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I sure hope no Englishmen are reading this.

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This series will updated every Friday.

Read the Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods developer diaries here!

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Welcome to the 31st Development Diary for Europa Universalis IV, and this week we talk about the nation of Japan and introduce the Scoring System we will be using in the game so that it is clear who has bragging rights once the game is over.

Japan
Japan itself has been dramatically overhauled. We designed a new unique system for Japan in the Divine Wind expansion for EU3, but it never really worked well. We also learned quite a lot about designing for Japan while making Sengoku, and the development of Japan in EU4 has been based on that knowledge and many of the same alpha researches as we had for that game.

Setup
We have also redone the map completely, with greater attention to the historical divisions of Japan. Japan is now about 28 provinces in EU4, with the provinces of Hokkaido and Sakhhalin uncolonized in the 1444 start date. These 28 provinces are divided among about twenty different Daimyos in Japan, including the famous ones like the Date, Tokugawa & Uesugi. ...

The Beginning

We decided to leave out the barbecue jokes and get right to it, welcome to a new development diary for East vs West!

You can’t have a game about the Cold War without nuclear weapons lurking in the shadows, so adding a new nuclear engine to the Hearts of Iron formula, with a revamped graphical interface and AI was a challenge we happily took on. This, of course, raised a lot of questions from the beginning. How much do we need to focus on the nuclear parts? How much do the players want play with nuclear wars at all? How can we avoid too much micromanagement? How can we model missiles and launches? How should the AI use nuclear weapons, and how it will react to a nuclear war? Many issues, both technical and game-design related, are implied once you introduce superweapons.
We set out to establish a balance between creating a respectable nuclear engine without focusing too much on a game mode that will so drastically alter the world and the gameplay as soon as it’s used. The nuclear weapons should foremost be a means of last resort, a deterrent, a proper tool in a Cold War arsenal.

What we wanted:
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Hey folks, it is dev diary day and time to talk a bit about rebels and adventurers! Let's start off with the rebels; as you know, the old rebels are a nuisance but they are easily defeated and even if they hold a county for a long time, defection is rare. Sure, they sometimes kill a local ruler, but even that is uncommon. This is a shame, especially since we have explored better ways of handling rebels in the In Nomine expansion to Europa Universalis III and in Victoria II. So, for The Old Gods, we are replacing the old simplistic system with proper rebels with a cause (if you don't have the expansion, you will be stuck with the old system.) There are three new types of rebels: peasants, heretics and "liberators". As before, they can appear if the revolt risk is higher than 0 in a county. If the county is of a heretic religion, heretic rebels may appear. If the county is in a kingdom occupied by foreigners, liberators may rise up. If the other two types are not suitable, it's going to be a peasant revolt.


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Wizards Captured via Terrifying Image-Freezing Sorcery
NEW YORK — May 15, 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games and a shooter of screens, today released the first-ever screenshots for Magicka: Wizard Wars, the 4-on-4 team-based PvP title from their new studio, Paradox North. Using an untested image-capturing spell that may or may not have stolen the souls of every wizard pictured in the new screens, Paradox is more than willing to take that risk in order to give the world its first look at Magicka: Wizard Wars in action.

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We called and you came!
Here are the highlights from the Call to Arms stream, enjoy

Europa Universalis IV - Call to Arms Stream Highlights Part I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB1GZwmUnAE
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Sign up for the Europa Universalis IV Tech Beta!
Fulfill Your Quest for Global Domination

Do you have what it takes to make our grand strategy game conquer the world?
Are you a person who excels at finding faults and is brilliant at reproducing bugs and writing detailed bug reports?
World conquerors, this is your time.

Paradox Development Studio is looking for Beta testers to test our upcoming empire building game, set to release in Q3 2013.
Apply now if you wish for a chance to take part in the closed Europa Universalis IV Tech Beta.

PLEASE NOTE:
This is a Tech Beta with very limited seats and demands A LOT from Beta testers. We need you to be passionate, dedicated, thorough and honest.
We also need you to tell us what needs to be improved in our game so that we can fulfill all our gamers’ dreams of leading a global empire this fall.
Only apply if you feel that you have the ability and time to contribute.
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Dare to go berserk and create a pagan event – the winners will have their events put into the game.

The heathens are coming, prepare for the wrath of Odin! Here is your chance to invade the game yourself and create your own event for Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods.
Go forth to loot and pillage history in search of creative ideas for events and ravage the internet for ideas that garner gold, prestige or the means to conquer. Above all, destroy and sacrifice to the Old Gods.

We will pick three winners and add their events into Crusader Kings II. No prior scripting knowledge is needed, we're only looking for a basic design and the event text. Just send over your ideas and we'll take care of the rest.

The Rules: ...

Salutations great leaders
We are happy to announce that the winners in the Mini-After Action Report/Let´s Play Contest for Victoria II: Heart of Darkness has been chosen.
So have a cup of tea and relax while you read about your fellow politicians glorious world of politics in the Victorian age!

Remember, there is no gambling like politics...

The winners are (in no particular order)... *drumroll*

Green Abbot with Montrose, Moncreiffe and Munroe - A Tale of Scotland Very engaging story telling making it impossible to not see it to its end

hazardiusam with Scandinavian Kolonisering (love the mix of languages there :P) A very nice layout! Actually managed to conquer a major part of Africa!

BobM with Defender of Islam Well written and interesting with a muslim nation

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Despite the fact that warships cannot typically fit in a stream, Paradox will host a live stream of Leviathan: Warships ...

Hey everyone!

Interesting read about strategy gaming at Gamasutra, enjoy!

The 4 biggest lessons from the year in strategy gaming:
"2012 was a godsend for those suffering from the strategy game itch. Everyone from the strategy veteran to the genre neophyte had a breathtaking library of new releases that all showcased the very best that strategy has to offer. Most surprising was that this came at a time when some were wondering whether strategy, specifically turn-based strategy was on the verge of becoming a dead genre on the level of point and click adventures (which, I must point out, are also somewhat on the rise again)."
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MarkS...egy_gaming.php

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Welcome to the 30th development diary of Europa Universalis IV. Today we take a look at four rather different countries in the middle east.
All of them are what we call tier3 nations, which means they have a unique set of ideas, and about a dozen historical events.


The Mamelukes
This state controls Egypt and Syria at the start of the game, but was historically conquered by the Ottomans in the 16th century. They are Sunni and has an Iqta government. The Mamelukes sit on the main tradenodes directing trade from India and China to Europe.

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The silliness continues. Albeit a bit behind schedule.

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This series will updated every Friday and Tuesday.

Read the Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods developer diaries here!

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Hello, I'm Crusader Kings II developer Goosecreature. You may remember me from such Developer Diaries as "Events and Decisions" and "The Heathens are Coming." Today I'll be talking a bit about - you guessed it - the events and decisions of The Old Gods. This expansion will introduce many of these and not just for the Vikings.

As a Norse Pagan, you can hold a blot every nine years during winter. This is a good way of making your vassals like you more, and it is somewhat similar to a feast with one big difference – the human sacrifice. During a blot, four random prisoners will be brought up from your dungeon and you will have to decide whether or not to sacrifice them to the Allfather for prestige and piety. If you have no prisoners, some nameless thralls will be sacrificed instead but this won't bring you nearly as much renown. Anyone can be sacrificed, including close family members, but you will earn extra piety if your victim is a Christian or a Muslim. These are harsh times and the world is not a friendly place.



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Hey everyone!

Feast thy eyes on the first developer diary for Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods expansion below!
More is to come on these pagans, so be prepared...

And don´t miss the web comic: Ulm plays Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods as Someone
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...omeone-Archive

Cheers,
regina


Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods - Dev Diary 1 - A Different Europe
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...fferent-Europe

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods - Dev Diary 2 - The Wrath of Odin
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?680207-Crusader-Kings-II-The-Old-Gods-Dev-Diary-2-The-Wrath-of-Odin

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods - Dev Diary 3 - The Heathens Are Coming!
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...ens-Are-Coming

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods - Dev Diary 4 - The Pagan Reformation
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...an-Reformation

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods - Dev Diary 5 - Events, Decisions and Zoroastrians
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...d-Zoroastrians

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More gimmick stuff by Ulm!

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This series will updated every Friday and Tuesday.

Read the Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods developer diaries here!
...

Includes Western Stages, Espionage and Sci-fi Characters, and Terrifying Hats

NEW YORK — May 7th 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games and writer of checks their bodies can’t cash, today unleashed a monstrous content update for The Showdown Effect, the ridiculously explosive multiplayer action title from Arrowhead Game Studios. Featuring new stages, characters, and costumes, the update is available today for free to all players of The Showdown Effect.

For gamers who are not players of The Showdown Effect, Paradox offers two suggestions on how to become players of The Showdown Effect: defeat a current player in a sword duel and absorb their immortality and game collection, or purchase The Showdown Effect in today’s Daily Deal on Steam at a hefty discount.

Witness the Western Sci-fi Espionage Explosion Chaos Action Insanity in a new trailer:

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iPad and Android Tablets Versions Available Today, Jazz Boatman to Join Players’ Fleets via Free DLC

NEW YORK — May 6 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games with buoyant personality, today announced that Leviathan: Warships, a strategic turn-based cross-platform game developed by Pieces Interactive, is available for the Apple iPad and for Android tablets via the Apple App Store and the Google Play store, respectively. Each version can be purchased for $4.99, and both versions support cross-platform play with each other, as well as with the PC and Mac versions. In a bold new step for cloud-based navies, games can be started from any computer or device, saved to the cloud, and resumed from any other device that has a copy of Leviathan: Warships.

In response to popular demand, Paradox also announced that the jazz music and smooth-talking, smooth-sailing personality from the Leviathan: Warships trailers will appear inside the game in a free DLC pack. All platforms will receive Jazz Boatman and his relaxing tunes in an upcoming update, allowing players to embrace their inner boat boss and cruise the waves in style. Watch the Jazz Boatman-trailers here:
http://youtu.be/Vxxnq5YAVHw
http://youtu.be/Ab9e764D7cI
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More gimmick stuff by Ulm!

Previous chapter
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This series will updated every Friday and Tuesday.

Read the Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods developer diaries here!

...