Austrian AAR 7 / 7 2nd war against ze Polen

[Doomdark]

However the victory point change seems to condone an European conquest strategy rather than pushing the European nations to explore and expand.

Hmm, we only know that the criteria have been tweaked, since expansion through war paid off too little. We do not know the resulting war/colonialism quotient.

IMO, wars on the continent were just as important as the colonialism, so a player choosing that strategy should be equally awarded...

/Doomie

 

[Doomdark]

don't you think that overseas expansion paved the way for the great powers of this time period and beyond?

Yes and no. Certainly yes in the case of the British Empire. But don't forget the other really big winner of the period: Russia. Russia expanded almost exclusively through war and--virtually alone among the great powers--managed to hang on her gains.