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EU4 - Development Diary - 18th of August 2016

Good afternoon. It's Thursday and that means we in the EU4 team are being shaken down for Dev Diaries. With Johan cooking something up for you all at Gamescom, I'm back in the saddle to bring you another taster of what's to come in our upcoming [name-leak patched] expansion.

Fetishists were introduced lately, diversifying the Pagan religions by having a tailor-made African variant. While they have some purposed African events, the religion was left without its own mechanics, leaving it looking at its religious brothers with envious eyes.

No longer! As a feature in the upcoming expansion, Fetishist nations will have a choice of Cult granting them bonuses and unique events. Where in Africa you start will determine the Cults which are available to you, giving Central Africans a different starting Cult selection from, say, the West Africans

eu4_2.png


"Starting" Cult selection you say? Yes. The mechanic will look similar for those of you who enjoy some Hindu campaigns but our Fetishist friends can add some extra tools to their belt as they forge their destinies.

Each Fetishist nation will start with 3 Cults available to them, which can be chosen from by each new ruler. Additional Cults can be unlocked through interaction with other faith groups. Through fighting, bordering with alliance or ownership of heathen land, you can unlock additional cults based on that faith. Each monarch can choose one Cult to worship, granting a national bonus and unlocking events for that cult.

eu4_3.png


Last I counted, there are 17 in total If you've been putting off that Victorian Three achievement run, 1.18 is the patch to go for it. Fetishist Cults, along with the Coptic Holy Sites mentioned before, are paid features in the upcoming expansion which will be released alongside the 1.18 free patch.

Between the changes in the throne room, the religious mechanics, Great Powers, Traits, Personalities and tech overhaul, you could be forgiven for thinking we have run out of things to reveal about the upcoming expansion and patch. You would still be far from the truth though. We'll be back with another Dev Diary next week to talk not just about what you can do for your subjects, but what your subjects can do for you.
 
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Victorian Three achievement run, 1.18 is the patch to go for it.
Am I the only one who reads "Victoria 3 will be released January 2018"?
 
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Will Orthodoxy ever get an overhaul?

Current meta is tied on mercs heavily, meaning that "+33% manpower" is kinda useless and "-33% local tax" is harmful. That said, levelling patriarch authority is completely useless. Also worth mentioning, that Orthodoxy is one of the few religions that doesn't give any military-related quality boosts (morale, discipline, CA).


Even Catholics may get +10% morale with their crusades
 
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Sadly Jake is feeling a bit under the weather today, so I don't know how much he'll be able to respond.
 
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The "Sanatana Dharma" event for African nations is somewhat confusing... Sanatana Dharma is not just a "way of life" (although it literally translates to that), it is, essentially the Hindu religion itself. I am not sure why African nations should be getting it.

There's a bunch of African cults they can encounter and adopt but if they expand outside of Africa they will adopt cults based on other religions they encounter. These cults are not named exactly the same as the existing religions as adopting a cult is a less decisive thing than actually converting to another faith entirely. If you are in a cult based on Hinduism for instance you may well find that some of your subjects start to convert to that faith, or that people of that faith settle in your lands.
So to sum up they wouldn't be getting the cult in the screenshot if they hadn't expanded into India or somewhere where there's actual Hindus.
 
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"Last I counted, there are 17 in total If you've been putting off that Victorian Three achievement run..."

you mean you are going to announce victoria 3 in gamescon :p
 
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Right, I'm feeling a good bit better now, let's crack the knuckles and answer some of the questions here.

Looks awesome! More flavor for Africa.

When is Johan's great revelation planned? :)

Approximately yesterday.

Also is it correctly understood that cults gets cleared when your ruler dies? I.e. you always only have have one?

Unlocked Cults are unlocked for your nation forever. When your ruler dies, you are able to re-select which Cult you worship.

I wonder about the geographical nature of these cults: Will some cults only unlock once you hold certain regions or (sub)continents?
And will some be tied to culture groups within your empire?

Interesting stuff.

It depends on the religion of provinces and nations you border/fight/own. West Africans will likely very quickly unlock the Muslim Cult due to neighbouring and fighting the Sunnis, or from taking their land. Good luck making your way to getting the Jewish or Zorasrian Cult.

If I counted it correctly - this "still unrevealed expansion" would be so massive that prize will be definitelly more than 15€...

I'll take this opportunity to echo that this will be a $20 expansion.

@DDRJake , does the colored mini-map means we got some UI enhancements in that department or was it specifically done to illustrate the points in this DD?

Oh I wonder...

If you unlock a cult, does your country keep access to it forever, even if your situation changes? I.E. if Betsimisaraka got driven back from India, would it loose the Eternal Way?

Once unlocked, Cults are yours to pick from forever.

continuing with this, can you please add a lot more information to your subject, or a ledger entry dedicated to subjects? What i mean is, it would be useful to know if my subjects have loans (And how much), what their exact month income is, force limit, manpower, etc without having to hunt through the ledger of every single country. I would just like to know more about my subjects to, for example, help with subsidies and what not.

Interesting feedback.

I'd be alright with more names to draw from for leaders.

By all means post in the Suggestions forum tagging myself and scripting guru @Trin Tragula if you have additional name suggestions for the leader pool.

Jews and zoroastrians could use a common mechanic: they're both proto monotheistic beliefs, more or less centred around the good God(Yahveh and Ahura Mazda) and some sort of evil spirit(the devil and Angra Mainyu), and both need their religious centres to function properly(i.e. Jerusalem for jews and Yazd for zoroastrians).

Zorastrian is unlikely to get more to them other than their decisions. Like Judaism, it's not because we don't want to give them mechanics, but because they are so tiny, isolated and, outside of very fringe cases or Nation Designer, unplayable religions. Yes, Norse got mechanics but, well, Swedish company.

Awsome, can we get some more sample cults?
Can you give us a list of all the cults?

Here are some more

eu4_4.png

What about custom nations outside of Africa?, is there a platypus cult in australia?

This...this has now become top priority.

Platypus.png
 
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This is unexpected! A Fetishism that's actually slightly cooler than Hinduism and Norse?
By the way, I prefer the new Fetishism mechanism to the new Coptic one. The Coptic one is about "expand to get more power", while the Fetishism one is "expand to get more options", which looks like more balanced.
(That said, Catholicism is also a bit around "expand to get more power" and Protestant "expand to get more versatility" so both were already in the game anyways)
 
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Zoroastrianism mechanic

As interesting as Zoroastrianism is I wouldn't hold my breath for a grand Zoroastrian mechanic. Religions that have states following them or exist in more than one province will always take precedent.
There are some flavor events here and there related to Zoroastrians or Parsis though.
 
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btw do sth with this ridiculous, ahistorical merc spam

Ahistorical? You do know the period we are talking about, right? The era of the condottieri and following it the 30-years war?
 
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How do the Sami fit into this?

Their state religion is Fetishist but they share nothing in common with Africa.

However I might be off with this because I have never seen the Sami actually gain freedom. Just reading the wiki at least says their state religion is Fetishist.
 
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The "Sanatana Dharma" event for African nations is somewhat confusing... Sanatana Dharma is not just a "way of life" (although it literally translates to that), it is, essentially the Hindu religion itself. I am not sure why African nations should be getting it.
You get it if you border or are at war with a Hindu country, obviously. The screenshot shows the west coast of India.
 
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