What is lucky nations?

[Qymaen]

I'm about to begin a game as Denmark in the D&T mod and am debating towards not having lucky nations on, like I usually do. What exactly is lucky nations? What's different between "historical" and "random"? Is it advantageous to have lucky nations on when playing as Denmark?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[jdrou]

Lucky nations is a buff for certain AI countries. The historical option picks from a specific list of countries that performed well historically:

Historical lucky are these...

1) If less than 8 lucky countries exists...
- if its before 1700
SPA, (if SPA doesn't exist, CAS)
TUR
- Pick RUS, if they don't exist, then MOS
- GBR, if they don't exist, then ENG
- FRA
- HAB
- If PRU has 7 or more provinces, then PRU
- If NED has 7 or more provinces, then NED
- if before 1700, pick POR
-if before 1750, pick SWE

so at a 1399 start, you'd get CAS, TUR, MOS, ENG, FRA, HAB, POR, SWE always.


if still <8 lucky, pick random ones until 8.

The 'random' option tends to pick large countries and those near the human-played country I believe.

The exact nature of the bonuses may be different in the mod but in vanilla game you have this:

luck = {
	merchant_compete_chance = 0.1
	colonist_placement_chance = 0.1
	missionary_placement_chance = 0.015
	leader_fire = 1
	leader_shock = 1
	land_tech_cost_modifier = -0.02
	trade_tech_cost_modifier = -0.02
	naval_tech_cost_modifier = -0.02
	government_tech_cost_modifier = -0.02
	production_tech_cost_modifier = -0.02
	spy_efficiency = 0.05
	stability_cost_modifier = -0.50
	officials = 0.25
	defensiveness = 0.25
	land_attrition = -0.25

}

plus increased chances for some positive random events and reduced chances of some negative random events.

 

[Qymaen]

Most of that I understood until the second code. What exactly does that translate into in layman's terms?

 

[unmerged(487181)]

It means:

10% bonus to Lucky Nations' merchants' chance to compete out other merchants in Centers of Trade;
10% bonus to Lucky Nations' chance to colonize successfully;
1.5% bonus to Lucky Nations' active missionaries;
+1 Fire and Shock bonus for Lucky Nations' generals;
2% tech cost reduction for Lucky Nations;
5% higher success rate for Lucky Nations' spies;
50% cheaper stability recovery for Lucky Nations;
+.25 annual magistrates for Lucky Nations;
+25% province defensiveness for all Lucky Nations' provinces;
25% reduction in attrition costs for Lucky Nations' units.

 

[Qymaen]

Ah. Thank you, both, for your help.

 

[walrus8303]

Is there anyway to check in-game if my nation is lucky or not?

 

[EliteTK]

Only the AI can be a lucky nation. Otherwise, you can see which nations are lucky by opening your saved game file with a text editor and searching for the line "lucky = yes".

 

[cacra]

It means:

10% bonus to Lucky Nations' merchants' chance to compete out other merchants in Centers of Trade;
10% bonus to Lucky Nations' chance to colonize successfully;
1.5% bonus to Lucky Nations' active missionaries;
+1 Fire and Shock bonus for Lucky Nations' generals;
2% tech cost reduction for Lucky Nations;
5% higher success rate for Lucky Nations' spies;
50% cheaper stability recovery for Lucky Nations;
+.25 annual magistrates for Lucky Nations;
+25% province defensiveness for all Lucky Nations' provinces;
25% reduction in attrition costs for Lucky Nations' units.

and 100% blobbyness.

 

[king hannibal]

It basically gives bonuses to certain countries, so they can be a challenge. But the bonuses are not outrageous, so they can be a challenge more in the late game, when the bonuses start to stack up. If they are random, it chooses them randomly (obviously) preferenced towards near the player, and big. Out of curiosity, is HAB Austria?

 

[unmerged(487181)]

HAB is indeed Austria (Habsburgs).

 

[Slym]

Random isn't actually random. It picks certain countries way more than others, Byzantium is a notable one that gets picked like 80% of the time when it's on random.

Here's a list from the wiki in order of the most picked ones.

Byzantine Empire
France
Burgundy
Castille
Lithuania
Mamluks
Teutonic Order
Hungary
Austria
Milan
Timurid Empire
Bohemia
England
Sweden
Ottoman Empire
Aragon

 

[Karyant]

The modifiers given by "lucky nations" apply only in AI countries. When I play EU3, I prefer to use the random.