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EU4 - Development Diary - 10th of April 2018

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.

Most Serene.png


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.
 
  • 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
Does this mean that Merchant Republics don't have normal election cycles anymore?


Gosh, I hope so! It would solve so many issues with Merchant Republics - and it'd be historical.
 
Merchant republics aren't for playing wide, they're for playing tall. What they should have however is a way to become some different form of republic if they get to wide.

That is YOUR opinion. I like playing wide as a Merchant Republic. It's how I ran Novgorod and I'd like to do it with nations like Venice or Lucca.
Railroading one gameplay style is not something Paradox should be in the business of doing. Torpedoing Merchant Republics was one of the worst "features" added to EU4 in recent memory.
 
That is YOUR opinion. I like playing wide as a Merchant Republic. It's how I ran Novgorod and I'd like to do it with nations like Venice or Lucca.
Railroading one gameplay style is not something Paradox should be in the business of doing. Torpedoing Merchant Republics was one of the worst "features" added to EU4 in recent memory.

Eh.... Merchant Republics shouldn't play like Russia, or least they should be able to "be Russia" as well as Russia - that's immersion breaking for both MRs and Russia. That being said, there is a lack of flexibility currently around MRs. Once you hit your 20-province cap you're penalized pretty immediately. At least with the Prussian Monarchy you can be big - you just won't be able to take advantage of militarism as effectively. By contrast, being a big MR means you lose out on the major thing that makes republics good - MP generation. You pay Republican Tradition for both re-election and having more provinces.

HOWEVER, if rulers in MRs ruled for life (which looks like may be happening) it would mean that one major source of RT drain is eliminated and expanding beyond the original 20-province cap becomes far less penalizing even if it does still hurt stability cost and the like.

Also, if this DLC really is about Italy like some have suggested, there's a chance there'll be unique mechanics for the Italian MRs.
 
What about special governments for Cossack state Zaporozhia Sich? Now they are nomads but it is isnt right.
This must called "Getmanat" Ruler must be Getman, Became Getmanat can only nations in Ukraine and today South Russia.
Mechanic will be close to Dutch Republic. Cossacks elect Getman for all his life and can impeach him if he lose several wars. Cossacks can elect his son and became something close to monarchy but it is isnt monarchy and isnt republic.
х2
 
Since government (and especially republic) is the theme of this diary, and of the next expansion, I strongly beg you to give us the modding opportunity to define which government type (in this case which republican reform which unlocks the revolutionary republic) can get the revolutionary flags. Or even better, make it part of vanilla.

It is extremely sad that only the "revolution target" can get a revolutionary flag, while IRL most countries which adopted this government type adopted a republican flag, not only France and its sattelite client states.

And please add an option for it to be horizontally superimposed, like it is in many countries (Russia, Poland, Belgium...)

Exemple
Code:
revolutionary_colors = { 15  0  16 horizontal = yes }
 
This looks great, I can't wait! Good work paradox, however could you please please please tell the developers working on ckii and eu4 to fix the ckii to eu4 converter.

I know eu4 and ckii have both had updates since the converter was first released but a good look at the converter wouldn't be remiss since you're charging nearly £10 for it.

I hope this plea reaches the right pairs of eyes, if so a vague promise of fixing it would suffice and would probably go a long way to repairing some of the steam reviews of this ckii DLC.
 
  • Frequent Elections vs consolidation of power
    • -1 years between elections, -10 max absolutism
    • +1 year between elections, +10 max absolutism
Merchant Republics like Genoa or Venice had life-term election... but they elected leaders of old age (usually 50-60+), which resulted in random term duration.
Why not represent this in a similar manner to CK2 : the higher the age, the more chance of election (i.e, 1 chance of electing a 50 years old, 2 chances a 51 years old, 3 chances for a 52 years old, etc)
 
While I highly enjoy how OP short election times seem before Age of Absolutism, I think longer election times need some kind of buff. At the very least Noble Republics. I know it isn't final numbers though.

Edit:
+1 to all stats could be really cool if all else will stay the same, and would be an interesting counterbalance to the republics that just pool tradition or offset re-election cost and then just re-election spam young rulers to godmode.
 
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Will the republics have some built-in malus to max absolutism (apart from bonuses/maluses given by reforms) which was not mentioned in the original post? If not it looks like with "Strengthen executive powers: +25 Max Absolutism", republics are going to have higher max absolutism than many monarchies... :confused:
 
Will the republics have some built-in malus to max absolutism (apart from bonuses/maluses given by reforms) which was not mentioned in the original post? If not it looks like with "Strengthen executive powers: +25 Max Absolutism", republics are going to have higher max absolutism than many monarchies... :confused:

I haven't seen anything saying otherwise.
 
Will the republics have some built-in malus to max absolutism (apart from bonuses/maluses given by reforms) which was not mentioned in the original post? If not it looks like with "Strengthen executive powers: +25 Max Absolutism", republics are going to have higher max absolutism than many monarchies... :confused:

Why not check the manual for the most up to date info on the reforms?
 
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