Technology groups

This article is accurate for the latest versions of EU3, Napoleon’s Ambition, In Nomine, Heir to the Throne and Divine Wind.

Technology groups ("tech groups") are groupings of countries according to the research speed of a country. They were created in the game to loosely model historical technology levels for the time period of the game.

This grouping is also done in such a way that if one country gets far ahead of the others in the same group, the stragglers will receive compensation, known as the neighbour bonus, which adds to their tech. This makes it harder to pull much ahead tech-wise, and it makes one huge powerhouse pull the others along.

Non-western nations can pull themselves out of a lower tech group, if they make the decision to Westernize. This of high priority for all nations, in fact it is almost certainly crippling to go a long time without westernizing. This decision ranks up your tech group, lowers your stability and can be repeated until you are Western.

Tech group characteristics

Divine Wind

Divine Wind added the Nomads tech group and rebalanced several research speeds and starting technology levels. It also added a "slow limit" mechanic for some of the non-Western tech groups. Countries receive less of a penalty when researching tech levels at or below this limit. This makes it possible, for example, for New World nations to (usually) have forts by the time Europeans arrive.

Default tech groups in Divine Wind are:

Western: 100% research speed, start level 3.
Eastern: 85% research speed, start level 3, slow limit 6.
Ottoman: 80% research speed, start level 5.
Muslim: 75% research speed, start level 5.
Indian: 50% research speed, start level 3, slow limit 7.
Chinese: 40% research speed, start level 3, slow limit 7.
Sub-Saharan: 20% research speed, start level 1, slow limit 4.
Nomads : 10% research speed, start level 3, slow limit 6.
New World: 10% research speed, start level 0, slow limit 4.

Heir to the Throne

HTTT changed the name of the Latin group to Western, and African to Sub-Saharan. Also, the 4.1 patch introduced the Ottoman tech group.

Western: 100% research speed, start level 3
Eastern: 90% research speed, start level 3
Ottoman: 85% research speed, start level 6 (patch 4.1)
Muslim: 80% research speed, start level 6
Indian: 50% research speed, start level 3
Chinese: 40% research speed, start level 3
Sub-Saharan: 20% research speed, start level 1
New World: 10% research speed, start level 0

IN and before

In Nomine and earlier versions had the following tech groups.

Latin: 100% research speed, start level 3
Eastern: 90% research speed, start level 3
Muslim: 80% research speed, start level 4
Indian: 50% research speed, start level 3
Chinese: 40% research speed, start level 3
African: 20% research speed, start level 1
New World: 10% research speed, start level 0

List of countries in each tech group

Latin/Western

Every country in or west of the HRE and Scandinavia, Every possible colonial revolter (e.g. USA, Brazil), Kurland, Livonian Order, Prussia, Teutonic Order, The Knights, Venice.

Russia is in the Western tech group starting in 1711, to model the reforms of Peter the Great.

Eastern/Oriental

Achaea, Albania, Armenia, Athens, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Byzantine Empire, Corfu, Crimea, Croatia, Crete, Cyprus, Danzig, Epirus, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Kraków, Lithuania, Mazovia, Morea, Moldavia, Montenegro, Muscowy, Naxos, Nogai, Novgorod, Poland, Pskov, Qasim Khanate, Ragusa, Riga, Russia (until 1711), Ryazan, Serbia, Transylvania, Trebizond, Tver, Ukraine, Wallachia, Yaroslavl, Zaporozhie

Ottoman

All in the Eastern group before HTTT 4.1

Ottoman Empire, Saruhan, Aydin, Candar, Dulkadir, Karaman, Mentese, Ramazan

Muslim

Ak Koyunlu, Algiers, Haasa, Astrakhan, Baluchistan, Durrani, Fez, Granada, Hedjaz, Khiva, Kokkand, Khorasan, Mameluks, Morocco, Najd, Oman, Persia, Sharja, Shaybanid, Tripoli, Tunisia, Yemen

Indian

Bihar, Deccan, Ahmadnagar, Bhonsle, Bijapur, Bundelkhand, Bengal, Berar, Delhi, Gakwar, Gondwana, Colcanda, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Khandesh, Carnatic, Kashmir, Ceylon, Madurai, Maharasthra, Manipur, Maldive, Malwa, Mughal Empire*, Mysore, Deva Bengal, Oudh, Orissa, Punjab, Pajputna, Sind, Travancore, Vijayanagar

The Mughal Empire is in the Indian tech group when selected in a historical start, but forming the Mughal Empire puts the Mughals in the Muslim tech group.

Chinese

Aceh, Annam, Arakan, Assam, Atjeh, Ayutthaya, Banten, Brunei, Bhutan, Bali, Champa, Champassak, Dai Viet, Fujiwara, Japan, Khmer, Korea, Lanna, Luang Prabang, Lanxang, Manchu, Makassar, Malacca, Malaya, Minamoto, Ming, Mataram, Nepal, Pattani, Pegu, Ryukyu, Shan, Sulu, Tachibana, Taira, Taungu, Tibet, Tonkin, Vientiane

African

Adal, Ashanti, Benin, Ethiopia, Hausa, Kanem Bornu, Kongo, Loango, Mali, Funj, Oyo, Sofala, Songhai, Swahili, Mutapa

New World

Aztecs, Cherokee, Chimu, Creek, Huron, Incas, Iroquis, Maya, Shawnee, Zapotec

Nomad

Chagatai, Golden Horde, Kazakhstan, Kazan, Mongol Khanate, Qara Koynulu, Sibir, Timurids (Before Divine Wind, the Oirats and Mongols were in the Chinese tech group, Kazan and Sibir in the Eastern tech group, and all others in the Muslim tech group)

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