HIP update released - 2015-01-16

[zijistark]

Now that I figured out how to convert without losing the de-jures I'm having more fun. Decided to start over (I was only a few years in) and go with the Charlemagne start, trying to decide just what to convert. Converted Flanders and Cyprus. Not sure on Mallorca, Dalmatia, and Ancona. In the case of Dalmatia and Ancona, you already have a lot of Republics around in Venice, Pisa, and Genoa (although the later are still part of Lombardy). Ancona I might go with just to take away from the monopoly of Venice. Going to do Athens now as well, that's a good idea! I Mallorca just to put something else in that area. I wanted to do Malta as well but it's de-jure to both the Duchy and Kingdom of Sicily, maybe removing the duchy and making Malta it's own duchy would work. Thinking about doing one in the black sea but not sure which and want to get another one or two in the north to keep Flanders in check. Mann would be a good choice like I had before only in 769 it's still tribal! A lot of the sea side territories in the north are tribal. Anyone got ideas?

Can you tell this is my favorite feature?

I'm really glad that you like the 'Convert to Merchant Republic' features so much. I think they're pretty damn neat too. And the ability to set up the map however you like with just a few clicks is the epitome of what I mean when I say that one of EMF's goals is enhanced customizability.

As for the tribals issue, yes, this bothers me a bit too. For 769, merchant republics aren't going to be doing much of anything for quite awhile due to Trade Practices tech being so low, but even in 867 and 1066, some areas where I'd potentially like to setup a merchant republic are tribal (e.g., Azov/Crimea and Prussia/Eastern Pomerania). I'm considering extending the scenario customization decision/diplo-action to work for tribal rulers as well, but I don't walk to take away from the Charlemagne achievement of fighting your way from tribal to merchant republic. However, since this is a day-1 decision/diplo-action only, I suppose that I can simply leave that choice to players, as I leave so many other choices. So, yeah, I'll probably add support for converting tribal rulers as well to merchant republics in the next EMF release.

EDIT: I'm also vaguely considering adding support for 1-county merchant republics (ones like Malta that shouldn't have control over an entire de jure duchy). This is entirely doable, and though they won't have the option of getting their own de jure kingdom (de jure reassignment at the county level is not possible with the engine), the AI can't use de jure claims on their shared de jure duchy to attack AI merchant republics (was one of the changes in this release), so they'd still avoid being promptly conquered by feudals. However, if the player were to try to play such a 1-county merchant republic in a shared de jure duchy, they'd have to potentially fight against such de jure claims (maybe just add this option for the 'Convert to Merchant Republic' diplo-action rather than both for it and the scenario customization decision?).

BTW, another really amusing (but maybe OP and having too many ahistorical side effects for your taste) is, of course, the Republic of Thrace (make Constantinople the center of a new merchant republic-- I mean, ALL THOSE CITIES!). This works just fine, but since the ERE loses Constantinople, it will automatically disintegrate to kingdom-tier (and chaos) if it doesn't reconquer Thrace within 30 years (which it won't since the AI by and large leaves merchant republics alone now).

 

[zijistark]

Considering the new the winter mechanic will come soon I have question. Though soon can mean anything from 2 weeks to a month I still want to know if this just will be cosmetic updates when it will be released or if there will be changes that may break saves. Sorry if that is a dumb question but I have no idea how that would affect a savegame if you would introduce your own styled winter mechanic

Climate information for provinces isn't saved in the savegame, so it will update smoothly and simply begin working without issue.

 

[DasBananenbrot]

Climate information for provinces isn't saved in the savegame, so it will update smoothly and simply begin working without issue.

Ok thanks for the quick answer So I can start a new save without worrying ^^