I recently read the Art of Not Being Governed, and it certainly got me thinking about lots of interesting gameplay for SEA. Neondt, I'd be curious if you've read it and if it has had any influence on these designs?
One thing specifically I'd like to see, is something representing the relationship between the hill tribes and the sedentary agricultural states (the main topic of the book). It seems like the hill tribes could fit well in the reworked estate system. Can you comment at all on that, or any other new estates for SEA?
I feel like this is a limitation of EU4. Culture and culture groups are used to guide the politics of both the AI and player, but often times the relationship is reversed. Politics influences the formation of what we now think of as age-old cultures. I suspect you might have similar thoughts, given your quoting of "natural" Vietnamese expansion.
I've never encountered that book before, but I will absolutely check it out. If you've seen my Dithmarschen mission tree you'll know I have an interest in anarchist literature. Would be interesting to represent ungoverned people in a less "memey" way. There won't be any new estates coming in the 1.31 update, but I can certainly see this becoming a government reform and/or a national idea set.
And yes culture groups in EU4 are messy and arbitrary. They're an eclectic mix of gameplay and historical considerations, bound by a very binary system. It's unfortunately just the nature of the mechanics and I don't see a change coming any time soon.
One last question, will there be any Champa content? It's a really interesting country with a unique culture, religion, etc. It would be interesting to see some sort of mission tree concerning a Cham resurgence.
There will probably be some Champa content. Haven't written it yet but I'd like to create a small mission tree for them at least.
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