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EU4 - Development Diary - 9th of June 2016

Hello and welcome to today's development diary for Europa Universalis IV. After much plotting and espionage, I have assumed direct control over these diaries, at least for the upcoming months while Johan enjoys some paternity leave.

The feeling of power this gives is immense. EU4 will allow you a similar feeling with a new feature in the upcoming expansion: Great Powers

In 1.18's accompanying expansion, which has yet to be name-dropped, we will grant the 8 most powerful countries in the world a "Great Power" status, granting them bonuses, new diplomatic options and, perhaps most importantly, a glow around your shield to show that you are the superior nation.

Before we address the shiny options and bonuses available to you, let's tackle the question of how to become a Great Power. As we had mentioned in a previous diary, the technology system is getting an overhaul and the Great Power mechanic will make use of this too. Your ranking as a Great Power depends on your Total Development plus half of your Subject Development, then divided by your tech cost. This ensures that early game, large powers such as Ming and Timurids will enjoy Great Power status but as Other powers rise and they lag behind with embracing new institutions, this status will be lost. Of course, If Ming, for example, stays united and forward thinking, they may not lose this status at all. Subject Nations cannot be Great Powers

As a great power you will enjoy a Power Projection bonus. One commonly raised issue is that if you are a huge power without equal your Power Projection is oddly low, since you cannot have any meaningful rivals. The greatest of the Great Powers will enjoy a +25 Power Projection bonus, with the other 7 gaining an increasingly smaller amount with rank 8 getting +10PP. Additionally, great powers will receive a prestige decay reduction. Other modifiers will likely be added before release as we continue to balance the system.

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Bonuses are all very well and good, but where's the fun in being great if you can't enforce your will on lesser beings? Four new diplomatic options are opened up uniquely for Great Powers:

Take on Foreign Debt – Pay off all the loans of the target independent non-GP country. Gives +10 relations bonus for every standard size loan of the target you clear, capped at +200, decaying 2/year Also grants +1 trust for every loan cleared, or +2 favours if you have The Cossacks. Requires enough money to pay off target’s loans.

Influence Nation – Pay 1 year of target income to increase relations and grant +1 monarch points in their weakest category for 10 years in a target independent non-GP nation. This raises their opinion of you by 25 for the 10 years, also gives +5 trust. Going to war with them cancels this bonus.

Intervene in War– If there is an ongoing war between great powers but an imbalance in the number of GPs involved, you can make it your business to intervene. For example, if GP Britain is singlehandedly fighting GP France and GP Spain, you as a Great Power Commonwealth can intervene on Great Britain's side to balance out the number of great powers involved.

Break Alliance – This will force a nation to break its alliance with another. They will accept if the target nation is sufficiently afraid of you and you will gain a truce with the nation you force this upon. Useful for stripping your war target of pesky roadblocks.

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Finally, you will want to hold on to your status as a great power. If you are pushed out of the top 8 nations, you will be given a 5 year grace period to regain your Great Power Score. During this time you will still have access to Great Power options but if you cannot regain your standing then you will lose them until you rise again or topple those who would claim to be greater than you.

Current 1444 Great Powers:

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As usual, the nitty-gritty numbers are very much subject to change as we refine the features.

Great Powers will be available as a paid feature in the upcoming expansion, which will be released alongside the 1.18 patch.

Next week we'll be in the presence of our King/Khan/Chief/Sultan/Emperor/Malik, so I hope you're on your best behavior.
 
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No changes on the map at all as for now. There surely will be, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the last thing Johan told the staff before leaving for paternity was something in lines of "I want two thousand new provinces in Eurasia by the time I come back". 1.18 will be huge, maybe even bigger than the Art of War, there's no way they won't add any new provinces, they just haven't shown them yet. Be patient, lad.

Surely new provinces only come every four updates though? We had them in 1.8, 1.12, and 1.16, so shouldn't the next ones be in 1.20?
 
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I like the idea(even wanted to write something similar here), but I think the "regions" for these regional Powers should be bigger, to simulate such great rivalries as France-England or triple rivalry of the Commonwealth, Russia and Sweden. It would also require change in alliance/rivalry system so that two of these countries could gang up on one just to fight their former ally with help of a the country they attacked a few years later, as it happened in real life. Man, vicious cycles of pointless wars and balance of powers is something this game really lacks, and this new GP system seems to be a step in this very direction!
Perhaps have what I said be subsets of continents? So while France and Spain couldn't both be regional powers(or maybe could if the limit was 2), Britain and France could be continental powers. My point was baud dally allow higher powers within different points of the world while still having them relate
 
No changes on the map at all as for now. There surely will be, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the last thing Johan told the staff before leaving for paternity was something in lines of "I want two thousand new provinces in Eurasia by the time I come back". 1.18 will be huge, maybe even bigger than the Art of War, there's no way they won't add any new provinces, they just haven't shown them yet. Be patient, lad.
Why would there be provinces though? They have already added some in the last update, so I don't think they are planning on adding more any time soon.
 
I think unpredictability is a good thing, and I say this as someone who gets frustrated and rage quits if a war doesn't go my way. I think wars should carry risks, especially when being fought against great powers.

So long as the AI is smart about it, like if/when a player is the top Great Power with a military that equals or dwarfs the next three combined. If said top power is in a war against the bottom 3 Great Powers, it doesn't seem to make sense that other Great Powers would join the top to crush the bottom ranks.

Austria (Holy roman Emperor) and Denmark (Kalmar Union) shoud be great powers in 1444. Mamluks, timurids and Lithuania not.

From the standards listed (which admittedly could use some modifications like current tech levels or development with respect to local autonomy), it makes sense that Austria and Denmark aren't Great Powers. Austria starts with around 150 development and the Kalmar Union is pretty poor development-wise.

So can we get more provinces in the Low Countries, Denmark, in Scotland, and in Portugal please? Don't forget Italy is missing some.

I can definitely agree that Denmark, Scotland, and Portugal could use more provinces. However, I'm currently having difficulties clicking in the Low Countries at times to begin with... and Italy is incredibly wealthy and doesn't need a buff in my opinion.

So we get a feature which was in Victoria 2 right from the start as a paid dlc?

EA would be so proud..

Seeing as this is a different game and implementation of the concept, I don't see how your insulting comparison works.

I think you need to rethink HRE and Great Powers. HRE members should be able to be GPs.

I don't think I saw anything saying that the HRE members are disqualified from being Great Powers... I'm pretty sure Austria isn't one at start because it only has like 150 development then.
 
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Hey! I want you guys in Stockholm to make it easyier for byzantium to call in Poland, nower days poland never wants ottoman territory, so at the end what happens is that you wait to long so the Ottomans stop being a valid rival and you lose around 25 years of gameplay
 
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Is autumn any time soon really?
In PI terms, it is. In EU4 terms also by my definition. PDS deliver long-time quality support, so most additions are planned on the long-term.
 
@DDRJake, will the Great Power system replace the Lucky Nation system? Please say yes.
 
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Man I'm getting really hyped for patch 1.18. thought that was something id never say getting hyped for a patch/DLC also is this gonna be like a twenty dollar DLC and what features are gonna be in the free patch?
 
england wasn't great power until 18th century. i think you should tweak your great status requiretments. i say timurids, china, ottoman empire, france, HRE and spain were great powers. timurid quits with beginning of 16th century. england and russia become great powers around 18th century and both spain and ottoman empire quit from gre. power status after 18th century.
 
england wasn't great power until 18th century. i think you should tweak your great status requiretments. i say timurids, china, ottoman empire, france, HRE and spain were great powers. timurid quits with beginning of 16th century. england and russia become great powers around 18th century and both spain and ottoman empire quit from gre. power status after 18th century.
England made an alliance with Portugal in the XIV century (still being the most long lasting alliance until today) because they were being countinously raided by the french navy and needed the portuguese navy to stop these attacks to the south shore. The HRE emperor should be considered a great power, as well France, Ottomans, Timurids, Ming. Spain definetly not.just remember Battle of Salado.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Río_Salado

funny how this wiki artivcle doesnt mention the begging of the castilian king for help.
 
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