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Welcome back to a new Dev Diary! I am Aldaron and I am the other new Content Designer in Paradox Tinto. Happy to be here with all of you, adding a bit more information to that which my colleague @skingrado shared last Tuesday.

During the last Dev Diary there were two questions that were repeated a few times and that hopefully I will be able to answer today:

  • What about Western America?
Well, we cannot just add everything we have done to a single dev diary, but do not worry, because today we’ll show you a bit more, this time devoted to this area of North America that you people asked for.

  • Will there be any work on the rest of America?
The focus of this expansion is not the rest of America, but as a matter of fact, we added a mission for those nations with the Religious Reforms feature.

So without much preambles, and before we start, I would like to remind everyone a last tiny thing. As my colleague said last Tuesday, we have divided North American Natives into 6 of the 9 cultural areas that are normally used in anthropology when studying these people. Dividing them in cultural areas has given us the opportunity to group several TAGs into a common core and at the same time add diversity to the area.

MISSIONS:

As you might know, one of the less fun things when playing natives was the mission tree. You had the general mission tree, but you could not fill it due to the limitation natives have! Well, no more. As part of the work on natives, we have created a new general mission tree adapted to Natives, with some interrelationships between several of the missions and the addition of some new ones to make them more engaging. This mission tree is available to every native nation, from the Northwestern Pass to Tierra del Fuego.

1606204192958.png

(Notice that all icons are still placeholders).​

Besides, as you can see in the previous image, we have added a small mission (Reform our Religion) for the three more advanced native groups (Aztec, Inca and Maya) to deal with their mechanics, despite them not being the focus of the expansion.

1606203947425.png

Continuing with last week’s trend, here we have the specific regional mission tree for those natives whose living developed in the Great Plains of North America. This group includes the several Sioux tribes (such as Lakota or Dakota [Sioux ingame]), the Shoshone or the Wichita. This group’s focus revolves around hunting bison and would evolve to a horse riding culture after contact with the Europeans. Without any doubt the most iconic Native American group of people.

Some highlights of this tree include:
  • Gathering all that available food from the wild that will improve your economic power.
  • Befriending those around you will help you with your federations.
  • Capturing those horses from the Europeans will greatly improve your capacity to combat over them.

1606203975409.png

If Plain Natives were a rather peaceful people before contact, Northwestern ones were pretty much the contrary. Raidings were a constant in the life of these people and would bring their canoes to capture slaves as south as California. But war and slavery were not the only thing Northwestern natives would focus on, they had a complex social culture that involved showing wealth of to their own people or to foreigners as a way to celebrate their power (the Potlach Ceremony) or showing respect to ancestors or shaming enemies with their elaborate totems.

Some highlights of this tree include:
  • Remembering the ancestors and their deeds to unite your people under your rule.
  • Boasting about your wealth to bring your allies closer to you.
  • Showing your strength and using that fear against your enemies.

NATIONAL IDEAS:

Pretty much as with Mission Trees, we have divided National Ideas into Regional National Ideas that will fire for TAGs belonging to certain regions.

In this DD I will present two of the six regional sets.

Since California was forgotten in the previous section, I will start with them.

California is the smallest cultural region in North America but with a very pronounced personality. Despite being mostly sedentary people, living in a very rich region, Californian Natives did not rely much on agriculture and despite their population density (it is estimated it was the biggest in NA) they were not very warfaring. Their NIs relate to their own development and diplomatic expansion.

Code:
california_native_ideas = {
    start = {
        autonomy_change_time = -0.25
        same_culture_advisor_cost = -0.5
    }
   
    bonus = {
        years_of_nationalism = -5
    }
   
    trigger = {
        primary_culture = yokuts
    }
    free = yes
   
    division_as_a_strength_cf = {
        num_accepted_cultures = 1
        promote_culture_cost = -0.25
    }
    basketweaving = {
        production_efficiency = 0.05
    }
    tribelets = {
        diplomatic_upkeep = 1
        stability_cost_modifier = -0.10
    }
    forest_gardening = {
        development_cost = -0.10          
    }
    kuksu_cult = {
        religious_unity = 0.5
    }
    rock_art = {
        prestige_decay = -0.01
        global_unrest = -2
    }
    medicine_men = {
        land_attrition = -0.10
    }
}

Back to the Northwest, these people had a different angle on how they saw life and their NIs are more devoted to warfare and expansion.

Code:
nw_native_ideas = {
    start = {
        development_cost = -0.10
        heir_chance = 0.5
    }
   
    bonus = {
        army_tradition_decay = -0.01
    }
   
    trigger = {
        OR = {
            primary_culture = athabascan
            primary_culture = chinook
            primary_culture = haida
            primary_culture = salish
        }
    }
    free = yes
   
    raid_warfare_nw = {
        infantry_shock = 0.5
        rival_change_cost = -0.2
    }
    brother_salmon = {
        tolerance_own = 1
    }
    potlatch = {
        improve_relation_modifier = 0.2
        global_unrest = -2
    }
    mother_and_father = {
        female_advisor_chance = 0.1
    }
    totem_poles_nw = {
        prestige_decay = -0.01
        stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
    }
    canoe_people = {
        leader_land_manuever = 1
    }
    division_as_a_strength_nw = {
        num_accepted_cultures = 1
        promote_culture_cost = -0.25
    }
}

EVENTS:

Different regions will have access to different events, and some common ones. This week we will show a few of these regional events and we’ll call it a day for now.

1606204499094.png

Californian Natives had their own secret cults that should you pay the price for them would bring you some wellbeing.

1606204635645.png

Diplomacy in the Plains is not always easy.

1606204707435.png

The Potlach was a massively important ceremony for the Northwestern Natives. Choosing to celebrate it or not could have consequences.

You might have noticed that both my colleague and me have shown a small selection of missions for you. After the release you will have the chance to discover the other two regional mission trees (SE and California) and several TAG/culture specific ones, find some Easter eggs here and there and several other goodies. Stay tuned and see you next week!
 
Well I don't know if this is 'broken' or not, but revolutions take waaaaaay too long to spread. Simply uniting the subcontinent as an Indian nation means that the revolution will take an entire decade to spread enough for you to crush/accept it, which means you just have to kind of sit there and watch your national autonomy rise. According to the wiki, the centre takes 33 days to convert one province. If you have, let's say, 1500 provinces, this means you'd have to wait 27 years for you to be even able to start dealing with the revolution. Considering how the age of revolution starts around 1720~1730, this means that you barely get 50 years of revolutionary gameplay.

It gets even worse if you're playing 'wide', because the revolution apparently also has a time limit. In my failed Third Way run the Centre of Revolution spawned in Bengal, proceeded to spread the revolution to a large chunk of my land, and then fizzled out because it 'didn't spread enough'. I just had to sit with a bunch of my highest development provinces at like 50% autonomy for nothing.

It also removes any previous government reforms, which makes it unattractive for certain nations (Prussia/Ottomans/Rum/Austria/Russia), while downright horrible for others (Mughals, Mongol Empire).

The AI also has no idea how to deal with it. Like, at all.

And we of course cannot forget, Revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary Bohemian Canada.

You know you don't have to wait for 100% spread, right? If I recall correctly you it need 10% spread to trigger the disaster and, once that is done, you become a revolution.

The 3 problems with Revolutions are: No Imperialism CB; too many government reforms and not enough progress; it comes way too late.
 
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If I recall correctly you it need 10%
It's 20%, which still takes a ridiculous amount of time if you're playing wide.

To reiterate on my previous example, assuming dev is spread equally amongst 1500 provinces, this means that you need to wait for the revolution to spread to 300 (1500*0.2) of them. Each province takes 33 days to spread to, which means you need to wait 9900 days, or 27.12 years. Which is exactly why

it comes way too late.

this is a problem. You barely get 50~60 years of revolutionary gameplay, and a good half of that is spent without all the government reforms. And as you mentioned, if one of your targets also go revolutionary, you have to sit there and fabricate claims on them for a CB. Yikes.
 
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Why just six, and not all nine? Which three are being excluded?

If the 9 groups are the same list in the link, I'm guessing that Arctic and Subarctic are being excluded. I think one of the devs mentioned that Pacific Northwest was being fused with Plateau. For better or worse the Great Basin area is wasteland in game, so that area is probably excluded too.
 
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I understand S.A is out of escope, but at least all natives could have access to the migration mechanics (with the exception of Inti, Nahuatl and Mayan). Or do you plan something very different to them?
There are no plans for them for now. When I joined the team, the focus was set.

Happy to see the new studio in full swing. Tribes have never interested me much, and I'm guessing this applies to most people seeing the limited amount of responses in this thread.

That said, I'm really looking forward to what you, as Tinto, have in store for us. I'm also happy to see responses from the devs in thread likes these. It's communication like that that gives studios an edge on their competitors, so I'm hoping to see continuation on that front.

Anyway, I'll be sure to try out a tribe once in next patch.
We are trying our best. :D

Side note: I remember a patch or two ago devs agenda was complete removal of increased core creation from any NI in the game. However, today, while browsing countries that have achievement I’ve didn’t managed to do, I’ve noticed that Pueblo still has this junk. Probably some natives still has this modifier. Will this be addressed in the update?
I talked to @skingrado and she told me those are probably an old version since they should not be there anymore.

I have a technical question, so I'm not sure if you can answer that:

How is the "native" status being changed ingame, mechanic wise (if at all)?
Any chance the religious reform mechanics (for Nahuatl, Mayan and Inti) can also be used for non-natives in Custom Nation Games in the next patch?
The mission to reform your religion is tied to those three religions. If you chose them in the Custom Nation Generator you should get it (as long as you capital is in North America, South America or New World continents and your tech group is andean, south american or mesoamerican).

Not to be at all difficult but where did they get what looks like a pig for the potlach in the event artwork? Pigs aren’t native to North America and even now feral pigs haven’t really made it up to the Pacific Northwest.

I know it’s nitpicking, plus I think they preferred salmon for those. Been awhile since I’ve been to one though.
The pics are from CoP. You get them if you have that dlc activated.

Are the Plains nations getting their own ideas as well? Want to feel like the Lords of the Southern Plains well playing Comanchee
Plan Nations do have the Great Plains regional mission tree as they are one of the six regional mission trees.

Is this stuff part of CoP or the new expansion?
Expansion, although CoP still adds interesting stuff that works well with it.

Why just six, and not all nine? Which three are being excluded?
Because Subartic region did not add much differentiation with the closest cultural regions and there weren't many TAGs attached to it. Same with NW Plateau (no TAGs and even if they were it is quite similar to NW) and Great Basin (only Shoshone belong to this group and those closer to the Great Plains behaved pretty much as those in that group). While technically it is indeed "loss" of 1/3 of the groups, mechanically/background speaking the loss is minimal and it is a good abstraction.
 
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You know you don't have to wait for 100% spread, right? If I recall correctly you it need 10% spread to trigger the disaster and, once that is done, you become a revolution.

The 3 problems with Revolutions are: No Imperialism CB; too many government reforms and not enough progress; it comes way too late.
It's 20%, which still takes a ridiculous amount of time if you're playing wide.

To reiterate on my previous example, assuming dev is spread equally amongst 1500 provinces, this means that you need to wait for the revolution to spread to 300 (1500*0.2) of them. Each province takes 33 days to spread to, which means you need to wait 9900 days, or 27.12 years. Which is exactly why



this is a problem. You barely get 50~60 years of revolutionary gameplay, and a good half of that is spent without all the government reforms. And as you mentioned, if one of your targets also go revolutionary, you have to sit there and fabricate claims on them for a CB. Yikes.
Almost feels like it should have been part of Victoria series.
 
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There are no plans for them for now. When I joined the team, the focus was set.


We are trying our best. :D


I talked to @skingrado and she told me those are probably an old version since they should not be there anymore.


The mission to reform your religion is tied to those three religions. If you chose them in the Custom Nation Generator you should get it (as long as you capital is in North America, South America or New World continents and your tech group is andean, south american or mesoamerican).


The pics are from CoP. You get them if you have that dlc activated.


Plan Nations do have the Great Plains regional mission tree as they are one of the six regional mission trees.


Expansion, although CoP still adds interesting stuff that works well with it.


Because Subartic region did not add much differentiation with the closest cultural regions and there weren't many TAGs attached to it. Same with NW Plateau (no TAGs and even if they were it is quite similar to NW) and Great Basin (only Shoshone belong to this group and those closer to the Great Plains behaved pretty much as those in that group). While technically it is indeed "loss" of 1/3 of the groups, mechanically/background speaking the loss is minimal and it is a good abstraction.

Thanks for answering! I just hope whoever sets the focus for each patch to give some love to Latin America and Subsaharan-Africa after 1.31.
 
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Slightly broken or stilted English is fine for something like a dev diary, but not for a product that you charge money for.
*Cries in any language but English after having paid for a game with a broken translation and having rolled with it since day 1*

Love the dev diary. And love what Tinto is doing so far. I'm sure they'll work on South America and colonization in the future since it's been requested so much and it's a team located in Iberia. Curious to see what's next for this DLC and what name it will get.

Sitting Bull's Revenge
Pocahontas' Payback

Not to be at all difficult but where did they get what looks like a pig for the potlach in the event artwork? Pigs aren’t native to North America and even now feral pigs haven’t really made it up to the Pacific Northwest.
Can't blame Tinto since it's a remnant of the past but I agree. And if they change it, hopefully they change the animist religion icon too. How come they use a pig symbol so extensively in a continent that has never seen a real pig? The pig spirit must be demanding sola fide.
 
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Because Subartic region did not add much differentiation with the closest cultural regions and there weren't many TAGs attached to it. Same with NW Plateau (no TAGs and even if they were it is quite similar to NW) and Great Basin (only Shoshone belong to this group and those closer to the Great Plains behaved pretty much as those in that group). While technically it is indeed "loss" of 1/3 of the groups, mechanically/background speaking the loss is minimal and it is a good abstraction.
Fair enough, I suppose. Will there be any new, playable tribes added?
 
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Fair enough, I suppose. Will there be any new, playable tribes added?
There are no further plans on adding more tribes than those that have already been added.
 
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There are no further plans on adding more tribes than those that have already been added.
Oh well, I won't complain. Looking forward to the overhauled Natives, though! As much as I love playing them already, it gets pretty tedious waiting for the Europeans to arrive just to do anything. Is there an estimate of how long we'll be waiting? I don't want to start a new game if it's just around the corner, after all!
 
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