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EU4 - Development Diary - 28th of March 2017

Hello and welcome to another development diary for Europa Universalis IV. We’re about 9 days away from release of Mandate of Heaven on the 6th of April 2017. Next week we’ll go into the patchnotes in detail, but for now, let’s look at some of the features we’ve not got into detail yet.

First of all, we have added a new feature in the expansion when performing a siege.

Artillery Barrage is something you can order an army to do, when you have fullsized artillery regiments than the fortress have fort-levels. A barrage costs 50 MIL power, and creates a breach in the forts walls.

barrage.png


A new cool thing that is free in the patch is the ability to declare bankruptcy at will. Of course, this can only be done when you have a loan, and is not already in a bankruptcy. The effects of bankruptcy have changed as well, in that you lose 3 stability, get all your power set to -100, lose all advisors, mercenaries & current constructions. All loans are gone, but all your provinces suffer 10 devastation and lost the “recent uprising” modifier. You also lose all buildings you have built in the last 5 years. You gain a penalty for 5 years as well, which reduces morale by 50%, increases tech, idea & advisor costs by 50% and increases autonomy and decreases absolutism in your nation.


Another improvement to the 1.20 patch is the changes to the macrobuilder when it comes to buildings. Now, when you have selected a building, you will see a list of all provinces where it can be built, which can be sorted on cost, profit and other aspects, making it easier to optimise your economy.

macrobuilder.png


For those of you that like the ledger, but find it hard to navigate with the large amount of nations, we have now added filter buttons so you can see just those nations that interest you for the moment. We’ve also colored the row of your own nation, so it is always easy to see. This is of course part of the free patch.

ledger.png

As you may have noticed, the military overview got a bit cramped with the previous layout. This have been changed now, allowing us to add other important values here, like the new cavalry to infantry ratio.

milview.png


Stay tuned, its just a few days more…..
 
Good changes to Yarkand! Could we please see Chagatai's name changed to Moghulistan?
 
I really like the ledger filters. Any chance we can get a "Neighbouring Countries" one as well?
 
With those penalties, why would anyone ever go voluntarily bankrupt? <shudder>
 
The improved macrobuilder for buildings is by far the best feature presented today, in my opinion. It will be an absolute godsend for managing sprawling empires. Can't wait for that one.

The much harsher penalties for bankruptcy does bring the question - when on Earth would you ever press that button voluntarily? The only way to remotely benefit seems to be to invest heavily in buildings five years ahead of hitting the button, and then somehow avoid the default bankruptcy until those five years are up.

It wasn't specified, but I assume hitting the bankruptcy button will also set your treasury to 0? Otherwise, I could see a use for it. :p
 
A useful filter for the ledger would be "this nation and its allies" or something to that effect. Basically, a way to rapidly get a feel of how big an army a country and its allies/vassals/CNs will field if you (or they) declare war.

Another interesting one might be "the coalition against this nation," for similar purposes.
 
Still waiting for infos about protectorates and colonial wars... are these features gone?
As we've already been informed (via Twitter, no less) that protectorates are being removed in 1.20, I wouldn't hold my breath. However, like you, I am still crossing my fingers and hoping for a better answer.
A new cool thing that is free in the patch is the ability to declare bankruptcy at will. Of course, this can only be done when you have a loan, and is not already in a bankruptcy. The effects of bankruptcy have changed as well, in that you lose 3 stability, get all your power set to -100, lose all advisors, mercenaries & current constructions. All loans are gone, but all your provinces suffer 10 devastation and lost the “recent uprising” modifier. You also lose all buildings you have built in the last 5 years. You gain a penalty for 5 years as well, which reduces morale by 50%, increases tech, idea & advisor costs by 50% and increases autonomy and decreases absolutism in your nation.
So if you were actually preparing for bankruptcy prior to it happening (never mind whether it was intentional or if you just saw it coming and took steps to ensure it wasn't as bad), you're way worse off than before. Halving the duration of actual bankruptcy effects is legitimately not worth losing all freaking buildings from the previous five years; it's still a functional ten year bankruptcy, the only thing that has changed is how the game treats it.

Meanwhile if you were unprepared, things work out more in your favor-the modifiers last half as long as before, and you have some rebel suppression ability now, plus if you can see the bankruptcy coming before you hit your loan limit, you might save some inflation. But once again, the buildings present a problem, as if you managed to be blindsided by bankruptcy, odds are you're going to lose a fair bit of them.

And in either case now instead of zeroing monarch points, we're taking them to -100, because why not? Losing them all isn't enough, now we need to go negative? Are you serious? Here's a thought: Bring back Westernization, but rename it Bankruptcy. That's basically what you're trying to do, right? (No, don't do that.)

Finally, while we're on the subject of loans, and bankruptcy, did you guys ever get around to fixing the maximum loans bug? You know, the one where you take out half your max number of loans in order to bootstrap yourself into twice the development, and suddenly find yourself in the position where you're unable to take out any more loans, because the game assumes that every single one of your loans was taken at your current development.
 
With those penalties, why would anyone ever go voluntarily bankrupt? <shudder>
If you're in a debt spiral. In the dev MP one of the Japanese players was in a debt spiral where the debt wasn't crushing enough to force him into bankruptcy, but the interest still are all his profits and hence he didn't have the opportunity to actually pay off the debt. Now in the MP he got some cash from other players to get out of the situation, but I could see it being worth pressing the button in such a situation if you aren't able to acquire funds otherwise. Though an argument could be made that if you are in that situation you should max out loans first to have as large a state chest as possible before pushing it.


But I fully agree that it isn't something you voluntarily press unless things are going really poorly---I see it as akin to the unconditional surrender button. It's a button you can press to speed up the inevitable.
 
I normally don't give a fig for MP balance, but have to note that the declaration of bankruptcy at will reeks to me of something that should be turned off.

I can just imagine some trolls playing as a nation to ruin them and taking a few loans just so they can wreck their country with the decision.
 
Finally, while we're on the subject of loans, and bankruptcy, did you guys ever get around to fixing the maximum loans bug? You know, the one where you take out half your max number of loans in order to bootstrap yourself into twice the development, and suddenly find yourself in the position where you're unable to take out any more loans, because the game assumes that every single one of your loans was taken at your current development.
I might be missing something obvious, but how would you bootstrap yourself into doubling your development? Or are you talking about using the cash for conquests?
 
I might be missing something obvious, but how would you bootstrap yourself into doubling your development? Or are you talking about using the cash for conquests?
Yes. Financing your early conquests.
Though an argument could be made that if you are in that situation you should max out loans first to have as large a state chest as possible before pushing it.
Last time I went bankrupt, it reset your treasury, too. Either zeroed or a couple months worth of income, I forget which.