Europa Universalis IV News

Hello, and welcome to another EUIV Dev Diary! Today it will be a bit of a different one, as we will be addressing three topics that we think are of the most relevance to the upcoming DLC and update, which are:

• A recap on the list of features that will come in EUIV: King of Kings.
  
• Addressing the questions and some feedback that arose in the last DD.
  
• Presenting you the free features coming in the 1.36 update, which are mostly focused on QoL (Quality of Life) improvements added to the base game, and 8 new monuments added for the Leviathan DLC owners.
  

But before getting started, let me say a couple of things. The first one is that this DD was prepared with the help of our new Assistant Producer, Dargeths, who in his previous role as Embedded QA, also knows the game very well, with more than 5,000 hours of gameplay in it.

The second one is that today we have opened the Pre-Orders for EUIV: King of Kings, with its release date being revealed: the 6th of November!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2502910/Immersion_Pack__Europa_Universalis_IV_King_of_Kings/

It also comes from a great Trailer made by our Marketing Team:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Now let’s go into the Dev Diary itself. As we’re very excited about the upcoming release, we also want to be super transparent with you when it comes to the content included in this DLC. Because of that, below you can find a summary of all the content this Immersion Pack is going to bring to Europa Universalis IV. Let’s dive country by country, then, including links to the previous DDs:

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While not a starting nation in 1444, Persia can be a powerful player on the world stage, when formed. During the Early Modern period, it was historically reunified by the Safavids from Ardabil, so we have made this a more attractive path in the game, with more content and flavor around the historical outcome. However, this is not the only path to a unified Persia. Each of the nations featured in this DLC will come packed with its own unique twist through various unique government reforms, and the religious path to pick will also reflect different gameplay and flavor options.

• New Mission Tree for Persia with 116 Missions in total (77 common Missions, 31 Mission depending on Religion - Sunni, Shiite, Zoroastrian, 8 Missions depending on Origin - Ardabil, post-Timurid, Mazandarani).
  
• New mission tree for Ardabil with 12 Missions.
  
• 2 new government mechanics (‘Persian Influence' for a Muslim Persia, and 'The Three Royal Fires for a Zoroastrian one').
  
• 2 new Estates for Persia, 'Ghilman' and 'Qizilbash', with their own set of agendas and disasters.
  
• 20 new estate privileges.
  
• 6 government reforms.
  
• A new special unit, the ‘Qizilbash’, which can be recruited either as Infantry or as Cavalry units.
  
• 68 new events for Persia.
  
• And even more additional content like Diplomatic Actions, Subject Types, CBs, and Local Organizations.
  

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A realm facing a turbulent period encroached on all sides by enemies wishing to claim Qahirah as their own, the Mamluk Sultanate is slated to experience troubles with their northern territories and the growing power of the Ottomans. Embark on an epic journey to rewrite history, vanquish your foes, and experience brand new flavor for one of the strongest starting Muslim nations!

• New mission tree for the Mamluks with 39 missions.
  
• A new mechanic, 'Egyptian Westernization', either by forming Egypt through the Mamluk Mission Tree, or independently as another Nation.
  
• 7 new government reforms.
  
• 13 new estate privileges.
  
• 1 new Holy Order, 'Kashifs'.
  
• 4 new Naval Doctrines, 'Mamluk Galleys', 'Mamluk Light Ships', 'Mamluk Warships', and 'Mamluk Transports'.
  
• 1 new special unit, 'Mamluks’.
  
• 16 new events.
  
• New hirable Mercenaries, Diplomatic Actions, and Estate Agendas for the Nobility centered around the Mamluk ruling class.
  

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The Purple Phoenix shall rise again and reclaim not only Byzantium, but the Roman Empire itself. The powers of the West and East proclaim that our era has been over long ago. Defeat them and reclaim our historical rights.

• New mission tree for Byzantium with 55 missions.
  
• 6 new government reforms.
  
• 6 new Estate Privileges.
  
• 57 new events.
  
• 10 new decisions.
  
• A new Type of Subject, ‘Pronoia’.
  
• New Decisions and hireable Mercenaries.
  

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Unify all Arab tribes under a single ruler and claim the caliphate crown to take control of the entire Muslim world from Morocco to Zanzibar.

• New mission tree for Arabia Minors with 34 Missions, making it possible to form Arabia using the Mission Tree.
  
• 1 New Estate Privilege for Arabia.
  
• 9 new events.
  
• A new CB, 'Spread Islam', and a new Decision for Arabia.
  

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Assert your domination in the south of the Arabian Peninsula and create a Continent-spanning Trade Empire.

• New mission tree for Yemeni Nations with 26 Missions, and 5 extra missions for the Rassids.
  
• 1 new Estate Privilege for Yemen.
  
• 7 new events.
  

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The situation in the Kingdom of Georgia is dire. Internal struggles are common every few years and external powers are waiting for the opportunity to take our mountain strongholds that protect our land to the mountains. Find a strong leadership to survive and rebuild your dominion over the Caucasus.

• New mission tree for Georgia with 30 missions in total.
  
• 1 new disaster, 'Georgian Crisis', with 4 new related events.
  
• 1 new Estate Privilege, 'Highland Fortifications'.
  
• 7 new events.
  
• Added a New Georgian culture and a new setup for the Georgian area in the base game (free).
  

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Unite the Armenian people under your rule, and make it rise to greatness among your powerful neighbors, while fully restoring the ancient influence of Church of the East.

• New mission tree for Armenia with 30 missions in total.
  
• 2 new government reforms for Armenia, 'Nakharar Title' and 'Sparapet Office'.
  
• Added 4 new events.
  

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As Aq Qoyunlu, take the reins of the White Sheep Tribe and lead the Tribal Federation to new Conquests. Or, as Qara Qoyunlu, the Black Sheep, secure your position in the fertile region of Iraq, and further expand your domain over the rich lands around you.

• New mission trees for Aq Qoyunlu with 31 missions in total.
  
• New mission tree for Qara Qoyunlu with 30 missions in total.
  
• Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu can now access Janissaries and Pashas through the mission tree.
  
• Added 1 new government reform, 'Turkmen Ottoman Institutions'.
  
• Added 2 new Estate Privilege for Turkmen Tribes, 'Emirs of Baghdad' and 'Great Works of Iran'
  
• 11 new events
  
• Added the Turco-Iranian culture in the base game (free).
  

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• 32 New Unit Sprites.
  
  • 4 new units for Cyprus.
    
  • 4 new units for Trebizond.
    
  • 4 new units for Karaman.
    
  • 4 new units for Israel.
    
  • 4 new units for Tlemcen.
    
  • 4 new units for Syria.
    
  • 4 new units for Armenia.
    
  • 4 new units for Georgia.
    
• 3 New Music Packs, with 12 new songs.
  
  • Music pack with 4 new songs of Persian flavor.
    
  • Music pack with 4 new songs of Egyptian flavor.
    
  • Music pack with 4 new songs of Caucasian flavor.
    

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Now that we’ve presented you with the full content of the upcoming DLC, let’s continue with the design philosophy, and some numbers behind it, as a direct answer to the feedback we received last week.

Our benchmark for King of Kings was Lions of the North, both on the quantitative and qualitative scopes. So after diving a bit into the numbers of each of these DLCs, we are happy to say that we have created more content in KoK in terms of total Missions, Estate Privileges and Estates-related content, Government Reforms, Government Mechanics, Miscellaneous Content, and Songs, while we’re at similar numbers in Events and Sprite Models. And this just focuses on the ‘main content’, and not counting on what we term as ‘miscellaneous content’, like new types of Subjects, Diplomatic Actions, Holy Orders, etc. So, what you may notice here is that in the rough numbers of content assets created, both Immersion Packs are not only comparable, but in most of the aspects KoK is the DLC having more, which is something that we desired to achieve.

But another topic we want to tackle is the design direction. A lot of you have pointed out that there are a few countries that are much-loved by the community that are not receiving content in this DLC. We had to make design decisions on which countries to cover, and which not, in order to deliver this new DLC spending a comparable amount of time in its development to LotN; thus, we decided to focus on some selected countries rather than spreading ourselves thin over more, to make sure that we could deliver content for the chosen ones with a higher level of quality. Persia, which is the most important country of the expansion, is probably the best example, as we created a wide range of possible gameplays coming from very different origins, making it one the most replayable countries in the game, if not the most.

Does this mean that we aren’t going to work on Middle East countries anymore? Not at all! We have read a lot of content requests and suggestions for countries like:

• The Timurids
  
• The Mughals
  
• The Central Asian Hordes
  
• Hisn Kayfa
  
• Oman/Hormuz
  
• Trebizond
  

I’m allowed to tell you that many of these are likely to receive content in 2024, as we’re already planning our pipeline for next year; therefore, KoK/1.36 won’t be the last opportunity for them to get content. Also, these aren’t the only countries that will receive content in 2024… But I’m not yet allowed to further disclose our future plans, I’m sorry to say.

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Let’s speak now about the quality of the content itself, which was a different focus from that of quantity. First of all, we were busy early on in the development process with the fixing of Domination post-release bugs; we’re happy to say that over 100 of them are fixed in the 1.36 free update, which will increase the overall quality of the last DLC. We’ve also implemented some of the new features, like the Branching Missions buttons, in countries such as the Teutonic and the Livonian Order. But that was on the Content Design Team, and they aren’t the only ones working on this project. Our Programmers have been busy as well, not only fixing bugs, but also working on the game’s performance - which won’t be worse compared to 1.35 on most of the PCs, and will most likely be better on a number of them, although we prefer to be cautious about this -, and on new Quality of Life improvements for the base game, as well as increasing the modding possibilities of the game, which I’ll comment now in detail.

First, it is now possible to transfer the control of multiple provinces by SHIFT-Left Clicking the controlled provinces and transferring them to another war participant.




Then a feature that will be appreciated by all of the players who love to see their own religion’s name big on the map, Autonomous Missionaries finally making their way into the game (yay!):



A few new alerts which have been requested by the community for quite some time:

Note: Modders can decide which state edicts should have an alert and when.

Some small improvement for your blobbing campaigns:



For all of our spreadsheet enthusiasts, the pie charts now show the development part in the ledger too:



For those who like to play with Mercenaries in their armies, they now merge units even if they have Mercenaries in the mix (mercs do not merge with other mercs though):



You can now sort provinces if you can in- or decrease their autonomy:



And for those who are sick of AI building churches in every province. If you select a building in the macro builder and right-click a province that has this building present already, you will instantly destroy it instead:



Now for the modding part: the biggest addition to 1.36 is the ability to add custom, functional UI buttons. One example has been shown in the form of the “Preview Mission Branch” as these buttons are fully scriptable. For those wondering how it is done, here is the surface magic (a lot of scripted effects and triggers here):

custom_button = {
    name = select_current_branch_missions
    potential = {
        ai = no #make sure the AI gets an event or something similar where they can choose their branch the moment these buttons get unlocked for the player
        has_branching_missions = yes
        has_preview_mission_flag = yes
    }
    trigger = { has_selected_a_branch = yes }
    effect = { select_current_branch = yes }
    tooltip = select_current_branch_missions_title
}

And in the .gui file:

 guiButtonType = {
            name = "select_current_branch_missions"
            position = { x = 545 y = 80 }
            quadTextureSprite ="GFX_select_current_missions_button"
            scripted = yes
        }

This is just a very small example of what could be done, and I am looking forward to the very creative buttons and mechanics added via the custom buttons. Here is the readme file to give you an idea how the script works:

# The custom guiButtonType/instantTextBoxType/iconType must have a 'scripted = yes' line to work
#custom_button = {
#    name = custom_button_testing #Must match a scripted guiButtonType in a .gui file
#    potential = { } #Determines when the button is visible
#    trigger = { } #Determines when the button is clickable
#    effect = { } #Effect
#    tooltip = localisation_key #Can use customizable localisation
#    frame = {  #Can define multiple frame clauses
#        number =  #Which frame to use. Check dds files with multiple icons like icon_religion.dds
#        trigger = { } #First matched frame clause will be used.
#    }
#}


#custom_text_box = {
#    name = custom_text_testing #Must match a scripted instantTextBoxType in a .gui file
#    potential = { } #Determines when the text is visible
#    tooltip = localisation_key #Can use customizable localisation
#    #To localize it, use the name of the button as a key, can also use customizable localisation
#}


#custom_icon = {
#    name = custom_icon_testing #Must match a scripted iconType in a .gui file
#    potential = { } #Determines when the icon is visible
#    tooltip = localisation_key #Can use customizable localisation
#    frame = {  #Can define multiple frame clauses
#        number =  #Which frame to use. Check dds files with multiple icons like icon_religion.dds
#        trigger = { } #First matched frame clause will be used.
#    }
#}


#custom_shield = {
#    name = custom_button_testing #Must match a scripted guiButtonType in a .gui file
#    potential = { } #Determines when the shield is visible
#    trigger = { } #Determines when the shield is clickable
#    effect = { } #Effect for clicking
#    tooltip = localisation_key #Can use customizable localisation
#    global_event_target =  # Global event target name
#    open_country =  #If clicking opens the country view
#}


##############################  Supported files with scopes ##############################
#   The Gui objects must be directly inside the specified window Gui element!
#   FROM is always the country that clicks
#   provinceview.gui:
#       province_window         (ROOT: Clicked province)
#       buildings_window        (ROOT: Clicked province)
#       state_window            (ROOT: Clicked province)
#   countrycourtview.gui:
#       countrycourtview        (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrygovernmentview.gui:
#       countrygovernmentview   (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrydiplomacyview.gui:
#       countrydiplimacyview    (ROOT: Selected country)
#   countryeconomyview.gui:
#       countryeconomyview      (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrytradeview.gui:
#       countrytradeview        (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrytechnologyview.gui:
#       countrytechnologyview   (ROOT = FROM)
#   countryideasview.gui:
#       countryideasview        (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrymissionsview.gui:
#       countrymissionsview     (ROOT: Selected country)
#   countrydecisionview.gui:
#       countrydecisionsview    (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrystabilityview.gui:
#       countrystabilityview    (ROOT = FROM)
#   countryreligionview.gui:
#       countryreligionview     (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrymilitaryview.gui:
#       countrymilitaryview     (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrysubjectsview.gui:
#       countrysubjectview      (ROOT = FROM)
#   countryestatesview.gui:
#       countryestatesview      (ROOT = FROM)
#   ages_view.gui:
#       ages_view               (ROOT = FROM)
#   tradeinterface.gui:
#       TradeNodeInterface      (ROOT: Trade capital of a trade node)
#   hre.gui:
#       hre_window              (ROOT = FROM)
#   papacy.gui:
#       papacy_window           (ROOT = FROM)
#   faction.gui:
#       All faction windows     (ROOT = FROM)
#   celestialempireview.gui:
#       celestial_window        (ROOT = FROM)
#   countrynativesview.gui:
#       natives_window          (ROOT = FROM)
#   religiousreforms.gui:
#       reforms_window          (ROOT = FROM)
#   parliament.gui:
#       parliament_window       (ROOT = FROM)

So in the end when you add a new button you will have this connection at the end:



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Now let’s move into the final part of the DD, which is some content that we are adding to previous DLCs: the new Monuments for Leviathan owners! We have added 7 new Great Projects around the Middle East region, which we’re now presenting as well (all shown at their Tier 3 level):

Golestan Palace, in Teheran:



Al-Azhar University, in Qahirah:

Note: We rebalanced the Pyramid to not overlap with the Idea cost of the new monument, and now they grant +1 Yearly Government Power, All Estate Loyalty Equilibrium +5%, -1% Prestige Decay, and no Stability Loss on Monarch Death, at Tier 3.

City of Sana’a, in Sana’a:



Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam, in Multan:



Nizwa Fort, in Nizwa:



Itchan Kala, in Khiva:




Narikala Fortress, in Tbilisi:



Kazan Kremlin, in Kazan:

Note: the monument has always the same type of modifiers, but they are set to Province/Area/Region in Tier 1/2/3.

This is all for today. I have to say on behalf of PDX Tinto that we’re very excited about the upcoming content in King of Kings, and also with the free 1.36 update, and we really hope that you can enjoy and have fun with it, as we’ve put a lot of effort into it, as usual. Because of this, we wanted to be as transparent as possible with you in this Dev Diary, and answer directly to the comments and feedback that we received after last week’s one. We will be very much open to further answering follow-up questions, as this DD is the proper place to do it.

And what’s coming next? First, my fellow colleague Pintu (who will soon join the ranks of the Content Design Team from his previous role as Embedded QA), and I will be playing and commenting on the new content with BjornB; this will be on the Paradox Twitch account on Wednesday at 16:00. And next week, SaintDaveUK, our Art Lead, will present the Art for King of Kings, while the new Achievements will be presented by Pintu. See you!

Greetings everyone! Today we will take a look into Yemen and the Arabic states, coming back to a more regular type of DD.

Let us start with the content for the Yemeni countries:
Note: Mission icons are still WIP.

As you might notice, the first mission tree is for the Rassids while the second one is for all Yemeni countries. The reason for this is that they are one of the two unique tags that follow the Zaidi school of Islam (the other one is Gilan on that note) and even are a Feudal Theocracy, so figured they deserve a bit more attention.

In general, though, the Yemeni tags are relatively similar with a similar focus which is the unification of southern Arabia, expansion into the Horn of Africa, and, of course, trade.

The Yemeni tags won’t have any big gimmicks to play with as you will probably either form the Mamluks / Egypt or Arabia later on. With that being said, they still have some interesting additions and small design experiments. An example is the addition of more age-lasting rewards like in the “Unite Yemen” mission:
Note: Completing missions with age-limited modifiers after the age has passed will just give some small monarch power instead.

These kinds of rewards should incentivize you to focus on certain missions and allow us to give impactful rewards without having to worry about them stacking too much indefinitely as this was the case with permanent rewards.

A bit of a theme for the Yemeni mission rewards is to strengthen the Propagate Religion Trade Policy as you can see in the following missions:


And as a trade-focused nation, you will gain the ‘Thalassocracy’ reward when you manage to make the Gulf of Aden the highest-valued trade node and make a monthly income of 300 ducats.


What is a Yemeni country without its focus on coffee?


The “Port of Mukha” requires you to have a workshop, shipyard, and 20 development in the coffee province. The resulting plantation will then pretty much carry your economy while you can focus on “Qahwah Monopoly”.

Now a short insight in the Rassids-specific missions:


And when you are done with the Yemen mission tree then you can form into Arabia to continue your campaign. With “Unite Arabia” you will be able to form Arabia a lot earlier too:


With that being said, let’s take a look at the Arabic content. Before I go into the Arabic mission trees, I should mention that Arabia has received new ideas so they are no longer a drawback to form:

ARB_ideas = {
    start = {
        tolerance_own = 2
        years_of_nationalism = -10
    }

    bonus = {
        siege_ability = 0.15
    }

    trigger = {
        tag = ARB
    }
    free = yes

    ARB_arabian_pincers = {
        cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.25
        cavalry_power = 0.25
    }
    ARB_pact_of_umar = {
        dhimmi_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        global_tax_modifier = 0.2
    }
    ARB_engage_in_indian_ocean_trade = {
        trade_steering = 0.2 
    }
    ARB_conversion = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.03
    }
    ARB_jihad = {
        warscore_cost_vs_other_religion = -0.1
    }
    ARB_new_caliphate_rising = {
        missionaries = 1
        missionary_maintenance_cost = -0.25
    }
    ARB_mubarizun = {
        army_tradition_decay = -0.01
    }
}

Also forming Arabia will now fire the following flavor event, allowing you to change your capital to one of the important provinces from the Caliphate states:


Now to the mission tree for the Arabic countries and Arabia as a whole:


These missions are available to all Bedouin and Hejazi countries. The mission tree is split into 5 parts, 2 of them are inspired by Hejaz while the other 2 smaller parts are inspired by Najd. The last and biggest part is telling the narrative of the formation of a new Arabic Caliphate, and as such possesses a large number of conquest missions.

Starting with the Hejaz-flavored mission parts which branch from the missions “Promote Shura” and “Protectors of the Two Cities”. Here are some highlights of these missions:
Note: Jeddah is a Coastal Desert province. So in total, the province will have a -5% Local Development Cost from mission rewards after completing these missions.

As for the Najd-flavored part, here are the following highlights:
Note: Countries which do not have the government mechanic gain +15% Permanent Reinforce Speed instead.



Before moving on to the last part of the mission tree, I should mention a special decision available to Bedouin and Hejazi countries. Near the city of Medina used to be an old gold mine which was virtually exhausted in EU4’s timeframe. However, as your early economy in Arabia is barely sufficient enough to cover your state maintenance, we have added a decision that allows the Medina province to help boost your economy for the early years:


And once gold runs out of its usefulness to you, you can restore Cloth production once more.


At last, we now take a look at the core of the mission tree which is heavily dedicated to expansion to mirror the past achievements of the Islamic conquests. As these missions are quite self-explanatory, I will focus on the big highlights of this part:
Note: The mission is significantly easier to complete than the Unify Islam decision.



That was it for this week. Next week @Pavia will present you a feature breakdown of 1.36 as well as new and exciting QoL and modding additions. Until then, I wish you all a great week!

What do you think of these new missions for Yemen and Arabia? Let us know in the comments below or discuss with us on our Discord here: https://discord.gg/europauniversalisofficial

Good afternoon everyone and welcome! This week we will be covering multiple nations through the lenses of 2 Developer Diaries, one for Qara/Aq Qoyunlu and one for Georgia/Armenia in the thread below!

Embroiled in both external and internal conflicts, the Turkomans in the Middle East offer a very interesting playthrough including government mechanics, events, and now completely new mission trees, government reforms, and more! Both tags share similar mission trees, each imbued with unique branches for AQ and unique branches for QQ.



QQ and AQ will largely share most missions, each tree granting certain diversity in key points.

Despite its smaller size compared to its Eastern neighbor, AQ starts at a much stable situation (more on that further down!). In 1444 the legendary Uzun Hasan stands as the heir to a Tribal Federation ready to spread its wings and bring the surrounding territory under its heel.

The AQ mission tree offers 31 new missions, interacting with nearly every facet of gameplay, from conquest and integration to estate interaction and events. Your first tasks would be to eradicate the last remnant of the Ayyubids in Hisn Kayfa, and rally your powerful cavalry. The former will then give rise to aspirations for expansion in every direction while the latter mission (Rally the Turkomans) will play around with the existing Tribal Allegiance mechanic and grant a bonus to province warscore cost.



At the same time, you will be called to eradicate one of the last Roman bastions in Eastern Anatolia, Trebizond, offering a unique event reward:

The first option of the event will grant some prosperity over time in the entire state as well as some reduction to local autonomy among other minor rewards.

Another highlight of the Aq Qoyunlu conquest path is “The House of Wisdom”. The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was a renowned center of scholarship and intellectual activity in the Islamic world. Established during the Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th and 9th centuries, it continued to flourish into later centuries, being a hub of learning, translating, and preserving ancient Greek, Persian, and Indian texts, contributing significantly to the Islamic Golden Age. Scholars from various backgrounds gathered there to engage in scholarly pursuits, making significant advances in fields like astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy. The House of Wisdom's enduring legacy lies in its role in preserving and transmitting knowledge, which later influenced the European Renaissance and the broader development of human civilization. Therefore, there will be a mission about fully restoring it:



To wrap up the showcasing of conquest for Aq Qoyunlu, let’s take a look at “A Gunpowder Empire”. This is a term coined for empires such as the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals, as they used this new warfare technology to expand their territories and dominate their regions. Their military strength and control over trade routes were largely built upon their mastery of gunpowder weaponry and tactics, and Aq Qoyunlu may be able to join that group as well:



Moving on to the internal part of the content, we will be greeted by objectives centered around an improved court, the patronization of art and literature, as well as the development of new imperial fabrics:







Finally, let’s take a look at some more highlights before we move on to the Black Sheep:





The Black Sheep on the Eastern border suffered a turbulent time during the middle of the 15th century. In 1444 the lands around Mesopotamia were highly autonomous and far away from the central domain in Tabriz. As a result, the lands that fell in the hands of Ispend Mirza (brother of Jahan Shah) created a thorn in the side of the government, resisting the payment of taxes and drafts, thus posing a significant threat to Jahan’s rule. We decided to represent the Emirate of Baghdad via an Estate Privilege, which increases the autonomy in select areas via a flat and a monthly amount:



Getting rid of this privilege will be a race against time, as the autonomy of the provinces affected will be very difficult to lower - and at times it may even grow naturally over time.
Against the threat of the Ottomans to the West, not losing a single battle against this fearsome enemy will yield a powerful permanent reward:



The defeat of the Ottomans will herald a new era of warfare by introducing Janissaries in Tabriz as well as a new Tier 1 Government:



Unlike its Western counterpart, Qara Qoyunlu will facilitate a lot of its expansion into the lands of Persia in a different style, starting with the ‘Princes of Persia’ mission:





The content for the Turkomans could not be complete without a reference to a very iconic place of worship. The Blue Mosque in Tabriz, also known as the Masjed-e Kabud, is a historic mosque in Iran that earned its name from the stunning blue tiles that once adorned its walls. The mosque was originally built in the 15th century during the rule of the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty and features impressive, intricate architecture with beautiful calligraphy and geometric patterns:



Before we conclude this part of the Developer Diary, here’s some more content for these two countries:





It should be mentioned that the Turkoman trees are designed in a non-restrictive way to allow the player any playstyle - tribal, monarchy, horde. Although the mission tree follows the historical narrative of Persian conquests and Persianization, forming Persia is just an option the player can do at the end of the tree rather than being forced to do it. This philosophy is inspired by forum and Reddit comments by people who are hoping for the ability to stay as AQ/QQ rather than having to form another tag. Lastly, the content shown here is about half of the content planned for the Turkomen, and in the interest of keeping you excited and allowing you the ability to discover the content for yourselves, I decided against fully showcasing more missions, events, etc.

Here we will focus on the new content we have to present on Georgia and Armenia.

Georgia in 1444 was a state in disarray and disintegration. After the Timurid invasions, it broke down into several smaller kingdoms and principalities. The major political entities during this time included the Kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti, and the Principality of Samtskhe. This fragmentation weakened Georgia's ability to defend itself against external threats and hindered efforts at reunification. To add some more historical accuracy while trying to deal with the looming disaster, we have added a truce between Georgia and Qara Qoyunlu for both gameplay and historical reasons. Jahan Shah of Qara Qoyunlu in fact invaded Georgia in early 1444 and so we depicted it with this short starting truce.





To add more depth to the Georgian content, we have created a new starting disaster to better mirror the situation in the region under the weakened rulership of Vakhtang. 1.36 completely reworks the disintegration of Georgia – in 1444, the country has not yet divided the way it was in 1.35, and so Imereti is now a part of Georgia and Samtskhe starts as its vassal:





WIP Art.

In order to restore order, you will need to succeed in a multitude of different objectives:

• Increase legitimacy to 90
  
• Produce an heir
  
• Increase your stability to at least 1
  
• No provinces controlled by rebels
  

The content of Georgia is designed in a way to facilitate game flow either via overcoming or circumventing the disaster, by completing certain missions within a reasonable time frame:



During the disaster, should it fire, there will be several new events occurring to help build and promote the narrative of a torn realm in distress:



Should you complete these tasks, you will be greeted by this event, announcing the end of a turbulent period:



Conquest missions are oriented around the unification of Caucasia, punitive campaigns against the Hordes and, similarly to Armenia, you will be pushing your way across the Middle East and bringing the region back under the rule of the Cross:



One of the highlights of your conquest missions is the ‘Throne of the Romans’ mission, allowing you to make yourself the rightful heir of the Eastern Roman Empire by moving your capital to Constantinople and your culture to the Byzantine culture group:



Since Georgia was heavily ravaged by the past wars, your tall missions mostly deal with the restoration of the country and the revival of your culture and religion – you will be restoring the glory of the days of David 'the Builder' and elevating the Autocephalous Church of Georgia into a Patriarchate:









Finally, Georgia also received flavor in other areas of the game, including localized ruler titles, localized government ranks, and historical flavor events about important personalities such as Giorgi Saakadze or Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani.



Let’s move forward to Armenia, but first, let us make a comment about it. We have been working on unique content for the Armenian region for a long time, and it reflects our understanding of the historical situation. In no way it is intended to be a comment or reference to the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan or the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Now, let’s go back to the content itself. During the second half of the 15th century, Armenians in the Caucasus faced complex geopolitical shifts. The region was caught in the midst of territorial disputes and power struggles involving the Safavid Persian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and local rulers. During our timeline in that century, as a Christian minority, Armenian communities often found themselves caught between these larger empires. Some Armenians living in the Caucasus were subjected to religious and political pressures from the Ottoman and Safavid rulers, leading to challenges and occasional persecution.

Karabakh is arguably one of the most difficult tags in the game. The goal of the mission tree is to give them a flavorful and powerful tree without trivializing the difficulty of their early game – the tree does not give you anything before you succeed in securing independence. The narrative of the content is built around the restoration of Mets Hayk – the Greater Armenia, which existed during the glorious reign of the Artaxiad dynasty, but it also takes you beyond that and allows you to exceed the golden age of Armenia by conquering Persia, Anatolia, and Egypt. Lastly, before we delve into the content, forming the Armenian tag is now easier since it no longer requires the province of Adana.



Let’s take a look at some of the conquest-related highlights of the new content for Armenia and Karabakh:









Your conquest missions will have you restore the borders of Great Armenia but also venture into Persia, Mashriq, Anatolia, Egypt, and even Ethiopia. You will be joining with the Churches of the East and gaining powerful rewards, such as a Coptic Center of Conversion in Baghdad, the Defender of the Faith position as a mission reward, an upgrade of the Holy City of Jerusalem Great Project, and access to the Cawa regiments:

The tooltip is a WIP and it mentions the bonuses of the reform itself, which include the recruitment and improvement of Cawa units from fellow Coptic lands, the reduction of war exhaustion, regiment cost, and more!



Here are the new Great Armenian ideas:

ARM1_ideas = {
    start = {
        war_exhaustion = -0.05
        recover_army_morale_speed = 0.10
    }


    bonus = {
        hostile_attrition = 1
    }
 
    trigger = {
        OR = {
            tag = ARM
            tag = MLK
        }
        has_country_flag = arm_great_armenian_ideas
    }
    free = yes      #will be added at load.
 
    apostolic_church = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.02
        prestige_per_development_from_conversion = 0.25
    }
    land_reclamation1 = {
        development_cost = -0.15
    }
    border_nation = {
        diplomatic_reputation = 1
    }
    melikdom_organization1 = {
        global_tax_modifier = 0.2
    }
    sygnakhs = {
        global_regiment_cost = -0.1
    }
    nakharar_titles1 = {
        army_tradition = 1
    }
    end_of_armenian_diaspora1 = {
        production_efficiency = 0.1
        manpower_in_own_culture_provinces = 0.2
    }
}

We should note here, before we move to internal-development-related missions, that Armenia also gets access to new government reforms, granted via the missions ‘Refine the Nakharar’ and ‘The Office of Sparapet’.

Your tall missions will have you strengthen the Apostolic Church of Armenia, liberate the holy sites, rebuild the majestic city of Tigranakert, and resettle your ancestral lands with Armenians, unlocking powerful culture conversion rewards such as +1 of all development on culture converting a province to Armenian:



And as has become tradition, this weeks DD comic from FatherLorris:


Thank you for tuning in for another week’s Dev Diaries, next week we will take a look at Yemen and Arabia with Ogele.

On the 13th August 2013, EU4 was released to the public - and with it a small little event pack called “Purple Phoenix” for a country whose popularity was almost uncanny even back then. Over the ten years, this popularity did not stop but rose further and further, and now it is one of the main three focus points of King of Kings.

Welcome to today’s Development Diary which is all about the one country you guys have been looking forward to the most: Byzantium. Hardly in need of any more introduction on the country, as every single patch of EU4 has at least one video tutorial dedicated to the remnant of the Roman Empire. So without further ado, let us jump into the content we can expect for Byzantium in 1.36.

So first thing first: the setup of Byzantium. The province change has been somewhat spoiled already, but I will mention it here nonetheless to confirm it: yes, Mesambria is now part of Byzantium and it will have the Bulgarian core on it:


Another change is the adjustments on the stats of its heir, Konstantinos Palaiologos. Although the empire did eventually fall under his rule, it was not anything he could have prevented, and as such the stats he had were a bit unfair considering his experiences as the past Despot of Morea. He is now a 5/2/3!

Speaking of Morea, the area of Morea now starts with +25% Local Autonomy to represent the kinsmen of the Byzantine Emperors ruling over this part of the empire.

Another point of Byzantine adjustments is their ideas. While their +3 TotF and 3% Missionary Strength make them a strong religious country, the rest of their ideas are relatively underwhelming. As Byzantium is an end-game tag it felt kind of justified to balance their ideas a bit better out. Additionally, it is a nice reward for players who survive the early years.

These are the new ideas (Ideas with a # at the start are the modifiers that used to be there pre-1.36):

BYZ_ideas = {
    start = {
        advisor_cost = -0.10
        improve_relation_modifier = 0.2
        #tolerance_own = 3
    }
 
    bonus = {
        tolerance_own = 3
        #prestige = 1
    }
 
    trigger = {
        tag = BYZ
    }
    free = yes
 
    repopulation_of_countryside = {
        global_trade_goods_size_modifier = 0.1
        #merc_maintenance_modifier = -0.15
    }
 
    byz_roman_empire = {
        core_creation = -0.25
        #global_manpower_modifier = 0.1
        #global_trade_goods_size_modifier = 0.05
    }
 
    ecumenical_patriarch = {
        global_missionary_strength = 0.03
        yearly_patriarch_authority = 0.003
        #global_tax_modifier = 0.1
    }
 
    byz_corpus_iuris_civilis = {    #Replaces byz_admin_power for Purple Phoenix events
        reform_progress_growth = 0.2
        #stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
    }
 
    byz_protect_the_frontiers = {
        defensiveness = 0.15
        #global_trade_power = 0.1
    }
 
    byz_strategikon = {
        discipline = 0.05
    }


    new_imperial_army = {
        global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
        #global_missionary_strength = 0.03
    }
}

With that out of the way, let’s talk for a moment about the intentions for Byzantium. I mentioned in the Persia Development Diary that countries that receive content tend to become a lot easier than they used to be, hence Ardabil received explicitly nothing that could trivialize their early game.

Byzantium is another candidate where we explicitly want it to be a fight for survival. Because of that, the Byzantines will now start with 4 privileges which are more curses than blessings to you:
Note: That privilege increases the starting opinion of the Papal State of you by 125. More to it later. Note: The Morale Reduction is only present if you have King of Kings active as the mission tree will give you Land Morale modifiers over the course of the campaign to counteract this privilege.

All of the privileges with the exception of 'Reliance on Republics' can be removed through decisions. Both the starting privileges and the decisions are part of the 1.36 update.

Additionally to the penalties, the privileges also cause certain events to happen to your country. Our first example is the Union of Churches. Roughly 3 months into the game you get greeted with the following event in regard to the union:


While revoking the privilege immediately would prevent the spawn of rebels further down the line, there is an argument to be made for keeping the privilege active as they can trigger the following event if you are in a defensive war against the Ottomans while having this privilege active:

I don’t want to spoil this part as this should be rather experienced in your own playthrough. But a little teaser: the second option allows for a very different religious path for the Byzantines!

Moving on, the 'Tax Exemption' privilege also fires an event that can be an early game boon with a long-term penalty.


Byzantium has been fitted with many early game events leading up to their eventual demise. While it would be lovely to showcase them all, we only have so much time. So here are a few:
Note: that event is firing for the Ottomans. The follow-up event is triggered for the Byzantines. Also an event for the Ottomans in relation to the Byzantine content:

One final thing to mention to make the early game even more of a challenge - the starting reform for the Byzantines has been adjusted with a new penalty… and a new mechanic (more to it later):
There is nothing more Roman than falling in the back of your countrymen in time of need for a chance to seize absolute power for yourself.

Now that we have the events through, it is time to take a look at the new mission tree for the Byzantines for the upcoming DLC:

Note: with 55 missions in one playthrough, the Byzantine tree is the largest of the DLC.

First a few words about the general theme of the mission tree before going into detail: there are vastly different ideas of what is to be expected of a tree for Byzantium (a look into your local Steam Workshop is a fast way to see what I mean). Some would like to see the addition of Hellenism and a whole path revolving around it, others want a mission tree that revolves around the big “what if” questions of a modernized Byzantium that no longer tries to forge its own destiny independently from the Roman legacy.

While all of these ideas are great ones to explore, we have decided to focus on the one path which is generally the one accepted by the majority of the player base which is the ambition of restoring the Roman Empire. The goal was to keep the spirit of the Purple Phoenix mission tree and expand it with flavor so the reconquest of your empire feels like a bigger narrative than just good ol’ blobbing.

The mission tree is split into six parts:

• A small defensive part with three missions revolving around reinforcing the Theodosian Walls and constructing the Hexamilion Wall
  
• A large conquest part starting from “The Impending Doom”
  
• A small trade part of the two missions “Peloponnesian Renaissance” and “Monemvasian Merchants”
  
• An internal infrastructure part starting from “A Tarnished State” and “Promote the Emporoi”
  
• A part about the military and administrative aspects of the Empire
  
• And finally the religious part
  

As usual, I will start with the more obvious part which would be in that case the re-conquest missions. In this branch of the missions, you gain areas of permanent claims after another area of permanent claims. Notable within this branch is the theme of an evolving permanent modifier as a reward. Usually, you get the strong permanent modifier at the end of a mission path. Here, however, you get it early on, though in a very weak state:

This modifier will then be further modified through follow-up missions:

Finally merged into the finisher reward once you finish the conquest path of the mission tree which requests you to be the Roman Empire:

The final version of the modifier at the end of your long spree of conquest has the following bonuses:
Governing Capacity: +300
Global Missionary Strength: +2%
Yearly Prestige: +1
Morale of Armies: +10%
Morale of Navies: +10%
Stability Cost: -25%

Of course, this part of the tree has more to offer than just a growing modifier though. Here are some other great highlights of the conquest part:


Oh, while I am at it: the decision to form the Roman Empire has been adjusted.

Note: this will retroactively affect the achievement "Mehmet's Ambition" too. Also, we might add some key provinces to the decision to be part of the Empire - depending on how these changes play out.
In total, there are 475 provinces highlighted, and you will actually have to conquer MORE provinces than before. But at least you no longer have to subject yourself to the conquest of Mesopotamia anymore.

Moving on, the next part is about the walls of Constantinople:


I should talk about the elephant in the room here: yes, the Theodosian Wall is a permanent province modifier instead of a unique monument. This is a choice that has been made because we want to spread out the monuments and the Theodosian Walls would be put on a province that already has two static monuments placed on it.

Anyhow, the defensive missions are relatively easy to achieve early game which can give you some significant months to survive the Ottomans.

Now let us take a small look at the small trading missions:
Gemistos Plethon is the only, small nod to Hellenism you can expect from 1.36. For more information, I highly suggest checking out Third Odyssey.

With that out of the way, let’s continue with a more exciting part of the mission tree: the internal development and infrastructure missions:

And of course the map color in question:

It is the color of the Roman Empire.

Continuing on with the religious part of the mission tree. Due to the Council of Florence and the religious policies enacted by the last Emperor, the public trust in the Patriarch and the government has crumbled. This mission branch focuses on rebuilding that trust, limiting the rivals, and eventually bringing the schism to an end. Beginning with the trust:

While also limiting the ever stronger Muscovy ambition:

Restoring the Pentarchy:
Note: this decision is usable every 25 years.
And of course, mending the Schism:

Note: the mending will be significantly more difficult though as you must ensure that 300 provinces in Europe are Orthodox and in Orthodox hands. Fortunately, many provinces are already Orthodox. They just need a Roman hand to free themselves from the heretics.

And at last the military and administrative missions. The “Sea Fire” mission lets one already guess what it is all about. So once you finish it, your galleys get +10% combat ability for the rest of the game under the assumption that they are once again using the Liquid Fire.

Now before we continue with the branching missions, let us take a short look at a new mechanic added for Byzantium which is the Pronoia. This new subject type is available to countries with the Byzantine Autocracy, Reformed Byzantine Monarchy, the Roman Empire, and the Roman Republic government reforms.

Nations with Pronoia available will be able to convert their Vassals and Client States into a new type of subject, the Pronoia. The idea of the subject type is to provide military support during your wars. Pronoia Subjects get military bonuses and do not cost a diplomatic relation slot, but are limited by a new modifier – Number of Pronoiars.
The sources of the above include:
+1 per 100 Force Limit
+2 for “Reform the Pronoia System”


+2-4 from Byzantine Missions and up to +6 from various idea groups (namely Offensive, Aristocracy, Espionage, Quantity, and Administrative)

As for how to establish and annex these subjects and what bonuses they give, I will let those images speak for themselves:

After you ‘Retract Right to Inheritance’, the Pronoia will be annexed on their monarch’s death. We are looking forward to the “Pronoia Swarms”!

Anyway, back to the missions. Let us familiarize ourselves with the Theme System:


As you can see, The Byzantine mission tree utilizes the same Preview System as Persia does: you can choose between a standing-army build or a mercenary, feudal build:

First, let us begin with the Standing Army Build. With this rendition, you will be able to take stricter control over the Pronoia subjects that you have, opting for their quality:

There is also a mission about the Varangian Guard, allowing you to bring this nearly-extinct guard back to life, making you into the real Lord of Varangian. Lastly, a final mission that gives your troops a bit more firepower while also making them cheaper by granting them +10% Land Fire Damage and -10% Land Maintenance Modifier.

The other branch focuses on building a military based on mercenaries and Pronoiar. The missions here will allow you to focus on the quantity aspect, while also providing bonuses to Mercenaries:

The final mission here gives an additional +50% Mercenary Manpower and +5% Mercenary Discipline.

Note: All the art is placeholder, as the new icons are currently WIP. All the numbers are also WIP and are subject to change.

That was it for this week. Thank you all for reading today’s Development Diary! My colleague PDXBigBoss will continue next week with a hefty DD on Georgia, Armenia, and the Qoyunlus!

We thought you'd enjoy a sequel to the most recent Byzantium Comic From FatherLorris:

Want to embrace your inner Purple Phoenix and talk about Byzantium with others? Join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/europauniversalisofficial

Good afternoon and welcome to today’s Developer Diary where we will be discussing new content for the Mamluks! As a preface, there is merit in addressing the design approach I chose to pursue for this country. Domination and its huge amounts of content served as a great platform to gauge what the people wanted, what they liked and disliked. This helped shape the content for 1.36 moving forward, as the entire team takes feedback very seriously and our ears are keenly tuned to the forums and various platforms for it.

How does this affect the content of the Mamluks? For starters, the entirety of the Mamluk tree hosts only 2 new country_modifiers, one temporary and one permanent (more on that later). The idea behind this shift is to give more room to mechanic-related bonuses over pure modifier stacking. So, missions for the Mamluks have been designed from the ground up as a way of investing more effort into slower and natural growth for the country. Moreover, the tree was conceived from the base with simplicity in mind, both for requirements as well as effects. Gone are the long lists (for the most part) of effects that were featured in Domination. As a pleasant side-effect, the AI is also more capable with this mission tree, as missions are simpler but fair in their difficulty for most players and not too overbearing.



To better simulate the turbulence that the Mamluks experienced, especially across their Syrian provinces, this event should help set the tone just at the start of the game; a vast realm whose fringe border provinces near Anatolia have come to disdain the rule of Qahirah, ready to take up arms.

Note; your choice in this event will impact the reward for “The Northern Territories” mission! The first option will release a rebellious Syrian subject whilst the second will severely increase autonomy and unrest in Syrian provinces

The top third of the mission tree is devoted to expansion against Anatolia, Constantinople, and maritime dominance over the Mediterranean as a whole either through sheer might or diplomacy:

Note: Keep in mind that ALL art is WIP in this Developer Diary!







Note; The other option here will grant you some permanent power projection (+15) and give you the option to move your capital to Europe (wink wink, Trade Company enthusiasts).







The second third of the missions will focus on expanding Mameluke influence across the deserts of Arabia to the Southeast, the realms of the Tunisians and Moroccans to the West, the Ethiopians to the South, and the territories of the (soon to be) Safavids to the East, offering a satisfying avenue for expansion in any direction, without constraining and forcing you to always conquer towards one direction:

Note; Numbers are far from final, your feedback is appreciated!

Note; Should you complete this mission outside of the Age of Reformation, you will receive a different reward!

Note; Opting to integrate Ethiopian administration via the first option, will enable several flavor events over the course of the game (Zara Yakob as an advisor in your court, etc.) among other rewards!

This leads us to the third (but not final!) part of this Developer Diary and by far my favorite: internal flavor! The difficulty of reading up on the Mamluks’ final 100 years made crafting content for them quite an interesting challenge. The following missions (much like the conquest missions above) are a mixture of what the Mamluks did between the 14th and 16th centuries, what they sought to do (corroborated by historical sources), and what would make sense for most players to do, in an effort to facilitate content that makes sense and does not break immersion. It should be repeated here, as noted in our introduction, that the Mameluke mission tree is by far not a hard or complicated piece of work to follow, for the player or the AI. It was made from the ground up for both the AI to follow and the player to comprehend, with simple tooltips, simple (but fair) requirements, and consistent flow.

As part of the new content, you will gain access to a new special unit, the slave soldiers “Mamluks”:

Note: The modifiers are not final, feel free to leave feedback! The idea is for these units to become the backbone of your army. Not as powerful and few in numbers as the Hussars and not as stacked as the Janissaries.

The primary source of these units will initially be a new Estate privilege for your Noble estate (now renamed ‘Mamluks’) but later on through idea groups, events, etc. you will potentially gain access to more!



Moving on, the impact of the Estate will be magnified via the ‘Recruit the Mamluks’ mission, which will require you to recruit them and grant the following reward:



These new Agendas are meant to be very useful and help your nation militarize further, by performing tasks such as:

• Constructing barracks, regimental camps
  
• Improving your army tradition
  
• Improving your army professionalism
  

In total, there will be 6 new Estate Agendas for the Mamluks through this mission alone! Moving on, you will be able to further hone your army through the following government reform:

Note; I had this idea while writing the DD that instead of yearly innovativeness, this reform would grant yearly army and/or naval tradition from certain advisors. I have a feeling it would fit better than yearly innovativeness. Let me know what you think!

While on the topic of Government reforms, the Mamluks will have access to several new ones, some as mission rewards and others by reaching the eligible reform tier, let’s take a look at one of them!

Note; The Mamluks will have 5 new government reforms ranging from military to economic themes.

I took the time to rework this event and make sure it fits and plays well into the new content for the Mamluks while granting them a useful reward from developing Cairo, which can now be accessed by either a mission reward or a standalone event:

Note; A capital and a reward fitting of a prestigious nation.

Mameluke content would not be complete without missions and events around the lifeblood of Egypt, the river Nile:



Note; the Burghers are set to play a very important role within your nation’s administration. Numbers are not final!

Known as the Canal of the Pharaohs, a predecessor of the Suez Canal, this set of public works connected Cairo with the Red Sea and was often used up to the 8th century for the transportation of goods via sea lanes. Historically, the Mamluks came in agreement with the Venetians to rebuild and extend it, in an effort to weaken the Portuguese, who had discovered a direct sea route to India through the Cape of Good Hope. This undertaking was never realized, the Mamluks were soon thereafter invaded by the Ottomans, and the canal was abandoned. However, through the mission ‘Highway of an Empire’, you will be able to complete the works, go a step further, and connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas! The idea here is that this will create a whole new avenue of gameplay, adding useful rewards (naval movement to and from Arabia) without granting overly powerful modifiers, etc.



The mission ‘Cultivate the Delta’ will instruct you to develop the breadbasket of the world, allowing you to expand production and increase your grip on local trade:

Note; The other option grants +1 Production Development as well as stronger Estuaries and ports across the Delta’s Mediterranean coast.

Moving on, let’s talk about the most important caste of merchants within the Mameluke domain. The Karimi merchants played a significant role in the Mameluke Sultanate during the medieval period. Hailing primarily from the Persian Gulf region, the Karimi merchants were known for their expertise in maritime trade, especially in the Indian Ocean. They established prosperous trading networks that connected the Mameluke Sultanate to distant lands such as India, Southeast Asia, and East Africa. These merchants facilitated the exchange of goods like spices, textiles, precious metals, and luxury items, contributing to the economic prosperity of the Mameluke Sultanate and fostering cultural exchanges in the region. Their entrepreneurial spirit and maritime skills made them vital actors in the bustling trade scene of the Mameluke era. During research I came across a very interesting paper that I used to create content around these merchants, its title being ‘The Spice Trade in Mameluke Egypt: A Contribution to the Economic History of Medieval Islam’.

Note; Yes, cloves. The requirements for this mission potentially involve a new estate privilege ‘Fund the Karimi Merchants which grants Trade Efficiency and Merchant Trade Power at the expense of National Tax and Crown land:

Another aspect of your economic development will revolve around the exporting of grain, via the Khass al-Sultan mission. It will require establishing workshops in your highest grain-producing provinces as well as either raising your crown land or enacting the Diwan al-Khass reform:



Exporting Grain as well as the previous Sponsor Grand Hajj action were designed with two goals in mind

• Assist with immersion and add new avenues of gameplay
  
• Be useful (but somewhat minor) tools for multiplayer and introduce a new layer of importance to human-to-human diplomacy
  

Note; As with the Grand Hajj, you can only have 4 such relationships with other countries at the same time, and only once per ruler’s lifetime. Hajj would grant piety and better school relations, allowing you to more easily host their scholars without depending on high-influence estate privileges and Exporting Grain would grant your allies Development Cost, Unrest and in return you would gain Mercantilism. Both actions would also improve relations.

As a nation that is majorly dependent on the spice trade, this part of the content is more of a “What If?”. In this instance, the missions Harness the Spice Trade and Reach the Spice Islands will be your stepping stones towards exploration and eventual colonization of the Spice Islands.







The mission ‘Assign a Waqf’ will require you to tend to your religious responsibilities, either by embracing certain idea groups or by assigning a new privilege for the Mamluks:

Note to ourselves; We should rename Holy Orders to Local Organizations.

The following event will be the reward for the mission:

Note; The first option will allow all our administrative advisors to generate -1% idea cost reduction per level and construct a University in our capital. The second option will generate 0.25% crown land per mosque built (subtracted when they are demolished).

Of course, in the interest of time, I cannot showcase every bit of content, and as a result, this Developer Diary should serve as a taste of the content we have for the Mamluks!



The final piece of the Mameluke puzzle happens to be its most interesting, in my opinion. Let’s take a look at the mission of “Kashifs of Egypt”. It will require you to centralize, increase your crown land, and establish an efficient administration. A reward is an event called ‘The Administration of the Mameluke Domain’.



The first option will enable a new powerful local organization for the Mamluks, and if you are not an Empire, you will become one. But, I believe that the second option is far, far more interesting; the ability to reform into Egypt and pursue a new government mechanic; Egyptian Westernization!

Note; Art is WIP

Unlike its Russian counterpart, Egyptian Westernization (or EW for short) is dependent on 3 separate government, interactions, each one a symbol of the country’s management aspects:

• Administration
  
• Manufacturing
  
• Armed Forces
  

Calling on each interaction will push your country closer to the brink of westernizing a specific aspect, with each having 5 distinct levels:

Note; Westernizing each level will change the red X to a green ✓ to keep track of your current level!

To do so, you would need to spend a little bit on 3 resources; Innovativeness, Monarch points, and EW progress. However, with ample governing capacity, goods produced, and Western units accompanied by a significant amount of army tradition, this is well worth the trade!

But wait, there’s more, this mechanic goes even deeper! The bar below the new interactions is beneficial on either side (0 or 100) much akin to Army Professionalism. Whilst Egypt has no Westernization, estates are happy, stability will be cheaper to increase and general tolerance towards the true faith will be happier. On the other (and more lucrative) end, a truly westernized Egypt will enjoy bonuses such as technology and idea cost, as well as yearly innovativeness.

Of course, this choice is major and will impact other aspects of your content, such as mission rewards:

• The mission 'The Imperial Gambit' would grant Egypt Innovativeness, 25 progress towards their Westernization as well as reduce the cost of increasing Westernization by -5.
  
• The mission 'Center of the Islamic World' would grant Egypt Innovativeness and double the chance of getting positive traits for your rulers based on which aspect they excel in, the most.
  
• However, for the Mamluks, the mission Center of the Islamic World will grant an additional Golden Age or extend the current one by 50 years.
  

The content for Egypt would not be complete without a brand new idea set that plays well with the new content:

EGY_ideas = {
    start = {
        trade_efficiency = 0.1
        administrative_efficiency = 0.05
    }

    bonus = {
        free_policy = 1
    }
 
    trigger = {
        tag = EGY
    }
    free = yes        #will be added at load.
 
    egy_centralization_works = {
        development_cost = -0.1
    }
    training_missions_in_egypt = {
        country_military_power = 1
    }
    legacy_of_the_karimis = {
        burghers_loyalty_modifier = 0.1
        burghers_privilege_slots = 1
    }
    nile_production = {
        production_efficiency = 0.10
    }
    westernize_the_military = {
        max_general_fire = 1 #YES!
        fire_damage = 0.1
    }
    mediterranean_shipwrights = {
        sea_repair = yes
    }
    crossroads_between_europe_and_africa = {
        global_trade_power = 0.1
    }
}

Reforming Egypt via a national decision will also grant access to these missions, the government reform, and the Westernization mechanic!

As mentioned before, the content showcased here is about half of the content we have in store for the Mamluks, and as such expect more content to be present once you play. The Mamluks are a very fun country to play in with a marvelous position on the map and lots of different ways to play and stuff to do. We hope this content adds to the joy and interest many of us (myself included) have while painting the map with the Mameluke color! Next week [USER]@Ogele[/USER] will come back to present the long-awaited Developer Diary focused on the Byzantine Empire!

Oh look at this! Our weekly chapel comics have returned:


Want to discuss this Dev Diary? Feel free to join our Discord:
https://discord.gg/europauniversalisofficial