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EU4 - Development Diary - 12th of January 2021

After a few weeks without Dev Diaries, I am happy to present you a new one. I hope you all had a great time during them!

When I joined Paradox in October, Polynesia was not included in this Expansion. Considering it was the last part of the Earth without representation, I thought it would be nice to have some work done on it, so I proposed some ideas that I am happy to share with you all.

But, before I start, I would like to thank @Meka66 for his help and work that has greatly inspired me for this project.

THE MAP
The map has been slightly changed, since the basic needed setup was already there. However, in order to go a bit deeper, a few provinces have been added here and there. Do note that the flags are still a placeholder and not the final result.

Starting with Fiji, the archipelago has been divided in three provinces: one for each big island (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) and a third one for the Lau archipelago that had a great influence from Tonga. Each province has a country inhabiting it, which is an abstraction of the many clans that populated each island. Should you unite them all under your banner, you will be able to form Viti.

Fiji Archipelago.png

[Fiji Archipelago and TAGs]​

In New Zealand a new province has been added in North Island which has the most populated one by the Maori people. The number of countries, though, goes up to 7. Six of them (Mataatua, Tainui, Takitimu, Taranaki, Te Arawa and Te Tai Tokerau) are in the Northern Island and Waitaha is in the Southern One. As in the case of Fiji, a Maori country that manages to unite the area is able to form Aotearoa.

New Zealand Archipelago.png

[New Zealand Archipelago and TAGs]​

Finally, the greatest transformation has been done in the Hawaiian Archipelago, that has gone from one province to four. Each province has their own country attached (Hawai’i, Kaua’i, Maui and O’ahu). As in the other cases, there is a formable for the unifiers of the islands.

Hawaii Archipelago.png

[Hawaii Archipelago and TAGs]​

A Polynesian rework could not let the two most important countries out: Samoa and Tonga.

Samoa & Tonga Archipelago.png

[Samoan and Tongan Archipelagos and TAGs]​

THE MISSIONS
As in the case of the Americas, the mission tree consists of a general common mission tree for every country and some specific missions for each country or group of them.

Tongan Mission Tree.png

[Tonga Mission Tree]
(Notice that all icons are still placeholders)​

Tonga is probably the most important TAG during this period. Despite the fact that the Tongan Empire is no more, a skillful player could rebuild it, bringing not only the neighboring islands under the control of Tongatapu, but go even further.

Some highlights of this tree include:
  • Bringing both Fiji and Samoa under your control again.
  • Recovering the Tongan Empire.
  • Expand even further.

Samoan Mission Tree.png

[Samoan Mission Tree]
(Notice that all icons are still placeholders).​

If Tonga was the political power during the period, Samoa was the cultural one. Most of the Pacific was colonized from there and from there were most of the traditions that ruled the lives of the Polynesians.

Some highlights of this tree include:
  • Recover the place as the cultural center.
  • Challenge Tonga.
  • Replace Tonga as the main power in the Pacific.

In order to not spoil the surprise, I will let you discover what the missions for the Maori the Fijian and the Hawaiian countries consist of.

THE NATIONAL IDEAS
Adding new TAGs would not be the same if they were not accompanied by their National Ideas.

Starting with the Fijians TAGs, their warring nature brought them a reputation of ruthless combatants, feared by everyone. But Fijians were also deeply religious people and famous shipbuilding artisans. All these things are represented in their National Ideas, making them a rather expansionist set.

Code:
fijian_ideas = {
    start = {
        light_ship_power = 0.1
        naval_attrition = -0.1
    }
  
    bonus = {
        ae_impact = -0.2
    }
  
    trigger = {
        OR = {
            tag = LAI
            tag = VIL
            #TODO: tag = VIT
            tag = VNL
        }
    }
    free = yes
  
    fijian_crossroad = {
        num_accepted_cultures = 2
    }
    fijian_degel = {
        range = 0.1
        global_ship_trade_power = 0.1
    }
    fijian_conjoined = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.02
    }
    fijian_waqa = {
        prestige_from_naval = 0.4
    }
    fijian_cannibal = {
        army_tradition_from_battle = 0.25
        prestige_from_land = 0.4
    }
    fijian_kai = {
        land_attrition = -0.25
    }
    fijian_confederacy = {
        global_tax_modifier = 0.05
        production_efficiency = 0.05
    }
}
[Fijian National Ideas]​

As in the case of the Fijians, the Maori are famed for their bravery and constant warfare. Their set of ideas is focused on land combat, without disregarding ways to keep the land around a strong leader.

Code:
maori_ideas = {
    start = {
        global_regiment_recruit_speed = -0.10
        harsh_treatment_cost = -0.20
    }
  
    bonus = {
        prestige = 1
    }
  
    trigger = {
        primary_culture = maori
    }
    free = yes
  
    sons_of_kupe = {
        global_sailors_modifier = 0.10
        range = 0.10
    }
    kaikiakitanga = {
        tolerance_own = 1
    }
    kaumatua = {
        stability_cost_modifier = -0.20
    }
    kapa_haka = {
        land_morale = 0.10
    }
    pa_defence = {
        fort_maintenance_modifier = -0.10
    }
    te_moko = {
        leader_land_shock = 1
    }
    maori_king = {
        core_creation = -0.10
        legitimacy = 1
    }
}
[Maori National Ideas]​

As with the missions, we’d better not spoil the surprise by showing everything, am I right? I have a challenge for those that love them: try a world conquest with a Polynesian TAG! There are a couple of things in this area that could help you in that adventure. ;)

THE EVENTS
Events are one of the parts I like the most. While not as much time as I would have liked has been available, I have added more than 40 events to the area, including general events, specific Country events and even a few Easter eggs that I hope you can find and enjoy!

Fiji Event.png

Practice is what makes you a good warrior, after all.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).

Hawaii Event.png

This event can be very nasty if you are in a very bad shape.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).

Samoan Event.png

As Samoa, you will be given the choice to reform your society a bit or go on with the traditions with every ruler.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).​

THE EXTRAS
There are a few things that have been added in order to create a bigger sense of immersion.

Maori culture has been created, separated from the main Polynesian branch. By the start of the game, the Maori were abandoning the Archaic Maori Period and entering a transformation one. The Iwi became more sedentary and their once pacific nature became more warlike as competition for resources becomes more central. New traditions had evolved by this time that justifies separating them from their islander cousins.

A new Polynesian technology group has been created. This technology group is between that of the Mesoamericans and the North Americans in penalty, but starts at tech 2.

Most Estates have been renamed to their proper versions to increase the flavor.

And some extra surprises here and there.

For now this is all. We still have lots of things to show, so just be patient and enjoy the time in between, everything will come!
 
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This sounds cool, but there are two things that I find quite iritating here: the colors and the name placement.

First of all, there's too much of red. Tonga, Samoa, one tag in Hawaii, one in New Zealand. For 100% there will be constant confusion.

Second, colors on North Island. I don't want to be rude, but this is terrible, literally the worst color palette in the whole game right now. It looks like someone created a qouple of custom nations with random colors. A quick fix would be propably to change black to grey(ish), make dark blue a little lighter, yellow to light blue, red to light pink, something like that.

And last but not least, do something with that name placement, make use of the nudge tool and manually set the positions, exactly like it is in the rest of the world (e.g. Baleares).
 
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I think "Primitive" is the word you're after?

Regardless, will we be seeing restrictions on ship building (such as banning all ships or banning non-cogs before reforming?)

Ah yes, primitive. My bad, I think it's called native in the code, though.

Polynesians can normally build ships.

Will you hate me if I ask you to wait for the answer to your question? You'll have it answered before the DLC is released or at worst when you play it.

Not really hate, don't worry.
I just got too excited for a moment, because I'd really love to tinker around with the "primitive" status a bit more.
(right now as a primitive in 1.30 it is hardcoded that you can't embrace institutions you've deved up, can't build ships, nahuatl/inti/mayan only works when not reformed and they can't have government reforms).
I saw Groogy adding Government Reforms for them back when he showed the North American rework, so I kind of hoped they also added in ships for anything that's primitive, at least for maybe later techs?

Sorry if I've driven you offtopic. o_O
 
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I kinda wish there were bit fewer tags and more uncolonized provinces in the regions, but I understand that the EU colonization system is inflexible. Majority of the uncolonized provinces could be tags, but that would probably not have a positive effect on game play.
 
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Ah yes, primitive. My bad, I think it's called native in the code, though.



Not really hate, don't worry.
I just got too excited for a moment, because I'd really love to tinker around with the "primitive" status a bit more.
(right now as a primitive in 1.30 it is hardcoded that you can't embrace institutions you've deved up, can't build ships, nahuatl/inti/mayan only works when not reformed and they can't have government reforms).
I saw Groogy adding Government Reforms for them back when he showed the North American rework, so I kind of hoped they also added in ships for anything that's primitive, at least for maybe later techs?

Sorry if I've driven you offtopic. o_O
I was mostly teasing you. I can assure you there will be an answer to your question soon.
 
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I'm wondering, are there many empty provinces left in the pacific? Because this feels like it's gonna make picking Exploration ideas much less enticing when playing a colonial Japan game.
It would be nice if there was some sort of system allowing the colonization of provinces with primitive tags on them
 
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Are all of these tags in one cultural group or no?
 
The author of Oceania Universalis works in Paradox and I have taken some inspiration from it and help from him. ;) His mod is still valid (if updated) to be played along with this if you want to.

The colors of the Maori are based on the color I found they had words for, ofc, I am open for suggestions.

I really like the western side of Aotearoa (especially the new blue) though I think the yellow could stand to be like a canary color but the east has a lot of muddy dark colors all right next to each other, Red, Brown, Black. I don't have specific suggestions (I know promant just made some suggestions here of their own), but in general I would like the eastern side of the island to be a lot less saturated and have less concentrated intense darkness. Like promant said, it looks a bit like custom nation color palettes as is.

Hawaii is pretty good but has a red next to an extremely saturated violet. I would sub in a cooler color like a blue instead of the red.

Tonga and Samoa have a similar problem to hawaii with the radioactive violet and the red. So much similar looking red and violet in such a small region will end up confusing on the map.

You might even look back at Oceania Expanded for some color inspiration.
 
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Are all of these tags in one cultural group or no?
They are in the pacific cultural group.

I really like the western side of Aotearoa (especially the new blue) though I think the yellow could stand to be like a canary color but the east has a lot of muddy dark colors all right next to each other, Red, Brown, Black. I don't have specific suggestions (I know promant just made some suggestions here of their own), but in general I would like the eastern side of the island to be a lot less saturated and have less concentrated intense darkness. Like promant said, it looks a bit like custom nation color palettes as is.

Hawaii is pretty good but has a red next to an extremely saturated violet. I would sub in a cooler color like a blue instead of the red.

Tonga and Samoa have a similar problem to hawaii with the radioactive violet and the red. So much similar looking red and violet in such a small region will end up confusing on the map.

You might even look back at Oceania Expanded for some color inspiration.
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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WHOOOOOA FUCKING HYPE

Spectacular job, @Aldaron . Like some others have mentioned, I might have liked to see some unique mechanics for the Polynesians to make the region feel more distinct, but as it is, I wasn’t expecting to see any new content for Oceania and am ecstatic that you’ve added all these tags and provinces to give it new life. Thanks for your work!

I do have a question, though. With all these islands now populated, does this change the balance of how colonizers expand across the Pacific? If I’m starting as, say, Kilwa or Uesugi, does this significantly hamper my ability to reach Mexico before the Europeans? I’m curious to hear the results that have shown up in your test games.

I’m still looking forward to a dev diary about the mysterious new religion in Australia, but all in all, this was an excellent way to start off the new year. Cheers!
 
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I'm wondering, are there many empty provinces left in the pacific? Because this feels like it's gonna make picking Exploration ideas much less enticing when playing a colonial Japan game.
It would be nice if there was some sort of system allowing the colonization of provinces with primitive tags on them

considering most of these are 1 province areas that have been split into new provinces, there are still going to be loads of open provinces. That said, it would be nice if the finisher for exploration allows fabrication on these even though they're not in a colonial region (Bar New Zealand)

Actually now I mention colonial regions, Is New Zealand still in colonial Australia or is it its own thing?
 
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WHOOOOOA FUCKING HYPE

Spectacular job, @Aldaron . Like some others have mentioned, I might have liked to see some unique mechanics for the Polynesians to make the region feel more distinct, but as it is, I wasn’t expecting to see any new content for Oceania and am ecstatic that you’ve added all these tags and provinces to give it new life. Thanks for your work!

I do have a question, though. With all these islands now populated, does this change the balance of how colonizers expand across the Pacific? If I’m starting as, say, Kilwa or Uesugi, does this significantly hamper my ability to reach Mexico before the Europeans? I’m curious to hear the results that have shown up in your test games.

I’m still looking forward to a dev diary about the mysterious new religion in Australia, but all in all, this was an excellent way to start off the new year. Cheers!
All of the tags shown take up the equivalent of 4 provinces in 1.30 afaik (except the Maori Iwis which fall under the exploration finisher), there are loads left to take.
 
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There are still a good bunch of provinces to colonize.
Oops, sorry, didn’t see this. Still, I’m curious if this changes the dynamic at all as colonizers spread across the Pacific. It’ll be cool to see if things play out differently than that have in past patches.
 
A few corrections.

In the Tongan Mission Tree 'Island Hoping' should be spelt Island Hopping.

In the Living Target event, 'ocasion' should be spelt with two 'c's as occasion.

And in the Fa'matai System event the line "Every Ruler of these islands have hold one of these titles" is mixing tenses. It should be "Every ruler of these islands has held one of these titles"

Looks great besides that though.
 
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WHOOOOOA FUCKING HYPE

Spectacular job, @Aldaron . Like some others have mentioned, I might have liked to see some unique mechanics for the Polynesians to make the region feel more distinct, but as it is, I wasn’t expecting to see any new content for Oceania and am ecstatic that you’ve added all these tags and provinces to give it new life. Thanks for your work!

I do have a question, though. With all these islands now populated, does this change the balance of how colonizers expand across the Pacific? If I’m starting as, say, Kilwa or Uesugi, does this significantly hamper my ability to reach Mexico before the Europeans? I’m curious to hear the results that have shown up in your test games.

I’m still looking forward to a dev diary about the mysterious new religion in Australia, but all in all, this was an excellent way to start off the new year. Cheers!
1610446346181.png


I have counted 17 free provinces. So there should be enough space for colonization.

Also, the Pacific is still a Colonial Region. That has not changed.
 
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Do note that numbers are always open to change when they are tested more. I take note for that.

We are well aware that what we do will not always be liked by everyone or as a whole. I think a honest, respectful conversation is always a good thing so do not hesitate to share your worries. At least I am personally open to criticism. We might still disagree, though. I would ask you to try to enjoy these TAGs, though, perhaps you discover something new.
Overall, I think the new national ideas seem very reasonable. Considering how difficult the Maori were to conquer/how formidable their opposition proved to colonizers, though, I’d suggest buffing them a little more. Maybe keeping those you’ve made, but making the shock pip idea give two pips instead of one. That seems like a good fix to me.
 
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Great job. I think these 'side projects' of natives give some equality to the game and teach, at least me, more about other people's history. I grew up with luckyluke and Peter Pan, which gave ofcourse a wrong and dated view about natives. Compliments for your work!
 
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Do note that numbers are always open to change when they are tested more. I take note for that.

We are well aware that what we do will not always be liked by everyone or as a whole. I think a honest, respectful conversation is always a good thing so do not hesitate to share your worries. At least I am personally open to criticism. We might still disagree, though. I would ask you to try to enjoy these TAGs, though, perhaps you discover something new.

I'm not a huge fan of content dev diaries, but it's refreshing to get answers from a dev even on the harder, more negative question. I hope this will stay the same when we have mechanic/balance dev diaries.
 
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A few corrections.

In the Tongan Mission Tree 'Island Hoping' should be spelt Island Hopping.

In the Living Target event, 'ocasion' should be spelt with two 'c's as occasion.

And in the Fa'matai System event the line "Every Ruler of these islands have hold one of these titles" is mixing tenses. It should be "Every ruler of these islands has held one of these titles"

Looks great besides that though.
Thanks, there is always a typo here and there.
 
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