The latest development diary for Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado is quite the powder keg when it comes to the relationships between an overlord nation and its colonial interests. The Liberty Desire system is changing.
The Conquest of Paradise add-on introduced the system for colonies, but now Liberty Desire spreads to vassals and Personal Unions. Patch 1.10 will be implementing the far reaching reform of the mechanic.
No longer will overlords be able to treat their vassals as little better than slave-states, boasts the dev diary. Liberty Desire is something that every liege is going to have to manage in this new dynamic proposal.
”In the 1.10 patch, we will be introducing a major rework of Liberty Desire that turns it into a much deeper and more interesting system, but also expands it to all other subjects such as Vassals and Personal Union juniors. In 1.10, each subject has a Liberty Desire towards their Overlord, calculated based on a large number of factors such as opinion, diplomatic reputation, relative power, and relative diplomatic technology levels,” explains the dev diary.
”While Liberty Desire is lower than 50, the subject will be considered ‘Loyal’ (as seen in their attitude). They will dutifully pay taxes, send their armies to help you in war, and refuse any offers of Support for Independence.” Should it rise above 50 then they’ll be considered ‘Disloyal’, will stop paying taxes, stop helping out in wars and will actively look for foreign support in their claim for independence.
”At 100, the subject will be ‘Rebellious’. They will not only refuse to pay taxes and send help, but will declare war for independence the moment they think they have a shot at winning. When a subject declares war for independence, they will automatically call in all other subjects of their liege that they are allied to, and all independence supporters of both themselves AND their allies, meaning that their liege can be faced with quite the independence war indeed.”
It’s a big shake-up and a welcome one to keep the Overlords on their toes.
”All in all, this system is meant to make vassals feel more lifelike - they are no longer mere slaves to their liege’s whims, but independent entities with their own goals who may turn on their ‘overlord’ if he does not take care to maintain their loyalty.”
Check out the full Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado - Development Diary 3: Inti, Maya and Liberty Desire. The new Liberty Desire system is included freely as part of patch 1.10.
Nation Designer is a major feature of El Dorado, which releases this month.
