Nation designer
Available only with the El Dorado DLC enabled. |
The nation designer is a tool that was introduced in the El Dorado DLC, in February 2015. It allows the player to create custom nations.
Contents
Territory[edit]
Creating a custom nation begins by selecting a capital province. Thereafter, additional provinces may be added. No province may be more than 200 distance from "home provinces", these being defined as provinces with a land connection to the capital. All provinces within 400 distance of starting provinces are explored.
Cost[edit]
Province cost is calculated as follows:
- 20 points for a capital in the HRE.
- 0.5 points per development, modified by terrain type, and multiplied by 1.2 if the capital is in the HRE.
- 3 points per base production for gold-producing provinces.
- Some provinces cost more. These are provinces with special province modifiers, such as center of trade. The additional cost is given explicitly, not by a formula.
- Any provincial trade power modifier is added directly (+20 for Sjælland Sound Toll, +10 for Estuaries, Important Natural Harbors, and Bosphorous Sound Toll)
- 15 points for a Coastal Center of Trade
- 10 points for an Inland Center of Trade
- A varying amount for static goods produced modifiers (Dalaskogen, Potosi, Nile Delta, etc.)
Terrain multipliers:
Terrain type | Multiplier |
---|---|
Farmlands | 1.1 |
Grasslands | 1.0 |
Coastline | 0.95 |
Drylands | 0.95 |
Savannah | 0.95 |
Steppe | 0.95 |
Forest | 0.9 |
Woods | 0.9 |
Coastal Desert | 0.9 |
Highlands | 0.9 |
Hills | 0.85 |
Marsh | 0.85 |
Jungle | 0.8 |
Desert | 0.8 |
Mountain | 0.75 |
Glacier | 0.75 |
Government[edit]
Ruler[edit]
The ruler and heir may be customized. With Rights of Man, a consort may be customized as well.
One common strategy for minimizing point cost while maximizing ruler skills is to make the heir (and consort) very unskilled with bad personality traits, and disinherit the heir or hope both the heir and consort die naturally before the ruler dies. If done correctly, the player can have a 6/6/6 ruler costing 36 points be nearly totally offset by a -24 point heir and -3 point consort. This results in an effective cost of 9 for the ruler, which is the same cost as having a 3/3/3 ruler of the same age with no heir or consort.
- Name
- Dynasty
- Gender
- Age
- The ruler may be 20 to 40 years old
- The heir 0 to 30 years old
- The consort may be 20 to 40 years old (requires
Rights of Man)
- Skills
- Personalities (see below)
Ruler cost[edit]
Based on skills and age, the ruler may cost anywhere from -18 (0/0/0, age 20) to 36 (6/6/6, age 20) points.
Heir cost[edit]
Based on skills and age, the heir may cost anywhere from -24 (0/0/0, age 0) to 48 (6/6/6, age 0) points.
For rulers and heirs, a lower age will push point cost towards the extremes of the spectrum, where a higher age will tend towards 0.
Consort cost[edit]
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Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
For consorts, age does not matter. However, a consort's total point cost is multiplied by a factor of 0.25, including any personality traits.
Thus, based only on skills, the consort may cost anywhere from -3 (0/0/0) to 6 (6/6/6) points.
Government[edit]
Starting government type may be selected from a fixed list. The list has all the government types that aren't unlocked with technologies. Some of them cost points and others have requirements like a specific religion or technology group. Government rank also factors into the cost, with ranks 1, 2, and 3 costing 0, 10, and 40 points respectively.
Available governments[edit]
Technology group[edit]
Any technology group may be chosen, and will determine the nation's starting institutions and technology level (1-3). Every technology group costs 0 nation designer points if within the old world, however all non-native tech groups cost 75 nation designer points within the new world. Note: A nation's revealed map at game start will include the continent of their capital and the home continent of their technology group. For example, a custom nation with its capital in North America and Western Tech would start with North America and Europe explored. Keep in mind that province discovery is slowly shared across tech groups so be careful about taking Western/etc tech group as a New World country and giving Europe free exploration.
Continent | Baseline | Technology Cost Modifier |
---|---|---|
Europe | Western | +0% |
Africa | Muslim | +0% |
Asia | Muslim | +0% |
North America | Mesoamerican | +0% |
South America | South American | +0% |
Oceania | South American | +0% |
Other[edit]
- Culture: Any culture may be chosen. The capital will be of the chosen culture, but any other provinces, that do not have the original culture of your chosen capital, will have their default culture (even those uncolonized by default). There is no cost.
- Religion: Any religion may be chosen. All provinces will be of the national religion at game start. There is no cost.
- Map Graphics: Affects unit models and building icons and may be selected independent of technology group. This is purely cosmetic.
Ideas[edit]
Ten bonuses must be chosen: two for Traditions, seven for progress, and one for Ambition.
If more than 50% of the total idea "levels" come from a single category (,
,
), the point cost of all ideas is increased by 5% for each 1% share over 50%. These are not the actual idea levels, but rather 10 * level / maximum level.
Early ideas are more expensive:
Slot | Cost multiplier |
---|---|
Traditions | 2.0 |
Idea 1 | 2.0 |
Idea 2 | 1.8 |
Idea 3 | 1.6 |
Idea 4 | 1.4 |
Idea 5 | 1.2 |
Idea 6 | 1.0 |
Idea 7 | 1.0 |
Ambitions | 1.0 |
Administrative[edit]
Diplomatic[edit]
Military[edit]
Notes[edit]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.28. |
Liberty desire from subject development −0.10%
Reduces the liberty desire from development value by 10% (up to 40%). Two examples for a level 3 (-0.30%) idea:
Example(1) Colony with 200 development: 200 * 0.10 * (1 - 0.30) = 14 liberty desire from development (20 without)
Example(2) Vassal with 200 development: 200 * 0.25 * (1 - 0.30) = 35 liberty desire from development (50 without)
Cavalry to Infantry Ratio +15.0%
This percentage is added to your current ability. Meaning at level 4 a western nation gets a 50% + 60% = 110% cavalry to infantry ratio and can field cavalry only armies without penalties.
Also increases possible Condottieri. Calculation: 20 * (1 + Possible Condottieri) * (1 + Available Mercenaries)
Example for level 3 Possible Condottieri and level 2 Available Mercenaries:
20 * (1 + 0.75) * (1 + 0.25) = 43.75 - which is rounded down to 43 Condottieri
Personalities[edit]
![]() |
Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.28. |
![]() |
Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
- Main article: Personalities#Ruler_personalities
There are plenty of traits that can be chosen for a nation's ruler, heir, and consort. They are very important as they can influence events or how nations will see you.
The ruler may have up to 3 customized personality traits. Since the first trait is gained at age 15 and a custom nation's ruler must be at least 20, the first one is guaranteed. The ruler must be 25 (having ruled for 10 years) to gain the second trait. The ruler must be 40 (having ruled for 25 years) to gain the third trait.
The heir may only have 1 customized personality trait, as they have not ruled for 10 or 25 years. However, if the heir is younger than 15, they will have no traits.
Similarly, the consort will always have exactly 1 customized trait, as they are required to be over 15, but have not ruled yet. Additionally, a consort's total point cost is multiplied by a factor of 0.25, including personality traits.
Appearance[edit]
The name, adjective, color, and flag of the nation can be customized at no point cost.
Miscellaneous[edit]
- When playing at a later start date, custom nations do not start with any idea groups.
- Player-controlled custom nations may take decisions that form nations if they meet the conditions. However, their national ideas do not change even if the decision would normally cause this to happen.
- There is a maximum of 75 custom nations.
- In the options it's possible to set the custom nation's difficulty. Depending on the difficulty selected the number of points available changes between 50 (very hard) and 800 (very easy).
Achievements[edit]
- Main article: Achievements
The following achievements require playing as a custom nation. Most other achievements can't be earned with custom nations enabled; those that can mostly require no more than 201 points spent.






Colonisation | Exploration • Colonisation • Colonial nation • Tariffs • Trade company |
Economy | Debase currency • Development • Economy • Privateering • Production • Raid coasts • Tax |
Trade | Trade • Trade company • Trade goods • Trade nodes |
Diplomacy | Diplomacy • Diplomatic feedback • Envoy • Espionage |
Other | Defender of the Faith • Great power • Hegemon • Prestige • Regions |
Political structures | Emperor of China • Holy Roman Empire • Papacy |
Relations | Personal union • Relations • Subject nation |
Concepts | Corruption • Governing capacity • Overextension • Power projection • Rebellion • Regions • Stability • States and territories |
Court | Advisors • Consort • Monarch power • National focus • Ruler • Ruler personalities |
Estates and Factions | Base estates • Cossacks estates • Dharma estates • Estates • Factions |
Events and Missions | Decisions • Disasters • Events • List of decisions • Missions |
Goverment | Absolutism • Culture • Government • Government rank • Modifiers • Policies |
Province mechanics | Autonomy • Buildings • Canal • Capital • Core • Province |
Religions | Christian denominations • Eastern denominations • Muslim denominations • Other denominations • Pagan denominations • Religion |
Specific governments | Native council • Parliament • Steppe hordes |
Ideas and Policies | Idea groups • National ideas • Policies |
Ages and Institutions | Ages • Institutions |
Innovativeness and Technology | Innovativeness • Technology |
Declaring war | Alliance • Casus belli • Claim • Peace • War exhaustion • Warfare |
Defense | Fort • Zone of control |
Land warfare | Army • Condottieri • Discipline • Drilling • Land units • Land warfare • Manpower • Militarisation • Mercenaries • Professionalism |
Naval warfare | Flagship • Naval blockade • Naval doctrine • Naval units • Naval warfare • Navy • Sailors |
Other | Force limit • Military leader • Military tradition |