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Good morning! This will be the last in my series of dev diaries about new content coming to South-East Asia. This week we’ll be covering another assortment of countries, with a focus on Lan Xang and Sunda.
Above is the mission tree for Lan Xang, the Land of a Million Elephants. Lan Xang was founded in 1353, in the midst of the collapse of the Khmer Empire. A Lao prince, Fa Ngum, was given an army by the Khmer king and as well as authority to establish a friendly buffer state in modern Laos. Laos was once ruled directly by the Khmer, but the empire was no longer capable of exerting any control over the region. Fa Ngum was successful in his campaigns and carved out the Kingdom of Lan Xang, ultimately becoming even more powerful than the crumbling Khmer empire.
Some highlights for this mission tree:
- Much like in the Vietnamese mission tree, one part of the tree kicks off with the conflict over the one-province nation of Muang Phuan. Owning the province or having it owned by your subject will grant a Subjugation CB against Dai Viet.
- The Raid on Cambodia mission grants a Subjugation CB against Khmer.
- You’ll have to Subjugate Lan Na using your own means, but once you do you’ll get a Subjugation CB against Ayutthaya.
- Last week we talked about the Emerald Buddha mini-mechanic, and Lan Xang is one of the nations that must acquire the Buddha as part of their mission tree. I’ll get into the subsequent mission in just a bit.
- I’ll also talk about the Avoid Fragmentation mission below, but essentially it requires surviving intact until 1700.
Lan Xang has also received a couple of tweaks to their national ideas:
- 10% cavalry power increased to 15%
- 1% Missionary Strength replaced with 15% Cavalry/Infantry Ratio
LXA can form Siam to get their more extensive mission tree as well as a new set of National Ideas.
I mentioned that I’d talk more about Lan Xang’s religious missions. Above is a new Estate Privilege for the Monastic Orders, available to Lao countries in the Eastern religion group. Lan Xang begins with this privilege in 1444. It greatly increases your Tolerance of Heathens and negates the religious unity penalty of your Animist provinces, but it also significantly increases the Influence of the Monastic Orders and entirely negates the +2 Tolerance of the True Faith from your National Ideas. The Convert the Polytheists mission requires that you revoke this privilege, convert all the Animists in your country, and achieve at least 90% Religious Unity. To help with revoking the privilege, completing the Steal the Emerald Buddha mission grants +20 Monastic Orders Loyalty.
On the topic of religion, here’s the religion mapmode in 1444. Of particular note are all the Animist provinces owned by Lan Xang, the bastion of Mahayana Buddhism in inland Pahang, and the fact that Ligor is now a Siamese Buddhist nation.
I also mentioned Lan Xang’s Avoid Fragmentation mission. Unlike several other countries in the South-East Asia update, this doesn’t refer to a full-fledged Disaster, but instead it’s a series of additional events added to the existing Civil War Disaster if you are playing as Lan Xang.
If during this Disaster pretender rebels occupy either Vientiane, Champassak, or Luang Prabang an event will fire that releases the respective country from their home state as well as the Khorat state for Vientiane and Champassak if you own any of it. If when one of these events fires you do not own the other two cities, instead your tag will change to either Vientiane, Champassak, or Luang Prabang depending on the circumstance. Players will be warned about these events when the Civil War Disaster begins for Lan Xang. You can prevent this from happening by either avoiding the Civil War Disaster, completing the Prevent Fragmentation mission, or forming a different nation (such as Siam).
Now on to a very different nation:
Shown above is the mission tree for Sunda, with unique missions highlighted in red and the rest being the Malay mission tree. The Sunda Kingdom is an ancient realm, surviving through the rise and fall of great empires without ever establishing a hegemony of their own. For nearly all of their shared history, Sunda and Majapahit had excellent relations and recognized each other as equals despite the disparity in strength. This changed when the Majapahit leader Gajah Mada - having vowed to bring all of Nusantara under Majapahit rule - used a royal wedding to declare Majapahit’s supremacy over Sunda. This resulted in the Battle of Bubat in 1357, which Sunda decisively lost. Despite this, Majapahit did not go on to conquer Sunda. Instead, the Majapahit court punished Gajah Mada for his dishonorable actions and stripped him of his power. Sunda survived, but relations between the two states would never recover.
Some highlights from the Sunda mission tree::
- The Consider Islam mission requires owning 4 Sunni provinces and fires an event giving you the opportunity to convert your nation to Sunni Islam, immediately converting several of your provinces. Alternatively you can gain 1% Missionary Strength and +1 Tolerance of the True Faith for the rest of the game while remaining Hindu.
- The next mission, Develop New Cities, requires increasing the development of Cirebon, Kalapa, and Banten to 20. This will then fire an event prompting you to relocate your capital: picking Banten or Cirebon will immediately cause you change your nation to Banten or Cirebon. Whichever capital you pick, it will gain +2 additional development in each category and Kalapa will be renamed to Jayakarta.
- The Rebuild Candi Temples mission requires owning at least 15 Temple buildings and finding an ally that follows any Buddhist faith. Completing this mission unlocks the Buddha Personal Deity discussed previously.
- The Improve Rice Production mission unlocks the Improved Irrigation privilege discussed previously that reduced the development cost of your grain-producing provinces by 10%.
- The Legacy of Bubat mission can be completed in two very different ways. One method requires that you become strong enough to guarantee Majapahit - this fires an event that describes a royal wedding between Sundanese and Majapahit royalty, and in a reversal of the betrayal preceding Bubat Sunda will take the opportunity to make Majapahit into a vassal state.
- The subsequent Rule Java mission requires directly owning all of Java, and rewards a free Administrative Policy for the rest of the game.
- The Conquer Lampung mission rewards Subjugation CB’s against every country with its capital on Sumatra.
Shown above are the missions unique to the Spice Islands of Ternate and Tidore - they’ll also get the Malay mission tree. These nations have the potential to become very rich through a monopoly on the trade in Cloves, a new trade good discussed in a previous dev diary.
Some highlights for Tidore and Ternate:
- The missions begin by tasking you with removing your rival spice traders from the map. Once you accomplish this, an event will fire asking you to select a location for your first colony. This will naturally great a colony in the selected location. Subsequent missions in the leftmost branch require the completion of these colonies and reward additional colonies on completion.
- Completing this branch of missions rewards you with +1 Colonist and -50% Native uprising Chance for the rest of the game.
- Export Cloves requires being the strongest trade power in the Moluccas node, as well as building to your naval forcelimit. It awards permanent claims on Sulawesi, which you pursue in the Conquer Sulawesi mission.
One last set of missions: Bali! Once again, Bali also receives the Malay mission tree.
- Bali begins as a tributary state of Majapahit, and its first mission requires ending that relationship while not having a truce with Majapahit. Completing this mission rewards you with a free colony on the neighboring island of Lombok. Completing this colony allows you to complete the Expand Eastwards mission, which then rewards an additional colony on Sumbawa and +25 Global Settler Increase for the rest of the game.
- The Majapahit Refugees requires that Majapahit either does not exist or is a subject nation. This grants you a massive -80% advisor cost for 20 years, representing the flight of many former Majapahit nobles to Bali. It also awards permanent claims on eastern Java.
Last thing for today: national ideas for the formable nations of Siam and Malaya.
MSA_ideas = {
start = {
global_trade_power = 0.15
land_morale = 0.1
}
bonus = {
ship_durability = 0.1
}
trigger = {
tag = MSA
}
free = yes
settle_the_islands = { # same as malay ideas
global_colonial_growth = 20
}
msa_advanced_galley_warfare = {
galley_power = 0.25
}
msa_expert_haggling = {
trade_efficiency = 0.15
}
msa_chart_the_seas = {
own_coast_naval_combat_bonus = 1
naval_morale = 0.15
}
msa_in_every_port = {
merchants = 1
ship_power_propagation = 0.2
}
msa_sea_nomads_steering = {
trade_steering = 0.25
}
msa_spice_kings = {
global_trade_goods_size_modifier = 0.1
}
}
Code:
SIA_ideas = {
start = {
land_morale = 0.1
global_manpower_modifier = 0.3
}
bonus = {
discipline = 0.05
}
trigger = {
tag = SIA
}
free = yes
sia_royal_poets = {
prestige = 1
idea_cost = -0.1
}
sia_advanced_elephant_warfare = {
cavalry_power = 0.15
cavalry_fire = 1
}
sia_experienced_ambassadors = {
diplomatic_reputation = 2
}
sia_encourage_immigration = {
development_cost = -0.1
}
sia_integrating_the_realm = {
diplomatic_annexation_cost = -0.2
}
sia_education_reform = {
technology_cost = -0.1
}
sia_royal_absolutism = {
yearly_absolutism = 1
legitimacy = 1
}
}
That’s all for today! This concludes the 8-part series of development diaries on content for South-East Asia. There are a few things I've done that haven't been featured in dev diaries and there's a possibility of more content for the region being added before release, so don't take these dev diaries as a completely exhaustive list of all SEA content. This content update for South-East Asis is something I’ve wanted to work on for a few years now and I’m very happy that I was able to see my vision realized before the end of my time on the project. I hope you enjoyed reading. Thank you and goodbye!