Europa Universalis IV

EU4 redirects here. For more uses, see EU4 (disambiguation)
Europa Universalis IV

Cover art of Europa Universalis IV
Developer(s) Paradox Development Studio
Publisher(s) Paradox Interactive
Director(s) Thomas Johansson
Producer(s) Linda Kiby
Designer(s) Johan Andersson
Programmer(s) Niklas Strid
Artist(s) Fredrik Toll
Composer(s) Andreas Waldetoft
Engine Clausewitz 2.5
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux[1]
Release date(s)
  • WW 13 August 2013
Genre(s) Grand strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Europa Universalis IV[2] is a grand strategy video game in the Europa Universalis series, developed by Paradox Development Studio[3][4] and published by Paradox Interactive.[5] The game was released on 13 August 2013.[6]

In the game, players control a nation during the Late Middle Ages until the Early modern period (1444 to 1821),[7] conducting trade, diplomacy, colonization, and warfare.

Gameplay

The game itself is an interactive map of Earth divided into the provinces that compose nations. Each of these provinces contribute to their country either positively or negatively, as provinces can both provide resources to a nation and serve as a point of unrest and rebellion. The gameplay requires the player to lead a nation by finding a balance of military, diplomacy, and economy. The player does so through their choices as sovereign of their nation, and through the spending of resources available to them: Prestige, Stability, Gold, Manpower, Legitimacy for Monarchies, Republican Tradition for Republics, and Monarch Points (Administrative, Diplomatic, Military).

Players can choose to conquer the world by military might, become a colonial superpower, establish trade dominance, etc. The game is a sandbox environment, and while there is no strict rule on winning the game, a loss occurs when the player's nation is removed from the map. Diplomacy is a large aspect of the game, as creating alliances and vassal states, improving opinions and monitoring expansion and coalitions is vital to a player’s survival. Espionage can also be employed against enemy states in order to claim their territory, or incite rebellion in their provinces, as well as other dubious methods. Combat can be done on both land and sea, and it attempts to simulate real world factors such as morale, discipline, competency of leaders, terrain, and supply lines.

Many major religions are present in and influence the game and provide distinct bonuses to their practitioners. Players can employ missionaries to convert their provinces or can engage in policies of universal religious freedom. The Catholic faith makes use of the Papacy, which can allow a nation to have control over the Pope or to use their influence for other rewards. Technological advancements are invested in over time, and will require the expense of monarch points.

Gameplay is influenced by random events that arise each year for the player. These events can be either helpful or a hindrance. Some of these random events are driven by factual history pertaining to an individual country, while some are there to force a player to make tough decisions, and otherwise to enhance the flavor of the game. Players can choose to play single player mode versus the AI, or multiplayer over a LAN or the Internet against a mix of human and AI opponents. Single player also has the option of “Ironman” mode, which locks several settings such as difficulty, and removes the control of saving the game from the player. This means that any mistakes are irreversible. It is, however, the only way to receive any of the achievements that can be won.

Expansions and mods

All DLCs are optional in Europa Universalis IV, and may be applied to the base game in any combination. The largest DLCs come in the form of expansions, which significantly alter the mechanics and features of the game. There are also flavour packs (which add new events and minor mechanics, usually specific to one nation), music packs (which add more backing music) and cosmetic packs (which affect unit models, portraits and the map). There are also three e-books which have no impact on the game itself, but coincided with the release of expansions.

Expansions are often accompanied by a coinciding free patch to the game, which as well as adding fixes to the mechanics, also adds some content in the theme of the expansion.

Conquest of Paradise

Conquest of Paradise focuses on the New World. It adds an expansion to the mechanics of tribal nations, most prominently Native American ones. It also adds a random new world generator which randomizes the landscape of North and South America. The accompanying patch also added colonial regions, protectorates and new starting nations as well as many other small additions and fixes. Released 11 January 2014.[8]

Wealth of Nations

Wealth of Nations includes new mechanics for trade and merchant republics. The most prominent additions also include trade companies, privateering, and construction of the Suez, Panama, and Kiel canals. The accompanying patch included a new rival system, policies, and extra ship designs. Released 29 May 2014.[9][10]

Res Publica

Res Publica focuses on governance and trade. New mechanics pertaining to elections are introduced, along with election events for the Dutch republics and a national focus. The Republican Dictatorship form of government is also included. The accompanying patch included extra idea groups and Merchant Republic factions. Released on 16 July 2014.[11]

Art of War

Named after the renaissance treatise on warfare by Sun Tzu, this expansion focuses on military mechanics. It expands on the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic era, improves diplomacy (especially surrounding conflict and peace treaties), expands vassal mechanics and adds new options for waging war. The accompanying patch amongst other things overhauled rebel mechanics, improved the map and added large interface, AI and gameplay improvements. The map improvements increased the number of provinces on the game map, in regions which previously lacked detail, such as Asia and Africa. It was released on 30 October 2014.[12]

El Dorado

El Dorado improves largely on the nations of Central and South America. This includes Nahuatl, Inti and Mayan religions, a "doom counter" for the Central American tribes, improved mechanics and added events. Exploration and colonisation of these areas is also expanded upon - for example, the Treaty of Tordesillas is added and conquistadors can explore into terra incognita to search for the Seven Cities of Gold. A custom nation designer is included. The accompanying patch included new events for South and Central America, improved terrain and general improvements to gameplay. It was released on 26 February 2015.[13]

Common Sense

Common Sense focuses on diplomacy, religion and internal development. New religious gameplay is added, focusing on Protestants and Buddhists. Parliaments are added, and a special parliamentary government is granted to England. The coinciding patch included new religions, improvements to the peace system and a reworking of the fort system. The number of building slots were also decreased, but the existing ones made more powerful. It was released on 9 June 2015.

The Cossacks

The Cossacks adds additional diplomacy options and a wide variety of internal politics for peacetime. Primarily this is represented through the "Estate" system, which allows provinces to be assigned noble landholders, the church, burghers, and more in return for various bonuses and modifiers. Additionally, The Cossacks adds mechanics for horde government types and adds mechanics to the Tengri religion. It was released on 1 December 2015.[14]

Mare Nostrum

Mare Nostrum derives from the Roman name Latin for our sea, as its name suggests this expansion introduces new content connected to naval warfare, trade and espionage. Now you can put your ships on a naval blockade mission or an hunting naval mission also now you can create trade leagues, offer out Condottieri to other countries to fight and a new timeline feature where you can at any point through your campaign click it and watch how the world has evolved throughout the game. The accompanying patch also majorly reworked espionage, added new map modes and two new systems states and territories and corruption it also brought a bunch of new provinces to Ireland and Africa. It was released on the 5th of April 2016.[15]

Mods

Aside from the official expansion packs, third-party mods are freely available. Most mods are available from the Steam Workshop. The mods can modify or remove existing features, and add new features, such as new unit models or new gameplay mechanics.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic87/100[16]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid95/100[17]
GameSpot90/100[18]
IGN8.9/10[19]
PC Gamer (US)91/100[20]

Critical reception

Europa Universalis IV was met with generally favourable reviews, receiving a score of 87/100 on aggregate website Metacritic. Critics praised the improvements from Europa Universalis III, especially the new mechanics and graphics.[21][22] T.J. Hafer of PC Gamer described the game as an "engrossing simulation that conquers the common ground between your average Civilization V player and the long-time devotees of grand strategy".[23] Negative feedback focused on the tutorials, combat mechanics and bugs. Nicholas Pellegatta acknowledged these bugs and other issues were likely to be addressed in later patches and expansions.[24]

In 2013 Europa Universalis IV won the "Golden Horseshoe" award in the category of "Game of the Year" on the Polish website gikz.pl.[25] It also won "Best Strategy" and "Best Historical" in Game Debate's 2013 awards.[26]

Sales

As of February 2014, Europa Universalis IV had sold over 300,001 copies.[27] By January 2016, over 900,001 games were registered on Steam.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV - Steam Store". 5 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Game Page". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Paradox Development Studio". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Official Press Release". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Haas, Pete (10 August 2012). "Grand Strategy Game Europa Universalis 4 Coming In 2013". Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV - Paradox Store".
  7. ↑ "How Paradox’s Crusader Kings II to Europa Universalis IV save converter will work". PC Gamer. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "Paradise Pre-gained: Pre-orders Available for New World Expansion for Europa Universalis IV". Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Europa Universalis 4's Wealth of Nations expansion detailed by Paradox". PC Gamer. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Paradox announces Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations". Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  11. ↑ "Europa Universalis 4 targets trade and governance in Res Publica mini-expansion". PC Gamer. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "Art of War Expansion for Europa Univeralis IV Arrives October 30". Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Savage, Phil (20 January 2015). "Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado expansion announced". PC Gamer. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV: The Cossacks Release Trailer". Gamespot. December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Paradox Interactive (2016-04-05), Europa Universalis IV - Mare Nostrum Release Trailer, retrieved 2016-04-13
  16. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV review". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV review". Destructoid.
  18. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV review". GameSpot.
  19. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV review". IGN.
  20. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV review". PC Gamer.
  21. ↑ Bitterman, Tom. "Europa Universalis IV". Gaming Nexus. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  22. ↑ Brown, Fraser. "Review: Europa Universalis IV". Destructoid. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "PC Gamer EU4 Review". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  24. ↑ Pellegatta, Nicholas. "Recensione Europa Universalis IV". Everyeye.it (in Italian). Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  25. ↑ "Wielkie Derby - Gra Roku". gikz.pl.
  26. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV". Game Debate. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  27. ↑ Aziz, Hamza (2 May 2014). "How Paradox Interactive found success in a niche market". Destructoid. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  28. ↑ "Europa Universalis IV". Steam Spy. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

External links

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