Hey everyone,

We’re really excited to share this update with you today as we’ve been working hard on it for a little while now! 

In this ‘Swamplands’ update you can now explore a whole new fishing area, The Swamp, where you can acquire most of the brand new species. Keep reading for more on these additions from slot machine & fossil decorations to fishy badges and more…

11 New species: 🦀

Snapping turtle

Mudskipper

Dunkleosteus

Chain pickerel

African dwarf frog

Fairy shrimp

Friendly frog

Friendly Shrimp

Tuna

Pufferfish

Baby king crab 

10 New decorations: 🪸

Amazon sword plant

Coral Crown

Elodea

Old Log

Java Fern

Slot machine

Vallisneria (Fishing exclusive)

Boot (Fishing exclusive)

Hornwort (Fishing exclusive)

Ancient Fossil (Fishing exclusive)

New mechanics: 📛

Badges! Fish can now have random badges when they are born. Badges can make them have special effects. Such as the “Dwarfism” badge, which makes fish smaller. Or the “Stinky” badge, which makes them have a swarm of flies following them.

Fish Storage! You can now store excess fish in a storage section, which can be upgraded.

New lobby creation system! Set an icon, limit max players, and the map you wanna fish in.

We hope you love this update and enjoy exploring our swamp as much as we enjoyed creating it. Be sure to check out the other fabulous titles in Cozy Quest from now until Thursday, as well!

Best fishes,

- Can & Egon from the Lunheim Team

A huge new update is live, bringing a new region, new systems, new species, decorations, and a ton of polish across the game.

Discover a bunch of new critters, especially in the new Swamp region:

• Snapping Turtle

• Mudskipper

• Dunkleosteus

• Chain Pickerel

• African Dwarf Frog

• Fairy Shrimp

• Friendly Frog

• Friendly Shrimp

• Tuna

• Pufferfish

• Baby King Crab (yes, really)

• Axolotl is now fishable

• +1 New aquarium slot to host all these new aquatic friends!

Customize your tanks with fresh decor and a brand-new aquarium:

• Amazon Sword Plant

• Ancient Fossil (Fishing exclusive)

• Coral Crown

• Elodea

• Old Log

• Boot (Fishing exclusive)

• Hornwort (Fishing exclusive)

• Java Fern

• Vallisneria (Fishing exclusive)

• Blue Sand

• Slot Machine

• Not a decoration but now there is also blue sand!

Introducing Badges, a brand-new system that gives fish special traits and visuals.

• Fish can now be born with random badges

• Each badge can affect stats, visuals, or behavior

• Badges are visible in the fish list and inspection panels

Examples:

• Dwarfism – fish are smaller as adults

• Stinky – a cloud of flies follows the fish

• Shiny – sparkly VFX flair

This update brings a total of 9 inital badges to the game, more will be added with coming updates.

You can now store extra fish in a dedicated Storage section:

• Store fish you don’t want active in your main tanks

• Stored fish don’t age, don’t get hungry, and don’t generate revenue

• Storage can be upgraded for more capacity

• New UI elements and icons to manage stored fish more comfortably

A brand-new Swamp map is now available:

• Home to many of the new species listed above

• Fishing HUD improved: added Fishdex access while fishing

Online and solo play got a facelift:

• New lobby creation screen

• Set lobby icon, max players, and map

• Clearer behavior when joining existing fishing sessions

Lots of usability and clarity improvements:

• Tooltips added to the decoration panel (decorations, lights, backgrounds)

• Perfect Fish indicator added to the inspection panel

• Fishdex entry text improved (e.g. Friendly Gramma description corrected)

• “Show Badges” UI added for the fish list

• Filters now re-apply when switching tabs in the fish list

• Reordering tanks is now supported

• Amount input added when deleting decorations

• Confirmation popup for “Pick Up All”

• Hovering over the breed button shows breeding cooldowns (and plays nice with potions)

• Money formatting improved for shop items

• Item stacks can be combined

• Inventory scrollback moved to the right for better ergonomics

• Storage and inventory icons added/updated where needed

• Tiny Mode now accessible while fishing

• New sound effects for various UI interactions

• Additional SFX for fishing and feedback moments to make the game feel more responsive

• New fishing music for the Swamp region

• Skin prices reduced

• Item stack limits increased across the board

• Bait rewards adjusted per map

• Global special-fish buff to make rare catches feel more rewarding

• Snails slow algae buildup: each snail reduces algae production speed by 10% (10 snails = twice as long to get algae)

Badges and Storage have been introduced with tuned default values so they integrate smoothly into existing progression.

Highlights from many fixes:

• Fixed aquarium thumbnails sometimes showing the wrong tank (e.g. showing a featured aquarium instead of your own)

• Decorations are no longer selectable when you’re not in decoration mode

• Fixed cases where visiting aquariums could show [c]\[unknown][/c] as the name

• Fixed issues with visiting via ID vs random visit showing different tanks, and made favorite/first tank behavior consistent

• Jellyfish now properly behave like snails in terms of hunger (they no longer get hungry)

• Green/red placement preview now shows correctly on more decorations

• Fixed quests from upgrades being reset after relaunch

• Fixed “New fish discovered” pop-up sometimes appearing multiple times for the same fish

• Fixed turtle rewards occasionally letting tanks overflow their capacity (e.g. 31/30)

• Fixed tooltips sometimes overflowing off the screen

• Fixed issues with clicking while fishing playing the “tap glass” sound effect

• Fixed a bug where Hundo medals could disappear after selling/deleting the fish; they now behave like discoveries and stay recorded

• Fixed issues when dragging items across inventory pages that could leave a stuck graphic in mid-air

• Fixed various localization issues (incorrect text, missing loc on buttons, wrong tooltip text)

• Fixed multiple rare errors and crashes related to selection, loading aquariums, and saving

The Marine Conservation Event is back and runs until November 30th 🌎💙
Log in, complete event quests, and earn exclusive themed rewards.

If you spot anything odd or have suggestions for badges, storage, or the Swamp, keep the feedback coming. Enjoy the new region, new systems, and all the fresh critters! 🎣🐡

Can & Egon

We are currently working on localization for additional languages beyond English, which we plan to release in the coming weeks. We’ve also listened to your feedback and added several quality-of-life improvements along with fixes. Here’s what’s included:

- \[Gameplay] Added an option in General Settings to choose between the two movement direction types: Head or Left Controller.

- \[Comfort] Improved smooth turning to give the player more control and make turning feel less dizzy.

- \[Reloading] Loading a new magazine immediately after unloading the previous one is now significantly faster.

- \[Balance] The tablet now has weight.

- \[Interaction] The hand will automatically ungrab the large stationary anomaly camera when the player moves away from it.

- \[Comfort] Added additional collision on the craft station.

- \[General] Other small fixes and improvements.

This is a small patch that aims to fix some of the issues reported by the community like memory leaks and game crashes.

• Fixed memory leaks while playing a routine.

• Improved FPS stability when playing any scenario.

• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to crash when changing scenarios inside a routine.

• Added descriptions and tags to scenarios in the Pause Menu and End Session tab while playing a routine.

• Updated the Normal scenarios list so that Verified and Verified Variation now share the same priority and are ordered by rating instead of being separated (Verified on top and Variations on the bottom).

Hello Everybody

As always thank you for checking out the latest in the world of Renown.

This dev blog is intended to be a look into our current plans for next patch, and a short roadmap for our current activity. This one is a bit of a longer written number, focused on keeping you up to date with the team's thinking.

Internally, we’ve been working on development in 3 key areas for the upcoming patch. These are:

1. De-Jank

Polish, stability, clarity. This pillar focuses on making Renown feel better to play and improving QoL in game.

2. Content

New gameplay systems, world events, and features that expand the world of Renown.

3. Longevity

Extending wipe cycles, improving systems that support long-term play, and raising the skill ceiling without raising frustration.

Starting with De-Jank, let's chat over what we’ve been doing as a team.

De-Jank

Combat Feedback & Polish

Combat has undergone its largest quality pass since the early alpha. The entire team has been putting the majority of their time into this realm of development. This whole area is better shown and experienced than talked about. However, we want to save a lot of that until it's ready to be pushed in all its glory.

Though we will quickly cover the areas the combat is being improved and polished.

• Combat Mechanics Changes and Overhaul

• Hit Reactions (Animation, VFX, Screen Effects,Sounds)

• New Parry Animations and Reactions

• Combat Balance Changes

• Overall Sound Improvements

• Phasing and Desync Fixes/Improvements

• Ping Filter Removal (Official Servers)

Once these changes are finalized we will be creating a more in depth developer update showcasing the changes.

Lighting & Visual Improvements

Kz has been hard at work on our new lighting overhaul. He’s been pushing a full lighting pass using more accurate Lumen settings and preparing the game for a more realistic day/night cycle. This is part graphical enhancement, part de-Jank: better clarity, better readability, and more atmosphere.

Optimization

This is also a major focus area that’s been ongoing since launch:

• World Partition improvements

• Better instancing

• Cleanup of client-side performance drains

• AI and pathing improvements

• Fixes for falling-through-map spots

• Building exploit fixes and general QoL updates

Theres not a ton to say for this area, but we hope you’ll feel it in game. 

Bows and Ranged Combat

This area of the De-Jank is currently still in the planning phase; however, it’s been a major point of discussion in the team.

Effectively, the ranged element of the game is entirely off at the moment. Archery is not a fun or satisfying system currently. It can roughly be used as an advantage in base defence, but in almost all other scenarios, the bows are a disadvantage.

Likewise throwing Weapons are hard to predict and are not a flexible enough system to be used regularly in close to mid-range combat.

Its very likely the Ranged Overhaul will see its own Dev Blog. Our current thinking is we want the early game to feature more ranged gameplay, with it being reduced as players get into Full Plate at the end game. 

We’re of course still looking at endgame ranged options, but this is more likely to be specialised endgame weapons like crossbows.

Content

While a ton of work has been going into de-janking and optimisation, we’re still pushing for new content as quick as we can.

Traps – A New Layer of Strategy

Traps are finally becoming a fully-fledged system in game.

Trap Types currently being explored are:

• Bear Trap

• Spike traps (1/4 and 1/2 foundation sizes)

• Droppable cage with escape minigame

• Possible Crossbow trap:

  • Single-shot baseline

  • Reloading / periodic-fire version

  • Advanced rotating “four-by-four” arrow volley concept

(Let us know in Discord, all your creative ideas about what types of traps you’d like to be added to Renown.)

Placement Rules

This area is likely going to need a lot of balancing to get traps feeling good, without being an overly frustrating experience. We’re actively balancing abuse prevention vs. creative use via:

• Inside your Banner: traps persist and won’t trigger on allies. The maintenance system can be used to prevent the de-spawning of traps in the base and banner range.

• Outside your Banner: Traps can be placed in limited numbers and auto-expire after a given time to prevent spam and griefing of enemy bases.

Arming / Disarming UX

In an aim to prevent mid-fight cheese, traps will use:

• 5-second hold-to-interact arming or disarming (time will vary with balance)

• Currently uses the existing trapped-progress bar UI

• Will be changed over to a more polished UI element in time.

Re-Arm Kits

Each trap has its own internal inventory. You can deposit craftable Re-Arm Kits, which are consumed with each activation. This ensures traps are powerful but finite. This also allows players to create a level of soft offline defence, without traps becoming a default place everywhere item.

Enemy Counterplay Item

Metal Sheet: This is a one-use, higher-cost item that allows one safe pass over spikes or other base-related traps.

Traps are a major part of the Content pillar because they aren’t just “more stuff”. They can act as a soft offline defence layer, a new PvP mind game, and a big marketing showcase feature.

Implementation of the Ferryman:

The Ferryman is effectively complete and ready to deploy, hopefully in our next patch.

This was explained in better detail in a previous dev blog. To be short, it’s a transport method to help reduce the “Walking Sim” nature of the game and allow for greater player interaction over wider areas of the game map.

The Ferrymen system will likely see changes after horses and other transport options are in, but in the meantime, this acts as a quasi-transportation method.

New Events and POI Changes:

We’ve also got several new events in the works.

Sewer System Event:

The first of these is the new Sewer System. KZ has been hard to work, and the programming team has just been able to implement the script for them. Ultimately, we’re looking to add as many new elements to the map as possible while continuing to work on the other key areas of development.

Underground Mine System Event:

KZ mentioned that the new event after this will be the Mines system we’ve had on the back burner for months. This event would see players exploring abandoned mine shafts and other deep places in the world to find Gems and Glory.

We’ll likely see the Mines System coming in a subsequent patch.

Trebuchet Implementation:

We’re very excited that the Trebuchet is ready for this upcoming patch. This will act as our new endgame raiding item, with the catapult being moved closer to the mid-game. This has been the brainchild of Phanzor in recent weeks, and he’s also already programmed a new “Dummy/Tracer Ammo” for the Catapult and Trebuchet. This will allow players to create low-cost ammo, which can be used to accurately get on target, without wasting precious raiding resources.

A ton of work has gone into both the flying Bolder effect, as well as the impact felt in base when under attack via Catapult or Trebuchet. This one is better experienced in-game, but we think folks will be happy with the change.

NPC Life:

Another area we’re currently looking at is giving the NPC’s more life and expression. This includes pathing changes, idle and roleplay animations to make towns feel alive. We’ve also been experimenting with the AI speaking in Old English or Old Norse, but this is still experimental. Currently, the NPC changes will be coming in a later patch. 

This is all leading up to greater NPC interaction systems, with the possibility of trading and reputation with specific towns, Player Territory Control and various other PvP-RP elements. This section could also be its own dev blog and will likely be bundled with the NPC Base Worker system we’ve had planned for years.

While the launch of Renown was a bit bumpy, we cannot accurately express how excited we are to be in a position to start adding new content again while being able to fix up the Jank.

The final area to cover in this week's blog is:

Longevity

Extending Wipe Cycles

This is a key area we’ll put our hands up and say, we made a mistake regarding our initial implementation. This was dependent on our Save System rework, but was also something we got wrong in our initial assumptions on 1 week vs longer wipes.

Once safe, we aim to push wipe cycles past a single week. Recent progress already shows really good stability gains. We’re fairly confident on 2-week wipes now, while 3 weeks should, in theory, also function. We of course need to run populated servers for this duration to really tell, however.

We can say, allowing for longer wipes is a prime goal of the team, based on community feedback. The end goal of this would be to have servers that rarely, if ever, wipe, allowing players to really get invested in a server. 

We’re hoping the expansion to 2 weeks, then 3 helps with this feeling in the short run. 

Map Redesign & Loot Flow

A long-term map pass will restructure POIs and loot progression tiers to create a more coherent mid and end-game experience.

Given that the entire map is effectively made by KZ, we’ve never had a ton of spare resources or time to effectively subdivide and “Make Fun” the various areas of the map. For example, you can see we’ve already split the map into coloured territories. This is partly to play into a future player map mechanics, but it was also so we can split the map into High Tier and Low Tier areas.

We’re currently looking at adding locked zones and keys to the POIs and some basic puzzles to add a bit more interactivity in POIs

We’d also like to introduce newer “Safe Zones” around the map, for player and NPC traders, and to give newer players a place to practice dualing without the pressure of gear fear.

Optimisation for Long-Term Play

Server load, client performance, AI overhead, and network responsiveness all contribute to how long a wipe can run smoothly. These are all under active work as part of the Longevity pillar. Ultimately, there’s not a ton I can say her,e but we hope you’ll feel it after the next patch.

Today, we are releasing our Advisor update and

Why Advisor, you might ask? Because he has a very important message for you!

But for now, let's take a peek at the brand new 0.4 update!

• Bridges are finally coming to your city. They will be drawn automatically, no more citizens walking underwater and nearly drowning!

  

• Companions and buildings last levels will be unlocked. Companions will now gain Prestige that will be used in late-game content.

  

• A brand new narration and quest panel has been added so you can track your quest and read dialogs again, in case you missed anything!

  

• Starting from Tier 4, houses plot will have a chance to merge together, and create a smaller district.

  

• Also: Dogs 🐕!

• Adds prestige system and unlocks companion and building last levels

• Adds bridges

• Adds three new music tracks

• UI - Improves profession identification (colors, flags and icons)

• UI - New dedicated quest & narration panels in the commune house

• Add auto merges plots of houses

• Pauses circular progress bar vfx when game is paused

• Adds SFX and camera shake at invalid construction attempts

• Improves zoning performances

• Updates trade port fences to be fancier

• Updates zoning and parcel placement visual effects

• Renames Hyppocras

• Updates missing clay/sand fertility message wording

• Adds keybind (Shift by default) to hide construction panels that might get in the way

• UI - Always show building construction stacks (civil, farming)

• UI - display quest in the HUD in a specific arrangement (progression first, then sotry, then companions)

• Adds unique voices for all companions for assignation and unassignation SFX

• Keep zoning cancel confirmation interactable if zoning is invalid

• Allow wider farming district

• Balanced all sounds in game

• Add parcel count indicator in habitation panel

• Represent merged parcel inside district panel

• General Perf optimization for very late game

• Art

  • New visual for clay pits, sand pits, stone and iron carries

  • Removes underwater fences

  • Stone and paved road are wider in city centers

  • Polish Inns to accentuate differences between them (Inn, Lodge, Hostel)

  • Polish Tier 4, 5 & 6 habitations

  • Polish civil buildings especially at highest tiers

  • More visibile population from far

  • Add some new 3D mills

  • Add dogs walk among villagers

• Balancing:

  • Tanner does not use tools

  • Lord Inn consumes deer meat instead of wine

  • House tier 5&6 merge percentage balancing

• Fixes:

  • Fixes experience progress bars

  • Fixes rare occurrence of infinite tree fall

  • Adds save tooltip on load screen

  • Fixes Select Building Type Objective was not working when selecting Town Hall

Hi there prospectors,

Welcome to another unstable update with two key features being the introduction of Resource Harvesting Progression and improvements to the UI/UX. Other quality of life improvements and game balancing tweaks are also included in this update.

Unfortunately, trying to join a dedicated server crashes the game. We want to get the new content into the players' hands now, so we've decided to go ahead with this known issue, which we'll aim to fix for the next unstable update.

Thanks as always for the invaluable feedback and bug reporting and we hope you enjoy playing this update.

• The current resource laser that the player gets at the start of the game that can harvest all resources has now been replaced with a set of increasingly better resource lasers that can harvest a new tier of previously unmineable resources as well as those that the previous tier resource laser can harvest. A new tier resource laser also benefits from increased yield, speed and power savings when harvesting lower tier resource givers.

  • Basic Resource Laser

    • The starter tool

    • Lowest power and yield

    • Can harvest Hematite (Iron), trees and Quartz

  • Tier 2 Wide Gauge Resource Laser

    • Available for purchase from the Forest Trader

    • Slightly improved power and yield

    • Can harvest Cuprite (Copper), Tantalite (Tantalum) and all lower tier resources

  • Tier 2 AMP 'Sirocco' Laser

    • Updated to work as an alternative to the new Tier 2 Wide Gauge Resource Laser

    • Has similar attributes to the Tier 2 Wide Gauge Resource Laser, but has a longer range for combat

  • Tier 3 Magma Arc Resource Laser

    • Available for purchase from the Swamp Trader

    • Mid tier power and yield

    • Can harvest Halite (Chlorine), Bauxite (Aluminium) and all lower tier resources

  • Tier 4 Sunfire Prism Resource Laser

    • Available for purchase from the Polar Trader

    • High tier power and yield

    • Can harvest Wolframite (Titanium), Fluorite (Fluorine) and all lower tier resources

  • Tier 5 GigaVolt Resonator Resource Laser

    • Available for purchase from the Desert Trader

    • Highest-tier power and yield

    • Can harvest Gold, Kimberlite (Diamonds) and all lower tier resources

• The in-game UI/UX has been decluttered and streamlined to provide more screen space when playing the game.

  • Tech Cargo panel width has been reduced in size

    • Reduced from 8 cells across to 6 cells.

    • Cell height of storage containers updated accordingly.

    • Inventories from previous game saves should auto-arrange to the new layout.

  • Tech Cargo block info panel now replaced with prompt to see more information via "L Show in Xpedia"

    • Reactor Load and Mod Props of a block are shown in the space below the Tech Cargo.

  • Storage panel width has been reduced in size

    • Reduced from 4 cells across to 3 cells.

  • Block inventory pagination has been replaced with scrolling.

  • Reactor Load panel has been reduced in size.

• Controls for cloning a block now appear in the button prompt ribbon.

• In the storage panel and Blockpedia, buttons have been added to show all Tech blocks, all structure blocks and all resources.

• When harvesting a resource giver with a resource laser, the yield is now shown in the form of resource icons and multipliers.

• When blocks are picked up from the ground (not from a structure or Tech), right mouse button now sends them to storage or cargo, if storage isn't available.

• The 5 ramps from the Large Platform block variant group have now been moved into a separate Large Ramp group.

• The ramp from the Small Platform block variant group has now been moved into a separate Small Ramp group (of 1).

• Initial enemy Techs are now less likely to flee.

• Reduced the toughness and damage of swamp enemies by 25%.

• Removed grenade launchers from all regular swamp enemies.

• Stack sizes for structure blocks has increased from 25 to 100 across all game modes.

• The following bugs should now be fixed in this update:

  • Structure blocks can be duplicated when a block dropped, when one underneath is removed, can be collected by driving into it, but there's also a structure block crate that can also be collected.

  • Block variant selection doesn't work properly in the Blockpedia.

  • The Tech Yard hologram doesn't always show.

• Attempting to join a dedicated server crashes the game.

• The "Blocks to buy" tab of traders contains overlapping text for blocks with modifiable properties.

Until next time, Prospectors!

- The TerraTech Worlds Team

Our game Lia: Hacking Destiny is out NOW! ⚡

Be the resistance in a world ruled by machines: fight, hack, and reignite hope. Craft powerful builds in this fast-paced roguelite with lethal weapons and power-ups. Free kittens from the algorithm’s chains and smash the robots’ scheme. Resist spam and prove that no one codes your destiny!

• Fixed an issue about finding the correct spot while lockpicking

• Fixed random key spawn locations for Storage Key

• Other small changes and minor fixes.

If you find any other bugs, please let us know. We're on the watch to fix all the bugs immediately.

Thanks.

Greetings, I am Lufthansi, narrative designer on Victoria 3, and welcome back to this week's 100% planned Dev Diary. This will contain the material that we were unable to squeeze into last week's Dev Diary felt warranted a separate, more detailed introduction. So today we will cover everything from the colonial law variants and electoral fraud arriving with the free patch, to the new paid narrative content associated with countries in Spain's wider orbit - namely Cuba, the Philippines, Morocco, and the Dominican Republic. 

So without further ado, let's jump straight into it.

Hello. This is Victoria, presenting some more pieces of free narrative content coming in Update 1.12. Please note, as ever, that any screenshots attached are from a work-in-progress build, and certain elements may not be final.

The Republic of Australia is no more. Henceforth, colonies will have a Governance Principles law variant of their own. The Colonial Administration law variant represents non-sovereign colonial administrations such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, or the East India Company, providing a sharp increase in political strength to Bureaucrats and Officers.

At the beginning of the game, most Colonial Administrations will have the Subjecthood law, with the Colonial Racialisation amendment attached. This law setup represents the administrative reality of colonial administration – whilst colonised peoples were discriminated against by the administration, the practical dimension of this discrimination was different from a minority populace surrounded by a hostile majoritarian society. In India, for example, the hostility of the British authorities towards Indians took the form of a paranoid, exclusionary state apparatus whose engagement with the populace was minimal outside of violent reprisals. For more in-depth information on the system, refer to Dev Diary #136.

Colonial Racialisation represents the phenomenon of racialisation in a colonial context – historically, the construction of a “white” or “European” identity out of the many disparate European cultures represented among the colonial apparatus. With this incarnation of Subjecthood, those who share heritage with the colonisers will typically be in the Full Acceptance bracket, colonised peoples on their homelands will experience a moderate degree of discrimination, and colonised peoples not on their homelands will experience the greatest degree of administration.

If a civil war occurs in a Colonial Administration, the revolutionary \[or secessionist] side will receive an event that allows them to choose a different Governance Principles law. A similar event will occur if a colonial administration ever becomes independent.

As an additional improvement to colonial administrations, we have added a new diplomatic action. The Change Language of Administration action is included in Sphere of Influence, and allows a colonial overlord to change a colony’s primary culture to match one’s own. If, for example, Portugal is to come into possession of the formerly British Raj, she may use this interaction to switch out the English-speaking administration for a Lusophone one.

As it turns out, our team is extremely enthusiastic about electoral fraud. In the time since the diary in which it was initially revealed, we have developed a way to generalise it to all nations. All countries with elections now have an Electoral Confidence value, which reflects the degree of confidence its politically enfranchised populace has in elections being free and fair. Having a low Electoral Confidence negatively impacts one’s Legitimacy, and replaces Political Strength from Votes with Political Strength from Wealth. The penalty from having low Electoral Confidence is offset by a more restricted franchise, and other modifiers.

Electoral manipulation has now been made available for all nations, except for ones with the Tradition of Free Elections amendment. The Tradition of Free Elections amendment is gained through the same means that Electoral Clientelism is abolished – if one chooses to not rig one’s elections for enough elections in a row, one will lose the option to do so until a sufficiently autocratic ruler takes power. This Amendment both increases Legitimacy and makes it more difficult to enact a non liberal-democratic Distribution of Power law.

At the start of an election period, countries that do not possess the Tradition of Free Elections amendment will receive an event that gives the option to rig the election for a party of their choice. Doing so will sharply reduce Electoral Confidence. The event shown in Dev Diary #163 remains as the specific variant for Hispanophone and Lusophone countries, whilst all other countries receive the below event.

Pictured: The average Political Science graduate’s dream job.

Upon a country enacting an electoral law for the first time, it will start with a level of Electoral Confidence calculated on the basis of its literacy and urbanisation rates, and any local electoral institutions – such as Elected Bureaucrats – that it possesses. Countries that start with low Electoral Confidence will also start with a grace period to raise their Electoral Confidence as much as possible before the full legitimacy malus kicks in.

Pictured: 101% of Swedes say that they have complete confidence in our electoral system.

Electoral Confidence is gained through selecting certain options in election events. Generally, options that encourage electoral violence or fraud will reduce Electoral Confidence, whilst options which encourage confidence in state institutions will increase Electoral Confidence.

The Cultural Commonwealth is a new central identity for Power Blocs, unlocked by Iberian Twilight. The Cultural Commonwealth is to culture as the Religious Convocation is to religion, encouraging homogeneity amongst a Power Bloc’s member states.

A Cultural Commonwealth gains Cohesion based on the degree to which its leader accepts the primary cultures of its member states. For example, were Spain to form a Cultural Commonwealth, she would receive more Cohesion from including Venezuela than she would from inviting Germany. Cultural Commonwealths also benefit from the clout of the Intelligentsia and Petit-Bourgeoisie, and suffer decreased Cohesion if any member has Multiculturalism enacted.

The leader of a Cultural Commonwealth may use the Spread Primary Culture action to spread their primary culture to a less prestigious member of the bloc that shares a Language or Language Group trait with that culture.

By skillfully wielding the Spread Primary Culture and Change Language of Administration interactions, one may make a hitherto unprecedented number of countries Portuguese. We look forward to seeing what our players will do with this.

In keeping with Iberian Twilight’s content for Spanish colonial administrations, we have reworked the Appoint Governor interaction included in Sphere of Influence. This interaction now allows one to appoint one of several archetypal colonial governors to rule over one’s colonies.

We have also added a new Request Governor interaction, which permits a colony to request a governor more to their liking.

Once a colonial governor is appointed, their term will expire in some years, and they will be replaced by a governor of the same archetype. This cycle will continue until either the metropole or colonial establishment appoints a different archetype.

These archetypes include the following:

Additionally, all heads of state of colonial countries at the start of the game have been given one of these traits, which will be inherited by their successors upon the end of their terms.

Welcome to Morocco!

At the start of the game the ruling Alaoui dynasty of Morocco had fairly limited control over the territories that we recognize as Morocco on the map at game start, while able to extract tribute from the surrounding tribes and being at least nominally and religiously recognized as ruler of the region the government's ability to enforce its laws upon the tribes was rather limited past the capital Fez and the cities along the Atlantic coast as well as Marrakech.

In game this is represented by a new Journal Entry that Morocco receives as part of Iberian Twilight: the Bilaad al-Siba!

In this journal entry you will be tasked with establishing your control over the tribes of Morocco, to that end we have grouped them up by state regions and created a progress bar for each of them.

While the Journal Entry is ongoing you will be unable to incorporate any new states

Your control can be increased by factors such as developing the capital and the relevant state regions as a whole, having high legitimacy or a strong military presence.

Control can be increased by a variety of factors

Another way to increase your control is to send your Sultan off on an expedition around the country to physically manifest control wherever he goes. These tours are traditionally referred to as Harka and while ongoing you will also receive new events dealing with the troubles of the individual regions where you will have to make decisions on behalf of his majesty, further contributing or detracting from the progress you make in each region.

The Sultan's aura can get you far

Additionally you may also choose to spread your powers thin by considering a new early opt-in to colonization in the form of the “Expand our Reach” button which in exchange for 20 progress across all bars will enable you to fast track Frontier Colonization and more importantly establish Colonization Rights with the Tekna Confederation and Tuat to the south.

Tekna and Tuat represent the periphery of Moroccan influence and can be brought into the fold this way

This reminds me I should probably show off the map before we continue with our next topic!

While Morocco will be able to subsume Tekna and Tuat fairly quickly we have also taken it as an opportunity to redraw parts of the Maghreb

Cuba's 19th century, often overshadowed by interest in its revolutionary times, marks a drastic transformation from a loyal subject dependent on slavery to a fiercely independent nation proud of its own culture. In Iberian Twilight, we explore several paths that at various points appeared to be likely outcomes, or at least perceived possible outcomes, of the path of history. 

Cuba's population never had the extremely high proportion of slaves to white landowners and workers as Haiti, so a slave revolt taking the whole country was never as likely an outcome. Nevertheless, the fear of such an outcome, and the horror it caused in the white Caribeño population, led to a perceived dependence on Spain and its garrisoned armies.

First, it is impossible to discuss this period of Cuban history without mentioning the sugar plantations: Cuba was the largest producer in the world at the time, largely due to slave labor. Spain had agreed to England's insistence on officially outlawing the slave trade, but the Capitan-generales appointed to rule Cuba openly collected bribes to turn a blind eye. There were practices where slaves were dropped off elsewhere on the island, a ship formally docked, and then the slaves walked into the market from out of town to (at least make an apparent effort to) obfuscate their origin. Due to its illegal nature, there were even cases where some slavers would board and take others' slavers' at sea rather than sail to Africa, all while avoiding British vessels. 

The slave trade in Cuba continued to flourish not because of massive expansion of the sugar industry, but because it was considered cheaper to replace slaves than to provide facilities enough to keep them or their children alive. Only after the cost of slaves increased drastically, and technological improvements achieved the production of sugar with less labor, did the reliance on the slave trade decrease and the abolishment of slavery begin in earnest. In game, this is mechanically represented through the new production methods covered by last week's Dev Diary 163: The Fine Print, and the Journal Entry La Vida Dulce, which also attributes the islands natural trading potential.

What is wealth without freedom?

Option if slavery is still present.

Option if the goal was achieved after slavery was banned, which is more difficult since access to the labor production methods with the most output are disabled.

There is also an option to modernise

Or to dedicate that wealth to pursuing independence (no matter the overlord, though here it is still Spain).

Speaking of Spain, all of Spain's other subjects in the Americas had risen up for independence, loyal landowners coupled with a large military garrison kept Cuba firmly in the empire, leading it to be called "La Siempre Fiel Isla de Cuba" (the ever-faithful island of Cuba). Some of these Landowers, known as the Reformists, sought to have Cuba represented in the Spanish Cortes. There was a notion that Cuba should be seen not as a colony, but as a somewhat distant province of España. 

In game we model this potential path with the Cuba es España Journal Entry.

The completion criteria here, provided one has Spheres of Influence, uses a new overlord action of granting investment rights to subjects (otherwise a simpler objective of building plantations applies).

If Cuba entwines its economy enough with Spain, they can join as a single nation. Though it is also possible to back out, especially in Multiplayer if both countries are players.

Meanwhile, this direction can be discarded by sapping the landowners strength, or raising liberty desire and questioning that ever faithful loyalty.

"Failing" the journal entry will allow the player to direct the country down a variety of other paths, including a boost to liberty desire or sending the signal for a slave revolt. See Dev Diary 163: The Fine Print for more details about the new slave revolt movements.

If Cuba isn't to remain loyal to Spain, naturally it will seek its independence. Historically, there were several attempts to do so through a diplomatic arrangement with the USA and Spain. Similar to how Louisiana and Florida were purchased, so too could Cuba be purchased. In 1848, under President Polk, an offer of 100 million dollars was made, but Spain refused. The island remained valuable to their empire's economy and prestige. 

Over subsequent decades, Cuba would fight not one but three wars for independence, the last culminating in the American-Spanish war. 

These possible outcomes are represented by the Independencia Journal Entry. Here, depending on a number of factors, the spirit of liberty will either drive freedom-seekers to uniting with the USA, or to follow Jose Marti's call for true independence. 

Which path to freedom indeed.

Some factors on the pro-USA vs Independencia bar

There are some bonuses available no matter what path is taken to breaking away from Spain, including if players use the regular mechanics to fight an early war.

Cuban revolutionaries typically freed slaves on their farms or farms in conflict zones, some of whom would then fight. There is also an equivalent button to appeal to Afro-caribenos and integrate them as a primary culture after slavery is banned.

Gaining enough liberty desire, if the bar leans towards joining the USA, will allow Cuba to trigger a chain of events allowing it to be purchased from Spain. If Spain refuses, there may be diplomatic consequences.

Otherwise, with enough liberty desire, it is time to prepare for war. Note these numbers are still being balanced and are subject to change.

Cuba's trade focused playthrough also benefits from three powerful companies, allowing access to prestige goods: Havana Sugar, Bacardi Rum, and Cigars.

For those looking for a simpler playthrough than mainland Spain, Cuba may offer all the opportunities you need to break free and expand a trade empire. ¡Que lo disfrute!

The Spanish Colony of the Philippines starts out with a relatively straightforward economic development Journal Entry, representing the 19th century economic development of the colony, and the growth of a local, mostly Mestizo middle class. 

On top of the shown territories here, the Philippines also starts in control of Guam and Palau.

With the release of Iberian Twilight, Filipino culture will now be split at game start into Filipino Mestizo, Tagalog, Ilocano, Visayan, and the anachronistically named Lumad, a catch-all term for the various native peoples of Mindanao. Spanish will be the country's only accepted culture at game start, and the country will be primarily run by them and their Hispanophone Mestizo allies, but the situation of minority rule can be remedied by the new Philippine narrative content. Once you research nationalism, you will be presented with two new Journal Entries:

Archipelagic is a fun word to write, but we may have gone a bit overboard here.

The first of these deals with the growing desire for independence or greater rights vis-a-vis the Spanish metropole. Its conclusion, achieved by either tying yourself more firmly to Spain or achieving full independence will empower the Filipino Mestizo population to the point where they will be established as the country's new primary culture. Attached to this Journal Entry is also an event chain about the conflict between Spanish and local-born Philippine friars, as well as the evolution of the so-called Ilustrados, a group of Spanish-educated Filipino intellectuals, whose names would strongly resonate with anyone with even the most remote interest in the modern history of the Philippines.

The second Journal Entry, Archipelagic Ethnogenesis, is all about the creation of a pan-Philippinic national identity, and will grant you powerful assimilation bonuses as a reward –  on top of the creation of a new national culture. Depending on your relationship with Spain, this culture's language can either be Hispanophone or Philippinic.

If there's one thing that both developers and players can agree on, it's that Haiti is overpowered, and that currently playing it is far too easy. So have no fear, because we've now added Dominican Revolution content to the game to give you, the community, the Haiti nerf you've all been clamouring for.

Haiti will now start the game with a rather powerful Dominican National movement operating in its lands, uniting the Spanish, Caribeños, and Afro-Caribeños under its banner. Other than the usual factors their strength is also based on your debt level, so getting your economy in order is even more of a priority now if you want to keep the rebellious east under control.

Should this movement be politically relevant a couple of years into the game, Haiti will get the new One and Indivisible Journal Entry that will spike Dominican resistance to Haitian rule even further.

In turn, the start of a Dominican Secession will cause the Journal Entry to fail, and Dominican rebels to rally behind the great landowner Pedro Santana, whose strong leadership, wealth, and access to large numbers of labourers-turned-militiamen would be a decisive factor in the historical Dominican War of Independence.

Once independent, the new Dominican Republic may seek protection from a foreign power, to safeguard its territorial integrity against Haiti. Historically, Pedro Santana and his supporters would sideline advocates of full Dominican Independence and petition Spain for annexation, but there were also those who argued that Santo Domingo should seek the protection of France or the United States instead. The latter however, would come at the cost of the establishment of the lease of the Samana peninsula, whose location and ability to support port facilities made it quite desirable in the eyes of American and French statesmen and naval officers. You can, of course, still choose to rely on your own strength instead. 

Once ceded, the Samana Treaty Port will contain most of Santo Domingo's Afro-American population. A legacy of the early-mid 19th century Haitian Emigration scheme.

Next time on “I Woke Up as a Producer, and The Narrative Designers Cannot Stop Writing!”, as said in the last dev diary, we will be covering Portugal in its entirety. 

Please also remember what we mentioned in Dev Diary 164, where mods will be broken from the changes made.

Iberian Twilight releases on December 11th, just under a month away now, so mark the date!