EU4: How To Get Faceting (Diamond District Event)

Faceting is one of the most coveted early events in the game. It’s also an event you can reliably get to fire, provided you know what you are doing. It’s an easy way to boost your economy, especially in high-value trade nodes.

All you need is high prestige and a developed province producing glass or gems.

What is Faceting?

Well, literally, it’s the art of flattening and smoothing over a gem’s surface. In-game, it represents exactly that technique being developed.

It is one of the many “price changing events” that modify the price of trade goods. On top of modifying the price of “Gems” by +25% globally, it provides a considerable bonus to the province that fired it.

More specifically:

• It changes the trade goods produced to “Gems” (If the province produces “Glass”)
• Gives +0.5 Local good produced
• Gives +15% Trade value modifier

How To Fire the Event

You can fire the event immediately, by fulfilling the following conditions:

• Have embraced the Renaissance institution
• Have at least +50 prestige
• Own a province that:
• Has the Renaissance institution
• Has at least 15 development
• Is in a state
• Is a city (It isn’t being colonized)
• Produces “Gems” or “Glass” as trade goods
• Does NOT have a special goods produced modifier
• Does NOT have coal as latent trade goods
• Is NOT the province of Venezia (Venice’s capital at game start)

These conditions may seem like a lot, restricting the potential provinces. This means, though, that the AI also has few options to make the event fire.

The Ottomans are the most likely to get the event in Constantinople if you are not quick enough.

Of course, you do not have to wait for the renaissance to organically spread to your lands. If playing outside Europe, it’s generally a good idea to develop a province so the institution forcible appears there.

Choosing a “Gems” or “Glass” province to do that will fulfill all the requirements for the event, except the prestige one.

A good example of such a province is Shenyang in Ming-controlled Manchuria. You can develop renaissance there when playing as a Manchu nation and get the event, as you will surely have the necessary prestige.

Good Provinces To Fire the Event

You should work towards firing the event in provinces with high trade value (possessing a river estuary or a center of trade). All the better if it’s in a good trade node.

Some of the best provinces are:

• Antwerpen (location of the actual historical district simulated with the event)
• Constantinople
• Caux
• Siena
• Barcelona
• Caceres

What About Venice?

Venice is excluded from getting the faceting event. They instead get a unique event related to their glassblowing district of Murano.

For this reason, the game doesn’t want Venezia to produce anything else except “Glass”.

The event gives +2 goods produced in the province of Venezia. It happens when neither Byzantium nor Venice control Constantinople.