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EU4 - Development Diary - 1st of October 2019

Good day and welcome to this week's Dev Diary for EU4. While we're still ironing out a few remaining issues with the 1.29 Manchu release, it's time to set our sights back on the upcoming European Update and accompanying DLC.

Today let's talk about the HRE. Earlier in the year, I touched on the Empire, and want to expand a bit more on what you can expect to see and do with Germany and friends in 1.30. As we've said before, much of the HRE mechanically exists in the game, and has continued to exist in its current form, as it does a great job of bringing relative rigidity to central Europe, and a good bulwark to an otherwise overly formidable French or Scandinavian threat, or more terrifying indeed, Ottoman invasion.

To that end, 1.30 will still have the Holy Roman Empire's base mechanics in their glory, save some smaller Quality of Life changes (such as no longer adding provinces to the Empire individually). The meat and potatoes of what you can expect in Early Modern Germany come by way of HRE Reforms and Imperial Incidents

Firstly, the reforms available for the Holy Roman Empire have been split into general reforms, Decentralisation reforms and Centralisation reforms. Some will look familiar to a seasoned HRE player. Others, less so.

General Reforms:
  • Call for Reichsreform
    • Empire Provinces: -5% Local Construction Cost
    • Emperor: Imperial Ban CB
  • Institute Reichsregiment
    • Emperor: +1 Diplomats, +1 Diplomatic reputation
    • Empire Provinces: -2 Local Unrest
  • Absolute Reichsstabilität
    • Emperor: gets a [REDACTED] that will [VERY REDACTED]
    • Empire Provinces: -25% Local State Maintenance
  • Enact Gemeiner Pfennig
    • Emperor per Prince: +0.5 Yearly Tax income
    • Princes: +1 Diplomatic reputation
  • Perpetual Diet
    • Needed to take one of the specific paths
    • Event that puts the location down for the “Permanent Diet” in an Imperial Free City
    • Permanent Diet is a triggered province modifier with some nice boons for the province. Is only valid if province is part of the Empire. If not a triggered modifier is enabled that gives -50% IA Gain.
    • Double Imperial Authority from Free Cities
  • Create the Landsknechtswesen
    • All Princes: Mercenary Companies who have their home in an Imperial Province are 50% cheaper.
  • Ewiger Landfriede
    • Emperor: +0.5 Yearly Prestige
    • Princes: -5% Tech cost
    • Empire Provinces: +10% Institution Spread
    • Emperor gets call to Arms for any war within the Empire as if it was done without CB.


Once the Emperor Passes the Perpetual Diet, they will be able to pass further reforms to either strengthen the decentralised Empire, or seek to centralise all power for themselves. Players have long wondered if they should stop short of completing the existing HRE reform path in order to preserve their Vassal Swarm, a highly enjoyable way of playing, or to unite the HRE under one flag. Now they will be able to choose between this decentralised power or centralising uniting under nation, with about 5 reforms each that play into either playstyle.

HRE.jpg

And maybe a player will have to weigh up ?missions? against vassal swarm tactics


The other thing for us to look into today are Imperial Incidents. One thing we wanted to do was to make the Empire feel alive and rife with bickering princes. To that end, we have rolled some existing occurrences throughout EU4 and History, as well as many others, into a system that has the HRE both create and react to issues in Central Europe and the immediate vicinity.

When the conditions are ripe, an Imperial Incident can trigger for the Empire. All member states will be informed of the incident, and it will prominently be displayed in the HRE interface. The Emperor will then have 6 months to make a decision on the incident, with wide-ranging knock-on effects.

To take a familiar example, the fate of Burgundy will be more fluid, with the circling vultures being more involved. Burgundy may seek support from the HRE as they see the writing on the wall, starting an Imperial Incident where the Emperor will have to choose between:
  • Negotiate with France
    • France gains the parts of Burgundy that are in the French Region.
  • Integrate Burgundy into the Empire
    • Burgundy becomes an Imperial Prince
    • Gives an event to France that gives them an option to start a Succession War on Burgundy(and thus by extension the Emperor) with French land occupied.
    • Princes around Burgundy becomes irritated with Emperor.
  • Just keep the PU with Burgundy
    • Nevers becomes vassal of France, France gets an option to start a Restoration of Union War on Burgundy(and thus by extension the Emperor) with French land occupied.
All incidents, and the path that the Emperor pursued will be visible in the HRE interface, so curious players can see what choices the Emperor has made before, and use their involvement in incidents as a chance to seize an advantage.

There are many other plans for Incidents, ranging from my beloved Hanseatic League, to my less beloved Dutch revolters, and the interactions between Pope and Empire beyond the shadow kingdom. We'll look towards these in future Dev Diaries.

Cheers for joining. Next week we'll keep going with our look at 1.30.
 
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Is it truly the case that we can think of no better mechanic to represent imperial authority than a slowly ticking monthly score? Will there be Diet events? Will imperial princes be able to bring issues to the Diet for the entire empire to act upon?

Will Burgundy be able to choose whether to invite the HRE to intervene vs. England or some other power? Is the Burgundian inheritance still going to be an AI-only event, or has it been reworked enough that it can be a reasonable Burgundy-player event as well?

There is an interesting alternative approach to Italy and Germany here that could be explored. Italy and Germany as they exist now in EU4 are made to represent the nationalistic 19th century versions of these states. But there is also the medieval kingdoms of Italy and Germany (alongside Burgundy-Arles) which existed as substates within the HRE.

It would be nice to be able to resurrect one or the other in the form of reviving the medieval kingdom. Indeed, this would be one avenue for HRE emperors intent on centralizing state power to do so. They could be kingdom-rank tags rather than empire-rank, and have special dispensation to remain within the HRE and wield considerable (possibly electoral) influence.

Since we are in the midst of reviving other medieval things such Lotharingia, Swabia, etc. Why not do it for nations as fundamental as Italy and Germany as well? Personally, I think it makes more sense to have a tag that reaches into the past to revive these states than trying to recreate a future nation whose form is not yet determined.
 
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All incidents, and the path that the Emperor pursued will be visible in the HRE interface, so curious players can see what choices the Emperor has made before, and use their involvement in incidents as a chance to seize an advantage.

There are many other plans for Incidents, ranging from my beloved Hanseatic League, to my less beloved Dutch revolters, and the interactions between Pope and Empire beyond the shadow kingdom. We'll look towards these in future Dev Diaries.

Any overhaul planned for current silly looking spanish aquisition of Netherlands in 1450?
 
Are Incidents limited only to HRE? I mean, is it possible that other realms could have such a mechanics as well? In shirt, is it moddable?
For example France with vassals having early events for Burgundy and/or Reformation events.

Are Incidents a DLC feature or part of 1.30 update?

And will Shadow Kingdom become part of the Incidents?
 
Most games the burgundian inheritance never seems to fire. Maybe it will be different now. I love alternate history possibilities rather than shoe horning results(cough ottomans number one nation every game)
 
Enact Gemeiner Pfennig
  • Emperor per Prince: +0.5 Yearly Tax income
  • Princes: +1 Diplomatic reputation

At the moment it's 20 ducats a year, aka about 1,66 ducats a month, which I'd say is barely noticable already by the time you can pass a 4th reform. I know there will be princes added to the empire, but wouldn't it be an idea to have this reform be a bit more worthwhile for the emperor?

"To take a familiar example, the fate of Burgundy will be more fluid, with the circling vultures being more involved. Burgundy may seek support from the HRE as they see the writing on the wall, starting an Imperial Incident where the Emperor will have to choose "


Does the same hold true for the event "The Duke of Burgundy dies"?


Does this also mean the event is now meant to trigger for the emperor/Castille no longer gets a 50/50% chance assuming there are no royal marriages with eligible princes? Or does the incident only take place after the initial checks are done? If so, will Castille/another eligible HRE prince get a similar event?

edit: The emperor now gets a call to arms for any internal war in the HRE after the ewiger landfriede has been declared. Will the emperor be considered a cobelligerent like they are a cobelligerent if someone from outside declares war on the empire? Will the AI finally recognize the emperor as a cobelligerent as they clearly aren't now?
 
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Historically, Burgundian inheritance resulted French landgrabbing which was followed by French-HRE war, so speaking of that particular incident - shouldn't French reaction be aggressive and demanding by default?

I like two paths for the HRE, but what about reforming HRE into Germany or Italy by the Emperor (depending by who is the emperor, so pursuing that path would result German/Italian unification by German/Italian HREmperor, dismantling the HRE and freeing princes in Italy/Germany, respectively)?

I wonder if it would be more common for the AI to enact reforms.
 
France has special vassal types? That's slipped me by, when did that happen!?
Well, it hasn't happened yet but the dev diary for France in 1.30 (on June 4th)suggests that France will get a special type of vassal for the French duchies.
The most striking thing you’ll notice about this new setup is the return of the French “vassal swarm”. The Duchies of Orleans, Bourbonnais, Auvergne, Armagnac, and Foix will be returning to the game alongside their glorious but rarely-seen Hundred Years War unit models. But how will you balance this, I preemptively hear you asking? Won’t France need extra diplomatic relations to cope with this? Won’t France be horrendously overpowered in the early game? Fear not, for we have answers and solutions - which I am not going to reveal today.
 
Now they will be able to choose between this decentralised power or centralising uniting under nation, with about 5 reforms each that play into either playstyle.
Can you give us a sneak peek at these specific reforms or will they be discussed in a future DD?

The other thing for us to look into today are Imperial Incidents. One thing we wanted to do was to make the Empire feel alive and rife with bickering princes. To that end, we have rolled some existing occurrences throughout EU4 and History, as well as many others, into a system that has the HRE both create and react to issues in Central Europe and the immediate vicinity.
Wow, very Victoria-esque Crisis vibes.

starting an Imperial Incident where the Emperor will have to choose between
What are the weightage for each choice if the Emperor is AI?

All incidents, and the path that the Emperor pursued will be visible in the HRE interface, so curious players can see what choices the Emperor has made before, and use their involvement in incidents as a chance to seize an advantage.
Can we have a peek at these too?

There are many other plans for Incidents, ranging from my beloved Hanseatic League, to my less beloved Dutch revolters, and the interactions between Pope and Empire beyond the shadow kingdom. We'll look towards these in future Dev Diaries.
been waiting for the HANSAAAA! here's a few of my suggestions from a few years ago if anyone's interested in a read.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/free-city-hanseatic-league-rework.852581/
 
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Burgundy-Arles should be a formable kingdom tag within the HRE. It is a completely distinct entity from the Duchy of Burgundy. Frederick I had once hoped to use this region to consolidate his power base as Holy Roman emperor.

Speaking of which, it would be nice to have some way to restore the Hohenstaufen dynasty to Swabia.
 
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