Chapter Four:
Coat of Arms Menu. Part One
Overview, Court and Technology
So I guess you've been wondering how you actually rule your nation? I can tell you, it isn't easy. Luckily for you, I try to get you on your way. Ok let's get crackin'.
That is your Coat of Arms you see in the upper left screen. It highlights when you hold your mouse on top of it. This is your nations' nervous system, heart, brain and stamina all in one menu. Click on it.
Now you see this. Here you see your nation at a glance. We are a
feudal monarchy ---more on governments later---, our primary culture is English and we are ruled by Henry IV Lancaster. The big number is our
prestige with below that our ranking. The wooden cross means that our primary religion is
Catholic. You can click on
modifiers, but it won't show you anything yet. Our reputation is honorable, this is related to our infamy. When our infamy score is high, this sentence will change. Below that you can see our relations with the world and how the AI sees us. The button at the bottom
create vassals is where you can release nations. The benefit is a reduction in infamy and you can leave some difficult regions to govern to them. We probably won't use that however.
When you click on the crown, we go the next tab.
What you see here is our king Henry and 'how good he is'. Before we check up on Henry here, let me tell you what
leader statistics ---henceforth: leader stats--- is all about. A ruler ---this includes
regency counsils--- is scaled on three topics.
- Administration. Administration is how good exactly is a ruler when dealing with internal administrative problems. Is he any good doing 'the paper work'? Does he think outside of the box? Can he make any good new laws? Napoleon was a good administrator.
- Diplomacy. How well can your ruler handle himself when dealing with foreigners? Is he blunt and arrogant? Or subtle and devious? I think of former US president Bill Clinton as a good diplomat.
- Military. Can your ruler wield a sword? Does he know how to shoot an arrow or load a musket? Can he manage the public opinion about a bloody war? Does he have strategic insight? A ruler with good military stats was Julius Ceasar.
Now how do you scale a ruler into these categories? It's quite simple really. Every ruler will get a number between 3 to 9 on each topic, where 3 is the lowest and worst, and 9 the highest and thus the best. This number remains throughout the rulers life, you can't educate them. So now you know this, have you got an idea how 'good' our Henry is?
---You might see some advisors in this and the next screenshots. I will come to that in a bit. Don't panic.---
Let's examine him closer. Hold your mouse above
administration.
You see that he is rated at 4. This is no good. When you see the benefits, you might think it is any good. However the benefits can be far greater with a better administrative ruler.
Too bad he isn't much of a diplomat either. Besides the benefits you see, there are some hidden benefits of a good diplomatic leader. Your
diplomatic actions ---see previous chapter--- are heavily affected by it. A ruler with a 7 or 8 for diplomacy, you can get almost anything. This is very important when you want to
diplo-annex ---ask a
vassal to become annexed by you--- someone.
Furthermore early in the game, the ruler's diplomacy rating primarily determines the infamy 'burn rate' ---how fast your reputation among the world improves--- until other methods become available. The burn rate is 10% of the diplomacy rating per year. This will limit how aggressively a nation can expand early in the game. The diplomacy rating also determines the number of diplomats generated per year. This is particularly important for non-Christian nations, as Christian nations have bonuses ---2 diplomats per year for Catholics, 1 diplomat for the other faiths--- which other faiths don't have. The rating also increases the chance for the
Boundary Dispute event ---more on events later--- to fire which gives you free
cores ---cores will be discussed later.---
Let's hope he is a military genius then...
Okay, we are in bad luck. He isn't even that. A leader with a 3 on his military stats can't even raise a sword, let alone struck a blow. He gives some bonuses, but they are the very lowest you can get. If we ever want
to convert our king to a general---will be explained later---, he won't be any good.
---Here is something that you can remember easily. A rule of thumb: 7+ in a stats will speed up/allow better events, 3/4 in a stats will speed up/enable bad events.---
Henry isn't much for a king. Well, maybe his heir is.
Wow, apparently Henry is married to a smart woman. His son is moderate. If Henry the king would die a little early, his son can take the throne when aged 15-16. If the king would die now, we would get a
regency council until his son is old enough. Now you will probably notice something else, his claim strength. A claim on the throne ---not to confuse this with the diplomatic action
claim throne!--- is categorized in three strengths.
- Strong. When the king dies, his son takes over. No problems. Your legitimacy immediately falls to 80 if it's already higher than 80, but would also rise to 80 immediately if it's lower than 80.
- Moderate. If you just had a dynasty change, the rulers' heir would have a moderate claim on the throne. Here you can expect a pretender rebel to take over the throne instead. Your legitimacy immediately falls to 66 if it's already higher than that, but would also rise to 66 immediately if it's lower than 66.
- Weak. When the heir has a weak claim, our nation is in a bad position. Other nations may falsely claim that our crown belongs to them ---only when their prestige is higher than ours--- and pretender rebels will popup when the king dies. There is nothing you can do when the heir has a weak claim, only hope he dies in a hunting accident or gets ill. Your legitimacy immediately falls to 33 if it's already higher than that, but would also rise to 33 immediately if it's lower than 33.
Below the heir stats you see your advisors. I'm not totally sure that you see the same advisor as I have, but his name is Geoffery Chaucer. So what is so special about him? He is a four star advisor. That is quite good really, as an advisor can be anything between one and six stars. Well take a look to what he does.
Monthly stability investment +12. Have you got an idea what that means? Well it basically means that besides our investment in
stability ---is explained further down in this chapter--- he puts an additional 12 points to it every month! That means even if we don't invest anything in stability, it will get at least 12 points each month. However that would take forever to gain a level, so we need more than those 12 points.
Now an advisor can help you, but at a cost. This Geoffery guy needs to get paid 0.4 ducats each month. That is something we, as England, can overcome easily. Do you see the black spots beneath him? That are advisor places that are empty at the moment. That's a waste of a good advisor! So let us fill those places up.
Click on one of the empty black spaces
Here you can select a new advisor. I won't go into full details here about them all, but you will see different advisors than I do as they are randomized at the beginning of the game. So how do you know who to hire? Here are some recommendations for start advisors.
- If you see a Statesman ---my pretty avatar picture---, you can hire him. Hire the highest star ranked statesman advisor. He will help you with your governmental research ---explained below--- to make sure you'll get a National Idea ---will be explained--- as fast as possible. I personally always go for a statesman, other forumnites don't. I really depends on your game style.
- Depending on your strategic goals, a natural scientist or a land reformer are equally important as a statesman for being starting advisors. If you are going to war soon, a land reformer can help you to get better land technology ---technologies will be explained---. Natural scientist are important too as they will help speed up production technology which you need to get workshops.
- If you don't see a statesman, land reformer or a natural scientist, consider hiring a Master of Mint. He can help you battle inflation ---will be discussed in the next chapter.---
- A Master of Mint isn't always required at the beginning of the game. In stead I've chosen to increase my monthly income ---explained in the next chapter--- with a sheriff.
- Other high ranked advisors that you can hire at the beginning of the game:
Treasurer, Statesman, Natural Scientist, Army reformer and Naval Reformer. They become obsolete later in the game, but are terrific for a game start. Any of those are great for getting an edge in a technology you wish to specialize in.
Advisors have an age. When they are getting older, they cost less on the market. Young advisors costs the most. Their monthly costs stays the same though. From time to time they die and we need to search for a new one. All these advisors you see here on the market are yours to be hired for a whole year. So on October the 14th of the year 1400, our not hired advisors are cut loose from England and everyone in the
Western technology group ---will be explained below--- can hire them. In about a year from now, we need to pause the game and see if there are any good new advisors on the market.
Have you found any good advisors for your two spots?
Note that the advisors are in black and white now, that means you can't get rid of them for a month. After that you can switch again.
Remember I told you that this menu contains the brain of your nation? I wasn't lying, being a bit metaphorical. The following screen is
the most important in the game. I can't stress this enough. Many faults made by beginners are made here. Want to know what the heck I'm talking about and why you are warned here? Good plan. Here it is. ---Please, pay attention to this section as it really is the most important.---
The Budget Screen
---I'm going to be very detailed here to make sure you understand what you are looking at. I urge you to read this several times as some things may have changed since you last read it.---
For this purpose, and for this purpose only, we will start at the
right section of the screen. What do we see?
Well, we are in the
Western Technology group ---also known as the Latin technology group.--- The world is divided into several technology zones. Each zone has their own unit group. So in Western Europe you'll be fighting with pike men, while in Asia you have sumarai like troops. For the first part of the game, Eastern and Muslim cavalry troops are much better than Western onces. Troops will be explained later at more detailed level. Now the technology groups, here they are. ---Technology is researchable, will be discussed after this. Just bear with me on this one, all will be clear.---
- Western Europe technology group. All of Western Europe is in this group. The Western Europeans don't have any penalty to their research, so they will go the fastest.. Furthermore we get:
- A large bonus to our research when other Western technology nations are ahead of us.
- When a province is explored by a Western Europe nation ---like Portugal---, we discover that province automatically after 50 years ---this can be modified at the beginning of the game. ---the spread of land/sea provinces.---
- Eastern Europe technology group. This group contains, like the name suggest, Eastern Europe. Technology is slower researched, as they need to pay 11% more for their technology research. That is, every new research level needs 11% more research points to be completed. So what is bad about that? Well, whoever has the highest technology can easily beat somebody else. On land, on sea but also on an economic level.
- Ottoman technology group. Yes, the Turks have their own group as they were a 'special case' in the Renaissance. They research their stuff a tiny bit slower than the East Europeans, as their research costs 11,76% more than the Europeans. A very big plus for the Ottomans is that their technology starts at level 6, while the Europeans start at level 3. The Ottomans are almost 75 years ahead at the start of the game.
- Muslim technology group. The Muslim group contains the entire Middle East and Muslim North African countries. They pay 12,5% more than the Europeans, but like the Turks, they start at level 6.
- Indian technology group. This means India, not native Americans. The Indians pay 20% more than the Europeans. They don't get compensated as they too start at level 3, like the Europeans.
- Chinese technology group. This is Asia, I don't know exactly where the borders lie. They need to pay 25% more than the Europeans. Everyone in the Chinese technology group starts at level 3.
- Sub-Saharan technology group. ---Formerly known as the African group.--- All the nations in Africa are in this group, with the important exception of the Muslim North Africans. They need to pay 50% more for their research. All their technologies start at level 1. It is not possible to build boats if you don't Westernize ---will be explained in a bit.---
- New World technology group. This is group is meant to not advance. Even in 1820 they would still be very very very far behind. Every nation in this group ---all the tribes in North and South America--- needs to pay 100% more to advance in research and what's even worse is that they start their technology at level 0. That's right, zero. Plus, they also can't build boats if they don't Westernize at least twice.
Now what does this mean? It means that the West Europeans will always be more advanced than any other country, just like in history. There is a way to escape and become very advanced yourself when you are in a other technology group than the Western one, that is to
Westernize. That is for advanced players, so I won't go into detail. But basically it means that will do everything you can to get into a higher technology group. Each time you Westernize, you jump 1 group higher. Take a note, the AI does seldom
Westernize, as I have yet to see it.
Now I've spoken about technology groups, but what are technologies specifically? And, I also seem to think
monthly income is important. What is that? Well, let's start with the technologies.
Technologies are divided in levels. Nearly each level unlocks something, be it a building, new troops, a new
National Idea, anything. To get to a new level, a specific number of points must be invested. This is done monthly. The slider determines how many points get invested into each technology. The total amount of points you need to invest is dependent on several things.
- Your inflation level. ---We will discuss this later.---
- Your innovation - narrowmindness slider setting ---We will get to that later.---
- The amount of provinces you have. ---Getting bigger isn't always better!---
- Specific buildings decrease the amount of points to be invested or provide a monthly investment of their own.
As you can see, there are 7 sliders. Let's focus on the first five.
- Government. This is your governmental research. You can adjust the slider, put it to the right to try it out now. The more to the right, the more money is invested and the faster you reach the next level. If you hold your mouse above the slider, it will tell you when we reach the next level and what that unlocks. In this case a new National Idea ---will be explained--- and temples. Governmental research is important for your National Ideas, important buildings and new forms of governments. It is very important almost throughout the game.
- Production. The production slider is also important. The higher it gets, the higher your production efficiency will be. This efficiency will determine how much money of your production value will actually go into research. The higher, the better. Production research is important as it unlocks various important buildings, like workshops and factories. Production is even more important if you want to conquer lot's of land and don't want or can't trade very good ---as trade requires low infamy, which you probably don't have when you go conquering.---
- Trade. Invest in trade to increase your trade efficiency and compete chance of your merchants. Trade also unlocks important buildings like the marketplace. As we are going for a large trade empire, trade will be important for us.
- Naval. Naval is your research of the sea. Here is decided how well our fleets can fight, but also how far we can colonize. Naval technologies also unlock better ships, which we need to fight our wars and protect our trade lanes across the ocean. As England, naval will be more important to us than land.
- Land. Land is also one of the most important technologies in the game, just like government. As you might have guessed, land technology determines the way we fight our battles on land. With each new level, our troops fight better and have more morale so they can withstand more damage. Land technology unlocks better troops and eventually cannons.
Now you know what those sliders do. But what about the flash of lightning thingy? Well, ignore that. That will grab 200 ducats ---money--- from your treasury and invest 100 points in the selected technology. That's a waste! Don't you ever do that.
I think you already know that the number behind a slider is the current technology level.
Now what about that sixth slider? Well, that is your stability slider. Here is decided how much money gets invested into restoring order. You probably remember me going on about how important stability is,
so put this slider to the full right and right click it. You will notice all the other sliders go to the left, so while we are increasing our stability, all researched is being slowed. That's why it's important to get stability up again so we can focus on research. When you right click any slider, it will get
locked so it doesn't move when our monthly income is suddenly changed. You can
unlock it by right clicking it again.
Okay, you have learned enough for now. We will continue with the next chapter called
Coat of Arms menu. Part 2:
Monthly income and inflation.