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EU4 - Development Diary - 28th of February 2017

Good day everyone, Tuesday spells for us a new EU4 Development Diary and while certain members are away enjoying the high life at GDC, it falls to me to bring you today's juicy serving of new mechanics.

As teased last week, we shall look closer at the Empire of China, a new concept in the upcoming expansion. In 1444, Ming is busy being the top dog in Asia and indeed the world, but they were not the first to claim Mandate over China and certainly not the last. We are not even one hundred years from the total collapse of the Yuan domination of china and only two hundred years shy of the successor nation Qing.

An important goal for us is to bring new play experiences across the world. Previously as a nation in East Asia, one would generally wait for Ming to crumble to rebellions, usually from loss of the Mandate of Heaven modifier (or a lot of horses and a good shock phase), and then pick up the pieces from this "Mingsplosion" or playing as Ming, simply do everything in your power to avoid falling into aforementioned deadly Spiral. This isn't quite how we would like East Asia to play out. We wish to bring the whole experience to life In the upcoming expansion, as the Empire of China is now a title that is fought for!

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Where to begin? Our glorious Ming Starts in 1444 with the Celestial throne with a moderate Mandate value. Mandate will grow over time supposing stability is high, States are prosperous and you have an extensive collection of Tributaries. Protect it well, since it will have a large effect on how well your nation will function: Provincial devastation and bordering nations who are not your Tributary or otherwise bending their knee to you will cause Mandate to suffer. At Maximum mandate, The emperor of China will enjoy unrest reduction and cheaper stability cost. Conversely, as Mandate goes down below 50, you will find your troops performing worse and your provinces producing fewer goods, as the people you supposedly rule over with Divine grace back you less and less.

Mandate can be used to pass Celestial Reforms. Not unlike the Holy roman Empire, The Emperor of China must foster the growth of their mandate and spend it to gain some fantastic bonuses. Each Reform can be taken at 80+ Mandate, each will reduce Mandate by 50 and Stability by 1.
  • Introduce Gaituguiliu
    • +0.5 Meritocracy
  • Reform Seaban
    • +1 Diplomats
    • +5% trade Efficiency
  • Delegate Zongdu
    • -0.05 Monthly autonomy
  • Establish Lifan Yuan
    • -10% Core creation Cost
  • Reshape Beurocratic Ranks
    • +1 Monarch Admin Power
Additionally, hawk-eyed readers will have spotted a new Hat in the top bar. Celestial Emperors do not use the Legitimacy values since they are all obviously legit. The Emperor instead has unique access to Meritocracy. This will naturally degrade every year but increases by having skilled advisors in your court. It is then spent on the 6 Decrees, also uniquely available to the Emperor of China.

  • Expand Palace Bureaucracy
    • -10% Development cost
    • -10% core Creation Cost
  • Conduct Population Census
    • +25% National Tax
  • Promote Naval Officers
    • +20% ship durability
  • Increase Tariff Control
    • +25% Provincial trade Power
  • Improve Defense Effort
    • +25% Fort Defense
  • Boost the Officer Corps
    • +10% Infantry Combat Ability
Each Decree lasts for 10 years, costs 20 Meritocracy and, of course, all values are subject to balance up until release, but that's par for the course.

So life is good for the Ming the Celestial Emperor. China is theirs, their tribute flows in regularly and they pass reforms and decrees as they see fit. Well, no single Empire lasts forever.

eu4_126.png


The Celestial throne is there for any Pagan or Eastern Religion nation to secure for themselves. In practice, The Northern Hordes, the Japanese, the Koreans and the Buddhists are all in with a fair shot at securing the title for themselves and have access to a new Casus Belli: Take Mandate of Heaven. Land is cheaper to take in this war. Far cheaper, and it will allow the attacker to secure the Throne for themselves. When this happens, all previous reforms are wiped and the new ruler will start with moderate Mandate themselves. After all, there is only one China and all history from before did not exist. The new Emperor of China will have to quickly establish themselves with their own tributaries and bring Prosperity to the people of China to avoid the fate of their disposed Predecessor. The failed old Emperor of China shall be subjected to the Lost Mandate of Heaven modifier in addition to losing their Empire of China modifiers. Better take care of them, before they collect themselves and put their mind to reclaiming their old throne.

The successful claimant will also enjoy permanent claim on all of China to help consolidate their new power, as our Dai Viet player @Ihki was putting to great effect.

eu4_124.png


Best of luck with your fight to secure the Mandate for yourself. We'll be back next week to talk about another new feature which has our team lamenting any moment that they have to play without it. See you then!
 
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So all pagan religions huh? As in Fetishists and the converted CK2 ones? Nice goal for megacampaingers.
 
And what does that have to do with what I said?
I'm very confused by your first post now. You are talking a dyamo claiming right?
 
I'm very confused by your first post now. You are talking a dyamo claiming right?

No, I said it in the post, I am talking about the shogun (a.k.a. the de facto leader of Japan) or the emperor (a.k.a. the de jure leader) claiming it. The shogun is the one you are playing as and the emperor only shows up in events but it would make sense that the shogun would claim it on the behalf of the emperor rather than himself and thus for one not change his title.
 
Very good DD, im Hyped to play in China again.

Not related to this DD but ... Do we have news about the Cb of exploration ? (Its so horrible right now to declare war on natives)
 
I know that it's not the real topic of the dev diary, but I have no idea how to say you something that I realized just few days ago.
I was thinking about some minor changes also in other places, for instance in Canada. I've seen a documentary about Canada that talked about maple syrup and how important it was for the first french and english settlers, that made out of it in the '600 something like 7 billion pounds yearly.
Instead of making Canada a sort of colonial Russia with all that furs, why don't you introduce the possibility to find this new good, the maple syrup, with a price of 3.00 maybe? Just to make the colonial region of Canada a little more rich.
I mean, you even put the ivory in Greenland because of narwhals, why not the maple syrup? :D
 

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So with this it'd be a great idea to give the Mongols, Oirat and Mandchuria tribe some love. Giving them proper unit model and give the opportunity to the Mongols to form the Mongolian Empire again since the Roman Empire can be form and taking over China is much more easier for tribes now.
 
So if I get this correctly AI Ming collapsing is still a thing when they get low mandate or are attacked.

I'd be very interested in Paradox' numbers: how often in your test playthroughs did it happen? Rarely? Always?

Oh and cheers for the update, Jake. Very much looking forward to this :)
 
Will passing reforms lower your minimum autonomy? (for instance 10 for every reform) or will you be stuck at 50% autonomy for all eternity?

And what happens if I start the revolution? Will I lose the celestial empire status and Emperor of China mechanic, just lose meritocracy and stay Emperor, or no revolution at all (which would be silly imo)?
 
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So if I get this correctly AI Ming collapsing is still a thing when they get low mandate or are attacked.

I'd be very interested in Paradox' numbers: how often in your test playthroughs did it happen? Rarely? Always?

Oh and cheers for the update, Jake. Very much looking forward to this :)
Agreed. I know HoI4 team always talks about their hands off games and I hope this team does the same to ensure the Chinese empire is replaced once or twice and I'd love to hear how their hands off games go
 
Will passing reforms lower your max autonomy? (for instance 10 for every reform) or will you be stuck at 50% autonomy for all eternity?

And what happens if I start the revolution? Will I lose the celestial empire status and Emperor of China mechanic, just lose meritocracy and stay Emperor, or no revolution at all (which would be silly imo)?

It is minimum automony, and the devs have already said that this has been removed.
 
Looks really neat. Also happy that celestial empire retains dynasty.

The only thing I really have to complain about in the dev diary is the vagueness of the teaser for next week :p
 
I suggest to replace the icon for mandate, it just not that proper. That hat is manchu type while traditional Chinese hat called "guan" is some how like Korean and Japanese traditional hat. Please replace it to something that Ming and Qing dynasty have in common. Maybe the forbidden city or "huabiao"— a symbol of absolute power of the emporer

Guan is not the name of it, the Hat worn by the Chinese, Koreans and even the Vietnamese was called the "Wu Sha Mao." The Guan was only worn by Chinese Emperors during weddings and ceremonial events. Also the icon hat for the mandate is Chinese I think you meant the hat for the meritocracy on the top bar which is a Manchu hat.
 
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Thank you for all your hard work on this! The upcoming DLC is shaping up to be the best one since AoW (and, simply out of personal bias, I'd say better than as well).
 
Interesting features, but I am just a bit disappointed not to see more states in the Chinese areas from start, as there are in the HRE.
Although I understand it's not really the same state of decentralization.
It would have been funnier to play in MP though
 
So, Ming has gained several new provinces, lost its 50% autonomy, can make tons of tributaries, and gets access to a bunch of shiny new potential benefits if it plays remotely well.

What exactly is keeping it in check? Surely not the Banners system; while nice, that doesn't seem near enough to counter all these additional benefits. Is it that Ming simply doesn't attack anyone because it doesn't want to lose tributaries? Or are "Mingsplosions" now caused by an aggressive AI that attacks its tributaries and then loses mandate?

Being the emperor seems compelling (if easy), but being around the emperor seems even worse than usual now. I expect that isn't the case, as the dev diary opened with text suggesting exactly the opposite. That means I'm missing something -- either information that hasn't been conveyed, or connections that I'm not seeing.

Please help!