Hello everyone, and welcome to this weeks development diary for EU4.

This week I want to talk about the loadingscreens of EU4. Our goal is to add to the pool of loadingscreens every time we do a major update, so that you have a large variety of cool pictures to view while the harddrive is booting up the game.

Each picture represents one country in the game, and we do not plan to have more than 1 loading screen for each nation. There is also one of the most iconic leaders of that nation on the picture, as well as a location which represents that nation.

And when making expansions, it is very much important that the country picked fits the theme for it.

Original Game
We shipped with 5 different loading screens, representing about half of the major powers of the era.
Sweden - Gustavus II Adolphus & Stockholm Archipelago
Spain - Isabella & Carribean Islands
England - Elizabeth I & Cliffs of Dover
France - Louis XIV France & French Farmlands
Ottomans - Suleiman the Magnificent & Haga Sophia

Conquest of Paradise
Iroqouis - Hiawatha & Niagara Falls

Wealth of Nations
Venice - Andrea Gritti & City of Venice

Res Publica
Netherlands - Maurice of Nassau & Windmills at Canals

Art of War
Russia - Catherine the Great & Siberia

El Dorado
Aztecs - Montezuma & Tenochtitlan

Common Sense
Austrai - Charles V & The Alps

And for our new 1.13 patch, we are adding a loading screen for Poland, with Jan Sobieski and the Jasna Gora Monastery!

We still aim to have pictures for Portugal, Denmark & Prussia of the europeans majors, but it needs to fit thematically for the expansions. Not that I can think of any important Danish ruler through history.. pokes @Groogy

 

[Sagif]

Henry VIII Tudor

 

[Sagif]

Or, even better... Put this little fella as an English/German King...

Long live King Joffrey, the First of His Name!

 

[Trin Tragula]

Shivaji Bhonsle with a blade, armor on in front of a jungle with a Mughal fortress on a hill in the background

Needs more tiger claws ;-)

 

[Lyniv]

Maria Theresia, Joseph II or Francis I/II would be more of a fitting representation for Austria. Charles V was more of a Spanish ruler and Austria was only one another possession to him. Eventually he just ceded it to his brother, too.

 

[Sousuke123]

Snip

There was no reforms, elector of Saxony when he became king of PLC brought with himself army to stop interference from Russia into PLC matters and then confederation happened by traitors and in 1717 there was famous Sejm niemy(silent sejm) where PLC formally became protectorate of Russia. Surprisingly at that time Austria didn't considered this imbalance. In meantime Great Northern War happened where PLC actually wasn't participant but at the end of the day PLC lost rest of Livonia and country was pilaged even further. Reforms was passed thanks to coup at 3rd May 1795(most of szlachta was away from capital thanks to Easter break) where constitution was proclaimed and even more famous Targowica confederation happened right away and 2nd partition occurred. From there was no more attempts to reform country and after Kościuszko's Uprising PLC was annexed.
In 1769 Szpis was taken but in following year Podhale(Nowy Sącz and Tarnów in EU4 was grabbed as well) which was integral part of PLC so it was invasion. When Russia and Prussia joined the party Austrian took even more land. True Austria was assisting PLC but it was only assisting they actually never bled in any battle. That's why I've never heard about their involvement at all. Most of their job was putting garrisons in retaken cities so that's hardly count as help. More of a help were actually Crimean Khanate who when Deluge happened immediately switched sides and rushed to help PLC. They pillaged dishonorable scum Prussia for siding with Swedes to such extent that for next 200 years Prussian mothers were scaring their children to behave themselves or Tatars come and take them. Unfortunately PLC never used this success to subdue Prussia or grab land just gave them independence.....
If it comes to claims to Hungary PLC had claims as well king of Hungary and Bohemia was from their dynasty but after battle of Varna PLC never pressed issue for these land so at least getting rest of Szpis and and maybe rest of Slovakia would be nice. Having half of province inside of some other country province is just asking for war. Prior to it there was many attempts by Hungarians to sieze province by force but all of them failed.
First of all I would never involve PLC in someone's war. As you know even more catholic countries(cause PLC hardly was one, so called Polish devoutness was created after January Uprising in 1864 when territory of PLC was heavily pressured for Russification and Germanisation) like France or Spain never bothered to help them so there was even less reason for PLC after Deluge to help them(overall destruction, death toll and robbery was only comparable to German occupation during WWII). I would gladly look like they kill each other. King would at least demand sth before sending help. Silesia would be nice since he(Sobieski) was dreaming on taking back Piasts' heirloom one day. Getting full Slovakia so there would be land connection between Spisz and rest of PLC would be great. Retaking Moldavia or at least making them subject to PLC once again would be acceptable.

 

[AndreasPhokas]

Ah, I forgot that shivaji used the bladed fist/claw weapons. The Maratha-Mughal wars are fascinating, how a small revolt in the hills brought down one of the largest empires of its day.

India to me is the funnest region to play in Common sense although in every game thus far it seems like india is dominated by a bahmanias/malwa/Bengal alliance. Jaunpur hangs on for a while then dies.

 

[Sian]

Christian IV is without question the most iconic Danish King between 1444-1821

I'd go as far as to say that he is the three most iconic Danish Monarch together with Cnut the Great and Christian IX (Margaret I would have entered this list if she had actually been the monarch instead of a domineering queen dowager / regent). And probably the most iconic if you ask Danes

Chr. IV might have been born under an unlucky star, specially when it came to military issues, even through he was ambitious and proactive, but he was a very active in reforming the kingdom and building up the realm, with several cities and just as many important buildings.

 

[Typical Wookie]

There should be a loading screen for the 2 event pack dlcs. Washington crossing the Delaware for American dream, and something cool for Byzantium

 

[Delta107]

Hello everyone, and welcome to this weeks development diary for EU4.

This week I want to talk about the loadingscreens of EU4. Our goal is to add to the pool of loadingscreens every time we do a major update, so that you have a large variety of cool pictures to view while the harddrive is booting up the game.

Each picture represents one country in the game, and we do not plan to have more than 1 loading screen for each nation. There is also one of the most iconic leaders of that nation on the picture, as well as a location which represents that nation.

And when making expansions, it is very much important that the country picked fits the theme for it.

Original Game
We shipped with 5 different loading screens, representing about half of the major powers of the era.
Sweden - Gustavus II Adolphus & Stockholm Archipelago
Spain - Isabella & Carribean Islands
England - Elizabeth I & Cliffs of Dover
France - Louis XIV France & French Farmlands
Ottomans - Suleiman the Magnificent & Haga Sophia

Conquest of Paradise
Iroqouis - Hiawatha & Niagara Falls

Wealth of Nations
Venice - Andrea Gritti & City of Venice

Res Publica
Netherlands - Maurice of Nassau & Windmills at Canals

Art of War
Russia - Catherine the Great & Siberia

El Dorado
Aztecs - Montezuma & Tenochtitlan

Common Sense
Austrai - Charles V & The Alps

And for our new 1.13 patch, we are adding a loading screen for Poland, with Jan Sobieski and the Jasna Gora Monastery!

We still aim to have pictures for Portugal, Denmark & Prussia of the europeans majors, but it needs to fit thematically for the expansions. Not that I can think of any important Danish ruler through history.. pokes @Groogy

Poor Poland... It doesn't get it's very own DLC...

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

Maurice of Nassau originally was only cover art, but we turned him into a full loading screen for 1.13.

Finally! It always bothered me he was the poster-child of Res Publica but wasn't a loading screen. Thanks!

 

[Chief Iacid]

I don't think I've ever seen this loading screen.

And yes, I play a lot.

In other words, the Nassau loading screen was not implemented at the time of Res Publica. So 1.13 will bring 2 new loading screens, one of them being a backfill.

 

[Mauer]

Needs more Asia.

 

[Philadelphus]

Ooh, those screens look pretty. I might have to disable the 50 Loadingscreens mod for a bit when I upgrade to 1.13 when it comes out of beta. Though I'm going to miss discovering all the amazing classical paintings it shows...

(Tangential rant: did we ever get shown any of those cool pictures of land and sea battles in any of my art history classes? Nooo, it's all still lifes and portraits and The Birth of Venus. If I'd known classical artists covered more interesting material like that I'd've been a lot more interested...[So, hooray for game mods for improving my classical education, I guess?])

Though it's all kind of a moot point with my SSD anyway, as I don't see any loading screen for more than maybe five seconds.

 

[Metallord]

Makes sense in my 1.13 beta ironman my Poland is very close to space . Also got the Total control achievement so thats a Totally controlled Polish space empire with constitutional sejm for you. 1400 development and counting. Didnt even conquer that Much and certainly didnt spent monarch points. So imagine what polan could do in the current time frame if it wasnt obsessed with going into space that Much . Well my 3 times 50 unit stacks can crush the ottoman 3 times 100 doomstacks anyway. I went protestant and added all the Nice new military aspects. Oh and i distmantled the HRE xD them opms do give you a lot off AE anyway. But no problem if you have Brandenburg under PU, France and scandinavia as allies and a weak austria, coalition wars are fun this way ! Anyway Polish space empire, only true empire

 

[yerm]

Why are all these big boring countries getting loading screens? Let's implement ones for the enjoyable nations:

Spoiler

Hansa, Eastern Roman Empire, Ferarra, and Ryukyu all deserve representation more than these knuckleheads we currently have.

 

[JosephConrad]

Maurice of Nassau originally was only cover art, but we turned him into a full loading screen for 1.13.

Hey bae.

Do you like confederal semi-monarchial republics and sophisticated banking systems?

Then give me a call at 01202-FUCKTHESPANISH!

 

[Chamoisking]

The one who should be in the Denmark loading screen is Kamelåså.

 

[Lostintheclouds]

There was no reforms, elector of Saxony when he became king of PLC brought with himself army to stop interference from Russia into PLC matters and then confederation happened by traitors and in 1717 there was famous Sejm niemy(silent sejm) where PLC formally became protectorate of Russia. Surprisingly at that time Austria didn't considered this imbalance. In meantime Great Northern War happened where PLC actually wasn't participant but at the end of the day PLC lost rest of Livonia and country was pilaged even further. Reforms was passed thanks to coup at 3rd May 1795(most of szlachta was away from capital thanks to Easter break) where constitution was proclaimed and even more famous Targowica confederation happened right away and 2nd partition occurred. From there was no more attempts to reform country and after Kościuszko's Uprising PLC was annexed.
In 1769 Szpis was taken but in following year Podhale(Nowy Sącz and Tarnów in EU4 was grabbed as well) which was integral part of PLC so it was invasion. When Russia and Prussia joined the party Austrian took even more land. True Austria was assisting PLC but it was only assisting they actually never bled in any battle. That's why I've never heard about their involvement at all. Most of their job was putting garrisons in retaken cities so that's hardly count as help. More of a help were actually Crimean Khanate who when Deluge happened immediately switched sides and rushed to help PLC. They pillaged dishonorable scum Prussia for siding with Swedes to such extent that for next 200 years Prussian mothers were scaring their children to behave themselves or Tatars come and take them. Unfortunately PLC never used this success to subdue Prussia or grab land just gave them independence.....
If it comes to claims to Hungary PLC had claims as well king of Hungary and Bohemia was from their dynasty but after battle of Varna PLC never pressed issue for these land so at least getting rest of Szpis and and maybe rest of Slovakia would be nice. Having half of province inside of some other country province is just asking for war. Prior to it there was many attempts by Hungarians to sieze province by force but all of them failed.
First of all I would never involve PLC in someone's war. As you know even more catholic countries(cause PLC hardly was one, so called Polish devoutness was created after January Uprising in 1864 when territory of PLC was heavily pressured for Russification and Germanisation) like France or Spain never bothered to help them so there was even less reason for PLC after Deluge to help them(overall destruction, death toll and robbery was only comparable to German occupation during WWII). I would gladly look like they kill each other. King would at least demand sth before sending help. Silesia would be nice since he(Sobieski) was dreaming on taking back Piasts' heirloom one day. Getting full Slovakia so there would be land connection between Spisz and rest of PLC would be great. Retaking Moldavia or at least making them subject to PLC once again would be acceptable.

The reforms and conflict + Russian intervention I'm referring to are those that occurred during the reign of Stanislaw Poniatowski i.e. the Bar Confederation. I concede on the invasion of Podhale (not Szpis) Bleeding in battle, do siege's count? If so, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Toruń_(1658) though I doubt this will be the equivalence your looking for. Claims in Hungary for Poland are moot, the Jagiellon'sand Vasa's have both died out and John Sobieski as King has no relation to either dynasty and so he can't make claims. The House Sobieski does trace descent from the Piast's so claims in Silesia do have some merit. Mutual pact of Succession between the Boh-Hungary branch and the Habsburgs also transfer any other possible claims to the Habsburgs. Getting Moldavia/or them as vassal is the only realistic option I can see though. Aiming to gain Silesia only weakens the coalition allowing for possible Ottoman resurgence which is something I doubt the PLC would want. Involving the PLC in the Turkish War was a means to an end, i.e. regain some lost territories which they did. PLC could've pressed for more in 1699 at the end of the war by then Sobieski was dead and the Saxon elector was now King so you could blame him, not Sobieski (the other candidate was the Prince of Conti backed by France, don't think he'd have interested in continuing the war as France was allied with the Ottomans, Habsburgs supported Sobieski's son who I'm partial to in all honesty (at least he's polish and has more connections) but apparently due a family argument his candidacy fell through) If the PLC didn't get involved and say maybe the Holy league still won and got all that back, Podole would still be in Ottoman hands, sure PLC could attack but they have less chance of winning as the Ottomans can concentrate on them meanwhile all potential allies have truces with the Ottomans or are too busy with the war of Spanish Succession or the Great Northern War (assuming the PLC manages to convince Sweden not to attack her as the sejm tried and unfortunately failed to do when it was initially only the Saxon elector in his capacity of the elector of Saxony at war with Sweden). France didn't bother to help because the Habsburgs were political adversaries of the French. The French (not officially at war but sent volunteers i think) did help once in the whole catholic/christian sense once but the Austrian Habsburg branch made peace quickly once it noticed the French were formenting would be rebels in Hungary pls there were more concerned with the situation in Spain (potential succession to that throne). Spain did assist/was a part of the Imperial forces during the Great Turkish war (part of the Holy Alliance, and other christian/german estates did send troops e.g Bavaria, Baden and Lorraine in the sense that it was a war in defence of a member of the Holy Roman Empire. The Pope was involved well because he's the Pope. Venice like the PLC also got involved as a means to an end i.e. reclaim of territories and they definitely bled. All in all, both powers Austria and the PLC benefited from the alliance/war. I think with this I'm good, was a very interesting discussion, wish I could go for more but I've got a super big test to prepare for. Please do respond though, when the test is well and done I'll pop back in. Hope I'm not ruining the forum page for anyone else, If I am let me know and I'll stop. Laters y'all.

 

[yerm]

Thank you for not making ANY effort to format the posts involved in this awful Polish rant. I can immediately spot the posts I have no real interest in tormenting myself with and skip them, because they're an ugly wall of ranting text. Much appreciated!

 

[Groogy]

We still aim to have pictures for Portugal, Denmark & Prussia of the europeans majors, but it needs to fit thematically for the expansions. Not that I can think of any important Danish ruler through history.. pokes @Groogy

How about Peter Tordenskjold? Sure not King of Denmark but accomplished leaders of the Kingdoms Armed Forces could work right?