For this article, Europa
Universalis:Rome will be abbreviated as EU:R
and Europa Universalis 3 or 4 (we will assume they are the same
today), will be referred to as EU.
Last week I tried to encapsulate the
main components of an Europa Universalis game (Developer: Paradox).
I have to admit though that I lied. Just a bit. As I said last
week, in EU the nation is built out of numbers; manpower, economy,
and diplomacy. Though the systems that I spoke of are in Europa
Universalis: Rome, there is a component that is more crucial, more
integral to it, and this component is not in EU.
Rome is a personal game. I don't mean
it's friendly. In EU the player is the country, not a person. The
country has a ruler (King, Queen, President) who is assigned an age,
and three skills (administrative, diplomatic, military) with a number
for each skill. The number assigned for each skill impacts different
aspects of the game. The ruler has numbers but has no personality,
no desires: no character. They have no impact except those three
numbers. When the ruler dies their heir assumes command, or if they
are too young, a regency council takes control until they come of
age.
EU:R is totally different.
EU:R has all the numbers of EU, but it
is built on the ambitions, relationships, and desires of the nobles,
elected officials, and priests, that populate the upper echelon of
society.
At the start of the game, a small
nation will contain ten to twenty nobles. A large nation will easily
include more than sixty men, woman, and children.
Each of these characters have three
skills (military, finesse, charisma) on a scale of 0-9. They also
have popularity, loyalty, corruptness, prominence, wealth, a culture,
and a birthplace. Characters have anywhere from zero to ten traits
such as submissive, infertile, epileptic, and vengeful. They gain
and loss traits as events happen to them. The game keeps track of
characters parents, spouses, mistresses, children, siblings, and
half-siblings. It also tracks rivals and friends. To round it off,
every character has an objective.
There characters are both predictable
and unpredictable. Most want to complete their objective, which can
be as simple as acquiring a small title, or a devious as killing a
rival. Some may even want to become King (which is ok if they are
the heir to a kingdom, but terrible if they are anyone else). On the
other hand many will take helpful or harmful action in a way this
unpredictable. There are so many factors to each character it's hard
to determine what ultimately causes them to act as they do. They
aren't real people, but even though they are composed of numbers,
they are as unpredictable as people.
The main forum for the actions of the
characters is the government of a country. In EU:R there are two
distinct types of government where characters to act out their
schemes as the player tries to cobble together monetary and
diplomatic policies.
The simpler government is a Monarchy.
One character rules, with his or her attributes effecting the basics
of the empire. But, in addition, there are the countries nine
advisers (characters chosen by the player), such as the Grand Vizier,
Chancellor, and Chief Torturer, who improve the country according to
their own skills. The best adviser may not be he whose skills best
match the position. The character could be overly ambitious and a
threat to stability, seeking to turn their increased prominence and
wealth into a revolution. They could be a rival of the King or they
could be in the pay of a foreign power. The player is forced to play
politics with their advisers, determining the pros and cons of
elevating or demoting nobles.
Assigning a noble to an army or navy
has a similar effect, where they can earn the loyalty of the soldiers
under their command. In EU the leader of an army is just a number.
In EU:R leadership can really go to a commander's head, and before
the player knows what is happening a successful general is marching
on the capital with an experienced army behind him.
When the ruler of a monarchical country
dies, normally their heir is immediately installed, but if there are
disgruntled nobles or counselors they might stage a coup. In the
event of a rebellion the player is always aligned with the official
ruler, and can never choose to side with rebels.
A Republic, the other form of
government, has a more complex system than a monarchy. A monarchy is
governed by one family, with nine counselors. A republic has no
ruling family, but five political parties (religious, military,
mercantile, civic, and populist), each with their own agenda and
modifiers. Each male member is assigned to a party as soon as they
reach adulthood. Every few years an election among the members
pushes one to the top. The current ruler, like in a monarchy, is the
avatar of the player, and one must work for the good of the country
and ruler. Yet once that ruler is removed by the turning of the
republican process, if they have become too powerful they may try to
install themselves as dictator. Unlike a monarchy, where the player
knows their leader well, a republic is a revolving door of faces and
desires. In a republic, characters can frustrate the player in
another way. All diplomatic actions, from alliances to trade deals,
must be approved by the senate, which is composed of the characters
of the five factions. Often they will prohibit the very deals the
player hopes to make.
If it seems like this is a complaint
against the character system, then the reader misunderstands
entirely. EU:R has character (!), politics (personal and
international), and challenge. It successfully sets itself apart in
the EU series. EU:R was a transitional game, more personal than the
main games of the EU series, and yet more like them than it is to
Crusader Kings (one of Paradox's other major series). Aside from the
characters, it is similar to EU, but with the flaw of being
unrefined. EU3 and EU4 are superior in graphics, historical events,
breadth of game world, and depth of game-play (while still
maintaining a streamlined system).
If you're a fan of EU 3 or 4 and want
the politicking, character element, and you don't mind the dated graphics or less polished game-play EU:R is an excellent choice. If those might put you off, but you still want the personal elements Crusader Kings 2 would be the way to go, and yet (with EU:R as my first Paradox game), I
can't shake a strong devotion to the character mechanics, and the
court intrigues that they encouraged.
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