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EU4 - Development Diary - 14th of July 2020

Good morning! Last week I revealed that the focus of the next update is South-East Asia, and gave a brief overview of the map setup for the mainland part of that region. Following on from that, today we’re going to look at Maritime South-East Asia.

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This rework is somewhat more radical than the rework of the mainland, which focussed primarily on adding detail and tactical depth to the existing setup. For the Maritime region I wanted to provide a very different and much more engaging campaign experience that reflected the thriving and diverse Malay world that existed historically.

First thing to note is that all of the surrounding sea zones have been converted to Inland Seas, meaning that galleys get combat bonuses in the region. Naval warfare was very important in the Malay world, and Malay fleets tended to consist of smaller vessels not unlike those used in Mediterranean warfare.

Let’s take a closer look at the map:

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Seen here is the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra. Pattani and Kedah are no longer one-province minors; Pattani receives the inland province of Gerik, which historians believe may have been the origin of the kingdom, whie Kedah receives Penang, which would eventually become a point of conflict between the Sultanate and the British East India Company.

Malacca remains the dominant power on the Peninsula, but no longer controls the eastern half. The Sultanate of Kelantan and the Kingdom of Pahang are now independent. Pahang is the last non-Muslim polity on the Peninsula, and would historically be conquered by Malacca in 1454 and made into a vassal state. Its last Maharaja, Dewa Sura, sits upon a precarious throne. Kelantan is another city-state that would eventually fall to Malacca, and in 1444 shares a dynasty with the Sumatran nation of Jambi. Malacca has gained the province of Singapura, modern Singapore. Singapura is the origin of the Malacca Sultanate, and according to legend also the origin of many other Malay dynasties.

Quite a lot has changed on Sumatra. Besides its many additional nations and provinces, the central inland part of the island is now impassable. This to emphasize the importance of navies in the region and reflect how difficult it was to march armies across this hostile terrain.

There are several accounts of the origins of the Aceh Sultanate, located at the northern tip of Sumatra. It is generally considered to have come into being at the end of the 15th Century, being preceded by a kingdom named Lamuri about which we know little. I have opted to take a slightly ahistorical route and represent Aceh as a Sultanate in 1444. Aceh is one of the historical “winners” of the region; Sultan Iskandar Muda launched a successful campaign in the 17th Century that resulted in the conquests of much of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and prior to that Aceh was already the dominant power in northern and western Sumatra. Aceh is also referred to as the “Porch of Mecca” owing to its importance in the spread of Islam to Maritime South-East Asia.

Western Sumatra is ruled by the Hindu and Buddhist nations of Barus, Pagaruyung, and Indrapura. Eastern Sumatra is far more Islamized, with the Sultanate of Deli, Siak, and Jambi having embraced the Sunni faith and leaving Palembang as the last Hindu state on that side of the island. On the topic of Palembang, it remains under the rule of Chinese elites following the expulsion of the pirates by Zheng He, and players that own Golden Century still have the option to restore the pirates to power. Palembang has received an additional province on the southern tip of the island; the area today known as Lampung produced an immense amount of pepper and as such has been given a significant goods produced modifier.


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Onwards to Java! The familiar kingdoms of Majapahit (Mahajapit, Majahapit, Mapajahit, Mahapajit, Mapajahit, Majahapit?) and Sunda have received a fair few additional provinces - Java is a very populated place both historically and today. Sunda is now the home of the Sundanese people, a new culture in the Malay group made distinct from Javanese. Two new nations appear on the map in 1444: Blambangan and Bali. Both are represented as Tributary States of Majapahit. Majapahit is a nation in its death throes. An empire that once spanned across Maritime South-East Asia is now struggling to hold together its remaining Javanese territory. We’ll talk more about the fall (and potential resurgence) of Majapahit in a later dev diary.


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Here we have Borneo (left), Sulawesi (center) and the Moluccas (right). These more distant nations, with the very notable exception of Brunei, have yet to embrace Islam and follow a mix of Hindu and Animist faiths. The Hindu kingdoms of Borneo are Sambas, Berau, Kutai, and Banjar. The Animist kingdoms of Sulawesi are Makassar, Bone, Luwu, and Buton. Coastal Borneo would become dominated by the Bruneian Empire during our period, which will be reflected in Brunei’s mission tree. The interior of Borneo remains impassable. Even today it is extremely difficult to traverse except by its indigenous tribal people, and no nation in our time period attempted to make incursions into the interior, being fully aware of the impossibility of maintaining rule.

Ternate and Tidore are the only nations in the aptly named Spice Islands. Tidore and Ternate share a small mission tree that allows them to colonize the surrounding islands. In 1444 they have a monopoly on a new trade good: Cloves. Cloves initially exist only on Tidore and Ternate themselves, but have a very high chance of being discovered on colonized provinces in the surrounding islands. With a base price of 8, a province effect of +20% local trade power, and a trading bonus of +5% trade efficiency Cloves are by far the most desirable trade good in the game prior to the availability of Coal. Note that as always, numbers presented in dev diaries are not final.


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The formable nation of Malaya has undergone several changes. Firstly, the requirements have changed to owning at least 40 provinces in the Malaya or Indonesia regions, as well as several specific provinces depending on your religion. When you form Malaya, you’ll immediately get an event giving you the option of what to name your new nation. You can always choose Malaya or Nusantara (a geographical Malay term for the entire region). If you have the Srivijaya dynasty - Malacca begins with it in 1444 - you can choose Srivijaya, while if you form the nation as Majapahit you can choose to name yourself the Majapahit Empire. This uses the same cosmetic name change mechanic that we introduced with the Kingdom of God in 1.30.

That’s all for this week! I haven’t yet decided on the topic of next week’s dev diary - most likely we’ll focus on a major nation in South-East Asia. If there’s any nation either in Mainland or Maritime South-East Asia you want me to talk about in more detail for next week, let me know in the comments and I’ll consider it. Until then, have a great week!

Moderator Note:
Neondt and gigau have - multiple times - said that the subject of the DDs are South East Asia. Given that the developers tasked with bug fixes and balancing issues are not here and not available to answer your questions in any meaningful way, we are not entertaining those topics in Neondt's threads. Posts ignoring this warning and those posted by the demi-moderators will be deleted and the user infracted as all those posts do is serve to create a negative emotion feedback loop.
 
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This update looks so awesome :) as someone who didn't knew anything about SEA, I really enjoy playing in this place and I really appreciate all the falvor now, and we are not even finished :)

Just a little question: will the Philippines also go through changes? The most fun achievment I had was the Philippine Tiger with Cebu, I hope they will get a mission tree :)
 
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Will you create Southeast Asian technology group? Because Southeast Asians don't look like Chinese or have similar culture to Chinese

I don't see a need to make a new technology group for SEA. Would be a lot of work for no real gain. The Chinese group serves its purpose in SEA, though in my opinion technology groups are an arbitrary relic of the past.
 
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I actually agree, why is the split necessary?

The demands for rice as separate trade good will rise now, sadly.

@neondt
I, for one, like the introduction of a highly localized trade good very much. Many trade goods are too generic for the "trading in X" modifier to be achievable without global trade dominance. Finally, there will be a trade good that actually can be benefited from without being spread out everywhere but rather focused on specific area.
Also, I think adding rice would be a very good idea, as Grain is a very broad and bland trade good that suffer from the "cannot meaningfully aim at trading in bonus without global dominance" problem very much.


The formable nation of Malaya has undergone several changes. Firstly, the requirements have changed to owning at least 40 provinces in the Malaya or Indonesia regions, as well as several specific provinces depending on your religion. When you form Malaya, you’ll immediately get an event giving you the option of what to name your new nation. You can always choose Malaya or Nusantara (a geographical Malay term for the entire region). If you have the Srivijaya dynasty - Malacca begins with it in 1444 - you can choose Srivijaya, while if you form the nation as Majapahit you can choose to name yourself the Majapahit Empire. This uses the same cosmetic name change mechanic that we introduced with the Kingdom of God in 1.30.
Are there any plans on using the rename feature for some other generic formables (giving eg. both Hindustan and Bharat an option to keep the name of the forming nation)?
 
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Hi @neondt and thanks for the great work. Several ideas from the Indonesia suggestion thread were addressed so I look forward to seeing more.

However, in Brunei I have some issue with anachronistic British colonial names being used like Jesselton instead of the actual name of Api.
Edit: the new Kuching province appears incorrect as well.

And since you added tributaries for Majapahit, did you consider Palembang as history sources include it as one?

Also, are you fixing the ruler history files for nations with fictional rulers since those were suggested.

Last, will the cloves trade good fulfill the Age Objective for Asian Trade?
 
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I, for one, like the introduction of a highly localized trade good very much. Many trade goods are too generic for the "trading in X" modifier to be achievable without global trade dominance. Finally, there will be a trade good that actually can be benefited from without being spread out everywhere but rather focused on specific area.
Also, I think adding rice would be a very good idea, as Grain is a very broad and bland trade good that suffer from the "cannot meaningfully aim at trading in bonus without global dominance" problem very much.
This precedent opens the floodgates.
 
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What about a tech group, unit models and portraits? always felt off having samurai in indonesia.
 
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Seeing as you are open to suggestions on next week's dev diary, could you please talk about Majapahit? I think restoring fallen empires are fun and interesting playthroughs, especially for roleplay and I think they'll definitely be the first nation I pick once the update drops.

Also, will this update also have accompanying unit models?
 
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When you form Malaya, you’ll immediately get an event giving you the option of what to name your new nation. You can always choose Malaya or Nusantara (a geographical Malay term for the entire region). If you have the Srivijaya dynasty - Malacca begins with it in 1444 - you can choose Srivijaya, while if you form the nation as Majapahit you can choose to name yourself the Majapahit Empire. This uses the same cosmetic name change mechanic that we introduced with the Kingdom of God in 1.30.

I think this mechanic is a interesting addition and would love to see this applied to the Mandate of Heaven, giving you the choice to create your own Dynasty when you take it. Is this something you would consider implementing?
 
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Reminder : this is a DD about SEA. Stay on topic.
 
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I think this mechanic is a interesting addition and would love to see this applied to the Mandate of Heaven, giving you the choice to create your own Dynasty when you take it. Is this something you would consider implementing?

I'm going to implement this in one specific case but in general no.
 
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I don't see a need to make a new technology group for SEA. Would be a lot of work for no real gain. The Chinese group serves its purpose in SEA, though in my opinion technology groups are an arbitrary relic of the past.
They're still used for unit types available and china, japan, Korea, and SEA sharing those makes very little sense. These all field vastly different armies.
This precedent opens the floodgates.
Again I don't see the problem, more trade goods is nice if you ask me, it makes different regions feel different. Also them changing over time makes the world feel dynamic and alive.
 
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I don't see a need to make a new technology group for SEA. Would be a lot of work for no real gain. The Chinese group serves its purpose in SEA, though in my opinion technology groups are an arbitrary relic of the past.
Well, for the eastern part of SEA it would at least make more sense if they were part of the indian tech group. Maybe EoC tributaries should have a decision that changes teir tech group to chinese.
 
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