Tinto Talks #100 - Fate of the Phoenix first look

Hello, and welcome to our 100th Tinto Talks!

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to give you a rundown on many of the things planned for the 1.2 patch, and also details on the shiny new Fate of the Phoenix Immersion Pack that will release alongside it!

1.2 ‘Echinades’ focuses on a plethora of different quality of life issues, ranging from exposing hidden content to improving mapmodes, some balance changes, as well as some free content to the Balkan sphere, Orthodoxy, and the Holy Roman Empire. There are also lots of new free features related to economy, politics and diplomacy, and we have taken a long look at logistics as well.

I’ll be revealing more details in future Tinto Talks.

Firstly, a little about the new naming conventions we are using for EU5 DLCs, just so everyone is on the same page.

An Immersion Pack is a smaller DLC that increases the depth of a single country, or elaborates on a focused theme.
A Chronicle Pack is medium-sized and offers a little more player value, for example, focusing on 2 countries, and often along a wider narrative theme.
We also envisage an Expansion Pack as the third tier, even larger in scope, but we won’t be releasing one of those this year.


The Premium Edition of EU5 contains Fate of the Phoenix Immersion Pack and also two more unreleased DLCs: Across the Pillars and Auld Alliance, which will both be medium-sized Chronicle Packs. This means if you already own the EU5 Premium Edition, you will automatically unlock this DLC content when it releases.

Hopefully, that has explained our intentions here,but feel free to ask questions about this topic!

Fate of the Phoenix is an immersion pack, so it is one of the smaller offerings that we have planned, focusing almost exclusively on the surviving Eastern Roman Empire.

I will outline the vision of the DLC a little bit here, which is built on the following pillars.

• Strike back against the expanding Ottomans, Serbians, and other nearby vultures with the Fate of the Phoenix disaster, which brings you new options for internal politics and options for expansion.

• Experience improvements to Eastern Orthodoxy and the dynamics of the patriarchates.

• Dozens of new events to immerse you deeper into the narrative of Byzantium’s final years, or their resurgence.

• Revive the classical era, with ways to hark back to Latin culture, legions, and an expanded Hellenistic religion.

• A brand new set of illustrations and 3D models for more immersion into Greek culture and the Orthodox religion. Greek Orthodox choir music brings you right into the grand halls of Constantinople.

I’ll be revealing parts of the DLC and details of the surrounding patch over the next few weeks, and opening up the discussion a bit to hear your thoughts. But today, we are looking at some of the ways we are tying together content for managing the Byzantine state.

Representing the massive organs of administration necessary for running a large modern state, Bureaucracies are a brand new feature making an appearance.

For Byzantium, Bureaucracies represent the ancient arms of government that have been grandfathered in from a previous time. A time when large administrative apparatuses gave the empire great sway over the Mediterranean and beyond. But times change.

In 1337, the rump state of Byzantium is stuck with these outdated systems. Built for managing a vast empire, they are now a drain on the more humble position that the emperor finds himself in.

Each Bureaucracy has a negative, positive, and neutral modifier.

Over time, Bureaucracies grow more and more entrenched, increasing the power of both the good modifiers and the bad. The more entrenched they are, the more expensive they are to run, and the more stubborn they are to remove.

Funding them correctly will allow them to flourish, giving your country strong bonuses.

Funding them poorly will cause them to grow corrupt and decrepit, their negative modifiers a drain on your country.

High crown power can reduce their costs, making them less burdensome.

In Fate of the Phoenix, Byzantium starts with 4 slots already filled with unique Bureaucracies: Thémata, the Imperial Senate, Honorary Titles, and the Sixty Books of the Basiliká, and a total of 7 more that it can implement. In the late game, they can unlock two additional slots: one in the Age of Reformation and another in the Age of Revolutions.

Being vast administrations, each bureaucracy demands huge amounts of paper, books, and furniture in your capital, scaled up by their entrenchment.

Each Bureaucracy available is liked or disliked by the different Estates in your country. This increases or decreases their max estate satisfaction relative to the Entrenchment. Estates will also raise Parliament Agendas to entrench or disentrench specific bureaucracies based on their opinions.

Likewise, removing a bureaucracy will cost stability relative to the Entrenchment, and it will also anger or please estates depending on their opinions relative to the Entrenchment.

Currently, only Byzantium and Trebizond have Bureaucracy content in the DLC, but the system is available to modders, and we have a lot of ideas how to expand this feature to other countries in the near future.

In Fate of the Phoenix, Byzantium also gets a unique Societal Value: Latinitas vs Hellenismos. As Byzantines, you are indisputably Roman, but this determines whether your society leans more towards the more Italic or Greek spheres.

Byzantium begins very far towards the Hellenismos side, but through player action you can return to the old ways of the ancient Roman Empire.

Orthodoxy, your capital being Constantinople, and Greek language will drift you towards Hellenismos, while Catholicism, Rome, and Romance languages will drift you towards Latinitas.

If you find yourself on a reconquest of Italy, you might find that the Latin side of your empire gradually becomes stronger and impossible to ignore.

There are a lot of events focused on tweaking one way or the other, and they are generally quite dynamic. Their effects will sometimes scale based on the size of your country or the abilities of the characters involved. Several of them have multiple outcomes, so the same event can give you different options each time.

Even when you are 100% on one side of the Societal value, the events are designed in such a way that a push to the other side will offer enticing rewards enough to make you consider the shift.

Almost immediately, Byzantium will be plunged into a new Disaster called Fate of the Phoenix. It offers many opportunities to interact with the immediate world and Roman politics.

In 1337 Byzantium finds itself in a difficult position. The rise of various external threats in the East (remnants of Rum, the various Beyliks) have greatly diminished the Empire's control across the Bosporus. In recent years, the Byzantine army suffered great devastation and defeats at the hands of Orhan Bey, resulting in the loss of key cities across the coast of Marmara. In the north, the ambitious Stefan Uros IV plans to erect his own empire on the foundations of Rome, while the Bulgarians are keeping a keen eye on these developments. Indeed, the title of Rome has never been in such peril, fleeting from Byzantine grasp.

The disaster simulates the difficult period that Byzantium underwent during the middle point of the 14th century. Presenting a challenging run, whilst maintaining a fair balance, it offers an experience that tests your resourcefulness, quick thinking and management skills.

In order to complete the disaster successfully, you will need to conquer a substantial amount of the lost territories of the Empire. During this time, you will be able to interact with new and unique Disaster actions, units, advances, cabinet actions, CBs, events, buildings and more.

Neighboring countries will be given the opportunity to interfere and claim your lands, proving a threat to Byzantium's resurrection. Meanwhile, the Byzantine Succession Crisis will occur simultaneously, pushing the realm to stretch in order to manage a perfect balance between happy estates, loyal generals and neighbors in check.

The conquest of unique locations like Nicomedia and Smyrna will yield unique new bonuses to help you on the road towards restoration, while defeating the strongest Beylik will unlock a new interaction in the disaster.

Upon successful completion of the disaster, you will be handsomely rewarded with a unique Casus Belli to assist you in pressing the (now renewed and ever legitimate) claim on the old borders of the Roman Empire, putting you on a path destined for glory

Stay tuned next week, where I will bring you some good omens. We will dive into the expansion of Eastern Orthodoxy, and also touch on the additional flavour of the Hellenism religion.