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Europa Universalis IV - Development Diary 10th of October 2023 - Yemen and Arabia

Greetings everyone! Today we will take a look into Yemen and the Arabic states, coming back to a more regular type of DD.

Let us start with the content for the Yemeni countries:
rassid missions.png

yemen missions.png

Note: Mission icons are still WIP.

As you might notice, the first mission tree is for the Rassids while the second one is for all Yemeni countries. The reason for this is that they are one of the two unique tags that follow the Zaidi school of Islam (the other one is Gilan on that note) and even are a Feudal Theocracy, so figured they deserve a bit more attention.

In general, though, the Yemeni tags are relatively similar with a similar focus which is the unification of southern Arabia, expansion into the Horn of Africa, and, of course, trade.

The Yemeni tags won’t have any big gimmicks to play with as you will probably either form the Mamluks / Egypt or Arabia later on. With that being said, they still have some interesting additions and small design experiments. An example is the addition of more age-lasting rewards like in the “Unite Yemen” mission:
age rewards.png

Note: Completing missions with age-limited modifiers after the age has passed will just give some small monarch power instead.

These kinds of rewards should incentivize you to focus on certain missions and allow us to give impactful rewards without having to worry about them stacking too much indefinitely as this was the case with permanent rewards.

A bit of a theme for the Yemeni mission rewards is to strengthen the Propagate Religion Trade Policy as you can see in the following missions:
propagate religion.png

And as a trade-focused nation, you will gain the ‘Thalassocracy’ reward when you manage to make the Gulf of Aden the highest-valued trade node and make a monthly income of 300 ducats.
thalassocracy.png

What is a Yemeni country without its focus on coffee?
coffee.png

The “Port of Mukha” requires you to have a workshop, shipyard, and 20 development in the coffee province. The resulting plantation will then pretty much carry your economy while you can focus on “Qahwah Monopoly”.

Now a short insight in the Rassids-specific missions:
rassids missions 1.png

rassids missions 2.png

And when you are done with the Yemen mission tree then you can form into Arabia to continue your campaign. With “Unite Arabia” you will be able to form Arabia a lot earlier too:
unite arabia.png

With that being said, let’s take a look at the Arabic content. Before I go into the Arabic mission trees, I should mention that Arabia has received new ideas so they are no longer a drawback to form:

Code:
ARB_ideas = {
    start = {
        tolerance_own = 2
        years_of_nationalism = -10
    }

    bonus = {
        siege_ability = 0.15
    }

    trigger = {
        tag = ARB
    }
    free = yes

    ARB_arabian_pincers = {
        cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.25
        cavalry_power = 0.25
    }
    ARB_pact_of_umar = {
        dhimmi_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        global_tax_modifier = 0.2
    }
    ARB_engage_in_indian_ocean_trade = {
        trade_steering = 0.2
    }
    ARB_conversion = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.03
    }
    ARB_jihad = {
        warscore_cost_vs_other_religion = -0.1
    }
    ARB_new_caliphate_rising = {
        missionaries = 1
        missionary_maintenance_cost = -0.25
    }
    ARB_mubarizun = {
        army_tradition_decay = -0.01
    }
}

Also forming Arabia will now fire the following flavor event, allowing you to change your capital to one of the important provinces from the Caliphate states:
arabia_capital_event.png

Now to the mission tree for the Arabic countries and Arabia as a whole:
arabia_missions.png

These missions are available to all Bedouin and Hejazi countries. The mission tree is split into 5 parts, 2 of them are inspired by Hejaz while the other 2 smaller parts are inspired by Najd. The last and biggest part is telling the narrative of the formation of a new Arabic Caliphate, and as such possesses a large number of conquest missions.

Starting with the Hejaz-flavored mission parts which branch from the missions “Promote Shura” and “Protectors of the Two Cities”. Here are some highlights of these missions:
wahabism.png

protectors_of_the_cities.png

expand_jeddah_port.png

Note: Jeddah is a Coastal Desert province. So in total, the province will have a -5% Local Development Cost from mission rewards after completing these missions.

As for the Najd-flavored part, here are the following highlights:
befriend_local_amirs.png

Note: Countries which do not have the government mechanic gain +15% Permanent Reinforce Speed instead.
the_harsh_desert.png


found_riyadh.png

Before moving on to the last part of the mission tree, I should mention a special decision available to Bedouin and Hejazi countries. Near the city of Medina used to be an old gold mine which was virtually exhausted in EU4’s timeframe. However, as your early economy in Arabia is barely sufficient enough to cover your state maintenance, we have added a decision that allows the Medina province to help boost your economy for the early years:
restore_cradle_of_gold.png

And once gold runs out of its usefulness to you, you can restore Cloth production once more.
close_cradle_of_gold.png

At last, we now take a look at the core of the mission tree which is heavily dedicated to expansion to mirror the past achievements of the Islamic conquests. As these missions are quite self-explanatory, I will focus on the big highlights of this part:
topple_mamluks.png

abbasid_legacy.png

unite_the_homeland.png

caliphal_ambitions.png

Note: The mission is significantly easier to complete than the Unify Islam decision.

rightly_guided.png

That was it for this week. Next week @Pavía will present you a feature breakdown of 1.36 as well as new and exciting QoL and modding additions. Until then, I wish you all a great week!
 
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How anyone can believe that the few dev diaries we have seen so far cover all the countries updated by the new DLC is surprising to me. There are lots of dev diaries to come and I am convinced that many people misunderstand @Pavia 's message to mean that no more middle eastern countries will get new stuff. They will, we just have not seen them yet.

If I end up being wrong and no more middle eastern countries are updated, then I will second everyone's disappointment. But I am shocked that so many people believe that after only 5 dev diaries they are even remotely close to knowing what is going on in the new expansion when in the last 2 years, all expansions have had at least 10 dev diaries (Origins) and up to 43 (Leviathan). So I say it again, I believe that all the complains are premature and we should at least wait and see if they end up being justified.

Let's try to be positive. :)
It’s a matter of unclear communication. If they would just tell us we wouldn’t be upset. Even if they confirm there’s more to come, I’m still gonna be annoyed that it took so long for them to say anything. I don’t see why they can’t tell us what is and isn’t in the scope from the beginning.
 
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I imagine all the Arabian/Yemeni mission will work no matter if you're Sunni, Shia, or Ibadi? Some of those bonuses would be AMAZING for doing The Third Way achievement as Oman. Great work as always ❤️
 
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It’s a matter of unclear communication. If they would just tell us we wouldn’t be upset. Even if they confirm there’s more to come, I’m still gonna be annoyed that it took so long for them to say anything. I don’t see why they can’t tell us what is and isn’t in the scope from the beginning.
I agree, they really should clear things up quickly so we all know what's going on.
 
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I'm so disappointed with this immersion pack, we could've had different immersion packs instead of this attempt wannabe middle eastern pack.
I wish we had the following instead:

Central Asian pack that updates the hordes -> Persia/Caucasus could belong here

Balkan/Turkish pack that updates the Balkans the turkish minors and also the crusader states -> Byzantium AQ and QQ could belong here

true Middle East pack that updates the middle east nations -> Mamluks Nubia Arabia Oman Hisn Kayfa Syria Lebanon Iraq

This immersion pack seems like it half assed everything. I'm getting Golden Century vibes out of it, which is the worst DLC from this game by far.
 
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So Hejaz and Hejazi people " The founder of Islamic culture/buildings/Rashiduns/Umayyad/Abbasid/scholars/great warriors .. etc"
Got nothing in EU4 - Nothing in CK3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

JUSTICE FOR HEJAZ.
 
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At this point, they should just rename the expansion to King of Kings: Byzaboo: Egyptian Boogaloo to accurately cover the scope of the DLC.
download (1).jpeg
 
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It will be sad if, in a DLC focusing on the middle east, Byzantium gets attention but Hejaz and Najd don't.
So Hejaz and Hejazi people...

No, they explained Hejazi and Bedouin minors do get the Arabian mission tree and content shown in this DD, they are not the problem here.

I want to clarify that because this could be misconstrued later to delegitimize other complaints.

Anyways, as upset as I am for the moment, we should try to keep this for next week as requested, so that we can expect them to also fulfill their end of the bargain and engage in the discussion.
 
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Hi there! We understand that there might be some disappointment with the countries not getting content in the DLC (all in honesty, I had a list of like 20 interesting countries when we started planning it, so some would always be out of the final list).

However, we'd like this DD to be more focused on receiving and gathering valuable feedback about Yemen and Arabia; for instance, I like the suggestions of making Mecca and Medina possible capitals of the Caliphate, let's see if we can get it into the release version of the DLC.

I'll talk next week of the main features of the DLC as a whole, what was our design focus, and also about the 1.36 free patch, and how both are set together. I think that it will be a more appropiate moment and place to discuss about the final content list. ;)
Consider looking at my list of countries which really need more content and be actually updated;
Hormuz?
Oman?
Haasa?
Mustasha?
Trebizond?
Theodoro?
Circassia?
Shirvan?
Caspian Persian Countries?
Iraq?
Syria?
Hisn Kayfa --> Ayyubid --> Caliphate?
Candar?
Karaman?
Rum?
Jerusalem?
Cyprus?
Ramazan?
Athens/Greece? (Oh wait, i forgot Paradox dev said no.)
Caliphate?
Nubia?
Update North Africa?
Wher.

Mainly consider updating ,,Middle East Countries" (Major and interesting countries are in bold font): Hormuz, Oman, Haasa, Mustasha, Trebizond, Theodoro, Shirvan, Iraq, Syria, Hisn Kayfa, Candar, Karaman, Rum, Jerusalem[Crusader Tree revamped], Ramazan(Giving them option to make Armenia Islamized and add them to Levant Culture Group {fun proposition}), Caliphate(Hisn Kayfa --> Ayyubid).
You(Devs of EU4) said that Nubian content will be added in ,,Middle East Oriented DLC". Where is it?
Lastly; I wonder, if Devs will actually look at North Africa and revamp Morroco, Tlemcen, Algiers, Berber countries in North Africa, Tunis and the most important: GRANADA.


I hope all members of EU4 Dev team are reading that.. Have a nice day and really don't destroy it.
 
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Hormuz?
Oman?
Haasa?
Mustasha?
Trebizond?
Theodoro?
Circassia?
Shirvan?
Caspian Persian Countries?
Iraq?
Syria?
Hisn Kayfa --> Ayyubid --> Caliphate?
Candar?
Karaman?
Rum?
Jerusalem?
Cyprus?
Ramazan?
Athens/Greece? (Oh wait, i forgot Paradox dev said no.)
Caliphate?
Nubia?
Update North Africa?
Wher.

Consider looking at my list of countries which really need more content and be actually updated;


Mainly consider updating ,,Middle East Countries" (Major and interesting countries are in bold font): Hormuz, Oman, Haasa, Mustasha, Trebizond, Theodoro, Shirvan, Iraq, Syria, Hisn Kayfa, Candar, Karaman, Rum, Jerusalem[Crusader Tree revamped], Ramazan(Giving them option to make Armenia Islamized and add them to Levant Culture Group {fun proposition}), Caliphate(Hisn Kayfa --> Ayyubid).
You(Devs of EU4) said that Nubian content will be added in ,,Middle East Oriented DLC". Where is it?
Lastly; I wonder, if Devs will actually look at North Africa and revamp Morroco, Tlemcen, Algiers, Berber countries in North Africa, Tunis and the most important: GRANADA.


I hope all members of EU4 Dev team are reading that.. Have a nice day and really don't destroy it.

I'm kind of upset by some major omissions for 1.36, but TBH I cannot support half of your suggestion list. I would only retain Oman and the Sudan region as top priorities from it (for Sudan, only because we where said it would be part of a Middle East DLC). Most of the others are relics / doomed countries, half of them already having content as limited as it may be.

The historical winners should be on the top of the pack, so opening a map of the region could be a good start. What are the remaining countries by the 18th / 19th centuries there? Quite easy :

- Ottomans (done)
- Persia (done)

- Oman (nothing)
- Yemeni states (done)
- Khiva (nothing)
- Bukhara (nothing)
- Durrani Empire / Afghanistan (nothing)
- Sennar Sultanate / Sudan (nothing)

- and a few crumbs left over here and there, but not that relevant.

I would be open for "alt history" things only if those forgotten ones received a little stuff first.

With Persia, Mamluks, Byzantium, Aq/Qara, Georgia, Armenia, Yemen, Arabia + Oman, Khanate of Khiva, Khanate of Bukhara, Durrani Empire, and Sennar Sultanate, we would have a decent number of 13 mission trees for this update. Everything else would be bonus.

I read about Hisn Kâyfa here and there, but permaclaims over egypt at the end of their little tree and a descision to change name should be enough (I guess).
 
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I'm kind of upset by some major omissions for 1.36, but TBH I cannot support half of your suggestion list. I would only retain Oman and the Sudan region as top priorities from it (for Sudan, only because we where said it would be part of a Middle East DLC). Most of the others are relics / doomed countries, half of them already having content as limited as it may be.

The historical winners should be on the top of the pack, so opening a map of the region could be a good start. What are the remaining countries by the 18th / 19th centuries there? Quite easy :

- Ottomans (done)
- Persia (done)

- Oman (nothing)
- Yemeni states (done)
- Khiva (nothing)
- Bukhara (nothing)
- Durrani Empire / Afghanistan (nothing)
- Sennar Sultanate / Sudan (nothing)

- and a few crumbs left over here and there, but not that relevant.

I would be open for "alt history" things only if those forgotten ones received a little stuff first.

With Persia, Mamluks, Byzantium, Aq/Qara, Georgia, Armenia, Yemen, Arabia + Oman, Khanate of Khiva, Khanate of Bukhara, Durrani Empire, and Sennar Sultanate, we would have a decent number of 13 mission trees for this update. Everything else would be bonus.

I read about Hisn Kâyfa here and there, but permaclaims over egypt at the end of their little tree and a descision to change name should be enough (I guess).
The thing is in gerenal the mission trees were lackluster, aq and qara got copy paste trees and not that special stuff
same for the west/central arabian minors
yemeni missions are basically one and the same without any real goals to achieve or alt history
There are no new formables like the abassids, ayyubids, seljuks in persia for oghuz cultures, indian sultanates, no update to barbary states and their interactions with the ottoman empire, granada, morocco, alt history for tlemcen, arab trade networks are not represented in india and south east asia, silk road aint represented and has litteraly no impact, the islamic religion is bland as ever in comparison to its christian counterpart

No update to the religious make up, culture, mechanics, ... Why not do something for they beyliks to represent something like the turkification of the greek peoples There is so much that could have been done But all they did basically was throw a few sloppy generic mission trees for muslim nations And the rest for 3 christian minors with barely any relevancy that get a tree to just basically steam roll the entire muslim world lol

all in all, this dlc has done no just to such a diverse, interesting superregion
 
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This is getting out of hand... And regretfully, I've added my 3 cents to what now looks like a free-for-all shootout kind of a rant, that seems to go over several pages...

I think that without any meaningful input on the actual subject of the Dev Diary from the Community (Arabia, Yemen) this thread should be closed. It's a bit sad... Keep your emotions and frustrations on a leash people! If I knew this escalate this fast and to this extent, I would've never expressed my own disappointment. ( FYI - I too, am not happy with the content size of the next expansion and I've made a comment on this).

yemeni missions are basically one and the same without any real goals to achieve or alt history
There are no new formables like the abassids, ayyubids, seljuks in persia for oghuz cultures, indian sultanates, no update to barbary states and their interactions with the ottoman empire, granada, morocco, alt history for tlemcen, arab trade networks are not represented in india and south east asia, silk road aint represented and has litteraly no impact, the islamic religion is bland as ever in comparison to its christian counterpart

No update to the religious make up, culture, mechanics, ... Why not do something for they beyliks to represent something like the turkification of the greek peoples There is so much that could have been done
You're entitled to your own opinion. You mention a dozen of countries that span through out the islamic world - from Morroco to Hindu Kush. Clearly, that was not the scope of the expansion. Of course, I would wish that all of the above was expanded upon - but I don't see the reason you're mad about at this particular instance?

But all they did basically was throw a few sloppy generic mission trees for muslim nations
Again, your opinion. I find this a bit unfair.
And the rest for 3 christian minors with barely any relevancy that get a tree to just basically steam roll the entire muslim world lol
They have names - Georgia and Armenia. Don't be biased man, not cool...
They don't get any significant (or at all!) buffs at the start. 99% of the time, only the human player will be able to "stream roll" through the fragile muslim world, as you "anticipate".

And mentioned "relevancy"... you have to be careful there - this is a double-edged sword - some would say (I think I would not - but this is a complex case) that arabic countries and the islamic world as a whole was in decline and "irrelevant" in the EU4 time period, since this was the time when european-centered colonialism and imperialism was born. Islamic "Golden age" was dead and gone (with last flare of the Ottobros till mid 17th century). I guess that's the reason why the game is named "Europa Universalis", afterall.
I like to think that history is a complex a thing, and I try not to jump to hasty conclusions and deem some countries and populations "irrelevant". But that's just me.


To sum up - I think Paradox made a mistake/miscalulation in terms of communication. There were hints made that this is an "immersion pack" and not an actual expansion.
But I think more blunt and straight-forward information would allow all of us (Devs and Community) to avoid confusion and misinterpretation.
That's water under the bridge now - let's move forward. :)
(and just this last time, let me crawl into my crib and cry about the lack of content for Trebizond, Mushasha and Hormuz...)
 
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