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EU4 - Development Diary - 28th of February 2017

Good day everyone, Tuesday spells for us a new EU4 Development Diary and while certain members are away enjoying the high life at GDC, it falls to me to bring you today's juicy serving of new mechanics.

As teased last week, we shall look closer at the Empire of China, a new concept in the upcoming expansion. In 1444, Ming is busy being the top dog in Asia and indeed the world, but they were not the first to claim Mandate over China and certainly not the last. We are not even one hundred years from the total collapse of the Yuan domination of china and only two hundred years shy of the successor nation Qing.

An important goal for us is to bring new play experiences across the world. Previously as a nation in East Asia, one would generally wait for Ming to crumble to rebellions, usually from loss of the Mandate of Heaven modifier (or a lot of horses and a good shock phase), and then pick up the pieces from this "Mingsplosion" or playing as Ming, simply do everything in your power to avoid falling into aforementioned deadly Spiral. This isn't quite how we would like East Asia to play out. We wish to bring the whole experience to life In the upcoming expansion, as the Empire of China is now a title that is fought for!

eu4_123.png


Where to begin? Our glorious Ming Starts in 1444 with the Celestial throne with a moderate Mandate value. Mandate will grow over time supposing stability is high, States are prosperous and you have an extensive collection of Tributaries. Protect it well, since it will have a large effect on how well your nation will function: Provincial devastation and bordering nations who are not your Tributary or otherwise bending their knee to you will cause Mandate to suffer. At Maximum mandate, The emperor of China will enjoy unrest reduction and cheaper stability cost. Conversely, as Mandate goes down below 50, you will find your troops performing worse and your provinces producing fewer goods, as the people you supposedly rule over with Divine grace back you less and less.

Mandate can be used to pass Celestial Reforms. Not unlike the Holy roman Empire, The Emperor of China must foster the growth of their mandate and spend it to gain some fantastic bonuses. Each Reform can be taken at 80+ Mandate, each will reduce Mandate by 50 and Stability by 1.
  • Introduce Gaituguiliu
    • +0.5 Meritocracy
  • Reform Seaban
    • +1 Diplomats
    • +5% trade Efficiency
  • Delegate Zongdu
    • -0.05 Monthly autonomy
  • Establish Lifan Yuan
    • -10% Core creation Cost
  • Reshape Beurocratic Ranks
    • +1 Monarch Admin Power
Additionally, hawk-eyed readers will have spotted a new Hat in the top bar. Celestial Emperors do not use the Legitimacy values since they are all obviously legit. The Emperor instead has unique access to Meritocracy. This will naturally degrade every year but increases by having skilled advisors in your court. It is then spent on the 6 Decrees, also uniquely available to the Emperor of China.

  • Expand Palace Bureaucracy
    • -10% Development cost
    • -10% core Creation Cost
  • Conduct Population Census
    • +25% National Tax
  • Promote Naval Officers
    • +20% ship durability
  • Increase Tariff Control
    • +25% Provincial trade Power
  • Improve Defense Effort
    • +25% Fort Defense
  • Boost the Officer Corps
    • +10% Infantry Combat Ability
Each Decree lasts for 10 years, costs 20 Meritocracy and, of course, all values are subject to balance up until release, but that's par for the course.

So life is good for the Ming the Celestial Emperor. China is theirs, their tribute flows in regularly and they pass reforms and decrees as they see fit. Well, no single Empire lasts forever.

eu4_126.png


The Celestial throne is there for any Pagan or Eastern Religion nation to secure for themselves. In practice, The Northern Hordes, the Japanese, the Koreans and the Buddhists are all in with a fair shot at securing the title for themselves and have access to a new Casus Belli: Take Mandate of Heaven. Land is cheaper to take in this war. Far cheaper, and it will allow the attacker to secure the Throne for themselves. When this happens, all previous reforms are wiped and the new ruler will start with moderate Mandate themselves. After all, there is only one China and all history from before did not exist. The new Emperor of China will have to quickly establish themselves with their own tributaries and bring Prosperity to the people of China to avoid the fate of their disposed Predecessor. The failed old Emperor of China shall be subjected to the Lost Mandate of Heaven modifier in addition to losing their Empire of China modifiers. Better take care of them, before they collect themselves and put their mind to reclaiming their old throne.

The successful claimant will also enjoy permanent claim on all of China to help consolidate their new power, as our Dai Viet player @Ihki was putting to great effect.

eu4_124.png


Best of luck with your fight to secure the Mandate for yourself. We'll be back next week to talk about another new feature which has our team lamenting any moment that they have to play without it. See you then!
 
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Good day everyone, Tuesday spells for us a new EU4 Development Diary and while certain members are away enjoying the high life at GDC, it falls to me to bring you today's juicy serving of new mechanics.

As teased last week, we shall look closer at the Empire of China, a new concept in the upcoming expansion. In 1444, Ming is busy being the top dog in Asia and indeed the world, but they were not the first to claim Mandate over China and certainly not the last. We are not even one hundred years from the total collapse of the Yuan domination of china and only two hundred years shy of the successor nation Qing.

An important goal for us is to bring new play experiences across the world. Previously as a nation in East Asia, one would generally wait for Ming to crumble to rebellions, usually from loss of the Mandate of Heaven modifier (or a lot of horses and a good shock phase), and then pick up the pieces from this "Mingsplosion" or playing as Ming, simply do everything in your power to avoid falling into aforementioned deadly Spiral. This isn't quite how we would like East Asia to play out. We wish to bring the whole experience to life In the upcoming expansion, as the Empire of China is now a title that is fought for!

View attachment 243712

Where to begin? Our glorious Ming Starts in 1444 with the Celestial throne with a moderate Mandate value. Mandate will grow over time supposing stability is high, States are prosperous and you have an extensive collection of Tributaries. Protect it well, since it will have a large effect on how well your nation will function: Provincial devastation and bordering nations who are not your Tributary or otherwise bending their knee to you will cause Mandate to suffer. At Maximum mandate, The emperor of China will enjoy unrest reduction and cheaper stability cost. Conversely, as Mandate goes down below 50, you will find your troops performing worse and your provinces producing fewer goods, as the people you supposedly rule over with Divine grace back you less and less.

Mandate can be used to pass Celestial Reforms. Not unlike the Holy roman Empire, The Emperor of China must foster the growth of their mandate and spend it to gain some fantastic bonuses. Each Reform can be taken at 80+ Mandate, each will reduce Mandate by 50 and Stability by 1.
  • Introduce Gaituguiliu
    • +0.5 Meritocracy
  • Reform Seaban
    • +1 Diplomats
    • +5% trade Efficiency
  • Delegate Zongdu
    • -0.05 Monthly autonomy
  • Establish Lifan Yuan
    • -10% Core creation Cost
  • Reshape Beurocratic Ranks
    • +1 Monarch Admin Power
Additionally, hawk-eyed readers will have spotted a new Hat in the top bar. Celestial Emperors do not use the Legitimacy values since they are all obviously legit. The Emperor instead has unique access to Meritocracy. This will naturally degrade every year but increases by having skilled advisors in your court. It is then spent on the 6 Decrees, also uniquely available to the Emperor of China.

  • Expand Palace Bureaucracy
    • -10% Development cost
    • -10% core Creation Cost
  • Conduct Population Census
    • +25% National Tax
  • Promote Naval Officers
    • +20% ship durability
  • Increase Tariff Control
    • +25% Provincial trade Power
  • Improve Defense Effort
    • +25% Fort Defense
  • Boost the Officer Corps
    • +10% Infantry Combat Ability
Each Decree lasts for 10 years, costs 20 Meritocracy and, of course, all values are subject to balance up until release, but that's par for the course.

So life is good for the Ming the Celestial Emperor. China is theirs, their tribute flows in regularly and they pass reforms and decrees as they see fit. Well, no single Empire lasts forever.

View attachment 243719

The Celestial throne is there for any Pagan or Eastern Religion nation to secure for themselves. In practice, The Northern Hordes, the Japanese, the Koreans and the Buddhists are all in with a fair shot at securing the title for themselves and have access to a new Casus Belli: Take Mandate of Heaven. Land is cheaper to take in this war. Far cheaper, and it will allow the attacker to secure the Throne for themselves. When this happens, all previous reforms are wiped and the new ruler will start with moderate Mandate themselves. After all, there is only one China and all history from before did not exist. The new Emperor of China will have to quickly establish themselves with their own tributaries and bring Prosperity to the people of China to avoid the fate of their disposed Predecessor. The failed old Emperor of China shall be subjected to the Lost Mandate of Heaven modifier in addition to losing their Empire of China modifiers. Better take care of them, before they collect themselves and put their mind to reclaiming their old throne.

The successful claimant will also enjoy permanent claim on all of China to help consolidate their new power, as our Dai Viet player @Ihki was putting to great effect.

View attachment 243720

Best of luck with your fight to secure the Mandate for yourself. We'll be back next week to talk about another new feature which has our team lamenting any moment that they have to play without it. See you then!
Wow, this looks exciting! But you aren't adding a specifically imperial-Chinese naming system for states and monarchs, are you? Can you give your state a suitable Chinese dynasty name (an old one like "Han" or "Sung" or a fantasy like "Later Ming", etc)? Can you give your monarchs era names or temple names, and have these replace the name your monarch had as a prince (before he ascended the throne)?
 
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Also is the old autonomy floor still present for Celestial Empire goverment form?

The 50% Autonomy floor from Celestial Empire Government (Which is adopted by whoever is the Emperor of China) Is Dead. No more Autonomy just because you're China.

As an Asian player of EU4, I absolutely love this new mechanic, however, I'd also love to see Asia get more love.

...

Thank you to the development team, you guys are doing a wonderful job, and I love the direction you are taking the game. Everything above is just a suggestion of what you could do, thank you for making EU4 the enjoyable experience it is so far.​

cheers for the post. I would invite you To formulate improvements for ideas and whatever else in South East Asia in thread in the Suggestions forum. Feel free to tag me with @DDRJake If you make such a post. We love well informed and thought out improvement suggestions.

@DDRJake How will the current factions in Ming (Temple, Eunuchs, Bureaucrats) play into these new mechanics?

By default, the Ming Factions are in game
If you own the upcoming DLC, you get the Empire of China mechanics replacing them.
 
So now instead of china exploding, somebody will have to conquer it? I don't believe anyone is powerful enough in asia to do that.. I think manchu's need to get buffed (lucky nation, etc.) and have more incentive to attack ming.

The Eastern hordes now have their own cool mechanic to put to use if they wish to bring down the Celestial Empire.
 
@DDRJake How will the current factions in Ming (Temple, Eunuchs, Bureaucrats) play into these new mechanics?

As @DDRJake said you'll get those without the DLC still. We did however take the opportunity to touch them up a bit. :)
No more temples seeking to kill Buddhists for instance...
 
I know this sounds super pedantic, but could you replace the Manchu hat symbol for meritocracy with a jade imperial seal? The reason is that the current symbol is something associated specifically with the Qing dynasty and would be kind of immersion breaking for any empire of China that is not Qing. An imperial seal would have a much broader Confucian symbolic value associated with east Asia than the Manchu official hat.
 
Also why would Ryukyu eliminate the Empire of China? Isn't Ryukyu eligible to be Emperor themselves ("every Pagan or Eastern country").

You can claim the Emperorship for yourself in a war using the Take Mandate Casus Belli. If you just want to break things, you can annex without it and destroy the system, much like how Christians can become Emperor or disband the HRE.
 
Wow, this looks exciting! But you aren't adding a specifically imperial-Chinese naming system for states and monarchs, are you? Can you give your state a suitable Chinese dynasty name (an old one like "Han" or "Sung" or a fantasy like "Later Ming", etc)? Can you give your monarchs era names or temple names, and have these replace the name your monarch had as a prince (before he ascended the throne)?
Sung is an old romanization, Song would be in line with the rest of the game. Later Ming is a historiographic term, back then it was known simply as Ming (same thing applies also to such names as Western Yan, Northern Wei, Shu Han etc.).
 
As @DDRJake said you'll get those without the DLC still. We did however take the opportunity to touch them up a bit. :)
No more temples seeking to kill Buddhists for instance...

Interesting, thanks for the answer. I wonder why you can't have both though - or why the icon for factions isn't integrated into the estate submenu.
Still, the new mechanics sound like a lot of fun and I can't wait to try them out.
 
So now instead of china exploding, somebody will have to conquer it? I don't believe anyone is powerful enough in asia to do that.. I think manchu's need to get buffed (lucky nation, etc.) and have more incentive to attack ming.

You can already 1v1 Ming as the Manchus without much help if you gun for military 5 tech. Not sure how it works now though without faction mails for Ming.
 
@DDRJake , If Mandate goes low enough, is there a possibility of usurpers rising from within, via normal rebel mechanics or events? I'm aking because stuff like that did happen in the past.

On the topic of Mandate, does any state prosperity increase Mandate, or only states in China itself? It would be weird for a country to have a high mandate as the emperor of China, while not actually owning a single province in China. Perhaps like non-tributary neighbours, non-owned states in China should also decrease Mandate?
 
So how exactly does the Take Mandate CB work? You just win one war and then you're the emperor? Is taking the mandate an actual war goal? If so, how much does it cost?
 
@DDRJake
Manchu is a horde. Does Horde Unity change to meritocracy as legitimacy?
When you become emperor of China you flip goverment form to Celestial Empire. So no more hordin' around
 
So now instead of china exploding, somebody will have to conquer it? I don't believe anyone is powerful enough in asia to do that.. I think manchu's need to get buffed (lucky nation, etc.) and have more incentive to attack ming.
I think - if I read the CB correctly - you have to take the capital of the current Emperor to take the title for yourself. So you can just take Beijing, and Ming now has the permanent "Mandate of Heaven Lost" modifier and explodes like cheery fireworks.