Dev Diary #108 - Sphere of Influence and 1.7 Overview

Hello and welcome to the first Development Diary for the 1.7 update and Sphere of Influence expansion for Victoria 3. This Dev Diary is meant to give you a broad overview of the major Expansion and update features, which we’ll naturally go over in much greater detail in the next few weeks. As mentioned previously, all of this is scheduled to release on May 6th and you can pre-order Sphere of Influence right now.

Power Blocs (Sphere of Influence)

Power Blocs are multinational associations that can be formed by high-ranking countries, and which take a variety of forms based on their Identity and Principles. Power Bloc Identities are set when they are formed, while Principles can be added and removed over time. Power Blocs are highly customizable in other ways, such as choosing their name and customizing their emblem, as well as creating custom statues to reflect the glory and reach of your Bloc.

A Power Bloc might take the form of a single Great Power and countries under its influence, a multilateral military alliance between several Major/Great Powers, or an economic cooperation with numerous countries in a unified market.

Power Blocs have Leverage on countries outside the Bloc (including members of other Blocs) and can use that Leverage to entice and cajole them into the Power Bloc. Being part of a Power Bloc comes with both benefits and obligations, and members are at risk of having their internal politics meddled with by the leader of the Bloc.

Interest Group Lobbies (Sphere of Influence)

In Sphere of Influence, Interest Groups can now join Lobbies with specific foreign policy agendas centered around other countries. These Lobbies form organically as the result of a new system of Diplomatic Catalysts: A lobby friendly to Great Britain might form after the signing of an alliance with them, while a lobby hostile to Austria might spring up after being defeated by them in a war, all depending on a variety of diplomatic and political conditions at the time the Catalyst occurred.

Lobbies will try to promote or counter the interests of foreign powers and will help or hinder your diplomatic efforts based on whether your goals align with their own. Lobbies that are friendly to a specific foreign power can smooth the way for diplomatic agreement that would otherwise not be possible, but will oppose hostile actions and undermine any war efforts against that power, while unfriendly lobbies will try to hinder diplomatic efforts with the country of their ire but may create an opportunity for a key alliance with their rival instead.

In addition to appearing as due to Diplomatic Catalysts, Political Lobbies can also form as a result of certain events, like Social Democrats feeling the need to prove their opposition to Communism

Foreign Investment (Sphere of Influence)

Foreign Investment makes it possible for both governments and autonomous private investors to construct building levels in other countries and enjoy the profits generated. To construct in another country, you need to have certain diplomatic pacts in place, or otherwise be part of a Power Bloc that allows such construction. If you do not own Sphere of Influence you will still be able to do Foreign Investment in your subjects.

The Great Game (Sphere of Influence)

The Great Game is a major new content addition adding a new Objective and new Journal Entries focused on the historical Great Game that played out between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The Objective can be played as either Russia/Britain or one of the other involved powers such as Persia, and which country you select changes the conditions required to ‘win’ the Great Game. The new Objective ties directly into numerous new Journal Entries such as Persia’s ambition to restore its hegemony over Afghanistan, most of which will be present even if the Objective isn’t selected and so will also drive AI behavior in the region.

As one of the Afghanistani minors, your most immediate priority will be to reunify Afghanistan and either restore the Durrani Empire or create something new

Subject Interactions (Sphere of Influence)

Subject Interactions are a new group of Diplomatic Actions that can be done either by an overlord against their subjects, or by a subject against their overlord. These include actions such as Increasing or Decreasing Autonomy, changing the level of payments owed by a subject, appointing a new ruler, or allowing them to manage their own market. Certain Subject Actions, such as Increasing Autonomy or Granting Market Independence, will be available even to those without Sphere of Influence.

Building Ownership Revision (Update 1.7)

The mechanics for Building Ownership are completely revised in the 1.7 update so that the owners of a building no longer have to work in that building, or even live in the same state - London-based Capitalists can now own buildings all over the world, and buildings can be selectively nationalized or privatized and put up for sale to interested investors, with the available options being restricted by which economic system a country is operating under. Additionally, buildings can now potentially have a different owner for each of its levels.

Instead of hanging around on the farms doing what could (God forbid) be considered ‘working’, the Aristocrats of East Anglia now stay in their Manor Houses and enjoy the proper leisurely pursuits of a countryside gentleman or gentlewoman

Liberty Desire (Update 1.7)

Update 1.7 adds Liberty Desire for Subjects that restricts both which actions they can take against their overlord and which actions an overlord is able to take against them. Liberty Desire is calculated on a variety of factors, such as how intertwined the subject’s economy is with their overlord, and can increase or decrease over time. AI subjects will have a number of new diplomatic strategies influenced by their liberty desire, such as pursuing independence or remaining a subject but seeking greater autonomy from their overlord.

Owing to a relatively high level of Liberty Desire, Cambodia is pursuing a strategy of increased autonomy and self-reliance, but will not seek full independence yet

This is of course by no means an exhaustive list of everything we’re adding in Sphere of Influence and 1.7! There are new companies, new flavor events, more historical characters, new clothing and changes to the map, to name just a few. Since there is a lot to talk about, we’ll be releasing weekly dev diaries for at least the next couple of months!

That’s all for today. Next week we begin the deep-dives into 1.7 and Sphere of Influence, on the topic of Power Blocs!

Below you can see the Upcoming Dev Diary Schedule, so mark the dates down for when we go over your topics of interest!