Hello fellow Victorians, and happy Thursday! Alex here and its my turn to bring you another exciting update on whats coming with 1.7. This time Ive been tasked with showing you a selection of certified Cool things were doing that didnt really fit in other Dev Diaries. This will be a lot like the proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get next!

Religion and Culture map modes

In case you missed it, a few Dev Diaries ago we mentioned in passing that we now have a new highly requested map mode that shows you what religion the Pops in different states follow. This new mapmode functions similarly to the Culture map mode you are already familiar with. Additionally, while implementing the religion map mode we also took the opportunity to upgrade both of these map modes so they now show if there are significant cultural or religious minorities in those states. The way it works is that, apart from the largest culture or religion, if a second cultures or religions relative population is above a certain threshold, we blend the colors weighted by that relative population. Up to three cultures or religions can be represented this way, each with separate thresholds for each of the map modes. These thresholds are completely moddable and if you just prefer the old look, you can easily revert back to it. Being able to see the clear divide between Protestants and Catholics in Europe really hits different!
The new upgraded cultural map mode does a much better job at showcasing all the different cultures in Brazil. I like how you can see the lavender haze shifting in tones between the different Northeastern states as the game progresses.

National Migration

For a long time you have all been talking about how its awkward that your migration laws also prevent your pops from migrating inside your country, rather than only restricting it when moving out. With 1.7 this will change! Migration laws will no longer prevent pops moving between states in your country. Instead, your migration laws will only prevent pops from moving out of or into your country, be it through mass migrations or through regular market migration from other countries within your market or power bloc. These are the 22 laws Japan starts with. Closed Borders and Isolationism in particular make Japan a fairly unique starting country in how isolated they are. Previously this meant no inter-state migration could happen, which severely limited your growth opportunities.
Starting with 1.7 that wont be a problem anymore as countries with Closed Borders will allow their own pops to migrate between their states, while still being closed to the outside.

Support and Guarantee Independence pacts

As part of our changes to subject mechanics weve also introduced two new diplomatic pacts:

• Support Independence
• Guarantee Independence

As you might imagine, they allow you to signal to a country that you will side with them in a potential war for their independence. Guarantee Independence works essentially as a one-sided defensive pact letting you support a country if they were to be attacked, while Support Independence is for countries that are not currently independent. One particularly cool aspect of this is that subjects can now support the independence of other subjects of the same overlord, potentially leading to a big war for joint independence. An Indian-Canadian alliance might be somewhat unexpected, but I can appreciate the enthusiasm to stop being under British rule. So long, London!
Must feel reassuring for Belgium to be Guaranteed by Britain, France and Prussia. You have to wonder what it will mean for the development of Europe. Im sure it will last.

Multiple Active Wars

Another highly requested feature! For a long time youve been asking for this and now we were finally able to do it. In the current version of the game you cant initiate a war if you already have another war in progress. Starting in 1.7, you will be able to initiate as many simultaneous wars as you want. You still need to wait for each diplomatic play to progress to war before starting another one, but other than that if you wish to wage war against the whole world, youre free to do so. Pictured: France thinking they can take on Spain while already fighting Prussia (notice the widget at the top). What year do they think it is? 1808? Maybe its time for another coalition. Paris is lovely this time of year.

Calling an Ally now gives them a war goal of their choosing

In 1.7 calling an ally will now let that ally pick a war goal of their own. This is done through the regular Add War Goal interface and adds it as a secondary demand. This war goal is subject to a maneuvers limit, but doesnt cost maneuvers for the war leader. Of course, now they want help. Maybe dont start wars you cant win. I guess we can help for the right price, but this is the last time.

Overlords can now side against their subjects during revolutions

Tired of having to support your subject in a revolution when they get into their Communist phase despite you being a staunch defender of the sanctity of the free market? In 1.7 youll be able to support the revolutionary side instead. If you do, when the war breaks out it will make the revolutionary country your subject instead and you can then fight the war and go on as usual. Come on, Norway. You knew all too well this was going to happen when you tried to pass State Atheism. Im done.
See? Look what you made me do. Now I have to fight Prussia while siding with the Devout!

Unidirectional Truces

Another requested feature that is coming with 1.7 is the support for unidirectional truces that only prevents one side from starting fights with the other. Unidirectional truces will, at least for now, only be applied after breaking a Guarantee Independence pact and after changing the autonomy of subjects, but let us know if you have any suggestions for other cool places we could use them in. Well, that didnt last long. Good thing Europe is at peace and wars are a thing of the past Right?

Subjects can turn against overlord at high enough liberty desire

With the coming update, at high enough liberty desire levels, a subject might offer to support your enemies in exchange for their support in getting independence from you or simply raising your subjects autonomy. Make sure to keep your subjects happy. The treacherous ones might decide to backstab you.

Auto-downsizing for Privately owned buildings

Privately-owned Buildings that are not able to fill all their vacancies will in 1.7 start downsizing on their own under certain conditions. If it becomes relevant, the building will issue a warning that it intends to downsize in 12 months, unless conditions get better. If it starts downsizing it will remove levels one at a time until the number of employees better matches its output and profit potentials. Finally something is being done about all those abandoned buildings all over the place. Maybe we can clean it up and repurpose old industrial areas into parks or something.

New Character Outfits

We have also added a few more character clothing options. In particular I really like these late game military British and French outfits! This guy is exactly how I imagine an innocent British lord in the 1800s going on their first field trip to the colonies would look like. Blimey lads, they have us surrounded!
This one on the other hand looks like he has some serious bad blood with someone (probably the Prussians)
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! (also look at this guys style! I want a hat like that)

New Companies

We have a number of new companies coming for Sphere of Influence owners! Heres some of my favorite ones:


In addition to these, the following companies will also be introduced with Sphere of Influence:

• Perskhlopok
• Persshelk
• erkat-e Eslmiya
• West Ural Petroleum Company, Limited
• Kirgizian Mining [Joint Stock] Company
• Moscow Irrigation Company
• Tashkent Railroad
• MM. Nicolas Portalis et Cie.
• Anglo-Persian Oil Company

The following companies will be available for all players as part of the 1.7 free update:

• Iranian State Railway
• erkat-e Ettedya-ye Welyat-e eml
• Bongh-e Ener-e dert-e Taryk
• Arthur Guinness Son & Co. Ltd
• Oriental Development Company
• Turkish Petroleum Company

Thats all for now! Hope you enjoyed this smrgsbord of assorted changes coming soon. Next week Vicka will be telling you more about modding in 1.7!