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King

Part Time Game Designer
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Dec 7, 2001
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Back again for another developer diary, this week we are going to look at a number of small changes we put into the diplomatic game.

First up, spheres of influence; probably one of the more underused features in EU3, so we decided to give it a little boost. We have firstly given the following boosts to spheres: As mentioned in the previous developer diary thread you will now gain additional magistrates for having countries in your sphere. With magistrates being so remarkably useful to build buildings this is a very nice boost. Sphere members also boost your diplomatic skill - which gives you other nice bonuses - and the cost is now scaled by the number of sphere members you currently have, thus making adding a couple of countries to your sphere not too expensive. We have also placed a limit on your sphere membership. If you cannot trade into the province it cannot be added into your sphere. Thus you need to have a presence nearby to be able to add it into your sphere.

Next up vassals. We made a nice simple diplomatic AI change to vassal AI: Controlled vassals will never grant military access to someone who is at war with their master. Secondly, masters can always call in vassals to war. Currently, only the war leader can call in new countries to the war, however countries with vassals have this restriction lifted. Thus, if France joins a war as an ally, its vassals (if they still exist and if they want them) are still available to them. This makes having vassals more useful and also closes a little exploit people have been known to use in the deceleration of war logic. Finally to put the fun back into France vassal provinces count towards your support limit.


Finally, the Holy Roman Empire; as we all know the HRE under a good emperor is time bomb at the centre of Europe. If the Emperor can ever unite the Empire then all neighbours need to fear him. So, we have given you a new peace option against the Emperor. You can now demand that the Emperor rollback the previous reform. No longer do you have to disband the Empire, before they disband you.

There’ll definitely be one more developer diary after this, so until next week here is a screen shot.

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Chris King - Game designer
 

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The map is so flat. :D Looks better.

First post 2 dev diaries in a row... I need a life
 
Good to see that Spheres are now more usefull. I've personally never bothered with them until now.
The vassals tweak is also welcome.
I didn't see the HRE rollback option coming, but come to think of it, it's a really nice feature too.
 
Rollback reforms sounds really great, and the new sphere of influence is just as great

I hope there arent any more features left, I wont be able to leave my home if there is :O
 
Quite a short dev diairy, but cool little stuffs added, especially the sphere and the vassal parts :cool:
 
Love the part where your Sphere has more relevance. :D
HRE reforms rollback makes it more dynamic, nice small addition.

It seems vassals are now a very viable alternative to annexing provinces, in addition to a lower infamy. I hope these changes makes me want to have more vassals.

Question: With the "removal" of province decisions (beyond modding that is), how does the HRE expand in DW? I remember a previous DD talked about making it easier to leave, but how about joining?
 
Great news just one thing, I for one cannot really see a reason why I wouldnt call my vassals to arms, after all, every province that they take becomes one of my provinces. Will it cost diplomats to call someone to war? or how does the call to arms system work? One button for all vassals would be ideal for instance.
 
It seems vassals are now a very viable alternative to annexing provinces, in addition to a lower infamy. I hope these changes makes me want to have more vassals.
Really? I always have a ton of vassals. I find them very usefull.
 
Great news just one thing, I for one cannot really see a reason why I wouldnt call my vassals to arms, after all, every province that they take becomes one of my provinces.
Not necsessarily. If your vassal has a core on an enemy province, they will get that province if you take it in a peace deal, unless you got there first (or one of your other vassals without a core got there first).