Europa Universalis IV

[rickinator9]

The Preorder bonus for July is the Purple Phoenix pack: "Adds new, unique events and themed event pictures, as well as several new unit models for the Byzantine Empire

Sounds good to me.

[Secura]

The Preorder bonus for July is the Purple Phoenix pack: "Adds new, unique events and themed event pictures, as well as several new unit models for the Byzantine Empire

Sounds good to me.

While I welcome any additional content for the game (especially when it's Byzantium-related), I've got to wonder just how much they're going to add for an entity that was completely annex within nine years of the game's start date.

Things are difficult enough in 1399, but at least there's some wriggle room with lots of smaller nations to reconquer and the Ottomans start off at war with Timur... 1444 sees Byzantium in far worse a position, against a unified Turkish state that tends to quickly end the Crusade of Varna in it's favour and turn hungrily back to poor Constantinople.

EU3 required meticulous timing and a very sizeable navy to block the straits while you deal with Serbia and Bosnia... EU4 may just require divine intervention though. xD

[Beskar]

While I welcome any additional content for the game (especially when it's Byzantium-related), I've got to wonder just how much they're going to add for an entity that was completely annex within nine years of the game's start date.

The DLC content is pretty much "player-only" so for the player, the content would be good. It isn't really for the AI at all, since what does getting flavour events and images do for the AI ?

Nothing at all

[Hooahguy]

If I really enjoy CKII will I enjoy the EU series? The Steam sale is coming up, probably today so I might get it. Ive heard that CKII is a dynasty builder whereas the EU series is an empire builder.

[Secura]

The DLC content is pretty much "player-only" so for the player, the content would be good. It isn't really for the AI at all, since what does getting flavour events and images do for the AI ?

I'm not saying "won't somebody please think of the poor AI?" because the content obviously has no real impact on them, I'm just curious as to how much content they can make for a nation on the cusp of annihilation.

You know I love playing as "DAT PURPLE", but how much does it boil down to luck to survive and then conquer the Turks? Byzantium's in a worse position here, there's less states like Karaman or Epirus to gobble up as the Ottomans have already done that and Timur isn't a threat to Anatolia as he was in 1399. I can imagine I'll be restarting a couple dozen times anyway! xD

If I really enjoy CKII will I enjoy the EU series? The Steam sale is coming up, probably today so I might get it. Ive heard that CKII is a dynasty builder whereas the EU series is an empire builder.

I think the reason I like EU and the reason I continue to play it after having tried other PI titles is because it's far easier to climb up the difficulty curve. I found Victoria and Hearts of Iron to be too difficult and 'involved'.

If EU3 is cheap, I'd definitely suggest buying it. :3

[Beskar]

I have to admit, there are two main whines which are occurring on the Paradoxplaza forums, one of them is the "Steam only" and the other one is Paradox providing all of that free content.

For the latter, I can only imagine the discussions summed up like this:

[Chaotix]

Yeah, as far as DLC and other marketing strategies go, you can do far worse than Paradox. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say they're pretty benign.

Must be something about European developers. Ubisoft is nearly as big as EA, but you don't hear nearly as many complaints about exploitation and Day 1 DLC and the like.

Anyway, back on topic, I'm surprised they're starting before 1453 at all. That is the end date for CKII after all...

Although I guess it makes some sense because there would be about a 100-year gap of time without a historical start-date in either game, due to the historical starts for CKII ending in the 1330s. So technically you couldn't take the Byzantines into EU4 through a hypothetical heavily-rumored CKII-EU4 converter without at least a hundred years of ahistoricity in between. By that point you wouldn't even be fighting the Turks in EU4 at all if you were doing it right.

[Beskar]

Those have been following have already guessed this but..

CK2 Save Game Converter and a Copy of CK2 as a Pre-order Bonus

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Unless you had a really bad game in CK2, I can't see the point of importing into EU. You'll just set up a steamroll of whatever part of the map you don't own...

I guess it'll be good for multiplayer games though.

[rickinator9]

Unless you had a really bad game in CK2, I can't see the point of importing into EU.

That's why you should start at 1337 in CKII and then export to EUIV. You magically went back 100 years or so.

[Monk]

Unless you had a really bad game in CK2, I can't see the point of importing into EU. You'll just set up a steamroll of whatever part of the map you don't own...

I guess it'll be good for multiplayer games though.

Whether it works for mods or not is the question. Mods that make mega blobbing a bit harder would be worthy to convert imo.

[rickinator9]

Whether it works for mods or not is the question. Mods that make mega blobbing a bit harder would be worthy to convert imo.

They said the tool was made to be moddable aswell, so you should be able to convert mods.

[Monk]

They said the tool was made to be moddable aswell, so you should be able to convert mods.

Seriously tempting, then.

[Beskar]

Dev Diary on the New AI

That is seriously exciting. Get to see everything in detail now, opposed to lets say, why your best buddy 200 relation Austria suddenly drops to -150 rep and leaves you wondering what on earth happened.

[CountArach]

Unless you had a really bad game in CK2, I can't see the point of importing into EU. You'll just set up a steamroll of whatever part of the map you don't own...

I guess it'll be good for multiplayer games though.

Sure I mean if you play CK2 aiming to blob, that's true. But I hardcore roleplay all my characters and aim to just let the world develop around me. I think with this it would be great to continue on, particularly if you have a mod like Project Balance or CK2Plus which will slow down the expansionism of CK2.

[rickinator9]

We should do a mp game on friday next week. How does that sound?

[Beskar]

Only issues is timezones.

I don't think I would have any issues around 18:00-04:00 CET/11:00-21:00 EST I could give a couple of hours or so on that times, so some wiggle room, especially if I am prepared for it.

[rickinator9]

I'm available from 19:30 PM CET(Might be earlier, depends on dinner)-6 AM CET(Yes, I have crazy sleeping times)

[Beskar]

I know that feeling. Will be there at 5am going to bed, then having to get up at 8am. But so far, that sounds like a decent coverage for me and you at least.

[Beskar]

I would say I am GMT, but I found out yesterday that I am currently in GMT +1 (British Summer Time).

So CET would be +2, I believe. East Coast America is 6 hours behind UK time (7 behind CET), which is why I used those two figures. Time is terribly confusing sometimes.

Anyway.. at this moment.

Los Angeles - 1800
New York - 2100
UTC (GMT/Zulu) - 0100
London - 0200
Berlin - 0300
Ankara - 0400
Moscow - 0500
Syndey - 1100


I think might be easier to convert the times to UTC...

UTC
Tiaexz: 16:00 - 02:00 F
Rickinator: 17:30 - 04:00
Gelatinous Cube: 0000 - 0600 F
Secura: 1700 - 0200

F denotes 'Flexible'

[xploring]

Demo is out, can only play Portugal, Venice, Austria or the Ottomans.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/236850/

Hey there!

Just so you get a good view on the Europa Universalis IV demo content:
The demo allows you to play as one of the four nations below through 28 years of history.
All single player capabilities as well as an extensive tutorial and hint-system are included in this demo.
here are no multiplayer capabilities, and please note that the ability to save & load have been disabled.
English only and Windows only.

Playable countries:

Trade/Venice
Venice was a prominent Italian Free City and played an important role in Mediterranean trade. Their fleet was important for gaining dominance over the Mediterranean Sea and securing the spice trade from India. Venice is a good choice for playing the trading game and seizing trade opportunities in the Mediterranean.

Warfare/The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire was a major power up to its fall in 1922. The Ottomans dominated land from the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula. In Europa Universalis IV they are a strong choice for playing a warmonger game because of their cheaper coring costs and powerful early troops.

Colonization/Portugal
Portugal is a natural choice for exploring the colonization part of the game. The nation was important in the exploration of the coast of Africa and the New World. Portugal lies isolated in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and lacks natural enemies. As long as they keep good relations with Castile they should be able to peacefully explore and colonize.

Diplomacy/Austria
Austria was a major power through the renaissance and up to World War I. The Habsburg family ruled Austria and controlled the Holy Roman Empire for a large part of its existence. Diplomacy is important for keeping the title of Holy Roman Emperor, as it is an elective title. Keeping good relations with the electors will greatly improve your chances of keeping the crown. Austria is a strong choice for a diplomatic game because of their inclination towards holding the title of Emperor.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...1#post15900895

[Beskar]

I enjoy how my Switzerland changes made it into the EU4 release though.

[rickinator9]

I just played for a few hours and wow... they improved upon everything!

[Secura]

I think if you're talking weekends, I could definitely play.

UMT - 1700 to 0200. Probably slightly more flexible on Saturdays :3

[rickinator9]

Weekends would be fine with me. Never heard of UMT though.

[Chaotix]

I thought I was going to wait a couple months for it to go on sale...

Then I made the mistake of checking out the Steam page. And I thought, "Oh, only $40? That's not so bad. I expected it to be $60."

Then I caved and bought it. And I wound up getting the DLC too. So in the end that's almost $60 anyway.

Bah... and I did so well resisting the summer sales!

[Beskar]

Bad luck, Choatix.

[Monk]

urge to play a huge mega Ck2 - EUIV game rising,..

[Chaotix]

Had my first try starting as Oda Nobunaga around 1550. Wanted to see if I could recreate his unification of Japan.

I was doing reasonably well for myself, managed to conquer three additional provinces from my one-province-minor state. Alliances are both crucial and very easy to form at the beginning.

Then came the Catholic missionaries. Okay, so they had actually been there anyway. They had converted one of my provinces before I conquered it in the first place. Every 5 years or so they would rise up with a big 7-regiment stack that I couldn't deal with, and the Shogun had to come in and save me. This happened twice, and then they rose up with an 11-regiment stack. It also got to the point where my conversion stalled out at 42% because foreign traders started flooding in and presumably I didn't have the tech to kick them out or beat them with my missionary. Anyway, this time the Shogun just decided to sit there and wait with their larger army while the rebels sieged my province. There was pretty much no way I could dislodge them, and then when I thought it couldn't get worse, ANOTHER larger rebel stack popped up as well. 26k soldiers sitting in my capital after sieging the first province. Even the Shogun couldn't deal with that.

And that's when I ragequit.

I think I'll try something in Europe next. But there will come a time, when my EU-fu is good enough, that I will retry that Oda Nobunaga campaign.

[rickinator9]

Then came the Catholic missionaries. Okay, so they had actually been there anyway. They had converted one of my provinces before I conquered it in the first place. Every 5 years or so they would rise up with a big 7-regiment stack that I couldn't deal with, and the Shogun had to come in and save me. This happened twice, and then they rose up with an 11-regiment stack. It also got to the point where my conversion stalled out at 42% because foreign traders started flooding in and presumably I didn't have the tech to kick them out or beat them with my missionary. Anyway, this time the Shogun just decided to sit there and wait with their larger army while the rebels sieged my province. There was pretty much no way I could dislodge them, and then when I thought it couldn't get worse, ANOTHER larger rebel stack popped up as well. 26k soldiers sitting in my capital after sieging the first province. Even the Shogun couldn't deal with that.

That's most likely a bug or an event that's firing too often.

I have been doing well as Muscovy so far


I gradually vassalized the russian principalities and annexed them into my country. I was attacked by Kazan pretty early on, but I managed to win that war. Kazan went into decline after that, so the Nogai took over. They were no match for my armies, so I took some provinces from them. The only real challenge I have faced was Sweden. I attacked them to get the Novgorodian cores back. I occupied Karelia, but I couldn't go much farther than that. Sweden's 16000 men managed to defeat all my armies. Hell, they even defeated 30000 men while crossing a river. That really frustrated me, but I was able to white peace out.

Apart from that, I have only encountered one thing that I don't like. In one of my wars against the Nogai, they defeated one of my 3 armies in battle. The army retreated from the Aral Sea to Moscow. I'm not an expert on war or anything, but I don't think I have ever seen an army retreat 2000 km and 3 months on end.