Colonialism - Europe and Asia only?

[dulahan]

So over the last hour and a half I've been save scumming to try and get Colonialism to be born in my provinces. I'm playing as a custom nation based on St. Helena - which should still count as "Old World?"

But now I'm wondering if it doesn't. Portugal is literally the only other nation with a colony in the new world, yet the institution has spawned in Castille, Brittany, and Portugal. Might even have gone to England once, but I can't recall for sure.

I know people have gotten this to spawn while playing as an Asian power like Korea, but is there something against customs? Or something? Because this is getting annoying.

 

[Trin Tragula]

Should be possible in Africa but there's a bug where institutions are more likely to be born in provinces with low province Id numbers (not something you can even see in game normally) which may be working against you.
The bug will be fixed in 1.19 (and then it will be truly a random choice between provinces that meet the requirement).

 

[dulahan]

Thanks!

Any chance the bug where a custom nation added to a save game has 0 institutions if it was made in unclaimed land will be fixed too? Or even can be? Makes it really nice to be able to do custom setups after saving a good random map, especially if things didn't balance right and you want to go back and redo it.

 

[RoytheCoy]

I got Colonialism institution popped as Mali in 1505ish, a few years after I got my first colonial nation up and running. I assume that happened because I was the only country with a colonial nation at the time. It also didn't pop until I embraced the previous institutions, so that might be a prerequisite .

 

[kebzero]

I think your problem is being St. Helena. You're a one-province island (or at least your capitol is). I believe the institutions are hard-coded never to start on one-province islands (as this would kill spread). Being a custom nation should not affect it; an OPM on the African mainland should be perfectly eligible for being the birthplace of Colonialism. OPM island nations (i.e. Maldives, Ryukyu, the Knights, etc.) will never be.

 

[Nwaij]

Colonialism popped for me playing Congo, and in my nation. It was the 1st institution I embraced that game - feudalism and renisance didn't really care to spread to me.

 

[bbqftw]

I also think that colonialism spawn event checks each ports - more ports, more chance of getting the spawn. But not 100% sure.

 

[Frozen Spook]

colonialism can only spawn in non-island provinces in the same area as your capital

Spoiler: from file: Steam/steamapps/common/Europa Universalis IV/common/institutions/00_Core.txt

can_start = {
is_year = 1500
OR = {
continent = europe
continent = asia
continent = africa
}
has_port = yes
is_island = no
is_in_capital_area = yes
owner = {
has_idea = quest_for_the_new_world
OR = {
north_america = { has_discovered = PREV }
south_america = { has_discovered = PREV }
new_world = { has_discovered = PREV }
}
}

}

 

[bbqftw]

I was told that 'is capital area' modifier means that it has to be contiguous with your capital, not that it is in the same state.

 

[smellymummy]

It could also be caused by the fact that St Helena is considered part of the south american continent, though the being an island is the more likely culprit

 

[Twogs]

I was told that 'is capital area' modifier means that it has to be contiguous with your capital, not that it is in the same state.

Yeah it is. But St. Helena is an Island. There is no other province connecting to it, hence no capital area.

 

[MaXimillion]

Yeah it is. But St. Helena is an Island. There is no other province connecting to it, hence no capital area.

No, it is in the capital area, if the capital is on St. Helena. The condition it fails is 'is_island = no'.

 

[Frozen Spook]

I was told that 'is capital area' modifier means that it has to be contiguous with your capital, not that it is in the same state.

You are right, that is what it means. Now I'm confused about the difference between that and the 'is_overseas' modifier

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Should be possible in Africa but there's a bug where institutions are more likely to be born in provinces with low province Id numbers (not something you can even see in game normally) which may be working against you.
The bug will be fixed in 1.19 (and then it will be truly a random choice between provinces that meet the requirement).

St. Helena is, for some strange reason, considered part of the South America continent. I'm not sure which patch changed it...it was definitely part of Africa once upon a time.

You can get colonialism in Africa, his problem is that his capital is considered to be in South America by the game, making him ineligible.

It could also be caused by the fact that St Helena is considered part of the south american continent, though the being an island is the more likely culprit

You can easily get colonialism in a province of Hokkaido or some such. You can't get colonialism in the new world though, and that's where St. Helena supposedly is.

I'd guess that exploring it as anybody in the old world would count for eligibility even ^_^.

MAYBE being a one province island blocks it, but new world 100% blocks it so you will never get it with capital in "South American" St. Helena...

 

[smellymummy]

St. Helena is, for some strange reason, considered part of the South America continent. I'm not sure which patch changed it...it was definitely part of Africa once upon a time.

I imagine whenever areas and regions got added. It's clearly an oversight despite the oddities it can cause. I'd have to double check, but from what I remember St Helena is part of a South Atlantic island area which in turn is part of a region that's in South America which means it's part of the 'new world'. Despite that St Helena itself is supposedly part of Africa - as far as the other game files are concerned... So go figure

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I imagine whenever areas and regions got added. It's clearly an oversight despite the oddities it can cause. I'd have to double check, but from what I remember St Helena is part of a South Atlantic island area which in turn is part of a region that's in South America which means it's part of the 'new world'. Despite that St Helena itself is supposedly part of Africa - as far as the other game files are concerned... So go figure

You might be right about when it happened. If you look at region map mode and mouse over St. Helena I'm 90% sure it says "South America" outright. In game terms it's not part of Africa even supposedly at the moment, it straight treats it like a non-colonial region part of the new world, continent and all.

I'd imagine playing a custom from there could be pretty miserable, I don't think you start with enough range to reach Kongo, but maybe. You can't annex anything in Africa until exploration 3 or DIP 7 either.

 

[net.split]

You could take colonial range as a starting tradition, I suppose.

 

[Grand Historian]

So over the last hour and a half I've been save scumming to try and get Colonialism to be born in my provinces. I'm playing as a custom nation based on St. Helena - which should still count as "Old World?"

Saint Helena's part of the South Atlantic Islands area along with South Georgia and the Falkands - and thus considered New World. It single-handedly destroyed my First Come First Serve run.

 

[Philadelphus]

Ouch. Yeah, you need it for both First Come, First Serve and A Sun God.