u/This-Lynx-2085

Hello, I am eva3071, creator of Europa Universalis IV's Renovatio Imperii mod, and Europa Universalis V's Ananeosis Autokratorias mod. Now that the planning phase for AA v3.0 is over, I have come back with a plan for the mod's development cycle. As many of you know about my review of the Fate of the Phoenix DLC, I was less than impressed with the overall direction of the content, even if I felt some parts of it was good. Therefore, while Ananeosis Autokratorias will continue with its overall ethos of being a vanilla+ mod of the Eastern Roman Empire in EUV, I am striking out on delivering an experience that we Byzantinophiles deserved to have and couldn't get, an authentic, historically plausible Eastern Roman Empire in the early modern era.

To that end, I have formulated four great projects to serve those ends. The Four Projects are as such:

Project I: Content Overhaul

The beginning of the content overhaul includes reworking the unique social value from Latinitas vs Romanismos to Romanismos vs Hellenismos. The new reworked societal value is the foundation of the reworking and adding of content in the mod, which touches everything from government reforms to policies to estate privileges. More on this project below.

Project II: The Broken Crescent

This project is based off of the first of the three new event projects for the Eastern Roman Empire and involved nations. The project involves the reaction of the Islamic states if the ERE embarks on a crusade to reclaim their lands in the Middle East. The project, much like other projects involve event chains, decisions, and mayhap "ambitions" regarding the project. There may even be a situation regarding the events, if I can get some help.

Project III: Justinian's Ambition

Now, I have not played EUV v1.3 yet, and so I am not familiar if there is a reaction in Western Europe if the Balkan League (read ERE) enters the Italian Wars. That being said, my ambition for the ERE reclaiming Italy and North Africa would be something like the Holy League that formed in response to the Ottoman invasion of Southern Italy. Mayhap the West enters a collective freakout when the "ancient and archaic" empire everyone thought buried comes roaring back with a vengeance.

Project IV: From East to Farther East

Much like the song from which the title is derived, how would the East and the Far East would react when the Roman Empire comes calling? Make friends, Trade opportunities, political and cultural intrgues? The sky is the limit in this project.

Once all four projects are complete that is it for the development of this mod. While I will continue to upkeep the mod and incorporate new mechanics as EUV's lifespan continues on until EUVI sometime in the 30's.

Rômanismós vs Hellenismós

So, in active development for EUV v1.4 is AA v3.0, which includes a substantial rework to the societal values formerly known as Latinitas vs. Rômanismós. The reason why the societal value is first of the four great projects is that everything hinges upon it; government reforms, laws and policies, estate privileges, etc. I will be going over those more in later dev diaries.

So, why rework the societal value? In my review for Fate of the Phoenix, I heavily critiqued their decision on the Latinitas vs Rômanismós societal value for many reasons, amon the greatest being the togaLARPing and "RETVRN TO ROME" content rather than giving us a plausible look at the Renaissance Roman Empire and what could have plausibly ensued had the Eastern Roman Empire survived its situation. After Paradox was rightfully excoriated for its initial societal value, they said alright, the Latinitas vs Rómanismós was supposed to be if the Roman state embraced the Latin West or remained true to its own imperial roots in the East. Indeed the reworked description much hinted to that fact, yet it was pretty obvious from the content that they couldn't have cared less about the "new" content surrounding the societal value and instead went full togaLARPing.

That being said, the foundation of the mod starts with the reworking of the societal value into a new one, one that respects the Empire as she is and what she could be, and not as a knock-off version of the Latin Roman Empire.

Rômanismós

+1.00 Tolerance of the True Faith

+20.00% Cultures Capacity

+0.10 Monthly Progress to Spiritualist

+0.10 Monthly Progress to Belligerent

Hellenismós

+1.00 Diplomatic Reputation

-20.00% Expected Diplomatic Spending

+0.10 Monthly Progress to Humanist

+0.10 Monthly Progress to Conciliatory

One of the major criticisms about EUV is that Tinto does not place modifiers in a thematic sense, instead just taking on whatever gameplay style they want, which is especially prevalent in societal values. In these new societal values, I want them to make thematic sense as to what ethos the ERE is going for, and what might they excel in if they go one way or the other.

We will first begin the Rómanismos value, which replaces the Latinitas value. Rômanismós is intended for a wide empire playstyle. The philisophical principle behind going Rômanismós is that the societal value is based around the idea of the Roman sovereign as the universal autocrat. The Eastern Roman Empire is the sovereign of Christendom by virtue of being the Empire of the Romans. The value is focused around expansion and administration of large territories directly, rather than through subjects. The reigning unifying ethos is Spiritualist rather than Humanist, as the Empire has many cultures and ethnicities under her dominion, and therefore culturally assimilating them all is not practicable. For those who wish to Restore the Roman Empire™, this societal value is for you.

It's to modifiers are again designed thematically around this principle, with the first modifier giving you Tolerance of the True Faith is designed around the unifying principle of the Orthodox Christianity (or, ugh, Papism) as the imperial faith. The second modifier of course gives you a massive bonus to cultures capacity, allowing you to accept far more cultures, as being a Roman doesn't necessary mean that you have to be Greek. You just have to be Orthodox, again emphasizing the universal monarchy of the Romans.

As for the two societal values Rômanismos pushes, it should be self explanatory. Monthly Progress to Spiritualist is pretty obvious for the reasons above, while the monthly push to Belligerent is due to the fact that you are going to be busy for the whole game making everyone around you acknowledge the Empire's divine right to rule Europe (and the Middle East, and Northern Africa, and mayhap beyond that).

Notably, the Latin Revival movement has been disabled, as that again doesn't make sense historically speaking. The Italians, French, and the Spaniards are not going to suddenly just drop their cultures and become toga-wearing Latin speakers who pray to Zeus/Jupiter and Ares/Mars just because they are concievably enthusiastic about joining the Roman Empire as citizens again.

Hellenismós is the other societal value, and it is an interesting one. Hellenismós is intended for tall empire playstyle. Its philosophical principle is that the Eastern Roman Empire is that it is a nation-state for Romans, by Romans. The societal value is focused around cultural and economic dominance, with employing an Oriental model of empire by having control of the cultural homelands of the Empire, and employing a large amount of vassals (satrapies, tributaries) like the Persian and Chinese models. The reigning ethos is Humanist, because of the emphasis on Greek culture as the unifying ethos of the Empire, rather than just Orthodox Christianity. For those who enjoy the economic and/or diplomatic game, this value is for you.

Also, while Hellenismós is based around the concept of proto-nationalism, which was a legitimate question facing the ERE during the Palaiologian Era, it is not the same as Greek Nationalism, which showed up later around the 18th to 19th centuries. for the early modern Romans, Roman = Greek.

To that end, it's two main modifiers are Diplomatic Reputation, since this version of the ERE is playing nice with its neighbors that do not have majority Greek provinces, or ancestral Greek homelands. And I moved the Expected Diplomatic Spending from Latinitas to Hellenismós, befitting that the Empire maintains a high amount of client states in the periphory. The two societal values Hellenismós emphasizes is Humanist and Conciliatory, befitting its new status as a "nice" nation.

The rest of the mod, including the three projects is based on two kinds of playthrough, the Rômanismos (wide) playthrough, and the Hellenismós (tall) playthrough, which is what I believe Paradox should have done, which there were many people asking for a tall empire content. That being said, that is it for this development diary. The next one is going to be going over the new government reforms and policies. I am specifically wanting feedback on what you think about the newly reworked societal values, whether you think it makes thematic sense, whether it is historically plausible, if the modifiers need tuning, or what. Let me know in the comments. Until next time.

P.S. My discord is here: https://discord.gg/kNTp9f8sw

Hi, I am eva3071, creator of the mod Renovatio Imperii for Europa Universalis IV. I have taken to writing a review about the DLC "Fate of the Phoenix" from a unique perspective, as a modder and as a self-proclaimed Byzantinophile. Mayhap some of you wonder what is the difference between a Byzantinophile and a Romaboo is, which is why I hope that this small review can help illustrate the difference.

In with creating more content with my mod, Ananeosis Autokratorias, I have become intimately familiar with with the inner details of the DLC in trying to create a vanilla+ mod for the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium. Much like with my fellow Byzantinophiles, I was originally excited about the new DLC, and it was what convinced me to preorder the deluxe edition of the game...for better or for worse.

However, When the first and second Tinto Talks came out, I began to have a sinking feeling in the stomach. The Tinto Talks seemed to talk more about how the player can restore Ancient Rome complete with togas and Legions, rather than about the alt-historical narrative of the Eastern Roman Empire in the early modern period, the presumed subject of the DLC. The intense backlash to the overt togaLARP from the developers was enough that they changed some content around in the third Tinto Talks, although it was very little to be real honest.

That sinking feeling became more intense with the second Tinto Talks when they were talking about the changes to Orthodoxy, and Neo-Hellenism. The main problem was that it seemed as though they didn't pull any new systems or content for Eastern Orthodoxy, the actual religion of the Eastern Roman Empire. Instead, it was pretty clear they saved their innovative juices for Neo-Hellenism. The rework for Orthodoxy should have been part of the free patch to begin with. It was also clear the the developers really actually wanted to emphasize Neo-Hellenism as the cool new thing, and that Orthodox Christianity was merely an afterthought.

Once the DLC came out and I had a playthrough with it, as well as looking at the coding for the DLC, my gut instinct was proven true. It was clear from the onset that the developerss wanted to make an Imperator: Rome DLC, rather than a DLC for the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium. The main expected progress for a playthrough as Byzantium isn't to play a Greek Orthodox Roman Empire, but to reform as Reconstructionist Latin, Hellenic Roman Empire that was entirely Western-Oriented. The DLC essentially was Gibbon's wet dream made manifest.

At Least 70% of the content for Byzantium in the DLC is predicated on the playing going Latinitas, forming Hellenism, and forsaking the eastern roots of the Empire for a western version of translatio imperii. The remaining content was essentially the Fate of the Phoenix disaster. There was only a smattering of content here and there for those who wanted to play the Eastern Roman Empire, and nothing of the sort of what we Byzantinophiles requested.

There was no alt-history content for the Eastern Roman Empire and the Middle East. There was no alt-history content for the Eastern Roman Empire and exploration into the far east. There is no alt-history content for the Eastern Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire interacting, and getting into conflicts with each other, and etc. There was no serious attempt at reforming the governmental and military structures based on what the Empire plausibly would have done in the early modern period. There was no interaction with the Muslim world over the fact that an resurgent Phoenix is busy reconquering their lands in the Middle East. It seems like such a step backyards too, since the EUIV Byzantine Missions included an event to decide the fate of Mecca and the Masjid-al-Haram, an event notably missing from EUV.

This is in stark contrast to the "Roads to Power" DLC, in which the Crusader Kings III developers took the subject of the Eastern Roman Empire very seriously, and even invited one of the for most Byzantine Studies scholar, Dr. Anthony Kaldellis, to advise on the subject. The Eastern Roman Empire in Crusader Kings III is mayhap the most accurate depiction of the Medieval Roman Empire in games yet. When one plays the ERE in Crusader Kings, the player feels immersed as though they are walking the streets of Constantinople, interacting with the Greeks, partaking in the legendary palace intrigues and public games. Fighting in the frontiers against barbarians, dealing with sycophants in the Chrysotriklinos who whisper flatteries in one ear while holding a dagger behind their backs. Their is no glory for reconquering the former lands of the Empire, no triumphs for the victorious generals and emperors, as that is apparently Hellenism content for some reason. The Eastern Roman Empire in the Fate of the Phoenix feels more like a placeholder for the Latin, Hellenic Roman Empire, the star of the DLC.

More importantly, the togaLARPing was kept to an appropriate minimum, as a sort of post-game content for the ERE after you reconquered Europe. In the "Fate of the Phoenix" on the other hand, togaLARPing is the actual content. The real interesting content isn't in playing as a Greek Orthodox Roman Empire, but as Latin Hellenics. They get the new mechanic to spread reconstructionist Latin culture and neo-Hellenism. They get the best modifiers in Latinitas vs Romanismos. They get the super-cool omens, while the Orthodox don't even get the same icon modifiers as they did in EUIV. There is really no connection with the greater Orthodox world either, unlike in EUIV. the Eastern Roman Empire in patch 1.2 really feels like a step backwards, and the EUIV incarnation had far more meaningful content and replayibility then the Empire has in EUV.

So, I would have to give the DLC a solid F for failing its assignment, that being a content DLC for the Eastern Roman Empire. It gets an A though, as content for the Latin, Hellenic, Roman Empire, which is really what the Romaboos want. I am just sad about it because the devs will never come back and treat the Eastern Roman Empire what it deserves now, and we will never get the plausible alt-history content for it.

TLDR: The "Fate of the Phoenix" is not a DLC for the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium, but is an Imperator: Rome crossover DLC instead. A boon for Romaboos, and a bust for Byzantinophiles. We Byzantinophiles was hoodwinked, and I am hot under the collar about it. Shame on Paradox Tinto. Shame.

Edit: A really good review on the "Fate of the Phoenix" is found here, and echoes my complaints and a few new ones asides: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/fate-of-the-phoenix-content-is-ahistorical-and-bad-and-subjectively-unfun.1923800/

Further Edit: My mod, Ananeosis Autokratorias, has been updated. You can find it here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3604070407 You can also find my discord channel here: https://discord.gg/uG8WreMeQM