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EU4 - Development Diary - 3rd of July 2018

Good day all! We have entered a historically dark month for many of you: July. The heretics of Sweden frequently take this entire month off as vacation to praise the tiny sliver of sun that deigns to bless the country with its presence. The end result means that Development Diaries often take a turn to the silent for the month.

Well fear not! I have decided to engage in the most taboo of actions and keep my butt firmly planted by my desk at work this month. We shall have dev diaries this month, and we're going to start by looking at Climate, Weather and Elephants.

To those who are of patrician enough taste to follow me on Twitter you will have noticed my latest teaser where I showed off a winter in the far south of the Americas. Previously there has been a limitation in how our game can model winters, only managing them in the northern hemisphere. Long unsatisfied with this, we took the time to ensure that in the 1.26 Update this is rectified, so that the winters of Southern Africa, South America and the furthest down under reaches of Australia and New Zealand have their winters correctly modeled. As the icy grip on Russia recedes, expect to bundle up in Chile. This can be seen in our re-purposed mapmode, Weather.

Weather.png

The Weather mapmode previously was called winters

As you can likely tell, there are more than just winters in this view. That's correct, because as part of enriching the Subcontinent in Dharma, we have added Monsoons. During the monsoon season (varies by location), the grounds will become visibly muddier and both movement speed and attrition will be impacted if you are on the military offensive. While we added these to spice up India, we decided to expand it to all Monsoon areas across the map, so across East Asia, Africa and South America.

Feeling Muddy.png

"We want the Spintires audience"

In addition to the map effect and province modifiers, there are also a handful of events for nations experiencing particularly destructive or fruitful Monsoons.

Now it's time to address the elephant in the room, so to speak. People seeing screenshots and watching the devclash have clearly noticed that a new animal has found its way into the arsenal of Indian nations. Yes, in Dharma, we have added Elephants.

Tonnes of fun.png

I'm getting Resident Evil Outbreak flashbacks already

This is something we've added purely for immersion in the Subcontinent, as well as for the South East Asians who also used these majestic creatures in warfare. The elephants are simply a new 3D model for cavalry units for these nations without gameplay impact, but we feel that the empowerment of trampling over puny infantry armies with your walking mountains is worthy as-is. Owners of Dharma will see these elephants in Indian and South East Asian nations.

To recap, all players who update to the 1.26 Mughals Update will enjoy Winters across the world, while Dharma owners will enjoy that along with Monsoons and Elephants.

Next week we'll take a gander at the less visual but highly impactful changes we have made by way of new National Ideas and Formable Nations
 
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These elephants... Beautiful.
 
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Monsum lowers Movement speed, but Harsh Winter does not.

So Rain does slow u down, but Snow does not. #Paradoxlogic

Oh and I asume, that since it requires Dharma only asians will get Elephants, but Afrikans will not
 
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During the monsoon season. In the monsoon season (varies by location), the grounds will become visibly muddier and both movement speed and attrition will increase if you are on the military offensive.
Wait. Does movement speed actually increase, or was that a typo? I don't typically associate mud with quicker travel :p
 
Wait. Does movement speed actually increase, or was that a typo? I don't typically associate mud with quicker travel :p

No it lowers movement speed, just unfortunate phrasing.
 
To those who are of patrician enough taste to follow me on Twitter you will have noticed my latest teaser where I showed off a winter in the far south of the Americas. Previously there has been a limitation in how our game can model winters, only managing them in the northern hemisphere. Long unsatisfied with this, we took the time to ensure that in the 1.26 Update this is rectified, so that the winters of Southern Africa, South America and the furthest down under reaches of Australia and New Zealand have their winters correctly modeled.

Care to post a screenshot of the new New Zealand winter? We're trapped in a hellish dark winterscape down here right now, so it seems appropriate :p
 
while Dharma owners will enjoy that along with Monsoons and Elephants.
Does that mean that the unit pack is part of the Dharma expansion this time? Just like for immersion packs?
 
Care to post a screenshot of the new New Zealand winter? We're trapped in a hellish dark winterscape down here right now, so it seems appropriate :p

Yeah, even for the Random New World, in January the whole southern globe is under snow. It should be the opposite what happens in the north.

Ooo, I can't wait to conquer Roma with my elephants. :3
 
Loving the addition of monsoon weather and expansion of winters.

One question regarding elephants. Whats the unit ratio that is required for the model to show up? I think right now unit type is based on what type of unit has the most men alive in an army?
Will it be required to have more cavalry units than infantry in an army or has the requirement for getting the elephants to show up been lowered for nations who have access to it?
 
How will the new weather mechanics work with the RNW?
Also, does this mean that we can finally get rid of the attrition cap? Real Russian winter needs more than 5% attrition!
 
Really like this weather rework to map - great idea and great job. Anything that makes map more realistic. Elephants also look great.

Why stop here.. give us some nice dynamic weather for both land and sea zones, droughts, fires, storms, combat penalties all welcome. Temporary yearly/over decades trade goods prices fluctuations, unrest waves ; )
 
Really like this weather rework to map - great idea and great job. Anything that makes map more realistic. Elephants also look great.

Why stop here.. give us some nice dynamic weather for both land and sea zones, droughts, fires, storms, combat penalties all welcome. Temporary yearly/over decades trade goods prices fluctuations, unrest waves ; )

I'd love to have sea terrain and specific weather conditions there.
 
Care to post a screenshot of the new New Zealand winter? We're trapped in a hellish dark winterscape down here right now, so it seems appropriate :p

eu4_36.png


On this day 573 years ago, it's grim south of Waitaha.

Does that mean that the unit pack is part of the Dharma expansion this time? Just like for immersion packs?

There'll be a content pack releasing alongside Dharma and we'll have more details on it in due time. The standard elephant model is available for everyone who gets Dharma though.

One question regarding elephants. Whats the unit ratio that is required for the model to show up? I think right now unit type is based on what type of unit has the most men alive in an army?
Will it be required to have more cavalry units than infantry in an army or has the requirement for getting the elephants to show up been lowered for nations who have access to it?

Nations with "special" units models, in this case elephants, will have a higher weighting for showing that special unit model over others. for a concrete example, in Bengal 2k infantry and 1k cavalry will show elephants, but 3k infantry 1k cavalry will show infantry. I think @Groogy has the exact numbers.

How will the new weather mechanics work with the RNW?

There will be both Monsoons and Southern Winters in the Random New World

eu4_37.png
 
Yeah, with monsoons, the question about weather events is raised. Will we ever see it at least in the form of negative events, like in Civ IV: BtS?
 
Awesome changes! Weather was a lacking area of the game so any additions/changes are welcome. But how about making sieges stop during heavy rains as well? I've been wanting this for so long, and wanted to bring it after seeing some nice changes about weather. It can be done with some random events i guess. Logic behind this suggestion is obvious i hope.
 
Still waiting for the addition of antarctica...;)

(just kidding, but this is a very good update- i wonder how much stuff they can pack into eu4 though before it becomes full?)