• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Dev Diary #91 - Altering the Alps and Idealizing Italy

Hello there! I hope everyone’s summer is going well, and that you are as excited for this week’s Dev Diary as I am to write it!


As I mentioned last time, this week we are going to take a look at the area around the Alps, as well as take a look at Italy. For our first preview, we will take a look at the western Alps, around the Kingdom of Burgundy, southern Germany and northern Italy.


Keep in mind that not all the changes are finalized, so there might be more updates before everything goes live. All the pictures will be taken from 1066 and with De Jure map modes, so things might look somewhat different in other bookmarks.

Clipboard01.png


Clipboard02.png


So the first change we will be talking about is the changes to the County of Burgundy. We have cut it up, and made it into its own Duchy (of Franche Comté). The old Duchy of Upper Burgundy has lost its headway into the Swiss heartlands as well, moving the county of Schwyz (old Grisons), Zurichgau (old Schwyz) and Thurgau (old St. Gallen) into the new Duchy of Upper Swabia. In the later starting date, they will be part of the Duchy of Switzerland instead of Upper Swabia, a change that can happen throughout a game as well.

The county of Vaud has been added to the game, to the old Duchy of Upper Burgundy, cut out of certain parts of Geneva and Neuchatel. The final noticeable change on this side of the Alps, is that we have added Aosta to the mountains between Savoy and Italy.

For that part of the Alps, we wanted to make smaller changes, cut up some of the larger provinces and fix a lot of the barony errors and some of the county errors (see Schwyz further up the text). It was important for us to try and fix a lot of these minor issues, as it felt weird seeing some areas so misplaced on the map.

On the other side of the Alps, we have cut up some of the larger provinces. Monferrato has been cut up to make room for Ivrea, Lombardy has been cut up to make room for Milano, Como and Leventina, and Genoa has been cut up to make room for Noli.

Clipboard03.png


Clipboard04.png


We can start out in Italy, where we left off from the previous picture. Trent has been turned into its own minor Duchy, opening up Brenner Pass between Bozen and Innsbruck. Innsbruck and Tirol has moved a bit westwards, to make room for Pongau as part of the new Duchy of Salzburg. In Bavaria, we have added the county of Regensburg, as it was the capital of the Duchy for quite a while, and we wanted to see that reflected in the game. Passau has also been moved into the Duchy.

To the east, Austria has gotten quite the rework. We have added Traungau, Steyr Freistadt, Krems and Melk as Counties, moved Znojmo into Bohemia and Passau, as previously mentioned, into Bavaria, and Styria has been moved south into its own Duchy. The Duchy of Carinthia has been cut up into Carinthia and Carniola, and the Duchy of Friuli has been added around Aquileia.

Clipboard05.png


Clipboard06.png


So for our last location, we have central Italy. I figure I will talk about the mountains first, as we have added parts of the Apennines throughout Italy. We’ve felt this has increased the tactical value of Italy somewhat, as the choices you make for movement and county conquering feels a bit more valuable, and we also felt it cut up the county more nicely, particularly considering the new Kingdom we added in central Italy (this will be discussed further down).

We have added Perugia into the Duchy of Spoleto, moving the whole Duchy a bit further north. Rimini has been added to the Duchy of Ancona, turned the two county Duchy into a three county one, to lessen the amount of chokepoints post-mountainfication.For the old county of Aprutium, we have turned it into the Duchy of Abruzzo and moved it into the Kingdom of Sicily. And we have taken parts of the old County of Firenze, and added the county of Arezzo, to make sure Firenze doesn’t stick its fingers into everyone else, as it has had a tendency to do.

Clipboard07.png


So for what I assume will be the most controversial change to the region, the two new Kingdoms added.

For Carinthia, it felt weird giving even more land to a Kingdom that is meant to reflect the historical Stem-Duchy of Bavaria, when we have the Principality of Carantania, the March of Carinthia and later on the Duchy of Carinthia as inspiration that could take the same role. We have made sure, as this is quite the small Kingdom with a lot of land held by the same person in some bookmarked starts, that the AI won’t create the Kingdom right away, so it should be more of a player goal than an AI goal.

And… For Romagna, we wanted to cut Italy into its more historical pieces, without adding a Kingdom called “the Papal States” that was only for an unplayable Theocracy. This was done for several reason: having the Pope try to seek out central Italy as he did throughout history, having the old East Roman areas be more difficult to hold onto for the Kingdom of Italy in the first bookmarks, and to lessen the massive size of the Kingdom of Italy.

So I hope the Dev Diary didn’t get too wordy this time around, and that people can learn to love the changes made to the region! Next time around, we will have a (probably smaller) Dev Diary about the changes made to Holy Orders in Holy Fury!

PS. For those of you with an interest in the Habsburg jaw and the Archduchy of Austria, we have something special for you as well! (A special decision to create the Archduchy.)

Clipboard01.png
 
Last edited:
Starting as Habsburgs in 1066 is one of my favourites in the game. King-tier Austria and proper duchies and borders are very welcome. Previously you were quasi-forced to become King of Bavaria for a nice realm, now thats not a necessity anymore.

I often made custom Kingdom and later custom Empire of Austria. Had to ignore some dejure borders tough to get at least some nice borders ;)
 
In the later starting date, they will be part of the Duchy of Switzerland instead of Upper Swabia, a change that can happen throughout a game as well.

Is this a new game mechanic that allows provinces to drift into different duchies? Or does that already happen somehow? Or am I misunderstanding this statement?
 
Sweet! The Alps region really needed the rework, and the results look great. Looking forward to the city of Basel no longer being placed at Lake Constance :p
...though looking at it again, is Chur/Grisons now really called "Grau"? o_O
 
Last edited:
With both the updates being released alongside Holy Fury and Dharma having map updates, I imagine we should be expect a delay in the converter being updated?

(Unless there's a way I can offer to help updating it? :p)
 
So I hope the Dev Diary didn’t get too wordy this time around, and that people can learn to love the changes made to the region! Next time around, we will have a (probably smaller) Dev Diary about the changes made to Holy Orders in Holy Fury!

Yeah, all quite pretty and dandy, but THIS is what I'm looking for! Can't wait for the next week!
 
The user interface for the characters looks fantastic, this is much better.
 
I wonder if that Upper Swabia duchy shouldn't be named Churrätien?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raetia_Curiensis
Look at the area it covers:
index.php

That's below the Bodensee. Now this is Upper Swabia, from Wikipedia:

800px-Map_Upper_Swabia_%28Oberschwaben%29.png

That's above the Bodensee. Meanwhile, here is Churrätien, aka Raetia Curiensis:
795px-Churraetien.png

That's below the Bodensee, and fits much better with the area on the map.
 
With the changes to Italy, will it ever be possible to create the Kingdoms of Naples and Trinacria without them already existing? The decision to create Naples states that Naples has to have already existed for it to be formed. I know the Kingdom of Sicily was split in odd circumstances, but it would be interesting if the player could do this without starting at 1337 or using custom titles. Especially with the addition of kingdoms that aren't real to encourage the AI to encourage historical goals.
 
Is this a new game mechanic that allows provinces to drift into different duchies? Or does that already happen somehow? Or am I misunderstanding this statement?

I'll just quote myself from Reddit, in case other people on the forums wonder as well:
It's a Switzerland related decision. We usually avoid drifting things in and out of duchies, as it can cause some issues with geographical regions etc, so it isn't a new mechanic, but rather an exception to the normal rule.
 
Honestly speaking? I think I have moved it in and out of Tyrol 3 or 4 times so far. There is a pretty decent chance it will be moved into the new Duchy of Upper Swabia instead.

As Austrian myself I would totally support it beeing in Upper Swabia. But I guess Balance and gameplay also is an Issue.

I have another question tough. In 769 and 867 the Habsburgs obviously don’t exist yet. Some dynasties can be created trough landing lowborns. But not the Habsburgs. Can you change that please.

Also lowborns becoming pope shouldn’t create (historical) dynasties. All to often I see plenty of italian dynasties wasted on popes.
 
I wonder if that Upper Swabia duchy shouldn't be named Churrätien?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raetia_Curiensis
Look at the area it covers:
index.php

That's below the Bodensee. Now this is Upper Swabia, from Wikipedia:

800px-Map_Upper_Swabia_%28Oberschwaben%29.png

That's above the Bodensee. Meanwhile, here is Churrätien, aka Raetia Curiensis:
795px-Churraetien.png

That's below the Bodensee, and fits much better with the area on the map.
Churrätien corresponds much closer to the county currently labeled "Grau", which is (being discussed as) part of Tyrol. I haven't been able to find a better collective term for the area of today's eastern Switzerland.
 
Churrätien corresponds much closer to the county currently labeled "Grau", which is (being discussed as) part of Tyrol. I haven't been able to find a better collective term for the area of today's eastern Switzerland.
Well, you can't have Churrätien without Chur, of course :p But if Chur/Grau were to be added to said duchy, it could at least be a pars pro toto, rather than a complete misnomer.
 
Wonderful, as always.
So is the Pope also the King of Romagna? Or will he be able to create the title? When forming the HRE he gets most of the provinces in the new kingdom