EU4 Development Diary - 2nd of February 2021

[Battlex]

Would it be considered scrapping a dlc feature to update it with a system which is simply superior?

Im not suggesting to just replace it with monarchy estates, but something similar to dharma estates, completely overhauling the estates would probably not be scrapping a dlc feature and instead be a proper update to a system which is simply outdated.

And it's not like something similar didn't happen with the minority colonization.

But i get what you are saying and I hope johan knows that most players probably would prefer the new estate mechanics.

Johan found the current system of minority expulsion to be the only way to get it to work whilst keeping it in, personally I would've scrapped the normal colonisation system so it had to be this way for American settler colonies, even if you can still abuse it with 1/1/1 provinces

 

[Piotrzeci]

Secondly, as you may have noticed in the previous screenshot, this reform also unlocks something called “draft transports”. This is an ability that comes with the next expansion, and allows you to quickly get transports at a cost that may be beneficial to you if you are a smaller nation.

Why exactly is this a DLC feature? Sounds like a fix to small nations having no way of transporting troops, which would help with overall game balance, not a "cool thing you might want to buy in an expansion". It's a long lasting problem of EU4, that it just puts mechanics that don't belong in paid expansions into paid expansions.
Unless upcoming DLC is "Transports of the Ages" focusing on naval gameplay and the return of Transport Combat Ability.

 

[MachopPower69]

Johan, this maybe over-asked but will Australia have some changes? Since the update is focused on South-east Asia and the Pacific, will we have aborigine tribes to play as?

And about the Plutocratic government, is it going to be just restricted to non-Europeans? Or is the Merchant republic the European sibling of Plutocratic government?

 

[DerAusNicht]

How about add new buttons to exploit all Tax(especially), Manpower and Production development in your country it would be useful for MP players and WC?
Also would be nice to add button to detach all injured armies, because templates doesn't do this for some reason. Sorry if this was asked before.

 

[Romanix90]

Yes and I'm saying why do you want it to have more unique flavour, that might possibly make it unbalanced

Why not. I'm not telling over power Ming and the rest of China but simply give them unique play via govenrment reform. They don't need to be strong or something.

 

[IndigoRage]

Johan, this maybe over-asked but will Australia have some changes? Since the update is focused on South-east Asia and the Pacific, will we have aborigine tribes to play as?

And about the Plutocratic government, is it going to be just restricted to non-Europeans? Or is the Merchant republic the European sibling of Plutocratic government?

Been said some time before the break that an Australia DD was coming.

 

[Battlex]

Why not. I'm not telling over power Ming and the rest of China but simply give them unique play via govenrment reform. They don't need to be strong or something.

They do have unique play, the tributary system

 

[IndigoRage]

There's already a dev diary on abos

There hasn't. Are you from a parallel universe?

 

[Ololorium]

I wish transports were removed altogether and replaced with the CK3-like system where you pay money and armies generate transports when needed, or completely reworked, for example, being used for trade at peace time (one of the transport models is literally called East Indianman, but for some reason is not involved in trade in any way - actually, hurting it because they hog naval force limit which could have been used for light ships!). I don't understand why civilian trade ships are abstracted away completely, but transports aren't. Transports currently are just limiting, micro-intensive and annoying.

 

[Battlex]

There hasn't. Are you from a parallel universe?

In NZ

I wish transports were removed altogether and replaced with the CK3-like system where you pay money and armies generate transports when needed, or completely reworked, for example, being used for trade at peace time (one of the transport models is literally called East Indianman, but for some reason is not involved in trade in any way - actually, hurting it because they hog naval force limit which could have been used for light ships!). I don't understand why civilian trade ships are abstracted away completely, but transports aren't. Transports currently are just limiting, micro-intensive and annoying.

Transports have cannons so can be used to hunt pirates when at peace. Ck3 system is terrible

 

[DerAusNicht]

I wish transports were removed altogether and replaced with the CK3-like system where you pay money and armies generate transports when needed, or completely reworked, for example, being used for trade at peace time (one of the transport models is literally called East Indianman, but for some reason is not involved in trade in any way - actually, hurting it because they hog naval force limit which could have been used for light ships!). I don't understand why civilian trade ships are abstracted away completely, but transports aren't. Transports currently are just limiting, micro-intensive and annoying.

They not abstracted, their hull size is best for harbor sieging. Do you really think that developers can rework all naval system in one expansion of game that released in 2013?
Just ridiculous....

 

[IndigoRage]

In NZ

I guess, but only in the same sense you could call indigenous peeps in the Americas aboriginal.

 

[Systemlord]

I'm still waiting for the reveal of the revised "mandala" reform. I love tall vassal play, such a great way to conquer diplomatically as well

 

[Dragonquack]

Oh yeah this will make warfare in archipelago regions like SEA much easier, this and the auto-siege are the 2 things alone that’ll make the new expansion worth it

 

[sesn]

Glad to see you finally fixed the missing strait between Java and Bali.

 

[IndigoRage]

Glad to see you finally fixed the missing strait between Java and Bali.

Ah you're right. That little gap was always so annoying.

 

[Kapi96]

That's totally unfair. They get merchant republic mechanics while still having estates? Regular merchant republics should get estates too then!

 

[onlybradparker]

Can we get a chance to mercantilism so that it's actually a useful stat? It's really not worth investing in at all + prevents the only people that care about it (Merchant republics) from having any colonies. (I care less about this second point than the first). I feel like mercantilism should be much stronger, but in return should mean that more negative relations modifiers for trade you are stealing away from the dominant nation in the node?

I feel like merchants should also have a chance of generating a colony in uncolonised provinces within their trade range. Each merchant should have like a 1% chance of generating a colony per year with each +1 of mercantilism increasing that chance by 0.1%.

This would be historically accurate. Not all colonies were directed by government sending off happy little colonists in some massive overarching plan.

There's so much that can be done with that too; if an unexpected colony sprung up in a claimed Colonial Region, then it could trigger an event. For example, say you're playing as Genoa a trade colony spawns in Central America which is claimed by Spain.

You get a pop-up box saying "Our merchants have set up a trade colony in Belize. This region is claimed by Spain and their government is a bit miffed about it."
1) Send an envoy asking for trade concessions = +5 relations with Spain & +1 mercantilism & -10 diplomatic points & the colony stays
2) "Order our merchants to abandon the colony" = +5 relations with Spain & -mercantilism & burgher estate -10 loyalty & the colony is disbanded

Colonies spawned by merchants wouldn't cost upkeep. However, upon reaching 1,000 colonists it would cause a -30 diplomatic hit to relations with Spain as you'd promised it was only a trading post.

Something like that.

 

[sprites]

draft transports... maybe not as the ming. are the number tied to income or naval limit?

 

[Ololorium]

Transports have cannons so can be used to hunt pirates when at peace. Ck3 system is terrible

CK3 system is bad because it doesn't have any fleet and naval battles, so anyone can walk to siege Venice or England without any issues. That's not what I'm suggesting. We will still have naval power to kill the transports if they are not escorted by navy.

They not abstracted, their hull size is best for harbor sieging. Do you really think that developers can rework all naval system in one expansion of game that released in 2013?
Just ridiculous....

I don't actually think they will, I just wish they did

As for the "but they can hunt pirates and blockade": yes, but it makes no sense for them to do it. East Indianmen without escort hunting pirates? In real life it was the other way around! Naval blockade is also not something transport ships (with a lot of space for cargo and few guns) should logically be good at: any small and nimble ship with supplies and reinforcements would outrun them, so how can they efficiently blockade provinces?