Europa Universalis IV

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Any mods that remove fort zone of control mechanic, yet?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

 

[AwesomeButton]

They only discounted Rights of Man by 33% at the release of Mandate of Heaven. No deal!

 

[Gepeu]

What are the must-have DLCs for EU4? I'm thinking on playing the "full" experience after these years. The vanilla at launch was so much disappointing.

 

[FreeKaner]

What are the must-have DLCs for EU4? I'm thinking on playing the "full" experience after these years. The vanilla at launch was so much disappointing.

Art of War, Common Sense, Rights of Man, The Cossacks are essential really. El Dorado and Mandate of Heaven both add loads of flavour that is kind of necessary in peace time but optional.

 

[Raghar]

Sale when you pay 119.74€. That's vomit inducting.

 

[MilesBeyond]

I'm mostly really enjoying MoH so far. I'm of two minds on the Age mechanics: On the one hand, they're a lot of fun, and put a bunch of cool new mechanics into the game. On the other hand, they feel very game-y. In particular, getting splendour points and using them to buy bonuses is the type of thing where I'm like "This is cool, but I have no idea what it's supposed to relate to historically." But the other changes are great. I haven't messed around with China or Japan yet, but I'm loving the new State interface, the builder interface, and especially the new diplomacy macrobuilder. Holy crap is that handy.

And they've really changed the AI this patch and made them super aggressive and opportunistic. If you crush an enemy, expect to see a bunch of other nations declare war on them as well and divvy up their lands.

In a way, this DLC feels kinda "two steps forward, one step back." It feels a lot more game-y than anything else that has been released so far, and so it further detracts from the "historical simulator" feel that the EU franchise was known for once upon a time. On the other hand, at the end of the day, it is a game, and the historical simulator approach had been more or less discarded by EU4 already anyway, and these mechanics make it a much better game IMHO. So... YMMV

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

you need to accept that eu stopped being any sort of simulator, it's just a game with historical background.

 

[FreeKaner]

EU4 was never a historical simulator, I don't know where people got that idea. It has always been essentially a war game with a particular focus on trade and later on colonisation.

 

[MilesBeyond]

you need to accept that eu stopped being any sort of simulator, it's just a game with historical background.

Yeah, that's fair

 

[AwesomeButton]

"War game"?!

EU4 feels more gamey than anything before it, but I don't think the other games were any more simulationist. They had fewer mechanics, which were just as abstracted, and which were more opaque. If more transparent mechanics make it more gamey, more opaque mechanics do not necessarily make a game more simulationist.

In fact I think EU4 simulates relationships between individual factors which shape the development of a country much better than previous games, where levers were being pulled and buttons pushed at the right dates simply through scripting.

Also, if you look at Eu4's development in perspective from 2013 it has been getting more and more simulationist via nation- and region-specific added content and mechanics. At release it was leading to much more absurd developments just 100 years from the start.

The current build is a lot more predictable and leans towards historical outcomes, though there are still events and historical turns which are too much a result of chance to be simulated through mechanics and will need either scripting, or country-specific mechanics where the AI will make the historical choice, in order to get them to play out in a historical way.

 

[Anthedon]

It's Divine Wind all over again.

 

[Andnjord]

In my ongoing effort to shill for Meiou and Taxes 2.0, it appears it will be released within the next couple of weeks, sometime after Paradox-Con where the M&T team will get to do a presentation. For those interested, here is a live AMAA with some of the dev by Arumba

 

[Andnjord]

Aaaaand M&T 2.0 is out in open beta on the forum, scheduled for official release on steam in a couple of weeks. I've tried it a little bit (getting a new computer today to finally replace my 5 years old toaster) and it's freaking glorious! Performance is definitely improved by about 20%-30% I'd estimate, so don't expect vanilla speed but it does run better.

 

[Anthedon]

Somewhat in-depth video preview of M&T 2.0.

 

[Space Satan]

Orthodox reworked

Spoiler

Good day all, Tuesday is ever a day for excitement as tensions and plotting surface in the office in the runup to another Dev Clash session. Today however feel free to tune in an hour earlier, as we'll be having a special wee stream for Third Rome itself.

For now though, we're going to talk about features available not only for Russians, but the Orthodox world at large: Metropolitans and Icons.

Patriarch Authority has been a game concept for Orthodox nations since time immemorial, or at least since release. While it's effects have been tweaked a little over the game's lifespan, sadly it has remained somewhat stale in that you wait for events to push it up or down. We've decided to revisit this mechanic to give it more life for Third Rome.

Patriarch Authority will still grant meaty bonuses to Unrest suppression, Missionary Strength and Manpower but it can now be spent to commission new Icons for your nation. Orthodox nations across the globe will be able to make a call against the longlasting effects of high Patriarch Authority against a strong temporary bonus granted from commissioning an Icon.

Commissioning an Icon will cost 10 Patriarch Authority and will grant that icon's bonuses for your nation for 20 years. You can at any time switch your Icon out for another at a cost of a further 10 PA, or just wait for them to run their course. Each Icon's effects are as follows:

Code:
icon_michael = {
discipline = 0.05
manpower_recovery_speed = 0.1

icon_eleusa = {
global_unrest = -3
harsh_treatment_cost = -0.25


icon_pancreator = {
development_cost = -0.10
build_cost = -0.1

icon_nicholas = {
improve_relation_modifier = 0.25
ae_impact = -0.1


icon_climacus = {
global_institution_spread = 0.25
embracement_cost = -0.2

So a lot of flexibility is offered to the Ambitious Orthodox nation willing to part with some of their Patriarch Authority. Sources of Authority were, however, few and mercilessly random, so we have added a new State ability for followers of the Orthodox faith: Consecrate Metropolitan.

In any well developed (30+) State where your religion is in all provinces and cultures are accepted, you can Consecrate a Metropolitan. This will permanently grant a reduction to Devastation at the cost of slightly increased State Maintenance, but when used will bestow +5 Patriarch Authority. Any Orthodox nation can do this, but it plays particularly well into the Tsardom's hands with their increased State limit, allowing them to have more Metropolitans and boost up their Patriarch Authority further.

Both Metropolitans and Icons are features of Third Rome, our upcoming Immersion Pack for EU4. Next week I want to go over some of the changes coming along with v1.22. See you then!

 

[LizardWizard]

Paradox shooting for Maximum Absolutism

 

[Mortmal]

Paradox shooting for Maximum Absolutism

Just saw it too, i keep talking about paradox decline how we get more and more expensive dlcs for less and less content but thats a new low....

 

[Average Manatee]

That's a great deal, why wouldn't you milk that event? Dip Rep is pretty much useless unless you need to integrate your vassal companies.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Option 2 every - single - time.

Illusion of choice, brothers.

 

[AwesomeButton]

It was surprising to see the discounts offered on paradoxplaza are smaller than those in steam store. I finally got a 50% off and bought Rights of Man, while at paradoxplaza it is still only at 33% off. I thought they would want to offer better discounts at their own store where they don't have to pay a fee to valve.

Anyway, now I am waiting for Mandate of Heaven and Third Rome to drop to 50% off, which should be in the autumn. They seem to offer the first 50% discounts (which is what these dlcs are really worth, at most) around 6 months after the "suckers' release" date.

Edit: maybe they flagged the review because they liked the publicity and wanted to disable editing.

 

[Space Satan]

 

[Mark.L.Joy]

Didn't even notice there was a new DLC, bunch of useless gimmick buttons for the Russians, they aren't even trying anymore.

 

[JarlFrank]

It's fittingly called "Immersion Pack" instead of Expansion, lol

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

It's fittingly called "Immersion Pack" instead of Expansion, lol

Unsurprisingly, muh immurshuns consists of another mana that allows you to press three magical buttons for instant effects and an ability to exchange religious authority for more instant effects. Herp. For 10€. Derp.