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.

 

[Canute VII]

Ohh.k. ...and who's the AI programmer?

 

[klingonadmiral]

Could you maybe make Divine Idea be pickable for Feudal Theocracies? I know the game considers them to be monarchies with theocratic characteristics, but giving them an alternate idea choice would make them more unique.

Also, please reduce the penalties for swithcing government type.

 

[Chazb5046]

I know, I’m just really really interested with the Lollards. Ipevery time the event pops and I hover over embrace, it breaks my heart that it doesn’t say, “enable lollardism. England, ruler and all heirs get ‘lollardism” etc etc”

sigh I’m crap at modding in religions as well

 

[Sete]

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.

I do hope Marines get a proper revamp, because at the moment they are a useless gimmick unfortunately.

Talking about important things might I interest you in adding the Order of Christ nobility estate to Portugal?

+1 Land and Naval shock
+5 Morale

-5 Trade efficiency
-10% Crown Land
- 20 absolutism.

I did a sugestion on this a while back:

Portugal Unique Nobility Estate: Order of Christ

"Using Order of Christ money, Prince Henry organized the navigator's school, preparing the way for Portuguese supremacy, and the first great wave of expeditions of the Period of Discoveries was launched." After Henry, the grand mastership was...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[AFKaiser]

Horde ideas feel weak compared to Aristocratic, and here's why, with some suggestions from my thoughts:
horde_gov_ideas = {
category = MIL

bonus = {
cavalry_power = 0.25
-This is pretty solid, better than 10% from aristocratic
}

trigger = {
has_reform = steppe_horde
}

horse_lords = {
cavalry_cost = -0.33
-Better than -10% from aristocratic
}
beyond_the_sun = {
ae_impact = -0.1
-Pretty decent
}
mandate_of_the_khan = {
religious_unity = 0.25
-This becomes useless if you take humanism (which you will, because you can literally avoid rebels with it). This should be the -1 (or even -2) unrest idea, instead of the other.
}
there_shall_be_no_grass = {
land_attrition = -0.2
-Most hordes already have land attrition reduction in their ideas, and is worse than a +33% manpower from aristocratic
}
horde_loyalty = {
global_unrest = -1
-I think horde unity would fit better in this slot. Maybe even tribe estate loyalty?
}
watchers_of_the_silk_road = {
caravan_power = 0.20
-This is quite useless. Your income, as a horde, comes from razing, looting and wars, and not from trade. This slot should give other bonuses related to the silk road (mov speed, envoy travel time, autonomy change?)
}
a_magnanimous_empire = {
num_accepted_cultures = 2
-Again, useless if you take humanism, because you will not benefit a lot from the provinces you have accepted cultures, and more on wars and gold. There are some other bonuses which suits better with the suggesting name, such as gov. capacity, years of separatism (this would synergize better with humanism than accepted cultures).
}

ai_will_do = {
factor = 20
}
}

 

[Steel_atlas]

Id love more alternate idea groups and also exploration and expansion need to be redone.

 

[Ixal]

Not 10% discipline, 10% discipline *only for mercenaries*, which are significantly more expensive.

You can already get 10% discipline in the first 50 years as most nations, for example Ottomans: +5% in traditions + full offensive or quality. Slap on that Economic + Quality then you get +15% for every single unit, not only mercenaries.

So no, +10% discipline for mercenaries is not OP, if balanced by removing + Discipline from affecting mercenaries.

Before such a strong disagree tell me: Did you ever pick Plutocratic? AFAIK no one sane would ever pick it. What I am saying is that ideas should be balanced instead of some being OP and the rest being underwhelming.



Aristocratic could also use a buffing, it was not an exhaustive list of weak idea groups.

Also, Ideally some ideas would be mutually exclusive (like if you have Quality you shouldn't be able to have Quantity), or Humanist/Religious or Offensive/Defensive, like it was in eu2.

But yeah, in this case Defensive could use a slight buff, because to make best use of it you need Religious+Defensive, but then you are missing out on Economic+Quality which with +10% discipline is just amazingly more useful.

Plutocratic has a host of useful bonuses. Morale, Unrest, Goods Produced. It suffers from being unfocused and not military only. Giving it +10 merc discipline (and you can bet that I will build mercs with that kind of bonus. Even the cheap ones with -5 discipline will have a +5 net gain with the first idea) will make it comparable with other mil techs and keep its other bonuses.

 

[Josar]

Theocracy ideas are not bad. That -2 unrest pairs well with religious ideas, and moral is always good.

 

[KRBLACK]

These new horde ideas look like the best idea group in the game, at least for tengri nations. Hopefully you can take these in place of humanist, instead of alongside them. Not having to pay admin points for humanist-like bonuses seems really good, as you will most likely be starved of admin points at all times.

The main reason for this being top-tier is the -33% cavalry cost though.
Tengri: -20% regiment cost
Tribes estate: -20% cavalry cost
Horde ideas: -33% CC

For a grand total of -73%. That makes cav cheaper than infantry, literally at the first idea you unlock.

 

[omfgBlondie]

Why "Tinto"? Is it from Tinto de Verano?

 

[PrussicAcid]

Why "Tinto"? Is it from Tinto de Verano?

Or.... Just pure wine?

 

[klingonadmiral]

As @AFKaiser has done an idea-by-idea review of Horde Ideas, I would like to do one of the Theocratic 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
}

Honestly, I find the finisher a bit disappointing. +1 Heretic Missionary Strength is not that good, and while higher estate loyalty is neat, as a whole the finisher is a bit ... uninspiring.

trigger = {
government = theocracy
}
servants_of_god = {
devotion = 1
}

It's a thing. Nothing more, nothing less. Decent-ish earlygame, but drops off later as tax income becomes less relevant.

by_the_grace_of_god = {
fire_damage_received = -0.1
}

Decent bonus, though despite coming early it will only bloom once the midgame starts.

friends_in_high_places = {
leader_cost = -0.2
}

Mediocre, but fun fact: Theocratic Afghanistan can now hit free generals: -50% from full professionalism, -33% from Afghan ambitions, -20% from this idea.

flesh_is_weak = {
land_morale = 0.1
}

Decent military bonus. Also, keep in mind that Theocracies have a reform that gives them another 10% morale. The Theocratic Japanese Space Marines just got even stronger.

alpha_and_omega = {
enforce_religion_cost = -0.1
culture_conversion_cost = -0.1
}

I honestly never really go heavy into culture conversion, so that bonus seems decisively mediocre to me, even if it synergizes well with Religious ideas. Enforce Religion cost is interesting though, and certainly worth picking up if you go for God Tier. Also, the Great Holy Wars reform allows you to enforce religion on heathens and drops enforce religion cost by another 40%, allowing you to force your religion on some rather massive realms.

conviction_of_sin = {
global_unrest = -2
}

Simple, but nice. Keep in mind that you do not notice 100% of the rebellions that do not fire. Stacks well with both Religious and Humanist.

martyrs = {
global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
}

Nice. More men are always welcome in the post-mercenary world.

ai_will_do = {
factor = 0.9
modifier = {
factor = 0
has_idea_group = humanist_ideas
}
}
}

All in all, I don't know what to think about it. I generally prefer idea sets that have internal synergy, and this set does not. I will at least pick it though if I can ever play my Theocratic Japan game in peace.

 

[Mingmung]

I hope Veronica, the content-designer, will have the time and patience to gradually make the map more accurate/acceptable.

There are also a lot of good suggestions for her to look at.

 

[Jordedude1234]

As @AFKaiser has done an idea-by-idea review of Horde Ideas, I would like to do one of the Theocratic 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
}

Honestly, I find the finisher a bit disappointing. +1 Heretic Missionary Strength is not that good, and while higher estate loyalty is neat, as a whole the finisher is a bit ... uninspiring.

trigger = {
government = theocracy
}
servants_of_god = {
devotion = 1
}

It's a thing. Nothing more, nothing less. Decent-ish earlygame, but drops off later as tax income becomes less relevant.

by_the_grace_of_god = {
fire_damage_received = -0.1
}

Decent bonus, though despite coming early it will only bloom once the midgame starts.

friends_in_high_places = {
leader_cost = -0.2
}

Mediocre, but fun fact: Theocratic Afghanistan can now hit free generals: -50% from full professionalism, -33% from Afghan ambitions, -20% from this idea.

flesh_is_weak = {
land_morale = 0.1
}

Decent military bonus. Also, keep in mind that Theocracies have a reform that gives them another 10% morale. The Theocratic Japanese Space Marines just got even stronger.

alpha_and_omega = {
enforce_religion_cost = -0.1
culture_conversion_cost = -0.1
}

I honestly never really go heavy into culture conversion, so that bonus seems decisively mediocre to me, even if it synergizes well with Religious ideas. Enforce Religion cost is interesting though, and certainly worth picking up if you go for God Tier. Also, the Great Holy Wars reform allows you to enforce religion on heathens and drops enforce religion cost by another 40%, allowing you to force your religion on some rather massive realms.

conviction_of_sin = {
global_unrest = -2
}

Simple, but nice. Keep in mind that you do not notice 100% of the rebellions that do not fire. Stacks well with both Religious and Humanist.

martyrs = {
global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
}

Nice. More men are always welcome in the post-mercenary world.

ai_will_do = {
factor = 0.9
modifier = {
factor = 0
has_idea_group = humanist_ideas
}
}
}

All in all, I don't know what to think about it. I generally prefer idea sets that have internal synergy, and this set does not. I will at least pick it though if I can ever play my Theocratic Japan game in peace.

Yeah that fire damage received is incredibly powerful late game because of how rare the sources for that modifier are. Say if you're trying to compete in an MP, an idea group which requires switching to Theocracy with its strong reforms is not a hard choice. But it also sucks early game, so it feels kinda out of place. Also there's no tolerance of the true faith or yearly prestige in the idea set, which I find interesting.

However, the idea set will likely be tweaked with further feedback and testing. And if it turns out OP or even underpowered once it's in the game, they can always change it, like they did with buffing Aristocratic a while ago, so I wouldn't fret too much. That +1 leader siege addition to Aristocratic went a long way towards making it competitive with other idea groups.

 

[KRBLACK]

friends_in_high_places = {
leader_cost = -0.2
}

Mediocre, but fun fact: Theocratic Afghanistan can now hit free generals: -50% from full professionalism, -33% from Afghan ambitions, -20% from this idea.

I disagree, leader cost is a great modifier. If you can stack it, it grants astronomical amounts of manpower (alongside cherry-picked generals)
20% divine ideas
25% estate privilege
(10% monarchy reform if swapping from theocracy)
0 to 10% innovativeness

And purely theoretically, if you do this as afghanistan you can stack 98% reduction of leader cost. Which means basically infinite manpower through slacken recruitment.

 

[Jordedude1234]

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.

Well I would definitely recommend Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. That show is pretty darn good, even among animes.

 

[Jordedude1234]

I disagree, leader cost is a great modifier. If you can stack it, it grants astronomical amounts of manpower (alongside cherry-picked generals)
20% divine ideas
25% estate privilege
(10% monarchy reform if swapping from theocracy)
0 to 10% innovativeness

And purely theoretically, if you do this as afghanistan you can stack 98% reduction of leader cost. Which means basically infinite manpower through slacken recruitment.

They definitely are gonna need to axe that -50% leader cost from professionalism if we're gonna have so many sources of leader cost now. Slackenining Recruitment Standards regularly gives so much manpower, and it scales to your max so it scales very well. They could nerf slackening recruitment standards somewhat as well.

 

[Canute VII]

If you are having a second look at hordes, then I wonder if you could re-consider the +50% supply limit modifier for livestock? Can you please change this into a +50% friendly supply limit, so Ming will not profit from it on hord territory when smacking around the hordes? Or include a -50% hostile supply limit modifier in the "there shall be no grass" idea? Something like that?

Also, how about putting a tiny -0.1 war exhaustion into the "beyond the sun" or the "horde loyalty" idea?

 

[LosCarlos5678]

Congrats to your establishment of Tinto!
Out of a economic geographic view: How is your studio going to be? Is it like a co-working place, where is it located, are you looking into synergies with other local studios, what did you find in Barcelona that helps EU4?

 

[Canute VII]

what did you find in Barcelona that helps EU4?

Look at johans photo and you might find the answer