Hi everyone, and welcome back to the development diary series for Europa Universalis IV: Art of War. This week, we look at a few specific details with army management and a new threat posed by ungrateful rebels. We conclude as we do every week with a detailed look at how the map is changing in Art of War - this week, East Asia is on the docket.
Army Planner
One the most important features in Art of War is the ability to create a new army quickly As most of you have painfully discovered, getting a large stack of soldiers wiped out means a lot of clicking and waiting in order to recruit new regiments. This takes away a lot of the fun of the game, and makes it very difficult to recover from an unfortunate catastrophic defeat because a general got cornered.
In this expansion, we’re adding a tool that we call “army planner”.
When you open the left-screen macrobuilder for armies, you’ll notice a button called “create template” at the bottom. Clicking on this allows you to design what one of your army stacks should look like; i.e., how many infantry, cavalry or artillery you want in a specific army design.
Then, when that template is saved, you can select it, and place it in the desired province - so long as you have enough manpower and money. It will start building that army template there, or spread out through as many adjacent provinces as you wish. Regiments raised in neighboring provinces will automatically move to the initially targeted province and merge together in the desired army.
Oh yeah, you can do this for navies as well
Customised Naming of Units
One of the things that has irritated me personally as a player, was renaming a unit to some important or representative name (maybe I want an Army of New Spain), and then find that custom name vanish later when I mergieit with a newly recruited unit,. In Art of War, if you have edited the name of a unit, then that is the one that is kept when you merge with other units.
Rebels and Islands
Previously, water was as deadly to rebels as it is to vampires and witches. Rivers posed no great problem - you can usually find a bridge. Anything more than that, though, would leave rebel groups with larger ambitions relegated to nuisance and not threat.
In the next patch, rebels that have nowhere to move on the current landmass, and are in a port province may attempt to relocate across one sea zone. This means that, for example, the pretender rebels that start in Gotland in 1444, may get across the Baltic and actually be a threat to the Danish Throne. Of course, if their port of origin is blockaded, then they can’t cross - same as any other strait crossing.
China & Korea
Now I give over the keys to Fryz, the man in charge of the new map for China.
As the knowledgeable Paradox players among you have long noticed, the original “old China” map was abstract and over-simplified. China itself was a bunch of largish provinces and its neighbors were more united than they might have been historically. We have overhauled the East Asian region so we can fix the situation and bring more detail and historical accuracy to China, Manchuria and other border regions.
China Proper
One major difference between overhauling the “Greater China Region” and other regions we’re fixing is that a large part of this region (or more specifically, China proper) was always under one large empire’s control, whether it was the Ming “Empire of Light” or the Great Qing, Manchu invaders that took over the whole joint in the 17th century. This means that the need to simulate the various borders of different eras basically doesn’t exist when it comes to re-drawing China proper. There’s still large room for improvement: more accurate provincial borders, more strategic depth in those militarily important regions and adding the most important locations which were missing from the old map.
The new in-game shape of China and its inner provincial boundaries division has been based on Ming era administrative divisions, while also considering changes under the Qing. Let’s have a look at the new map:
The south:
South China was divided into:
South-Zhili (including today’s Jiangsu and Anhui), Zhejiang and Jiangxi in the east; Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi in the south; Huguang (including today’s Hunan and Hubei) in the middle and Sichuan, Yunan, Guizhou in the west.
Each modern real life province is represented as 4 to 6 in-game provinces. From the world-famous rich cities like Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou around the Yangtze Delta and important central cities like Chengdu and Wuchang, to the prosperous trade ports like Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Canton in the south coast, from Yingtian (AKA Nanjing) the south capital of the empire and Xuzhou (considered as one of the most remarkable strategical key-point in China), to those remote (but never irrelevant) exotic towns in the south-west, most notable locations in this rich area are now represented.
The north:
Though the situation in north China proper might look simpler, this cradle of Chinese civilization is not to be ignored.
In the east, we have four real life provinces: Hebei (“the north of Yellow River”), Henan (“the south of Yellow River”), Shandong (“the east of Mountain Tai”) and Shanxi (“the west of Mountain Tai”). This region is where Beijing, the imperial capital of both Ming and Qing can be found, and it’s filled with ancient capitals of once-glorious older empires.
Luoyang (“the north of Luo river”), once considered as “the heart of the Middle Kingdom” - nine dynasties have established their capital there; Kaifeng (“where the conquest begins”), a city that can trace its history to 8th century B.C., was the power center of more than ten older dynasties. Aside from these two reputed cities, this region was also where the mighty empire of the Tang dynasty and great post-Han era rulers like Cao Cao were raised to power.
In the west, we have a huge region of Shaanxi (including today’s Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia), the home of Xi’an city (formerly known as “Chang’an” the city of eternal peace, maybe one of the most famous ancient capitals over world).
Shaanxi is also the boundary of Chinese civilization looking towards the nomad hordes from the north and west. After the overhaul, the region’s strategic depth has been greatly increased, so reaching the central locations like Xi’an and Lanzhou in one go is no longer possible for invaders. Going from the west to the east will now take more time, too.
Manchuria and Mongolia
Now I suggest you ladies and gentlemen open your vanilla game and say goodbye to the fuzzy old Manchuria. It could be great, it could be knocked out early, but it was always there - a threat to Ming and Mongol alike. Once you’ve said your farewells, come back and please allow me to present the new Manchuria -
The drastically increased number of provinces in this region now allows us to break up the Manchu country (which wasn’t united in 1444) into three Jurchen tribes, none of whom are going to be weaker than the old Manchu.
As it can be seen from the map, the Three Jurchens are: Haixi, Jianzhou and Yeren.
These three divided countries may perhaps give the impression that they are small and weak, but the truth is that one of them - the Jianzhou Jurchens who raised and eventually created Qing - conquered and then ruled one of the largest empires of human history.
Monglia has also been reviewed and overhauled. Both Inner and Outer Mongolia now have more provinces and the notable centers of Mongolian civilization are now in the game.
Xinjiang and Tibet
Xinjiang region, formerly known as two separate regions which were respectively called as Zungharia and Tarim Basin, experienced a lot of changes within the game’s timeframe. In 1444, the region was mainly controlled by Mongol khans of the Chagatai line and their vassals to the south.
In the eastern end of Xinjiang there is the state of Kara Del, as known as “Hami state”. A protectorate of Ming, this small country was repeatedly conquered by the hordes from the north and the west, and then re-conquered by Ming forces and re-established as an independent vassal before being overrun again.
The old Tibet country has now become a formable tag. The region is now split into 4 countries: Sarig Yogir (a collective representation of three Sarig Yogir mini-city-states), Kham (a collective representation of several minor independent tribes and kingdoms in eastern and northern Tibet), U-tsang, and Guge.
Korea
The original division of Korea was based on “the eight provinces of Joseon”. While this does seem very logical and is, indeed, a very accurate portrayal of Korean administration, it makes the old in-game Korea lack strategic depth and the detail we’d prefer in such an important region. We’ve broken up Pyong’an, Hamgyeong, Gangwon and Gyeongsang into smaller territories, roughly in line with the smaller sub-divisions these province had in the old days.
Army Planner
One the most important features in Art of War is the ability to create a new army quickly As most of you have painfully discovered, getting a large stack of soldiers wiped out means a lot of clicking and waiting in order to recruit new regiments. This takes away a lot of the fun of the game, and makes it very difficult to recover from an unfortunate catastrophic defeat because a general got cornered.
In this expansion, we’re adding a tool that we call “army planner”.
When you open the left-screen macrobuilder for armies, you’ll notice a button called “create template” at the bottom. Clicking on this allows you to design what one of your army stacks should look like; i.e., how many infantry, cavalry or artillery you want in a specific army design.
Then, when that template is saved, you can select it, and place it in the desired province - so long as you have enough manpower and money. It will start building that army template there, or spread out through as many adjacent provinces as you wish. Regiments raised in neighboring provinces will automatically move to the initially targeted province and merge together in the desired army.
Oh yeah, you can do this for navies as well
Customised Naming of Units
One of the things that has irritated me personally as a player, was renaming a unit to some important or representative name (maybe I want an Army of New Spain), and then find that custom name vanish later when I mergieit with a newly recruited unit,. In Art of War, if you have edited the name of a unit, then that is the one that is kept when you merge with other units.
Rebels and Islands
Previously, water was as deadly to rebels as it is to vampires and witches. Rivers posed no great problem - you can usually find a bridge. Anything more than that, though, would leave rebel groups with larger ambitions relegated to nuisance and not threat.
In the next patch, rebels that have nowhere to move on the current landmass, and are in a port province may attempt to relocate across one sea zone. This means that, for example, the pretender rebels that start in Gotland in 1444, may get across the Baltic and actually be a threat to the Danish Throne. Of course, if their port of origin is blockaded, then they can’t cross - same as any other strait crossing.
China & Korea
Now I give over the keys to Fryz, the man in charge of the new map for China.
As the knowledgeable Paradox players among you have long noticed, the original “old China” map was abstract and over-simplified. China itself was a bunch of largish provinces and its neighbors were more united than they might have been historically. We have overhauled the East Asian region so we can fix the situation and bring more detail and historical accuracy to China, Manchuria and other border regions.
China Proper
One major difference between overhauling the “Greater China Region” and other regions we’re fixing is that a large part of this region (or more specifically, China proper) was always under one large empire’s control, whether it was the Ming “Empire of Light” or the Great Qing, Manchu invaders that took over the whole joint in the 17th century. This means that the need to simulate the various borders of different eras basically doesn’t exist when it comes to re-drawing China proper. There’s still large room for improvement: more accurate provincial borders, more strategic depth in those militarily important regions and adding the most important locations which were missing from the old map.
The new in-game shape of China and its inner provincial boundaries division has been based on Ming era administrative divisions, while also considering changes under the Qing. Let’s have a look at the new map:
The south:
South China was divided into:
South-Zhili (including today’s Jiangsu and Anhui), Zhejiang and Jiangxi in the east; Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi in the south; Huguang (including today’s Hunan and Hubei) in the middle and Sichuan, Yunan, Guizhou in the west.
Each modern real life province is represented as 4 to 6 in-game provinces. From the world-famous rich cities like Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou around the Yangtze Delta and important central cities like Chengdu and Wuchang, to the prosperous trade ports like Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Canton in the south coast, from Yingtian (AKA Nanjing) the south capital of the empire and Xuzhou (considered as one of the most remarkable strategical key-point in China), to those remote (but never irrelevant) exotic towns in the south-west, most notable locations in this rich area are now represented.
The north:
Though the situation in north China proper might look simpler, this cradle of Chinese civilization is not to be ignored.
In the east, we have four real life provinces: Hebei (“the north of Yellow River”), Henan (“the south of Yellow River”), Shandong (“the east of Mountain Tai”) and Shanxi (“the west of Mountain Tai”). This region is where Beijing, the imperial capital of both Ming and Qing can be found, and it’s filled with ancient capitals of once-glorious older empires.
Luoyang (“the north of Luo river”), once considered as “the heart of the Middle Kingdom” - nine dynasties have established their capital there; Kaifeng (“where the conquest begins”), a city that can trace its history to 8th century B.C., was the power center of more than ten older dynasties. Aside from these two reputed cities, this region was also where the mighty empire of the Tang dynasty and great post-Han era rulers like Cao Cao were raised to power.
In the west, we have a huge region of Shaanxi (including today’s Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia), the home of Xi’an city (formerly known as “Chang’an” the city of eternal peace, maybe one of the most famous ancient capitals over world).
Shaanxi is also the boundary of Chinese civilization looking towards the nomad hordes from the north and west. After the overhaul, the region’s strategic depth has been greatly increased, so reaching the central locations like Xi’an and Lanzhou in one go is no longer possible for invaders. Going from the west to the east will now take more time, too.
Manchuria and Mongolia
Now I suggest you ladies and gentlemen open your vanilla game and say goodbye to the fuzzy old Manchuria. It could be great, it could be knocked out early, but it was always there - a threat to Ming and Mongol alike. Once you’ve said your farewells, come back and please allow me to present the new Manchuria -
The drastically increased number of provinces in this region now allows us to break up the Manchu country (which wasn’t united in 1444) into three Jurchen tribes, none of whom are going to be weaker than the old Manchu.
As it can be seen from the map, the Three Jurchens are: Haixi, Jianzhou and Yeren.
These three divided countries may perhaps give the impression that they are small and weak, but the truth is that one of them - the Jianzhou Jurchens who raised and eventually created Qing - conquered and then ruled one of the largest empires of human history.
Monglia has also been reviewed and overhauled. Both Inner and Outer Mongolia now have more provinces and the notable centers of Mongolian civilization are now in the game.
Xinjiang and Tibet
Xinjiang region, formerly known as two separate regions which were respectively called as Zungharia and Tarim Basin, experienced a lot of changes within the game’s timeframe. In 1444, the region was mainly controlled by Mongol khans of the Chagatai line and their vassals to the south.
In the eastern end of Xinjiang there is the state of Kara Del, as known as “Hami state”. A protectorate of Ming, this small country was repeatedly conquered by the hordes from the north and the west, and then re-conquered by Ming forces and re-established as an independent vassal before being overrun again.
The old Tibet country has now become a formable tag. The region is now split into 4 countries: Sarig Yogir (a collective representation of three Sarig Yogir mini-city-states), Kham (a collective representation of several minor independent tribes and kingdoms in eastern and northern Tibet), U-tsang, and Guge.
Korea
The original division of Korea was based on “the eight provinces of Joseon”. While this does seem very logical and is, indeed, a very accurate portrayal of Korean administration, it makes the old in-game Korea lack strategic depth and the detail we’d prefer in such an important region. We’ve broken up Pyong’an, Hamgyeong, Gangwon and Gyeongsang into smaller territories, roughly in line with the smaller sub-divisions these province had in the old days.
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