I'm liking the Nation Designer...
Quote
Legends tell of a great city deep in the jungle. It is rich in all the pleasures of mankind, and is so full of gold that the residents count this metal as nothing. The daring explorer that finds this city will bring glory to his king – and infinite riches to his pocket. Now Paradox Development Studio brings the adventure and politics of the Spanish conquest to life with the El Dorado expansion for Europa Universalis IV.
The centerpiece of El Dorado is the Nation Designer, a tool that let's you customize your starting nation in a campaign. Choose your starting capital and neighboring provinces, modify your starting culture and leader and then lead this new nation to new and original heights of glory. The infinite replayability of EU4 has just gotten even more infinite, if that's possible (the company mathematician is still on holiday).
This expansion's historical focus on the Central American and South American theaters of exploration will challenge you with new decisions worthy of a king or conqueror. As the Aztecs, subject the Mexican plain to your rule but make sure you have enough vassal kings to sacrifice to your angry gods. As the Europeans, push deeper into the jungles of the Amazon, following rumors of lost cities and magical fountains. Defer to the Pope as he intervenes to divide the New World among squabbling empires.
Features include:
- A deep Nation Designer gives you new starting options for your games, including national ideas and custom monarchs
- Experience the new Nahuatl, Inti and Mayan religions with blood sacrifices or Sun Worship
- Send your conquistadors to hunt for the Seven Cities of Gold, or your explorer on exploration missions around the world
- Gold Fleets can traffic New World wealth back to Europe, and be targeted by your privateer fleets
- Use your trade fleets to hunt dangerous pirates
- Maintain good relations with the Pope so you can get a corner of the world to call your own in the Treaty of Tordesillas
Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado will be available on major digital delivery platforms for Windows, Mac and Linux next month.
http://www.europauniversalis4.com/news/%E2%80%9Cel-dorado%E2%80%9D-expansion-europa-universalis-iv-lets-you-go-gold
I wonder if the nation designer is also on the way for CK2.
Combined with the Ruler designer for CK2, I could come somewhat close to starting a game in Great Invasions (mid 300s) and playing through at least as far as EU4 (early 1800s?)...
With things like random continents and nation designers I keep hoping they'll announce a rival to Civ.
Quote from: OJsDad on January 20, 2015, 09:43:06 PM
With things like random continents and nation designers I keep hoping they'll announce a rival to Civ.
That would be SWEET! Could you imagine, successions of leaders, with different stats. And Monarch Points to fine tune things. Oh! Unlocking concepts as you go down through the ages, gathering cities and consolidating Empire. Very very sweet :)
Quote from: MetalDog on January 20, 2015, 10:11:47 PM
Quote from: OJsDad on January 20, 2015, 09:43:06 PM
With things like random continents and nation designers I keep hoping they'll announce a rival to Civ.
That would be SWEET! Could you imagine, successions of leaders, with different stats. And Monarch Points to fine tune things. Oh! Unlocking concepts as you go down through the ages, gathering cities and consolidating Empire. Very very sweet :)
As a matter of fact, yes I can! :smitten:
Firaxis needs a good dose of competition in the Civilization department (and I say that still loving Civ after all these years). I would also like to see AGEOD announce a Civ-like game. :)
My reaction to this one is a bit 'meh' -- will probably wait for it to be on sale.
Mostly I just want Paradox to do nothing but work on perfecting Hearts of Iron 4, which I want now, Now, NOW! ("Late Q2" is the official word... I guess I can hold out til then...)
Quote
- A deep Nation Designer gives you new starting options for your games, including national ideas and custom monarchs
- Experience the new Nahuatl, Inti and Mayan religions with blood sacrifices or Sun Worship
- Send your conquistadors to hunt for the Seven Cities of Gold, or your explorer on exploration missions around the world
- Gold Fleets can traffic New World wealth back to Europe, and be targeted by your privateer fleets
- Use your trade fleets to hunt dangerous pirates
- Maintain good relations with the Pope so you can get a corner of the world to call your own in the Treaty of Tordesillas
More then a little "meh" on the the nation desinger. Falls into the same category as the randomized new world and Aztec Invasion DLC for CK2, its a novelty I
might use once. I much more enjoy being able to see alternate history play out rather then trying turn it into a Civ clone.
Being able to have and raid gold fleets is a nice historical addition. I'll get it day one but I hope its not a $15-$20 DLC.
It would surprise me if this retailed at $15-20. Doesn't sound like it offers quite enough to be considered a full scale expansion a la Art of War -- I'd expect more in the $10 area. And what the hell, I'll probably cave and buy day one if the price is reasonable...
^^ If you expect Paradox to release this initially for less than $15, you'd better get used to disappointment! I wouldn't be surprised if it's $20 (um, $19.99)!
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 21, 2015, 12:19:49 PM
My reaction to this one is a bit 'meh' -- will probably wait for it to be on sale.
Mostly I just want Paradox to do nothing but work on perfecting Hearts of Iron 4, which I want now, Now, NOW! ("Late Q2" is the official word... I guess I can hold out til then...)
I know. Where are the Otomi? That's like the Age of Attila without the Alans.
Quote from: bbmike on January 21, 2015, 06:16:09 AM
Firaxis needs a good dose of competition in the Civilization department (and I say that still loving Civ after all these years). I would also like to see AGEOD announce a Civ-like game. :)
I've been very disappointed in how un-innovative Civ II-V have been. The first one blew strategy gaming wide open, but all they have done since is improve the graphics, tweak the formula, and throw in a new concept around the edges from time to time.
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 22, 2015, 11:39:58 AM
^^ If you expect Paradox to release this initially for less than $15, you'd better get used to disappointment! I wouldn't be surprised if it's $20 (um, $19.99)!
Some DLCs for CKII and EUIV launched under the $15 mark, IIRC -- and not just talkin' 'units' packs -- 'mini expansions' like "The Republic" etc. From the above description, El Dorado doesn't seem quite feature-rich enough to warrant $19.99. 'course, I've been wrong before...
and anyway, enough of this EUIV silliness -- MOAR HOI4 PLZ!! :)
Ok, after reading the development diaries on this expansion and watching the nation designer video it's become a insta-purchase for me. :D
Patch is up, no sign of DLC yet.
And now it's on Steam! :D
Quote from: bbmike on February 26, 2015, 09:21:06 AM
And now it's on Steam! :D
...for $15 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/338160/) ...was hoping it'd be less :-\ I'd like to pick it up, but will probably wait for a sale...
$15 seems about right to me -- El Dorado doesn't seem to offer as much as Art of War (which I think sold for $20), but still seems a reasonably substantial add-on.
Quote from: bbmike on February 26, 2015, 09:12:36 AM
Patch is up, no sign of DLC yet.
Out on Gamersgate : http://www.gamersgate.com/DLC-EU4ED/europa-universalis-iv-el-dorado (€14,99)
Base game and other DLC on sale.
The big draw seems to be the nation designer...
I just read up on the nation designer, and I am all over this. It allows me to do 2 things I have wanted to do with EU since EU 1 came out:
(1) I can play as a Native American tribe, but without the crippling tech bonus. I can pick any of the available tech groups for my tribe.
(2) Even better, I can play as a fictional custom-designed nation and then randomize the placement of other nations on the map. In other words, Civ with rulers, special events, and 150 AI opponents!
I just started playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 last night, and I'm having a blast, but I'm afraid I am going to have to delay my campaign of putting together enough 1-shot driving jobs to buy my own truck in order to establish the eternal empire of Alabama.
Oh goody goody goody. Except . . . this is Paradox, any new DLC is likely to be pretty buggy. Still, I'm there, and tonight, too.
Quote from: glen55 on February 26, 2015, 12:58:58 PM
I just read up on the nation designer, and I am all over this. It allows me to do 2 things I have wanted to do with EU since EU 1 came out:
(1) I can play as a Native American tribe, but without the crippling tech bonus. I can pick any of the available tech groups for my tribe.
(2) Even better, I can play as a fictional custom-designed nation and then randomize the placement of other nations on the map. In other words, Civ with rulers, special events, and 150 AI opponents!
I just started playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 last night, and I'm having a blast, but I'm afraid I am going to have to delay my campaign of putting together enough 1-shot driving jobs to buy my own truck in order to establish the eternal empire of Alabama.
Oh goody goody goody. Except . . . this is Paradox, any new DLC is likely to be pretty buggy. Still, I'm there, and tonight, too.
You get snowed on last night?
Quote from: glen55 on February 26, 2015, 12:58:58 PM
Except . . . this is Paradox, any new DLC is likely to be pretty buggy.
Honestly, I think those days are over for Pdox. Will it have some bugs? Probably, but I doubt anything beyond annoyances, and nothing crippling or game-breaking.
I don't recall having compatibility problems with any of the add-ons for CKII or EUIV.
Quote from: MetalDog on February 26, 2015, 01:04:56 PM
Quote from: glen55 on February 26, 2015, 12:58:58 PM
I just read up on the nation designer, and I am all over this. It allows me to do 2 things I have wanted to do with EU since EU 1 came out:
(1) I can play as a Native American tribe, but without the crippling tech bonus. I can pick any of the available tech groups for my tribe.
(2) Even better, I can play as a fictional custom-designed nation and then randomize the placement of other nations on the map. In other words, Civ with rulers, special events, and 150 AI opponents!
I just started playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 last night, and I'm having a blast, but I'm afraid I am going to have to delay my campaign of putting together enough 1-shot driving jobs to buy my own truck in order to establish the eternal empire of Alabama.
Oh goody goody goody. Except . . . this is Paradox, any new DLC is likely to be pretty buggy. Still, I'm there, and tonight, too.
You get snowed on last night?
I may be Alabama at heart, but I currently live in Castro Valley, California. However, I did get rained on pretty hard hauling an earthmover from Plymouth to Cardiff!
Record snows in Northern Alabama yesterday and last night. Records for February at least. From 7" to 13", depending on where you were, so I've heard.
Quote from: MetalDog on February 26, 2015, 05:46:35 PM
Record snows in Northern Alabama yesterday and last night. Records for February at least. From 7" to 13", depending on where you were, so I've heard.
Yeah, I still have a few Facebook friends in Tuscaloosa. Many cameras recorded this event.
I was there in '77 - on leave, between Okinawa and the next unit in San Antonio - when we got 6" in one night, but that was in January. I believe that is still the existing record for T-Town. Had some adventures trying to drive through the woods with friends - have you ever tried to push a car out of a ditch in fresh snow? Crossing the railroad tracks was an Act Of Faith, no more, no less.
Roll Tide, brother!
Roll Tide, and don't eat the yellow snow. ;)
I fired the new expansion up last night, and I didn't get that far in, but I had no trouble creating the Alabama I wanted. It's not very big, only half the territory of the current state, but I was able to put them in the Western tech group. I probably made this country too easy, because I gave them a great young king with a fantastic young heir, too - and I ain't no rookie at EU, I don't need too many breaks to beat the AI. Everybody else around 'em has that Native American tech group, so we will brush them aside if we can ever get a casus belli.
We will be ready when the first explorers show up. :knuppel2:
Just setting up custom nations is fun. :P
Quote from: bbmike on February 27, 2015, 01:33:04 PM
Just setting up custom nations is fun. :P
Agree. I haven't played EU in a while, but I can see this will get me back into it. I've always hated that idea of getting stuck with a lower tech group or having to Westernize. I can see repeating this experiment a few more times in other parts of the world.
Great fun so far! I started my Wicomico empire in the New World with a few provinces and I'm still going. The Europeans have arrived, though.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarcentral.com%2Fpics%2Feu4wic.jpg&hash=3b75b5754c206e3dbb898dc6e33ed9e2fe5bf0e5)