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)	Johan Andersson
Composer(s)	Andreas Waldetoft
Engine	Clausewitz 2.5
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux[1]
Release date(s)	13 August 2013
Genre(s)	Grand strategy

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 of nations. Each of these provinces contributes 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, 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.

• Administrative technologies unlocks advancements such as increased productivity, new forms of government, new buildings, and the national idea system.
• Diplomatic technology unlocks advancements such as naval units, improvements in trade, new buildings, and improved colonial expansion.
• Military technology unlocks advancements such as land units, improved morale, combat tactics, and new buildings.

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 DLC are optional in Europa Universalis IV, and may be applied to the base game in any combination. The largest DLC 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 focused 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 Niccolò Machiavelli, 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]

Other DLC

Flavour Packs

• American Dream - adds events and improvements for the USA.
• Purple Phoenix - focuses on Byzantium, adding events, pictures and unit models. At the date when the game starts, the Byzantine Empire is in disintegration.
• Star and Crescent - focusing on Muslims, this adds events and pictures, as well as the decision to unify Islam.
• Women in History - released to coincide with International Women's Day, this free DLC adds one hundred new events pertaining to women, female advisor and female portraits.

Music Packs

• Conquest of Constantinople - adds three tracks for Byzantium and the Ottomans. Composed by Andreas Waldetoft.
• Guns, Drums and Steel and Guns, Drums and Steel Volume 2 - these remix the main theme and replace Waldetoft's original war tracks with metal remixes. Composed by Tobias Gustafsson.
• Republican - includes a mixture of EUII and new tracks, totalling 26 minutes.
• Songs from the Community - adds five songs produced by the community, inspired by Asian melodies. Composed by Kairi Sawler.
• Songs of the New World - adds ten minutes of songs for Native American tribes. Composed by Andreas Waldetoft.
• Songs of Yuletide - released free, adding a Christmas carol which is played when playing the game in the "real month" December. This is also available for Crusader Kings II. Composed by Andreas Waldetoft.
• Songs of War - adds five orchestral tracks to the game that play during wartime. Composed by Andreas Waldetoft.
• Sabaton Soundtrack -adds five Sabaton song to the game: A lifetime of war, Art of war, The Lion from the north, Carolus Rex and Karolinensbön. Released 1 December 2015.

Cosmetic Packs

In total there are 17 cosmetic packs.

• Unit Packs - 100 Years War, Catholic League, Catholic Majors, Colonial British and French, Common Sense, Conquistadors, Cossacks, El Dorado, Evangelical Union, Horsemen of the Crescent, Indian Ships, Indian Subcontinent, Muslim Ships, Native Americans (I and II), Trade Nations, and Winged Hussars.
• Portrait Packs - which currently only includes Muslim Advisor Portraits.
• National Monument Packs - currently including National Monument Pack I and II, these add features such as the Tower of London and Hagia Sophia to the map.

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

Critical reception

Europa Universalis IV was met with generally favourable reviews, receiving a score of 87/100 on aggregate website Metacritic. No negative reviews by critics were found. Critics praised the improvements from Europa Universalis III, especially the new mechanics and graphics.^[20][21] 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".^[22] 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.^[23]

In 2013 Europa Universalis IV won the "Golden Horseshoe" award in the category of "Game of the Year" on the Polish website gikz.pl.^[24] It also won "Best Strategy" and "Best Historical" in Game Debate's 2013 awards.^[25]

Sales

As of February 2014, Europa Universalis IV has sold over 300,000 copies.^[26] By January 2016, over 900,000 games were registered on Steam.^[27]

References

External links

• Official website
• Developer diary archive
• Europa Universalis IV wiki
• Europa Universalis IV at Paradox Interactive