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EU4 - Development Diary - 12th of January 2021

After a few weeks without Dev Diaries, I am happy to present you a new one. I hope you all had a great time during them!

When I joined Paradox in October, Polynesia was not included in this Expansion. Considering it was the last part of the Earth without representation, I thought it would be nice to have some work done on it, so I proposed some ideas that I am happy to share with you all.

But, before I start, I would like to thank @Meka66 for his help and work that has greatly inspired me for this project.

THE MAP
The map has been slightly changed, since the basic needed setup was already there. However, in order to go a bit deeper, a few provinces have been added here and there. Do note that the flags are still a placeholder and not the final result.

Starting with Fiji, the archipelago has been divided in three provinces: one for each big island (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) and a third one for the Lau archipelago that had a great influence from Tonga. Each province has a country inhabiting it, which is an abstraction of the many clans that populated each island. Should you unite them all under your banner, you will be able to form Viti.

Fiji Archipelago.png

[Fiji Archipelago and TAGs]​

In New Zealand a new province has been added in North Island which has the most populated one by the Maori people. The number of countries, though, goes up to 7. Six of them (Mataatua, Tainui, Takitimu, Taranaki, Te Arawa and Te Tai Tokerau) are in the Northern Island and Waitaha is in the Southern One. As in the case of Fiji, a Maori country that manages to unite the area is able to form Aotearoa.

New Zealand Archipelago.png

[New Zealand Archipelago and TAGs]​

Finally, the greatest transformation has been done in the Hawaiian Archipelago, that has gone from one province to four. Each province has their own country attached (Hawai’i, Kaua’i, Maui and O’ahu). As in the other cases, there is a formable for the unifiers of the islands.

Hawaii Archipelago.png

[Hawaii Archipelago and TAGs]​

A Polynesian rework could not let the two most important countries out: Samoa and Tonga.

Samoa & Tonga Archipelago.png

[Samoan and Tongan Archipelagos and TAGs]​

THE MISSIONS
As in the case of the Americas, the mission tree consists of a general common mission tree for every country and some specific missions for each country or group of them.

Tongan Mission Tree.png

[Tonga Mission Tree]
(Notice that all icons are still placeholders)​

Tonga is probably the most important TAG during this period. Despite the fact that the Tongan Empire is no more, a skillful player could rebuild it, bringing not only the neighboring islands under the control of Tongatapu, but go even further.

Some highlights of this tree include:
  • Bringing both Fiji and Samoa under your control again.
  • Recovering the Tongan Empire.
  • Expand even further.

Samoan Mission Tree.png

[Samoan Mission Tree]
(Notice that all icons are still placeholders).​

If Tonga was the political power during the period, Samoa was the cultural one. Most of the Pacific was colonized from there and from there were most of the traditions that ruled the lives of the Polynesians.

Some highlights of this tree include:
  • Recover the place as the cultural center.
  • Challenge Tonga.
  • Replace Tonga as the main power in the Pacific.

In order to not spoil the surprise, I will let you discover what the missions for the Maori the Fijian and the Hawaiian countries consist of.

THE NATIONAL IDEAS
Adding new TAGs would not be the same if they were not accompanied by their National Ideas.

Starting with the Fijians TAGs, their warring nature brought them a reputation of ruthless combatants, feared by everyone. But Fijians were also deeply religious people and famous shipbuilding artisans. All these things are represented in their National Ideas, making them a rather expansionist set.

Code:
fijian_ideas = {
    start = {
        light_ship_power = 0.1
        naval_attrition = -0.1
    }
  
    bonus = {
        ae_impact = -0.2
    }
  
    trigger = {
        OR = {
            tag = LAI
            tag = VIL
            #TODO: tag = VIT
            tag = VNL
        }
    }
    free = yes
  
    fijian_crossroad = {
        num_accepted_cultures = 2
    }
    fijian_degel = {
        range = 0.1
        global_ship_trade_power = 0.1
    }
    fijian_conjoined = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.02
    }
    fijian_waqa = {
        prestige_from_naval = 0.4
    }
    fijian_cannibal = {
        army_tradition_from_battle = 0.25
        prestige_from_land = 0.4
    }
    fijian_kai = {
        land_attrition = -0.25
    }
    fijian_confederacy = {
        global_tax_modifier = 0.05
        production_efficiency = 0.05
    }
}
[Fijian National Ideas]​

As in the case of the Fijians, the Maori are famed for their bravery and constant warfare. Their set of ideas is focused on land combat, without disregarding ways to keep the land around a strong leader.

Code:
maori_ideas = {
    start = {
        global_regiment_recruit_speed = -0.10
        harsh_treatment_cost = -0.20
    }
  
    bonus = {
        prestige = 1
    }
  
    trigger = {
        primary_culture = maori
    }
    free = yes
  
    sons_of_kupe = {
        global_sailors_modifier = 0.10
        range = 0.10
    }
    kaikiakitanga = {
        tolerance_own = 1
    }
    kaumatua = {
        stability_cost_modifier = -0.20
    }
    kapa_haka = {
        land_morale = 0.10
    }
    pa_defence = {
        fort_maintenance_modifier = -0.10
    }
    te_moko = {
        leader_land_shock = 1
    }
    maori_king = {
        core_creation = -0.10
        legitimacy = 1
    }
}
[Maori National Ideas]​

As with the missions, we’d better not spoil the surprise by showing everything, am I right? I have a challenge for those that love them: try a world conquest with a Polynesian TAG! There are a couple of things in this area that could help you in that adventure. ;)

THE EVENTS
Events are one of the parts I like the most. While not as much time as I would have liked has been available, I have added more than 40 events to the area, including general events, specific Country events and even a few Easter eggs that I hope you can find and enjoy!

Fiji Event.png

Practice is what makes you a good warrior, after all.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).

Hawaii Event.png

This event can be very nasty if you are in a very bad shape.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).

Samoan Event.png

As Samoa, you will be given the choice to reform your society a bit or go on with the traditions with every ruler.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).​

THE EXTRAS
There are a few things that have been added in order to create a bigger sense of immersion.

Maori culture has been created, separated from the main Polynesian branch. By the start of the game, the Maori were abandoning the Archaic Maori Period and entering a transformation one. The Iwi became more sedentary and their once pacific nature became more warlike as competition for resources becomes more central. New traditions had evolved by this time that justifies separating them from their islander cousins.

A new Polynesian technology group has been created. This technology group is between that of the Mesoamericans and the North Americans in penalty, but starts at tech 2.

Most Estates have been renamed to their proper versions to increase the flavor.

And some extra surprises here and there.

For now this is all. We still have lots of things to show, so just be patient and enjoy the time in between, everything will come!
 
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How many time does it have to be explained, exactly, that content designers (and unpaid volunteer researchers) are NOT developers or programers, and that time they spend on new content is NOT time they might have otherwise spent on improving the game coding?

Judging by the number of "You should be fixing bugs instead" posts in this thread, apparently however many time it is, it's not enough.

So what!!!! Paradox chooses to hire content designers or chooses to make/allow them to work on Polynesia rather than a much more relevant part of the game. Northern Europe is still lacking and a good dlcfor Iberia would be welcome.

It is such an asinine point “content developers don’t fix bugs”.. ok then! Stop hiring so many damn content designers when the game clearly needs some TLC in the bug fixing and re-coding areas.
 
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Ad Infinitum apparently as directly telling people doesn't seem to prevent them from repeating the same line. They interpret the argument as if we're saying there's no opportunity cost decisions in regard to development when really it's just "hey this person you're talking to and what they're working on aren't preventing anything you're talking about from being done".

FYI when I, at least, reply to a dev diary talking to a Paradox employee on a Paradox forum about a Paradox game, I’m addressing Paradox as a company not just that individual who is posting this weeks/months dev diary. I’m surprised to see how hard a concept that is to grasp. In press events when journalists question a companies/politician’s spokesperson, they’re not asking solely just about that one person. They want information from and answers about the wider entity that that person represents.

Enough with the condescending “content developers don’t actually work in this specific area of the game. Actually. Yes. We know.
 
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It's undeniably Anglo-centrism, the rest of Europe comes along because you cannot portray English history without portraying those they were involved with (which is why France and "the Vikings" are also well portrayed).
Us Scandinavians aren't reallt well portrayed in US media, especially not in how we were in the viking age.
Just look at how the US keeps perpetuating that dated stereotype of vikings having horned helmets, which at best only applied to a few ceremonial helmets.
Or how they completely misrepresent how we've never been afraid of nudity. Like, when's the last time you've seen a band of vikings charge the enemy nude while high on mushrooms? (berserkers)

And don't get me started in that vikings series which is very historically wrong and gives lots of wrong impressions about how we were.


We're better represented than other places, sure, but we're not well represented, far from it.
 
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How many time does it have to be explained, exactly, that content designers (and unpaid volunteer researchers) are NOT developers or programers, and that time they spend on new content is NOT time they might have otherwise spent on improving the game coding?

Judging by the number of "You should be fixing bugs instead" posts in this thread, apparently however many time it is, it's not enough.

I don't think people are expecting a content designer to fix bugs. But Paradox choses what kind of people they hire and put in their teams. The question that can be asked: why is Paradox's focus on content?
 
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Ad Infinitum apparently as directly telling people doesn't seem to prevent them from repeating the same line. They interpret the argument as if we're saying there's no opportunity cost decisions in regard to development when really it's just "hey this person you're talking to and what they're working on aren't preventing anything you're talking about from being done".

Okay then:

1. Since my issue is, say, reworking coalitions

2. And its not a job of content designers

3. And all recent dev diaries are written by content designers

Therefore...

Conclusion: I can't express my dissatisfaction until content designers stop writing dev diaries and someone else does?

If my govt gives attention only to education, and no attention to healthcare, I can't demand more attention to healthcare by protesting at Education Ministry?
 
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Us Scandinavians aren't reallt well portrayed in US media, especially not in how we were in the viking age.
Just look at how the US keeps perpetuating that dated stereotype of vikings having horned helmets, which at best only applied to a few ceremonial helmets.
Or how they completely misrepresent how we've never been afraid of nudity. Like, when's the last time you've seen a band of vikings charge the enemy nude while high on mushrooms? (berserkers)

And don't get me started in that vikings series which is very historically wrong and gives lots of wrong impressions about how we were.


We're better represented than other places, sure, but we're not well represented, far from it.
Accurately or not, at least you ARE represented.
Vikings raided Europe and there are a thousand movies, shows and videogames and songs written about them.

Portugal raided the rest of the world and there is literally not a single movie, show, videogame or song written about them.
 
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Accurately or not, at least you ARE represented.
Vikings raided Europe and there are a thousand movies, shows and videogames and songs written about them.

Portugal raided the rest of the world and there is literally not a single movie, show, videogame or song written about them.
Soooo... are you mad because portugal's massacres haven't been glorified in modern culture?
 
Soooo... are you mad because portugal's massacres haven't been glorified in modern culture?
Yes.
[GigaChad reaction picture]

Memes aside, this isn't about wanting the glorification of any particular nation's past.
This is about giving an obvious example of two European civilizations with a surprisingly similar historical modus operandi, and yet one is incredibly glorified in all media while the other doesn't even make it to footnotes.
The overarching point is how "Eurocentrism" doesn't apply to all Europeans equally.
 
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Okay then:

1. Since my issue is, say, reworking coalitions

2. And its not a job of content designers

3. And all recent dev diaries are written by content designers

Therefore...

Conclusion: I can't express my dissatisfaction until content designers stop writing dev diaries and someone else does?

If my govt gives attention only to education, and no attention to healthcare, I can't demand more attention to healthcare by protesting at Education Ministry?
I mean, considering the contention @Evie HJ was referring to is that people keep acting like content designers doing their job somehow prevents bug fixing or mechanical reworks from getting done, I'd say you're getting hyper-defensive about something not even directed at you.

You can complain. If that complaint comes in the form of "this is a loss of opportunity cost, you should be working on X instead" that's what's being discussed and if it's "wish we could get bug fixes or a mechanical rework of X think that feels abandoned" it's not.

And yes, in your comparison complaining to the Education Ministry would be beyond stupid as presumably they don't allot their own budget.
 
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Yes.
[GigaChad reaction picture]

Memes aside, this isn't about wanting the glorification of any particular nation's past.
This is about giving an obvious example of two European civilizations with a surprisingly similar historical modus operandi, and yet one is incredibly glorified in all media while the other doesn't even makes it to footnotes.
The overarching point is how "Eurocentrism" doesn't apply to all Europeans equally.
I can respect that
 
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The overarching point is how "Eurocentrism" doesn't apply to all Europeans equally.
I will say that when I said Eurocentrism more broadly, there are people who want every aspect of Europe to get more attention (I don't think this is bad necessarily just trying to illustrate something). I mean even in this thread (not going after these people, one of them is me) there are people who wanted Northern Europe/the Baltics, Portugal, and Poland/Eastern Europe more broadly to get another pass and I don't think any of those particularly inspire the average Anglo imagination outside of their impact in Sabaton songs (I know Portugal doesn't have one, just illustrating what the focus on these places in Anglo-centric people amounts to).
 
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I will say that when I said Eurocentrism more broadly, there are people who want every aspect of Europe to get more attention (I don't think this is bad necessarily just trying to illustrate something). I mean even in this thread (not going after these people, one of them is me) there are people who wanted Northern Europe/the Baltics, Portugal, and Poland/Eastern Europe more broadly to get another pass and I don't think any of those particularly inspire the average Anglo imagination outside of their impact in Sabaton songs (I know Portugal doesn't have one, just illustrating what the focus on these places in Anglo-centric people amounts to).
Yeah, i understood your point and agree with your position.
I just brought up the subject again because i was quoted on it.
 
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I don't think people are expecting a content designer to fix bugs. But Paradox choses what kind of people they hire and put in their teams. The question that can be asked: why is Paradox's focus on content?
Well money, obviously (though what's shown in today's DD is usually free). Though, I would assume another factor similar to non-contracted artists is that there are actually some regularly paid positions in that regard who can't reasonably be paid to sit around doing nothing. (yes, I've seen "why don't you [as in the person posting this] focus on bug-fixes" in art and music demo threads here)
 
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FYI when I, at least, reply to a dev diary talking to a Paradox employee on a Paradox forum about a Paradox game, I’m addressing Paradox as a company not just that individual who is posting this weeks/months dev diary. I’m surprised to see how hard a concept that is to grasp. In press events when journalists question a companies/politician’s spokesperson, they’re not asking solely just about that one person. They want information from and answers about the wider entity that that person represents.
Nobody said "never complain to the devs or ask about anything". You could argue the developer operating the dev diary are acting as a spokesperson when they've released a DD, but not everyone is just asking for paradox to focus on something else that they want. In my experience there is frequently contempt for what that particular developer's project is and the perception them doing their own job is a loss in opportunity cost that could have been spent doing something else. If you weren't saying that: guess what? It was not directed at you.


Enough with the condescending “content developers don’t actually work in this specific area of the game. Actually. Yes. We know.
Apparently not everyone does. ^ See last 3 sentences of above. I don't need it drawn out for me how some nebulous thing I said doesn't particularly apply to every single person it doesn't particularly apply to. I know.

You don't have to take other people's worse arguments under your mantle.

I will say though that you've convinced me and I'll try to be much more conscious of when I make the "this dev doesn't do that" criticism in the future as I've definitely said that without remembering to steel-man the person I'm talking to a few too many times on this thread. Sorry if one of those people was you.
 
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I mean, considering the contention @Evie HJ was referring to is that people keep acting like content designers doing their job somehow prevents bug fixing or mechanical reworks from getting done, I'd say you're getting hyper-defensive about something not even directed at you.

You can complain. If that complaint comes in the form of "this is a loss of opportunity cost, you should be working on X instead" that's what's being discussed and if it's "wish we could get bug fixes or a mechanical rework of X think that feels abandoned" it's not.

And yes, in your comparison complaining to the Education Ministry would be beyond stupid as presumably they don't allot their own budget.

I was referring to my earlier comment where I complained about certain mechanics and I think it was met with similar response: "not content designer job"

In my example it would be silly to send a letter to Education Ministry asking to give money back to healthcare. However the function of protesting (forum discussion) might be to simply raise some issues in the community.

If I feel game is terribly lacking somewhere and should be developed in certain direction, it's not unreasonable to express it under dev diary dedicated to some other direction of games development.

Same as its not unreasonable to make a street protest at Education Ministry and inform bypassers that healthcare is being neglected.

And as someone pointed out, why shouldn't there be a discussion "does the game need more content designers" "maybe there is too many content designers at this stage of games development" Etc etc.
 
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Same as its not unreasonable to make a street protest at Education Ministry and inform bypassers that healthcare is being neglected.
Such a protest is properly held outside the Health Ministry (because the health minister isn't doing a good job of persuading the treasury to allocate enough funds), the treasury (because the treasury minister isn't allocating enough money to healthcare), the parliament (because budgets that underfund healthcare are being passed), the president/prime minister's office (because the Prez/PM isn't choosing good ministers), or the ruling party HQ (because it's their policies that drive the treasury minister's budget plans).

Anyway.

Fundamentally, the content designers are the people most likely to have stuff to write about that makes for generally interesting dev diaries, and the stuff engine coders implement that makes for generally interesting dev diaries mostly isn't bug fixing. (There are exceptions, but Tarn Adams doesn't work for Paradox.)
 
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I was referring to my earlier comment where I complained about certain mechanics and I think it was met with similar response: "not content designer job"

In my example it would be silly to send a letter to Education Ministry asking to give money back to healthcare. However the function of protesting (forum discussion) might be to simply raise some issues in the community.

If I feel game is terribly lacking somewhere and should be developed in certain direction, it's not unreasonable to express it under dev diary dedicated to some other direction of games development.

Same as its not unreasonable to make a street protest at Education Ministry and inform bypassers that healthcare is being neglected.

And as someone pointed out, why shouldn't there be a discussion "does the game need more content designers" "maybe there is too many content designers at this stage of games development" Etc etc.
If I did that then it was wrong for me to do so, and also hypocritical as I've done it in other contexts. I'll admit to that.

It's not unreasonable, you're right, yes.

I would say that that protest is infinitely more useful at the body that's actually deciding on that budget. There is no parallel here though, unfortunately.

I can also agree with that.

I do reject the idea that these worse arguments that are being addressed don't exist and they all have the same very logical and defensible position in their heads as @Chazb5046 though. I've been using this forum for a long time and seen similar posts forever and I don't think 'til it became a discourse topic in the last two pages I've ever seen someone say "oh actually if it isn't their job Paradox can just reallocate funds and choose to hire for different positions". Some are vague enough that they can be generously interpreted and I'm sure even in this thread I've unfairly gone after those people half a dozen times and I apologize for that. I do think there are absolutely times where it's valid to point out that the person being directly spoken to (as in not the company broadly) can't reasonably be expected to do anything about it other than relay feedback.
 
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Accurately or not, at least you ARE represented.
Vikings raided Europe and there are a thousand movies, shows and videogames and songs written about them.

Portugal raided the rest of the world and there is literally not a single movie, show, videogame or song written about them.
Not all representation is good.
A lot of wrong things are being included in the representations of us. Sure, most Americans will be able to tell you something about vikings, but I bet you that they'll include at least one falsehood and probably more.

Bad representations can do at of damage.
For instance in the vikings series it's being portrayed as the vikings not knowing about England beforehand...
To just take one example.

There also are things like those movies with black vikings, or as mentioned having the vikings be prude instead of showing them not being afraid of nudity. When's the last time you saw a nude man let alone woman in viking media?
And there often is a strict hierarchy, emulating English monarchy, rather than the way looser way we did things where the Thing held lots of power and was some kind of early.parliament. not sure I've ever seen a thing in a viking movie.

And then there's the outright cultural appropriation like Marvels Thor which is really bad and has made people believe wrong things and a lot of people these days associate e.g. Thor primarily with marvel...
 
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There also are things like those movies with black vikings
Isn't this actually within the realm of possibility given the trade with the Mediterranean and raids on North Africa? Probably less reasonable than the black Roman soldier portrayal, but possible.

Data: It happens in CK sometimes because of kidnapping and intermarriage between pagans. (I'm not unironically using CK as data shush)
 
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Isn't this actually within the realm of possibility given the trade with the Mediterranean and raids on North Africa? Probably less reasonable than the black Roman soldier portrayal, but possible.

Data: It happens in CK sometimes because of kidnapping and intermarriage between pagans. (I'm not unironically using CK as data shush)
There weren't that many raids on Africa, relatively speaking.

And slaves weren't traded into Scandinavia. The ones needed were stolen, usually from Northern Germany and Northern Poland as well as the Baltics. I.e. the local area.

Now, it is possible a black guy somehow got attached, but that never would lead to an entire raid of black vikings. There just wouldn't be that many, if for nothing else then because their descendants wouldn't remain black so the amount never would be large, assuming it ever was non zero.

It just wasn't really the modus operandi to take warriors on the raids. Rarher you took loot, and yes, women are considered loot here.

There also is the language question. When navigating the open seas in a crammed boat then unless you're loot you need to carry your weight and if you're not highly trained in sailing and especially if you don't speak the language and hence understands commands then you're dead weight


Doesn't mean it can't have happened, but it's not particularly likely and given all the things which aren't portrayed, then portraying something which perhaps could have happened with a low probability is bad.

Therrs also no accounts of black vikings afaik.
 
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