Europa Universalis IV - Now Available on Steam

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Steam announces that Europa Universalis IV is now avaiable.

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Europa Universalis IV is Now Available on Steam!

Paradox Development Studio is back with the fourth installment of the game that defined the Grand Strategy Genre. Europa Universalis IV gives you control of a nation to guide through the years in order to create a dominant global empire. Rule your nation through the centuries, with unparalleled freedom, depth and historical accuracy. True exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy will be brought to life in this epic title rife with rich strategic and tactical depth.
More information.
 
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Still no tactical combat? Empire Total War without the tactical combat seems like fail to me, but with reviews like it's getting I'm sure it will sell plenty.
 
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Have you played any of the EU games before?? That's simply not what they are about.
 
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Just a very important heads-up for those playing CK2: Paradox released a new patch for the game that completely screws up several character traits - most notably, Byzantine rulers and their heirs have had the trait "Born in the Purple" changed to blinded, making them unable to rule. Other game-breaking oddities exist as well, such as many European characters having the trait stating that they are "descendants of Muhammad."

Here is a fan-fix, which is the only way to fix this issue since apparently Paradox has no plans (as of this post) of fixing the now-broken CK2 save games.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?708372-v.-1.11-Trait-Fix-For-Older-Saves/page2
 
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Have you played any of the EU games before?? That's simply not what they are about.

No, I haven't. I realized that's not what they are about, before I spent money on them. For me, it's the tactical combat that makes the strategic layer worthwhile. I don't get people who prefer to skip the tactical combat. I never have. I started playing Chainmail when I was about 12 or 13 and that was way back in the day before there was even such a thing as home computers. I did play the Avalon Hill hex map wargames, too, but only because some of my braindead friends couldn't be bothered with all the hassle of tactical wargamming. The hassle is gone. The computer does all the work. There's no reason not to have both. War isn't one or the other, and neither should wargaming be.
 
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No, I haven't. I realized that's not what they are about, before I spent money on them. For me, it's the tactical combat that makes the strategic layer worthwhile. I don't get people who prefer to skip the tactical combat. I never have. I started playing Chainmail when I was about 12 or 13 and that was way back in the day before there was even such a thing as home computers. I did play the Avalon Hill hex map wargames, too, but only because some of my braindead friends couldn't be bothered with all the hassle of tactical wargamming. The hassle is gone. The computer does all the work. There's no reason not to have both. War isn't one or the other, and neither should wargaming be.

As a Europa Universalis fan, I would bomb the company if they decided to add tactical combat (note to the CIA or FBI agent reading this, by 'bomb' I mean I would be very upset and stomp my foot on the ground). This game is pure strategy, you are a country, not a general. When I played the Total War games, I would simulate all battles, as to me what mattered was the strategy.
 
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My biggest gripe with EU is and always has been the great influence of random luck. Yes, it is "realistic", but not everything realistic makes a good game. Realistic would be, if you get shot with 1 bullet, you're dead, but nobody would play that, so we have "health bars".

EU4 greatly expanded the influence of luck, alas, so too much is simply not under my control.

Also, the great rise in cost for armies led to the result that small countries are now near impossible to play.


@CraigCBW: EU3 was fun without a tactical element in combat, but yes, it would have been good and I also sot of expected/hoped they'd add it with EU4.
Paradox always changes released games drastically, so it is always bad advice to buy any Paradox game at release. EU3 took almost a year to be in a good shape after release.

@wolfing: I find you argument invalid. Many leaders were strategists and generals themselves. Not all of them sat on thrones 24/7 ya know.
 
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EU is a great game but is no an RPG last time I checked.
 
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EU is a great game but is no an RPG last time I checked.
People asked for coverage and I gave it. We cover some non-rpg's all the time look through the game list.
 
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read an actual history book instead versus randomly rolling dice every time you hit next turn.
 
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"read an actual history book instead versus randomly rolling dice every time you hit next turn. "

Next "turn"? What, is this Civilization? ;-)

In any case... can't it be both?
 
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History has the unfortunate quality that usually the wrong guys won. ;)

I'm not sure someone from Germany should be saying that after world war 2.

I'm hoping to check this game out soon, can you actually take some civilizations from dieing out to developing into world leaders?
 
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I'm not sure someone from Germany should be saying that after world war 2.

I'm hoping to check this game out soon, can you actually take some civilizations from dieing out to developing into world leaders?

I was referring to our glorious Emperor, of course. Not that Austrian parvenu. Hey, I even would have accepted Napoleon winning 1812. I am not picky. Imagine 1918 Germany had won. Germany gets one or two provinces and some gold, no Hitler, no Holocaust, prolly no Communism either, everyone happy, right? So Germany losing WW1 1918... BAD idea for everyone. Just my 2 Pfennig.
 
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I picked up the preorder mostly on a whim and after playing CK2 for past 3 days or so and a couple of hours with EU4. I think I'm finding that I much prefer the CK2 that came as part of the preorder at the moment.

I suppose what I like about CK2 is the RPG elements that is more opaque with EU4. CK2 you have your leader with portrait and custom council and children and what not all with stats and events that can give you boosts or possibly kill you. I have an interesting game going where somehow my wife became Queen of France after having a very minor claim which I cannot even sort out how it happened since I was not even focusing on it. The succession planning is my next favorite part as war is difficult to wage an just conquer and as a result very hard to concentrate power.

EU4 is much more abstract and focused on country instead of the person but a lot of the similar elements are present. Yeah they are separate games but after seeing what was in CK2 I would have expected more even if just simple things like portraits for your ruler. Will give EU4 some more time but I think I'm going to be playing CK2 for awhile (also liked what I saw when looking at the Game of Thrones mod).
 
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I suppose what I like about CK2 is the RPG elements that is more opaque with EU4.
RPG elements in a game like CK2? Seriously? In the world of so called RPGers, is the idea of the possible existence of wargame elements even possible?

CK2 has tactics in it. They are deleguated to the IA though. The addition of tactics came as an improvement in the patching sequence.
By choosing the commanders of your army, the composition of your army, the site for the battlefield, you influence the choice and the efficiency of the tactics that are deployed.
It strongly helped to remove that mechanical relationship between the size of the stacks, the bigger winning.
At the present point, by growing the adequate commanders and by working your amry composition, you can make a difference through the hands off use of tactics.

Tactics are included in a game like CK2. They are though through a hands off approach exclusively.

Not the most important point though. How could a game like CK2 or EU support a hand on tactical approach? I know that a lot of players speed play that kind of games, reloading until they get the result they want.
But even with that, playing that type of games requires so much time and you want to add gameplay events that could last five to twenty minutes each time?
And if you want to continue with the current state, you must remember that the current engine not only simulates the main battle but all the previous minor battles that precede the major battle. That is the reason why, once on a province, the battle lasts several days or weeks, because the engine simulate all the minor engagements that precede a major battle. Same for sieging with troops that can cut supply lines to cause quicker exhaustion...

How do you mean with a hands on approach to achieve the same result? When answered, you must now include the fact that armies are made to march on the sounds of the drums (at least in CK2) and all that implies.
 
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