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hansmartin

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Feb 26, 2016
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Hi, first of all I'm not the guy from the switch chat shouting for iceland ideas but since nobody started a thread yet (or im blind) i start this one. I'm not from iceland/norway, i just would like to see iceland (ideas) ingame .. so i read some wiki^^ // if something should be wrong or you guys have other ideas let me know


Traditions:
National Tax Modifier: +5.0% {iceland starts quite poor so in order to have a positive balance i added a 5% tax modifier}
Ship Costs: -10.0%

Ideas:
Colonists: +1 "Gunnbjörn Úlfsson" - "Gunnbjörn Úlfsson was a Norwegian settler in Iceland. He was reportedly the first European to sight Greenland." [wiki quote]

Light Ship Cost: -10.0% "Knarr" - "Knarr is the Old Norse term for a type of ship built for long sea voyages and used during the Viking expansion. The knarr was a cargo ship; the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews." [wiki quote]
[+maybe an additional sailer bonus here]

Yearly Army Tradition Decay: -0.5% "Vikings" - "Legendary Viking Sagas will still be heard in thousand of years"

Naval force Limit Modifier: 30.0% "Our Navy is our Lifeline - without ships no supply"
[+or maybe here an additional sailer bonus]

Prestige Decay: -1.0% "Erik the Red" - "Erik Thorvaldsson is remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland. The appellation "the Red" most likely refers to his hair color and the color of his beard. Leif Erikson, the famous Icelandic explorer, was Erik's son." [wiki quote]
{or maybe something about sagas}

Trade Efficiency: +10.0% "Stockfish" - "The commercial monopoly of Norway is finally gone and our rich fish resources gets great demand in Europe"

Yearly Navy Tradition: +1.00 "Icelander" - "The heaviest storm can't stop us from sailing"

Ambition:
Trade Steering: +20.0%

@DDRJake
 
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Does Iceland even have a tag? I can't remember if it does or doesn't, but I think it would need to have a tag to get ideas if that's not the case.
 
Ok so before i give what i think would be some good ideas I just want to point out that ideas aren't meant for balancing a nations weaknesses and strengths, it is meant to represent the people and the ideology of that nation, so you can't say they should get a +5% tax modifier so iceland gets a positive balance. I am not trying to shoot you down, just saying you should give a historical reason for why you choose your ideas.

Maybe have +10% production bonus instead of +5% tax modifier because the people of Iceland had to specialize in raising livestock sense it was so difficult to raise crops. In addition instead of having ships cost -10% maybe have increased trade range +20% sense the people of Iceland had to trade far and wide for many of the goods they used. Although i do not see an issue with the other ideas, I would suggest changing the order so that the naval force limit modifier and the reduced light ship cost comes before the additional colonist, because ships would not have been spared for, and funded for, exploration unless there were many more in the national fleet.
 
Grand Historian said:
Does Iceland even have a tag? I can't remember if it does or doesn't, but I think it would need to have a tag to get ideas if that's not the case.
Click to expand...
youtube.com/watch?v=2S0E7TZYPTI#t=49m24s

@Troy003
yea - production bonus fits in much better as a tax modifier ur right
(actually i tested it again, as long as u protect trade ur making enough money even without +5% tax or +10% - without protecting trade you would loose money even with these bonuses [with your 2 1/1/1 provinces] - so we could add something different here)

even with +20% increased trade range u can't reach anything except north see, i've tested this in the nation designer


edit:
@Woifee
yea^^, for example adding islandic horses :p


----
edit2:
as flag i would use the up-to-date flag since iceland used in eu4 times only danmarks flag
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Icelandic_flags
 
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hansmartin said:
Hi, first of all I'm not the guy from the switch chat shouting for iceland ideas but since nobody started a thread yet (or im blind) i start this one. I'm not from iceland/norway, i just would like to see iceland (ideas) ingame .. so i read some wiki^^ // if something should be wrong or you guys have other ideas let me know


Traditions:
National Tax Modifier: +5.0% {iceland starts quite poor so in order to have a positive balance i added a 5% tax modifier}
Ship Costs: -10.0%

Ideas:
Colonists: +1 "Gunnbjörn Úlfsson" - "Gunnbjörn Úlfsson was a Norwegian settler in Iceland. He was reportedly the first European to sight Greenland." [wiki quote]

Light Ship Cost: -10.0% "Knarr" - "Knarr is the Old Norse term for a type of ship built for long sea voyages and used during the Viking expansion. The knarr was a cargo ship; the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews." [wiki quote]
[+maybe an additional sailer bonus here]

Yearly Army Tradition Decay: -0.5% "Vikings" - "Legendary Viking Sagas will still be heard in thousand of years"

Naval force Limit Modifier: 30.0% "Our Navy is our Lifeline - without ships no supply"
[+or maybe here an additional sailer bonus]

Prestige Decay: -1.0% "Erik the Red" - "Erik Thorvaldsson is remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland. The appellation "the Red" most likely refers to his hair color and the color of his beard. Leif Erikson, the famous Icelandic explorer, was Erik's son." [wiki quote]
{or maybe something about sagas}

Trade Efficiency: +10.0% "Stockfish" - "The commercial monopoly of Norway is finally gone and our rich fish resources gets great demand in Europe"

Yearly Navy Tradition: +1.00 "Icelander" - "The heaviest storm can't stop us from sailing"

Ambition:
Trade Steering: +20.0%

@DDRJake
Click to expand...

I like the focus on naval and trade bonuses, but I do have a few suggestions. You did mention the sagas in the Prestige Decay idea, and I would think that having a saga idea linked to Snorri Sturluson and the Prose Edda would work better than Eric the Red - the Edda was written only 200 years before the start of the game, which is much closer to the game period than Eric the Red (and Eric the Red could easily be combined with the Vikings idea - having 3 ideas based around the Viking era 400 + years before the game's start seems a bit to focused on that era in my opinion).

I would definitely suggest having an idea based around the Althing, given that it's the oldest extant parliament in the world (Republican Tradition or + Advisors would work here).

Another good basis for an idea would be the volcanoes/geysers/hot springs Iceland is famous for, although I'm not quite sure what sort of bonus would quite work there...
 
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Demetrios said:
Another good basis for an idea would be the volcanoes/geysers/hot springs Iceland is famous for, although I'm not quite sure what sort of bonus would quite work there...
Click to expand...

Maybe Manpower Recovery Speed or Prestige?
 
I would suggest

Icelandic Perseverance

Thru volcanic eruptions, harsh winters and short summers we have learned to get the most of the land, and survive as a people.

-20% Attrition modifiers and lowered development cost
 
I had my own ideas, although the flavour texts are quite big, and of course, there are more ideas than there is room for, but well... the more ideas they read the more they can pick and choose from. :)


One description that comes to mind: (New monopoly laws, or just Einokunarverslun)Before our independence, our overlords would rent merchants areas inside Iceland and make it illegal for locals to trade with other merchants, resulting in high prices and low quality goods. As we are our own masters now, we see no reason why not to make money in the same manner, after all, the populace is used to it.(something something merchantilism bonus/lesser penalty, or just trade efficiency)

Another idea would of course be about the sagas,(Export the Saga's) which could be a yearly prestige modifier. Description could be like this: While the Norwegians are writing their new Saga's we actually have the real old ones, ready for printing and export. (yearly prestige +0.5 or 1)

And something about public order.(Vistarband, or Anti vagrant laws) The laws dictate that no one can live independently unless he has amassed a wealth of three cows worths or more. This makes sure farmers have a steady supply of cheap labour, and makes sure that we don't have vagabonds wandering the land stealing goods and causing ruckus.(-1 unrest?, these could also be a discount on advisors, since they are not allowed to live anywhere either, especially when you make sure they can't earn any capital to move out with the new monopoly laws)

Something about sailors.(Mannskattur, or just The Tax on Men) Before our independence, people who were unable to start a farm or work at a farm had to resort to thievery. Once caught, they were promptly executed or sent to prison for live in Denmark, freeing up the resources we would have spent on them. As Denmark refuses to accept our unwanted, unwashed and unpopular, someone suggested forcing them into our newly formed navies. They can't steal sheep when on the high seas anyway.(something something about sailors)

Attrition modifier:(Enemy of an enemy, is still an enemy or Veðravíti) : As anyone could tell you, in a land periodically ravaged by famine, and starvation remains one of the leading causes of death, surviving the harsh landscape is anything but easy when our greatest enemy is the climate. We could try to capitalize on that, as well as the lack of roads, brutal terrain and bad weather, to avoid confrontation with invading armies until they are starving and weak, and easy pickings.(some attritional modifier for invading armies)

Leading in literacy, or Travelling Teachers: While other nations pride themselves on their universities, we have only had the opportunity to learn theology, and our brightest minds have generally been educated as priests. This lead to us having more priests than other nations per household. These priests have traditionally been teachers, and would travel from farm to farm and teach children basic mathematics and reading. This has in turn given us the highest literacy rate in Western Europe. We should capitalize on this by issuing manuals to upcoming farmers and artisans, in an effort to encourage development.(Development bonus, to offset that the harsh climate penalty,)

Icelandic Horse or Pony Cavalry: Although our horses are smaller than the horses typically used by other nations, it's sturdy and strong, and it's small size results in less resources dedicated to feeding the cavalry. A lance in the groin is just as painful as a lance in the torso. (Cavalry maintenance -5% or 10%)

Landnámsbók or Book of Settlement: We have long been able to use the Book of Settlement to settle boundary disputes, as it's clearly stated there who colonized which land. Foreigners don't have entries in that book so we can easily laugh off their pretensions of ownership of land(harder for other countries to fabricate claims.

2nd description on Landnámsbók(which can also be used):We have long been able to use the Book of Settlement to settle boundary disputes, as it's clearly stated there who colonized which land. By sending out parties of trained scholars, we believe we can ''find'' lost chapters on that book, related to colonies in distant lands(faster claim fabrication, after all, this book just told me that my ancestors colonized Dublin!)

Lots of this flavour text would require trimming I guess.

Traditions Icelandic Traditions... less war weariness(no cities to actually occupy, only villages and I doubt anyone would care to occupy all of them), especially the more remote ones and when qualifying as a village means that you have maybe 3 farms closely located to each other, along with a merchants outpost.

+1 Colonist, well, at the timeframe when the game starts, there could theoretically still have been colonists living in Greenland, though very few of them by that time, since it's generally agreed that the colony died out in the 15th century. Sending a couple of more people there could revitalize the colony, and with these new muskets, we could try going for Vinland again. Of course, Icelanders are the descendants of colonists(unlike the Norwegians, who are the descendants of those who stayed behind).

And once Iceland has all it's national ideas, it probably has a well established government, so it could get a legitimacy/republican tradition modifier, nepotism to enforce the legitimacy, and the traditions of the Althingi of the commonwealth era to enforce republican tradition.

I felt most of the ideas were quite focused on landscape, or commonwealth era Iceland and viking traditions, but I feel that these ideas fit the timeframe better, since many of these laws(like the Vistarband and Einokunarverslun) where implemented here during the game timeframe. Same with the literacy thingie, that only started to kick off I think in the 16th century. I like the idea of the Saltfisk design, as it was pretty much the label Denmark gave to us, though modern design also works, as it fits the cross pattern seen on every other scandinavian flag.

And lastly, Icelanders should get their own culture. It's drastically different from Norwegian culture, as Norwegian write in Danish(though they speak more like Icelanders) and Icelanders have a selection of Celtic words, which the Norwegians lack. We also had a tendency to write stuff down, like the Irish monks did, when the Scandinavians did not. So while we are not the makers of history, like the kingdoms in Scandinavia, we were the writers of history.

If you do manage to flesh Iceland out as a nation, I think you may start on building up a viable nation for the Faroese Islanders. After all, they have their own culture as well, distinct from Icelanders, Norwegians and Danes.
 
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