths to explore, Gotland will offer a fascinating playthrough.

As Gotland was a member of the Hansa, the hideout of the ex-king Eric and a base of operation of Eric’s piracy, the fate of Gotland is quite open-ended (though, in 99% of games Gotland will probably end up as territory of Denmark or Sweden as these two countries still have their core on Gotland).

The content for Gotland is intended to reflect the possibilities Gotland’s history could have gone and as such when you start as Gotland you get the following event instantly:
erics_claim_event.png

erics_claim_event_second_choice.png

When you select the second choice you get a follow-up event:
fate_of_republic_of_gotland_event.png

fate_of_republic_of_gotland_event_second_option.png
Of course the claims of Eric won’t make much sense when he dies before pressing them against Denmark. If you select the monarchy path of your missions and Eric finds himself buried with the head first in the mudflat then you get an event which allows you to change your direction (this only triggers when you picked the monarchy missions though):
lost_claims_of_eric.png

lost_claims_of_eric_second_option.png

But what are these missions even about? Let’s start taking a look at them, starting with the monarchy missions:
gotland_monarchy_missions.png
As your goal is to become Denmark, the monarchy missions of Gotland are a little bit shorter, but will help you with your ambition.
“Dynastic Relations” for example gives you 10k manpower per nation which has the same dynasty as you and has at least 100 opinion of you. As you start with the Gryf dynasty you can get 20k manpower rather easily from Stettin and Wolgast - if you manage to finish the mission before they annex each other.
Meanwhile, “The Enemy of My Enemy” makes alliances with rivals or enemies of Denmark easier.
The biggest supporter would be the HRE however. “The Emperor’s Treasury” is mission which allows you to make a deal with the Emperor upon reaching 100 opinion of him:
a_deal_with_the_emperor.png

Naturally, this event triggers an interaction with the Emperor:
a_deal_with_the_emperor_2.png

Of course you can accept or reject these conditions:
a_deal_with_the_emperor_3.png
Taking the help of the Emperor will have consequences. If you ever manage to get Holstein or Slesvig then you get confronted with an event which reminds you of your end of the deal:
return_of_holstein.png

return_of_holstein_2.png
Of course you are free to ignore your promise, but this will result into a diplomatic escalation of the situation:
holstein_or_war.png
Of course the event for the ultimatum has a proper title which is a homage to a different demand of German territory in history:
holstein_or_war_got.png

holstein_or_war_got_2.png
As Eric was voted out by the nobles of Norway and Sweden it is only natural that you want to get on Norway and Sweden’s good sides - either through diplomacy (they have 100 opinion of you) or through espionage (you have 50 spy network in their overlord).
loyalty_events.png
The main focus of the monarchy missions is your war with Denmark. “War for the Crown” which is doable after getting any kind of cb against Denmark will give you a restoration of Personal Union casus belli against Denmark as well as 10% Land and Naval Morale for 25 years.
“Take over Sjaelland” which can be achieved by occupying the capital of Denmark (in this case it is Sjaelland) will trigger the following event:
sjaelland_occupation.png
If you manage to get 50 War Score against Denmark, control the Danish capital and be at war with Denmark for 3 years you can complete the mission “Execute the Wrong King” which will end the war immediately in your favor:
execution_event.png
Of course these missions are all completable if you manage to win the war against Denmark on your own and get them under a personal union before. In that case the events will not fire, but their rewards are given directly by the missions themselves.
Also, if Norway or Sweden are independent then you gain a PU cb against either of them in this event.

As soon you have the Kalmar Union under your control you can complete the mission “Back in Control” and get the following event:
reformation_of_denmark.png
From this point forward you are then playing as Denmark, though with a slightly easier time with Sweden.

But not everybody wants to play “Denmark with extra steps” and so you can choose to become a republic instead.
gotland_trade_republican_missions.png
Your mission tree is tailored to become the dominant trade power of the Baltic Sea, rivaling the likes of Lübeck or Riga.
As it has become a little bit of an unofficial tradition for this DLC, so does Gotland too have a way to join the HRE with the “Imperial Protection” mission. The claims of the mission tree are few and mostly focused on the Baltic coast of Germany as well as the lands of Denmark and Novgorod.
Real highlights of this mission tree are +25% Permanent Ship Trade Power from the mission “Compete with the Hansa”, as well as +25 Trade Power in the English Channel until the end of the campaign from “Channel’s Trade”.
“Gutnish Trade Fleet”, “Strong Mercantilism” and “Gotland’s Trade Empire” have dynamic rewards which depend on which faction is currently at power:
dynamic_mission_rewards.png

“Gotland’s Trade Empire” has of course the most impactful reward of all three of them:
flexible_reward.png

flexible_reward_decisions.png

But what if you don’t want to make your ducats the honest way through trade and commercial? What if you want to embrace the historical roleplay of Eric, the king who became a pirate? For that there is the last and biggest mission tree of Gotland which explores this path.
gotland_pirate_missions.png
The Gotland AI will always take the Pirate missions as historically Eric of Pomerania was living the pirate life on Gotland until he eventually died.
The pirate missions are divided into three greater branches and some miscellaneous missions which are adopted from the generic Pirate missions and slightly adjusted for the North Sea.
Starting from the left to right, the missions starting with “Gotlander Pirate Fleet” are your conquest and exploration missions, handling Denmark and, of course, the Caribbean. When you complete the mission “Pirates of the Caribbean” you get the option to move your capital in to the new world through an event:
place_in_the_sun.png
Meanwhile, the mission “The Worst Pirate” gives the following rewards if you own or have a subject own Tortuga:
art_of_insults.png
The missions branching from “Reach the Mediterranean” are all about raiding and looting certain places of importance such as Rome and its Curia coffers, or Venice and its arsenal. “Pirate versus Berber” on the other hand is more of a mission for all those who played in the Mediterranean and had to suffer under the Berbers.
Each one of these three missions rewards you with an unique event which is of narrative nature. But they also contain strong rewards which are fitting to the text. Here is the event “The Raid of the Venetian Arsenal” which is the reward of the mission “Raid the Arsenal”:
raid_of_venice.png

I will come back to the “Legendary Pirate” personality later.

“Terror of the Baltics” and the followup missions are about, well, raiding the Baltic Sea, but also “liberating” Lübeck, Danzig and Riga from their owners and incorporating them into your pirate republic. Each mission gives their respective city the following reward:
free_pirate_port.png
“The Pirate Haven” is the finisher of these missions and is completed when you own at least 10 provinces which are either centers of trade or have a river estuary. Finishing it gives you a reward which mirrors the Merchant Republic dynamic mission reward:
dynamic_pirate_rewards.png
Finally a few words for the remaining missions:
“A Pirate Federation” works exactly like the generic pirate mission. “Global Piracy” requires you to privateer in at least 10 different trade nodes of the world and gives you extra privateer efficiency of 33% until the end of the game. “Scourge of the North Sea” requires you to privateer in the North Sea and the English Channel while “Loot London” and “Loot the Low Countries” are rather self-explanatory. All of these missions reward you with good chunks of money.
“Renowned Pirate King” is a special version of the “Renowned Buccaneer” mission of the generic Pirate mission. But it is worth mentioning that both missions have received an additional bonus in its reward:
renowned_buccaneer.png
The “Legendary Pirate” is a new ruler personality which can be gained through either mission rewards - as it was the case in Gotland’s mission tree - or by winning against an enemy who is above your own weight. Also, all historical pirates have the “Legendary Pirate” personality.
legendary_pirate.png

It goes without saying that the Legendary Pirate is part of the free update and not locked behind the newest DLC.
Speaking of free content: monarchies and republics received new government reforms, and so did the Pirate Republics some new reforms to play with too! I will list the tiers where a new reform has been added or an old Pirate reform has been adjusted and will highlight them.
Tier 2:
pirate_republics_tier_2.png

Tier 4 (they are all new):
pirate_republics_tier_4.png

Tier 7 (they are all new):
pirate_republics_tier_7.png

Tier 8:
pirate_republics_tier_8.png

Tier 10 (the first three are generic Republican reforms, hence their theme is not quite fitting for Pirates):
pirate_republics_tier_10.png

Tier 11 (the first three are generic Republican reforms, hence their theme is not quite fitting for Pirates):
pirate_republics_tier_11.png

Tier 12:
pirate_republics_tier_12.png
Next to the pirate government reforms we also have added some new naval doctrines. In the development diary for Denmark we presented you some of the new naval doctrines and you gave us ideas for new additions of naval doctrines. While not all were able to make the cut for 1.34, some of your suggestions have been implemented!
For Venetian countries
venetian_naval_doctrine.png

For Korean (or Snocized-Korean) countries
korean_naval_doctrine.png

For Japanese countries
japanese_naval_doctrine.png

For Lower Saxon countries (in that case it is mostly relevant for Lübeck):
lower_saxon_naval_doctrine.png

It goes without saying that the icons for the Naval Doctrines are placeholder.

Last but not least we also did some balance changes regarding the navy to make them (and their ideas) a little bit more impactful.
Blockaded provinces now receive +0.25 Monthly Devastation and -50% Local Trade Power additionally to the +20% Local Ship and Regiment recruitment time.
Additionally, blockading a country’s ports not only increases +0.10 Monthly War Exhaustion but also -75% Global Trade Power and -75% Trade Steering, scaled by proportion of (core, state) development blockades.

1.33 buffed the Maritime Ideas and Naval ideas and while we are happy with Maritime ideas for now, the Naval ideas are still lackluster in their usage. They do their purpose which is buffing the navy, but due to how EU4 works naval battles are rarely of big concern and as such the Naval Ideas have a too high opportunity cost.
So we have decided to give a secondary role to Naval ideas which is rewarding your land conflict if you have naval dominance by giving the fourth idea “Naval Glory” +1 Blockade Impact on Siege additionally to the Yearly Navy Tradition. The +10% Ship Durability has been moved from the bonus of the ideas group to the sixth idea, “Oak Forests for Ships” (the +20% Heavy Ship Combat Ability remains) while the bonus now has -100% Naval Barrage cost next to the +15% Ship Disengagement Chance.
The Naval/Maritime policy “The Naval Supremacy Act” now gives +1 Blockade Impact on Siege instead of +50% Privateer Efficiency. The +50% Blockade Efficiency remains unaffected here.

Finally one quick Quality of Life addition to the game:
detach_special_units.png
That was it for today! Next week @PDX Big Boss will present the final country which receives content from this DLC. Little hint: it is NOT a nation you can select when you start the game.

With that being said I wish you all a nice week!
 

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So we'll most likely get Iceland next week. I hope there will be finally something about giving players (and possibly only players) ability to revive Norse religion without need to deal with Custom Nations or Random New World.
 
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I hope you guys are still putting time into refining the naval AI as well while you're at it.

I would like to see the AI integrate its naval and land strategy together better, so that it knows when transporting a stack of troops around is a good move.
 
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Interesting. I look forward making Eric both a living legend, and retaking his rightful crown.
 
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Very nice! But some additional suggestions for reform names (as always, feel free to say if this isn't helpful!):

  1. The Privateer's Way --> Brotherhood of Pirates (Privateers are legally sanctioned Pirates, so the name doesn't really make sense for an anti-government reform).
  2. Empower the Quartermasters --> Quartermaster's Committee (not really necessary, but there are already a lot of "Empower" reforms in Tier 8)
 
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If the game's Korean naval doctrine is really trying to model historical Korean naval doctrine, then I would suggest something like reduced shock damage from enemies and a maneuver bonus off owned coasts.

Yi Sun Sin's entire strategy revolved around maneuvering to prevent Japanese fleets from boarding his ships to engage in melee, while demolishing the enemy from a distance using his (superior range) cannons. This is how he defeated a 330-ship Japanese armada with only 13 ships. None of the enemy ever got close enough to seriously damage his units. It's also why he invented the turtle ship with its spiked, enclosed roof.

Conversely, I think a Japanese naval doctrine should give a big shock bonus. The katana was their favorite naval weapon, and boarding ships to use it was their favorite tactic.
 
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Looks bonkers, as it was expected. The new Tier 8 reform Power to the Smugglers is a bit underwhelming though, the +1 merchant is nice, but the +25% ship trade power propagation is a pretty useless modifier, just like its Age of Absolutism bonus counterpart.

It's a multiplicative modifier, meaning the base 20% propagation ends up being 25%, so you gain barely any trade power in plus from downstream from where your ships are protecting trade. Maybe change it to navy tradition or anything more tangible and more useful than trade power propagation?
 
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The event for returning Holstein to the empire cedes both provinces to Holstein but it doesn't seem like there was a condition put there to make it independent. Wouldn't inheriting Denmark via event transfer the vassal to Gotlander Denmark? Just gonna end up with Holstein getting diplo-annexed.
 
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Pirate updates/changes look very interesting. Any chance we could get a QoL improvement to go with them that adds a Pirate map mode please?

Pirate map mode would ideally show:
  • coastal provinces that are in your raiding range
  • colour gradient of provinces that have recently been raided, so that you can plan when to raid them again
 
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So we'll most likely get Iceland next week. I hope there will be finally something about giving players (and possibly only players) ability to revive Norse religion without need to deal with Custom Nations or Random New World.
I think I should say it right now before the disappointment gets to big next week: it is NOT Iceland.
We reached a state of the development where we cannot add more content to the DLC (due to the stability of the release candidate, limited QA resources and localization time needed) and Iceland barely didn't make the cut to receive a mission tree of the desired quality.
I would like to read about AI
There will be a dev diary about the AI in two weeks.
Why was the Denmark path even added when all it amounts to is becoming Denmark 40 years later?
Because it is in the realm of possibilities and historical plausibility that an exiled King Eric might be more than interested in reclaiming his throne of the Kalmar Union.
The event for returning Holstein to the empire cedes both provinces to Holstein but it doesn't seem like there was a condition put there to make it independent. Wouldn't inheriting Denmark via event transfer the vassal to Gotlander Denmark? Just gonna end up with Holstein getting diplo-annexed.
For the pictures in the Dev Diary, Gotland was the direct owner of Holstein and Slesvig. Of course if Holstein exists as a duchy then it gets released instead.
Btw, I forgot to mention that the whole event does not trigger if you are part of the HRE itself or if the HRE does not exist.
Pirate updates/changes look very interesting. Any chance we could get a QoL improvement to go with them that adds a Pirate map mode please?

Pirate map mode would ideally show:
  • coastal provinces that are in your raiding range
  • colour gradient of provinces that have recently been raided, so that you can plan when to raid them again
I am way too forgetful for my own good. This should have been mentioned too!
1657031835423.png
 
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The mission of Gotland looks interesting. Especially if you like pirates or the alt-history.

Meanwhile, the mission “The Worst Pirate” gives the following rewards if you own or have a subject own Tortuga:
Wow, Isn't this like the best and easiest permanent modifier? The power level is par with Kongo's 'Protector of Africa' but the condition seems easy enough.
The “Legendary Pirate” is a new ruler personality which can be gained through either mission rewards - as it was the case in Gotland’s mission tree - or by winning against an enemy who is above your own weight. Also, all historical pirates have the “Legendary Pirate” personality.

legendary_pirate.png

Exciting, does the 'Hayreddin Barbarossa' from the Tunisian mission and 'Jan Janszoon' from the Sale event also have this trait?


PS This is like a personal plea: Please give a way to play 'Hayreddin Barbarossa' While there are some related events and missions for it, there is no way to play him without using some console commands. Link to my suggestion.
 
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