From Static RGOs to Historic Progression
Each region has their history.
Countries come and go, technology progresses, crafts develop. But we assume that, for the full stretch of 500 years, the main materials extracted and the overall economy in a location will stay the same.
This does not feel alive.
There are locations, where livestock grazes in 1337 and despite in reality this would become a place of mining and industry, we are going to see livestock being the RGO in 1837.
There are locations which are nothing but wilderness and would be suitable to nothing but fur trade - but because in 1750, gold will be discovered there, we'll start 1337 with a gold RGO.
This is an attempt to making things more dynamic.
I upgraded the [RGO Mod] to allow for progressive research unlocks, bound by the region and defined by history.
There are 72 Regions in the game, with topography, vegetation and climate (and people), and a lot happens within 500 years. Getting this structured was a headache.
Here is the approach, done for each region:
- Research the region's history across the 500 years (economics, trade, politics, ..)
- Cluster this history into the EU5 ages (Traditions, Renaissance, Discovery, ...)
- Derive what Goods where of greatest relevance in that Region, in the given EU5 age
- Map the EU5 goods to those real goods
- Determine reasonable boundary conditions where those goods could be RGO'd (e.g. only coastal zones in Anatolia for cotton in Agen of Reformation - yes, i also was very surprised) - so that we don't end up with spamming whatever RGOs just everywhere, and keep close to history
- Add a Region-specific research item to unlock this RGO in the (Topography x Vegetation x Climate)
- Test, Test, Test (and still not everything can be tested - I'm relying on the community here to get feedback and bug reports, pls feel encouraged to send a message :) )
- Release - Today. Yay!
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One Example: East Coast is one of 72 Regions in EU5
When unlocked, what unlocked, on which tiles, and how many tiles are eligible to be converted
East Coast
Region key: east_coast_region Land locations: 648
| Age | Research unlock | RTV | Tiles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditions | Fur | hills + forest + continental |
75 / 648 (11.6%) |
| Renaissance | Lumber | flatland + forest + continental |
96 / 648 (14.8%) |
| Discovery | Tobacco | flatland + forest + subtropical |
157 / 648 (24.2%) |
| Reformation | — | — | — |
| Absolutism | Iron | mountains + forest + continental |
19 / 648 (2.9%) |
Story
Age of Traditions. Eastern Woodlands peoples: maize-beans-squash agriculture, fishing, and deer hunting; wampum and fur internal trade. No wheat or iron industry.
Age of Renaissance. Atlantic coast increasingly visited by fishers; fur trade with external contacts. Indigenous agriculture stable in the interior. Lumber extracted from dense forests.
Age of Discovery. English and Dutch colonies (Virginia, New England): tobacco, cod, and fur; maize adopted by settlers. Timber (shift to renaissance) for ships and potash.
Age of Reformation. Tobacco and fur exports peak; grain production grows in middle colonies. Naval stores (pitch, tar) from pine forests.
Age of Absolutism. Diversified colonial exports: tobacco, rice (south), wheat and livestock (middle), fish and timber (north). Iron furnaces appear in northern colonies late.
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You can imagine that doing this for 72 regions is a massive effort, and there will be inaccuracies in this first release. Yet I hope this will open the door towards a more dynamic, and more strategic playstyle around what is the basis of the EU5 economy: RGOs.
