Europa Universalis IV News

Hello and welcome to another Developer Diary! Today we shall talk about the last two nations that will receive specific content for this DLC. But before we start, I should mention some further tweaks based on your feedback from previous DDs:

• Montezuma no longer starts as a general for the Aztecs. In exchange, you’ll be able to convert him to one through a decision with the general stats he used to have before. If you feel lucky, you can use the normal way to make a ruler into a general if you think you can roll higher stats though.
  
• The modifier for “Rise of Montezuma” will give Average Monarch Lifespan in order to keep your ruler alive for longer.
  
• Should Montezuma die, the conquest missions will give alternative rewards.
  
• Oman-Zanzibar has been renamed to Zanzibar, and you can rename yourself back to Oman should you ever wish.
  

With that being said, let us get into the content for the Timurids. Let’s start with the setup, which has been adjusted with the following changes:

• Timurids now start with the entirety of Afghanistan as core provinces. This means we have added the fort province Roh as a core province of the Timurids, too, allowing you to diplomatically annex them without any cost.
  
• All of the Timurid dynasty nations now start with an additional 20 Army Tradition on top of what they already start with.
  
• The provinces in and around Balkh now start with increased local autonomy as those territories were governed by Muhammad Juki. In the game, it looks like this:
  
• Timurids now start with 3 estate privileges at the start, but we will get to that later!
  

Additionally, the situation with Ajam is now properly explained in an early starting event which can force a war between the Timurids and Ajam:
Note: The AI will not declare war through this event on Ajam in order to keep Ajam alive so they can most reliably form Persia.

Now let’s take a look at the new mission tree, which is split into two major sections: the upper part is heavily focused on ending the Ajam rebellion as well as reconquering lost territories of the crumbling Timurid Empire, reaching all the way from Caucasia to the Delhi Sultanate. The lower part, on the other hand, is all about the internal elements of your country, focusing on the government, the economy, the religion, the military, and the development.


The highlights of the conquest missions are the following rewards:
Note: The additional missions from “Timurid Empire” will be showcased later.

Meanwhile, the highlights of the internal part are the following, focusing on topics such as Artistic Patronage, Islamic Schools and Laws, or internal politics:


The mission “Rightful Protector” and its follow-up missions refer to the aforementioned privileges you start with. These would be the following:


You also start with the “Patronage of the Arts” privilege. In order to remove the 2 inconvenient privileges, you have to enact special decisions, which triggers are the following:


As for the Timurid Diwan reform you unlock, it has the following mechanic attached to it:

With that out of the way, let us continue with the branching missions for the Timurids which can be unlocked with the “Timurid Empire”. You have the choice between the “Nomad” branch and the “Persian” branch.

First, let us discuss the Nomad path for the Timurids, which unlocks the following missions:
Note: All the new missions are colored in orange for the sake of presentation.

As the name suggests, the Nomad missions play into the fantasy of your nomadic roots, and as such are quite comparable to the Horde missions as they are heavy on conquest. With that branch, you not only go to the furthest extent of the historical Timurid Empire all the way to Anatolia and Egypt, but fulfill Timur’s ambition of re-establishing Yuan.

Here are the highlights of this part of the mission tree:


The Persian path, on the other hand, is more focused on internal and cultural development:


Here are the highlights of this mission path:


One special mention goes to the “Reform the Soyurghals” which enables a very unique mechanic for the Timurids here, with a new type of Subject:


That would be the end for the Timurid-focused content, leaving only the Mughals for us to explore. But before that, let me explain why we decided that the Mughals should get a rework. With 1.26 and the accompanying Dharma DLC, the Mughals received their unique content as well as their own set of missions. As time has gone, the quality of the Mughal missions could no longer hold up compared to the ones of the other two Gunpowder Empires. This is the reason we have decided to revisit the Mughals to make them somewhat on par with Persia and the Ottomans.

With that being said, let us take a closer look at the Mughal’s missions:


The spirit of the original mission tree prevails as the new Mughal tree also has a heavy focus on unifying all of India under the Mughal banner. Still, the mission tree also provides some other aspects such as religious tolerance, economy, architecture, military, taxation, and a little bit of diplomacy.

I will present some general highlights of each aspect, starting with the conquest-heavy missions first:


Next are the non-conquest-focused missions, with a wide variety of missions to play with:
Note: the mission icons in these screenshots are from an earlier build. The up-to-date icons can be seen in the overview image of all the missions.

That was it for today’s Developer Diary! Next week Dargeths will present to you the summary of all the features present in the next DLC, that we have been presenting in the Dev Diaries over the past weeks, and an overview of the 1.37 Free Patch. Until then, I wish you all a great week!

As we say goodbye enjoy this comic from FatherLorris:

Hey all, Ryagi here. If you've clicked on this post because you want to see just what modders can do when you let them cook, you're in the right place!

Today we dive into the mods that took part in the Modathon Season 2, modders had only 2 weeks to create these mods. Think game jam but for EUIV mods. The outcome was spectacular, enjoy!

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Hello everyone. We are the Babur’s Gate IV team, and today we are honored to present the fruits of our work during the 2024 Modathon - the first (and currently only) Europa Universalis IV RPG: Babur’s Gate IV.

For the 2024’s Modathon we wanted to make something truly impressive and something that would show how far the game can be pushed to its limits. With 1.36, the modding scene has been revolutionized with the addition of custom GUI. Before, possibilities of modding UI were next to nonexistent and such a project as Babur’s Gate IV could not have simply existed.

[h3]Gameplay Elements[/h3]
Babur’s Gate IV is an RPG comprises of four core components:

• The Combat System
  
• The Inventory System
  
• Custom Map
  
• Moving Story
  

[h3]Combat System[/h3]
The Combat System, at its core, is based on the D&D combat system, obviously rather simplified due to the limitations that we had to work with. Both the player and enemies take their turn to attack their opponents. Each fight lasts until death so be sure to win them. Shown below is an example of a combat encounter that you can experience in the mod.



[h3]Inventory System[/h3]
An RPG wouldn’t be complete without inventory, equipment and character stats. Here you can manage your items and equip better gear to enhance your fighting abilities. As you can see on the gif below, Babur’s Gate allows you to recruit two other characters to your party as you progress the story. Inventory window is also where you can check characters’ stats, like their health, and spend skill points gained from leveling up. We managed to add a rather limited, but still quite impressive from the technical side, crafting system.



[h3]Custom Map[/h3]
Making an RPG required a new map, specifically designed to be as immersive and as realistic as possible within the limits of EU4. Obviously the game wasn’t designed to handle such changes without any issues but we managed to use some of the vanilla mechanics, like the terra incognita to hide part of the maps the player shouldn’t see from the beginning. Instead they discover all paths in a seamless way by just moving their unit.

A map without any environment objects would feel too empty. That’s why we needed to fill it with many custom made (and some borrowed) 3D objects. Some of them are even interactable like berry bushes from which you can pick berries.



[h3]Moving Story[/h3]
No Role-Playing Game would be ever complete without a story. Despite the time constraints, we were able to (mostly) fit the world with plenty of characters and dialogue options, giving your existence in this game a purpose.

In Babur’s Gate IV, you get thrown into an unknown world as Babur - a powerful Indian King who died to an unfortunate Pretender Rebellion. After his unfortunate demise, he finds himself in a foreign forest without anyone from his entourage and without any of his mortal possessions. Will he manage to find his way out of this foreign world? Find out yourself!

The mod includes about 65 unique dialogue options and ~50 NPCs to interact with.


[h3]Future of the Mod[/h3]

For the four of us, Babur’s Gate IV was a showcase of the EUIV modding capabilities and a lovely project to tackle for two weeks. As it stands, none of us has got the time nor motivation to continue the development of the mod. As such, if there are any souls willing to make their own EU4 RPG using Babur’s Gate IV systems’, they are free to do so with the appropriate credit.
The task might seem daunting at first, but with much of the work done & functional, further development would be more focused on the development of a new story and new fights/items rather than working from the bottom-up.

For any further inquiries, feel free to leave us a comment on our workshop page.

[h3]Our Team[/h3]

• CzerstfyChlep
  
• Stiopa
  
• Comrade Flan
  
• Lia
  

Pax Sinica Et Romana

Hello fellow romaboos, I am Lichark and in this portion of the spotlight I’ll shed some light on the development and features of Pax Sinica et Romana!

[h3]The team[/h3]
Before we get into the meat of this spotlight, I would like to introduce the team and their roles during the modathon.

Me and Tomaszrock22 already had some experience with modding Paradox games in the past, mostly with Hearts of Iron IV. While I’m a jack of all trades kind of developer, Tomasz became kind of an expert at map modding. Sadly, we had to divert from our earlier designs that contained more drastic map changes (provinces, impassable terrain, etc.) so he could help with the development of the mission tree instead.

Juisztánosz and Kindiman were introduced to modding during the modathon so they had to learn on the fly. Still, their help was invaluable during the design phase and later on. When they became familiar enough with event modding they did most of the skeleton work for those, which was not an easy task! The two of them also acted like a kind of research department in the team, looking at cool ideas to include.

[h3]Inspirations & Early designs[/h3]
Even during our first brainstorming session we agreed on some foundations for maximum winning potential:

• Rome must be included in some way, everyone loves Rome!
  
• It should have at least one unique mechanic or a base game/DLC mechanic used in a new and creative way.
  
• Lots of flavor text and wacky characters/happenings.
  

After the basics were agreed upon, we had to come up with a scenario that was fun and interesting enough. Juisztánosz wanted to center the project around the Byzantine empire but that would have meant that we had to restructure the content that is already there in that region.
That's when we came up with the whole Sino-Roman empire shtick. We did some research to build a timeline of events that could lead into this scenario, no matter how unbelievable it is. At that time, I thought the best approach to this would be a slow buildup just like how the mod, “Third Odyssey” (Shoutout to the team behind that mod!) does it with a series of events at the start of the game.


(The event that would have decided if the player goes down the normal Ming or the Serican path)

That meant that the player starts as Ming and with a series of events has the choice to prepare an expedition to find the long-lost Sino-Roman heir in Siberia. After that, they became a one province minor in the region with the goal of reclaiming all of China. This concept failed for a few reasons:

• Early wars were not fun.
  
• The execution of the expedition was not reliable and would often fail.
  
• It took too much time to get into the interesting part of the content. We made the mistake of developing this concept for too long and mismanaging the time we had. Because of this, we had to play way safer and remove the majority of our planned content.
  

(The co-emperor mechanic that was nearly done by the time we had to cut it due to time constraints)

After thinking it through why our first try didn’t work out, we had an emergency brainstorm. There we made the following changes to the scenario:

• Serica has to exist in the 1444 start date, so the players can engage with its content from the start.
  
• It has to be balanced somehow, so it’s not too overpowered with all the lands it controls.
  
• It shouldn’t be particularly hard to get through the mod, it should be just a fun, one-time playthrough with a few fun additions. With these changes and not much time left we started working!
  

[h3]Friends & Foes[/h3]


(Map of Asia in the 1444 start date)

With the map finalized, we thought it would make it even more interesting if we created country-dynamics between Serica and the nations around it. We made sure to give the player the option to fully annex or vassalize these nations for roleplaying reasons.
Here’s a quick run-down of the three main nations around Serica:

• Nihon is meant to be the Carthage to our Serica. During the Sengoku period Romans not only settled in mainland China but in the western Japan too. With their technological and military prowess Ouchi managed to unify most of the region. Their goals are to challenge the Serican power structure.
  
• Mongolia is an interesting nation because it was inspired by the Great Khan Crisis in Stellaris. They were dormant for a time, not attacking anyone or being a threat. If left unchecked they have the opportunity to become a formidable force once again.
  
• Xinzhong is a monastic order with the Grand Sage leading it. After the proclamation of the Serican empire, the last line of the true Han dynasty fled west and took over a large chunk of the empire. They despise everything Serica and the Roman settlers stand for.
  

(The five unique advisors available to hire)

During your conquests there will be times where you have the choice to hire unique advisors in the style of Paragons from Stellaris. They have a bit more personality, some kind of useful ability, and a custom portrait. Some of them even unlock new local organizations.

It’s no secret that I’m a common monument enjoyer. That’s why I decided to include 26 new monuments if we’re not counting the different variations of them. These monuments can be grouped into three different categories:

• Present on the map at the game start but can be changed or altered in some ways over time.
  
• Base game monuments with altered visuals.
  
• Monuments that have their own upgrade path.
  

A large majority of these monuments are unlocked with the religious part of the Serican mission tree.


(All the monuments the player can convert with the “In the Name of God” mission completed)

I would like to mention two monuments that have their own, unique properties.

Xi’an Fortified Mountain Pass:

• This monument is vital at the beginning of the game to repel Mongol attacks but later on loses its importance, so the player can repurpose it to fit their playstyle or destroy it and use the resources for other constructions.
  

Ruins of Beijing:

• Most of us associate monuments with bonuses, we tried to change that with this one. At first it only gives negative modifiers to the province and state. The player has to actively improve it and build it up to restore the city. Once the restorations are over its upgraded to the “Eternal city of Beijing”
  

[h3]Closing thoughts[/h3]
Looking back, the modathon was a great opportunity for our team to work together and have fun. We experienced a ton of hardships over those two weeks but at the end we actually managed to deliver a somewhat cohesive mod.

I would like to thank Chewy, Minnator, Ryagi and Paradox for the opportunity!

Have a good Day!
Lichark



Well hello to everyone who has decided to read this far, it is me Kyhler, back again with more music but this time from the modathon season 2. I have this time been assisted by three others (Byter, Byrd/valdermarhvidjr. and Crack Jeezus) in the creation of these three new tracks. Remember to give them a listen if you haven’t (either through the mod, or on youtube or both ;) ) and we hope that you also learn something from reading this, since there might be some new knowledge for you further down. Enjoy!

[h3]A Journey Begins[/h3]
“A journey begins”, as the title emplies, had to give you a feeling of leaving home for the new journey. Specifically leaving ones home in the eastern part of the silk road, aka China. This was quite a difficult thing to do since on one hand it had to be a little sad because of you leaving your home, but it also needed to capture a feeling of the ‘epicness’ of the journey ahead of you.

These prerequisites is why the song, fundamentally, can be split into two sections with the split occurring at around 1:13, with the introduction of a new idea into the mix. The first section appeals more to the sadness of leaving all you know, while the second part ramps up in both tempo and instruments used to convey that the journey will also be an adventurous one.
I at last want to mention a small bit about instrumentation itself since as you might have discovered one of the instruments might sound a bit unfamiliar to you.

[h3]Hustle and Bustle In Europe[/h3]
This piece is supposed to catch your arrival in europe. You travel through a town and its local market before arriving at the regional city’s busy main-marketplace. As you leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind you, you finally arrive at your destination late in the evening.
As my goal is to educate others, I want to give some insights into the creation process, more specifically into the choice of instruments.

Choosing instruments always depends on a lot of factors. The first question for this decision was “which instruments does EU4/Andreas Waldetoft choose to give a feel of early modern era and EU4?”. The answer I found was “flute and lute”. Now comes in the restriction that I don’t have good sounding sound libraries for lutes, so I just compensated this by a harpsichord, which to the untrained ear (including myself) sounds similar enough. It fits the timeframe anyway. So flute and harpsichord were going to be my main instruments.

But which one should I take for the fuller sections? The answer was simple: strings. They play this very simple rhythm starting at 1:20. I also want to highlight the horns that play a secondary voice (1:34) at first and later on the main voice(1:43). Lastly, listen carefully at 1:25. The flute is not alone anymore, it is reinforced by a piccolo flute.

I only touched the surface of my decision process and instrumentation techniques. If I got your interested for music, try to find specialties while listening to “Hustle and Bustle” yourself. If an instrument appears or disappears, moves into the foreground or stays in the background, mimics another instrument or slightly differs, see what you can find. And give the other two tracks a listen, too. ;D

Lastly, some basics about instrumentation: Not every instrument can play any note. Some notes are just too high or too low to be playable for certain instruments. This is why most instruments have differently sized versions of themselves. The violin for example is smaller than the viola is smaller than the cello is smaller than the double bass. There are also some exotic variants like the contrabassoon (a very deep bassoon) or the piccolo trumpet (a very high trumpet)


[h3]Danger in the Mountains - A call for war[/h3]
As the title refers to, this piece is meant to symbolize the start of a longer conflict between two warring countries. The timpani play a heavy part in this piece as to be the heavy march but also to take the role of an actual war drummer that would rile up his compatriots. There are also later parts of the track, where the horns take over and take us to the later stages of the war with both sides experiencing losses. But even in the sight of these losses, war must always have a winning and a losing side

[h3]Closing thoughts[/h3]
Well we all hope you overall liked this section of the modspotlight and have a good time reading the other mods. PS. as mentioned before, you don’t even need to download the mod on steam to listen to them since they are on youtube aswell. You can find them on this channel https://www.youtube.com/@Kyhler and again, thanks for reading so far.

Professional Armies

Hello, fellow mod enthusiasts! We are 200e200w, Gandalf, Rocksauze, JustFalcon and AllenY, creator team of Professional Armies, a mod idea which aims to expand the army system, by adding a few new mechanics (like army doctrines) and changing how warfare works a bit. It does not aim to completely revolutionize the army mechanics, but to make them fresh and easy to understand!

[h3]Design[/h3]
200’s initial pitch involved adding new warfare mechanics, specifically HOI4-style doctrines. During our day 1 meeting, we expanded the scope to include an experience system that could be invested into three sinks - the aforementioned doctrines, temporary buffs and permanent unit upgrades, as well as minor adjacent features like idea synergies, government reforms and a new building.
The mod is largely unchanged from its original design draft. We considered adding more features like naval doctrines, logistics, a warscore rework and a stagnancy feature but these were stretch goals from the start and either got axed or we just didn’t have time to implement them.

Speaking of time constraints, the modathon offered a unique challenge that shaped the workflow of our group. We had difficulties getting everyone together for meetings (especially due to being spread over 3 different continents), we had to thoughtfully allocate our time to spend on the mod and we had to learn how to use GitHub the hard way. Every day was precious. But this defining element of the modathon is what allowed our project to be what it is: it forced us to break down our design into tight, simple modules that could be worked on independently, it got us to contribute something every day to keep progress going, and saved us a lot of time deliberating over what could have turned into bloated features. Most of us weren’t developers before the modathon, with 200 being the most experienced modder in the team, but we learned through a trial-by-fire how to code, organise, communicate and, in essence, make our own mod.

[h3]Showcase[/h3]
The mod mostly happens on this screen. The vertical bars show the progression of your chosen doctrine, which gives army-wide buffs depending on its nature. The horizontal bars show the progression of your unit professionalisation, which only benefit specific unit types. The five buttons in the bottom right are temporary buffs for occasions where an immediate cheap benefit would be more beneficial than a long-term investment.


The investments into your military are purchased by spending experience, which is tracked in the military tab. It can be acquired both actively and passively through various means, such as battles and events.



The military academy is a building which passively grants experience, though only one may exist in your country.



In addition, each of the army doctrines you can take, synergizes with one of the military idea groups, further boosting the doctrine bonuses!


There are also a few more smaller features you will like!


[h3]Future[/h3]
In response to player feedback, we plan to change some aspects of the mod to improve the compatibility, balance and UX.

First of all, the military academy is the only building we made and it can only be built once per country. In retrospect, it doesn’t make much sense to mess with the construction interface on such a small change, so we are considering to turn the academy into a decision instead.

Secondly, the rate at which experience is gained and lost will be adjusted. As of now, it is pretty easy to finish an entire doctrine tree within just 100 years, when it should be a process that lasts into the endgame. Expect costs to increase and gains to decrease.

Finally, the doctrine overview window will need to be reworked if we want to show the effects of doctrines ahead of time. This isn’t a massive priority but it is something we want to do.

[h3]Retrospective[/h3]

200e200w - This was my second Modathon, and I had a good experience in EU4 modding! However, this project forced me to learn about what I lacked experience in - UI modding. Learning this allowed me to start creating a custom GUI for our mechanics, which my teammates further polished later on. Being the most experienced member of our team, I was also the person that did most of the coding, especially regarding the more intricate parts of Professional Armies. I felt really happy that people liked our lightweight mod! But I felt happiest when I read that we won the General Mechanics category! I feel proud of our mod and hope it will stay popular!

Gandalf - My modding experience was shallow before the modathon; I mostly just messed around with adding custom modifiers through decisions and changing the defines a little. I joined Professional Armies specifically because it had a simple scope, so I knew I wouldn’t be overwhelmed for my first actual team project. It ended up being a great idea - I learned a lot about how the GUI and localisation work in this game and knowing that I was able to contribute to an award-winning mod gave me the inspiration to consider potentially making some of my own down the line.

JustFalcon - Prior to the modathon, my modding experience was pretty limited. I had a good grip on the basics, but the more difficult areas were completely new to me. Things like UI and Defines were well outside my wheelhouse. I joined Professional Armies to help refine my knowledge and expand the branches of the game I was comfortable working with. I learned a lot by participating, especially about working with a group of other modders and using collaborative tools like GitHub. Overall, I was excited to see our mod take first place in General Mechanics, and it has encouraged me to continue learning how to improve my modding so that in the next modathon, I can do even better.

Rocksauze - I had some limited modding experience going into the modathon. I joined the modathon to learn more about EU4 modding. I ended up learning a lot from participating in the modathon; from UI modding to how to work with a team under time pressure and winning several awards in the modathon was the cherry on top. I really enjoyed my time during the modathon and recommend everyone to take part in the next one.

[h3]Conclusion[/h3]
We hope you enjoyed our overview of the mod. We’re very proud of the work we’ve done and grateful to Chewy and the Modathon Organisers for the opportunity to collaborate on this project. Enjoy specializing your army in your own, unique way!

-The Professional Armies Team



Hey, this is Sol, from the Upon a Crimson Horse (UaCH) team. Have you ever looked at the Timurids and wondered why they always have the same, boring collapse? Or do you think that disasters in EU4 are far too easy, and don’t meet the level of carnage and destruction that you want? Upon a Crimson Horse focuses on revamping the Timurid Succession Crisis with the most brutal and destructive war that EU4 has ever seen, providing an interesting early game challenge before transitioning into the Persia region gameplay you know and love.

Historically, the Timurid Succession Crisis was actually a set of three wars, the first of which had already happened before the 1444 start date, and resulted in Shah Rukh Mirza ruling the Timurid Realm from Herat. We focus on the Second Succession Crisis, when the sons and grandsons of Shah Rukh, alongside other descendants of Timur, battled it out over the Timurid Empire.
[ATTACH]1110958[/ATTACH]
the updated Timurid realm at the beginning of the game

The Timurid realm is decentralized across a series of local rulers, some of which are descendants of TImur, while others are local dynasties. Mechanically, this is represented through a unique subject type, the “Emirate”. These emirates are divided into Princes, those of the Timurid dynasty, and Governors, those of a local dynasty. Some notable princes with focused content include the Timurids themselves/Herat, Transoxania, Ajam, and Balkh.
Of course, the empire didn’t collapse all at once, and Shah Rukh himself even lived into 1447, and so the opening of the mod focuses on a few significant events before the civil war breaks out, including Sultan Muhammad’s rebellion in Ajam and Ulugh Beg’s attempt to steal Shah Rukh’s body.

Watch the steady collapse of your kingdom unfold right before your eyes!!

[h3]The Timurid Succession Crisis[/h3]

Once the disaster fully ticks up, the Timurid State collapses, represented by a slew of unique mechanics and over 150 unique, flavorful events. In EU4, wars are typically a 1 on 1 affair, with each side bringing in their alliances. This does not effectively model the Timurid Succession Crisis, which was a constant free-for-all between the various contenders. Instead, there is a multi-way civil war, with every participant always at war with every other participant, until one contender can finally defeat the others and place themselves at the top.
The Prince and Governor distinction becomes very important here, as they have different mechanics during the civil war. The war begins with all princes declaring war on each other, and the governors getting the choice to swear fealty to a particular prince or to fight as equals. In addition, there are unique government mechanics for both, and governors can promote themselves to princes for a different ending.

In both cases, the CBs result in the subjugation of the defeated party in war, through a unique peace deal, making the loser’s realm Emirates of the winner. This build-up towards a vassal swarm results in a satisfying snowball towards the end of the war, balancing out the devastation and depletion of resources over the decade-plus of fighting. These wars are started through events, and a series of event-driven mechanics ensure that the Timurids continue fighting till one power is on top; any war that doesn’t end in total subjugation is treated as a “ceasefire” and will shortly start up again.

The map is also dynamic, with princes shattering or spitting out smaller regional states at various intervals, each of which join the Succession Crisis as a prince / governor; in fact, almost every single relevant province has an “OPM tag” associated with it, each of which have unique flags and ideas, courtesy of Cetai! These will be spit out and join the war when the right conditions are met.

Every single OPM that can revolt just from Herat alone

Of course, a fractured Timurid realm represents easy pickings for outsiders, something that certainly did happen historically with the Shaybanid conquest into Bukhara and the Turcoman conquest of the western emirs. This intervention is represented through “Interloping,” which can be done through the custom UI. A country declares their intent to intervene for a particular portion (“Region”) of the Timurid realm, as shown in the custom UI. The interloper starts a war against any prince / governor with a province in that region, and must occupy every single province in that region, at which point they can conquer the entire region and exit the war. If they lose any of these wars at any point, their conquest ends, and they leave with nothing.
[ATTACH]1110961[/ATTACH]
A wonderful map painting minigame, in a map painting game.

[h3]Ending the Succession Crisis[/h3]

We’ve talked about ending the succession crisis before; there are 2 main pathways to achieve this, both again through the custom UI screen. A Timurid Prince can attempt to “Reclaim Timur’s Legacy” after they have subjugated every single contender in the Civil War: this turns their tag into the Timurids and ends the wars. A Timurid Governor (or interloper) can attempt to “End Timur’s Legacy” if they have vassalized, or occupied the capital of, every Prince, which destroys the Timurid mechanics and sends a demand of subjugation to every ex-Prince and ex-Governor on the map.

The most satisfying button click ever, trust me

While Ending Timur’s Legacy might be the end, the same cannot be said for Reclaim Timur’s Legacy. In Upon a Crimson Horse, the “Third Timurid Succession Crisis” is represented by an infinitely repeating disaster, triggering the succession crisis over and over again until no Timurids remain. This, of course, can be prevented by a skilled player, through the Government Reformation mechanics now available. A new meter, “Persianization”, is visible in the government screen; reaching +100 allows for reformation into Persia, while -100 lets the player become a centralized and powerful Horde, in the image of Timur and Genghis Khan before him. The majority of progress comes from a series of events which carry significant costs, making it a challenge not to collapse into bankruptcy or a separate disaster in time. The rewards are significant, and your united Persia/Timurids will soon be on the path to Asian domination.

Rebels? What rebels? Oh, you mean our involuntary corps!

We hope you enjoy playing our mod! We’ve got plans to update several of the mechanics and add some post-succession crisis content, and of course, integrate it well into the next DLC which is adding Timurid content!

[h3]The Team:[/h3]

• Inferno: Lead Developer, flavor and ui
  
• Xorme (of Xorme AI): Art and ui
  
• Sol_InvictusXLII (of EU4 Minesweeper): Mechanics and Succession Crisis wars
  
• Cetai: flavor and events
  
• Minnator: events
  

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We hope you enjoyed reading about these mods! You can find all of them listed here:

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Welcome back to another Development Diary! This week we will talk about the Hordes that occupy the lands between the Pontic Steppe and Mongolia.

Before we start, I want to share with you some changes we made, based on the feedback we received since the last development diary:

• The formable countries that required Tech 20, will now be unlocked with Tech 18. This will affect all formable countries that previously required Tech 20.
  
• Andean Empire and Divine Kingship now allow their country to use to use Divine ideas instead of Aristocratic ideas.
  
• High-American nations will be able to benefit from Obsidian sources.
  

And with that, let's get into today's content.

By 1444, the era of Genghis Khan was long gone and only the remnants of its successor states populated the steppes. The descendants of the Yuan dynasty had found themselves under the Oirat Khanate, which would lead to a conflict with the Ming dynasty known as the Tumu Crisis; the Golden Horde had just recently disintegrated into various other states; the Uzbeks would begin their migration south into Bukhara after being beaten by the Sibirs and Kazakhs; and lastly, Moghulistan, the successor of the Chagatai Khanate, would be embroiled in a civil war.

Some of the historical events mentioned are already present in the game, such as the dwindling Tatar Yoke in Russia, the unrest of the Kazakh and Sibir people, and the Tumu Crisis in China. As the successors can roughly be split into three groups, the Successors of the Golden Horde, the Khans of Central Asia, and the Mongols of Northern Yuan in the East, we decided to create three separate branches for them.

Before discussing the content, I briefly want to mention a change to the nation of Chagatai. In 1444, the Khanate was splintered for multiple decades and the remnants were instead known as Moghulistan. For that reason, Chagatai is no more; instead, the nation has been renamed more appropriately:



With that out of the way, let us start with the conquest trees. All the Horde mission trees share some common conquest missions, but depending on the region the overall progression will be different:

Note: as always, all art shown in this Development Diary is placeholder.

With the Golden Horde splintered, the nations of Crimea, Kazan, Great Horde, and Nogai will have their starting missions be about reuniting the lands there, as well as combating the increasing power of the Muscovites.



After your conquest of Russia and reaffirmation of the Tatar Yoke, you will be able to reach the furthest western extent of the Mongol Conquests into the Carpathian Basin.



Having talked about the Western conquests, let’s now turn our attention to the east into the steppes of Central Asia and beyond if you want to assert your dominance of the hordes and restore the Mongol Empire.

For the Tatar Hordes, this will mean that their rewards will overlap with other hordes as well. Each Region of the Hordes will have access to a unique branch of their Conquest mission:

• Tatars will have unique missions about the Tatar Lands and Russia
  
• Central Asian Hordes have unique missions about Central Asia and Persia
  
• Oirat and Mongolia will have unique missions about China
  

These branches will not be absent for the others, for example, the Tatars and Central Asian Hordes will have access to the same mission tree concerning China, and the same goes for the other combination. So with all of that in mind, the next few missions will be shared with either Central Asian Hordes and Mongols.

With this explanation out of the way, let us look at the Central Asian and Chinese parts of the conquest tree. Central Asia in 1444 was much more split than what is shown in the game. The Kazakhs and Sibirs were effectively their own tribes, which is why that is represented for Uzbek as extra unrest. They were not made into independent nations at the start though; however, as both the Mongols and the Tatars you’ll be able to make Kazakh into your own subject through the tree, feeding them their core land should you wish to do that. Once you conquer most of Central Asia, you’ll be able to turn them into an incorporated vassal, which are subjects that are more closely aligned with your own country, making them cheaper to integrate.



Moving on to the lands of China, you’ll be able to press the claims of the Yuan dynasty for yourself, making them a Mongol Brother Realm, as well as a new evolving modifier called ‘Like a Dragon’, that will help your nomadic playstyle once you conquer China. During your conquest, you will of course be able to adapt your country to the new challenges and people that are now part of your realm.



Going to the lands of Persia, the missions there will revolve around the re-establishment of the Mongol Rule and the Ilkhanate state which was destroyed before the era of Timur. Since the region is dominated by the Timurid dynasty and no direct successor, the Central Asian hordes will be able to reform the Ilkhanate TAG, should they ever wish to. As for the rest, they’ll be able to set up their own Brother Realm in the lands there. The missions there also allow you to go even further than the Mongols managed to, expanding your reach from Persia into Hindustan and Egypt.



When you manage to unite all of the Mongol Empire you’ll be able to finish the last mission in the conquest part of the tree, ‘Pax Mongolica’. With the full force of a unified Mongol Empire under your control, the world will truly be the grazing ground for your horses.



Before we proceed to the differences in the Mongol and Central Asian missions, the Mongol Empire has its requirements slightly changed. You will no longer be required to directly own all the Mongol Empire provinces but instead, you will be able to form them using subjects as well, since the Mongol Brother Realms would normally lock you from reforming the once great state, and for all Chagatai enthusiasts, Chagatai will be able to form them as well (more on that in the Central Asia part of the development diary). Additionally, the Tier 1 Great Mongol State reform that the Mongol Empire has will now give you access to Siberian Frontiers as well in order to make it possible to take the rest of the Siberian lands.



I mentioned the Mongol Brother Realm a few times and now it is time to explain a bit more in depth what these are. In order to allow for the player to have all of the successor states under one banner, the Ilkhanate, Golden Horde, and Yuan will now be able to become subjects under the strongest successor. They will provide little to no Liberty Desire but they will pay you extra money for being vassals, as well as provide bonuses to your cavalry. They will also be able to declare their own wars. While this is the intention to keep for now, we would like to hear your opinion on this subject and what you think.



Moving on from this, let us look at some of the differences between the Mongol and Central Asian sections, starting from the remnants of the Yuan dynasty.

The Oirat will now have a bit more options available during the Tumu Crisis. Should they be able to capture the Chinese emperor Zhu Qizhen they will be able to leverage his captivity for a justified conquest in China. The Tumu Crisis mission will allow you to transform your modifier “Captured the Emperor” to grant Core-Creation Cost and Province War Score Cost. The “Reuniting the Mongols” Event will also be present in the Mission Tree, allowing you to unify the Mongol cultures into one.



The Russian and Tatar section of the conquest for both Mongols and Central Asian Hordes will revolve around conquering the remnants of the Golden Horde and having the choice to make them a Mongol Brother Realm, as well as gaining the ability to recruit Cossacks.



Lastly, let us look at the differences for Central Asians. As mentioned before, Chagatai had been fragmented during the 14th Century and Moghulistan survived as a successor state. You’ll be able to restore them should you complete the Unification of Chagatai mission, which will allow you to pursue forming the Mongol Empire. Other missions revolve around the Kazakhs as well as the central position of the Silk Road these nations sit in. Once you decide to move to Persia, you’ll also gain the choice to reform the Ilkhanate.



While conquest is no doubt a central part of any horde gameplay, this is not all the missions will have to offer, after all, conquest means nothing if you can’t stabilize the realm. A second part of the mission will delve into your internal administration and economic dealings. These will be available to all of the previously mentioned groups, while Yuan specifically has a different branch than the others. Additionally, a small tree of branching missions will offer you the choice between tolerance and devotion to your faith.



The Hordes had to rely on a tributary system to amass their wealth, and this is represented under the Strengthen the Basqaqs Mission. While Tributaries might not be a desirable long-term goal of your campaign, the additional rewards will be able to get your Host of Armies off the ground.



As the Horde Administration differs from a standard feudal society, the game struggled a bit with an accurate representation of this. These missions will allow you to adjust and reform your interactions with the Tribal Estate, elevating the nobles among the tribes, and getting rid of some of the destabilizing issues a horde will have to deal with at the start of the game. With things such as Tribal Absolutism, a privilege that benefits more from your Max Absolutism, giving you an incentive to keep your estate privileges to a minimum in order to make the most out of it, and forcing your Tribes to accept even the youngest child as the legitimate khan.



Something that is not inherently linked to your status as a horde, but the region you occupy, is the Silk Road and your control over the important trading posts of the regions. By controlling the important centers of trade along the Silk Road and its expansions into Persia you will be able to control the flow of trade between the eastern and western parts of your empire.



Lastly, let us talk about Yuan. When we worked on Domination, it was very requested by the community to make available to them the new mission tree section for the Emperor of China. Now, we’ve decided that the owners of the new DLC will get access to the Emperor of China missions, and we're also making it possible for the owners of Domination to have those missions available while playing with the old Mongol mission tree, which is part of the base game. Please, also remember that this is only working with the Mandate of Heaven EoC mechanics, so you also need that DLC for them to appear and be playable.

This is not all that changes around Yuan, their flavor missions will be quite different in order to represent both the Mongol and Chinese character of the former dynasty.



In this combination, Yuan will have access to quite a sizable mission tree with 65 missions. The flavor part of the Yuan tree revolves around the mix of Chinese and Mongol characters that Yuan had, allowing you to be highly expansionist whilst also backing these conquests with a highly efficient bureaucracy.



And this concludes this week's Development Diary! Next week Ogele will be back, showing off the content of the Timurids and Mughals!

Before we say goodbye, a word from FatherLorris. Let the army composition comments commence!!!

Hey everyone, welcome to another Developer Diary! Before we get to the content, we would like to let you know that we have gathered a lot of feedback regarding last week’s Diary from various sources, and are extremely happy that the new Central European content generated feedback and positivity! Despite that, there have been some concerns and requests, so before we move on, let’s take a look at what has changed since then, thanks to this feedback:

• Hungary is now a (re)formable nation for tags with Hungarian or Transylvanian primary cultures.
  
• Hungarian conquest missions no longer require Hungary to be an independent nation, which should make them a much more attractive subject.
  
• The 'Serbian Despotate' Tier 1 government reform now grants access to the Order of the Dragon.
  
• We have added the 'Bohemian Commonwealth' optional cosmetic country rename as a reward of the namesake mission.
  
• The decision to form Romania was updated to account for the map changes introduced in Emperor. It now correctly requires the province of Tolcu instead of Silistria.
  
• The Aztec ‘Blood’ mechanic is now named ‘Tonalli’.
  
• The 'Tēlpochcalli' Academy Local Organization now gives a +5 Governing Cost Increase instead of -1 Building Slots in the entire area.
  
• The Personal Union Casus Belli on Poland for Austria requires them to have less than 400 development instead of less than 300, making it less harsh on the player.
  
• The 'Universal Empire' incident can now be acquired by a Spanish Emperor as well, and it should have harsher penalties.
  
• To address the concerns regarding the weakness of the Hussite HRE path and the princes converting to Protestantism, we have tweaked the event which will now make them less likely to convert if the player manages to convert a sizeable portion of the HRE to Hussite.
  

That said, let’s move into today’s new content, which is centered on very different Middle Eastern nations.

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One of the most requested countries, this last bastion of the Ayyubids is slated to receive a plethora of flavorful content. From missions to events, government reforms, and more, let’s take a deep dive at what’s in store!

Although the Ayyubids were of Kurdish origin, they were under ample Arabic influence, and most of their country was Arabic. In order to represent it, they have been given a new T1 'Ayyubid Dynasty' government reform, which negates the unaccepted culture modifier in all owned Levantine provinces. In other words, all Levantine cultures which are not accepted will be treated as accepted.



Note: As usual, all Art in the Developer Diary is placeholder.

Rounding off our setup changes is the new lore startup screen which explains the history of the dynasty from the Rise of Saladin until 1444 as well as the standard of Saladin, replacing the old flag. Lastly, Hisn Kayfa will gain access to the “Ayyubids“ cosmetic name which has been highly requested. It is unlocked through their new mission tree, and unlocking it will also empower your national ideas, akin to Great Armenia from King of Kings.



The mission tree was designed with flexibility in mind, allowing players to choose their path without being constrained to any specific outcome such as the formation of any tag. While there's ample content for those wishing to remain as the Ayyubids, players are also free to pursue other formables such as Egypt, Arabia, Timurids, Persia, or Mughals. The core focus of the mission tree revolves around restoring the Ayyubid Sultanate and vying for control of the Caliphate, offering claims stretching from Khorasan to Andalusia.

In regions historically not under Ayyubid control, the mission tree provides branching paths. Players can opt to conquer Persia and Anatolia for additional claims and temporary rewards, or alternatively, cultivate alliances in those regions and have allies complete missions on their behalf, unlocking enduring benefits. Approximately half of the missions are geared towards strategic development, including securing alliances, bolstering military strength, revitalizing Baghdad, controlling the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and even constructing the Suez Canal.

The Ayyubids after recovering their hegemony over the Middle East!

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Hormuz & Oman, despite their geographical proximity in the Arabian Peninsula, showcase distinct playstyles shaped by their religious beliefs and cultural traditions. Hormuzi merchants wield influence across India, Persia, and Arabia, leveraging their trade prowess, while Oman is renowned for its shipbuilding expertise and stands as one of the two starting Ibadi nations in the game. In a manner reminiscent of the dynamics between Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu from King of Kings, both nations share a common end goal in their mission trees, yet their approaches feature subtle distinctions tailored to their unique attributes and strengths. Let’s take a closer look!



Given their aforementioned close proximity, Hormuz and Oman inevitably find themselves in a struggle for dominance as they seek to expand into Arabia and unite the peninsula. Despite their mercantile focus on expanding power in India and Southeast Asia, both nations recognize the importance of controlling their immediate surrounding provinces. Consequently, the rewards for uniting Arabia, while significant, tend to be more generalized to accommodate the broader ambitions of these trade-oriented nations.



The trade aspect of their mission trees introduces a new Government Mechanic known as 'Arabian Mercantilism' for both nations. This mechanic empowers them to enhance their merchants and overseas outposts, enabling them to efficiently direct the lucrative trade of Asia into Arabia without extensive overseas conquest:



The lower section of the tree delves deeper into this unique mechanic, offering missions that can be completed without the need for extensive territorial conquest, aside from in India. Rather, players must focus on accumulating trade power in specific trade nodes. The rewards are particularly enticing; players can trigger the Spice Trade event independently of European involvement in the Indies, and even enact Thalassocracy much earlier and without the necessity of investing in idea groups.



As we showcased at the beginning of this section, the Omani and Hormuzi content hosts key differences when it comes to their mission trees. As such, divergent paths emerge for tackling their respective challenges. For instance, Hormuz will bolster provincial trade power in their fortified provinces, whereas Oman will incorporate a more pronounced religious aspect into certain missions. However, both nations will share access to a distinctive reward: the ability to establish the 'Arabian Traders' privilege, granting players the freedom to select bonuses tailored to their strategic preferences:



On the right side of the tree, a distinct branch unfolds for each nation. Hormuz, leveraging its ties within the Timurid Empire, will find a dedicated path focused on Persia, recognizing its significance as a pivotal trade node in the region:



For Oman, the branch will center around their renowned establishment of the Sultanate of Oman-Zanzibar. Players will embark on missions aimed at asserting dominance over the trade in the region, while also laying the foundation for their own formidable marine corps:



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Historically, the rulers of Trebizond established a tradition of marrying into Muslim families, such as the Turkomen Aq & Qara Qoyunlus. This was a pragmatic solution to gain alliances to protect the declining Komnenid realm. Trebizond has received a new 'Empire of Trebizond' Tier 1 government reform as a part of the free update, which includes a new modifier that increases the heathen countries‘ opinion of Trebizond, and the owners of the DLC will also receive access to the new 'Heathen Royal Marriage' which will allow Trebizond to create royal marriages with heathens despite being Christian.



While extensive cultural or provincial overhauls are not feasible, we have introduced the Cappadocian culture. This culture can be established in Anatolia through the new mission tree of Trebizond, as well as via the King of Kings mission tree of Byzantium. Furthermore, in order to increase the representation of the Greek population in Anatolia, we have turned the province of Samsun into a Greek Orthodox province with a Trapezuntine core, since the province was only conquered by the Ottomans some 20 years before the start date. Lastly, Greek dynamic province names now also apply to Pontic and Cappadocian cultures.



The mission tree's central objective is the restoration of Byzantium. Progressing along this path empowers the 'Komnenian Restoration' modifier, which evolves with each completed mission. The culmination of this effort is the conquest of Constantinople, which permanently enhances the modifier, offering benefits to core creation cost, army tradition, and prestige decay. Additionally, forming Byzantium through the new Trapezuntine mission tree grants significant amounts of monarch power.



The Caucasian branch of the mission tree focuses on asserting control over the region of the Caucasus, offering players the option to achieve this goal through military conquest or diplomatic means, where allies control the territory. Each method of completion yields different rewards. Additionally, players are tasked with securing their Caucasian borders by pacifying the hordes to the north. This branch also introduces the ability to integrate the Georgian culture into the Byzantine culture group:



Some more highlights around the mission tree revolve around:

• Hellenization of Anatolia. Trebizond will be able to convert the Anatolian region to Hellenic cultures – Greek, Pontic, and Cappadocian through events.
  
• Referencing the historically close ties between the Komnenian dynasty and the Crusader states of the Levant, a small mission branch has been added. This branch involves liberating Cilicia, resulting in the local culture shifting to Armenian and excluding Armenian provinces from Hellenization events. The culmination of this branch is the liberation of the Holy Land, unlocking a Tier 2 ¡Crusader Nobility' reform with beneficial modifiers and allowing players to release Jerusalem as a vassal regardless of age and religion.
  
• Another branch of the mission tree focuses on Genoa and the recovery of Perateia, the Trapezuntine Black Sea colonies. Initially burdened with an estate privilege symbolizing Latin dominance over the Black Sea trade routes, Trebizond must either forge an alliance with Genoa or expel them from the region to rid itself of this constraint. Similarly, the mission tree presents various options for dealing with Theodoro, offering the chance to vassalize them through an event or to seize the province by force, unlocking a permanent local modifier.
  

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The Principality of Theodoro is one of the hardest starts in this DLC, having to combat the Hordes, the Ottomans as well as the Italians, they will have to use clever diplomacy and some newfound tools if they are to survive.



The mission tree centers on the expansion into neighboring lands. Players will have opportunities to subjugate the Tatars in the North and engage in conflicts with the Byzantines and Ottomans in the South, providing them with the option to proclaim themselves as the true emperors of the East. Additionally, they can utilize their connections in Russia to pursue diplomatic relations with the Muscovites, culminating in the 'Gothic Invasion'.

Starting missions will primarily focus on conflicts with Genoa. Historically, the Gavras dynasty of Theodoro experienced a gradual decline in influence, leading to their eventual annexation by the Ottomans. This will be represented through the introduction of a new privilege, the Italian Coastal Influence, which imposes penalties on sailors and trade power until resolved. Moreover, Genoa will gain 20 trade power in the Black Sea as long as this privilege remains active. These initial missions offer two paths for completion: either through conquest by expelling the Italians from Crimea or through diplomacy by fostering friendly relations with them.



Regarding their relations with the hordes, Theodoro takes a unique approach. Rather than focusing on the Gothic culture, which is only present in one province, they can opt to integrate with the Tatars. This strategy enables them to gain bonuses for their Cossacks and strengthen their steppe provinces economically.



Furthermore, as descendants of one of the Byzantine families that once served under the Komnenos, players will have the opportunity to press their claim and set sail south to conquer Constantinople. In doing so, they will earn various rewards aimed at demonstrating to the people of the Balkans and the Aegean the superiority of Gothic ways.



The image above highlights a distinctive tier 1 government reform, alongside a unique diplomatic action. However, in actuality, Theodoro has access to two tier 1 government reforms, the other being the 'Merchant Aristocracy'. Reflecting the quasi-republican nature of this merchant nation, this reform has been introduced, granting Theodoro the ability to establish trade posts and enhance their economic foundation from the outset.



The 'Recruit Foreign General' diplomatic action addresses Theodoro's historical reliance on hiring foreigners to lead their armies due to their minuscule population. While the use of mercenaries is represented through buffs in their ideas, the diplomatic action fills the gap for hiring foreign officers. With this action, players can pay an ally one year of their income, and in exchange, the ally will appoint a general for Theodoro's army. The general's stats will be influenced by the ally's army tradition and their opinion of Theodoro.



Given the Gavras family's ties to Russia, a small branching mission path is available, providing players with options for their Russian diplomacy. They can opt for a peaceful approach, forming alliances that culminate in the ability to recruit Streltsy. Alternatively, they can pursue a more aggressive strategy by pressing their claim to the Russian throne, leading to substantial expansion of their realm.



Finally, upon completing all tasks, players gain access to the 'Gothic Invasion' mission. After humiliating the Holy Roman Emperor and solidifying their position as an empire, they unlock a unique casus belli. The 'Gothic Invasion' casus belli functions similarly to the Imperialism one, with the distinction that it is limited to European provinces only.



Thank you for tuning into another Developer Diary, as always your feedback and comments are incredibly vital and appreciated as we fine-tune the content! Next week Markus will discuss and showcase new content around the Hordes of Asia!

And of course, today's diary wouldn't be complete without a Father Lorris comic:

Hello folks! Today's Dev Diary covers some key central European countries, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary & Germany.

As you can see, all of these countries received some Mission Trees before in the Emperor DLC. Therefore we decided that these nations should receive a touch-up, that is, an update similar in scope to that which Spain received during Domination. Thus, the main idea was not a total overhaul, but preservation of the core skeleton of their old tree, improving and expanding it where needed, and adding additional flavor and as many important historical things as possible that could not fit into their old mission trees.

Unfortunately, this Developer Diary is simply too long to share directly here on steam, so if you are interested,
[h2]You can find the rest of this Dev Diary over on our forums[/h2]

To amend our misgivings of making you click links, we present you this weeks comics by FatherLorris:


Next week PDXBigBoss will be back with Hisn Kayfa, Hormuz, Oman, Theodoro and Trebizond. Have a wonderful day!