EU4 - Development Diary - 4th of December 2018

[Arbus]

Wouldn't it basically be at the same level as GC in terms on content at that point?

It would be what GC should have been.

 

[blackchoas]

Fairly disappointing set of achievements

like half of them are weird small nation large conquest goals, but they don't sound super unique or interesting to me I mean how different are some of these in terms of challenge from the old Granada achievement. Which is like 5 of them.

Then you got the 3 buy our DLC achievements, whatever their fine, I guess.

and finally you have two odd one, an achievement to for the Maya is fine, but an achievement involving the random new world feature is a little odd, does anyone even play with that thing? I know you have the statistical answer and I have a feeling the number is very low.

 

[Van Kasten]

Thank you for elaborating. I'll speak for myself here, and I'd say that I completely understand that there are people who feel this dlc is very much lacking in what they would've wanted in an iberia rework. I followed the forum for quite a while to know that a spain rework was really resonating within a substantial portion of the community. I get it.

Usually controversial releases also invite the more aggitated toxic people. Thankfully the mods to a great job of removing the outlandish comments which have no constructive baseline to begin with. These people are, of course, few in number but these kind of posts pretty much provoke all sorts of reactions which distract from the original (constructive) critisisms level headed people are voicing. Hence my point that I think it's a good idea PDX waits a bit until things calm down.

I understand your point.
The negative feedback the dev team is receiving derives from weeks of very positive and constructive feedback that got ignored. A common proposal, made and updated by the Spanish and Portuguese community, a very gorgeous map complete with terrain and trade goods and belonging to states. Development was the only thing missing. Also, mechanics were proposed, such as special governments, NI suggestions, and many more, with some suggestion for events. For quite some forumites this DLC feels like a wasted opportunity and since Iberia won’t be touched for a while, they feel angry because it was their time and now they have to make the quei again with nothing of value in hand.

Maybe I’ll feel that way if my region gets this treatment. But better to be sure ahead of time that it will be better.

 

[NoMore!]

Looking forward to 19th. Hopefully we will get some good news.

 

[Bandua_of_Gallaecia]

On these notes, yeah, expanding a bit of Brazil's province numbers would be ideal as currently the Thirteen Colonies surpass them in sheer number. It would force Portugal's potential 3 colonists to spend less attention in Siberia and more in South America. It's easy to have all of Brazil colonised before 1650 as it stands.

Also just want to make it clear that its Traditions, and not Ideas, in Portugal that should be Mil, preferably Infantry Combat Ability like it's been suggested in some threads, and that end-game National ideas should reflect the Pombaline period more. There's literally TONS of flavor that can be packed into the POR tag.

Another Achievement could have been themed around the Reconstruction of Lisbon (reach 40-50 dev in Lisbon after 1755, for example.) and maybe call it something like "No place for Earth-Quakers" or something.

The Earthquake should be a much worse event, but with more control over the aftermath and the outcome.
It should greatly reduce Lisbon's development, by half on every cathegory, as well as -3 stability and destruction of Lisbon's buildings.

Then a series of events after would give you options on how to deal with the aftermath.

One event about appointing someone to be in charge of the reconstruction:
-The King (+prestige, +legitimacy)
-The Marquis of Pombal (-a lot of ducats, -legitimacy ,-prestige +A lot of monarch points)
-The local nobles (-ducats, +coruption, +monach points)

How to deal with the looters:
-Imprision them (-military power, +1stability)
-execute them (+unrest, +2 stability)
-Ignore them

The victims of Lisbon:
-Redirect them to other cities (-Dev for Lisbon, +Dev for random provinces)
-Offer them food and shelter (-lot of money, -unrest +legitimacy +prestige)
-Pray for them (-money)
-They will have to make do (+lot of unrest)

The rebuilding of Lisbon:
Build a new, modern Lisbon (-a ton of money, -60% local development cost)
Spare no expense: (-a ton of money, -50% local building cost, -40% development cost)
A conservative effort: (-a lot of money, -25% local development cost)
Only the essential buildings (-money, -50% local building cost)
Clear the rubble and put out the fire (-money, -10% local development cost)
We cannot afford it: (+unrest)

The rebuilding cost:
Raise taxes (+tax, +unrest)
Sieze private resouces (+Money, -Burgers loyalty)
Demand help from colonies (+tariffs, +liberty desire)
Ask help from allies (-prestige, chance of help from an ally)
We don't need help (+prestige)
Cut military expense (-morale, -manpower recovery, -land mantainance, -fort mantainance)

Just a few examples.

 

[MateuszNH]

I'm sorry, i don't want to complain how bad this dlc is but i think you should prepare some "apology" patch between this immersion pack and dlc (unlike you do usually), for me it combined with disappointment(maybe it's unfair because as a free patch it was kinda nice, but i'm paying for all stuff here so it's not that much of a point for me) but i think Immersion is different thing, i guess one bigger rework (like naval rework or real catholic rework) with a little fine-tuning map( which is disappointing for now) would work. Anyway i thing Poland should get bigger paid one too, together with for example Bohemia, me and 3500 members of my group can help out with ideas, and i've noticed a lot of interest from bohemian guys too(some underlined needs for this part of world and i agree).
Anyway Middle Europe needs a lot of work before you even consider taking on other important parts like south/western Africa
Have fun on your Christmas Break anyway, it's a good moment to have rest... and cogitation.

 

[Lepaso]

but an achievement involving the random new world feature is a little odd, does anyone even play with that thing?

Wouldn't the point be to encourage people to actually play with it? If there were only achievements for the top 10 nations or whatever that people play the most, I think it would get dull pretty quickly.

 

[Haakon_XIII]

So after Golden Century launches, we're going to talk a lot more about future plans and what we have in store for EU4 in 2019, sharing our vision of what we want to do with the game and what we want to bring to you, the player.

Too late for the Iberian nation's and their DLC... I hope you will give more love and mechanics to the region in the future.

 

[lordreaven448]

I think some people will agree that mechanic overhauls and/or new mechanics would be welcome. A few ideas could be suggested:

Merchant republics (and Republics in general) haven't changed much since since release except for making them even lesser fun to play.

The HRE while fun (I just started recently actually using the mechanic) hasn't changed much. Imperial authority while rare, seems to be more designed around expanding the empire instead of trying to keep it intact (I am no expert so correct me if I am wrong). I am sure someone will come up with a great idea.

Military access is probably another contention, in particular how vassals can give access to rivals. Not to mention how it's handled during wars (Ottomans marching through the HRE to attack France).

The one I think might be worthy of attention is military. The combat system, upkeep, etc. is essentially the same as EU3 as far as I can tell. I find combat in Vicky 2 easier to understand than EUIV. I know that would be a monolithic task, so I don't expect it.


To summarize. More meaningful mechanics instead of push button for x amount of mana for instant bonus. The game feels way burdened with those.

 

[Franciscus123]

It's good to see some recognition, although as some people have pointed out this has somewhat happened before. But maybe I am being pessimistic. I will like to see the where it is all going DD in a couple of weeks. Nevertheless, I think the idea of a "Portugal" 1.28 patch to polish Iberia as some people have mentioned here is something to remember and take into account given community feedback.

EDIT: Yes, I still hope to one day see new Portuguese ideas

EDIT 2: Forgot to express my surprise at no new Portuguese achievements

 

[Blacksmurf]

Not a single achievement for Morocco? Wow this immersion pack's even worse than I thought.

 

[SeekTruthFromFx]

It's very good to see this kind of response to customer feedback. Involving forum users at a very early stage of DLC development will be good for both Paradox and players.

 

[Borgio]

Do we know Asturia's National Idea Set? Or the national ideas of that new Valencia Tag? Couldn`t find them in the past DDs...

 

[blackchoas]

Wouldn't the point be to encourage people to actually play with it? If there were only achievements for the top 10 nations or whatever that people play the most, I think it would get dull pretty quickly.

I mean I get what you're saying and obviously achievements shouldn't just be for the top nations but adding an achievement for a 4 year old feature that no one really liked and hasn't really been changed seems like an odd choice now

 

[Caligula Caesar]

Indeed, we try to include both interesting achievements that are more accessible, but also have nice, challenging achievements like the Basque one.



There are people who claim to work here with this their music to work to.

I'd like to see that!

 

[Hojsimpson]

One question, isn't artillery fire giving cannons on tech 10 have the same fire pips as cannons on tech 19?
And how does it work for naval units?

 

[Snake_Squeezins]

Now, stepping aside from today's topic of Achievements, I'd like to take a moment to address some of the feedback we've been getting during the dev diaries for Golden Century. There have been plenty of concerns raised, indeed very fair ones, regarding Golden Century and the 1.28 Spain Update not matching up with expectations, not having community input taken into account and development generally not being in line with what the community is wanting. There are many other points that have been raised, but I want to draw light to these.

These are very fair points to bring up, and one comment in particular resonated with me, and that is that our plans and what we are developing are often shared so late in development with the community that feedback and suggestions they want to give can't or won't be able to be integrated. This has lead to a lot of people voicing suggestions for features or changes and getting very understandably frustrated when what is delivered does not take it into account.

So after Golden Century launches, we're going to talk a lot more about future plans and what we have in store for EU4 in 2019, sharing our vision of what we want to do with the game and what we want to bring to you, the player. I'll be talking about this at length in the Development Diary following Golden Century, so on the 18th December. Fittingly, it will be the last Dev Diary of 2018, before we take off for Christmas Break. Our ambition is to get our community a lot more linked in with what we are planning, and can give their feedback and suggestions accordingly and within plenty of time to implement. We have also been asked for how exactly we use suggestions from the forums and how to write a good suggestion thread, which is a great idea, and will be part of said 18th Dec Dev diary.

So while the feedback especially last week makes for some humbling reading for us, it's still important, and this is one of the things we're doing about it. There are far more plans in the pipeline, but, well, for that tune in on the 18th.

Jake, that's very thoughtful and I'm willing to give you and the team a mulligan. I like the game too much for one or two poor DLCs to turn me off completely and make me stop playing. You have shaken my confidence but not broken it.

Having said that, I am not going to buy GOLDEN CENTURY in its current state. The features are lacking, and they definitely do not meet my expectations of what an Iberia-centric DLC should be. My only leverage as a customer is to not pay you for things I dislike so that you don't continue to make things I dislike. And I *want* to like the things you make!

So I strongly encourage your team to go back to the drawing board after GC releases to add additional Iberia-related features and refinements to a DLC that even the PDX developers seem to admit is heavily flawed and not up to your standards.

Alternatively, consider rebranding GC as a pirate- and crime/underworld-centric DLC, and add suitable features focused on that. *Then* go hot and heavy into an actual Iberia-centric DLC.

One way or another, though, I recommend that you consider this DLC half-finished, and then allocate appropriate time and effort into salvaging it. Your actions will count much more than your words as you try to build back trust and confidence with the community.

 

[Nagassh]

Nice tail end to the post about feedback and transparency.

I see the same issue in a lot of other games I play - "Alpha" and "Beta" have become jokes that are little more than marketing tools for games on the verge of release these days, presumably because some developers are so afraid of showing the bare bones of a game in progress - the frustrating result being that any feedback given is either too little too late or is only going to be applied months / years down the line, often alongside a future content patch that has started the cycle with new issues that have people worked up about them (and months of stewing over the previous ones) that by the time it is fixed (if it ever is), people have newer gripes on their radar.
That's mostly directed at other companies though, not sure quite how relevant it is to Paradox / EU.

My biggest hope is that you're not afraid to re-touch on things if they're not done justice. Nothing is worse than waiting around for the one chance your favorite area / country / flavor to get some attention, only for it to be lackluster and knowing that the developers will never touch it again because it's already received attention and there's a dozen other topics clamoring for a look.

 

[Bandua_of_Gallaecia]

My greatest fear (and reason why im being so harsh with this DLC) is the fact that its probably the last time Iberia gets addressed, they will be considered reworked already and then Paradox will focus on the other areas. Its not that the DLC is bad in itself (its not great either, but surely doesn't deserve this much outrage) but the implication that this is all Iberia will get is what scares me the most.
I hope that they don't shy away from reworking Iberia in the near future because they have "already released a whole patch and DLC about Iberia", this doesn't count as an Iberian patch.

 

[theBoheme]

We added some Naval Doctrines in 1.28, they will only require you to own Rule Britannia (not Golden Century)



Indeed. Golden Century will be accompanied by the 1.28 Spain Update, which contains the map changes, National Idea changes etc, and is completely free.



Indeed I too am waiting on receiving the renders. In the mean time, here's a shot I put together of the Granadan units just for you.

View attachment 424308

Thanks Jake