EU4 - Development Diary - 15th of September 2016

[Golladan]

What's the one with the revolutionary looking flag for?

Revolution target.

 

[Pandoricus]

The unit model shown is awesome, as a way to see them closer and easier.

 

[Politic Revolutionnaire]

Before the release please add commas after 1 thousand in bodycount (and in sailors too) for readability.

I bet there are going to be some crazy numbers in total loses in the ledger.

Problem with that is that in some countries cough France cough they switch their commas and periods in numbers meaning it would be weird to implement though not impossible or necessarily hard.

 

[SilentAssassin_]

Nice additions to the game. Another cool idea would be to allow a player to view the progress of other wars that they are not involved with in more depth. Other than that, so far I've liked everything this expansion has to offer.

I can't wait to see the content pack. I've wanted to do a retexture for a Prussian Landwehr, but there is no similar model to it ingame yet.

 

[Metz]

Can you add commas to the overall kill count so that it is easier to read?

 

[Sopbucket]

I wasn't asking for the minimap feature, but I have a feeling it will be hard to live without it once I get used to it.

 

[AlleyTheToaster]

Good work Revolutionary Russia - over 4m army deaths, with more than half due to attrition Good info to have in the ledger.

Not sure how I feel about the Bodycount battle info screen though - the new version will take some getting used to, certainly.

THis is WAR bodycount.

 

[AlleyTheToaster]

But seriously, this is paid features? Seriously?

 

[SmileyBear]

Finally I can show my subjects how many millions we've lost to attrition in 300 years - GLORY!

 

[evilon]

But seriously, this is paid features? Seriously?

Apparently, It's one of the features they have decided that should help pay for the free content

 

[FrogCrusher]

Honestly if you really want to make your case, go back and do a comparison of the free patch vs. expansion features for every DLC with their release date and make a post about it.

I did actually, partially. And aside The Cossacks for which few free features, the other DLC were good.

But Common Sense or Mare Nastrum added lots of free features with respect to the paid ones.
Same with the old Wealth of Nation free patch, which introduced Rival system and power projection. I have the feeling that today, this features would be a paid feature, but I might be wrong

When forts had changed, all the development system had changed too. That was two majors changes in one free patch. And there were also new disaster and new buildings. I really do agree that tech is a major change for 1.18. But it seems we have not so much aside that, looking at the oldest DLC.

I can add protectorates, map modes, etc... It there any map mode which was not free ? For me, no. Correct me if I'm wrong.

But you're right when saying that small features used to be paid one. For my own consistency, I never understand why rename an army was a paid feature.

 

[Silverflash]

But seriously, this is paid features? Seriously?

The total tech overhaul with institutions is free with the patch. The pendulum swings both ways.

Personally I like to think of EU4 not as a single game, but as a franchise in and of itself, like FIFA, basically giving players slightly updated versions of the same game at half yearly intervals. Since every DLC is priced at about half the price of a yearly FIFA or F1 game, that seems fair to me.

Basically you get to taste a bit of every new iteration without paying a cent more, but some key features are blocked without the paid DLC. If you are ok with an older iteration, play at that patch level. But to fully unlock the latest patch features, you need the DLC.

You may or may not agree with this model, but from where I stand Paradox seem to be pretty clear and transparent about the model itself.

So you get to try a major update for free. Other features (small and large) are in the paid DLC. Pay to stay fully current with the franchise, stay with 1.17 as long as you want, or sit on the fence with just free 1.18 until you can make a more considered decision. Seems clear to me as a set of choices.

 

[FrogCrusher]

The total tech overhaul with institutions is free with the patch. The pendulum swings both ways.

Of course, they would have not been able to maintain the two systems independently. It is too game breaking (and I love that).
But where are the free protectorate subject (not such a big feature...), the free interface subject tab, the free possibility to support independence, the free rival system, the free new map modes, the free multiple slot for map modes, etc...
Here we have tech, like we had forts, liberty desire, colonial region etc... Huge breaking feature that can't be in paid content. But the medium feature for 1.18 ? We have culture, I have to say it to be honest. It is not that much.

 

[Ferrous Will]

Units on minimap?

We Dota now.

 

[Frogbait]

I did actually, partially. And aside The Cossacks for which few free features, the other DLC were good.


But you're right when saying that small features used to be paid one. For my own consistency, I never understand why rename an army was a paid feature.

I know you did in part. I'm saying do it in full. Honestly if anything from what I can remember it's either stayed consistent with big overhauls = free and less features = paid or it's gone the reverse with the bigger features being Free now and the minor being paid.

Some examples I can think of:

Conquest of Paradise = Colonial Nations = Free. Random New World = Paid.

Wealth of Nations = Trade Companies = Free. Hindu and Reformed Religion Revamps = Paid.

Res Publica = New Idea Groups, Monarch Point Penalty Removal = Free. National Focus = Paid.

AoW = Map revamp of India, Unrest Revamp, Local Autonomy introduction = Free. Transfer Occupation, Creating Marches, Creating Client States = Paid.

El Dorodo = Terrain Revamp, Liberty Desire Revamp = Free. Nation Designer = Paid.

Common Sense = Development Revamp = Free. Raising Development outside of events = Paid.

Cossacks = This is the biggest case of paid features vs. free features not being consistent imo at least in this list. Estates to a lesser extent and the Alliance revamp are arguable for free content since especially in the case of the alliance favor system it seems like a revamp of an existing system. Cultural Unions revamp was free and stayed true to their merit. Really I think if they moved the Alliance Favor system to free content then Cossacks would be in a much stronger position of staying consistent.

Mare Nostrum = Corruption, Sailor Pool, and Espionage Rework = Free. Naval Missions, Timeline = Paid.

Rights of Man (So Far) = Revamp of Technology System = Free. Battle Casualties = Paid.


Just from what I can remember on what was Free or not in each patch/expansion, I think they've stayed fairly consistent. Cossacks as I mentioned is the only one a real case that can be made that they were inconsistent imo. I'd make sure to double check what I remember as free and paid, especially for CoP and WoN since I started really playing shortly after RP. Honestly surprised I could remember something on each side for each expansion lol.

 

[Axe99]

Cheers for the DD DDRJake Some nice UI features there, as a fan of stats I will definitely be checking out that bodycount feature (and will be interested in seeing differences in contribution in coalition wars as well), and as a fan of global colonial empires (playing them in-game, I'm not advocating for global colonial empires historically, just like being a HoI4 fan doesn't mean I think world wars are a good thing!), the minimap indicators are also very handy. Am a fan .

More importantly, I think it's wonderful that it's being implemented in a flexible-UI system (ie, I might like these features, but others may not, so they don't have to be forced to deal with them). Stellaris and HoI4 both have extremely inflexible UIs, and it's great to see EU4 continuing the previous Paradox tradition of flexibility and accessibility in terms of the I in the UI .

 

[Heroherow]

That's cool, but not enough to be a paid feature. Its not like tengri syncretism, for example.

 

[SaintPetersbourg]

PI was European last I checked.

But yes you are correct that in Europe (aside from the British Isles) 1,000,000.05 would be 1.000.000,05.
Can't remember if there are numbers which shows three decimal points, but if there are then introducing a decimal separator could be dangerous, since in my experience there are plenty of people on both sides of the pond who aren't aware that things are the opposite on the other side. Meaning that e.g. 1,456 would be read as 1456 by some Europeans, whereas if you go 1.456 instead it would be read as 1456 by some Americans.


Though I fully agrees that some kind of decimal separator would be really nice and frankly is needed. The only problem as mentioned is which to use and how to make sure that the people on the other side of the pond don't get confused.

I don't think that's a problem at all. Using the English system is a no-brainer. The game is in English so the game should use English numbers. No matter what country you're in if you are writing in English one thousand is 1,000. It would be unthoughtof to have the game be in one language and the numbers be in another.
Not only that, but there are obviously not going to be fractions of people being killed -- so there is no need to worry about ambiguity. Even some backwoods European who has never seen English before (I don't know how said person would be playing, but hey) would be able to see that 1,324,525,362 is a billion and not some strange multi-decimal

 

[deserk]

Tbh all I care about with this DLC is the new unit content pack. So the question is which lucky countries are getting some, Paradox? Please say we at least get 1-4 tiers for 16 countries/cultures like with the Mare Nostrum pack. Hoping for some Middle East states (for example Oman, Yemen, Ardalan and Persia/Tabarestan), East Asia (Majapahit, Korea, Mongolia, Ming/Later Chinese dynasties) and finally Balkans (Serbia, Hungary, Wallachia, Bosnia)

 

[Wagonlitz]

I don't think that's a problem at all. Using the English system is a no-brainer. The game is in English so the game should use English numbers. No matter what country you're in if you are writing in English one thousand is 1,000. It would be unthoughtof to have the game be in one language and the numbers be in another.
Not only that, but there are obviously not going to be fractions of people being killed -- so there is no need to worry about ambiguity. Even some backwoods European who has never seen English before (I don't know how said person would be playing, but hey) would be able to see that 1,324,525,362 is a billion and not some strange multi-decimal

You are ignoring that people well can know English without being aware of what the decimal separator is, since frankly you rarely need it when speaking English. I know of several examples of Europeans who weren't aware of it despite speaking English.
Your argument about 1,324,525,362 could be turned around too. Even some backwoods American who wasn't aware that far from the entire World uses . as decimal separator would be able to see that 1.324.525.362 is a billion and not some strange multi-decimal.

Though personally I don't care as I know both systems. I am just pointing out that there is a considerable amount of people on both sides of the pond who aren't aware that the system used where they live isn't universal. And that one can speak English perfectly fine without knowing the correct decimal separator.