Europa Universalis: Rome, 3, 4, and Me: The Basics


As I've mentioned before, I'm keenly aware of the price of video games, and because of this I buy games that originally sold for sixty dollars when I see them on Steam for ten. So it was with great joy that I finally picked up Europa Universalis 4, during the Lunar New Year sale on Steam.

As a fan of EU:R and 3, I've wanted EU4 since it came out in 2013, but I was patient. Paradox, the developer, kept delivering expansions, along with a massive amount of free additional content, but I waited, hoping they would create a bundle. I didn't want vanilla, I wanted the final product! But with seven DLC expansions already, and another just announced (Mare Nostrum), there seemed little point in delaying.

Yet, in a perverse manner of revolt, I refused to buy any of the expansions. I will play vanilla! Then I'll buy one expansion per sale, building my experience as if I had bought each as they came out. Some day, two or three years from now, I may catch up to Paradox, if they will just... stop... releasing... expansions!

Its a little funny, but what finally convinced me to invest in EU4 was I saw my brother had it. The next time he was on Steam, I asked him to play, only to discover he had bought EU4 awhile ago, but his computer can't run it. Foiled!

It was already installed and ready to go, so though it felt like a betrayal of EU3, I began.

Today I'm going to outline the main components of the Europa Universalis series of which I have played EU: Rome, 3 and 4. I plan to make this a recurring series, because my love of EU is comparable only to my delight in Dota 2.

The Europa Universalis series is a grand strategy game that balances historical detail with complex mechanics, but uses fairly streamlined game-play. The setting is the end of the Middle Ages until the end of the Napoleonic Era. The game-board is the world. To start a new game, you pick a nation and direct its path through history until 1821. While you rule, you are not a ruler, for in the four hundred year span (1399 – 1821 for EU3 and 1444 – 1821 for EU4), there will be many Kings, Queens, and Presidents. But, you run the country: raising armies, negotiating with other countries, and taking out loans (never take out loans).

The Europa Universalis series uses a number of specific and general historic events, especially for the major countries, but the game is mostly about managing your country to achieve whatever goal you desire. For me, and I assume most players, it is global domination (or at least as close as you can get).

Let's look at the key components of managing a country in EU3 and 4

The most important feature of a country is the economy. Every month your country receives or loses gold, which is added to or removed from the treasury. Gold is used to hire and maintain armies, construct buildings, bribe other countries, support colonies, and deal with events. While critical, there are only limited actions one can take to increase income, and these actions only come to fruition over time. For instance, some buildings will enlarge earnings, but they require an extended construction time, and individually only have a minimal effect. Disbanding armies or reducing army supply is often the most effective way to reduce costs, but comes at the steep price of being unprepared for war.

War is a risky way to earn cash. If a war goes well, the enemy can be forced to part with their gold to achieve peace. Colonies can be a source of money, but a very long term one, that requires significant investment. And even with all the time and money colonies can revolt, causing hefty war costs or a complete loss . If a country needs gold desperately, a loan from the bank can be useful for quick cash, but unless you can invest it wisely in a way that makes a profit, creditors are going to be coming back five years later and the problem will be even worse. Eventually your country could spiral into loan, after loan, after loan, all just to pay back the original, until the country goes bankrupt.

If the economy is doing well, there are other components of a kingdom. Internal stability is measured on a scale of -3 to +3 and influences trade power, spy defense, and income, but most importantly effects national unrest. Each province has local unrest: effected by the ethnic group, religion, and how long since they were conquered. High unrest leads to marauding rebels, bent on forming their own nation. Compounding national unrest on top of local insurrections can lead to massive rebellions that must be held down by a generous application of soldiers. If this continues eventually the rebels will break away, or some other country may take advantage of your governments shrinking manpower and money.

Its best to avoid undesired entanglements by practicing effective diplomacy. Every nation has a relationship score with every other nation, on a scale of -200 (horrendous), to 200 (exceptional). Each interaction with another power requires the use of diplomat. Diplomats are renewable but limited, so you can't take advantage of every diplomatic option. And there are quite a few options, but they can be summed up in a few categories. There are protective agreements, such as alliance (a mutual protection) and guarantee (one power protects another). One can take offensive measures such as; warn (tell a country not to attack anyone), embargo, aid rebels, or fabricate claim (allows one to attack without a casus belli). There are a number of other options such as improve relation, conduct royal marriage, and provide military access, but in the end it all boils down to one action. War!

To declare war it is necessary to have a casus belli, which is Latin for “a case for war “. In the EU series declaring war without a CB causes a loss of internal stability and worsening diplomatic relations. There are innumerable reasons for a CB, but the easiest to activate is to fabricate a claim with a diplomat. Each CB provides different benefits and conditions for conducting a war, but as long as one is activated it provides enough justification to avoid repercussions.

To fight a war a nation must have armies. These armies are composed of 1,000 unit brigades that can be combined together. An effective army is composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery (the three types of units). An effective army is also an expensive army. But gold isn't the only limiting factor. Nations are limited by a renewable resource called manpower, which represents the amount of men available to join the army. A strong nation, such as England, starts with a manpower of 55,000. When a battle occurs, the soldiers that die must be replenished and they are drawn from the national manpower (which is a collection of the provinces' manpower). Yet manpower is limited and renews slowly. For instance, the English manpower only increases at 500 per month. That means it would take 110 months to refill. While the game embraces long planning, nine years is a long time to be in a state of weakness. Running out of manpower is disastrous, and to reduce losses, many nations use a combination of regular soldiers and mercenaries (who cost more but don't use manpower). If a nation has no more manpower, armies are not reinforced, and no more can be built. There is no quick fix. The only solution is to wait for it to replenish naturally.

When a war is won or lose (or possibly inconclusive), a peace deal is written up and sent to the other nation. It can including the ceding of territory, breaking of alliances, releasing vassals or conquered nations, and changing of religion, to name a few.

There are so many other aspects, Religion, Geography, Culture, Production, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy, the unification of Japan, and more. I can't get to them in this article, but EU will become a regular series, like Dota.

I plan to take this series in two directions; looking at successful strategies, and at the differences between EU:R, 3, and 4.

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