Europa Universalis IV Announced

[TheCommandTent]

Germany, Cologne, Aug 13th 2012 - Your dreams of leading a global empire have laid dormant for too long. Now, Paradox Development Studio and Paradox Interactive promise to bring those dreams to life with Europa Universalis IV.

The award-winning series that has sold over a million copies and redefined grand strategy gaming for a generation is back with unprecedented flexibility, new options for imperial management, and the same deep commitment to historical gameplay that has made Europa Universalis the legendary franchise it is today.

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/press/2012/8/europa-universalis-iv-announced


I never played any of the previous iterations of this game but after how much I've enjoy CKII I am interested to say the least.

Can anyone who has played some of the previous EU titles give some input on this?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Wait to see what their DLC plans are.  Vanilla EU III was kinda lacking.  Supposedly EU III with all the DLC thrown in is great, but I never bought any of it.

[Nefaro]

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/press/2012/8/europa-universalis-iv-announced


I never played any of the previous iterations of this game but after how much I've enjoy CKII I am interested to say the least.

Can anyone who has played some of the previous EU titles give some input on this?

Even the fully-DLC'd version of EU3 is kinda Meh to me, perhaps until I put a mod in which is mostly about making it larger & look better.  It's certainly interesting to play from a historical nut's viewpoint since you're still attempting to create the big nations that came out of the rennaissance and diplomacy is a somewhat hefty part of your strategies to do so. 

But I still feel like it's missing some aspects, and could take a few lessons from CK2.  Such as the portrayal of the rulers.  There has never been any CK-like character system in it, and the pitifully tacked-on one added in one of EU3's DLC packages is woefully basic.  So much so that I'd almost stand to do without it since the end result is just extra heir deaths due to hunting accidents or sickness and that's about it.  ::)  You can look at it as like the CK series, but without the huge character system that makes those interesting, so you're left with a form of the conquering part with some extra Diplomacy options/considerations, a few tech spending sliders, and some Culture points that you get to spend on purchasing great leaders (which are basically nation-wide bonuses - not full on ministers & courtiers that you can order around & such).

So going back to EU3 would feel like a couple steps backward, if CK2 is your favorite Pdox dive.  I certainly hope they extend EU3 further into new territory with release of #4.  I admit that I do enjoy EU3 for short stretches but that's mostly because I find the historical period interesting and there is still an element of nefarious plotting in it, albeit on a national and diplomatic level so it has few webs of intrigue to it.

I know that some people would prefer there being no character system at all in the EUs, as it is now, so they may just keep it like it is and update to the latest engine *shrug*.

[Martok]

As I said over at Wargamer, I look forward to purchasing the game in ten years after all umpteen expansions & DLC for it have been compiled into a single "ultimate" edition.