• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

EU4 - Development Diary - 4th of August 2020

Good morning! Welcome to another South-East Asian themed dev diary. This week we’re focusing on the Khmer Empire.

Khmer was once the dominant power in Mainland South-East Asia. Ruling from the mighty capital of Angkor, the empire encompassed most of modern Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Due to a combination of factors which may have included plagues, ecological issues, and the decision to change the state religion from Hinduism to Theravada Buddhism the empire fell into decline starting from the 14th Century. Thai and Lao powers broke away from the periphery of the kingdom and established their own domains. In 1431, the killing blow was struck by Ayutthaya with the sack of Angkor. The Khmer empire would never recover from this final defeat. The period following the sack of Angkor has been called the Dark Age of Cambodia, and neatly corresponds to the EU4 timeframe.

dd_dark_age.png


Like Majapahit, Khmer begins the game in a Disaster. The Dark Age of Cambodia is a lot less punishing than Majapahit’s situation in that there are no additional events that break up the country or spawn rebellions, but you need to contend with a hefty 25% increase to all power costs (as always, numbers presented in dev diaries are not final). Your priorities will have to be on consolidation and reconstruction rather than expansionism.

dd_missions.png


Khmer can end their decline and restore the glory of their old empire through their new missions tree. They’ll need to restore their old capital of Angkor, achieve some degree of religious unity, and improve the development of their more rural provinces. When this is achieved the disaster ends and Khmer can truly begin restoring its empire.

Some additional highlights:

  • The Second Golden Age mission rewards -25% powers costs and -33% culture conversion cost for 20 years, compensating for the lost monarch points during the disaster.
  • The Enlightened Rule mission enacts the Chakravarti government reform discussed in previous dev diaries.
  • Around half of the mission tree is focused on military expansion, and like Ayutthaya’s mission tree these missions reward Subjugation CB’s against your targets.
  • The Restore the Empire mission increases your government rank to Empire.
  • The Invade Burma mission grants +0.5 Army Tradition for the rest of the game.
  • The Overseas Adventures mission has you invading Borneo and being rewarded with a permanent +1 Yearly Navy Tradition.

dd_privileges.png
dd_privileges_2.png



Above you can see four new estate privileges, with effects that should be fairly self-explanatory. Brahmins at Court functions essentially the same as the Brahmin privilege for Indian Muslims. This privilege as well as Advanced Irrigation Techniques are only available to specific nations, including Khmer, and are unlocked through their mission trees. Monastic Temples is available to all Buddhists and provides a new way to control your Karma, while Tropical City Planning is available to all countries in the Chinese or Indian tech groups and offsets the penalties for developing and colonizing in Tropical provinces.

That’s all for today! Next week we’ll take a look at the maritime Sultanates of Malacca, Brunei, and Aceh. And I think the week after that will be Vietnam. There's still plenty of content to show off, so make sure to catch up with weekly dev diaries.
 
  • 94Like
  • 23Love
  • 12
  • 6
  • 5
Reactions:
I really cant wait that update. I've Always loved playing in that part of the world. More flavour is obviously welcome.

However, i have some little question, how much new event will we have? And, especially, will we have new mechanics? (im particularly thinking of the culture and religious specificity of the Area)
Thank you for your time and dedication
 
  • 5Like
Reactions:
And in the 18th century, the Khmer suffered a civil war that lasted for decades and split into two regimes, supported by Ayutthaya and Annan respectively. This is a very important thing for Khmer history. Add a new tag for this.
 
Last edited:
  • 12
  • 6Like
  • 1Haha
  • 1
Reactions:
Thanks for the DD!

As for Aceh, I hope you can add an event that recruits Malahayati or Keumalahayati, a powerfull female admiral of Aceh's navy. She killed Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman. Additionally, she captured Dutch admiral because of robbery of Aceh merchant ship. This forced the Dutch to give official apology. It is also her reputation that encourage British to use peaceful diplomatic ways by James Lancaster to enter Java fron Aceh. The event could be similiar to Malacca event that rewards Admiral Hang Tuah.
 
  • 6
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Looks great,

Some questions,

Does the development team have an advanced tool to create these mission trees?
The sheer size of the missions I've seen you create is amazing, with manual labour it's a lot of work.

How much longer will the paradox summer break be?
Given that it seems you have two more dev diaries planned, will there be a dev diary after that about the coming update/bugfixes and other information?

Are you personally still on summer break?

Will Dai Viet get a few more provinces in the north?
It was a very wealthy area and currently only seems to get 2 more provinces.

Have you potentially reconsidered including a new Technology group for South East Asia and renaming the Chinese Technology group to East Asian?
While China obviously had some influence there, their warfare and types of weaponry seem different and maybe their stats should reflect this.

There are great books and other pieces of information about this:
 
  • 19Like
  • 8
  • 2
Reactions:
I like the way that new estate system can add content to the game. I hope that you'll keep adding some of them, even for countries that already had content in previous DLC.
 
  • 7Like
  • 3
Reactions:
@neondt May I ask for redraw of Malay Peninsular borders?
Because I'm Penangite, it just so weird to see Penang border look like that.
Here's my modification to existing border.
dd_sumatra.png

Here's a map of Malay states and Strait Settlement border during British Colonial era for comparison.
British_Malaya_circa_1922.png
 
  • 9Like
  • 6
  • 1Love
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions:
Looks great,

Some questions,

Does the development team have an advanced tool to create these mission trees?
The sheer size of the missions I've seen you create is amazing, with manual labour it's a lot of work.

No special tools. Other CD's like to plan out their missions trees (or focus trees on HoI) with different kinds of software before implementation. I use pen and paper to make a vague outline and define the core themes, but for the most part I'm a "discovery writer", I start scripting and see where it takes me.

How much longer will the paradox summer break be?
Given that it seems you have two more dev diaries planned, will there be a dev diary after that about the coming update/bugfixes and other information?

Can't comment on that.

Are you personally still on summer break?

Never took one. All of the content in these dev diaries is made on company time according to a design I wrote last year under Jake's guidance. As much as I love my job I certainly wouldn't do all this for free.

Will Dai Viet get a few more provinces in the north?
It was a very wealthy area and currently only seems to get 2 more provinces.

Dai Viet's provinces have more development than others in the region on average.

Have you potentially reconsidered including a new Technology group for South East Asia and renaming the Chinese Technology group to East Asian?
While China obviously had some influence there, their warfare and types of weaponry seem different and maybe their stats should reflect this.

There are great books and other pieces of information about this:

That would take a lot of implementation and testing and there would definitely be bugs that would slip through the cracks. That wouldn't just be a matter of defining a new tech group in script, you'd have to update every reference to the Chinese group in every part of the game. So instead I'm spending my time on highly visible and impactful content like mission trees. I could probably write a whole dev diary on what "good content" is and how we decide what kinds of content to spend our time creating.
 
  • 21Like
  • 13
  • 2
Reactions:
Thanks for the DD!

As for Aceh, I hope you can add an event that recruits Malahayati or Keumalahayati, a powerfull female admiral of Aceh's navy. She killed Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman. Additionally, she captured Dutch admiral because of robbery of Aceh merchant ship. This forced the Dutch to give official apology. It is also her reputation that encourage British to use peaceful diplomatic ways by James Lancaster to enter Java fron Aceh. The event could be similiar to Malacca event that rewards Admiral Hang Tuah.

Oh wow I hadn't heard of her before. I'll see what I can do.
 
  • 23Like
  • 5
  • 4
  • 1Love
Reactions:
Will the "Avenge Angkor" Mission be just about conquering Ayutthaya, or will we be able to plunder their capital as an act of revenge?

You're dangerously close to something I'm not allowed to talk about yet ;)
 
  • 18Haha
  • 11Like
  • 10Love
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
I see that 2 estate priviledges don't have effects on estate loyalty etc. - is this an oversight?

The burghers priviledges sound like smth I would expect to come as a technology. Maybe this can be alliviated by renaming them e.g. to "rural councils" (also giving +autonomy)?
 
  • 6
  • 1Like
Reactions:
The few high development provinces in northern Vietnam should be split up into more provinces with less development to allow for more strategic mobility.
 
  • 6
  • 1Love
Reactions: