Europa Universalis IV

[Irenaeus]

Oh, it was released? There goes my weekend

 

[Elwro]

Guys. Is the BASE EU IV worth 10 EUR? Would I feel some features are missing or is it a reasonably complete package?

 

[Irenaeus]

I don't know, I got it on a sale with the first 2 or 3 expansions already. It was def worth whataver the price was.

 

[The Glitterdust Golem]

Trade seems to be utterly insane right now. I'm playing the Ottomans in a small multiplayer and within thirty years, I have the best income bar none. Austria is beneath me in second place, with half the income, and they've swallowed up Burgundy to boot. I have a full army (of about 50), a tier two advisor (and two tier ones) and I'm supporting two rebel factions at once (for a total of 15 p/month) and I still make 22 ducats a tick. I've swallowed up all of the Ottomans free cores and am now digging into the Mamluks, to give an idea of my size.

I'm Venice in another game, and I started the game with about 17-18 ducats p/month. It's really rather crazy. Part of it is Aleppo being huge, but with the overall massive boost to most trade goods (cloth, iron, wool, fish etc. have all gained a 2-3 value buff), it looks to be a universal thing.

 

[Luzur]

Also 2 minor DLC's is out

Guns, Drums and Steel Music Pack

We have recorded new sessions with the Swedish composer Tobias Gustafsson and this Music Pack now adds that music to enhance the Europa Universalis IV soundtrack.

The new tracks of metal music is based on the music from Europa Universalis IV.

The music pack includes following songs:

• 01 Main Theme (Guns, Drums and Steel remix)
• 02 Battle Of Lepano (Guns, Drums and Steel remix)
• 03 King's Court (Guns, Drums and Steel remix)
• 04 The Stage Is Set (Guns, Drums and Steel remix)
• 05 Ride Forth Victoriously (Guns, Drums and Steel remix)

Evangelical Union Unit Pack

Europa Universalis IV: Evangelical Union Unit Pack adds 12 new units models for the members of the Evangelical Union.

The following nations receive a unique unit model for the Thiry Year War period.

 

[Irenaeus]

Trade seems to be utterly insane right now. I'm playing the Ottomans in a small multiplayer and within thirty years, I have the best income bar none. Austria is beneath me in second place, with half the income, and they've swallowed up Burgundy to boot. I have a full army (of about 50), a tier two advisor (and two tier ones) and I'm supporting two rebel factions at once (for a total of 15 p/month) and I still make 22 ducats a tick. I've swallowed up all of the Ottomans free cores and am now digging into the Mamluks, to give an idea of

I'm Venice in another game, and I started the game with about 17-18 ducats p/month. It's really rather crazy. Part of it is Aleppo being huge, but with the overall massive boost to most trade goods (cloth, iron, wool, fish etc. have all gained a 2-3 value buff), it looks to be a universal thing.

Sounds like it's broken. I'll wait for a fix or don't buy it or use it.

 

[Average Manatee]

Paradox shitting on non-europeans again.

- Colonize anything as a native american? 50% minimum autonomy. *Permanently*. Those shitty 1 or 2 base tax provinces? They are now 0.5 and 1 base tax. Even if said province is bordering your capital. Europeans don't suffer this at all. Colonial nations have no autonomy penalties. In fact it's literally more profitable for Cherokee to colonize South America and get a CN to form down there rather than colonize their own backyard. It's less imbalanced in areas where CNs don't form, but even then Europeans get full trade value and quickly suck every bit of trade out of Africa/Asia while natives still have -50% penalties.

- Hordes are now irreparably gimped due to not being able to recruit foreign units. Irreparably. I don't know what anyone would bother playing them now.

Aside from that the new mechanics are welcome (also a bit buggy). Autonomy feels a bit too easy to decrease though, so it ends up just being a targeted nerf for certain nations (hordes -25% and Ming -50%, in addition to the colonial stuff).

 

[Malakal]

Hordes are supposed to be weak, you modernize or die. Controversial but thats their approach.

Not sure about natives and the changes. Dont know enough of their history to tell if they were plagued by decentralization.

 

[Irenaeus]

The little I know is that they were turbodecentralized.

 

[Average Manatee]

From what I know North America was on the whole pretty decentralized, but central america and south america certainly not. And if autonomy was supposed to represent decentralization then the starting provinces should have 50% autonomy and westernizing should remove the penalty, but as it is starting provinces have 0 autonomy (along with anything you conquer, so you can conquer natives 1000 miles away and have 0 autonomy) but colonies have 50% permanently.

Let me emphasize the word permanent. In some alt-history where the Aztecs modernized and spread throughout all of America they would still have a 50% penalty to everything hundreds of years later in 1821 because they weren't a magical colonial nation spawned by another colonizing power.

Hordes are supposed to be weak, you modernize or die. Controversial but thats their approach.

I'd by more sympathetic to that if modernizing didn't remove everything interesting about starting as a horde in the first place. It's not like it was a bad idea to modernize before, you simply had the choice to modernize or face harder challenges. Now not modernizing as a horde is insanely suicidal, we're talking Ming troops would stomp your anus pretty soon.

 

[sser]

Hordes not being able to recruit outsiders is pretty stupid.

 

[Irenaeus]

From what I know North America was on the whole pretty decentralized, but central america and south america certainly not. And if autonomy was supposed to represent decentralization then the starting provinces should have 50% autonomy and westernizing should remove the penalty,

Agree, makes sense.

 

[Average Manatee]

Hordes not being able to recruit outsiders is pretty stupid.

Especially considering that the whole reason the Mongol horde was so successful in the first place was because they operated on a strict meritocracy where anyone who was valuable was promoted and given a position of responsibility (and in horde life responsibility = succeed or die, for everyone). Everything outside of the steppe and desert skirmishing with horse arches, from siege warfare on chinese cities to forest battles in eastern europe, was conducted principally by what would be local forces loyal to the khanate. Previously the horde gameplay meshed with historicality in such a wonderful way and now this is all gone. Become another generic shitty muslim/buddhist nation or die.

 

[Average Manatee]

Also Paradox has committed the greatest sin EVER: Genoa's +mercantilism missions were nerfed. Truly Paradox has become the destroyer of dreams.

It saddens me to think that I won't be able to suck up half of europe's trade within 50 years without needing a single light ship.

(Yes they were OP as fuck, but muh fun)

 

[Irenaeus]

I think I'll avoid this...

 

[Xbalanque]

From what I know North America was on the whole pretty decentralized, but central america and south america certainly not. And if autonomy was supposed to represent decentralization then the starting provinces should have 50% autonomy and westernizing should remove the penalty, but as it is starting provinces have 0 autonomy (along with anything you conquer, so you can conquer natives 1000 miles away and have 0 autonomy) but colonies have 50% permanently.

Let me emphasize the word permanent. In some alt-history where the Aztecs modernized and spread throughout all of America they would still have a 50% penalty to everything hundreds of years later in 1821 because they weren't a magical colonial nation spawned by another colonizing power.

Hordes are supposed to be weak, you modernize or die. Controversial but thats their approach.

I'd by more sympathetic to that if modernizing didn't remove everything interesting about starting as a horde in the first place. It's not like it was a bad idea to modernize before, you simply had the choice to modernize or face harder challenges. Now not modernizing as a horde is insanely suicidal, we're talking Ming troops would stomp your anus pretty soon.

Actually the Aztecs were not as centralised, it was an alliance of 3 city-states and other city-states had certain autonomy. The thing is they started centralising the hard way just before the conquistadors arrival which made many others help the conquista.

Same process was with the Incas they were centralising their power which was causing an uproar and coinided with the war of succession.

Anyway, Paradox fucked shit up

 

[Average Manatee]

Incans and Aztecs both had a strong history of tribute which AFAIK was not the case of North American nations (being nomads, would simply move to another place rather than pay tribute on a grand scale), which was what I was referring to. It would make some sense to have North American tribes split into separate units once they had gotten big enough (obviously not representable within EU, but autonomy could kind of represent that), while central and south America weren't tribes at all, but city states and proto-states.

It bears remembering that Rome was effectively the same for a large portion of its history, a single city-state that subjugated others and exacted tribute throughout their larger empire. I don't think anyone would call Rome anything but centralized during this time, ignoring the obvious problems of pre-19th century communication which every nation in EU shares.

 

[Makabb]

Prussian Knights leading Rus in a personal Union in a quest to form the Thousand Year Reich


Seems Finland was removed Vaarna_Aarne

 

[Irenaeus]

What year is this and which expansions are you using?

 

[Makabb]

All dlcs, latest version 1.8 and it's 1611

 

[Irenaeus]

France got screwed by spaniards.

iViva España!

Btw, what do you think of new expansion (Art of War)?

Oh, I could have calculated the date (1611) looking at the message on the right of the screen.

 

[Average Manatee]

7/10

-3 points for not culture-shifting Poland and forming Prussia out of the commonwealth.

 

[KoolNoodles]

One question now that all these expansions are out: how is it like to play a non-European/Nordic/Eastern Europe-Asia/Middle-East nation? To me Europe and its direct neighbors = boring, since that is always what is "completed" first, and played to death.

So how is playing Africa, the Americas, Polynesia, Japan/Korea etc., tribal nations? Initially after playing their "Americas" expansion I was not overly impressed.

 

[Makabb]

Btw, what do you think of new expansion (Art of War)?
.

tbh i see no changes

 

[Average Manatee]

Asia and North/East Africa have always had pretty decent gameplay. The recent patch fleshed out Central/South america and West Africa enough for those nations to have stuff to do within their own microcosm until the Europeans arrive. North America is still mostly waiting since everyone is so spread out.