Europa Universalis IV News

Hello everyone, and welcome to another EU4 dev diary!

My name is David Horler (SaintDaveUK), the art lead at Paradox Tinto, and today we will talk about two different topics; the artwork behind King of Kings, and also the new achievements of the 1.36 update.

[h2]Loading Screen[/h2]
As our first piece of art, along with the patch we are adding the loading screen of Shah Ismail I of Persia (1487–1524), founder of the Safavid dynasty.

One of Persia’s most impactful rulers (and that’s saying something), he was a warrior at heart and is usually depicted engaging in activities such as fighting and hunting. Ismail’s reign is celebrated for his religious zeal, military prowess, and political cunning. His military victories and his patronage of the arts solidified his legacy, making him a significant figure in Iranian history.

His fiery red hair, unusual for a Persian, is attested in contemporary accounts and betrays his complex and oft-debated ethnic heritage as a child of the culturally diverse city of Ardabil.

In this loading screen, a youthful Ismail heroically leads the Qizilbash cavalry charge against the Uzbeks at the battle of Merv.



[h2]UI Art[/h2]
As always, our artists have created a staggering amount of work, with around 300 brand new 2D assets including 83 new mission Icons, 20 government reforms, and 3 new government Mechanics to support the content that has been added to King of Kings and the 1.36 patch. Take a look at some of our favourite examples:


[expand]Mission Trees

[/expand]








[h2]Unit Models[/h2]
Coming up with unit models for King of Kings has been a challenging task, as all the major countries in the region have already enjoyed one (or more) unit packs. As such we have largely fallen back on the minor countries to spice up your conquests in the DLC.



Early Georgians are well represented with lamellar armour and conical helmets. Later, the chainmail continues to make an appearance, even with the advent of musket and pistol shot. For the later periods, we drew inspiration from Ossetian costumes and Georgian cossacks, the most notable elements being the traditional jacket (chocka) with cartridge bags (gazyr).



The Armenians, also from the Caucasus, have a progression that is not so different. For this project, we were working with our Ukrainian friends in N-iX Game Studio, so as with the Georgian troops they had some unique insights into the aesthetics of Black Sea cultures.



The Kingdom of Tlemcen is provided with unique North African uniforms. The Tier 1 is a Tuareg warrior complete with his iconic shield. The following tiers display Tuareg swords, and other items inspired by the cultural clothing that evoke North African people. Tier 3 is inspired by Algerian janissaries, while the final tier is based on Algerians in French colonial service.



Israel is a rare formable, but with the unique Jewish history in the region, we thought it was a good opportunity to provide them with unit models. The ahistoricity of this tag in the context of the EU4 timeline lends itself a little to fantasy, which allowed us to have a little bit of fun with the designs, but we also were mindful of the complex situation surrounding Israel and Judaism so respect was always at the forefront of our minds.

The very earliest tiers are inspired by ancient Ammonite warriors, as we wanted to achieve a look that is uniquely Israelite without much inspiration from other medieval cultures, but also the Turkic Khazars, who converted to Judaism and may have sheltered Israelite refugees. The chained crossbelt of the Tier 3 is a nod to the Jewish people of Yemen, who became renowned as both great silversmiths and mercenaries.



Syria has been promoted from releasable to a starting vassal under the Mamluks, and as such we have created for them a set of units. Finding things which make them distinct from both the Turkish and Egyptian units was an interesting task for our research team, but we think we found a really compelling and unique look for them.



The Pontic Greeks of Trebizond developed a unique aesthetic, detached from their European brethren and forced to meld with their Anatolian neighbours who were growing in power.

The iconic polearm, as well as the Byzantine-inspired lamellar armour with the leather belts, shows the stronger Greek connection of the early years. Later we see a heavy brigandine melded with pileas hat, an undercurrent of Greek civilization that ran from the ancient era to that of revolutionary France.



A Crusader outpost in the outremer, Cyprus adopts an intriguing mixture of their Frankish lords and their largely Greek populace. The headscarf of Tier 1 protects the helmet from burning in the intense heat of the Eastern Mediterranean. Later we see further indications of East vs West; the final tier is inspired by Greek infantry who fought in British service during the Napoleonic wars.



The Karamanid units will be used for all Turkish minors (we have solved a bug that some of you noticed in the streams where these were showing up for the Ottomans as well). For these we wanted to evoke a uniquely Turkish vibe without relying on the Janissaries or other Ottoman-specific troops from the era.

As always, let us know what you think of the units, and if there are any unique models for countries you would love to see in the next DLC, let us know in the comments!

[h2]---------------------[/h2]

[h2]Achievements[/h2]
Now it's time for me, Pintu, to introduce you to the Achievements implemented in 1.36. But before I start with that, I want to talk a little bit about the previous iterations of achievements and what we changed in our approach to the achievements in 1.36. With 1.35 and Domination focusing on Great Powers around the world we decided to make challenging achievements for nations starting in a strong position and connecting them with other regions touched in Domination. This meant that one too many achievements turned out with a focus on conquest and less on utilizing Mission Trees and newly added content. With the achievements of King of Kings, we are trying to flesh these points out and have fewer outright conquest-reliant achievements, while still giving expansion some presence. With that being said, let’s get into the list of achievements!

King of Kings Complete the Persian Mission Tree.

An old classic of Achievement types makes a return! This achievement will be completable with any of the branching religious paths and as any Nation forming Persia, regardless of which Legacy Missions they have access to.

Restore the Pentarchy Starting as Byzantium, own Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

While starting in a Union of Churches, Byzantium might want to restyle this so-called “Union” into something that fits their own ideas more. Make the necessary changes to restore the Pentarchy.

Mets Hayk Starting as Karabakh, own, core, and convert to Coptic the borders of Great Armenia.

Greater Armenia was once a state controlling land from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. Recreating that ancient kingdom will not be an easy task and will put you at odds with strong powers in the area.

Desert Power Starting as an Arabian Tribe, have the Oasis privilege enacted, and more than 1000 development in the Arabian Region

The people of the desert are hardy and strong and with the right development, who knows what they can achieve? I was also told you can expand across two franchises if you really don’t like sand.

Breadbasket of the World Starting as the Mamluks, export grain to every continent.

The fertile land of the Nile was already known as the breadbasket of the Mediterranean Sea. But why settle for that? It's time to feed the world!

The Last Crusade Starting as Byzantium, control Venice, and make sure that the country doesn't exist.

Surviving as Byzantium is not an easy task. But to ensure your survival lasts it’s also necessary to settle old grudges. And who knows, maybe you will be able to fill a museum in the process?

A truly good maaa-tch Starting as either Aq Qoyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, have a royal marriage and an alliance with Ramazan.

Black Sheep? White Sheep? Make sure that your choice will not have any negative ram-ifications!

Legacy of Saint George As Georgia, have Genoa, Aragon, England, and Trier as vassals, while controlling Wales.

As it’s a time-honored tradition for this game, you will have to make your way into England for at least one achievement per patch. While there are a few (lot) more countries with a connection to Saint George or the Saint George’s Cross, we decided to not go overboard too much with the required countries.

ZoroAustrians Starting as Austria, convert to Zoroastrianism, and complete the Persian Zoroastrian missions.

This seemed like a natural fit between the Dynasty of the Habsburgs and this Religion.

I would also like to mention that we updated to older achievements. The “David the Builder” achievement received a rework, now being accessible via a (re-)formed Georgia. We made this change since Imereti was removed from the starting setup of the map and Georgia now owns the previous Imereti provinces directly. Furthermore, Mehmets Ambition is now updated in line with the reworked “Restore the Roman Empire” Decision, requiring 425 Provinces in the highlighted provinces.

And this concludes this week's Dev Diary and also the second to last Dev Diary for 1.36 and the King of Kings Immersion Pack. Next week Dargeths will talk about the Patch Notes for the 1.36 Update.

Which of achievement is your favorite? Let us know in the comments or join our Discord:
https://discord.gg/europauniversalisofficial


*Edit: Before you leave! Enjoy this FatherLorris comic hot off the presses. 1.36 UI is something many of us are looking forward to ;)

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:

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]



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.
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]



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.
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]


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.
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]


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.
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]



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.
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]



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).
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]



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.
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]



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).
  

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]

• 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.
    

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]

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.

[h2]----------------------------[/h2]

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:



[h2]----------------------------[/h2]

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.