As the Demo is now out and the game will be out soon, many old questions are no longer relevant. On the other hand, many new questions arise, and these are the questions that I try to address in this FAQ (the original FAQ was Jinnai's work ; I took up maintaining it when he became betatester).
Note that a lot of information that was covered by guesswork until release has been taken out ; I will try to ultimately replace it with factual information as people begin uncovering more of it from the demo and game themselves.
Please check the READ FIRST THREAD and the Official FAQ for information first. I will not necessarily answer stuff answered there in here, especially if I know it's answered there.
This post will be updated as appropriate so continue to check back here.
THE DEMO
Q:The Demo doesn't work on my system! What can I do?
First, you should check that your system matches the requirement. They are :
-Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP
-Intel Pentium 1.9GHz or higher processor (or similar)
-512 MB computer RAM.
-128 MB Video RAM graphic card, with pixel shader 2.0, compatible with DirectX 9.0C.
If they do, you may wish to update the drivers for your hardware, especially the video card driver.
Note that if you have equipment that is very close to these minimum requirements, your game experience might suffer significantly.
Q:What about Vista?
A:There are certain compatibilities difficulties with Vista at present.
Q:The game says I can't play as I don't have 128 MB video memory! Why?
A:EU III requires a graphic card with 128 MB video memory to properly work. To check your video cards capacity, go to the start menu, select run, then type "dxdiag". Under the display menu you will see the memory of your video card.
Q:But my dxdiag says I have 128 mb video memory!
A
ossibly you have a hypermemory or Turbocache card. These cards have little memory of their own, but are designed to use system memory to supplement their capacities. DXdiag thus detect these cards at their full potential memory, whereas EU III detect only their real memory.
Q: Will hypermemory and turbocache card be able to play EU III eventually?
A: Paradox is presently working on addressing this issue. Such cards should be able to play EU III shortly, although the performance on system with relatively low RAM may not be impressive.
Q:What about 64MB video memory?
A:This does not work with EU III. However, Johan has mentioned that he would look into addressing this for patch 1.1 of the game. There are no guarantee Paradox will be able to do so.
Q: My nVidia 5xxx card should work with this, but it doesn't work well or at all. Why?
A: The nVidia 5 series is barely able to support DirectX 9.0. Therefore, a game such as EU III stretches such a card's capacities almost to the breaking point. Whether patches will be able to improve this situation is unknown at this time.
Q: Do I really need PixelShaders 2.0?
A:Yes.
Q: Do Intel chips work with this game?
A:Not very well in and of themselves, although some fans have reported being able to work around the difficulties. It is extremely unlikely that Paradox will be able to fix the difficulties between Intel chips and the game, as even large mainstream developers have been so far unable to address the problem.
Q:You haven't mentioned my problem. What can I do?
A:If your problem is graphics-related, you can post in this thread :
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281406
Otherwise, you may wish to create a new thread with regard to your specific problems.
Q: The demo has weird graphic glitches! Will they be fixed?
A: It appears most of these are not in the final game. Any that are there will, of course, be on Paradox' to-fix list.
Q:Colonization is unrealistic! Why is that so?
A:Certain settings regarding colonizations are different in the demo and the full game. The length of time it takes before you can obtain another country's map, for example, is much higher. Similarly, ships are faster in the demo than in the main game.
Q:Why is the AI acting stupidly in military operations?
A: The AI files provided with the demo are not the most recent versions that ship with the game ; most of the AI warfare idiocy has been done away with in the main game.
Q:I hate those 3D graphic. Was it really necessary to make the game so demanding graphic card-wise?
A:Making the game demanding graphic-card wise allowed the game to allocate more of the computer's own memory to the game itself (calculating AI routines, etc), thus allowing for better AI, etc.
Q:Why doesn't EU III have graphics that compare with Medieval:Total War 2 or AOE III?
A: Unlike MTW (and other turn-based games), EU III has to constantly compute information for countries, since it is a real time game. (In turn-based games, information is only computed in very small chunks, or all at once at end of turn, when the player cannot take actions). Unlike real-time strategy games like Age of Empires, EU III has to handle several hundred countries at any given time, and a large number of variables relating to each.
Q: I shouldn't have to buy a 100+$ video card just to play a single 40$ video game! Why did Paradox make it that way?
A: While buying a video card for a single game is indeed a lot, chances are that not updating your video game will prevent you from playing more and more games, as 128 MB video cards become a standard requirement across the industry (several games, such as Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights II, already have such a requirement).
GENERAL INFORMATION
Q: How many countries are there?
A: There are 282 country files in the game. These, however, include such things as Pirate, Rebels, and revolter nations.
Q: What will be the timeframe for EU3?
A: 1453-1789
[EDIT: note that 1789 is the last available starting date; the game actually ends on 1.1.1793]
Q: How many provinces will there be?
A: Exactly 1741 provinces and sea zones.
Q: Will there be any new multiplayer mode?
A: Yes, a cooperative mode allowing multiple players to control a single country together.
Q: Are there any changes to multiplayer protocols?
A: Yes ; only the person who host the game will need to change his router settings ; the others won't need to do a thing.
Q: Will England properly change identity?
A: Recent screenshots have made it obvious that Great Britain will be in the game at a certain point. Whether that is only for games loaded after the act of union, or there is an event actually implementing the change in-game, remain to be seen.
Q: I hear this game is easier to get into. Does that mean it's been watered down to please the masses?
A: No. The learning curve has been lowered, but the level to mastery has been increased.
Q: Is the map editable?
A: Yes. Adding new provinces is relatively easy, but changing the actual shape of the map is much more complex.
Q: How many scenarios will there be?
A: Several thousands. You can start the game on any day of any year of the game. Several bookmarks representing important dates of European history are provided with the game, but you can chose any.
Q: How many additional country can we mod in?
A: At least in excess of 17 000.
Q: What radically new aspects are going to be in EU3?
A: National Ideals, Army and Naval Tradition and Advisors.
Q: Will EU3 still use the BB (Bad Boy) system?
A: Yes. And there will be limits which will trigger certain bad situations, though you can raise that limit.
Q: How deterministic will EU3 be?
A: There will be very few single-choice events, and events will happen due to particular triggers being met beyond a simple "Playing a country at a certain date."
HRE & PAPACY
Q: Will they make it easier for me to tell who's a part of the the HRE?
A: Yes. You can see all the members, all the electors which are seperated and who they will be voting for (and their relations with the country voting for) in the next election.
Q: I heard that nations not historically part of the HRE can become part of it. Is that true?
A: Yes. When appropriate new member states will be added to the HRE, or removed.
Q: Is the papacy in the game?
A: Yes. It is abstracted in the game to attempting to control the curia by swaying the votes of bishops. Having control of the Curia grants you (as of the demo) 1 extra diplomat per year, +1% prestige per year, and reduce by 20% your stability costs.
Q: Do I get advantages for having a bishop in my province normally, without bribing him?
A: Yes, you get his vote by default, until he is bribed.
Q: Do bishops die or are they immortal abstracts?
A: Bishops will die and be replaced. The player has no control over this.
Q: How is the Holy Roman Emperor selected?
A: When the emperor dies, the seven electors will each vote for one state (based on relations, and certain modifiers). Whichever state carries the most vote will become Holy Roman Emperor. An elector cannot vote for itself. The vote of human players is automatically assigned.
Q: Will electors change?
Yes. It is possible for an elector to be banned, or annexed, and for a member state to be given elector status. There may for short periods be more (or less) than 7 electors.
COLONIZATION
Q: Will colonization be like in Europa Universalis II?
A: It will be very similar, but with Trading Posts removed, and colonies themselves being somewhat less costly.
Q: How will colonial warfare work?
A: During warfare, when you capture a colony, you will have the option to burn it, or have it pass immediately under your control.
Q: How will interaction with natives be simulated?
A: In addition to all the effects known in EU II, there are several new factors at work in colonization. For example, an event may allow you to chose between assisting natives dying from European diseases, or letting them die.
Q: When does my colony becomes a city?
A: When it reaches a population of 1000.
MILITARY
Q: How many unit types will there be?
A: Over a hundred.
Q: What is Army/Navy Tradition and how does it work?
A: Tradition changes over time based on various circumstances:
Q: Can my monarch command armies?
A: Yes. Every monarch can potentially command armies, though some are better than others. Unlike EU1/2, these will not be leaders defined in a leader file, but by making your monarch a leader their monarch stats will be converted into leader stats. However if your monarch is killed in battle as a leader, the monarch as a ruler dies as well.
Q: Did I hear you right? My monarch can die in battle? What happens then?
A: Yes, you heard me right.
Whenever a monarch dies, whether in battle or not, one of the following occurs:
A: This is being given priority consideration, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
Q: Will we see large troop sizes or will they be more resonable (and more historic)?
A: Troop sizes have been drastically reduced. The one-province AIs should also should not be building huge troop stacks.
Q: How will province warfare be dealt with? Still as abstract as ever?
A: Yes, but with all the factors much more clearly represented. You will see on the battle screen exactly what type of terrain the army is fighting in, the skill of the leaders, as well as any other relevant modifiers, while the main screen will display ongoing casualties over the fighting armies. In addition, the battle screen will display the actual dice rolls involved in the battle.
Q: Can I rename my armies?
A: Apparently, yes. Screenshots displaying "Johan's great army" have appeared in design diaries.
Q: How many army units types will there be?
A: The military model is still based around the 3 basic unit types, but there are many special units available.
Each regiment has its own stats based on its tactics, techlevel (and maybe culture). Also certain provinces will have specialized unit types (perhaps multiple unit types and perhaps multiple provinces with the same specialzied unit).
Q: Will there still be the same 5 basic stats as well (maneuver, morale, fire, shock and siege)?
A: Yes. Also, morale, fire and shock have now been divided in offensive and defensive values. Base morale, like everything else, is also now customizable.
Q: Wait wait wait! I hate micromanaging my troops! With all these possibilities for warfare, what I am to do?
A: Don't worry. According to Johan, "(i)t's all solved nicely." This includes the ability to pool manpower resource and allow colonial troops to be built with European manpower, to an unknown extent (probably not 1:1 ratio). This would likely affect what kind of troop type would appear in a given area since colonial troops differed from their European counterparts at times.
Q: Will drafting affect my population?
A: Yes. Recruiting troops now removes people from your population. It's unknown whether this is a 1:1 ratio or not.
Q: How many ship types will there be?
A: 16. They will cover the various era and perhaps various regions.
Q: Will I be able to upgrade my units as my technology increases?
A: Yes, but their morale resets to 0.
Q: Will attrition be handled better?
A: Yes. Your armies will now try to replenish themselves based on your maintance level and traditions.
Q: How will fortresses be handled?
A: Each level of fortress has 1k men that replenishes monthly based on several factors, but only while not under siege.
Q: Will there be different types of wars?
A: Yes.
Q: Do I have to wait until a country has 1 province left before i force-annex it?
A: Yes.
Q: Are the ordinary leaders going to gain experience in Europa Universalis III and go up ranks?
A: No.
TECHNOLOGY
Q: Will there still be the same technology model from EU1/2?
A: Not exactly. See below:
In-Game Tech Types
Q: How many tech levels in each category?
A: 60 all around.
Q: Will we still be using technology groups like EU1/2? If so, how many?
A: Yes, EU3 still uses technology groups, but more than EU2. See below:
In-Game Tech Groups
ADMINISTRATION
Q: What are advisors?
A: Advisors, like leaders and monarchs, are individuals. The player can keep up to 3 at a time which will enhance your country's abilities. You will compete for them along with other countries. Although the advisors will be historical at the start of each game, any new advisor will be randomly generated.
Q: What are national ideas (NI) ?
A: They are one of 5 categories (naval, land, colonisation, state & culture) that have global effects similar to policy sliders. Each of these categories has 6 different NI. Throughout the course of the game it is possible to gain up to 10 NI total. These however require various tech levels for each to achieve. You may chose to keep a balanced approach and take 2 from each category, or go all trade/naval and watch as your armies get decimated in the field and your empire slowly withers...or not.
Q: Can I lose National Ideas?
A: Probably not.
Q: Can I replace National Ideas then?
A: Yes. However doing so, isn't really a good idea as it carries a significant stability penalty.
Q: Can I change my government whenever I want to whatever I want?
A: Yes, as long as you have the right government technology. However, you are limited to what you can select based on your current government type, so changing governments might not be so easy....
Q: How many government types will I be able to chose from?
A: The exact default number is unknown at this time.
Q: Will government affect diplomacy?
A: Yes, nation that share your government type will be more favorable to your alliance proposals.
Q: Are there differences between governments besides the specific abilities (listed below)
A: Yes. Monarchies (all of them) are the only government type able to form royal marriages and personal unions, but suffer from intrigues. Republics are just as prestigious as monarchy, but without either the advantages or drawbacks listed above. Theocracies are less prestigious, but has better relationships with the papacy, and finally, tribes are uncivilized country that suffer from heavy penalties.
Q: How many buildings will there be?
A: The exact number is unknown at this time.
Q: Will the AI change its policy sliders automatically (without events)?
A: Yes.
Q: Will there be differances in buildings depending on if I'm playing Scotland, Mughuls or Japan?
A: Yes. These are based on tech groups at the very least. They may also be linked with culture and religion as well. So Japan will not have the same buildings as Scottland, but Scottland might have the same buildings as Spain.
Q: Will the culture setup be better than EU2?
A: Yes. There are now culture groups which cultures can belong to. Each nation is asigned to one of these groups. These groups could in theory have no cultures in them, but most likely need one culture. Countries can also gain cultures outside their groups, such as England having Welsh culture, which isn't in the same group. This only gives them that culture from another group, not all other cultures in another group.
Q: Are there secondary-level cultures? A level between those that are accepted and unaccepted?
A: Johan has said he believes they are in, in some fashion.
Q: How are religions handled?
A: Like cultures, religions are grouped in larger religious groups, determining what tolerance sliders one has access too. A Christian nation would have separate sliders for Protestant and Reformed, but only one for all Muslim groups, while a Muslim nation would have separate Shia and Sunni tolerance sliders, but only one for Christians.
DIPLOMACY
Q: Will there be any new types of diplomatic actions?
A: Yes. At least one new type of alliance and more options in espionage (many taken from HOI2) will be implemented, albeit in a EU timeframe appropriate manner.
Q: Will we be able to see who has cores where?
A: Yes. When selecting a province you will see the shields of all nations that have core there. (in the province information display).
Q: Will there still be BB and reputation levels?
A: Yes to both. However it now interacts with the prestige dynamic.
Q: Will there be lots of popup spam?
A: Hopefully not. Nothing is for certain yet, but a version of the alert system from Victoria: Revolutions has been implemented which should cut down on the spam somewhat, as well as give you indicators, such as if you are at war, without having to refer to the ledger or your diplomatic status.
MODDING
Q: What commands will be possible?
A: It's unknown at this time what all the commands will be, but Paradox is working on making every game variable accessible from the event system.
Q: Can we finally adjust the effects of the policy sliders?
A: Yes.
Q: Do I have to use all those sliders?
A: No. You can rename them or even remove them or add more.
Q: Can we adjust province modifiers?
A: Yes, based upon general groupings such as climate.
Q: How many gameplay factors are there in EU3?
A: Approximately 80. EU3 team is trying to make as many variables modifiable as possible and as many of them accessible by the event engine as possible.
Q: How many prerequisites will we be able to use?
A: Unknown, but based on comments by Johan, everything should be accessible in event system in theory.
Q: Do I have to use all those buildings?
A: No. You can rename them or even remove them or add more.
Q: Do I have to use the technology setups?
A: No, as above. (Buildings).
Q: Do I have to use a certain number of techlevels?
A: No, as above.
Q: Can I give countries/provinces temporary effects?
A: Yes. Unlike EU2, it is possible to give all regular variables as temporary effects, and probably modded ones as well.
Q: Are the random events fixed?
A: The event system has been completely redone for random events.
----
Contributors:
Creation and maintenance of the original unofficial FAQ:
Jinnai
Gramatical/Format Corrections:
Fat
mandead
miloc
MrT
sebodan
State Machine
The Patrician
MichaelM
Additional Content & Corrections:
Erispoe
Fat
Frita-Lay
Gaute65
mandead
miloc
MrT
Registered
sahlaaja
sebodan
Yggdrasil313
Everyone who helped in the New Provinces thread
Note that a lot of information that was covered by guesswork until release has been taken out ; I will try to ultimately replace it with factual information as people begin uncovering more of it from the demo and game themselves.
Please check the READ FIRST THREAD and the Official FAQ for information first. I will not necessarily answer stuff answered there in here, especially if I know it's answered there.
This post will be updated as appropriate so continue to check back here.
THE DEMO
Q:The Demo doesn't work on my system! What can I do?
First, you should check that your system matches the requirement. They are :
-Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP
-Intel Pentium 1.9GHz or higher processor (or similar)
-512 MB computer RAM.
-128 MB Video RAM graphic card, with pixel shader 2.0, compatible with DirectX 9.0C.
If they do, you may wish to update the drivers for your hardware, especially the video card driver.
Note that if you have equipment that is very close to these minimum requirements, your game experience might suffer significantly.
Q:What about Vista?
A:There are certain compatibilities difficulties with Vista at present.
Q:The game says I can't play as I don't have 128 MB video memory! Why?
A:EU III requires a graphic card with 128 MB video memory to properly work. To check your video cards capacity, go to the start menu, select run, then type "dxdiag". Under the display menu you will see the memory of your video card.
Q:But my dxdiag says I have 128 mb video memory!
A
ossibly you have a hypermemory or Turbocache card. These cards have little memory of their own, but are designed to use system memory to supplement their capacities. DXdiag thus detect these cards at their full potential memory, whereas EU III detect only their real memory.Q: Will hypermemory and turbocache card be able to play EU III eventually?
A: Paradox is presently working on addressing this issue. Such cards should be able to play EU III shortly, although the performance on system with relatively low RAM may not be impressive.
Q:What about 64MB video memory?
A:This does not work with EU III. However, Johan has mentioned that he would look into addressing this for patch 1.1 of the game. There are no guarantee Paradox will be able to do so.
Q: My nVidia 5xxx card should work with this, but it doesn't work well or at all. Why?
A: The nVidia 5 series is barely able to support DirectX 9.0. Therefore, a game such as EU III stretches such a card's capacities almost to the breaking point. Whether patches will be able to improve this situation is unknown at this time.
Q: Do I really need PixelShaders 2.0?
A:Yes.
Q: Do Intel chips work with this game?
A:Not very well in and of themselves, although some fans have reported being able to work around the difficulties. It is extremely unlikely that Paradox will be able to fix the difficulties between Intel chips and the game, as even large mainstream developers have been so far unable to address the problem.
Q:You haven't mentioned my problem. What can I do?
A:If your problem is graphics-related, you can post in this thread :
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281406
Otherwise, you may wish to create a new thread with regard to your specific problems.
Q: The demo has weird graphic glitches! Will they be fixed?
A: It appears most of these are not in the final game. Any that are there will, of course, be on Paradox' to-fix list.
Q:Colonization is unrealistic! Why is that so?
A:Certain settings regarding colonizations are different in the demo and the full game. The length of time it takes before you can obtain another country's map, for example, is much higher. Similarly, ships are faster in the demo than in the main game.
Q:Why is the AI acting stupidly in military operations?
A: The AI files provided with the demo are not the most recent versions that ship with the game ; most of the AI warfare idiocy has been done away with in the main game.
Q:I hate those 3D graphic. Was it really necessary to make the game so demanding graphic card-wise?
A:Making the game demanding graphic-card wise allowed the game to allocate more of the computer's own memory to the game itself (calculating AI routines, etc), thus allowing for better AI, etc.
Q:Why doesn't EU III have graphics that compare with Medieval:Total War 2 or AOE III?
A: Unlike MTW (and other turn-based games), EU III has to constantly compute information for countries, since it is a real time game. (In turn-based games, information is only computed in very small chunks, or all at once at end of turn, when the player cannot take actions). Unlike real-time strategy games like Age of Empires, EU III has to handle several hundred countries at any given time, and a large number of variables relating to each.
Q: I shouldn't have to buy a 100+$ video card just to play a single 40$ video game! Why did Paradox make it that way?
A: While buying a video card for a single game is indeed a lot, chances are that not updating your video game will prevent you from playing more and more games, as 128 MB video cards become a standard requirement across the industry (several games, such as Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights II, already have such a requirement).
GENERAL INFORMATION
Q: How many countries are there?
A: There are 282 country files in the game. These, however, include such things as Pirate, Rebels, and revolter nations.
Q: What will be the timeframe for EU3?
A: 1453-1789
[EDIT: note that 1789 is the last available starting date; the game actually ends on 1.1.1793]
Q: How many provinces will there be?
A: Exactly 1741 provinces and sea zones.
Q: Will there be any new multiplayer mode?
A: Yes, a cooperative mode allowing multiple players to control a single country together.
Q: Are there any changes to multiplayer protocols?
A: Yes ; only the person who host the game will need to change his router settings ; the others won't need to do a thing.
Q: Will England properly change identity?
A: Recent screenshots have made it obvious that Great Britain will be in the game at a certain point. Whether that is only for games loaded after the act of union, or there is an event actually implementing the change in-game, remain to be seen.
Q: I hear this game is easier to get into. Does that mean it's been watered down to please the masses?
A: No. The learning curve has been lowered, but the level to mastery has been increased.
Q: Is the map editable?
A: Yes. Adding new provinces is relatively easy, but changing the actual shape of the map is much more complex.
Q: How many scenarios will there be?
A: Several thousands. You can start the game on any day of any year of the game. Several bookmarks representing important dates of European history are provided with the game, but you can chose any.
Q: How many additional country can we mod in?
A: At least in excess of 17 000.
Q: What radically new aspects are going to be in EU3?
A: National Ideals, Army and Naval Tradition and Advisors.
Q: Will EU3 still use the BB (Bad Boy) system?
A: Yes. And there will be limits which will trigger certain bad situations, though you can raise that limit.
Q: How deterministic will EU3 be?
A: There will be very few single-choice events, and events will happen due to particular triggers being met beyond a simple "Playing a country at a certain date."
HRE & PAPACY
Q: Will they make it easier for me to tell who's a part of the the HRE?
A: Yes. You can see all the members, all the electors which are seperated and who they will be voting for (and their relations with the country voting for) in the next election.
Q: I heard that nations not historically part of the HRE can become part of it. Is that true?
A: Yes. When appropriate new member states will be added to the HRE, or removed.
Q: Is the papacy in the game?
A: Yes. It is abstracted in the game to attempting to control the curia by swaying the votes of bishops. Having control of the Curia grants you (as of the demo) 1 extra diplomat per year, +1% prestige per year, and reduce by 20% your stability costs.
Q: Do I get advantages for having a bishop in my province normally, without bribing him?
A: Yes, you get his vote by default, until he is bribed.
Q: Do bishops die or are they immortal abstracts?
A: Bishops will die and be replaced. The player has no control over this.
Q: How is the Holy Roman Emperor selected?
A: When the emperor dies, the seven electors will each vote for one state (based on relations, and certain modifiers). Whichever state carries the most vote will become Holy Roman Emperor. An elector cannot vote for itself. The vote of human players is automatically assigned.
Q: Will electors change?
Yes. It is possible for an elector to be banned, or annexed, and for a member state to be given elector status. There may for short periods be more (or less) than 7 electors.
COLONIZATION
Q: Will colonization be like in Europa Universalis II?
A: It will be very similar, but with Trading Posts removed, and colonies themselves being somewhat less costly.
Q: How will colonial warfare work?
A: During warfare, when you capture a colony, you will have the option to burn it, or have it pass immediately under your control.
Q: How will interaction with natives be simulated?
A: In addition to all the effects known in EU II, there are several new factors at work in colonization. For example, an event may allow you to chose between assisting natives dying from European diseases, or letting them die.
Q: When does my colony becomes a city?
A: When it reaches a population of 1000.
MILITARY
Q: How many unit types will there be?
A: Over a hundred.
Q: What is Army/Navy Tradition and how does it work?
A: Tradition changes over time based on various circumstances:
- Fighting battles increases tradition
- Winning battles increases it even more
- During peacetime tradition erodes
- Certain ideas and buildings reduce the detoriation of the traditions
Q: Can my monarch command armies?
A: Yes. Every monarch can potentially command armies, though some are better than others. Unlike EU1/2, these will not be leaders defined in a leader file, but by making your monarch a leader their monarch stats will be converted into leader stats. However if your monarch is killed in battle as a leader, the monarch as a ruler dies as well.
Q: Did I hear you right? My monarch can die in battle? What happens then?
A: Yes, you heard me right.
Whenever a monarch dies, whether in battle or not, one of the following occurs:
- You may get a normal monarch. New monarchs are likely randomly (or at least semi-randomly) generated, based on what Johan said.
- You may get inherited by a more powerful country you have dynastic ties not valid for player
- You may get a regency council for a few years where you have your hands slightly tied no offensive wars can be started, + other stuff not mentioned yet
- You may get into a union with a more prestigeful nation you have dynastic ties with.
- You may get a succession war fought over your throne.
A: This is being given priority consideration, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
Q: Will we see large troop sizes or will they be more resonable (and more historic)?
A: Troop sizes have been drastically reduced. The one-province AIs should also should not be building huge troop stacks.
Q: How will province warfare be dealt with? Still as abstract as ever?
A: Yes, but with all the factors much more clearly represented. You will see on the battle screen exactly what type of terrain the army is fighting in, the skill of the leaders, as well as any other relevant modifiers, while the main screen will display ongoing casualties over the fighting armies. In addition, the battle screen will display the actual dice rolls involved in the battle.
Q: Can I rename my armies?
A: Apparently, yes. Screenshots displaying "Johan's great army" have appeared in design diaries.
Q: How many army units types will there be?
A: The military model is still based around the 3 basic unit types, but there are many special units available.
Each regiment has its own stats based on its tactics, techlevel (and maybe culture). Also certain provinces will have specialized unit types (perhaps multiple unit types and perhaps multiple provinces with the same specialzied unit).
Q: Will there still be the same 5 basic stats as well (maneuver, morale, fire, shock and siege)?
A: Yes. Also, morale, fire and shock have now been divided in offensive and defensive values. Base morale, like everything else, is also now customizable.
Q: Wait wait wait! I hate micromanaging my troops! With all these possibilities for warfare, what I am to do?
A: Don't worry. According to Johan, "(i)t's all solved nicely." This includes the ability to pool manpower resource and allow colonial troops to be built with European manpower, to an unknown extent (probably not 1:1 ratio). This would likely affect what kind of troop type would appear in a given area since colonial troops differed from their European counterparts at times.
Q: Will drafting affect my population?
A: Yes. Recruiting troops now removes people from your population. It's unknown whether this is a 1:1 ratio or not.
Q: How many ship types will there be?
A: 16. They will cover the various era and perhaps various regions.
Q: Will I be able to upgrade my units as my technology increases?
A: Yes, but their morale resets to 0.
Q: Will attrition be handled better?
A: Yes. Your armies will now try to replenish themselves based on your maintance level and traditions.
Q: How will fortresses be handled?
A: Each level of fortress has 1k men that replenishes monthly based on several factors, but only while not under siege.
Q: Will there be different types of wars?
A: Yes.
Q: Do I have to wait until a country has 1 province left before i force-annex it?
A: Yes.
Q: Are the ordinary leaders going to gain experience in Europa Universalis III and go up ranks?
A: No.
TECHNOLOGY
Q: Will there still be the same technology model from EU1/2?
A: Not exactly. See below:
In-Game Tech Types
- Land
- Naval
- Trade
- Production
- State
Q: How many tech levels in each category?
A: 60 all around.
Q: Will we still be using technology groups like EU1/2? If so, how many?
A: Yes, EU3 still uses technology groups, but more than EU2. See below:
In-Game Tech Groups
- Latin base techspeed
- Eastern .9 techspeed
- Muslim .8 techspeed
- Indian .6 techspeed
- Chinese .5 techspeed
- African .2 techspeed
- New World .1 techspeed
ADMINISTRATION
Q: What are advisors?
A: Advisors, like leaders and monarchs, are individuals. The player can keep up to 3 at a time which will enhance your country's abilities. You will compete for them along with other countries. Although the advisors will be historical at the start of each game, any new advisor will be randomly generated.
Q: What are national ideas (NI) ?
A: They are one of 5 categories (naval, land, colonisation, state & culture) that have global effects similar to policy sliders. Each of these categories has 6 different NI. Throughout the course of the game it is possible to gain up to 10 NI total. These however require various tech levels for each to achieve. You may chose to keep a balanced approach and take 2 from each category, or go all trade/naval and watch as your armies get decimated in the field and your empire slowly withers...or not.
Q: Can I lose National Ideas?
A: Probably not.
Q: Can I replace National Ideas then?
A: Yes. However doing so, isn't really a good idea as it carries a significant stability penalty.
Q: Can I change my government whenever I want to whatever I want?
A: Yes, as long as you have the right government technology. However, you are limited to what you can select based on your current government type, so changing governments might not be so easy....
Q: How many government types will I be able to chose from?
A: The exact default number is unknown at this time.
Q: Will government affect diplomacy?
A: Yes, nation that share your government type will be more favorable to your alliance proposals.
Q: Are there differences between governments besides the specific abilities (listed below)
A: Yes. Monarchies (all of them) are the only government type able to form royal marriages and personal unions, but suffer from intrigues. Republics are just as prestigious as monarchy, but without either the advantages or drawbacks listed above. Theocracies are less prestigious, but has better relationships with the papacy, and finally, tribes are uncivilized country that suffer from heavy penalties.
Q: How many buildings will there be?
A: The exact number is unknown at this time.
Q: Will the AI change its policy sliders automatically (without events)?
A: Yes.
Q: Will there be differances in buildings depending on if I'm playing Scotland, Mughuls or Japan?
A: Yes. These are based on tech groups at the very least. They may also be linked with culture and religion as well. So Japan will not have the same buildings as Scottland, but Scottland might have the same buildings as Spain.
Q: Will the culture setup be better than EU2?
A: Yes. There are now culture groups which cultures can belong to. Each nation is asigned to one of these groups. These groups could in theory have no cultures in them, but most likely need one culture. Countries can also gain cultures outside their groups, such as England having Welsh culture, which isn't in the same group. This only gives them that culture from another group, not all other cultures in another group.
Q: Are there secondary-level cultures? A level between those that are accepted and unaccepted?
A: Johan has said he believes they are in, in some fashion.
Q: How are religions handled?
A: Like cultures, religions are grouped in larger religious groups, determining what tolerance sliders one has access too. A Christian nation would have separate sliders for Protestant and Reformed, but only one for all Muslim groups, while a Muslim nation would have separate Shia and Sunni tolerance sliders, but only one for Christians.
DIPLOMACY
Q: Will there be any new types of diplomatic actions?
A: Yes. At least one new type of alliance and more options in espionage (many taken from HOI2) will be implemented, albeit in a EU timeframe appropriate manner.
Q: Will we be able to see who has cores where?
A: Yes. When selecting a province you will see the shields of all nations that have core there. (in the province information display).
Q: Will there still be BB and reputation levels?
A: Yes to both. However it now interacts with the prestige dynamic.
Q: Will there be lots of popup spam?
A: Hopefully not. Nothing is for certain yet, but a version of the alert system from Victoria: Revolutions has been implemented which should cut down on the spam somewhat, as well as give you indicators, such as if you are at war, without having to refer to the ledger or your diplomatic status.
MODDING
Q: What commands will be possible?
A: It's unknown at this time what all the commands will be, but Paradox is working on making every game variable accessible from the event system.
Q: Can we finally adjust the effects of the policy sliders?
A: Yes.
Q: Do I have to use all those sliders?
A: No. You can rename them or even remove them or add more.
Q: Can we adjust province modifiers?
A: Yes, based upon general groupings such as climate.
Q: How many gameplay factors are there in EU3?
A: Approximately 80. EU3 team is trying to make as many variables modifiable as possible and as many of them accessible by the event engine as possible.
Q: How many prerequisites will we be able to use?
A: Unknown, but based on comments by Johan, everything should be accessible in event system in theory.
Q: Do I have to use all those buildings?
A: No. You can rename them or even remove them or add more.
Q: Do I have to use the technology setups?
A: No, as above. (Buildings).
Q: Do I have to use a certain number of techlevels?
A: No, as above.
Q: Can I give countries/provinces temporary effects?
A: Yes. Unlike EU2, it is possible to give all regular variables as temporary effects, and probably modded ones as well.
Q: Are the random events fixed?
A: The event system has been completely redone for random events.
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Contributors:
Creation and maintenance of the original unofficial FAQ:
Jinnai
Gramatical/Format Corrections:
Fat
mandead
miloc
MrT
sebodan
State Machine
The Patrician
MichaelM
Additional Content & Corrections:
Erispoe
Fat
Frita-Lay
Gaute65
mandead
miloc
MrT
Registered
sahlaaja
sebodan
Yggdrasil313
Everyone who helped in the New Provinces thread
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