Development Diary #1 (Version 3.0) - Part I

Part of being a modder for Europa Universalis IV, especially for a Byzantinophile like myself, means that as I study the Eastern Roman Empire, I learn more and more about the subject. This necessitates that I update the mod to reflect my current learning, with the intention of providing a more authentic and accurate depiction of greatest nation in human history.

To that end, I would like to lay down some qualifications as to the terminology I use here and in the mod. I use the term Byzantium, Eastern Roman Empire, Roman Empire, and Rome interchangeably, as they all refer to the same nation-state. However, I do not disdain the name Byzantium, or the adjective Byzantine as some of my brethren Byzantinophiles do as I believe it serves a purpose.

The term Byzantium refers in historical categorization the Roman Empire post-Heraclius. Historians tend to divide the Roman Imperial Periods based on the type of administrations that are used. We refer to the Principate, based on the imperial administration instituted by Augustus Caesar, which came to an end with the end of the Crisis of the Third Century. The Dominate, based on the imperial administration instituted by Diocletian and Constantine, would continue all the way through the Islamic Conquests in the 7th century. The Byzantine period of Roman history would begin with the creation of the Theme System in the 7th and 8th century, and would last arguably up until the Fourth Crusade. The final period, the Palaiologoi period, would last from the restoration of the Empire in 1261 until the fateful day in 1453.

My point being is that in accordance with the naming syntex that Paradox uses, I will use the names Byzantium and Byzantine to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire in the Early Modern Period. I will not rename the nation any Greek anglicized names such as Basilea Rhomaion, Basilea ton Rhomaion, Rhomania, or the like, as the vanilla does not use that kind of syntax. I will also not use the terms Eastern Roman Empire, or the Roman Empire, as the linguistic syntex that Paradox uses in EUIV leads to such things as calling it the Empire of Eastern Roman Empire, or other such nonsense. There is a reason Russia isn't called the Russian Empire, or such as it would break the immersion if, say you decided to switch government types to a republic or a theocracy.

Therefore, in text that indicates present tense for the nation, such as mission, I use the terms Rome, Roman Empire, and Roman since that is what they and the surrounding nations called them. With text indicating past tense, such as events describing the Renovatio Imperii timeline, I use Byzantium and Byzantine. Also, the official name will be Byzantium...up to a point.

After the players complete the mission Renovatio Imperii, they have access to a certain decision that, among other things, changes the name to Rome, in keeping with the naming syntex. Thanks to the new mechanic in 1.30, you can change end-game tags name, such as the Papacy changing their name to the Kingdom of God, and the Islamic nations changing their name to the Caliphate. Thanks to this mechanic, this for me settles the issue with what to name the Roman Empire.

I can't believe I just announced what pronouns, sort to speak, that Byzantium would be using. The actual substance of this diary is the revamped unique byzantine government reforms. That deserves another post, which I will explain further in part 2 of this dev diary.

Development Diary #1 (Version 3.0) - Part II

As I mentioned before, I have done some studying regarding Roman political theory regarding the government and its role in Roman society. Thus, I have revamped the unique government reforms to reflect this. I will give my justification as to why after I reveale the new government reforms. Here they are.

~Byzantine Government Reforms~
Imperial Byzantine Autocracy:
+10% Morale of Armies
-20% State Maintenance
-0.05 Monthly Autonomy Change
+150 Governing Capacity
-
Uses Pronoia Interactions
Has access to special Imperial Reconquest casus belli.
Unlocks Plutocratic ideas, while locking Aristocratic ideas.
Fixed to Empire rank.

Expand Imperial Citizenship:
-5 Years of Separatism
+150 Governing Capacity
-
Assimilates cultures into administration

Militarized Bureaucracy:
+5% Administrative Efficiency
+150 Governing Capacity
+5% Pronoiars Loyalty Equilibrium
+10% Pronoiars Influence

While it is somewhat the same as the unique government reforms in the 2.0 version of this mod, there are a few differences, and a theme behind the modifier in the government. First, I want to point your attention to the fact that factions are no longer part of the government. I had been wanting to move to using the estates for a while, however, the fact that it was by and large behind a paywall prevented me from doing so. With the new rework of the estate, I can now safely say goodbye to the factions. Aside from that, it also conforms to the overall direction of the estates vs the factions. Countries with factions are not supposed to have estates, and vice versa.

The nobility estate has been renamed the Pronoiars Estate, and will have a unique privilege and a few unique events to them. As this is going to be the subject of another dev diary regarding estates, I do not want to spoil too much.

The theme behind the governmental reforms is that Rome, both in its Latin and Greek incarnations, is a martial society. What i mean by that is that the Roman Military by and large control the state. A good explanation for this is that Rome and Sparta are both martial cultures. The eikon for the Spartans is the warrior, while the eikon for the Romans is the soldier.

Warriors are good fighters, but a soldier is part of the army. This militaristic thinking influenced the Romans throughout all aspects of their society. Why was the government masters at administration and organization? Because that is what a good army is known for. Why does the Romans have a big emphasis on Law and Justice? Because an army without a military law is nothing more that a rabble of thugs. The eikon for the Romans is not a powerful warrior who does what he wants, but a veteran soldier who did his duty for the Republic.

The Prussians are said to be an army with a state, rather than being a state with an army, but the Prussians didn't come up with the militarized society by themselves. As with most things European, this was copied from the Romans, who were a militarized society. Even when the Roman civilization went from being a Pagan dominated society to a Christian Dominated society, the militarized society didn't go away. In fact, it intensified during the Late Antiquities the United Roman Empire, and later the Eastern Roman Empire found itself under attack from all directions.

The Byzantine administrative system, and definitely the Theme System represented the militarized society, as the civil and military powers were wielded by generals sent to command a theme. To get anywhere in Roman society, and especially in the Byzantine period you had to be part of the Imperial Army. The Emperor was typically drawn from the military, and is considered to be the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army. Thus they were expected to lead the army, and fight battles.

In the end, the Byzantine government is said to be akin to a military dictatorship with the principles of the Roman Republic, and the trappings of an eastern monarchy. It is not easy to come up with a unique government that reflects this hybridization that is the Roman government, but I can try.

So, unique governmental reforms for Byzantium need to reflect the militarized government. The bonus to morale reflects the sentiment that the Imperial Army is not just a part of the Roman government, it is the Roman government. It also reflects the emphasis on a professionalized military as well. The modifiers on state maintenance, autonomy change, and governing capacity represent the bureaucracies capability of administrating large amounts of territory, and the modifiers of reducing separatism and administrative efficiency representing the ability to incorporate new peoples and lands into the Empire.

The synergy these modifiers make emphasis a particular theme for the Eastern Roman Empire in the Renovatio Imperii timeline, that of an expansionist, militaristic empire. An Empire capable of not only incorporating large amounts of territory, but also centralizing authority into a single command structure, and possessing the ability to take on threat to the Roman World.

This brings us to to special abilities of the Byzantine government. The Bedrock of Roman society is the concept of citizenship. The rights of the citizen are considered sacrosanct, and have long been used as a means to integrate conquered people into the Empire, by giving them a stake in the system. The medieval Roman Empire is no different, with examples such as Emperor Basil II granting the newly conquered Bulgarians imperial citizenship, allowing them to participate in Roman society. This is why the second government reform, "Expand Imperial Citizenship" has the mughal diwan mechanic. It reflects cultures becoming integrated into Roman society, and at the same time, Roman society learns from these culture, and adapts the best parts to their society. This also helps reflect the Romans ability to learn and adapt from their enemies.

I modeled the byzantine government somewhat after the Mughal government in an attempt to make sure I didn't overpower the byzantine government. That is why I gave Byzantium the Pronioa abilities and the Diwan mechanic, as the Mughal government has both mechanics. It is also the reason why, after selecting all three government reforms, Both the Mughals and the Byzantines give a total of +450 governing capacity.

Where the byzantine government differs from the Mughals, aside from the base modifiers, is that Byzantium has access to the Plutocratic ideas rather than the Aristocratic ideas. This again reflects Roman society as being profoundly influenced by its Republican ideals and virtues, even in the days of the Empire. It is not a feudal society, but a republican society.

I do not need to explain why it is fixed at the Empire Rank, but the last mechanic is access to a special casus belli, the Imperial Reconquest does need some explanation. The Imperial Reconquest is a special casus belli for Byzantium, giving an ability to retake land in the old Imperial borders. The modifiers are meant to reflect a mix between the Imperialism CB, The Imperial Ban CB, and the Unify China CB.

There are three reasons for this. The first reason is that it is Paradox tradition from Crusader Kings II that the Roman Empire has a unique CB to use to retake Imperial territory. The second reason is that it is a uniquely Byzantine mechanic that doesn't rely on mechanics intended for use other governments. In theory, the justification that Byzantium needs to retake imperial territory shouldn't rely on fabricating claims, or using holy wars, a CB that the Byzantines were horrified to use. The third reason is gameplay related. Thanks to the Byzantine ideas, it is not necessary to take Religious Ideas since you can still convert Sunni lands thanks to the top level bonuses in missionary strength that Byzantium gets in its national ideas. However, it is still critical to get the holy war CB in order to expand effectively. With the Imperial Reconquest CB, you can now make the choice between Religious ideas, or another idea group.

Lastly, I thought about putting a succession mechanic in that generals can become rulers, a new mechanic tailor-made for Rome if ever there was one. If I can get it to work with the monarchy, I will let you all know. Thank you for reading the Dev diary. If you have questions or comments, please post it on the main board. Next diary, I will go into the Byzantine National Ideas.

I love how well though out these are, good reaoning on all of these. They sound super exciting. Strong but not completely op.

So much detail and explanation, thank you for your work. Can not wait to do another play through using the new revamped mechanics.

Development Diary #2 (Version 3.0)

Today, we will be going over the revamped Byzantine national ideas, as well as the justification for why the ideas are the way they are. These are the national ideas:

~Byzantine National Ideas~
Traditions:
+15% Reform Progress Growth
+3 Tolerance of the True Faith

Reform the Pronoia System:
+10% National Manpower Modifier
-5% Land Maintenance Modifier

Rebuild the Imperial Navy:
+10% Morale of Navies
+5% Ship Durability

Start Administrative Reform:
+10% National Tax Modifier

Byzantine Pragmatism:
-10% Idea Cost

Byzantine Merchant Class:
+10% Trade Efficiency
+1 Merchants

The New Imperial Army:
+5% Discipline

Restore the Ecumenical Patriarch:
+3% Missionary Strength

Ambition:
-20% Core-Creation Cost

There was a couple of themes to guide me through the creation process. The first one is to have synergy with both the unique government, geographical position, and the missions. The second theme is highlighting aspects of Byzantine society outside of just the government. There are four major areas of this. The military, the navy, the economy, and the religion.

I suppose I will start with the obvious. I kept the vanilla religious bonuses. The +3 Tolerance of the True Faith makes sense once you consider how the Eastern Roman Empire thought of itself. The Roman World is civilization. The Latin Romans promoted civilization through Roman Law and Culture. However, after the Marian Reforms, there was the question of what exactly it means to be Roman after citizenship was open to those not of ethnic Roman ancestry. After Christianity became the dominant worldview in the Roman Empire, it also provided an a long needed identity to the Roman Empire of the Late Classical Era. Rome is civilization, and Christianity is a civilizing faith. This combining of a national identity with a faith would prove to be the anchor Rome needed to weather the next thousand years.

As for game play reasons, the tolerance of the true faith modifier serves to promote stability in the conquered lands by means of proselytizing the one true faith. It is a perfect modifier to go with the administrative modifiers that Byzantium already has. Furthermore, due to the mechanics of the Orthodox Faith, you definitely want make sure all your lands are orthodox to take full benefit of the patriarch authority. These modifiers also give you a choice between taking the religious idea group, or not.

The next theme in the National ideas is the economy. Byzantine economy typically relied on two sources. One was tax farming of the themes, leading to the creation of a sophisticated bureaucracy to do so. For most of the medieval period, the Eastern Roman Empire was one of the only nations to have a centralized taxation system. The other source was trade. Constantinople sat upon the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Any trade between these three continents had to pass through Constantinople for the most part. Taxing the trade, which was the exclusive right of the Imperial court, led to Byzantium becoming rich. When the Emperors bargained away trading rights to the Italians, they also handicapped the imperial economy. In the RI timeline, the Empire not only recovers her trading power, but also establishes a trading chain spanning the length of the entire Far East.

As for game play reasons, the national tax modifier is a good investment, as the more territory the ERE gets. the more taxes she can harvest, it is good for establishing a good economy in the early game. The real cream of the crop is the trade efficiency and an extra merchant. The trade efficiency reflects the taxing of the trade, and the extra merchant is always need for a large empire, where you never have enough merchants. These modifiers combined should help pay for the new imperial army and navy, whose modifiers cost quite a bit in army and navy maintenance.

The next theme is the adaptability and versatility of the Empire. The Romans always learned from their many foes, and adapted to meet the circumstances at hand. This attitude of pragmatism served Rome well through her two thousand years of existence, and allow her to survive what would have destroyed lesser nations.

As I mentioned before, the Diwan mechanic has been repurposed for the ERE as the citizenship mechanic, and by civilizing new cultures to the light of Rome, she can learn from those lesser and more barbaric nations. The reform progress bonus in her traditions and the idea bonus also represent the innovative manner of the imperial government and its ability to adapt to the circumstances of the time. The core-creation cost reflects the emphasis on establishing law and order in the provinces she conquers, and fit will with an expansionistic empire.

The final theme is the Imperial Navy and Army. The Imperial Army reached its zenith in the High Middle Ages, and is one of the few armies in the world that was a professionalized, standing army. A revived Eastern Roman Empire would once again establish a professional fighting force to take the fight to her enemies.

Part of maintaining this army would be reforming the Pronoia System. The Pronoia System was the administrative system of the Empire following the fall of the Theme System after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 AD. Like the Theme System, Imperial soldiers where granted an "microeconomiae", a plot of public land to maintain in return for service in the Imperial Army. Unlike fiefdoms, these plots where considered public property, and thus owned by the Imperial Court. Where the Pronoia System differed from the Theme System is that the soldiers could now also harvest a percentage of tax revenue as well.

However, with introduction of Western ideas came the greed of rich aristocrats in the Empire who sought to carve out feudal territories of their own. They eventually succeeded after the Fourth Crusade and the Prononiai became hereditary. That didn't stop the Imperial territory from being conquered by the Ottomans, and in 1444 became virtually non-existent. I would imagine that as the Empire regained its strength, the Pronoia System would be reformed so that the aristocrats wouldn't be able to abuse it again, and to promote a strong middle class in the Empire, that is the backbone of its military might.

To that end, the national idea "Reform the Pronoia System" carries a land maintenance modifier, and the national manpower modifier. The manpower modifier isn't much to look at, but that is because it is supposed to be partnered with the Theme System later on. The Imperial Army also gets a modifier to discipline, reflecting the disciplined and professionalism of its fighting force.

What is surprising is that it also has modifiers to the Navy as well. The Imperial Navy has always been considered second rate to the Imperial Army, even in the Byzantine period of Roman history. Even with the super weapon Greek Fire, the navy was only used to defend the coastline. The Imperial navy would decline during the Komnenian period, and would contribute to the increasing dominance of the Italians. This lack of a proper navy is believed by many to have contributed greatly to the sack of Constantinople.

A revived Empire would learn those lessons that in order to have a great empire, it would need a great navy. And so in the RI timeline, the Empire would revamp the Imperial navy to become a significant military force in its own right. By rebuilding the navy, the Empire would take control of the Mediterranean, and would later compete with naval powers such as the British, the Dutch, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese for control of the Far East.

For the game play aspect of the military and naval modifiers, the military theme for the Byzantine military is to have modifiers that effect the entire military, rather than a aspect of it. This encourages the land armies to be a jack of all trades, capable of being both an offensive and defensive force. Same thing with the Imperial navy.

That is all for this development diary, the next one will include the unique decisions, and the rest of the permanent modifiers in the Renovatio Imperii.