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EU4 - Development Diary - 11th of August 2020

Good morning! In today’s dev diary we’ll be taking a look at three nations in Maritime South-East Asia: the Sultanates of Brunei, Malacca, and Aceh. Each of these nations founded successful empires during our period, and each has a unique set of national ideas and missions.

dd_sultanates.png


malacca_missions.png


Mission trees for Malay nations other than Majapahit are split into 4 sections. In red are missions unique to that country, in this case Malacca. In green and blue are missions available to all Malay nations, and in purple are missions available only after forming Malaya.
The Malacca Sultanate is a descendent of the Srivijaya Kingdom which dominated Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula prior to the rise of Majapahit. Malacca won the favor of Ming China during the period of Zheng He’s voyages, which set the rising city-state up to be a serious contender to Majapahit’s hegemony. By 1444 Malacca is the richest city-state in the Malay world due to its maritime control over the straits. Malacca would go on expand further on the Malay Peninsula and even onto Sumatra, before ultimately succumbing to Portuguese invasion in 1511.

Malaccan missions reflect their expansion path and diplomatic ties. Some highlights:
  • Wherever appropriate, Subjugation CB’s are awarded instead of permanent claims
  • If you complete the Subjugate Pahang mission by vassalizing Pahang, they will get a ruler of your dynasty, reduced liberty desire, and their religion will be changed from Mahayana to your religion.
  • Malacca is no longer a Ming tributary in 1444. Though in theory they maintained their relations, in reality Ming had largely abandoned its interests in the region. The Emissary to the Emperor mission allows you to restore your special relationship with Ming China.
  • Befriend Champa ties in with one of Champa’s missions - Champa needs to make a Sunni friend in Maritime SEA which gives them the option to convert to Sunni. Completing this mission grants a Subjugation CB against Champa’s greatest enemy: Dai Viet.
  • The mission Make a Show of Force requires having a superior army to both Majaphit and Siak. By demonstrating your superiority over their old overlords, Siak will willingly become your vassal.
  • The Develop Malacca mission can upgrade Malacca’s Center of Trade to level 3 after you improve its development and construct buildings in the province - including a Fort to repel the pesky Portuguese.
  • Loyal subjects grants -10 Liberty Desire in all your subjects until the end of the game.
  • Destroy Majapahit, as you might imagine, requires Majapahit to entirely cease to exist as well as for Malacca to gain a foothold on Java. Completing this mission awards a version of Majapahit’s unlimited subjugation CB: the Malacca Campaigns CB can be used against any country in the Malay culture group and the warscore cost for vassalization is reduced by 25%.

Malaccan national ideas allow them to truly dominate the spice trade and get the most out of their vassals.

Code:
MLC_ideas = {
    start = {
        global_trade_power = 0.1
        naval_forcelimit_modifier = 0.33
    }
    bonus = {
        merchants = 1
    }
    trigger = {
        tag = MLC
    }
    free = yes
    mlc_vassal_princes = {
        reduced_liberty_desire = 10
        vassal_income = 0.25
    }
    mlc_maritime_laws = {
        global_ship_trade_power = 0.2
    }
    mlc_new_hegemony = {
        diplomatic_reputation = 1
    }
    mlc_islamic_sultanate = {
        tolerance_own = 1
    }
    mlc_habor_masters = {
        trade_steering = 0.2
        num_accepted_cultures = 1
    }
    mlc_daulat = {
        legitimacy = 1
    }
    mlc_jawi_script = {
        idea_cost = -0.1
    }
}


dd_aceh.png


The Aceh Sultanate wouldn’t reach its apex until the reign of Iskandar Muda in 1583, but it’s available to play from 1444. Aceh’s missions and national ideas are also available to neighboring Pasai, which was richer and more dominant in our start date. Iskandar Muda’s conquests would gain Aceh an empire spanning most of the Sumatran coast as well as parts of the Malay Peninsula. Perhaps the most important contribution of the Aceh region to history is its status as the Porch of Mecca, the most prominent hub of Islam in Maritime SEA.

Aceh’s mission tree follows their historical conquests of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, but more interestingly it also encourages the player to spread Islam across the region. Some highlights:
  • Completing the Porch of Mecca mission allows you to use the Propagate religion trade policy with only 35% trade power in a node (down from 50%), and also unlocks the Sword of Islam CB, which allows the Force Religion peace treaty against nations with Sumatran primary culture. This CB evolves as you continue to spread your faith across the islands, gaining the ability to target Javanese, Sundanese, Moluccan, and Sulawesi cultures. Completing this branch of the mission tree allows you to use the Sword of Islam CB against any neighboring heathen country.
  • Hindus and Buddhists in the Malay culture group now have a decision to convert to Sunni Islam if it becomes their dominant religion. This gives Aceh the option to spread their faith through peaceful trade or by military force; the choice is yours.

Acehnese national ideas reflect the focus on trade, navy-driven conquest, and religious conversion:
Code:
ATJ_ideas = {
    start = {
        global_ship_cost = -0.1
        global_missionary_strength = 0.02
    }
    bonus = {
        production_efficiency = 0.1
    }
    trigger = {
        OR = {
            tag = PSA
            tag = ATJ
        }
    }
    free = yes
    export_economy = {
        global_trade_power = 0.1
    }
    islamise_sumatra = {
        missionary_maintenance_cost = -0.25
    }
    rise_of_aceh = {
        province_warscore_cost = -0.1
    }
    military_adventures = {
        naval_morale = 0.15
    }
    porch_of_mecca = {
        technology_cost = -0.10
    }
    acehnese_moneylending = {
        interest = -1
    }
    settle_the_islands = { # same as malay ideas
        global_colonial_growth = 20
    }
}


dd_bei.png


Brunei is a renegade Sultanate, breaking away from Majapahit rule while also avoiding an uncomfortably close relationship with Ming China. The Bruneian Empire would grow to encompass the entire coast of Borneo as well as parts of the Philippines, and was able to resist repeated attempts at European domination long after many of its peers had fallen.

Brunei’s missions lead them to unite Borneo under their rule, and also on a campaign of conquest in the Philippines. The missions Impress Manilla and Impress Sulu vassalize those nations if you can maintain good relations with them, regardless of whether they’d normally accept vassalization. Many of Brunei’s missions also add a province modifier to uncolonized provinces that make them much faster to colonize, hastening their unification of the islands.

Brunei’s national ideas emphasize their dominant navy and diplomatic prowess:
Code:
BEI_ideas = {
    start = {
        land_morale = 0.1
        global_ship_cost = -0.1
    }
    bonus = {
        ship_durability = 0.1
    }
    trigger = {
        tag = BEI
    }
    free = yes
    bei_galleys = {
        galley_power = 0.2
    }
    bei_sea_nomads = {
        global_sailors_modifier = 0.2
    }
    bei_diplomacy = {
        diplomatic_reputation = 1
    }
    bei_vassals = {
        reduced_liberty_desire = 10
    }
    settle_the_islands = { # same as malay ideas
        global_colonial_growth = 20
    }
    bei_naval_prowess = {
        naval_morale = 0.15
    }
    bei_trade = {
        trade_efficiency = 0.1
    }
}


dd_orang_laut.png


One last thing for today - last week I showed off some new Estate Privileges, but there is one I didn’t show that is exclusive to countries with their capital in the Malaya region. The Orang Laut were (and still are) groups of maritime nomads who extensively engaged in trade with the Malay kingdoms. They were often employed to divert trade to certain ports and to deter pirates, and would grant their allies lands and titles on the islands within their domain. This is in fact how the Malacca Sultanate got its start - Seri Teri Buana, a Srivijayan prince, was granted the small Kingdom of Singapura (modern Singapore) by the Orang Laut, a polity which would eventually become the Malacca Sultanate. Malacca begins with the Orang Laut Alliances estate privilege.

And that’s all for this week! Next week’s dev diary will be a focus on Vietnam, including the new mission trees for Dai Viet and Champa.
 
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Nice content! When I was looking at those missions, I found that the first pictures are the same as the Taunguan mission "Restore Pagodas". Thus, I looked up at the Taunguan mission tree and I found two things that could be hints for what's coming next:
1- Taungu has a "Chakravarti" mission. Will this add the unique government that other nations in this SEA update will have?
2- Taungu's mission "Suppress the Saophas" rewards the player with development to your capital in exchange to losing development in some conquered provinces. Is this something similar to the new mechanics you haven't talked about yet?
Also, out of curiosity, how will this new patch be named? We had 1.29 Manchu, 1.30 Austria, and maybe 1.31 Siam? Thanks in advance!
 
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About next week dd, I think you should change Cham culture back to Malay group. On the the hand, Dai Viet's mission tree in the ET mod is a good thing to be applied
 
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About next week dd, I think you should change Cham culture back to Malay group. On the the hand, Dai Viet's mission tree in the ET mod is a good thing to be applied

I've changed the culture setup since I lasted posted it, I'll talk about it again another time.
 
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Do you think it would be possible to add some love to Burma region in this update?
For example:
1. give Taungu back their unique idea set that was replaced by generic Burma idea set in Dharma
2. Burma as a formable nation
3. Some province tweaks, for example province of Pathein is quite large and could easily be split in 2
In the first Dev Diary he said that he was happy with what he did with Burma in Dharma, so no changes there.
 
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Glad to see so many great changes being added to SEA (especially Malacca)! There’s one more thing that I would like to suggest, which won’t alter the game too much while giving the SEA-China relationship as well as the tributary system a bit more flavour. It’s quite related to the SEA theme, so I’d suggest that you consider adding it to the game.

So basically the first Emperor of Ming, the Hongwu Emperor announced in his Huang-Ming Zuxun 皇明祖训 that 15 overseas nations were “nations not to be conquered” 不征之国, warning his heirs not to conscientiously invade them. It was an important policy under the tributary system and the sea-ban of the Ming Dynasty.

The 15 “countries not to be conquered” are: Korea, Japan, Ryukyu, Taiwan, Dat Viet, Chenla (aka Khmer), Siam (aka Ayutthaya), Champa, Sumatra, Xiyang (an Indian nation on the Coromandel coast), Java, Pahang, Baihua (a nation in northwestern Sumatra), Sriwijaya), and Borneo (aka Brunei).

Some of them are already tributaries of Ming at the 1444 start date, but others aren’t. My suggestion: Ming should get a massive stab hit (maybe -5 stability) if it declares war on any of these nations, similar to the HRE reform Ewiger Landfriede. This would prevent a PLAYER MING from expanding too easily into SEA by breaking tributary relations and undermining the tributary system.

Speaking of tributaries, it’s both ahistorical and disastrous that countries do not want to pay tribute to Ming if they don’t border her. In reality, lots of SEA nations love to become tributaries of Ming because the rewards they receive from Ming for being a tributary is far more valuable than the tributes they pay. Also, Ming was quite reluctant to protect her distant tributaries (those in maritime SEA) from foreign aggression, so the suzerainty relationship was quite loose.

My suggestion: there should be two types of tributaries:
Close tributaries, e.g. Korea, Ryukyu, Dai Viet. The overlord would receive a huge stab hit if the tributary status is renounced unilaterally. The overlord receives a call to arms if the tributary is attacked and HAS to accept. The nation has to border (or share a seazone with) their overlord to become this type of tributary.

Distant tributaries: e.g. SEA minors. They do NOT have to border Ming to accept a tributary offer, and the tributary status can be renounced without cost. The overlord does NOT receive a call to arms if the tributary is attacked. The overlord doesn’t get too much tribute from these subjects. However, she can opt to give her tributary a large sum of reward in exchange for more prestige.

I’m Chinese interested in history but am not an expert. The points I have raised have long been longed by Chinese EU4 players. We probably won’t see a Chinese map update anytime soon, but I believe that my suggestions would fit nicely into the 1.31 SEA patch.
 
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Very interesting, as are all SE Asia mission trees. I kind of wish it would be possible to go back to nations that get only plain boring conquer X, then Y, then Z mission trees (Ottomans, I'm looking at you) and make them more creative, but I guess for now there is too many nations with no mission trees to go back to the ones that already have them for a redo.
 
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korea buff plz

As much as Korea needs to be buffed in development and other stuff maybe,

This dev diary is about south east asia.

Though if the devs want a discussion about content that the community wants to see fixed without too much effort, id be happy to show them some simple suggestions.
 
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I'm pretty confused to why the Philippines is out of scope though, it's technically in South East Asia and was left out in Maritime SEA dev diary. So if the Philippines is out of scope, then it would be left out?
 
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It`s amazing! Brunei - is my favourite country in region, with their powerful ideas, missions - everything that i dreamed of.
What do you think about adding some naval bonus for another country in region to be comparable with this asian naval monster and that more important - to fight with europeans? There are a couple of ideas to make it a little bit interesting(for both competitive game and fun) - add some moral of navies to Majapahit, Malacca or ship durability for Acheh. (granted for a mission or ideas, or like estate priviliges)
I understand that you have your own vision and don`t want to change it , but if you just make powerful naval ideas to one of current minors - it`s will be so great)
 
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Some users have posted feedback on the map in the suggestion forum, any word on that?
 
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Maintenant we see that in this region Islam will be spreaded, But that about another possibility - another wave of hindu? Will you add some way to again spread Hindu here?
 
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Really great and unique again! Thank you! Its really great, that any malayan nation get some mission - nice!
It also would be great if there are some new region specific events for all the nations. Like when the first european ships are seen, or the first european country colonized or conquered or buyed a province. And also an event about the new "religion" coming from overseas. Maybe an event about pirates, an event about the discovery of australia etc. this maybe 10-15 events that fire for all the nations in the region would be so great for feeling unique.

Ps are there trade good events for the cloves?
 
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