Command Decisions Screen
I have read many suggestions for improvements to the EU3 game and I respect all the contributors’ suggestions. Their desires come from a love of the game. Otherwise, why take the time to care about the game.
Thank you to the designers of EU3 and its predecessors for giving me so many, many, MANY hours of fun.
What I hope to suggest will be the single greatest addition to the next installment of EU3, with (hopefully) the least possible amount of work for the designers for such a major addition to the game. The idea is to create a Command Decisions Screen.
What is a Command Decisions Screen?
It would consist of a place within the game, where a player can trigger the effects of a specific event programmed for that icon. It would be similar to the National Idea screen, but it would be programmable by the modding community to suite a variety of purposes. It would also be a list of options that exist over the course of the game. Changing as the options available to the player changed.
Example Number 1.
You are playing Tuscany and trying to form Italy. On the command decisions screen is a list of titles, one of them is entitled “Kingdom of Italy.” Next to the title is a list that looks similar to the National Ideas screen's square icons. They are all dark at the moment. The first on the row is called “Found the realm of Italy.” If you hover the mouse over the icon, it displays a short note, list the qualifications to use this icon, and the effects of the use of the icon.
The icons for Italy will only appear to those countries that can eventually found Italy - i.e. they meet the basic criteria. It will light up when you meet all of the criteria. When it lights up, you - THE PLAYER - can decide when to proclaim yourself Italy. Not random chance or external forces. Since this is a decision that rulers make, it is available to the rulers of the country in question.
It is a command decision! You’re in command! It’s your decision! You decide when to make it. You can wait until you feel you can defend your new title, or jump in and take the risk.
The icons for Italy might be arranged as a series of levels, such as creating northern Italy, then unifying the peninsula, then laying claim to all the lands of the Italian Diaspora.
Certainly, Modders could go wild with this opportunity. This will be like cocaine to those who love to create or play complex historical or fantasy mods.
How does this benefit the player?
They get to command their nation to a degree well beyond the current game. EU3 has a great system for day-to-day management of the realm. It also has a great management of the armed forces system. It also has a great events system. It is really great for modding random events and the forces of history - like the Reformation.
What it needs is a system for giving players the capacity to make choices in the game on a strategic level.
The system of having an icon in the game will help to eliminate one of the banes of playing mods: Having to search the web or read the event codes to find out how to do something. This ruins the environment of the game. No player should ever have to leave the game environment in order to play the game. This screen will allow modders to give the appropriate information to a player inside the game. Just like the National Ideas, Spies, and Diplomacy screens.
Think of it. You know when you start the game that there are three levels to creating Italy. You know what they are, what they require, and what effects they have.
Example Number 2.
If you have played with the mod Magna Mundi Gold, then you have seen the great options encoded for the Holy Roman Emperor. They are superb. They have only one flaw: You, the Emperor, do not really have command over them. You Imperial Majesty will have to wait until a random event pops open for you to act, and then you only have the options the event gives to you at the time.
But with a Command Decisions Screen, you will decide from a list of options what can be done. This list of rewards and punishments would be available only to you, the Emperor. If Mainz takes a province from Trier, you decide whether to demand it be given back. You decide what punishment to threaten if they do not return the province. And you decided when to make your move. It might be best for you as a new emperor to field your armies before threatening war. The event could be encoded to remain active until a year after the original violation of the ancient rules of the empire.
You might also just decide to declare them an “Enemy of the Empire” and wait for the next few years to see if they give in. If they do, you can go back to the Command Decisions Screen and remove them from the list of imperial enemies. It’s a command decision! You’re in command! It’s your decision!
How does this benefit the modders?
It opens up a range of options for modders, like I have never seen in any other game. If I play Morocco, I decide how much support to give to the pirates and I can change it when ever I want. Spain breathing down my neck? “I don’t know these people!” Spain is in a bloodbath war with France? “Get me some gold!”
If I am the Papal Sponsor, I can decide who to excommunicate and who to declare a saint. The Ottomans have taken Naples? “I shall call for a 5th Crusade!”
Nearly every possible modder instinct of creating choices for the player can now be fully realized!
How does this benefit the Designers?
I am hoping that the work you have already done to create the National Ideas screen can be used here to trigger a programmed event. In theory (and I have no basis for the following statement), it would be a merging of the National Ideas code, the event code, and spying sub-events code. The non-assembly language parts already look quite similar. All we really need is a place to put it, I hope.
How can I Help?
If you like the idea, please post something saying so. If enough people like it, then the designers will hopefully consider it for the next update to the game. Or if that one is too far along, the update after that.
Also, help spread the word to support a Command Decisions Screen. This is the best single idea for a dramatic improvement to the game. Why? Because: It’s a command decision! You’re in command! Shouldn’t it be your decision?
I have read many suggestions for improvements to the EU3 game and I respect all the contributors’ suggestions. Their desires come from a love of the game. Otherwise, why take the time to care about the game.
Thank you to the designers of EU3 and its predecessors for giving me so many, many, MANY hours of fun.
What I hope to suggest will be the single greatest addition to the next installment of EU3, with (hopefully) the least possible amount of work for the designers for such a major addition to the game. The idea is to create a Command Decisions Screen.
What is a Command Decisions Screen?
It would consist of a place within the game, where a player can trigger the effects of a specific event programmed for that icon. It would be similar to the National Idea screen, but it would be programmable by the modding community to suite a variety of purposes. It would also be a list of options that exist over the course of the game. Changing as the options available to the player changed.
Example Number 1.
You are playing Tuscany and trying to form Italy. On the command decisions screen is a list of titles, one of them is entitled “Kingdom of Italy.” Next to the title is a list that looks similar to the National Ideas screen's square icons. They are all dark at the moment. The first on the row is called “Found the realm of Italy.” If you hover the mouse over the icon, it displays a short note, list the qualifications to use this icon, and the effects of the use of the icon.
The icons for Italy will only appear to those countries that can eventually found Italy - i.e. they meet the basic criteria. It will light up when you meet all of the criteria. When it lights up, you - THE PLAYER - can decide when to proclaim yourself Italy. Not random chance or external forces. Since this is a decision that rulers make, it is available to the rulers of the country in question.
It is a command decision! You’re in command! It’s your decision! You decide when to make it. You can wait until you feel you can defend your new title, or jump in and take the risk.
The icons for Italy might be arranged as a series of levels, such as creating northern Italy, then unifying the peninsula, then laying claim to all the lands of the Italian Diaspora.
Certainly, Modders could go wild with this opportunity. This will be like cocaine to those who love to create or play complex historical or fantasy mods.
How does this benefit the player?
They get to command their nation to a degree well beyond the current game. EU3 has a great system for day-to-day management of the realm. It also has a great management of the armed forces system. It also has a great events system. It is really great for modding random events and the forces of history - like the Reformation.
What it needs is a system for giving players the capacity to make choices in the game on a strategic level.
The system of having an icon in the game will help to eliminate one of the banes of playing mods: Having to search the web or read the event codes to find out how to do something. This ruins the environment of the game. No player should ever have to leave the game environment in order to play the game. This screen will allow modders to give the appropriate information to a player inside the game. Just like the National Ideas, Spies, and Diplomacy screens.
Think of it. You know when you start the game that there are three levels to creating Italy. You know what they are, what they require, and what effects they have.
Example Number 2.
If you have played with the mod Magna Mundi Gold, then you have seen the great options encoded for the Holy Roman Emperor. They are superb. They have only one flaw: You, the Emperor, do not really have command over them. You Imperial Majesty will have to wait until a random event pops open for you to act, and then you only have the options the event gives to you at the time.
But with a Command Decisions Screen, you will decide from a list of options what can be done. This list of rewards and punishments would be available only to you, the Emperor. If Mainz takes a province from Trier, you decide whether to demand it be given back. You decide what punishment to threaten if they do not return the province. And you decided when to make your move. It might be best for you as a new emperor to field your armies before threatening war. The event could be encoded to remain active until a year after the original violation of the ancient rules of the empire.
You might also just decide to declare them an “Enemy of the Empire” and wait for the next few years to see if they give in. If they do, you can go back to the Command Decisions Screen and remove them from the list of imperial enemies. It’s a command decision! You’re in command! It’s your decision!
How does this benefit the modders?
It opens up a range of options for modders, like I have never seen in any other game. If I play Morocco, I decide how much support to give to the pirates and I can change it when ever I want. Spain breathing down my neck? “I don’t know these people!” Spain is in a bloodbath war with France? “Get me some gold!”
If I am the Papal Sponsor, I can decide who to excommunicate and who to declare a saint. The Ottomans have taken Naples? “I shall call for a 5th Crusade!”
Nearly every possible modder instinct of creating choices for the player can now be fully realized!
How does this benefit the Designers?
I am hoping that the work you have already done to create the National Ideas screen can be used here to trigger a programmed event. In theory (and I have no basis for the following statement), it would be a merging of the National Ideas code, the event code, and spying sub-events code. The non-assembly language parts already look quite similar. All we really need is a place to put it, I hope.
How can I Help?
If you like the idea, please post something saying so. If enough people like it, then the designers will hopefully consider it for the next update to the game. Or if that one is too far along, the update after that.
Also, help spread the word to support a Command Decisions Screen. This is the best single idea for a dramatic improvement to the game. Why? Because: It’s a command decision! You’re in command! Shouldn’t it be your decision?
