EU4 - Development Diary - 10th of April 2018

[DDRJake]

Good day! Today we're getting right into the dev diary by continuing on from last week, where we announced large changes to the Government System in Europa Universalis IV. Last week we talked about Monarchies, today, by popular request, let's look at Republics.

I'll start by re-iterating that these changes will not result in the removal of special government mechanics with or without the expansion. The Militarization of the Prussian Monarchy, Mamluk Government Interactions, Dutch republic mechanics etc will all still be in the game, and tied to Government Reforms rather than being a specific government type in itself.

Also the new government reforms are part of the upcoming yet unannounced Expansion Pack. For those who get the 1.26 update but not the expansion, you will still have access to the different government mechanics, but not the new reform choices seen below.

Our Government Reforms interface is coming along, with significantly fewer placeholders than before. Now, outside of Hordes, Republics are my favourite government types. No regencies ever, control over which monarch points you get, ruler generals aplenty. That said it's clear to see that since Absolutism arrived on the scene, they have been left feeling a little lackluster, not to mention they have always been that bit too inflexible.

With that in mind, the Republican Reform path contains up to ten different reforms, putting them ahead as the most diverse set we're adding. Let's see what's on offer (all values and effects very subject to balance and change)

• Oligarchy vs Merchant Class vs Noble Elite
  • Oligarchy: +5% Tax, elections every 4 Years
  • Merchants: Enables Merchant Republic mechanics, -10 max Absolutism
  • Noble Elite: +0.25 Army Tradition, + Nobility Estate influence, elections every 8 years
  • Presidential Despot:
  • Revolutionary Republic - (Special for Revolutionary Target)
  • [Other Special Republics]
• Republican Virtues
  • Autocratic: -1 Unrest
  • Nepotism: Each candidate get +1 random stat
  • Republicanism: +0.2 republican tradition
• Frequent Elections vs consolidation of power
  • -1 years between elections, -10 max absolutism
  • +1 year between elections, +10 max absolutism
• Federalism vs Unitarism vs Confederacy
  • Provincial Governments: -25% State Maintenance
  • Administrative Divisions: +5 States
  • Union of States: +10% Global Trade Power
  • Seizure of Power: [HIDDEN]
• Parliamentary vs Presidential
  • Parliamentary: Enables Parliaments if Common Sense DLC, else -1 Unrest
  • Presidential Rule: -10% Institution Embracement Cost
• Consolidation of Power
  • Broaden Executive powers: -15% Stability cost
  • Devolution of powers: +1 Diplomat
• Guiding Principle of Administration
  • Political Principle - +1 [HIDDEN]
  • Moral Principle - +1 [HIDDEN]
• Electorate
  • Landholders: +10% Manpower Recovery Speed
  • Citizenry: +10% Land Morale
• Office Selection
  • Sortition: -0.05 Yearly Corruption
  • Universal Suffrage: +1 Accepted Culture
• Question of Dictatorship
  • Seize Executive Power: Become Monarchy, lose 4 reforms
  • Proclaim Divine Guidance: Become a Theocracy, lose 6 reforms
  • Strengthen executive powers: +25 Max Absolutism
  • Reinforce Republican Values: +1 [HIDDEN] -25% Republican Tradition Cost of re-elections
  • Revolutionary Empire (For Revolutionary Target): Makes ruler into a Dictator

Next week we will round off by looking at what's in store for Theocracies and Tribals with these government changes. After-which we might even start hinting at where this upcoming expansion and Update focuses on.

 

[Alfray Stryke]

Obviously the Revolutionary reforms are locked until late game, but are any of the other reform tech- or idea- gated?

 

[Groogy]

I don't understand. Does this mean that if you don't get the expansion, you don't get reforms i.e. bonuses, so your government will have the same characteristics in 1800 as it did in 1450, or that you get "reforms" but don't get choices of what those reforms will be, or something else?

It sounds like you'd be better off not updating to 1.26 if you don't get the expansion. (Edit: at least you keep some choices if you don't update, and your upgrades are tied to your government tech level, which makes sense and is a whole lot easier to mod, rather than having what seem to be effectively two government tech levels determined by completely different things.)

If you don't own the expansion, you will have the new reform system, however the reforms will be a select group that will give you similar effects to like it did before this patch.
As an example the Ambrosian Republic government reform looks like this(of course preliminary values subject to change!!!):

#Special for Milan
ambrosian_republic_legacy = {
    # government mechanics flags go here
    legacy_government = yes
    unique_government = yes
    valid_for_new_country = no
    allow_convert = yes
  
    duration = 4
  
    republican_name = yes
    royal_marriage = no
  
    valid_for_nation_designer = yes
    nation_designer_cost = 10  
    max_states = 2
  

   allowed_ranks = { 1 2 3 }
    republic = yes
    modifiers = {
        global_tax_modifier = 0.10
        land_morale = 0.05
        global_autonomy = -0.025  
        max_absolutism = -30
    }
}

 

[Groogy]

I can't really see anyone picking State Maintenance over States of Global Trade Power given how little money it usually saves. Will there be any rework to how state maintenance is handled/calculated along with this patch? Elsewise it might be better to change it to something else.

State Maintenance is applied *after* State Edicts cost is added on. So if you have -100% State Maintenance then they cost nothing and in that way the State Maintenance modifier is indirectly much more powerful than you think.

@DDRJake or @Groogy, which region will be the focused region?

The Expansion will focus on the [REDACTED]

edit: Hmm that's weird... when I write [REDACTED] it becomes like this
Welp guess you will have to just wait until we announce it

 

[Groogy]

No the Government Ranks are separated out, so now they'll apply equally on all government types instead.

 

[Groogy]

That'd be cool if it getting -100% state maintenance were actually possible. Right now state maintenance modifiers are almost non-existent.

I did it in the Dev Clash easily. Think I got up to 125% as well so I got it even cheaper on further away state

 

[Groogy]

- are forced government ranks still a thing in new expansion? I mean instances like Papal kingdom, knightly duchies, veche duchies etc.

Yes

Wouldn't reforms that change your government be one of those that are available in vanilla? It is the old feature just transfered to the new system.

Correct

 

[Alfray Stryke]

I would just like to have my 2-2-2 republic leaders. I don't want to have to choose one stat to prioritize over others all the time. Most of the time I just want balanced MP income. I run out of ADM all the time, but if I set my focus to ADM and then select a 4-1-1 ruler I will probably have too much and then have to ''waste'' it on development.

The alternative would be to give republic leaders random stats of course.

Random idea I just had, if Estates/Factions are ever going to be revamped, have rulers tied to Estates with random stats - similar to Theocracies?

 

[Groogy]

I want to remind on the modifiers shown in these dev diaries. Everything is super early in production and none of these are final. People have voiced concern of nepotism, it will not necessarily look like this at release which is far far off. The modifier is a placeholder and was just me randomly writing "Here's nepotism and some modifier to associate with it". We'll probably keep the name nepotism though, but change the effect eventually.

 

[DDRJake]

Hope the Strengthen Government trick for RT is still around, but it's nice I have a chance to have my cake and be absolute with it too.

There is no intention to remove "Strengthen Government"

@DDRJake
Will the new update be focused on the European country / region? And will the new DLC be an immersion pack?

We will talk about the focus in a later dev diary

The next expansion will be a $20 expansion akin to Rights of Man, Mandate of Heaven or Cradle of Civilization in terms of size, changes and features. It will not be an Immersion Pack like Rule Britannia or Third Rome.