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Eurocentric Institutions

EU4 takes place during the Early Modern era, a period that is historically notable for the meteoric rise of Europe to world prominence.

However, this never really plays out in the game thanks to the questionably balanced Institutions system. Native American nations typically form a western-style monarchy less than a decade after contacting Europeans. Institutions spread very quickly, even to non-literate tribes in the heart of the African jungle. Morocco often gets Colonialism before England does.

And by the last 100 years of the game, tech differences are essentially nonexistent. The entire world has caught up to the West, instead of falling behind them. Imported games to Victoria 2 usually end up with every single nation as Civilized. Maybe an interesting fiction, but not very historical.

This mod seeks to fix the Institutions problem, without going back to tech groups. All Institutions spawn in Europe, and changes to their spread make it more likely for Europeans to rise above the rest. Furthermore, the final institution, Enlightenment, cannot be embraced by any nation that isn't in the Western, Eastern, or Anatolian tech group, meaning Europe will really move ahead near the end as the era of New Imperialism dawns.

All hope is not lost for the rest of the world, however. Institutions can still be reinvented through development, but they will have a hard time spreading and may be very costly to create from nowhere. A clever ruler will also note that conquering provinces with desired institutions is a viable alternative to waiting for them to spread... Just don't bite off more than you can chew!


Institution Changes

Feudalism:

• Reduced spread for Steppe Hordes, Siberian Clan Councils, and Native Councils. Passive spread through non-friendly provinces is now negated.
  
• "Starting year" for Feudalism is now 1394, and tech penalty will go up to 150% rather than 50%. This means that in 1444, the tech penalty is 50% (same as vanilla) but over the first 100 years of the game it will tick up to 150% for those who still haven't embraced it.
  
• I tried implementing the above but it didn't work due to hardcoded limitations, so Feudalism now simply has an 80% tech penalty instead of 50%.
  
  Renaissance:
  
• Generic neighbor province spread reduced to half. This essentially means it spreads more slowly to non-European provinces and low-development backwaters.
  
• Will never spread to provinces owned by tribal governments, including Siberian and native councils.
  
• Before 1550, only provinces on the continent of Europe, provinces belonging to countries with a European capital, or provinces in the Near East/Egypt/Persia/East Africa/Maghreb regions may gain this institution. (to prevent Korea inventing Renaissance in 1500 every game)
  
  Colonialism:
  
• Will always spawn in a European province.
  
• Reduced spread in the Maghreb region, Egypt region, and Near East super-region, to rebalance the Berbers against the Iberians and to represent traditional Near East trade routes being circumvented by European explorers.
  
• Will never spread to provinces owned by tribal governments, including Siberian and native councils.
  
  Printing Press:
  
• Will never spread to Confucian or Shinto provinces owned by Chinese tech group countries. This is meant to represent the unpopularity of movable type in East Asian countries during this period - due to logographic languages with thousands of characters, differences in ink technology, etc., the impact of the Printing Press in East Asia was not the same as in the rest of the world.
  
• There is one exception: In the 1590s, Jesuit missionaries introduced the Gutenberg press to Japan, and used it to print religious texts in a romanized form of Japanese. If you are playing a Shinto country and choose the "A Kirishitan Realm" result of the Spread of Christianity incident, this penalty will be negated and Printing Press will spread in your provinces. The country does not have to actually convert to Christianity, they just have to choose the most Open result of that incident which involves protecting and patronizing missionaries.
  
• Will never spread to Central African, North American, South American, or Andean tech group countries. (Nonliterate cultures would have no use for a printing press)
  
  Global Trade:
  
• Will always spawn in a European province, owned by a Western tech group country with at least one province in a Trade Company. (not just in a trade company region, but actually part of a trade company!) The province must either be a capital or a center of trade.
  
• Will never spread to provinces owned by tribal governments, including Siberian and native councils.
  
  Manufactories:
  
• Will always spawn in a European province.
  
• Spread slightly reduced to Muslim and East African tech group countries. (Passive spread is no longer enough, the province must have a Manufactory to get the institution)
  
• Spread reduced to Indian tech group countries, and Shinto provinces owned by Chinese tech group countries. (Province must have a Manufactory to get the institution, and it's slower to spread)
  
• Spread greatly reduced to non-Shinto Chinese tech group countries and Nomadic tech group countries. (Province must have a Manufactory AND border a friendly province with Manufactories embraced, and it's extremely slow to spread)
  
• Will never spread to provinces owned by West African, Central African, Mesoamerican, Andean, North American, or South American tech group countries.
  
• Will never spread to provinces owned by tribal governments, including Siberian and native councils.
  
  Enlightenment:
  
• Will always spawn in a European province.
  
• Can only spread to provinces owned by Western, Eastern, or Anatolian tech group countries.
  
• Will never spread to provinces owned by tribal governments, including Siberian and native councils.
  
• Tech penalty will tick up to 100% rather than 50%, over the course of 100 years.
  
  Other Changes:
  
• "Crisis of the Maghreb" event now gives -5% institution spread and +15% tech cost, and lasts for 50 years instead of 5, to make it an actual crisis, and make it more likely that the Iberians survive.
  
• The "A Kirishitan Realm" event now has a tooltip informing the player that Printing Press may now appear in their provinces.
  
• Reduced Institution gain from manually developing provinces. (40% of what it used to be)
  
• For owners of Rule Britannia: Knowledge Sharing will no longer spread institutions.
  
  
  Compatibility
  This mod is very small and only edits a few files. It should be pretty much compatible with any mod that doesn't change the following files:
  
  
  common/event_modifiers/00_event_modifiers.txt common/institutions/00_Core.txt common/defines.lua events/flavorMOR.txt events/Shinto.txt