National Decline Event

[ElectricNarwhal]

In my last game, I colonized pretty heavily in Africa by using the colonist from Expansion, but the event "National Decline" kept coming up. On starting a new game, I thought that maybe by colonizing the New World instead this game would solve the problem, but it just popped again.


What causes the "National Decline" event? Or, rather, what prevents it? Is it simply "take Exploration as an idea" or is there another way? Colonizing with the Expansion idea group evidently isn't enough.

 

[joelzhl]

	trigger = {
		num_of_cities = 25
		num_of_ports = 2
		is_year = 1600
		NOT = { has_idea = quest_for_the_new_world }
		NOT = { has_idea = colonial_ventures }
		technology_group = western
		NOT = {
			has_country_modifier = cut_military_investments
			has_country_modifier = cut_trade_investments
			has_country_modifier = cut_government_investments
		}
	}

You need to get at least 1 idea in the exploration tree to stop this from happening. Staying small and not having more than 1 port will also stop it.

 

[Incompetent]

In my last game, I colonized pretty heavily in Africa by using the colonist from Expansion, but the event "National Decline" kept coming up. On starting a new game, I thought that maybe by colonizing the New World instead this game would solve the problem, but it just popped again.


What causes the "National Decline" event? Or, rather, what prevents it? Is it simply "take Exploration as an idea" or is there another way? Colonizing with the Expansion idea group evidently isn't enough.

For practical purposes, the only way to get out of it as a largish Western country (that isn't virtually landlocked) is to take Exploration ideas. On the other side, if you take Exploration ideas you get spammed with a nice event (one which doesn't count as an idea group event) that gives you a bonus in military or diplomatic tech (your choice). It doesn't make a lot of sense from a historical point of view, but it means that Exploration ideas are better than they look.

 

[grisamentum]

Staying small and not having more than 1 port will also stop it.

Actually staying small OR having only 1 port. Listed requirements default to AND in the absence of an OR = { }. So you could use vassals to limit yourself to 1 port if you were some European country that never took Exploration for some reason.

Also this only happens to Western countries, and only after 1600.

 

[AdmRepublic]

This event usually has very little impact. Just check which tech you are unlikely to invest in the next ten years (I'm normally up-to-date in at least one of them), and pick the corresponding alternative.

 

[ElectricNarwhal]

Thanks for the quick answers! I knew that the different idea groups unlocked different events, but I had no idea that there were events locked out by idea groups as well. Are there any others?

 

[unmerged(26764)]

This event is a holdover from EU3 when it made sense. It's a terrible implementation in EU4 and really should be removed. At the least it should be edited to not fire if you have colonies -- whether you got them from Exploration, Expansion, or from attacking natives or other colonizers shouldn't matter.

 

[InnocentIII]

This event usually has very little impact. Just check which tech you are unlikely to invest in the next ten years (I'm normally up-to-date in at least one of them), and pick the corresponding alternative.

Yeah, I look to see what I'm going to take another idea in and go with that.