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Contest Europa

Now Expanded to cover the Entire Globe, not just Europe!

Updated for 1.17.x.x

Contest Europa is a mod that focuses on the choices you make as a national leader in navigating the turbulent political landscape of a world in transition to modernity. Will you look for inspiration to the past and rebuild and revitalize older intuitions, or will you set a new course and dismantle the old order to build a new nation state on its ashes? It provides a new strategic framework for national decision-making. It gives the player more choices and more depth to their game by making each of their decisions more meaningful.

Contest Europa changes the way states choose to expand and develop. It creates an environment where choices matter and guide the development of the world during the campaign.

In the vanilla game a state, such as Burgundy, plays much the same as any other state. When they reach certain requirements or hit certain events they react to them. If Burgundy defeats France, it can then become France. If Burgundy gives up some provinces in the south, they can become the Netherlands. All of this is very passive, these are things that are happening to Burgundy. What would happen if Burgundy had a say? What if Burgundy had a plan for how it wanted to develop?

Contest Europa forces states to have a plan. At a certain point Burgundy is forced to make a choice. They can either stay as Burgundy, try to become France or try to become the Netherlands.

The choice becomes a very important Strategic choice for Burgundy because it is the key to all of the missions, events and decisions that are necessary to develop further. If Burgundy chooses to become France then they gain access to special missions to conquer French territory, they get the ability to take the Form France decision if France is defeated, and they get access to French events. Burgundy that has chosen to become France will NOT have the ability to become the Netherlands or experience any related content.

This gives Burgundy a unique path and experience in that specific campaign. It also gives you a sense of having a National Strategy and executing that strategy. Instead of bumbling around and seeing what happens, you make a choice and you see that choice through. The AI is transformed from a generic blog seeking everything into a more finely tuned actor who makes logical choices. This creates some very satisfying results because each play through will feel different as you encounter states with very different plans.

Of course things do happen over time which cause state’s to change their plans. The mod models this change by introducing key inflection points. These inflection points are points in time that are so significant they will force a state to reevaluate its National Strategy. The mod introduces different inflection points for states based on culture. For example, an Italian state will reevaluate its options once Italian nationalism becomes a potent political force and may then choose to form Italy among other choices.

These choices are even more important because they have a significant impact on a state’s foreign relations. Choosing a certain national strategy means that a state is staking a claim to certain territory. Naturally other states have their own claims and this can lead to conflict. States that have conflicting claims (for example France and Germany) will experience events in which they can challenge rival claimants. These challenges will result in either negative relations and advantageous Causus Belli or one side relinquishing their claims for a period of time. Two states that have the same strategy (for example France and a French minor state that plans to become France) can get in a similar conflict.

The end result is a fuller, richer and more satisfying campaign in which you actively make choices that have significant impact on gameplay.

For a more detailed explanation of mod mechanics please see this linked thread
Please also see the linked threads for the features outlined below


New Mechanics
All nations driven by Inflection Point Development System with unique and culturally specific decision and events
All nations included in Rival Claims System that allows you to challenge, rebuke and declare war on rivals with new causus belli. Includes event to decide fate of defeated rulers when you eliminate or subjugate a rival with culturally tailored options.
Caliphate System for Muslim nations
Middle Kingdom Tribute System for East and Southeast Asian nations
Shogun System for Japanese nations

New Decisions
New formable nations: Illyria, Yugoslavia, Zachodnislavia, Rus, Pan Slavic Federation, Western Rome, Carolingian Empire, Burma, Great Mongol Empire, Ohio Valley Confederation, Goryeo, Korean Empire
New formable nations enabled after destruction of HRE: Austria-Hungary, Austrian Empire, German Confederation, North German Confederation
New Semi-Tribal government type for Manchu states and Great Mongol Empire

New Events
Protestant Reformation expanded
Rise of nationalism for Germans, Italians, Greeks, Slavs and Koreans
Tailored events for Teutonic Order and Brandenburg to form Prussia
Interaction between HRE Emperor and member states

New Missions
New missions for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian, Georgian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Illyrian, South Slavic, West Slavic, East Slavic cultures
New missions for Papal State, Eastern Roman and Western Roman nations
Crusade/Jihad missions for Christian and Muslim nations

Factions
Strategic Decisions enable 50+ named factions with competing claims and 70+ unnamed factions based on the geographic area of a state's capital

Historically inspired touches
Significant text taken from source documents ranging from Roman poetry to Reformation religious texts

Compatible with most mods that do not radically alter game mechanics or add very similar content.
This mod requires no DLC but can be used with all DLC
This mod introduces changes into a few areas to fix bugs in vanilla and could cause problems with some mods.
NOTE: This mod REQUIRES an additional culture patch! Please see link in Recommended Compatible Mods and choose EITHER a Culture Mod and the respective Patch OR the vanilla patch.
Recommended Compatible Mods
NOT compatible with ET

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