Hello everyone and welcome to another development diary for Europa Universalis IV. I’m not sure how many times I’ve written these exact words in the last 8 years, but this time it is a special one. It may not be to announce an unprecedented new feature, or to tell you guys that having two consuls in rome is a stupid idea, or anything like that..

Today I’m here to introduce the new team for Europa Universalis IV. This summer we started up and recruited for a new studio based in Barcelona to take care of the game. While Starnan and Neondt having left the team this summer, Groogy is still part of the EU team, working as game designer and programmer with us.

So Paradox Tinto, who are we?

Johan Andersson
I suspect most of you know me by now, but for those who don’t. I’ve been here since 1998 and was one of the founders of Paradox, and ran PDS as Studio Manager for 15 years, and have spent the last 5 years as a creative director there. Now I am here starting up a new studio in a new country, and this is something I’m super-excited about.

Sonia Linares
Hola! I am Sonia Linares, Studio Operations Manager at Paradox Tinto.
I started my career within the Video Games Industry over 11 years ago in Madrid. During all these years, I have worked with a multitude of AAA games and a wide range of development Studios across the globe. I also have been lucky enough to be part of different departments & functions like Publishing Operations, Product Launch, Central Development Services -Age Ratings, Localization, Certification and First Party Submissions- .
I am sure that running Paradox Tinto (Barcelona) with Johan Andersson will be one of the most challenging, enlightening and fun jobs I have ever had!
Other than that I like sports, traveling and I love sweets.

Alexander Ivannikov
Hi, I'm Alexivan. I've been working at PDS for the last 7 years on pretty much all of our projects and my current favourite PDS game is EU4. I feel very lucky and happy to be joining the Tinto team as the new Tech Lead and once again work on EU4.
In my spare time I play a lot of games and watch tons of anime, tv series, and movies. Some of my favourite games outside PDS are factorio, GTA5 MP, Terraria. When it comes to TV I would definitely recommend Watchmen, I love both the movie and the tv series. My anime recommendation for you guys would be Gintama. Leave a comment if you have suggestions on new things for me to check out.

David Horler
Hello, my name is David Horler, and I am the Art Lead at Tinto.
I began at Paradox South way back in 2013, where I worked on 3D art for Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV.
For the last 3 years I've been at Paradox Development Studio, where I started off painting the Imperator: Rome world map. Most recently I was the technical artist on Crusader Kings III, where I got to work a little bit on almost everything artsy, like the environments, to the coats of arms, and the portraits, as well as lots of slightly less artsy behind-the-scenes stuff with our excellent Engine and Tools teams.
I'm a strategy gamer and really into history, so I'm very excited to help set up a new team of GSG-focused artists where we can put into practice everything we've learnt over the last few years.


Verónica Pazos
Hey! I'm Verónica, content designer at Paradox Tinto. I joined the team just a month ago, so my work has mainly consisted of getting to know the workflow and writing lots of flavor text. From now on, I'll be taking part in the design team and I'm really excited about creating a new heresy (and hopefully more content for your favorite countries). I like writing, History and games, so I kind of run out of hobbies coming here.

Jordi Santiago
Hi, I'm Jordi Santiago, gameplay programmer at Paradox Tinto. Me and some of my fellow workers here in Tinto have just joined Paradox, so I'm still getting familiar with code and stuff. Hopefully, I will be soon making your favorite games just a little better.

Adrián González
Hi! I'm Adrián and I've just arrived at Paradox Tinto. I'm a software engineer who will be working as a Gameplay programmer (or whatever is related to code!). Our team has just started and I'm very excited to see what we can build together. If I'm not playing and learning about EUIV, you can find me at Hallownest, Toussaint, or Caed Nua


Next week we are getting another content designer, and by the end of October another programmer. We are also recruiting UI & Concept Artists, and an UX Designer!

Building a new team is something that takes time. A programmer, even if he is very skilled with a lot of experience, takes a fair bit of time to learn a codebase, until that person is able to create new features. The same is for designers or artists, as it takes time to understand philosophies and processes. However, we have already working on new things together, and today we’ll show you the first things!


For a long time we have had one of the idea groups you can pick from switch depending on if you are a republic or not. Republics would get plutocracy and the others Aristocracy. Now in the next big update, we’ll have 3 new idea groups that can become available depending on what type of country you play.

Horde Government Ideas

horde_gov_ideas = {
    category = MIL
  
    bonus = {
        cavalry_power = 0.25
    }
  
    trigger = {
        has_reform = steppe_horde
    }
  
    horse_lords = {
        cavalry_cost = -0.33
    }
    beyond_the_sun = {
        ae_impact = -0.1
    }
    mandate_of_the_khan = {
        religious_unity = 0.25
    }
    there_shall_be_no_grass = {
        land_attrition = -0.2
    }
    horde_loyalty = {
        global_unrest = -1
    }
    watchers_of_the_silk_road = {  
        caravan_power = 0.20
    }
    a_magnanimous_empire = {
        num_accepted_cultures = 2
    }
  
    ai_will_do = {
        factor = 20
    }
}

Divine Ideas

theocracy_gov_ideas = {
    category = MIL
  
    bonus = {
        global_heretic_missionary_strength = 0.01
        church_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        brahmins_hindu_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        brahmins_muslim_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
    }
  
    trigger = {
        government = theocracy
    }
    servants_of_god = {
        devotion = 1
    }
    by_the_grace_of_god = {
        fire_damage_received = -0.1
    }
    friends_in_high_places = {
        leader_cost = -0.2
    }
    flesh_is_weak = {
        land_morale = 0.1
    }
    alpha_and_omega = {
        enforce_religion_cost = -0.1
        culture_conversion_cost = -0.1
    }
    conviction_of_sin = {
        global_unrest = -2
    }
    martyrs = {
        global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
    }
    ai_will_do = {
        factor = 0.9
        modifier = {
            factor = 0
            has_idea_group = humanist_ideas
        }
    }
}

Indigenous Ideas

indigenous_ideas = {
    category = MIL

    bonus = {
        global_institution_spread = 0.25
    }

    trigger = {
        has_government_attribute = enables_natives_idea_group
    }

    indigenous_bountiful_land = {
        tribal_development_growth = 0.05
        development_cost = -0.05
    }
    indigenous_irregular_warfare = {
        hostile_attrition = 1
    }
    indigenous_constitution = {
        reform_progress_growth = 0.25
    }
    indigenous_braves = {
        land_morale = 0.10
    }
    indigenous_controlled_burns = {
        global_manpower_modifier = 0.2
    }
    indigenous_trade_with_foreigners = {
        idea_cost = -0.1
    }
    indigenous_treaties = {
        province_warscore_cost = -0.2
    }

    ai_will_do = {
        factor = 1.0
    }
}

When it comes to policies, these idea groups will be considered as aristocracy. Next week I’m back to talk a lot about some important balance changes we have been doing, with galleys, marines and other important things.

 

[noldorin]

* Looting Speed
* Horde Unity
* Raze Power

These should be in the horde idea group

 

[Ixal]

I hope you will give that another balance pass as you give exactly those governments another source of +10% morale which already have more morale through government reforms creating a pretty big morale gap between republics or now theocraties and things like monarchies

 

[squimapper]

Which set would be used by the various Tribal government types out there? Is it a mix and match, with AQ/QQ/Arabians using Horde, Tribal Monarchies using Aristo, and Siberians using Indigenous?

 

[Froonk]

If you are doing a rebalance of galleys and marines, could you also please take a look at Venetian ideas and government form?

 

[Howl]

How about adding cav to inf ratio in horde ideas? So that also non tengri hordes can use cavalry.
The only amount of cav to inf that makes cavalry useable is 100% in my opinion.

 

[Romanix90]

Wow, new Horde governments ideas looks interesting. Can't wait to try Oirat/Yuan play. Though i have a q @Johan. Will Emperor of China get new government ideas?

 

[Wegenbartho]

Sounds awesome! Looking forward what the new team brings to the table.

Btw, any chance Sich Rada might also pick the new Horde Ideas? After all they are hard to form and it would be a cool reward to be able to pick those ideas.

 

[Chazb5046]

Please be adding Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism!

I am excited to see what the new heresy will be. Is it a heresy as in how current waldenisianism (s?) works in game, or a heresy as in current hussars? Ie, a stand a,one religion?

 

[C.N.]

Since each government gets different idea groups, does that mean we can hope that they each gets their own "estate-like" mechanics? Republican factions are meh, and hordes currently only have one estate.

 

[threetypesofcorn]

* Looting Speed
* Horde Unity
* Raze Power

These should be in the horde idea group

Really? Looting speed seems wholly unecessary, and Horde Unity is not that much of an issue i my opinion - perhaps more of a multiplayer issue.
Use that stronger, cheaper cavalry to loot instead.

Extra razing power though would be really, really powerful.

 

[MohawkWolfo98]

As an IR fan, its highly amusing Johan throwing shade at the 2 Consuls controversy

 

[ValkorionsDream]

Please be adding Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism! Please add Lollardism!

I am excited to see what the new heresy will be. Is it a heresy as in how current waldenisianism (s?) works in game, or a heresy as in current hussars? Ie, a stand a,one religion?

The CK2 converter does offerLollard (quite a bad religion there) and it wasnt really said that it's a Christian heresy, has it?

I personally hope for something more interesting.

 

[PrussicAcid]

So what's the point not to be a theocracy now? They will basically all have Elan and semi musketeers.
Beautiful on the paper, but in a balance perspective I'm afraid that once again it missing the point.

You better nerf no brainer combos instead and enhance monarchies reforms.

 

[EarlKonrad]

Really? Looting speed seems wholly unecessary, and Horde Unity is not that much of an issue i my opinion - perhaps more of a multiplayer issue.
Use that stronger, cheaper cavalry to loot instead.

Extra razing power though would be really, really powerful.

Horde unity is a big issue for the AI as it doesn't know that it should be fighting endlessly, nor it can do that. Therefore I'd say that throwing something like 0.5 or 1 HU in the idea set would be useful so that horde AIs don't get stuck with low HU forever and die to rebels.

 

[Potatokoke]

Gosh the horde ideas are powerful as all hell! The divine ideas seem like a pretty good 7th or 8th choice. Tribal... I guess you might as well pick them up for the reformprogress but I'm not sold.

 

[sekelsenmat]

When it comes to policies, these idea groups will be considered as aristocracy. Next week I’m back to talk a lot about some important balance changes we have been doing, with galleys, marines and other important things.

Since you are doing balance changes maybe it would be nice if it wasn't so that some idea groups like quality/quantity/offensive vastly outclass the rest.

Plutocratic for example is very weak, a meager 2.5% discipline only for merceneries. It would be better if it gave like 10% discipline only for mercenaries, maybe 5% at start and 5% upon completion, and make the standard "+ Discipline" not apply to mercenaries. Then there would be a reason to not choose one of the 3 main ones. Maritime is also weak.

Also sad that the only policy which buffs galleys is maritime/quantity, if you are a small maritime nation (honestly the only case where anyone would contemplate maritime), then I doubt you would need quantity?

Also it would be better if a cavalry-only army is slight faster then infantry (10%? 20%?) on flat terrain, instead of hard-coding a speed bonus for hordes. Even in hoi4 cavalry is faster.

 

[Ixal]

Gosh the horde ideas are powerful as all hell! The divine ideas seem like a pretty good 7th or 8th choice. Tribal... I guess you might as well pick them up for the reformprogress but I'm not sold.

Fire damage, morale, unrest reduction and manpower? That is in my opinion a lot better than the 7th idea.

Since you are doing balance changes maybe it would be nice if it wasn't so that some idea groups like quality/quantity/offensive vastly outclass the rest.

Plutocratic for example is very weak, a meager 2.5% discipline only for merceneries. It would be better if it gave like 10% discipline only for mercenaries, maybe 5% at start and 5% upon completion, and make the standard "+ Discipline" not apply to mercenaries. Then there would be a reason to not choose one of the 3 main ones. Maritime is also weak.

Plutocratic is very weak??
You noticed that there is also +10% morale in there? And you really want to give it +10% discipline too? In addition to unrest reduction and goods produced? Who would ever take defensive over plutocratic with your changes?

If that is very weak then what is aristocratic?

 

[EarlKonrad]

I'm torn on the horde idea. Caravan power is useless, additional culture slots and 25% religious unity are redundant because as horde you should go for humanist anyway. The rest look goods. But you also need to consider what you are losing by not picking aristocratic: 1 diplomat,-1% AT loss, +1 siege pip, +1 leader and +33% manpower. These are not insignificant loses for Hordes and, again, I'm not sure if they make up for the additional +25% CCA and -23% Cavalry Cost.

I also don't see the point in going for devotion. 20% leader is bad on it's own (yay 10 MIL saved every once in a while) and,even if you were to stack it with the -50% from max professionalism, the savings come too late to be meaningful. Damage taken is also quite weak on its own and being minus fire means that you will only be able to make good use of it in the lategame anyway. 10% morale is nice but isn't enough to justify a whole slot (let's not forget that the reason why defensive is strong is because the morale comes early and you also get +2 maneuver. Divine on the other hand has its 10% coming quite late.)+1 Devotion is a wastes as you should always have high or perfect devotion. The 10% culture/religious conversion savings are nice and complement religious pretty well. And that's it, really. This group isn't worth the slot at all. Not only nothing stands out but it also offers nothing unique, it is a support slot that fails to provide any meaningful support.

The indigenous slot is just... why? Why would I ever want to keep it after reforming? The only good thing there os -20% WS, but diplo gives you the same mod and is a top tier idea group.

 

[Romanix90]

Also @Johan i suggested back in a while to allow Confucian nation to culture convert thru harmonized religions. The other thing that i suggested is Chinese generic missions that would be shared betwin Ming (Ming revolters), Mongols and Manchus (Jurichen tribes).

 

[Potatokoke]

Also @Johan i suggested back in a while to allow Confucian nation to culture convert thru harmonized religions. The other thing that i suggested is Chinese generic missions that would be shared betwin Ming (Ming revolters), Mongols and Manchus (Jurichen tribes).

And do not forget Tengri syncretic faith while we're at it.