Victoria 3 - Dev Diary #179 - Narrative Content of The Great Wave

Greetings, fellow gaijin. I am Rear Admiral Lufthansi, narrative designer on Victoria 3, and today we will look at some of the upcoming narrative additions coming with 1.13.

Despite Japan now featuring some flashy new narrative content, we've been conscious of the fact that Japan long has been seen as a beginner-friendly 'starter nation', and we've tried our best to retain some of this, especially when you're on the 'historical track'. This is not to say a Japan-run will be without challenges, which is especially true should you attempt to break with history and instead try to reform and preserve Tokugawa rule over Japan, but we also wanted to preserve Japan as a country that is both fun and engaging to play – be you a blue-eyed beginner and or a true veteran grognard.

MAP CHANGES

Before we move on to the narrative content itself, let us take some time going over the changes to the map that will be coming alongside 1.13.

Japan Proper

Japan's state setup was already fairly decent, but we have taken the opportunity to make some changes as well, both to the state regions, and the hubs and resources they contain. The old state of Chūbu has been split along a north/south axis, being replaced by Hokushin'etsu in the north and Tōkai in the south. Fans of Ōsaka will be greatly pleased to learn that we have also split the state of Kansai in two, with one northern state centered on Kyōto and the other centered on Ōsaka, meaning that the latter is now a proper city-hub on the map – as befits a city of such size and prominence. An area roughly corresponding to the modern-day Mie prefecture has also been transferred from Kansai to the new Tōkai state region.

Steam post image 1.12 Left, 1.13 Right

Steam post image 1.12 Left, 1.13 Right

Ryukyu

Heading southwards, the more perceptive of you will perhaps recognize a familiar blueish hue off the coast of Kyūshū. That's right, Ryukyu is back! The small island kingdom is even smaller than it has been in the past due to the ever-ambitious Shimazu clan directly incorporating the northern Amami islands in 1609 and diplomatically subjugating the rest of the kingdom.

In 1836 Ryukyu finds itself much reduced in power and torn between its subject obligations to the Satsuma domain and to Qing China, its traditional overlord.Steam post image

It has, however, received a slight boost in sugar production, seeing as sugarcane was one of the most important economic crops in the Ryukyu Islands, even more so following the 1609 invasion. Become a leading sugar exporter of North-East Asia, as long as you get rid of those pesky subsistence farms, and serfdom, and… well, you get the picture.

Ezo, Sakhalin, and the Kurils

In the north, we've made some further adjustments to the island of Ezo, later known as Hokkaidō. Firstly, the Kuril islands have been merged into the Sakhalin state region, formerly being divided between Hokkaido and Kamchatka. In this manner, both the Japanese and Russian maximalist territorial ambitions for the area can be achieved. Dynamic naming will change the name of the state you own here to account for you owning Sakhalin, the Kurils, or both.

1.12 Left, 1.13 Right

We've long felt it difficult to accurately depict the political situation on Ezo in 1836, given the complex relations between the Matsumae-operated contract fisheries, the native Ainu population, and the Tokugawa government in Edo. We've now landed on a representation where the so-called Wajinchi, the Japanese lands around Hakodate are represented as being a part of Japan proper, with the rest of Hokkaido (and the Southern Kurils) being depicted as an Ainu-cultured Japanese subject. Japanese influence and control over this area was quite extensive, with Japanese garrisons, administrators, and merchants dotted across the lands, despite the fact that permanent Japanese settlement north of the Wajinchi was technically forbidden. The Northern Kurils have been granted to the Russian-American company, which interestingly enough administered the islands in addition to their Alaskan holdings – with the Vries Strait between Urup and Iturup serving as the border between the Russian and Japanese-administered areas respectively.

Resource Allocation

In terms of resource potentials, we've spent a solid amount of man-hours researching the existence and allocation of various resource potentials as well as arable land. The idea for Japan, which we feel is fairly well rooted in both actual history and sensible gameplay, is that Japan is an island that has enough resources locally to undertake a smaller scale industrial revolution, but that will need to access foreign markets (or states) if it wants to grow into a true industrial behemoth, thereby incentivizing a Japanese player to look outwards. Iron especially can be somewhat scarce on the home islands, though Korea, Manchuria, and the Northern Isles all hold significant reserves that can be used to fuel the fires of industry at home.

Pictured: Reworked Japanese iron potentials.

And so, we move on to Mike, who will show us the complete secret and definitely Japanese area he worked on for map reworks.

Secret Japan

G'day g'aijin, there is one more part of Japan we need to talk about today: Australia. Now, as central as Australia is to Japan, it didn't receive as much attention as the rest of the map revisions talked about today.

Australia at release, Australia now in 1.12, Australia in the upcoming update

We were contacted by @crownsteler, the creator of the Anno 1836 mod, who invited us to utilize their map work if the opportunity arose, and after coordinating with them and with folks involved with the Australia & New Zealand Flavor Pack we've attempted to implement a slightly more streamlined version of the improvements these folks made to the Land Down Under. As you can tell from the rest of this Dev Diary, we've had a lot on our plate, but I like trying to tinker and revise corners of the map when possible, and we were able to set aside some time to make some improvements here.

Australia is right in the midst of creating itself in 1836; Sydney was founded in 1788, but Adelaide founded in the middle of 1836 and South Australia as a legal entity only was created in 1834. Relations with the Aboriginal peoples were also still in flux but with their status and fate already clearly indicating which way things were going: the Kaurna were probably one of the better-positioned Aboriginal peoples in 1836, still present in the Adelaide area and officially under British jurisdiction and protection as affirmed by two governors in the 1830s. However, this legal relationship was not really enforced, governors favored colonists over indigenous peoples, and settlers drove the Kaurna out of the Adelaide area and completely shattered the people by the mid-1840s. As of 1836, then, this was the general trend: Colonial states were just being established, but already had enough of a foothold that the Aboriginal peoples were marginalized practically as soon as settlers made contact with them. All this makes a working startdate setup tricky. South Australia is the most challenging to work - the Province of South Australia as a legal entity was established in 1834, but the first British colonists only arrived in the middle of 1836, so having a South Australia on the map at all at the start of 1836 is a bit of a kludge, and it needed a higher-than-historical population in order to function with Victoria 3's game mechanics. A large part of Australia is inhabited solely by Aboriginal peoples in 1836, but if you search around for maps of indigenous peoples of Australia, Australia trails behind only a little behind New Guinea in diversity of identities and languages. Like with the Papuans, it's hard to reconcile the diversity of Aboriginal peoples with the sheer mechanics of Victoria 3 (particularly pop and building demands), and we've had to consolidate some peoples together, often on the basis of languages or geography. The revised setup still gives greater fidelity than the previous setup in Australia, and I'm excited to see how changes play out in Oceania for everyone.

Oh! And one more note about Australian consolidations and changes - we've heard you loud and clear, and Canberra has been eliminated. Rejoice!

Sea Zone Rework

To accompany the naval rework we have also reworked the sea zone setup from the bottom up. Zone density is now much higher in strategic, coastal areas, while a lot of the open sea zones have been consolidated into ones that are larger and less cumbersome to interact with. The spline network that informs travel routes has also been updated, based more thoroughly on the major shipping routes of the 19th century and designed with the intent of allowing for more interesting strategic decisions by players.

NARRATIVE CONTENT

Japan Starting Situation and Honorable Restoration

Hello. This is Tairō Victoria, and today I will be covering the starting political situation of Japan, as well as the new and improved process of imperial restoration. Please note that everything in this and the Meiji Reform sections will be available for all players, whilst all content from the Tenpō Crisis and downwards will be included in The Great Wave expansion.

Starting Political Situation

The Japan of 1836 is a secluded realm ruled over by the Tokugawa Bakufu, with a small central army composed of samurai, and social mobility curtailed by a strict class system. Beneath these laws, however, are social indicators quite favourable to modernisation. Japan’s high literacy rate grants great potential for political activity and technological advancement, and a long period of thriving internal commerce has created a sizable urban middle class. The philosophical developments of the late Mito School and imported Western texts alike provide a solid ideological foundation for the modernisation of the country.

One of the major challenges one will face when modernising Japan is the Edo status system, which substantially privileges the samurai class over commoners, and greatly reduces social mobility. Whilst this status system has grown more lax over the preceding years, it still prevents Japanese commoners from reaching their full potential. Most notably, this system designates all urban pops – from Labourers to Capitalists – as lower-strata, and limits them to the second-highest Acceptance tier. From this starting point, the status system may be either tightened or further loosened, with its abolition possible as part of the Meiji Reforms.

Honorable Restoration

Upon abolishing the Sakoku and Closed Borders laws, Japan will receive the Honorable Restoration Journal Entry.

One may notice that this Journal Entry includes some informational displays substantially different from what we have done before. This is because it is the first Journal Entry designed from the ground up around our new Scripted Widget system. In 1.13, modders will be able to plug arbitrary GUI elements - seen here in the form of the Emperor and Daimyō list - directly into Journal Entries. If one wishes to create a Journal Entry that displays tremendously useful information about the stomach lining of every Danish citizen, one may well do so.

The Honorable Restoration Journal Entry covers the events of what was known historically as the Bakumatsu, stretching from the arrival of the Black Ships in 1853 to the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868. Whilst it is active, the player will need to contend with the activities of an increasingly radical Sonnō Jōi movement whilst they search for a solution to the tensions between Japan’s de jure and de facto sovereigns.

This Journal Entry revolves around two political movements - the Sabaku [Supporting the Shogunate] Movement, and the Sonnō Jōi [Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians] movement. These movements both have an inherent social base – the Sonnō Jōi movement is popular amongst the urban classes and lower samurai, and the Sabaku Movement is popular amongst upper samurai and the traditional classes. Whilst the Sabaku Movement will start the game with an overwhelmingly larger base, urbanisation – and being forcibly opened by a foreign power – will tilt the balance sharply towards Sonnō Jōi over time.

These inherent social bases are not the only way that these movements find supporters, however. The loyalty of the Daimyō presiding over each state provides a strong modifier in favour of their preferred movement – a heavily disloyal Daimyō will tilt their state strongly in the direction of the Sonnō Jōi movement, whilst a tepidly loyal Daimyō will slightly boost the Sabaku movement. Historically, there were upwards of two hundred Daimyō domains in Japan at this time, but we have elected to tie each in-game state to the wealthiest [in terms of koku] and most influential domain within its territory.

The Honorable Restoration movement may conclude in one of three ways, the prospects of each ultimately flowing through the Imperial Court. Union of Court and Shogunate [Kōbu gattai], Parliamentary Government under a soft Restoration, and a full Restoration guided by the supporters of the Sonnō Jōi movement.

Union of Court and Shogunate is the course preferred by the Shogunate as an institution, and the only option that traditionalist shōguns such as Tokugawa Ienari or Ieyoshi will be willing to pursue. To achieve this outcome, one will need to establish a very real union between Court and shōgun in the form of marriage between the shōgun and an Imperial Princess, and take real action to ease the tensions that have emerged through the opening of Japan. These actions include the immediate abrogation of treaties with the foreigners, the reinstatement of Closed Borders, and the enactment of significant controls on external trade.

One may note that this option, despite likely causing foreign hostilities, is also the least likely to cause a civil war. This is because, as argued by historian Akihiro Machida, the expulsion of foreigners was a near-universally held belief in Bakumatsu-era Japan, and the agenda of kōbu gattai is not inherently in contradiction with that of sonnō jōi. The primary demand of the sonnō jōi movement was not the abolition of the Shogunate per se, but rather the institution of a political regime willing and able to carry out “immediate expulsion”, or shōjōi. Were the Shogunate to prove itself capable of defending Japan from foreign powers, as it must do in order to successfully achieve this outcome, the movement would find itself with very little reason for militancy.

Parliamentary Government represents the soft restoration sought by Yokugawa Yoshinobu through his act of Taisei Hōkan in 1867. This course would return governing authority to the Imperial Court, whilst simultaneously placing the former shōgun at the head of the Imperial Office and granting him the title of Taikun. If successful, the result of this scheme would have been a Western-inspired parliamentary body composed of daimyō, with the head of the Tokugawa clan as a hereditary Prime Minister. To achieve this outcome, one must get a non-Traditionalist shōgun in power, petition for Imperial restoration whilst the legitimacy of the Shogunate is as high as possible, and withstand the Sonnō Jōi civil war that is almost certain to follow.

Finally, there is the historical outcome - a full restoration of imperial power. This outcome may be reached in two ways - through petitioning for Imperial restoration whilst the legitimacy of the Shogunate is low, or by abolishing the Bakufu law through the ordinary enactment process. This course is also likely to lead to a civil war, as it did historically with the Boshin War.

Upon concluding this Journal Entry with either the appointment of a Taikun or the full restoration of the Emperor, one may move on to reforming one’s country.

Meiji Reform

If and when the Emperor is restored and the Shogunate overthrown, Japan will enter a period of reform and new possibilities. We've remixed some of the existing Meiji Restoration content here, and given you opportunities to discover new politics and dismantle old systems.

The historical Mission to the West, or Iwakura Mission - more below! - is included in The Great Wave Expansion, and allows you to learn about political systems abroad, and glean ideas for new reforms and new laws that can be implemented once this mission returns to Japan. The old Edo social hierarchy can also be dismantled in these heady days of reform and new horizons - as long as the government is on board with ending the old system, of course. Depending on how much is accomplished, this era of reform can end in a number of different ways, allowing you to further strengthen the army, the economy, or your own government.

Tenpō Crisis

The Tenpō Crisis is a new starting Journal Entry for Japan and deals with the political, economic, and diplomatic upheavals of early 19th century Japan that can effectively be summarized with the phrase "domestic troubles, foreign threats". Here you will have to contend with the demands of a 'reformer' and a 'hardliner' clique by fulfilling various items on their agendas, with a dynamic reward depending on which side was favoured the most in the event of a success. Failing to complete the reforms, however, will weaken public confidence in the Bakufu's ability to rule even further, thus emboldening and empowering the movements that seek its demise.

While this Journal Entry is active, you will receive events related to the political turmoil wracking Japan at this time, such as the famous revolt of Ōshio Heihachirō, and the early attempts of the Shogunate to defend itself against foreign encroachment.

By completing the various agendas in this Journal Entry, you can set the tone for Japan early on – will you seek to adopt the historical hardline positions of Mizuno Tadakuni, and try to arrest Japan’s moral decay, or will you embrace the influence of the rising urban classes?

The Mission to the West

In 1871, the post-Restoration Japanese government made a grand debut on the international stage by dispatching a diplomatic mission to America and Europe. This mission, headed by Iwakura Tomomi, was not the first Japanese mission to the West - the Shogunate dispatched several months-long diplomatic missions throughout the early 1860s. The Iwakura Mission, however, can be said to be the most impactful of these missions. Despite failing in its goal of renegotiating the unequal treaties Japan had been subjected to, the Iwakura Mission’s long survey of Western political and economic institutions led to its members gaining valuable firsthand knowledge of modern, industrialised societies – experience that would shape the outlook of the Japanese government during the Meiji reforms.

Upon launching the Mission to the West, one may choose which figure is to lead it, and send them across the sea to America, and then Europe. Whilst the Mission is in a country, it will collect information on that country’s active laws and technologies – if a country has very attractive laws, or a high level of development, one may wish to have the Mission spend a longer time there.

Upon the Mission’s return to Japan, one will be able to choose which of its findings one wishes to adopt. The lessons the mission’s leader – and the Japanese government as a whole – may take from the Mission depend on the world situation, the precise character of the countries the Mission visited, and their own pre-existing opinions.

Pictured: Hachisuka-sama has learned quite a lot at the University of Chicago.

Ryukyu

Greeting. I am Jon-sama, and today I will provide some details about the new international situation called ‘The Hidden Domain‘. Centered on Ryukyu, it can appear once Japan has abandoned its policy of Sakoku and fully opened its ports to foreign merchants. Though Ryukyu may at first appear to hold little strategic or economic value, the growing presence of imperial powers will force Japan and China to once and for all resolve Ryukyu’s precarious dual-subjecthood status, or risk an all-out war over it.

If instead left unclaimed, the island risks becoming a convenient foothold for opportunistic Western powers.

The gloves are off in the tug-of-war between the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese Shogunate for the Ryukyan throne.

What about Ryukyu, you ask? Time is her ally. Play the two powers against one another, ensuring neither gains enough sway over its affairs, and you shall be amply rewarded.

Hokkaido

Once you've incorporated Ezochi fully into your realm and begun developing it somewhat, you will receive the Taming the North Journal Entry. In this piece of content you will take a poorly developed and settled backwater with limited economic potential and turn it into a province that can rival any southern neighbour in both agricultural and/or industrial output.

Doing so however, takes time and effort, but in due course you will be able to drain and develop the island of Ezo in order to increase the amount of arable land available to you, introduce new crops such as rice or opium, and bring in new waves of Japanese settlers from the south to populate the land. Your relationship with the native Ainu will be affected by the choices you make – primarily in a negative direction – but perhaps there is room for certain concessions to be made as well?

Korea Colonization

Once Japan has conquered the Korean Peninsula, Japan gets a relatively straightforward Journal Entry representing the efforts made by Japan to colonise Korea in the early 20th century.

To complete this Journal Entry, you must firmly solidify one’s control of Korea by developing colonial companies, incorporating the peninsula, reducing turmoil and the Activism of any Korean national movements, and assimilating the native population. Completing the colonisation of Korea will substantially benefit the company used to complete the journal entry, as well as improving Japan’s prestige globally.

Zaibatsu

Over the course of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Japanese economy came to be increasingly dominated by great vertically-integrated industrial-financial cartels known as Zaibatsu. Seeking to industrialise in an environment rich with competition from more developed foreign enterprises, the Meiji government employed protectionist policies and carried out the direct sale of former Shogunate and domain enterprises to businessmen with state connections. From these businessmen’s family enterprises emerged the Zaibatsu.

In The Corporate Empire Journal Entry, one may choose to either continue this fruitful partnership between state and zaibatsu, or curtail the power of the conglomerates. To curtail their power may take different forms – one may either strengthen the state to the point that they can no longer exert meaningful political influence, or starve them of government contracts, force them to compete with foreign companies, and reduce their market shares via enacting a non-Interventionism economy law.

The Great Wave adds several additional companies, enabling Japan to have up to four of the historical Zaibatsu at a time. The Zaibatsu will generally not compete with another, causing increasingly large slices of the economy to be divided amongst them if one chooses to form multiple of them. Additionally, their prosperity bonus provides Industrialists political strength, making a prosperous Zaibatsu a great boon for their political representatives.

Pictured: Two prosperous and highly WIP Zaibatsu.

Miscellaneous Events and Characters

In addition to the narrative content outlined above, we have also introduced plenty of standalone events that may appear for you during a playthrough as Japan. This includes events about historical natural disasters, the effects of Westernization on Japanese society, and Japanese policies towards Edo-era entertainment – only to mention some.

We have also introduced a large number of historical Japanese characters to the game, from reactionary generals and modernizer samurai to liberal reformers and early Japanese feminists. Through collaboration with Lord R of Morgenröte fame, we have also included a plethora of custom DNA for our new historical characters.

And that's it for now. Please, join us back for next week, when Karl & Co will take you through the upcoming Art & Music of The Great Wave.

Schedule of our upcoming Dev Diaries:

• April 16 - Art & Music of The Great Wave

• April 23 - Changelog & Achievements

• April 28 - Release of The Great Wave and Update 1.13

Source List

On popular demand, we'll list some of the sources that went into the making of both Japan, as well as the naval database work and misc. map and resource related matters. You'll have to forgive any inconsistent formatting.

Capriio, M. E. 2009. Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945. University of Washington Press.

F. W. G. 1928. The Ukiyo-e Paintings. Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1907-1951), 22(1), 6–5.

Jennings, J. M. 1995. The Forgotten Plague: Opium and Narcotics in Korea under Japanese Rule, 1910-1945. Modern Asian Studies, 29(4), 795–815.

Kimura, M. 1995. The Economics of Japanese Imperialism in Korea, 1910-1939. The Economic History Review, 48(3), 555–574.

Kim, E. C. I. 1962. Japanese Rule in Korea (1905-1910): A Case Study. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(1), 53–59.

Keene, Donald. 2002. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and his World, 1852-1912. New York.

Akihiro, Machida, translated by Ian Ruxton. 2024. A History of Expulsionism (Jōi) in the Bakumatsu period, 1853-1868. Kitakyushu.

Amane, Nishi. 1867. “議題草案”.

Kunitake, Kune, edited by Chushichi, Tsuzuki and Young, R. Jules.2009. Japan Rising: The Iwakura Embassy to the USA and Europe

Takao, Takeda. 1965. “The Financial Policy of the Meiji Government”. The Developing Economies, 3: 427-449.

Hein, Laura, ed. 2023. The New Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge.

Dover, John W. 2010. “The Opium War in Japanese Eyes”. Cambridge.

Davidson, Woodrow. 2021. “Rising Sun Revolutions: Ashio Miners’ Radical Struggle Against Labor Policies in Early-Twentieth-Century Japan”. UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Journal of History, 1. Santa Barbara.

Tang, John P. 2011. “Technological Leadership and Late Development: Evidence from Meiji Japan, 1868–1912.” The Economic History Review 64, no. S1: 99–116.

Sonoda, Hidehiro. 1990. “The Decline of the Japanese Warrior Class, 1840-1880.” Japan Review, no. 1: 73–111.

Shimanishi, Tomoki. 2024. "Coal in Modern Japanese History," Japanese Society and Culture: Vol. 6, Article 13.

Imperial Household Ministry’s Committee for the Investigation of the Deeds of the Late Emperor. 1906. ”孝明天皇紀” Vol.1-2, 1-117

Howell, David L. 1995. Capitalism From Within: Economy, Society, and the State in a Japanese Fishery. Berkeley.

Hoshino, Yoshirō. 1982, “Technological and Managerial Development of Japanese Mining: the Case of the Ashio Copper Mine”. The Developing Economies, 20: 220-239.

Yoshiki, Fumio. 1980. “How Japan's Metal Mining Industries Modernized”. Tokyo.