What bloodlines teach us about unique stuff and how this could enhance EU4

[Me_]

Bloodlines are a new feature of CK2 added with Holy Fury. Most of them is just +X to certain value (eg. monthly prestige) that can be passed with subsequent generations.

That in itself is not exciting.

The exciting thing is unique bloodline interactions. Some bloodlines have special effects such as unlocking unique buildings or actions or even just unique types of executions.

This may seem like little things and indeed they are little things that often probably did not take long to code.

But they are unique.

That in itself makes them interesting in ways that another nation with -33% coring cost will never be. Some people get excited when they hear about new NI. I do not. Why? Because they are not unique.

But they could be.

A single bloodline with unique effect would not be interesting, but a number of different bloodlines with unique effects can make any playthrough a bit different. Even small things could be interesting if they are rare.

So, how about some concrete examples of simple stuff that could be done to make things unique. Let’s look at some unique effects added to some NI (the suggestions are based on names of the NI as listed in the wiki, the effects are meant to be additions to the current ones) - in alphabetical order, so this may take a while to finish:

 

[Me_]

A

Aachen

Idea: Imperial Free City

New additional effect: This NI begs to be tied to Free City feature – makes AI less likely to expand, makes AI HRE more likely to give this nation free city status, adds 50 to free city status acceptance, if Aahen is a free city, a special event triggers that gives modifier that gives +5 base tax and goes away if the nation is not a free city (removed with the same event that changes the type of government to Oligarchic Republic).


Afghanistan

Idea: Graveyard of Empires

New additional effect: 50 more resistant to threaten war, other nations are 10 more likely to accept threaten war and break alliance actions from Afghanistan


Ainu

Idea: Southern Traders

New additional effect:Choosing Maximize Profits trade policy in a Trade Company region gives and extra +10% trade power in that node


Air

Idea: Cross of Agades

New additional effect: The force march action is unlocked at ADM technology lvl 13


Ajam

Idea: Shahanshah

New additional effect: Raising rank to King requires only 200 development, raising rank to Empire requires only 800 development


Ajuuraan

Idea: Expelling the Infidel

New additional effect: Unlocks special triggered modifier: if at war only with religious enemies as alliance leaders (i.e. at war and no leader of enemy side shares religion with Ajuuraan) gain +5% morale recovery


Albania

Idea: Land of Ambushers

New additional effect: May build supply depots (i.e. can do so regardless of professionalism) and cost is reduced to 15 MIL


Amago

Idea: Fortified Strongholds

New additional effect: Can refill garrisons (i.e. can do so regardless of professionalism)


Ando

Idea: Clan Unification

New additional effect: Calling levies from Nobles costs only 5 loyalty


Ansbach

Idea: Restoring Our Heritage

New additional effect: Fabricating a claim in the German Area gives 1 legitimacy


Antemoro

Idea: Strengthen control over the Slave Trade

New additional effect: Unlocks special triggered modifier – if Antemoro has trade bonus from Slaves, they get extra +10% global tradepower


Aq Qoyunlu

Idea: Religious Pragmatism

New additional effect: Muslim events that affect piety get a new “It’s not important to the state” option that results in no effects.


Aragon

Idea: Mercenary Princes

New additional effect: Hiring mercenaries impacts professionalism 25% less


Arakan

Idea: Bay of Bengal Trade

New additional effect: unlocks a special trade policy in the Bengal Trade node: Siphon Trade that replaces Maximize Profit and gives +25% trade value in node


Arawak

Idea: Enemy Of My Enemy

New additional effect: Diplomatic relations bonus that Arawak gets and other nations get toward Arawak from having common rival is doubled


Ardabil

Idea: Conversion of the Masses

New additional effect: Halved missionary strength penalty from development


Armenia / Kharabakh

Idea: Border Nation

New additional effect: Cost of building forts in border provinces is halved


Asakura

Idea: Echizen Paper

New additional effect: unlocking this idea gives Echizen unique building “Papermaker” that replaces Manufactury and gives +2 production, also all Mills now cost 10% less


Ashanti

Idea: Elder Council

New additional effect: Advisors above the age of 50 cost 20% less (cumulative with base -10%)


Ashikaga

Idea: Defenders of the Imperial Court

New additional effect: If the capital is ever under siege, can use special decision to rally the defenders, giving 2-10 free regimens (based on forcelimit) in nearest unoccupied province


Assam

Idea: Land Survey

New additional effect: can use Land Survey edict, which increases build speed by 50%


Athens

Idea: Revive the Latin Greece

New additional effect: Unlocks an event that occasionally flips a province to your primary culture


Austria

Idea: Habsburg Dominance

New additional effect: Break Alliance Great power action lowers relations only by -25


Ava

Idea: Recruit from the Hill Tribes

New additional effect: +1 combat power in hill terrain


Ayutthaya

Idea: Embassies

New additional effect: Influence Nation great power action costs 25% less


Aztec

Idea: Flower Wars

New additional effect: Winning a war with the Flower Wars CB gives 20 legitimacy

 

[Me_]

B


Baden
Idea: Cuius Regio, Eius Religio
New additional effect: Removes different religion diplomatic penalty

Bahmanis
Idea: Great Madrasa of the Deccan
New additional effect: Researching a tech gives 2 prestige Being the first to research a tech gives 4

Baluchistan
Idea: Natural Defenses
New additional effect: Always receives defensive terrain bonus on own territory

Bavaria
Idea: Become Brewmaster General
New additional effect: Unlocks a special decision organaize festivities that costs gold and admin and can result in events that can give stability, reduced revolt risk or increase diplomatic relations with neighbours

Benin
Idea: Regulation of Trade
New additional effect: Strengthening government also gives 1 mercantilism

Beloozero
Idea: Scientific Patronage
New additional effect: Being ahead in at least 1 tech group over rivals gives power projection (up to 5 per rival, for a total of up to 15)

Bengal
Idea: Bengali Industrialization
New additional effect: Constructing a manufactory gives +0.025 innovativeness

Betsimisaraka
Idea: People of the Coast
New additional effect: Development cost in coastal provinces -15%

Bharat
Idea: Indian Army
New additional effect: Forced March does not cost MIL when moving through provinces on Indian Subcontinent

Bohemia
Idea: Elective Monarchy
New additional effect: Forcing abdication of monarch costs 50% less

Bosnia
Idea: Italian Connections
New additional effect: +25 relations with all Latin culture group countries

Brabant
Idea: Banks of Antwerp
New additional effect: Debasing currency causes only 1.5 corruption

Brazil
Idea: Seat of the Empire
New additional effect: Capital development cost reduction caps at 1500 instead of 1000 development

Brittany
Idea: The Estates of Brittany
New additional effect: Calling diet (Nobles interaction) can be done every 3 years

Bremen / Verden
Idea: Free Imperial City of Bremen
New additional effect: triggered modifier for this country and the Emperor as long as this country and the Emperor are at peace and at positive relations this country gets +5 base tax and +5 forcelimit while the Emperor gets +5% imperial authority

Bulgaria
Idea: Reform The Army
New additional effect: Drilling increases army tradition

Burgundy
Idea: Integrate the Towns in the Estates General
New additional effect: Grant Monopoly charter also increases Nobles loyalty by 5, Call Diet also increases Burghers loyalty by 5

Butua
Idea: Strict Gold Trade Regulations
New additional effect: Halves the chance of gold mines depleting

Butuan
Idea: Long Range Diplomacy
New additional effect: Diplomats that increase relations travel 75% faster

Byzantium
Idea: Delegated Power
New additional effect: can use new interaction on nations: Enforce Roman Laws instead of Influence Nation – gives the same result as but also gives the target nation -25% stability cost and the Byzantines get 1 point of power projection for every nation up to a limit of 15

 

[Me_]

C

Canada
Idea: Settling the Interior
New additional effect: Unlocks an additional native policy that doubles colony growth but keeps native culture

Candar
Idea: Anatolian Center for Learning
New additional effect: Universities in Anatolia region cost half and build in half the time

Carib
Idea: River Trade
New additional effect: Provinces with river crossings get +10% trade value

Catalonia
Idea: Fortifying Catalonia
New additional effect: Forts decrease local recruitment time by 5% per level

Cebu
Idea: Expand the Capital
New additional effect: buildings in the capital area are free

Chachapoya
Idea: Women Diplomacy
New additional effect: Female advisors cost 25% less and are twice as likely

Champa
Idea: Cham Migrations
New additional effect: Whenever you convert a province’s culture it gets 1 in the lowest development category (e.g. a 5/5/2 province will turn into 5/5/3)

Charrua
Idea: Resist Conquistadors
New additional effect: +10% fire damage against colonial nations and enemies with capital on another continent

Chernigov
Idea: Tame the Grasslands
New additional effect: Grassland provinces get +1 possible building

Cherokee
Idea: Mountainous Isolation
New additional effect: Mountain provinces get -3 revolt risk

Chiba
Idea: Naval Reform
New additional effect: Capturing ships generates Sailors

Chickasaw
Idea: Slave Raids
New additional effect: Looting generates prestige

Chimu
Idea: Specialized Economy
New additional effect: Trade bonuses from goods gained at 15% instead of 20%

Chosokabe
Idea: Support of the Temples
New additional effect: Temple building lowers development cost by 5%, Cathedral adds another 5% (for a total of -10%)

Circassia
Idea: Franciscan Missionaries
New additional effect: +20 relations with all Catholic nations

Clanricarde
Idea: Catholic Holdouts
New additional effect: Using Papal interactions gives prestige

Cleves
Idea: Strategic Marriages
New additional effect: Relationship bonus from royal marriage is increased to 40

Corfu
Idea: Settling the Islands
New additional effect: +10% tax income from island provinces

Cornwall
Idea: Pirates of Penzance
New additional effect: Captured ships have no less than 50% strength (i.e. if you capture a ship with 25% hull it will be healed to 50%)

Creek
Idea: Green Corn Celebration
New additional effect: A special event can happen every year, giving money, monarch points, prestige or splendor

Crimea
Idea: Despoilers
New additional effect: Winning a battle in the steppe has a chance of improving one of general’s skill by one

Croatia
Idea: Antemurale Christianitatis
New additional effect: As long as is Christian and at war with a Muslim nation, occasionally an event fires giving free troops or manpower

Cyprus
Idea: Repel the Corsairs
New additional effect: Hunt pirates action generates 1 tradepower per ship

 

[DDRJake]

Pretty cool.

 

[Me_]

D

Dahomey
Idea: Slave Hunts
New additional effect: gains manpower from defeating enemy armies

Dali
Idea: Teachings of Buddha
New additional effect: Provinces with one of the Eastern Religions (Mahayana, Theravada Varajana, Confucian, Shinto) have -10% development cost

Danzig
Idea: Hanseatic League Member
New additional effect: Bonus +20 to relations with all OPM nations of German culture group

Date
Idea: Expansion by Marriages
New additional effect: Forming Royal Marriage with a nation gives 5 legitimacy (so they will pretty much never result in legitimacy loss)

Deccan
Idea: Privileges for Foreign Traders
New additional effect: Provinces that receive bonuses from trade companies have -10% state maintenance cost

Delhi
Idea: Suppress Rebellion
New additional effect: Harsh treatment decreases progress by 40% instead of 30%

Denmark
Idea: Religious Freedom is Atheism
New additional effect: Converting a province adds a -5 revolt risk modifier to it for 10 years

Desmond
Idea: The Land of Castles
New additional effect: forts in own and accepted culture group provinces cost 25% less in maintenance

Dhundhar
Idea: Restore Hindu Ceremonies
New additional effect: Brahmin interaction Make Generous Donation costs only 10% yearly income

Dithmarschen
Idea: Free Farmers
New additional effect: Provinces with Grain and Cattle have +50% manpower

I need to take a break, but I aim to cover every single country with unique ideas.

 

[Martynios]

Unique effects are almost never historically justified


This isn’t Civ6

 

[Me_]

Unique effects are almost never historically justified


This isn’t Civ6

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Prussia#Prussian_monarchy
https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Russia#Special_Russian_Government_Type_Abilities
https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Monarchy#Elective_Monarchy
Just for some stuff that is strictly limited in the tags that can get it

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/National_ideas has a number of unique effects that only appear for idea sets:
To name some:

Siberian Frontier

Automatically discover adjacent when a colony is built.
May establish Siberian Frontiers
Inter Caetera

Can fabricate claims on any overseas province, provided it is overseas for its owner
+1 Colonist

Scornful Insults

+1 Power projection from insults


And of course' let's not get into stuff like DHE, mission trees or nation-specific decisions. I would be tempted to ask if they are perhaps present in CIV6.



As it stands many NI sets are so indistinct, it's almost impossible to tell them apart. Who would be able to tell which set belongs to what nation:

+20% Religious unity
+1 Max promoted culture
+10% National tax modifier
+10% National manpower modifier
−15% Mercenary maintenance
+1 Diplomat
+20% Trade range
−10% Stability cost modifier
−1 National unrest
+25% Income from vassals

−10% Fort maintenance
+20% Caravan power
+1 Yearly prestige
+1 Yearly legitimacy
+1 Diplomat
+2 Tolerance of heretics
−10% Stability cost modifier
−15% Aggressive expansion impact
−1% Prestige decay
−10% Infantry cost

?

On the other hand, everyone knows that the idea set with +1 Power projection from insults is Cossacks'.

 

[Markusmiless]

+20% Religious unity
+1 Max promoted culture
+10% National tax modifier
+10% National manpower modifier
−15% Mercenary maintenance
+1 Diplomat
+20% Trade range
−10% Stability cost modifier
−1 National unrest
+25% Income from vassals

−10% Fort maintenance
+20% Caravan power
+1 Yearly prestige
+1 Yearly legitimacy
+1 Diplomat
+2 Tolerance of heretics
−10% Stability cost modifier
−15% Aggressive expansion impact
−1% Prestige decay
−10% Infantry cost

I believe at a glance the later is Baden...
The former I can't name as you said but I'm fairly certain it's one of the asian nations just south of Ming? (I can't remember which, but I played it in a recent campaign so I wanna say maybe Khmer? or at least a nation near it)

 

[Me_]

I believe at a glance the later is Baden...
The former I can't name as you said but I'm fairly certain it's one of the asian nations just south of Ming? (I can't remember which, but I played it in a recent campaign so I wanna say maybe Khmer? or at least a nation near it)

Congratulations on the trivia game. It' Ayuthaya, can be recognized by an ambition that comes too late. Try this:
+10% National tax modifier
−10% Advisor costs
+10% Morale of armies
+1 Tolerance of the true faith
+15% Improve relations
+1 Yearly navy tradition
+10% Trade efficiency
+5% Discipline
+1 Yearly prestige
+5% Ship durability
+20% National manpower modifier

That could actually make for a fun forum game

 

[ajsieg]

You missed Adal
An idea would be "The Ethiopian Struggle" - Conquering a border province from a rival has a chance to convert it to Sunni. Historically accurate too .

Also this is a nitpick (forgive me) but for Ajuuraan you could replace 'Infidels' with the exact Somali/Ajuuraan term for what you're talking about, 'Gaal Madow' (Black Infidels). So it would be 'Expelling the Gaal Madow'.

 

[Markusmiless]

+10% National tax modifier
−10% Advisor costs
+10% Morale of armies
+1 Tolerance of the true faith
+15% Improve relations
+1 Yearly navy tradition
+10% Trade efficiency
+5% Discipline
+1 Yearly prestige
+5% Ship durability
+20% National manpower modifier

I'm fairly certain this is still in the same area, somewhere around Khmer...
It's also fully possible it's one of the minors in the Philippines.

The navy tradition tells me the country at least has a coast, that or should be fairly near one.
I believe the country just next to Khmer have -10% advisor cost but again (this is more me not knowing country names than anything else) I can't name it.

Now don't let me derail this thread further with this small 'guessing' game.

 

[Golladan]

Remember some features require DLCs.

 

[BuchiTaton]

Great work, nice ideas!
Wanna see the complete list

 

[Isildur9526]

So every nation have its own niche. I really love this suggestion. Reminds me a lot of Civilization.

However, I think that some of them could be more geared towards what that nation was good at or was notable for in history. So Aq Qoyunlu might get some nice military bonuses to represent its rapid expansion into Persia.

 

[fizikus]

Pretty cool.

My opinion, not the universal truth incoming:

No!! It's not pretty cool! In CK2 bloodlines work great because they are not tied to countries therefore it is (or can be) historically plausible. If one norse king or whatever is his title kills 100 infidels, he can get a bloodline, even if he started as a count or whatever is was his title in the beginning.

In EU4, if you give "bloodlines" to countries, it will usually not be plausible! E.g. muscovy, and all the russian minors (really??) have 3 buttons, but if PLC conquers the whole russian territory, do they get 3 buttons? No! In CK2 PLC would get a button (bloodline). And if instead of PLC, Sweden would conquer Russia, then Sweden would get the same button (bloodline). And THAT is great about bloodlines!

Were the russian minors in 1444 special? I don't think so! Maybe Russia was special with its huge territory and manpower AFTER it formed! Those 3 buttons should be given to the country who unified all the rus!

I really hope that you, Mr. DDRJake, see the difference between bloodlines in CK2, which you can get by an accomplishment, and the buttons in EU4 which curriently tie to existence.

(I am not against all unique effects. For example, giving something to ottomans and mamluks, emperor of china, japan, etc, as they were really unique, thats fine. NI-s are also great as they give some flavor to countries, so not all HRE/Japan/India, etc countries are the same)

Edit: to be clear: I think, bloodlines of ck2 teaches us about the following: unique stuff is much better if it's tied to an achievement/accomplishment instead of existence.