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Good morning! After last weeks dev diary on Ayutthaya, were taking a voyage across the sea to Java, home of what remains of the Majapahit Empire.
Majapahit once spanned nearly all of Maritime South-East Asia, ruling over countless vassal states and tributary kingdoms across the isles. The empire reached its golden age under the administration of Gajah Mada, a renowned statesman and military leader who vowed to conquer all of Nusantara for Majapahit.
It has been almost a century since Gajah Mada left office in disgrace after attempting to subjugate the Sunda kingdom against the wishes of both monarchies. The Chinese treasure fleet expeditions of Zheng He severely disrupted the balance of power in the region, with many kingdoms taking the opportunity to strike out on their own and the Chinese supporting the rival Sultanate of Malacca in the west. The Majapahit Empire in 1444 is in a state of severe decay. Only a few of its tributaries remain loyal, a series of bloody struggles over the succession are imminent, and religious tensions are rising. The last remaining tributary states are Blambangan, Bali, Banjar, and Palembang - for owners of Mandate of Heaven, all nations in the Chinese tech group can now have Tributaries regardless of religion.
At the very start of the game, Majapahit begins a unique Disaster that puts them on the road to total collapse if not managed carefully. This is intentionally one of the most difficult disasters in the game, immediately tanking your stability and legitimacy, while also adding a modifier that increases all power costs by 15%, reduces monarch lifespan by 50%, and increases the liberty desire of all subjects by 15%. As always, numbers are not final and Ill need to play around with this to get the difficulty level right - navigating this Disaster should be a challenge but not an insurmountable one. In addition, every succession will be challenged by a Pretender and events will further increase the Liberty Desire of subjects, who will become independent if their Liberty Desire becomes too high. After dealing with these effects for a while, youll be approached with an offer of financial aid from a group of Muslim merchants who wish to trade in Majapahit. Accepting their offer will provide a much-needed influx of cash, but also causes the periodic conversion of your provinces to Sunni Islam. Rejecting this offer causes Majapahit to become diplomatically and economically isolated, with penalties to your diplomatic reputation and trade power.
Above is a worst case scenario. Successor states of Demak and Mataram vie for dominance of Java while the remnants of the Majapahit court helplessly watch their nation collapse. Muslim successor states spawn by event if a significant number of your provinces convert to Islam and you cannot maintain high Legitimacy.
But all is not yet lost! Through their new mission tree, Majapahit have the means to end the Disaster and restore the golden age of their empire:
The Majapahit mission tree is a little different to the traditional mission tree structure. It begins with 4 missions that guide you through the Disaster and alleviate its effects - putting an end to the succession crises, stabilizing the spread of Islam, disabling events that increase subject liberty desire, and preventing breakaway states from emerging. Completing the Prevent Collapse mission finally puts an end to the Disaster, and adds a permanent +1 diplomatic relation slot.
This mission tree does not award permanent claims (with one notable exception) or even Subjugation CBs against specific countries. Instead, the Enforce Loyalty mission unlocks the unique Majapahit Campaigns CB, which functions similarly to the Subjugation CB but has no time limit, a warscore cost discount of only 25% (compared to Subjugations 50% discount), and can be used against any nation in the Malay culture group that youve discovered. This eliminates the need to award CBs or claims preceding missions like Rein in Malacca or Subjugate Makassar. This CB is improved when you complete Gajah Madas Oath, which requires you to form Malaya, by unlocking use of the CB against all nations in the Chinese culture group. Completing the Subjugate the Mainland mission improves it for the final time, allowing the CB to be used without restrictions.
Some additional highlights:
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