Hello and welcome to the first developer diary for the latest Victoria 2 expansion: Heart of Darkness! Today we're going to look at the Newspaper system, which is perhaps one of the most interesting features we're adding in HoD.
We have several different newspaper headers for different countries and regions around the world, and the major nations also have some special newspaper names for when they are ruled by one of the extreme ideologies. Here are two examples (out of 60+):
French:
Russian:
The way newspapers work is they collect data on events and goings-on and then attempt to publish a paper every 6 months (this value is of course moddable) if they have enough stories. In the above examples you can see many of the possible story types; nations declaring war on each other, results of battles your country has fought in, recent inventions, game events, etc. One example, "UK fears our might", may not seem to have an obvious ingame origin, but it offers a little insight into the AI's thinking and is triggered by an AI nation recognising another nation as a possible threat to their interests. There is also a story type for when an AI nation decides it wants to be friends with you or another nation, which might alert you to he possibility of a new alliance. Finally, we have a variety of filler stories that can be added to the smaller story slots in a paper to flesh it out when there's not enough real newsworthy stories ready to be published.
Some story types also come in multiple versions to avoid repetition, while others can be skewed by the ideology of your ruling party or by the laws of your Nation. For example, when a Communist newspaper reports that Communist rebels have overthrown the government in another nation they will write a much more positive story than a Conservative nation's paper. Another possible example is a nation with Censored Press may not reveal the exact number of losses when it reports on a lost battle.
Now that you know about News, I have another little titbit for you: Remember the National Stockpile Slider? The one that controls your purchases and military morale? Well, now we have separated it out into three: Army, Navy, and Construction Spending are now independent of each other, allowing a lot more budget flexibility and control.
That's all for now, but come back next week to read about the Crisis system!
We have several different newspaper headers for different countries and regions around the world, and the major nations also have some special newspaper names for when they are ruled by one of the extreme ideologies. Here are two examples (out of 60+):
French:
Russian:
The way newspapers work is they collect data on events and goings-on and then attempt to publish a paper every 6 months (this value is of course moddable) if they have enough stories. In the above examples you can see many of the possible story types; nations declaring war on each other, results of battles your country has fought in, recent inventions, game events, etc. One example, "UK fears our might", may not seem to have an obvious ingame origin, but it offers a little insight into the AI's thinking and is triggered by an AI nation recognising another nation as a possible threat to their interests. There is also a story type for when an AI nation decides it wants to be friends with you or another nation, which might alert you to he possibility of a new alliance. Finally, we have a variety of filler stories that can be added to the smaller story slots in a paper to flesh it out when there's not enough real newsworthy stories ready to be published.
Some story types also come in multiple versions to avoid repetition, while others can be skewed by the ideology of your ruling party or by the laws of your Nation. For example, when a Communist newspaper reports that Communist rebels have overthrown the government in another nation they will write a much more positive story than a Conservative nation's paper. Another possible example is a nation with Censored Press may not reveal the exact number of losses when it reports on a lost battle.
Now that you know about News, I have another little titbit for you: Remember the National Stockpile Slider? The one that controls your purchases and military morale? Well, now we have separated it out into three: Army, Navy, and Construction Spending are now independent of each other, allowing a lot more budget flexibility and control.
That's all for now, but come back next week to read about the Crisis system!
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