Welcome to the very first development diary for El Dorado, the fourth major expansion for Europa Universalis 4. To kick things off, we’ll be talking about the new Nahuatl religion that El Dorado adds in Central America and also about how the expansion changes exploration and colonization.


Nahuatl
One of the centerpieces of the expansion is the new Nahuatl religion. A number of Central American states, most famously the Aztecs, believed that the world was destined to end and that only the strength of their Gods could prevent it from happening. For the Gods to have enough power to prevent Doomsday, they needed sacrifice - human sacrifice. The Aztecs would go to war to secure captives for these sacrificial rituals, all in the name of keeping the universe together.

In El Dorado, this is represented through a mechanic we call Doom. All Nahuatl states have a ticking Doom value that increases every year based on the number of provinces they own. High Doom increases technology costs and idea costs and should the value ever reach 100 the Nahuatl state will be forced into taking drastic measures to avert Doomsday. The ruling family will be sacrificed, killing your ruling monarch and heir and replacing them with a 0/0/0 ruler. In addition, all of your monarch power is lost and any and all subject states break away as the nation descends into chaos. As if that wasn’t enough, if the doomed state has gained any religious reforms, up to two of these will be lost (more on that below).

To avert Doomsday, Nahuatl states have a few options. The ‘Flower Wars’ Casus Belli gives them the ability to declare war on their neighbours freely while occupying provinces and winning battles will result in Doom being reduced as they secure captives to send to the Gods. If just warring with your neighbours isn’t sufficient, Nahuatl states can also sacrifice ruling monarchs and adult heirs in their vassal states. Doing so will reduce Doom by an amount equal to the total skills of that monarch or heir, but will anger all subject states and make them more likely to seek independence.

If you wish to get out of this cycle of war and sacrifice, you will need to reform your religion. Each of the three new religions (more on the other two in a later dev diary) has their own reform track, and their own unique requirements for passing a reform. Nahuatl states have five reforms they can pass, giving benefits such as colonists, war exhaustion reduction and more diplomatic relations. Enacting a reform requires having at least 5 vassal states, no rebels, positive stability and less than 50 Doom. When enacted, Doom will increases by 25 and all subject states will declare independence, forcing you to go to war to bring them back into the fold. Once you have passed all five reforms, the ‘Reform Religion’ button will be available as soon as you border a Western neighbour. This brings you up to 80% of that Western nation’s technology level and allows you to Westernize. It also permanently disables the Doom mechanic.

Exploration
Exploring the New World can be very rewarding, but also a bit tedious, as you have to manually control your explorers and conquistadors while they seek out new land for you to colonize and conquer. In the El Dorado expansion we’ve added new systems for both land and sea exploration, but we’ll leave the land exploration for a later dev diary and instead talk about naval exploration.

Those with the El Dorado expansion will have an ‘Exploration Mission’ button in the unit panel that opens a list of possible missions that their explorers can undertake. These include exploring a sea, charting a coastline and even circumnavigating the globe. When you send a fleet on a mission to explore a sea or chart a coastline they will head towards that province and automatically uncover it, along with surrounding provinces, before returning to port. Charting coastlines can also result in a variety of events as your explorers make landfall and encounter the native population of other continents. Fleets on an exploration mission do not suffer from attrition but you will not be able to divert them from their course and you can’t send a fleet exploring unless it is in port. Furthermore, exploring can no longer be done with a single ship - you need at least 3 Light or Heavy Ships (or a mix of both) to be able to explore.

Nations that have Diplomatic Technology level 9 can follow in the footsteps of Magellan and attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Doing so will send your fleet on a trek from the Straits of Magellan to the Cape of Good Hope. The fleet will take attrition as normal on this mission, but if it makes it all the way around the globe without sinking, you will have successfully circumnavigated the globe. Being the first nation to circumnavigate the globe will give you 100 prestige, while other nations who do so later will gain 10 prestige for a successful attempt.

Treaty of Tordesillas
Colonization of the Americas wasn’t a free-for-all. The Pope divided the world into Spanish and Portuguese influence spheres that determined who had the right to colonize a given part of the world. In the El Dorado expansion, Catholic nations will be able to gain a similar sanction for their colonization by being the first nation to create a colonial nation in a colonial region while having positive relations with the Papal States. The first nation to do so will be given a ‘Papal Grant’, which speeds up the growth of settlers for them by +10 in that colonial region and slows down the settler growth of all other Catholic nations there by -20. A Catholic nation that violates a Papal Grant also gets -50 relations with both the nation that has the grant and the Papal States.

That's all for today, but there will be a dev diary every Thursday up until release, so stay tuned!

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Expansion Announcement Teaser
[video=youtube;vYDn6JhHEuw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYDn6JhHEuw[/video]

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 1
[video=youtube;kaq97WPCpiI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaq97WPCpiI[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaq97WPCpiI

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 2
[video=youtube;bK53EcmWp1o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK53EcmWp1o[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK53EcmWp1o

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 3
[video=youtube;Ftx_sbEJEF8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftx_sbEJEF8[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftx_sbEJEF8

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 4
[video=youtube;qAWOuwVTTQw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAWOuwVTTQw[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAWOuwVTTQw

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 5
[video=youtube;8a9rbt-9mho]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a9rbt-9mho[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a9rbt-9mho

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 7
[video=youtube;83FrD4ZMfmg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FrD4ZMfmg[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FrD4ZMfmg

Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Dev's Play 6
[video=youtube;DWHAEspX4W8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWHAEspX4W8[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWHAEspX4W8[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK53EcmWp1o"][/URL]

 

[Nassau]

Typical that when I asked it auto-exploration was ever going to be implemented while Paradox was doing a stream the dev said no. But now this. Nice idea


I radically oppose the Treaty of Tordesillas. The penalty has no historic bases what so ever.

 

[Black Lotus]

I like the new religion mechanics of Meso-American nations and the new exploration mission mechanics. The only thing that I'm a little iffy about is the Treaty of Tordesillas. Basically, I think the "punishment" is too weak and many players may simply ignore the negative modifiers. Also, how will Protestant nations like England be able to effectively colonize the New World?

 

[unmerged(142882)]

well even more reasons to go reformed now for me

I found myself going protestant/reformed more and more lately.. So protestant netherlands can still do what they want and whoop everyones butt in everything? When was the last time the pope was relevant? Maybe in 900 AD in CKII?

 

[josh127]

I like the new religion mechanics of Meso-American nations and the new exploration mission mechanics. The only thing that I'm a little iffy about is the Treaty of Tordesillas. Basically, I think the "punishment" is too weak and many players may simply ignore the negative modifiers. Also, how will Protestant nations like England be able to effectively colonize the New World?

It says Catholic, not Christian nations are affected by the treaty.

 

[Nblue]

Love everything about this DLC! Cant wait to throw my ducats at it.

Will there be any cost involved with sending exploration missions, like money for supplies, or that they need time to prepare before they depart?
Anyhow I think its a good addition that brings more flavour to exploring

 

[Freudia]

Also, how will Protestant nations like England be able to effectively colonize the New World?

Same as before. They're unaffected by the Treaty. Only affects Catholics.

 

[SignedName]

What are Nahuatl's stats? Due to its warlike nature, I think it should get a monthly war exhaustion modifier (I used to think Aztec should get that instead of their currently-awful Flower Wars idea, but it fits better with the religion now).

Judging from the picture, a war exhaustion modifier seems to be the first reform.

 

[RickMP80]

I love new exploration mechanics... now is so boring.

 

[ParadogsGamer]

I kinda liked the routine of exploring... it was mostly inconsequential and an opportunity for me to wind down between wars etc. A chore, yes, but it didn't really bother me... I realize I'm probably among the minority in that regard.

Once you've done it enough times, the fun goes away

 

[Umega]

Hmm, I'm uneasy about this expansion, the only thing that sounds nice is the Treaty thing. But I don't like the idea of now needing three ships to explore and a gimmicky way of exploring via these "missions". I hope this Nahuatl religion still has a penalty for easy conversion by the european religions. Also, wasn't Nahuatl the language spoken by the Aztecs?

 

[SignedName]

Once you've done it enough times, the fun goes away

There's always the Random New World option.

 

[Freudia]

Once you've done it enough times, the fun goes away

I didn't find it fun, but I did like the control I had over it. I could also press my limits and if I got greedy I could attempt to discover that one last square before turning home. Now it's always a "go out and find this exact square, then come home" kind of deal, and I'm not sure if I like it.

 

[steveh11]

There's always the Random New World option.

Actually, we haven't yet had confirmation that it's compatible with RNW... no mention of it at all.

 

[SignedName]

I always hated it when I forgot about a fleet I sent on an exploration mission and a few months later I'm notified that it sank due to attrition from sitting in the same sea tile forever.

 

[kralex]

I always hated it when I forgot about a fleet I sent on an exploration mission and a few months later I'm notified that it sank due to attrition from sitting in the same sea tile forever.

Yeah, that one was annoying. It could be solved with an Alert if you have a fleet without any orders in a sea province with attrition.

 

[Llyw olaf]

I take it I can choose which order I pass the reforms? and new flavour events for these nations and religions will be added with the DLC?
I eagerly await the next dev diaries, I'm also hoping Chimu will have a moon and not a sun worship religion.

 

[Freudia]

I always hated it when I forgot about a fleet I sent on an exploration mission and a few months later I'm notified that it sank due to attrition from sitting in the same sea tile forever.

Should try to queue up movement orders sometime. That's a good way to not get your fleets sunk due to forgetfulness.

 

[Yxklyx]

I like the fact that naval exploration is being looked at. Currently you can hire one explorer and map out nearly the entire world with him in a matter of years.

 

[ParadogsGamer]

Now it's always a "go out and find this exact square, then come home" kind of deal, and I'm not sure if I like it.

And how can you be sure when you haven't seen how it works. And since you are not sure, why moan about it?
Sorry, but this happens in every dev diary and it's tedious to the point I'd actually prefer no diaries. Then people could complain when they'd actually have something to complain about.

 

[TheChrisD]

That Doom mechanic is... shockingly bad. It was hard enough controlling all of Mesoamerica before the Euros came as it was. All that hassle with vassals breaking off, just to get the same free tech boost like the Native Councils get? Totally not worth it. Glad I started my Sunset run before this...

Also, since you're looking at slowing down naval exploration; can you do something about colonial range? Like make it so that distant overseas provinces don't count towards it.