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EU4 - Development Diary - 31st of July 2018

Good day and welcome to another Dev Diary for Europa Universalis IV. As July rolls to a close, Paradox HQ slowly sees its manpower trickle back in from Summer merriment and return to creating games. At this rate, who knows, we may be able to announce Dharma's release date in the not-too-distant future, as I have been not so subtly asked about many a time.

But what are we looking at today? We've covered almost all of the new mechanics for Dharma already, we'll finish it off today by talking about what we've done to make Centers of Trade more interesting.

Ever since EU4's release, Centers of Trade have been a constant flat bonus to a province. They can make otherwise uninviting land fairly desirable for conquest to drive up your trade power in a node for as long as you can hold the land. It works fairly well, but has lacked a depth to it that we're looking to change.

BNG COT.png


Firstly, and this goes for everyone who updates to the 1.26 Mughals version, Centers of Trade, both inland and coastal, will have 3 different levels, allowing them to affect their province, the owner and the lands around them. These are:

(coastal)
  • Staple Port:
    • + 5 trade power,
  • Entrepot:
    • +10 trade power, -5% dev cost, +10% institution spread
  • World Port:
    • +25 trade power, +0.25 Naval Tradition, +30% institution spread
    • For whole Area: -10% dev cost, +100% Sailors, +1 Building Slot
(inland)
  • Emporium:
    • +5 Trade Power
  • Market Town:
    • +10 Trade Power, -5% dev cost
  • World Trade Center:
    • +25 trade power, +30% institution spread
    • For Whole Area: -10% Dev Cost, +33% Manpower, +1 Building Slot
Our goal here is to bring a lot more variance to the Centers of Trade around the world, such that Genoa brings a bit more to the table than Barcelona, or Gujarati Khambhat feels far more of a thriving and tantalising target than Thana. Staple ports and Emporiums will bring only modest trade power bonuses. Entrepots and Market Towns are similar to how all old Centers of Trade used to be, while World Ports and World Trade Centers not only bring benefit the provinces dearly, but also benefit the area around them and offer the owner a way to gain Naval Tradition. Note that Centers of Trade do not consume buildings slots.

With this, the Trade Center levels across the world have been crafted to model the world's situation and, with the scaling of their effects, has allowed us to add considerably more Centers of Trade than we have been at liberty to do before.

Europe:
Euro COT.png


India:

Indian COT.png



In addition to this, Dharma owners will see the levels of Centers of Trade fluctuate both through their own actions, and those of the nations around them. Centers of Trade in either States or Trade Companies can be upgraded for a cost of 200 Ducats to level 2, and 1000 ducats to level 3. The number of Level 3 Centers of Trade a nation can have is capped by the number of available Merchants that nation has, so a globe-spanning trade nation will be able to hold many of them if they so desire, while a less trade focused conqueror will have to be more picky.

Be wary however, since a Center of Trade will be downgraded by 1 level, either from 3 to 2 or 2 to 1 upon a change of owner, even through peaceful methods like diplomatic integration. Trade and traders will thrive in peaceful lands of certainty. You are also able to downgrade your own Centers of Trade if you are at peace, at a cost of 10 prestige.

That's our lot for today, we'll be back next week, rounding up on the National Ideas that we have not yet covered.

CLARIFICATION: if you don't own Dharma it gets locked to it's level. You do not lose any level when province owner switches. - Groogy
 
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It's great except I'm not buying anymore DLC's until EU5 with same engine as HOI4 and Imperator. Sorry not sorry.

It's the main reason I quit EU4.
 
It's great except I'm not buying anymore DLC's until EU5 with same engine as HOI4 and Imperator. Sorry not sorry.

It's the main reason I quit EU4.
Why on earth are you reading and offering feedback on the dev diaries for a game you quit?
 
It's great except I'm not buying anymore DLC's until EU5 with same engine as HOI4 and Imperator. Sorry not sorry.

It's the main reason I quit EU4.

The main reason i can't play HOI yet is that it feels incomplete, or far less complete than EU. And lacking in depth.
 
The main reason i can't play HOI yet is that it feels incomplete, or far less complete than EU. And lacking in depth.
Atleast hoi dont have a huge mechanics bloat.
 
@Groogy , @DDRJake
First of all I want to thank you guys for your awesome work!
Secondly: Could you maybe post an uncensored List of the Government Reforms, as most/all "Hidden" values have been elaborated? Please?
I can't wait for 1.26 and Dharma and already start planing my next runs, therefore a detailed list of the Reforms would come in handy ;-)
 
It's great except I'm not buying anymore DLC's until EU5 with same engine as HOI4 and Imperator. Sorry not sorry.

It's the main reason I quit EU4.

Quitter. :p
 
I expect every CoT in the game will be level3 after a while except some of what you own. Minors will dump their cash to upgrade them and suck even more trade out of nodes while having nothing to invest. Constantly declaring war on minors to rob them of their cash will be best source of money. Unless they really optimise it well. Developers need to make sure minors do not get more cash than they already do. There should be a minimum province limit to uprade CoTs.
Ok, I get it. Single player people hate my comment for... reasons... Well everyone can have their fun. See ye.
 
I see you guys took this from or used a similar idea to one of the workshop content. Nice!
 
I like that there are now more nuances to trade provinces, but I really hate the idea of being able to upgrade ports.

Why does EVERYTHING have to be able to be manipulated by simply pressing a button and spending some resources?

There are reasons why certain ports thrived and others not so much - geographical, economical, demographical and historical. It's not like suddenly the doge of Genoa spent 1000 ducats and BAM, it grew to level 3. It'd be much more interesting if it was dynamic and depending on trade income, development, prosperity, etc.
I'm starting to dislike this game a lot. As you say, it's just a "press this button and spend X number of mana to improve things".

I miss games like Victoria 2.
 
England's got many trade centers added (5!) meanwhile lower countries got only 1 added. This change is too highly favored towards the English. A big concern is that this is all in the richest trade node in the game. This all makes it really unbalanced for the dutch who will the see their trade income siphoned by the english. I'm kinda troubled it does not reflect the economical power the lower countries had in the timeframe. An especially regarding the golden ages of Brussels, Antwerpen and Rotterdam.

not sure why Contentin is up there (maybe to spread out centers of trade?) but I suggest it should be replaced with Middelburg (Zeeland) instead. That the dutch get 2 trade centers would only be fair because it deserves to compete with the English and don't forget that the netherlands was a vast trade empire. Giving Portugal 2 trade centers but Netherlands only one is unjustified. I think Middelburg should be on there considering Middelburg became after Amsterdam the most important center for the Dutch East Company. Something that should not be forgotten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middelburg

Brussels:

Besides then we have Brussels which was also significant to be awarded a trade center. And there are several good reasons for this

1) in the 15th, 16th and 17th century Brabant was the main economical power in the lower countries. This era is often dubbed the Brabantian expansion ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabantse_expansie ) Brabant during this era prospered in art, literature and commerce. Likewise the Brabant dominance in the region in 1444 could be better represented in the game.
2) Brussels for centuries long was the capital of the Habsburg Netherlands (that includes both Spanish and Austrian period) and the Burgundian Netherlands
3) the Grande Place of Brussels is considered world UNESCO heritage, surrounded by its opulent guildhalls it historically had a REALLY BIG importance in the cloth industry in the lower countries
as shown here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place#Rise_in_importance


after all, this is a suggestion. I myself don't live in Brussels or Middelburg, but I want to make sure that the history of both cities should not be ignored. On another note, I love that there will be new levels of trade centers!
Paradox are anglophiles, they don't give a fuck about historical inmersion, they just want to make England OP.
 
With trade, I dislike, it's rigid and determinism, (Seville has a center because it's center of America trade..., But if in my game it's not, anyway the travel goes to Seville.)
In a more easy move, I would like the opportunity of destroy centers and create centers.
 
Paradox are anglophiles, they don't give a fuck about historical inmersion, they just want to make England OP.
Well mission accomplished, they pretty much always overrun all of western Europe these days. I'm thinking perhaps Angevin France should be a PU with them rather than integrated.