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Good morning! As promised, the focus of today’s dev diary is Vietnam.
In 1444 Dai Viet is a newly independent nation, having won its sovereignty in a bloody war against the occupying Ming Chinese forces through the efforts of Vietnamese national hero Lê Loi. Early campaigns against Champa began a centuries-spanning process of Vietnamese expansion southwards. Dai Viet is now ruled by Lê Loi’s infant grandson Bang Co, though true power resides with Queen Regent Nguyen Thi Anh and Trinh Kha (a 2/3/5/1 General). For all the promise of the early Lê dynasty, the seeds of its undoing were already present; the immense power that would be hoarded by the Nguyen, Trinh, and Mac families would divide the nation multiple times throughout our period.
Shown above is the new Vietnamese mission tree available to Dai Viet, Annam, and Tonkin. Some highlights:
- Like other nations in this update, Dai Viet receives many Subjugation CBs through its mission rewards. Dai Viet gets Subjugation CB’s on Lan Xang, Lan Na, Khmer, and Ayutthaya. They later get permanent claims on Burma.
- The rightmost mission branch begins with the Rule Muang Phuan mission. Muang Phuan is a small semi-independent nation in the strange position of being guaranteed by both Lan Xang and Dai Viet, while also being a tributary of Ming. You can either try to diplomatically vassalize Muang Phuan or ignite the powder keg of war with Lan Xang by launching an invasion.
- The Defy Ming mission can allow you to steal the Ming subject Yue during their Crisis Disaster, so it may be worthwhile to time completion opportunistically. The mission also reduces Ming’s Mandate by 20, so again it pays to be opportunistic and complete the mission when you’re ready to engage them on the battlefield.
- Completing the Claim the Mandate mission fires an event that allows you to cosmetically change your nation’s name. You can choose between Viet Nam, Dai Nam, or stick with Dai Viet.
- The Purchase Western Arms mission requires having strong relations with a European power present in the East Indies, and rewards a permanent -30% Artillery Cost and +10% Siege Ability.
- The Faith and Learning mission requires constructing many Temples and achieving high religious unity. If you are playing a Confucian nation this rewards a large permanent bonus to your Harmonization Speed, else it permanently reduces your Idea Cost by 5%.
- The State Education mission requires the construction of Universities, and adds Institution progress to your capital for each Institution that is active but not yet fully present in the capital.
- The Imperial Citadel mission does something I can’t talk about yet, but also gives you the opportunity to move your capital to Hue, or else rename Dong Kinh to Hanoi.
I’ve excluded the four missions in the top left part of the mission tree because they deserve a bit more elaboration and they’re tied to some additional content for Dai Viet.
These four missions are aimed at preventing exactly the scenario seen above. The player must consolidate the power of the state and curtail the power of the powerful noble families, or else they will eventually make a major power grab and divide the country in two. A new Disaster, called the Northern and Southern Dynasties, can fire after the Age of Discovery when Dai Viet has a particularly incompetent ruler. By following the mission tree this disaster is relatively easy to avoid, but if you do decide to play through it you can choose whether to side with the northern or southern faction. Historically this happened twice at different times during the period, but in EU4 it can only happen once, with slightly different effects depending on when it happens. The northern dynasty, represented by the Tonkin tag, is ruled by the Mac dynasty if the Disaster fires during the Age of Reformation and by the Nguyen dynasty in later Ages. The southern dynasty, represented by the Annam tag, is controlled by Lê loyalists in the Age of Reformation, and afterwards by the Trinh family (descendants of Trinh Kha). Land is divided between the north and south of the country, and even includes dividing subject nations between the two contenders for the throne - so if for example Dai Viet had vassalized Ming and Khmer, Ming would go to the northern dynasty while Khmer would go to the southern dynasty. Dai Viet is now reformable by both of these breakaway nations.
So, how do you avoid all this? The four missions required to do are as follows:
- Dai Viet begins with a new generic Estate Privilege for the Nobility called Control of the Army. This privilege greatly increases Nobility influence, increases Leader Cost, adds additional Nobility influence whenever you recruit a leader, and adds a little monthly Army Tradition (it’s not all bad). The Control the Army mission requires you to revoke this privilege while building to 100% of your land force limit.
- The Curtail the Nobility mission requires reducing the influence of the Nobility estate while holding at least 50% Crown Land.
- The Restore Examinations mission refers to the Confucian examination system employed by China, Vietnam, and Korea throughout various points of their respective histories. State officials must complete a series of examinations that test their knowledge of Confucian literature and statecraft before they can assume office, a system that was at least theoretically meritocratic as the examinations were open to all. You must enact The Examination System government reform (shown below) while also employing any 3 advisors without running a deficit.
- Prevent Division simply requires you to own Dai Viet’s core territories, have 2 stability, and for neither Tonkin nor Annam to exist. Completing this mission prevents the Northern and Southern Dynasties disaster from ever happening, and rewards -10% Stability Cost Modifier for the rest of the game.
I mentioned The Examination System above, which is a new government reform that increases your Advisor Pool by 1 and reduces Nobility Influence by 10%. This reform is available to any nation that either has the Celestial Empire or Confucian Bureaucracy reform. Confucian Bureaucracy is yet another new government reform, initially granted to both Dai Viet and Korea in 1444. This reform reduces your Advisor Costs by 10% and is available to nations that have either Confucian religion or Vietnamese primary culture. Dai Viet's government had more in common with Chinese administrations than with the mandala-style governments of the rest of South-East Asia, while characterizing Korea's government as an "Autocracy" felt inadequate; the Confucian Bureaucracy reform kills two birds with one stone in this sense.
On the topic of culture, I’ve altered the culture group setup in the region since I last talked about it. The Tai group contains countries that could sensibly form the nation of Siam, and since Siam is very much a focus for the update and an “historical winner” of the period it feels appropriate for them to have a strong culture group. Northern Thai is back but renamed to Khon Muang. Khmer is left on its own, again appropriate given that this period is very much a dark age for Khmer civilization. The Vietnamese culture, on the other hand, has been “buffed” by moving it into the Chinese group. This allows Dai Viet to hold the Mandate of Heaven without penalty and eases expansion into China on the way to achieving that goal. Miao is now in the Tibetan group, which was done less because it really fits into that group and more to move it out of the Chinese group. Cham has been returned to the Malay group, which gives it access to the Malay mission tree in addition to its own unique mission branches, which you can see below.
Some highlights from the Cham mission tree:
- The Reconquer Indrapura mission tasks you with reconquering the two provinces to your north. On completion both provinces become Cham culture, and Shunhua is renamed to Kandarapura.
- Completing the Conquer Vietnam mission rewards -20% Culture Conversion Cost for the rest of the game.
- Completing Subjugate the Highlands grants a Subjugation CB against the weakened Khmer Empire.
- The Malay Connections mission requires that you have a moderately powerful Sunni ally in the Malaya region, such as Malacca. On completion you are offered an opportunity to convert to the Sunni faith.
- The Expedition to Tondo mission requires conquering parts of Luzon and having a Colonist from any source. It grants +25% Colonial Range for the rest of the game, encouraging an early exploration of the Americas.
That’s all for this week! Since I’ve decided to take a short vacation this week, I may not be around to answer questions - or at least not as quickly. For the same reason next week’s dev diary may be a little shorter and focus on some of the minor nations we haven’t talked about yet like Lan Na and the Shan states.