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Hello and Welcome to yet another Europa Universalis development diary. Today we’ll first delve into the results of the survey we sent out earlier this autumn, and also do some comparisons with the analytics we have. We’ll also talk about some minor balance changes and an interesting new feature for our future expansion.

First of all, I’d like to thank the over 10,000 people who took their time to reply to all the questions in our survey. While this is but a fraction of the entire playerbase, it gives us an indication of what the more hardcore of the audience likes, with over half of the respondents having played over 1,000 hours.

The most common play-styles, by far, as reported was role-playing and changing history. It is probably not a surprise to anyone that you viewed Victoria to have the best economy, Hearts of Iron the best military, Europa Universalis the best diplomacy and Crusader Kings the best politics.

You also overwhelmingly prefer simulation over boardgame mechanics, and you think that we should focus more on the economical buildup and flavorful content.

While the Golden Century was easily the worst expansion in your eyes, the top 5 expansions according to you were.
  • Art of War
  • Common Sense
  • Emperor
  • Rights of Man
  • Mandate of Heaven

While talking about the survey, I thought it would be fun to look at the top 10 most played countries right now.

Code:
France          6.16%
Ottomans        5.08%
Austria         4.39%
Byzantium       4.39%
Custom Nation   4.23%
England         3.35%
Castile         3.29%
Brandenburg     3.11%
Ming            2.24%
Portugal        2.12%


A minor balance change for the people who play multiplayer and play with victory cards enabled, is the small little change that Estates will now become less loyal if you ally with nations which you have victory cards upon.

And for those that play as Cossacks and have the Sich Rada government enabled, as requested by the community, you now have the ability to raze cities, just like hordes does.

Finally, it's time to reveal another feature for our upcoming expansion, a new unit mission called Carpet Siege. It is similar to the hunt rebels mission, but with the difference that the army actively will avoid combat unless it is sure of winning, and primarily focusing on sieging down hostile territory. You can set it to just targeting specific areas on the map, or let it decide on its own when there are valid targets to consider.

eu4_15.png


Stay tuned, because next week Groogy will be back, talking about a major religion without unique mechanics that will get one.
 
a new unit mission called Carpet Siege.
I'm loving this expansion more and more. Now I no longer have to abuse my s and d buttons!

a major religion without unique mechanics that will get one
The only religions that have no mechanics are Animist, Totemist and Jewish; the major ones are Animist and Totemist, of which Totemist has been confirmed to be left untouched...

Animist rework time!
 
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France 6.16% Ottomans 5.08% Austria 4.39% Byzantium 4.39% Custom Nation 4.23% England 3.35% Castile 3.29% Brandenburg 3.11% Ming 2.24% Portugal 2.12%

Wow, BYZ is in 4th place never guessed they were that many.

The 5th place goes to the one without the mission tree. After Rule Brittania, I have somewhat become a person that can't play without any mission tree so quite surprised. It's a survey, not a collected data so I think it excludes the people who play with a coat of arms glitch.

Besides the custom, Ming is the only nation without a mission tree. I don't play Ming but, this makes me wonder about the neondt's decision to not make a mission tree for Ming.
 
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Wow, BYZ is in 4th place never guessed they were that many.
It's always been near the top when they've posted these stats. Remember, it adds +1 play every time a game is started. And what moderately popular nation requires about a dozen or two restarts to get right?

Interesting to see the "expansion" term used again. Definitely wasn't expecting another one so soon, even if it's a bit unfocused at this point. But, then, what is an EU4 DLC without 10 tangentially related features?
 
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The most common play-styles, by far, as reported was role-playing and changing history. It is probably not a surprise to anyone that you viewed Victoria to have the best economy, Hearts of Iron the best military, Europa Universalis the best diplomacy and Crusader Kings the best politics.
Do we can have hope, that in future we can get upgrade of economic element of EU4?
 
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It's always been near the top when they've posted these stats. Remember, it adds +1 play every time a game is started. And what moderately popular nation requires about a dozen or two restarts to get right?

Interesting to see the "expansion" term used again. Definitely wasn't expecting another one so soon, even if it's a bit unfocused at this point. But, then, what is an EU4 DLC without 10 tangentially related features?
If this data is collected by the machine, you're right. However, isn't this from the survey data?
 
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The survey didn't ask about what country you play the most, so it would be very bizarre if it was from that.

Oh, really? I couldn't remember the details so thanks for the reminder. :)

If that's the case, I guess some of the custom nation play data could contain players using coat of arms glitch.
 
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Always nice to find out you're not playing the popular nations.
 
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Besides the custom, Ming is the only nation without a mission tree. I don't play Ming but, this makes me wonder about the neondt's decision to not make a mission tree for Ming.
Yes, the fact Ming is in the top 10 and MoH is also a top ranked DLC really is a pleasant surprise to me. Not sure it's because of a large chinese player base. However, this leaves hope that China will get some more love in the future. There's still a big untapped pool of history, potential content (provinces, events, etc.) and mechanics.
 
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The 5th place goes to the one without the mission tree.
No. The 5th place goes to the nation that forms a nation with mission tree, just better than the genuine nation, on November 11, 1444.
 
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I really wonder which masochists are playing Ming.
 
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I really wonder which masochists are playing Ming.

I like role-playing as the guarantor of peace and order in Asia, focusing on tributaries and mandate instead of military or trade expansion. I think they could improve the mandate mechanics tho, they are alright but I feel more could be done. Same for a ming mission tree
 
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