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EU4 - Development Diary - 10th of November

Hey everyone! So when we introduced the new natives mechanics several of you were asking why we weren’t changing Totemism as well while at it. So since then and while I was working on the Sikh Gurus and Zoroastrianism I figured I should give it a shot and try to give them something as many of you were pointing out, it is one of the major religions at the start of the game and it deserves some love. Be warned a lot of work in progress values & especially really bad coder art will be shown!

Now North America is a big place, and how we are using Totemism in the game is sort of a catch all for several very distinct mythoses and with that also comes the challenge of figuring out flavor that is general enough and fits all of these as well. What I could find as a best candidate for a fun mechanic that could fit for all of these very different cultures were that they all have legendary figures, and the oral tradition of great deeds. Like Gloosecap of the Abenaki, or Esa the Wolf of the Shoshone.

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So now as you progress through the game, you can add one of your previous rulers to your mythos. You can have a maximum of 10 stories added at any point. This costs 100 Diplomatic power but they can also be removed later on for a severe stability hit. It’s not intended to be something that you switch around often but I don’t want to lock you in entirely either.

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Adding an ancestor’s story to your religion will have them provide the personality they had in real life be applied to your country for all future, with some modifications which we will get into in a bit. It will be a weaker version than they had in real life but still a nice bonus for you even as they have died.

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So with this change in order to keep things balanced rulers who follow Totemism will only have one personality, since it will be combined together with the benefits they get from the religion as well. But these are special and they scale with the rulers skill. This does mean that you can get a ruler with 7.5% discipline bonus instead of 5%. This is also to feed into the ancestor stories where not all rulers will actually be useful to be made into a story. This does mean that totemism needs it’s entire own setup of personalities scripted up but we are aiming to try and match the original ones.

The intent is since you have 10 ancestor stories you can collect, each will just provide a bit of the full picture. It's a religion you build up over time by reconnecting to previous rulers you’ve had.

Also here's a preliminary set of values for the Gurus and their teaching. The value next to the Guru's name is applied by the Guru while they are alive. The ones in the lists are their teachings and can be picked by you as the player. These values are still work in progress but I know people been asking for a complete list.
Guru Nanak: +1 Admin Power
  • Share and Consume: -1 Unrest
  • Work Honestly: 5% Production Eff
  • Recite His Name: -2.5% Regiment Cost
Guru Angad: +1 Military Power
  • Gurmukhi Script: -5% Tech Cost
  • Temple Langar: +10% Church Loyalty
  • Wrestling Akhara: +0.1 Yearly Army Professionalism
Guru Amar Das: +1 Diplomatic Power
  • Dasvnandh Collection: +5% Tax Modifier
  • Anand Karaj: +1 Diplomatic Reputation
  • Sanghat Equality: +10% Nobles Loyalty
Guru Ram Das: +1 Admin Power
  • Legitimize Inheritance: +0.25 Legitimacy (or +0.1 Rep Trad, etc. etc.)
  • Scripture Hymns: +0.5 Prestige
  • Masand System: +10% Manpower Modifier
Guru Arjan: +1 Diplomatic Power
  • Adi Granth: +10% Institution Spread
  • The Abode of God: +10% Rel Unity
  • Martyrdom: 5% Land Morale
Hargobind: +1 Military Power
  • Throne of the Timeless One: Same as Legitimize Inheritance
  • Protection of the Poor: -0.025 War Exhaustion
  • Miri and Piri: +2.5% Discipline
Guru Har Rai: +1 Diplomatic Power
  • Impartial Manjis: -0.05 Corruption
  • The Fragrance of a Flower: +10% Improve Relations
  • One Guru: +5% Nobles Loyalty
Guru Har Krishan: +1 Diplomatic Power
  • Treat the Sick: +1 Monarch Admin Skill
  • Illiterate Recites Saloks: +1 Monarch Diplomatic Skill
  • Young Humility: +1 Monarch Military Skill
Guru Tegh Bahadur: +1 Admin Power
  • The Word of Sikh: +1 Missionary
  • All Kings must Pass: +2 Tolerance of Heretics
  • Resist Persecution: +1 Hostile Attrition
Guru Gobind Singh: +1 Admin Power
  • Pluralism: -10% Advisor Cost
  • Dharam Yudh: 50% War Taxes Cost
  • The Khalsa Sikh: +0.1 Yearly Army Professionalism
Guru Granth Sahib: -50% State Maintenance Cost, -25% Regiment Drill Loss
  • Eternally Living Guru: -10% Development Cost
  • Divine Justice: 10% Trade Efficiency
  • The Unchanging Writing: 50% Drill Gain Modifier

And that is it for today! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!
 
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Will you do something about Animism?
And what about the Australia rework you teased in September? When can we expect the new provinces, tags and Aborigine religion to be revealed? Sorry if this is a lot, but i'm waiting for this since weeks, and I want to be sure I'm not the only one remembering this was a thing.
 
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This is amazing, adding 10 more reasons why I can't wait for this expansion.

Couple questions. Can stories repeat traits? If I end up with 3 Strict monarchs over my campaign, can I have 3 separate Discipline boosts? Moreover, how does this work with republics? Can we really have a new ruler every 4 years constantly rolling in new traits to add to the collection?
Or, I guess rereading, is it just a matter of having the 10 options predefined there and slowly unlocking them as we get rulers with the right personality?

Does this also make Totemism locked behind Rights of Man like Fetishism?
 
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This is amazing, adding 10 more reasons why I can't wait for this expansion.

Couple questions. Can stories repeat traits? If I end up with 3 Strict monarchs over my campaign, can I have 3 separate Discipline boosts? Moreover, how does this work with republics? Can we really have a new ruler every 4 years constantly rolling in new traits to add to the collection?

Yepp on both. Though with Republics several of those won't show up as the "level" of those republican leaders will be too low.
 
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I like these changes to minor religions, I wish there was at least a way to represent biggest minority religion though.

For example when colonising new world conversion of these territories was a gradual and sometimes syncretic process. Maybe last converted religion can become a "minority religion" and provide both some bonuses and maluses if they are an accepted culture? You could just represent it as a smaller icon next to the big religion icon in the province tab. Similarly Zoroastrianism and Sikhism were both represented as minority religions in foreign provinces.
 
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Will you do something about Animism?

Perfectly, the rest of Animist provinces would be replaced by actual religions of those regions. Shamanism (which is now fully replaced) and Animism were always just placeholders for religions deemed "not yet worth implementing".
 
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Very nice, that you gave totemist a new chance! I really like this unique way for them. Maybe there is even room to rename their personality trait while you making a new list (like is a good hunter for example) and add some new rule trait events or American native/ totemist events.

I guess the mechanic will let me remember more the good and the bad rulers of my Playtime - thank you for this Addition. Bad traits are still in?
 
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Good on you for listening to the community on this! I thought that it would have been Animism that would get the rework since you had ruled this one out. It has been a pleasant surprise to say the least!
 
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Very nice, that you gave totemist a new chance! I really like this unique way for them. Maybe there is even room to rename their personality trait while you making a new list (like is a good hunter for example) and add some new rule trait events or American native/ totemist events.

I guess the mechanic will let me remember more the good and the bad rulers of my Playtime - thank you for this Addition. Bad traits are still in?

Yeah bad traits are still in.
 
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Depending on RNG this can become quite strong (another reason to go republic)

Funny how the religions which were eventually suppressed are often much stronger than the big religions which spread around the world.
 
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It also makes me wonder if paradox tinto - the team introduced over 2 months ago - is actually working on a dlc / patch ?, The dds since neontd are by groogy who did some of it in his freetime and johan, but this are more smaller ones. Neontds were packed with flavor. Iam waiting for the hopefully big news.

Maybe a big judaism patch with lots of events and advisors like woman for history, or an rework of an existing dlc with acutal flavor like the shame GC?
 
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Spectacular, @Groogy ! I’m ecstatic that you’ve gone the extra mile and given Totemism the flavor and distinctiveness it desperately needed. This is a great step towards making the game feel complete.

Since you reconsidered leaving Totemism featureless, do you think there’s any possibility of you revisiting the Pacific Northwest? As with Totemism, I think I remember a dev saying that it’s beyond the scope of this update, but as with Totemism, a little more detail would go a long way. If you’d like, I’d be happy to help supply historical/archaeological material that would help you flesh out the region and add a few more tags, provinces, and (dare I ask?) cool impassable terrain for more strategic gameplay.

Edit: typos, being on mobile sucks
 
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Well, that's unexpected. I expect to see lots of "[Totemist-OPM-name] OP, fast ruler kill - 10 dead in 1 yaer!!1" threads to pop up.

I find it very nice to see Totemism getting a mechanic - it's a very widespread religion in terms of number of tags that always seemed like a sadly lacking pick. I hope that the next juicy thing will be Animism.
 
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What I could find as a best candidate for a fun mechanic that could fit for all of these very different cultures were that they all have legendary figures, and the oral tradition of great deeds.
Great job; this sounds amazing! (⌒‿⌒)
 
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