Developer Diary - 1.34 Monuments

Hello everyone! Today I’ll introduce you to the new monuments we’ve designed for the next update. As before, this content will be free for all Leviathan DLC owners. Along with that, I’ll also comment on some game balance changes we’ve implemented for free in the 1.34 update.

New Monuments

As already mentioned in some of the previous DDs, we decided to introduce a few more monuments. Overall, we’re happy with the monument density we got after the 1.32 update, so we just wanted to address one specific region that was lacking in love (Scandinavia, which fits in pretty well with the upcoming DLC), and a few gaps we wanted to cover here and there. Since we had few monuments to cover this time, we also tried to get creative with the attached modifiers (you may notice some new modifiers on them, also). Let’s see:

The Falun Copper Mine was already present in the game, as a local modifier to the province of Dalaskogen. As it was the main copper production site for Europe in the Modern Age, we decided to turn it into a monument (and for those not owning Leviathan, the local province modifier will stay as it is).

Modifiers:

Built by King Erik VII in the early 15th century, Kronborg Castle was established to enforce the Sound Toll, though it would later be transformed into a magnificent royal residence.

Modifiers:

The city of Visby was one of the main ports on the Baltic trade routes, its walls protected it from its many enemies, making it the heart of an independent Gotland.

Modifiers:

Trakai Island Castle was completed in the early 15th century by Grand Duke Vytautas, first for a military purpose and later transformed into a royal residence.

Modifiers:

Salvador da Bahía was one of the oldest cities established by the Portuguese in Brazil, becoming the capital of the colony for more than two centuries.

Modifiers:

M'banza-Kongo was the seat of Manikongo, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, becoming the most important city in the region during the 15th and 16th centuries, as the power of its king prospered.

Requirements:
Culture is in Kongo group and is accepted by its owner

Modifiers:

The historic city of Harar Jugol was one of the main places of pilgrimage for Muslims, with dozens of mosques and shrines, and a tradition of scholars and holy men.

Requirements:
Province has the state or syncretic religion, which is in Muslim group.

Modifiers:

Dujiangyan is related to the ancient irrigation system developed around the city of the same name, and how it made the Sichuan region one of the most prosperous in China.

Modifiers:

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Idea groups & Policies rebalance

We already talked in previous DDs about the new national ideas that we developed for some countries. Along with that, we decided to rebalance some of the existing idea groups. The general design behind this rebalance was to give again a bit of extra diversity to the different groups available, so choosing different possibilities between them might be more viable from this update. Getting into more detail, here are some of the reasoning behind specific changes:

• Ideas giving National Manpower and Land Force limit are nerfed, to combine them with the new changes in the combat system. We felt that there were already many different sources of Manpower and Land Force available to the player and that also some ideas (e.g. Quantity) were heavily favored over others.
• We’re also nerfing both the Economic Ideas and the Economic-Quality Policy Development Cost reduction, as we felt that we already introduced a fair amount of Development Cost elsewhere, so we saw it right to reduce it considerably here, effectively rebalancing the total amount you get from these sources.
• We wanted to buff some of the underdogs in the Idea Groups, such as Espionage, Trade and Naval, to make them more viable compared to others in their groups.

Here you’ve got a detailed account of the changes implemented:

• Innovative Ideas:
  • ‘Optimism’ gives now also gives +1 Leaders without Upkeep.
  • 'Formalized Officer Corps' replaced by ‘Expanded Policies’, now granting +1 Free Policies.

• Economic Ideas:
  • Bonus now gives -10% Development Cost instead of -20%.

• Espionage Ideas:
  • ‘State Propaganda’ now also reduces Covert Action Relation Impact by -50%.
  • ‘Vetting’ now also grants -0.1 Yearly Corruption.
  • ‘Audit Checks’ replaced by ‘Blackmailing’, now granting:
    • Reasons to Accept Vassalization +15.
    • Monthly Favors Modifier +33%.

  • Bonus gives now Rebel Support Efficiency of 100% instead of just 50%, and reduces Covert Action Relation Impact by -50%.
    
  
  
• Trade Ideas
  • ‘Shrewd Commerce Practice’ now also decreases Promote Mercantilism Cost by 25%.
  • ‘Free Trade’ now also gives +2 Merchant Trade Power.
  • ‘Overseas Merchants’ now also decreases Trade Company Investment Cost by 25%.
  • Bonus now also gives +10% Loyalty of the Burghers/Vaisyas

• Exploration Ideas:
  • ‘Free Colonies’ now gives +10% Settler Chance.
  • ‘Global Empire’ now also gives +25% Treasure Fleet Income.

• Aristocratic Ideas:
  • ‘Noble Knights’ gives now -20% Cavalry Cost instead of 10% and +15% Cavalry Combat Ability instead of 10%.
  • ‘Serfdom’ now gives +20% National Manpower Modifier instead of +33%.
  • ‘Noble Connections’ now increases mercenary manpower by 25% instead of 20%.

• Divine Ideas:
  • ‘Martyrs’ gives now +25% Manpower in True Faith provinces instead of +15% Global Manpower modifier.

• Horde Ideas:
  • Bonus now also gives +10% Tribes Loyalty Equilibrium.

• Indigenous Ideas:
  • ‘Controlled Burns’ from Indigenous Ideas gives now +15% National Manpower Modifier instead of +20%

• Offensive Ideas:
  • ‘Grand Army’ now gives +10% Special Unit Force Limit and +15% Land Force Limit Modifier instead of 20% Land Force Limit Modifier.

• Quality Ideas:
  • ‘Quality Education’ now also gives +0.5 Navy Tradition.

• Quantity Ideas:
  • ‘Levée en Masse’ now gives +33% National Manpower Modifier instead of 50%.
  • Bonus now gives +33% Land Force Limit Modifier instead of +50%.

• Naval Ideas:
  • ‘Naval Glory’ now also gives +1 Impact on Siege.
  • ‘Oak Forests for Ships’ now also gives +10% Ship Durability.
  • Bonus now gives -100% Naval Barrage Cost instead of +10% Ship Durability.

Policies:

• Economic - Quantity:
  • No longer gives -10% Development Cost, instead it gives -5% Land Maintenance Modifier.

• Innovative - Quality:
  • Now gives Infantry Combat Ability +15% instead of +10%.

• Aristocratic - Espionage:
  • Now gives Cavalry Combat Ability +15% instead of +10%, and +10% Noble Estate Loyalty Equilibrium.

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Crownland & Government Reform Progress

You may know that it was commented by my colleagues PDX Big Boss and Ogele that we replaced the tax modifier from high crownland with Reform progress growth, but for those who don’t follow as much in detail the DDs, here is a kind reminder of it:

We made an additional change to this: now each Crownland Level above 50% Crownland increases Reform Progress Growth (the modifier, not the flat value) by 20%, up from the current 10%, so the final amount of RPG you can get at 100% Crownlands is 100%. And we’ve also lowered the subsequent reform growth cost from 50 to 40. This makes for more consistent growth of RP, making it easier to progress through the expanded tiers of Government Reforms.

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Government Capacity

Along with the above change, we also decided that we could make Reform Progress Growth even more strategic, by adding a malus to Administrative Efficiency if being over the Government Capacity - which is something that can be countered either by the Centralize State mechanic or by getting more Gov. Cap. with buildings, monuments, reforms, etc. This will certainly curb growth speed, but we think that this also adds some more depth to the game because it presents the player with the choice of how to get extra Gov. Cap. from the different features from where it can be expanded, but also an additional “How do I spend my precious Government Reform Progress” because it can be used either on the ‘Centralize State’ mechanic or in getting more Government Reforms.

Thus, the change we implemented is adding -1% Administrative Efficiency for every 2% Governing Capacity above the cap. This way it scales logically and gives off a dynamic and natural effect on the expansion speed of the country in question.

To help adjust the Government Capacity, we made that Courthouses and Town Halls no longer require an open building slot to be constructed, similar to how Universities work, making them a more interesting type of building. Additionally, the State House building now no longer requires an open building slot, and now decreases local governing cost by a percentage of 25% and a flat -25. These governing modifiers are doubled when constructed on a Paper, Gems or Glass province.

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Other Miscellaneous Changes

Aside from that, we've implemented a few more changes here and there, which we're covering in this miscellaneous section, as we think they might be of interest:

• Expanding the Infrastructure of a province now increases local development cost by -25% instead of -5%. We decided against using Development Efficiency because it could end up at 0 Dev Cost for a province
• Ramparts give 1 Combat Roll Bonus for the defender.
• Pagan religious rebels can now force you to convert to their religion if the majority of your country has this religion. Nahuatl, Mayan and Ican are excluded from it due to their "primitive" status in the game.
• If you have Mare Nostrum then the Spy Network in a foreign country will decrease AE Impact in that nation by -30% instead of -10%
• Support Rebels now costs 30% Spy Network instead of 60%
• Scorched Earth now causes +0.25 Local Monthly Devastation alongside the -50% Hostile Movement Speed for 5 years
• Devotion now gives +25% Church Power, 25% Harmonization Speed, 0.001 Monthly Piety Accelerator, 0.5 Yearly Authority, 0.1% Yearly Patriarchal Authority, 0.5 Yearly Doom Reduction, 0.05 Yearly Karma Decay and 0.05% Clergy/Brahmins Loyalty Equilibrium additionally to the Papal Influence, Prestige and Global Tax modifiers Note: this change has been added to make Theocracies more fitting for other religions too.
• Crimea now becomes a Tributary State of the Ottomans instead of a March when they seek Ottoman protection during the "Fate of the Crimean Khanate" event

There were a lot of things to cover today! Please let us know of any feedback you have regarding these changes, as we feel today's DD is more about engaging with the community on balance changes than any other. Also, keep in mind that the numbers presented still have room for improvement, so please stay civil in discussing them. Next week the DD will be all about the great art our team has been working on for the upcoming DLC, brought to you by SaintDaveUK. See you!