Europa Universalis IV

[Monk]

It's coming. And oh god is it glorious.

EUIV was announced a couple months back and since then the paradox team has apparently been hard at work. Here, a few paradox devs provide a few video walkthroughs for Gamespot, hoping to answer any questions you might have. What do they say? Oh my goodness, quite a bit! Here's a few links, and a list of everything I saw/heard confirmed.

video 1



video 2
http://www.gamespot.com/europa-unive...-game-6391927/

Features confirmed in the videos:

Video 1:

• Complete system of Trade Routes which covers the entire world. Trade routes now respond to a faction's "home node" and "flow" to them, over land and over seas. This new system looks to replace the old Centers of Trade system.
• Passive indication of said routes as well as the more obvious trade map. Passive indications are ships moving on the routes letting you see them at a glance (Reminds me of CA's campaign maps)
• Trade system seems to be a true focal point of the game. Trade routes "feed" into nodes, and capturing land along the trade route makes it more valuable.
• Merchant system overhaul. Merchants are no longer currency to spend, but actual characters who are sent on various jobs.
• Terra Incognita makes its return. The entire world looks to be represented on the game's map.
• Engine is an updated version of the CKII engine. Very aesthetically pleasing if I do say so.
• New Rebellion system which gives a HUGE amount of information at a glance. You can see rebel factions as they begin to form "beneath the surface" of your nation, and can negotiate with them before it comes to hostility.
• New Stability system. Stability rises and falls like it used to, however, it is now increased by spending something called "Administration Points," you no longer drop gold into stability research. No information on what those points are, how you get them, or what else you do with them.
• Dev speculates that while the game is not yet in alpha state, it is indeed close, and release will happen "6-8 months" after they get to alpha. This would put release sometime close to next Summer/Fall.

Video 2:

• Diplomacy screen completely revised and has a Vicky II feel. Instead of lots of text which explains who is allied to what, each category (at war, truce, alliance, ect) is filled with the relevant nation's flag.
• More news on Merchants. Merchants are sent directly to other faction's trade nodes and are used to divert money and trade to your trade routes.
• Map features dynamic seasonal effects. Snow and ice forms in the winter months and will melt in the spring.
• Teases a post release CK2 DLC that allows you to export your saves from one game to another as something they are considering

Any one of those things would get me seriously interested in the next installment of EU. That they've already got such ambitious design ideas implemented and are not even in alpha yet? I can't wait.

[CountArach]

I'm always going to buy EUIV regardless of what I hear is in it, but this all sounds positive. I'm glad they didn't just go the whole EU3 + whatever was in Magna Mundi route... though I would totally play that game.

[a completely inoffensive name]

I couldn't get into the third one because it was too complicated. I hope the UI is more intuitive this time.

[Mouzafphaerre]

​
Good news indeed! Thanks for the heads up Monk-sama
​

[Slyspy]

I couldn't get into the third one because it was too complicated. I hope the UI is more intuitive this time.

Intuitive and Paradox do not go together (it is a paradox!). That is part of the fun/challenge/flaws* to be found in their games.

* Please delete those which do not apply to your experience.

[Monk]

What a difference 5 months makes. Well, that difference happens to be about twenty dev diaries or so. Oh my. My focus on CK2 modding and doing other things let them slip through the cracks, and now, I see I have a lot of reading to do!

I haven't had the chance to read them all but if you have the chance and you're curious like I am...

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...iaries-Archive

The full archive is here. Just don't get lost in all that information!

[xploring]

I didn't fully understand EU3 either, but the diplomacy (modeled after CK2) sounds promising, you can actually see what's affecting relationships. I hope they fix the never ending chain alliance (call to war), that is one of the things that put me off playing EU3. I read in the CK2 forum they are going to improve the tutorial, not going to get my hopes up.

They got rid of a lot of stuff, biggest one is the domestic sliders, and redid trade completely...

With the GUI and maps, somehow I think CK2 looks better...

[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,..

[TinCow]

I've been playing for the last week or two now. Finished games as England -> GB, Florence -> Italy, and Brandenburg -> Prussia -> Germany -> HRE. All were Ironman except the England game. So, I figured I'd give one my EU3 favorites a try: Byzantium. Holy hell are they hard. I must have restarted 20 times before I was able to get myself into a situation where the Ottomans didn't steamroll me in the first 5 years. I eventually succeeded with a strategy I found on reddit. Basically, I DOWed Serbia immediately (taking stab hit) before the Ottomans warned me, annexed them, cored them, fabricated on Bosnia, DOWed Bosnia (not adjacent to Ottomans, so they didn't join in), annexed Bosnia, cored Bosnia. At that point I had enough provinces that Hungary and Poland (in PU with Lithuania) were willing to ally with me. The Ottomans had the mission to take Constantinople and kept their troops stacked around the city, but I guess my allies were strong enough to keep them from attacking because they never did. When the warning expired, I annexed Wallachia as well. By this point Poland had changed me to a rival, so I lost their alliance. However, they had split in their PU with Lithuania, so I picked up Lithuania as an ally and also managed to grab Castile (which I figured would be useful for their navy). By that point I had an army of 14k and a navy of over 20 galleys (over my force limit, but I could afford it). I then sat around and waited for a good opportunity to take on the Ottomans. A great one popped up with a war in their east that dropped their army down to 15k, but I missed it because I was in a Regency at the time and couldn't DOW. Eventually another war distracted them. I checked my DOW screen and it said that Hungary, Lithuania, and Castile would all join the war, so I declared and attacked. I wrecked their navy easily, blockaded, and started besieging. After a few months the Ottoman army came back around the north of the Black Sea, at which point I noticed no activity at all from my allies. I checked the war tab and noticed that none of my allies were in the war. I have no idea how that happened. Since it said they all would have joined I assume that somehow I unclicked the call-allies checkbox before I DOWed. By that point it was too late in the war to get them to join in, so I was all on my own. I won the first battle, but a second Ottoman stack obliterated my entire army and that was the end. I tried to build a second army, but they besieged everything and prevented me from forming a new army from the fresh recruits. I put it on full speed and watched as the Ottomans quickly captured every province. I then quit in disgust.

Such a great start after so many failed starts, and it all gets screwed up likely because of a single errant mouse click on my part. Now I've got to start all over again...

[TinCow]

My second trek through the Byzantine world was also eventful, though ultimately successful. I got back to about the same spot as I listed above within about 3 restarts. The strategy of immediately DOWing Albania for cash, along with a simultaneous DOW on Serbia (when the 1 month cooldown is over) is a pretty much guaranteed success. You'll get warned by the Ottomans before you can DOW a third time, but those two are all your need to get started. Annex Serbia and start coring it. You should have begun improving relations with Hungary also on Day 1. Once you've annexed Serbia, fabricate a claim on Bosnia. When that claim is granted, DOW Bosnia and annex them as well (Ottomans will not join as Bosnia is not adjacent to them). Sometimes you can grab Wallachia this way as well, as they tend to ally with Bosnia. Between Serbia, Bosnia, and your starting provinces, you will now be up to about 10 provinces plus vasselized Athens. This is large enough to make the nearby major powers pay attention to you and consider an alliance. Hungary should be easy to get, and other easy options are Poland and Austria. Having a few of those guys as allies seems to prevent the Ottomans from going after you, even when they have a mission to do so. Then just wait for your opportunity to pounce and take back your Balkan territories. A lot of the Byz island cores seem to have a tendency to revolt to you at various points during wars. I got Naxos, Rhodes, and Cyprus without having to lift a finger for them.

In my second bout, my first attempt to regain the Balkans did not go well. I was allied with Hungary and Poland/Lithuania, which I thought was more than enough to overwhelm the Ottomans. Ottomans ended up at war somewhere out east, so I watched and waited for some damage to be done to their armies. Shortly before I DOWed, Hungary broke their alliance with me. I didn't think that was too big a problem as Poland/Lithuania were pretty big. So, I picked my moment and DOWed the Ottomans. Unfortunately, only a few months into the war Hungary ended up at war with Poland. As a result, all of Poland/Lithuania's armies were focused on Hungary and the Ottoman stacks came marching right back west unmolested and creamed me. I managed to get out of that war with several provinces occupied by releasing Athens as an independent state. Fortunately, no one ever allied with Athens and the Ottoman warning on me expired, so after my 5 year truce with Athens was up I simply DOWed and re-annexed them, resulting in status quo from before the initial war. I rebuilt my alliances and my second war with the Ottomans went much better and I regained about 5 Balkan provinces. It took two further wars to take back all of the Balkans, and several more to push into Asia Minor, but it wasn't difficult at that point. Amazingly, Georgia actually survived and, eventually, thrived in this game, becoming a valuable ally to the east. Ukraine also broke away from Lithuania and became another major Orthodox power, taking Moldova and most of the Crimean lands. Between those two, myself, and Muscovy, there was actually a very strong and solid Orthodox power bloc for most of the game, which I had never seen before.

I had some bumps in the road. Specifically, The Peasants' War. That thing popped on me after my second Asia Minor war and it was a close thing. My manpower was shot, my armies were at half strength and falling, and the rebels would not stop popping. I eventually solved the problem by simply resting my armies in safe provinces and using mercenaries to fight the rebels while my manpower recovered. After several years I got the event allowing me to buy my way out of the problem, which I did with loans. I was very lucky that no one chose to attack me while that was going on, as I would have been obliterated easily. 20 years later, I got the same damn event a second time. That time I was in far better shape though and was able to crush the rebels without resorting to mercs.

My next major problem was a doozy. Up pops the event telling me my heir is sick and giving me an option of paying money for 50% odds that he dies, or paying nothing with 75% odds that he dies. The guy had crappy stats, so I chose the latter. He died, of course. Unfortunately, no new heir popped up behind him. And then my Emperor died about 5 months later. And I was inherited by Muscovy, which was the most powerful nation in the game at that point. I tried to break away by reducing relations with Muscovy since their King was somewhat old, but I couldn't get my own peoples' views of Muscovy down low enough so the PU didn't break. At that point, my only option was an Independence War. Muscovy was allied with HRE Austria and about 6 other nations, an alliance I didn't think I could possibly beat. It looked like it could be 100 years of PU if I didn't break it, so I figured I'd go out in a war instead of just quitting. Amazingly, I managed to win the war. The enemy forces at the start outnumbered me about 6 to 1 (~600k to my ~100k). Fortunately, I had taken the Defense military idea line and had already maxed it out, so my forts held out for long periods and attrition on the enemy was terrible. I also had a vastly superior navy to all of the rest of the powers, which I used to my advantage. I pull my armies over to Asia Minor and went back across to ambush small stacks whenever I could. Sometimes I was able to lure individual large stacks of the enemy across to Asia Minor, and then trapped them with my navy and destroyed them, helping my war score considerably. I lost provinces slowly, but the attrition from these tactics really wore down my enemies and my own manpower stayed very high despite the occupied provinces since I was picking my battles carefully. I was able to get peace with individual enemies one by one until the odds against me were more even and I was even able to capture a few provinces back. Battle victories and war exhaustion eventually allowed me to win my independence in a peace deal with about 27% war score, despite my armies never having left my own territory.

I later Westernized, got the Basileus achievement, completed the conquer Southern Italy mission, and restored the Pentarchy by capturing and converting Rome, Aleppo, Judea, and Alexandria. The Italian stuff was particularly difficult as I had to contend with some ridiculous late-game super powers. Spain formed and totally overwhelmed France, taking all of Southern France, the entire Biscay coast, and all Med provinces east to northern Italy, along with some extra stuff in between. Austria in turn united the HRE into a behemoth including all of the original territory minus a somewhat large Bohemia, but also including a Pommerania which managed to form Prussia. As such, the HRE state also included most of Belgium, northern Italy, and Poland, up to the Livonian areas. Great Britain also formed and colonized massive swathes of the world, including pretty much all of North America east of Mexico. Including me and Muscovy (which never managed to form Russia despite being massive), the wars from these powers were absolutely absurd. I did my best to stay friendly with Spain and Muscovy, and managed to help break down HRE somewhat, and I forced GB to release the USA as a way to curb their power a bit. (22% warscore for releasing about 40 provinces?! Sold!) I've still got about 50 years to go, but I don't expect to accomplish much more. I'll bite off some extra bits off the Mamluks (who remained the Major ME power without the Ottomans to deal with) and maybe push a bit further into Italy, but I consider this game a success and managed to turn Byzantium into a superpower in the 1.2 patch setup in Ironman. It's possible!

[xploring]

For the first time ever in a Paradox Development Studio game, players are given the chance to discover a completely randomized American continent, where no playthrough will ever be the same.

Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise makes it possible for you to play as a Native American nation and master the federation mechanics, as well as unique national ideas, buildings and events. You may also take command of a Colonial Nation, declare colonial war, or even strive for liberty from your motherland.

Read the first developer diary for the expansion here:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...eloper-diary-1

The changes to exploration will be explored in a live stream on November 7, featuring Europa Universalis IV Project Lead Thomas Johansson. To see Conquest of Paradise firsthand, join the stream at 8 p.m. CET / 11 a.m. PST on Paradox Interactive’s Twitch.tv channel at www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive.

Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise will release on all major digital-download portals on December 11th, 2013.

[xploring]

Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise – Dev diary 2: Exploring a new world
Since this is announcement week for Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise, I have a treat for you. Two developer diaries in one week
From this point forward, Fridays will be the regular dev diary day up until the release of the expansion on December 11th.

Exploring a new world
One of the most exciting things for me, about playing Europa Universalis IV is exploration - going for Conquest of the New World Idea early, recruiting an explorer, detaching some of your precious few ships and sending them out across the seas. When you find land, you need to build a base to extend your range and keep going, slowly mapping the potential borders of your new empire.
With the Europa Universalis IV:Conquest of Paradise expansion, we are adding a new dimension to the exploration aspect, namely the fact that you will no longer know exactly what you are going to find. This will add true exploration to the game as well as a new challenge to those players that have optimized their strategies by knowing exactly where the New World is and where you need to base yourself to optimize colonial range.

The random new world is completely optional
First off; the random new world feature is a completely optional expansion feature that is activated from the country selection screen. If you want your safe old (new) world, just don’t activate it.
However, once activated, the world is randomized when you start the game. This, of course, means that half of the world will not look like it does in the country selection screen.

The borders of your brave new world
To keep the balance of the game reasonable, we have to make impose limitations, so only North and South America will be randomized. Technically the area is decided by a rectangle on the map that covers the Americas and Greenland, but not the Azores. To still be able give you the proper Europa Universalis IV feeling, we are also limiting random the new world to 1444-starts and you won’t be able to have a random new world using the Crusader King II save game converter. As the random new world generator gets more polished,we’ll see if something can be changed, but right now we can´t promise that it will ever happen.

Generating a new world map
So, you start the game. The first thing that happens under the hood is the game will generate continents and mountains. Continents will be fairly random (no tectonic plates, sorry!), and most of the time you will have plenty of areas to colonize, but odd things may happen.
Provinces will be allocated and assigned to trade nodes/continents etc. We are using the real world province names and trying to keep provinces that are close in the real world close in the random world as well. Our trade node network is fairly well balanced right now and needs to be kept constant, so the nodes and their incoming and outgoing links are the same, but the nodes are spread out across the world, and early playtests indicate that this works well. Then, of course the native tribes are spaced out so the New World gets some population. Currently, we have most stuff done for the New World, but it’s the kind of thing that you could, in theory, polish forever. The screens you see are not final.

A brand new strategy in Multiplayer
The Random New World will definitely introduce a new factor for Europa Universalis IV games, especially for multiplayer. No longer can you optimize your strategy based on the knowledge of exactly how much colonial range you need and where your stepping stones are going to be. I’m really looking forward to when we can restart our office multiplayer game with a random new world

Have a lovely weekend!


Bonus: Europa Universalis - Conquest of Paradise Livestream Highlights Video

[TinCow]

That might actually make me play an New World nation for the first time ever in any EU game. The idea of a randomized map is also very cool. I'd actually like it if they would make it possible to randomize the entire world.

[Beskar]

That might actually make me play an New World nation for the first time ever in any EU game. The idea of a randomized map is also very cool. I'd actually like it if they would make it possible to randomize the entire world.

That would most likely be a mod potential with the expansion. Though, I think the randomness would be from a list of pre-selected 'maps' drawn up at random.

[Monk]

That might actually make me play an New World nation for the first time ever in any EU game. The idea of a randomized map is also very cool. I'd actually like it if they would make it possible to randomize the entire world.

Agreed this is a sorely needed addition to the EU franchise. I especially love the migration ability of smaller tribes. Playing a nomadic tribe might be pretty fun for a while before you settle down and build an empire

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I have a question about that CK2 to EU4 save game conversion. In my CK2 game I have formed the Roman Empire and pretty much own the entire Western Europe. How can I westernize my empire in EU4 if there aren't that many "western" countries left?! Or perhaps I shouldn't do it at all (although I would like to get western units)?

[Beskar]

Max out your tech and you will automatically get Western Technology.

[naut]

Steam sale made me learn another Paradox game. Curse you Valve. Curse you Paradox for making another awesome game, don't you know I need these hours for other things?!

So far I've played 4 games and lost the first three. Oman is my only successful game so far. Fun little nation with opportunities in Africa and India, so long as you keep the Ottomans from deciding you look a tasty morsel.

[naut]

Does anyone know how, in the nation selection screen, the diplomatic stars are calculated or what exactly they represent?

[Beskar]

They pretty much represent "comparative strength.. vaguely"