Europa Universalis IV News

Click here to read the latest Dev Diary by Johan

Hi and Welcome to yet another Europa Universalis Development Diary!

We talked a little bit about what is happening to the Catholic Faith in a development diary back in August 2019. Let's delve into that at first, before we talk about completely new features, and remember. All of this is part of the Emperor Expansion.

Curia Coffers
First of all, the Curia has its own pool of money, the Curia Coffers, which is accumulated each month from contributions from each catholic country. The contribution depends on the development controlled by the Clergy estate in each country. Catholic Nations can also Buy Indulgence to increase the Curia Coffers and

The Curia Coffers can then be spent on the following.

• Call the Ecumenical Council
  
• Assign Cardinals
  
• Investigate Heresy
  
• Papal Bulls
  
• Council of Trent Actions.
  

Ecumenical Council
The Ecumenical Council is a way for the Papal Controller to siphon their own money into the Curia Coffers to increase their influence to become the next Papal Controller.

Cardinals
Assigning Cardinals is a new Diplomatic Action that Curia Controller can do. By spending an amount of the Curia Coffers the target nation will gain a Cardinal. The Curia Controller gains influence towards becoming the controller at the next papal election, and the target nation increases their opinion of the Curia Controller.

The Pope can also spend their own money to Appoint a Cardinal from one of their own provinces, if any of them lack a Cardinal. This increases Corruption by 5%, but sometimes it is needed.

Of course there will be Cardinals appointed automatically each year as before.
Investigate Heresy
Investigate Heresy is an action where the Papal Controller can spend money from the Curia Coffers to reduce the Reform Desire by 5%, while making Reform Desire grow 10% faster in the future. This is a way to delay the Reformation if you so desire.

Golden Bulls
For each Pope, the Curia Controller can pick one new Golden Bull, which will define that Pope’s life. This of course cost money from the Curia Coffers, and there are six different Golden Bulls to pick from. What is interesting with these Golden Bulls, is the fact that they affect ALL catholic nations.

Apostolicae Servitutis
-50% Curia Power Cost (The old Catholic Ones)

Christian Pictas
-5% Development Cost
+1 Tolerance of Heretics

Dei Gratia Rex
+0.5 Yearly Absolutism
-2 Unrest in Catholic Provinces
-25% Drill Decay

Illius Qui Se Pro Divini
Enabled Crusades after the Age limit!

Immensa Aeterni Dei
-10% Institution Embracement cost
+25% Institution Spread
Cardinals will spread institution if the institution has been embraced in a province of another Cardinal or the capital of the Curia(Rome).

Libertas Ecclesiae
+20% Imperial Authority Growth
+15 Imperial Reform Approval by Catholic Princes
Available if Emperor & Catholic is Official Religion of the Empire

Council of Trent
A few decades after the Reformation has started to ravage Europe, there will be something called The Council of Trent that will last about 50 years at maximum, or until the Papal Controller has picked four different changes to the Church.

When the Council is active, rulers of Catholic Nations can set their position as either Harsh or Conciliatory. At default all nations are neutral, and at every new ruler in your nation you get the opportunity to change your position.

Neutral Position
-33% Resistance to Reformation Centers.

Harsh Position
-20 Opinion of Heretics
+25% Resistance to Reformation Centers
+2% Missionary Strength
-25% Institution Spread

Conciliatory Position
+10 Opinion of Heretics
+25% Resistance to Reformation Centers
+25% Improve Relations
-5% Heretic Missionary Strength

The Curia Controller is the one that picks the concessions, and they are quite costly, costing 2000 gold from the Curia Coffers, which is reduced by up to 1500 depending how many Cardinals that are from Countries supporting the stance taken in the concession. And you can only take one concession in each pair, and the effect is applied to all Catholic nations. The Harsh ones all add -20 opinion of heretics to all Catholic countries, and Conciliatory adds +10 opinion, so the Papal Controller can really control how fractured Christianity will be during the Council.

First Concession
Heresy Trials (Harsh) +1% Heretic Missionary Strength
Secret Confessions (Conciliatory) +2 Tolerance of Heretics

Second Concession
Roman Catechism (Harsh) +10% True Faith Institution Spread
Non-Latin Bible (Conciliatory) +5% Institution Spread

Third Concession
Soldiers of Christ (Harsh) +10% Manpower in True Faith
Rescinding Celibacy (Conciliatory) +5% Manpower

Fourth Concession
Catholic Mysticism (Harsh) -10% Warscore Cost vs Other Religions
Sola Fide (Conciliatory) -20% Curia Power Cost

Hope you enjoyed this short but detailed Development diary, and next week we’ll talk more about the Imperial Diet.

Click here to read the latest Dev Diary by Neondt

Good morning! As you may have heard, the Paradox office has shut down temporarily due to Coronavirus concerns; we’re all continuing to work from home though, and you’ll be pleased to hear that thus far the team remains in good health. If all goes as planned we should be able to continue releasing dev diaries as normal.

Today I’ll be covering the Papal and Italian mission trees. It’s been a while since we had a content-focused dev diary, and there’s still quite a lot we haven’t covered. Emperor and the 1.30 patch have such an immense wealth of content that we almost definitely won’t be able to talk about it all before release. With that in mind, here’s a list of mission trees we’ve created over the last year or so:

Mission trees available with the Emperor expansion:

• Austria
  
• Bavaria/Bavarian minors
  
• Bohemia
  
• Burgundy
  
• Crusader States
  
• Netherlands/Dutch and Flemish minors
  
• Florence/Tuscany
  
• France
  
• Genoa
  
• Germany/HRE (several unique missions each)
  
• Lubeck
  
• Hungary
  
• Italy
  
• Milan
  
• Naples
  
• Papal States
  
• Provence
  
• Brandenburg/Prussia
  
• Savoy/Sardinia-Piedmont
  
• Saxony
  
• Serbia
  
• Switzerland
  
• Venice
  
  Mission trees available to all players:
  
  
• Albania
  
• Brittany
  
• Bulgaria
  
• Croatia/Ragusa/Dalmatia
  
• Dithmarschen
  
• Elector Bishops
  
• Franconia/Franconian minors
  
• French Duchies
  
• Hannover/Hannoverian minors
  
• Italian minors
  
• Palatinate
  
• Pomerania
  
• Austrian Minors
  
• Swabia/Swabian minors
  
• Westphalia/Westphalian minors
  

Improving Catholic and Papal gameplay has been one of our core priorities during the development of Emperor, so it’s only fitting that the Papal States get a suitably comprehensive mission tree to boot. I won’t attempt to describe the requirements and rewards for every mission, so I’ll just focus on the parts I think are especially interesting.

Starting from the Patrimony of St. Peter, the Holy Father is encouraged to embark on a campaign of conquest across the Italian peninsula. Besides uniting Italy under the rightful patrimony of the Pope being a noble goal in and of itself, this will also help you meet the requirements for the Kingdom of God decision.

Among the first missions the Papal States can pursue is Form the Swiss Guard. To achieve this the Pope must either have very good relations with Switzerland or else directly own a province in Switzerland itself.

Several of the missions for the Papal States give bonuses not only to the Pope himself but also to other Catholics. The Holy League for instance gives mercenary bonuses to the Pope’s allies, while Eastern Catholicization gives Lithuania a bonus to their Missionaries. The most interesting application of this idea is in the Missions to China and Japan. Using whatever means the Pope deems necessary, several provinces in China/Japan must be owned by a Catholic country to complete these missions of evangelism. Upon completing the mission, not only will relevant countries receive events giving them an opportunity to embrace Catholicism, but all provinces in China owned by a Catholic but not yet Catholic themselves will become easier to convert, while provinces already converted will receive reduced development cost.

Moving on, here’s the mission tree for a united Italy:

As you can probably tell from some of the mission names, this mission tree has a somewhat Roman theme. Completing these missions will set you well on your way to restoring the Roman Empire and, therefore, Italy’s rightful place in the world.

The leftmost branch of the tree deals with bringing prosperity and advancement to Italy itself. Completing the Prosperity for all mission grants a temporary development cost modifier which will be useful in completing the Develop the South mission, which requires at least 5 provinces in southern Italy to have at least 25 development.

The main part of the mission tree encourages you to embark on a widespread campaign of conquest across the Mediterranean. A new Caesar must launch a new invasion of Gaul by crossing the Alps and defeating whatever barbarians have made it their home in the absence of proper Roman order. The so-called Holy Roman Empire must also be dealt with, either by dismantling it as a false pretender to the mantle of Rome or by seizing its crown for yourself. With the matter of Empire settled, it will be time to consider invasions of Iberia, the Balkans, and Anatolia. Completing this branch of the mission tree will reward you with 10% more manpower and land forcelimit for the rest of the game.

A united Italy must have a great navy, both to repel invasion from the sea and to launch invasions of its own. The Barbary Pirates inhabit the lan

d which was once Carthage, and later the Roman province of Africa. Once again it aligns itself against Italian interests, and must be annexed to ensure the safety of your trade routes. Before taking the fight onward to Egypt, it would be wise to secure an ally in Ethiopia, for the Kingdom of Prester John would surely aid your efforts. Jerusalem is the ultimate goal of this campaign, and once secured its religion will immediately be restored to your faith.

On the topic of Italy, we’ve added some new content about the Italian Wars:

The Italian Wars can begin at any point during the Age of Discovery if an Italian country is the war leader (on either side) against a major Christian power - most likely France or Austria. Lasting for around 50 years, special Mercenary Companies such as the Tuscan Free Company will become available. Participants in the Italian Wars receive -10% mercenary cost and +5% mercenary discipline while they remain in an applicable war.

That’s all from me today. Next week Johan will reveal the major mechanical changes we’ve made to Catholicism, so come back next week to read all about it.

Make sure you tune in to our twitch at 15:00 today, because...

It's time to start up the next round of the weekly developer multiplayer clash!

It's been too long, the citizens are growing unruly, they demand blood from the arena known as The Dev Clash! We will be playing on Hot Code from the Emperor Expansion so expect a bit of instability as we keep working on it.

We will be playing with the normal scoring system and the victories will go to the people reaching 1 to 3 placements.

When?
Every Wednesday at 15:00CET! Starting the 11th of March

Where can I watch this live?
https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

Where can I watch previous streams that I missed?

Either on our Paradox Grand Strategy Youtube Channel, or the Twitch VOD archive.
Player Nations

• BjornB - Genoa
  
• Konbendith - Hungary
  
• Clausewitz is cool - Teutonic Order
  
• Gorion - Morocco
  
• Matski - Denmark
  
• Neondt - Milan
  
• Besuchov - England
  
• Ofaloaf - Scotland
  
• Duplo - The Knights
  
• hlilje - Burgundy
  
• Meka - Utrecht
  
• Alexivan - France
  
• Dnote - Tunis
  
• MichaelS - Landshut
  
• Arheo - Venice
  
• theDa9L - Aragon
  
• Groogy - Cologne
  
• sidestep - Saxony
  
• Katz - Norway
  
• Green Gradus - Sweden
  
• Caligula - Savoy
  
• Pizzicato - Brandenburg
  
• sanke - Portugal
  
• Servancour - Castille
  
• Sir Rogers - Austria
  
• The French Paradox - Bohemia
  
• Wiz - The Papal States
  
• KaiserJohan - Florence
  
• StarNaN - Switzerland
  
• Azurespecter - The Palatinate
  
• Pdawg - Brittany
  
• fjuttknas - Livonian Order
  
• foggmof - Lübeck
  

15:00 CET today, and each Wednesday after it.

STOCKHOLM - 03 MARCH 2020 - From the churches of Rome, the people are called to abide by the one true faith. From the palaces of Vienna, the subjects are commanded to obey their chosen ruler. From the streets of Paris, a new generation of citizens pursues its own zealous mission. All choose their path, all aspire to Empire.

Paradox Development Studio announces Europa Universalis IV: Emperor an expansion for its classic game of early modern exploration and conquest. Emperor revitalizes gameplay for the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal State and other Catholic nations, while also adding greater interactivity in the management of a kingdom’s internal affairs.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Features of Europa Universalis IV: Emperor include:

• A Powerful Pope: Appoint cardinals, publish Papal Bulls and gather tithes. The Vatican and Papal Controller now have new abilities to sway the souls of Christendom.
  
• New Holy Roman Empire Systems: Imperial Incidents provide new challenges to the Emperor's power and authority. Will your empire follow a course to a centralized monarchy or decentralized federation?.
  
• Revolutions Revamped: The spirit of Revolution is a contagion that must be either embraced or vigorously opposed. Use the guillotine and revolutionary guard to enforce the new way of thinking.
  
• The Hussite Faith: Bohemia has an early game chance to embrace heresy and stand alone against the Pope until The Reformation.
  
• Hegemonies: If you accomplish great feats, you should expect great rewards. Seize the mantle of honor for accumulating great wealth and armies.
  
• New Missions: Over 20 new unique mission trees for a variety of European nations
  
• Defender of Faith: With great responsibility comes great power. Earn more bonuses for defending a major religion than for defending a small one.
  
• The Council of Trent and Counter-Reformation: Join other Catholic rulers to slow down the spread of the Reformation by making concessions to the unruly mob or harshly imposing the will of God.
  
• Provoke Rebellions: Risk a larger rebellion now while you think you can manage it instead of waiting for discontent to take its course.

Emperor will be accompanied by a major update free for all Europa Universalis IV players, that includes a redrawn map of west and central Europe, Crown Lands, new ideas and a host of other major changes.

If you want to know more of what's coming in Emperor and it's accompanying free update, then check out our development diaries!

Today's Development Diary by Groogy:





Hey! So today’s development diary will be a bit shorter as we’ll have something really juicy to show later today at 15:00 CET. Something which a lot of you have been waiting for a long time and are as hyped up for as I am.

But of course for the ones that can’t wait that long, let’s talk about some of the new features coming in 1.30.

First feature is that the Kingdom of God has gotten a bit of a do-over to not be such a trap decision anymore. Previously it would disable the Curia removing an entire feature from the game as a “reward”. Now this doesn’t really fit with us both wanting to make the Pope more of a power player among the Catholics but also give the Catholics more features to play with.



I’ve seen suggestions on the forum for the Papal States to be given a new tag if they take the decision, but for technical reasons we want to keep the PAP tag around, so we figured out a different way to reward the player. Upon declaring the Kingdom of God the Papal States will be renamed and given a new unique government reform that promotes them up to Empire rank.

We will no longer disable the Curia when the Kingdom of God decision is taken. Instead we will be giving you some new goodies that we will cover more in detail in a future Catholic focused development diary as it will play in with some of the new features we've worked on.





Now as we did this we also realized that the old Unify Islam decision could do some touches up as well. For one we removed the requirement that you need to convert your entire realm. It doesn’t jive well with the name and since the conception of the decision we’ve added several mechanics that require that you keep non-muslims around. Like the Dhimmi or the Janissaries.



But as you can see we have also changed the decision rewards. If taken you will now become known as The Caliphate and be given Feudal Theocracy as a government reform.

Next is some more Quality of Life, because you can never have enough of that. It goes a bit in the same vein as the change we did with warning you of that the Innovativeness Gain from Tech and Ideas are about to time out.



The alert for when you are about to hit your maximum cap for monarch power have been changed so it will popup if you hit it in 3 months instead of at the moment of when it’s too late. Now when you do actually hit the upper limit it will turn red instead to really try and grab your attention.

And I want to finish with some changes to the Introduce new heir mechanics. First up England starts with 100 Legitimacy again and in cases like the War of the Roses, Granadan Succession war or other similar things, we will instead be looking at claim strength of the heir or check if the dynasty is of the correct one to avoid cheating yourself out of it. Also to not allow you to cheat out of being a potential junior partner in a PU, anyone you have a royal marriage with will gain a Claim Throne CB on you.


All of the changes mentioned in this development diary except the Introduce New Heir new behavior is part of the 1.30 Patch. That’s it for the Development Diary, stay peeled for 15:00 CET for more information! Next development diary will be about the Estates and how we have changed how you play with them completely.