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EU4 - Development Diary - 17th March 2016

Hi everyone and welcome to another development diary for Europa Univeralis IV.


Today we will be covering a much-anticipated mechanic. For times where a nation you love is being attacked and you are unable or unwilling to sign an alliance or when you simply want to make your idle standing army work for their bread, we introduce Condottieri.

Condottieri DD 01.jpg


Condottieri are armies which you have rented out to other nations in exchange for money. Condottieri armies will remain in control of the nation who has offered them but they will fight and die for their recipient country marking their recipient’s enemies as their own.


When renting out your army as Condottieri, you are able to negotiate the fee for your services, which is set as a multiple of their monthly maintenance, from 0x all the way up to 5x, with the first 18 months paid upfront. If you are confident that you are leaving behind enough of a garrison, you can send out a sizable amount of your army, up to 20 units (increased by +available mercenary ideas) to earn money for you on the battlefield.


Once rented out, Condottieri will be hostile to the recipient’s enemies and will be able to fight and siege in the name of the paying nation. They will also have the military access which their recipient country has but these enemies will have access to the Condottieri’s homelands too, so they cannot simply seek refuge at home. In addition to the fee that you have charged your recipient country, your units will also gain 50% more prestige and army tradition for fighting as Condottieri.

Condottieri DD 02.jpg


After 18 months have passed, either side may cancel the arrangement and the troops will go back to being a regular army. The agreement can remain for as long as both parties are satisfied. Naturally, should a nation find themselves at war with a nation who is renting their Condottieri, the contract will be cancelled. Furthermore, if the paying country finds themselves at peace, they can end the contract before the 18 months are up.

More to come next week!
 
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I'm worried about the implications of this in Multiplayer. Every war will just end up as a proxy war between the big players, and 20k base seems very high early game, especially if the original owner pays for the manpower.

Also, how will the AI react to this? First, what if you're not actually contributing with the troops? Can I sell someone a massive army for which I make loads of money then never send them to help? Second, how often will the AI use it? Will every single war end up as a proxy war as it will in MP with hundreds of thousands of troops each side?
 
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What's so bad about the equivalent of the Vietnam War in 1445? :p
No but seriously this could help the player support their own idea of the balance of power which is actually pretty cool!
 
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I'm worried about the implications of this in Multiplayer.

Every war will just end up as a proxy war between the big players, are there any limits on how many you can send as a proportion of total Forcelimits?
Rules can solve this.

Excellent feature, it adds historical flavour, since often nations dischargerd their armies into (friendly) foreign service. Also a nice way of gaining money as a militaristic nation, with little access to other sources of income (eg. Switzerland).
 
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Question out of curiosity:

Say Switzerland is at war with Milan. I as France loan 1 army to Switzerland and 1 army to Milan, will french condottieri end up fighting french condottieri?

Also: out of whose manpower are losses replenished?
 
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Not currently in a war, and not excepting to become so for the next X years
Rent out armies to wars around Europe
Sit in the far corner of the world counting the extra money
 
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I'm worried about the implications of this in Multiplayer.

Every war will just end up as a proxy war between the big players. I notice it says 0/30, is the limit based on a proportion of Forcelimits, total Forcelimits, or is it fixed? 30k seems very high for Switzerland when they only have 14k on the ground.

It is written in the dev diary post - 20k is base. Any +available mercenaries will increase it value. Probably it means, Switzerland currently has +50% available mercs modifier.
 
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I feel like this is that one mechanic that I actually do kinda care about, and it looks like it's playable until I realize that every war is just gonna become large nation vs large nation by proxy.

Regardless, in co-op MP with friends it could be a fun way to help each other without committing to alliances, which could be nice if an alliance wouldn't be too feasible to secure and maintain.
 
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If you rent out your army while also at war with another country, how will you tell which armies you are truly at war with and which ones are hostile only to your mercs? Can unit labels be a different color than red if you are hostile towards them through this mechanic?
 
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Will the condottieri have the quality of their army, say if you're polish you can rent out a group of 10 super cavalry to fight alongside their infantry for a high price. Also if an army isn't fighting at all because they aren't controlled to, getting 18 months of payment and then just being idle. Isn't that something to abuse. Would be cool to have a condottieri trust where fighting/killing and dying for the payer increase the trust and then also raising the payment you can demand.

Edit: hope this will reduce the amount of robots/mercenaries you can rent. Where does the countries get all the mercs from when it isn't taking from the manpower from any nation. I know there where independent mercenary companies around but so many that mercs is half the world.
 
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They will also have the military access which their recipient country has but these enemies will have access to the Condottieri’s homelands too, so they cannot simply seek refuge at home.
I'm not sure I understand this correctly. Let say as Scotland I rent a condotierri army to France, at war with England. The Scottish army can access English an French territories.
But it seems English armies can also access Scottish territories. Right?
What happens if an English army goes to a Scottish territory with two army, one "rented" and one "not rented"?
Can you transfer regiment from a condottieri army to another?
 
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Is this feature available to everyone, or only Europeans?

Also, for purposes of administration, will the units treat the employer as allied? I'm assuming they will, of course, consider them as such for battle. But what about commands? If I want to just 'set and forget' my force by attaching them to follow my customer's army, will that work?

Also, how will they treat said customer's territory, for purposes of supply and reinforcement? Same as home?
 
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Yeah! Great features =D
 
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So it seems that generals are hired as well, can rulers and/or heirs be "hired" in a similar fashion?

Edit:
"Hey I'll even pay you to hire my retarded heir, remember to put him in the frontline!"
 
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The terme condottieri is a bit ackward. First, it sounds too Italian. If as Italy you rent your army, the it makes sense. But for other factions?
And second, condottieri were actually mercenaries, not an army renting by a country to another one.

Actually, I don't really see an historical example corresponding to this new game features, that would not be portrayed better as simple mercenaries.
 
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