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“This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror”


Welcome to the 7th development diary for Europa Universalis IV,
where we talk about the dominant power by the end of the Europa Universalis time frame, the country formerly known as England.
England can be considered both as one of the easier nations to play, but also one of the more challenging nations. That´s a paradox, you say?
Well, it all depends on what you wish to accomplish and what kind of empire you want to create ;)

The unique possibilities of England
What truly makes England unique to play is that the country has natural borders protecting it and that you can strengthen those borders dramatically with rather cheap investments. You can decide to let England get involved in the continent, from a safe position, or choose to isolate England and go overseas. The country also sits on a bloody nice position to control the trade from the Baltic and from North America. So the options are huge for you to take England in plenty of directions when creating your empire.

England’s Dynamic Historical Events
England is has one of the richest and best known histories. That may sound lovely for you guys, but it also means that we have had to work hard when it comes to decisions about historical events to include in Europa Universalis IV. The important countries in EU4 have a lot of events going on, so some of those major historical events have been turned into the starting points of large event chains that we call Dynamic Historical Events.

War of the Roses is an excellent example of Dynamic Historical Events. If England in the 15th century has a ruler without an heir, that means that there is a likelihood of a large event chain beginning. The player has to select who to back for the throne, York or Lancaster. This decision will throw the country into turmoil with various parts declaring for either the red or white rose, and you have to make sure to eliminate the very strong, rather resilient pretenders. What makes this interesting is that this event chain is not an event series that is guaranteed to come every time you play as England. It only occurs if all the necessary underlying factors are fulfilled. When it happens, you won't have planned for it to arrive on schedule, like many people did when they played Europa Universalis II, the last game in the series with a serious focus on historical events. We hope that this variation will gives you rather unique experiences when you play major powers.

The English Civil War will be another major event series that might encounter when you play as England, but we will not spoil it for you here yet. ;)
England also has many smaller DHE, like The War of Captain Jenkin's Ear: if they are rivals with Spain, after 1700, then you can get a casus belli on Spain. Or an event like The Muscovy Trade Company, where if you discover the sea route to Archangelsk, and its owned by the Muscovites, then there is a likelihood of this historical event happening.

England’s Missions & Decisions
We have kept the historical missions that existed in Europa Universalis III and we are expanding them for Europa Universalis IV, so you'll still see missions to conquer Scotland and colonize North America. When it comes to decisions, England still manually have to rely on the Wooden Wall, and make Calais into a Staple Port.

England’s National Ideas
The traditions that England starts with is a small boost in naval morale and a 5% boost to their trading efficiency.
The trading efficiency boost is due to the fact that the economy of England to fund their participation in the Hundred Years War was their taxation of the very profitable wool trade.

The 7 National Ideas for England are:
  1. Royal Navy : 25% higher naval force limit, and +10% more combat power for big ships.
  2. Eltham Ordinance : +15% higher tax.
  3. Secretaries of State : +1 diplomat
  4. Navigation Acts : +10% trade income, and +10% more combat power for light ships.
  5. Bill of Rights : -1 revolt risk.
  6. Reform of Commission Buying : +10% discipline
  7. Sick and Hurt Board : -50% Naval Attrition.



Reward: English Ambition
When England has gotten all seven of their National Ideas, they get the bonus of 'English Ambitions' which gives them a +100% on their embargo efficiency.

Here's a screenshot where I've cheated to show a little bit of the idea progress..

7.png

Welcome back next week, where we'll talk in detail about the enhancements we've done to the religious aspect of the game!
 
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So if I understand it correctly, EU4 will be a bit less sandbox oriented than EU3. I mean you will still be free to do anything, but the national ideas will nudge the optimal game to a certain way, that won't be as easy to change as it was in EU3 with ideas opened to all. Am I right?
 
I don't know if I like this all or not.

I think that the "War of the roses" happened because of a specific situation in a specific country in a specific time, but that would have happened somewhere else (or other time) if the conditions where reunited. Making this happening ONLY if you reproduce exactly the same conditions than in history and in the same period at the same place well...it's not very interesting. It's too "scripted". I would prefer a generic chain of event for these kings of situation, naming this "war of roses" if it's about england. (But you should as well name this "War of Tulips" when it's about holland.)

On the other hand, creating specific bonuses for each great nation reminds me a lot Civilization (and not for its better part).
 
Great, hopefully all tier 1 nations (and maybe other tier) will get their own dev diary.
 
It's the title of a short poem by William Blake and it serves as the lyrics for the anthem 'Jerusalem'.

I always thought it was 'And did those teeth in ancient time'.
 
I'm really glad that the ideas have some real variety to them. I was afraid England would have nothing but naval idea.

Quick question though! What about formable nations? How do country specific ideas come into play there? If you form GB, do your potential ideas change and if so, then can you still get your National Ambition bonus?
 
there will be a few around.

Can't wait for the Portugal one. :D

I think you guys are on the right path, so keep calm and carry on. ;)
 
Welcome back next week, where we'll talk in detail about the enhancements we've done to the religious aspect of the game!

Great news! Enhancements were badly needed. Can't wait. :)
 
Question (quite worried about this now):

How can The Netherlands hope to have a large share in the Mediterranean and East Indian trade, like they had in history (The Netherlands had a far more valuable share in both compared with England in the 17th century), if the trade route south from Flanders goes to London first? Even the Navigation Act couldn't break Dutch dominance initially (the only Dutch trade suffering from this were direct consumption from England initially), but with this layout for trade routes I fear the English can strangle Dutch trade easily : /

I like the rest of the Dev diary : )
 
On the other hand, creating specific bonuses for each great nation reminds me a lot Civilization (and not for its better part).

I have thought about it and I agree. But I only think it will make a difference in multiplayer, where the players can't really see what you're up to all the time (unlike the AI).
A tick box to remove national traits will address this for competitive play.
 
I don't like it. Will there be an option to disable the country-specific historical events? A kind of "sandbox option"...

It's called EU3.
 
so glad there going to get financial buffs england was always soo dirt poor in eu3 compared too france which historically it wasnt..... in fact englands economy was worth three times that of france by the early 1700s acording to a docementary i watched recently by the end of the game great britain should be more powerful than the next 3 biggest powers combined
 
I like the way this is heading. Basically you can mold your country according to history, or very close to it and still make your own history. Or you can transform England into a land based power house to conquer Europe instead, or plenty of other options. I like this a lot. Thanks.
 
I don't like it. Will there be an option to disable the country-specific historical events? A kind of "sandbox option"...

I'm sure that mods adressing this issue would pop up after release - it shouldn't be hard to remove DHEs. I may be wrong, but National Ideas and Traditions seems to be hard-coded feature though.
 
We've heard a lot about the War of the Roses starting, but in which ways can it end? Is there a possibility of a peace under a new Tudor dynasty, perhaps, or does York or Lancaster always right out win?

In EU3, Great Britain pretty much only formed with England conquering Scotland through military aggression. Will there be any historical event chains to encourage a peaceful personal union and an "act of union" merging the two countries later on?