EU3 versus EU4: Things you miss (and things you don't)

[Emre Yigit]

It's been a while since EU4 came out, so after a number of games (I play slowly) I got to thinking about what I missed from EU3 and what EU4 does better.

I miss generals not tied to military points or number caps. I sort of miss EU4 spies, and the cash-for-stab conversion. I also really miss the westernisation-in-stages of EU3 versus the long, drawn-out and all-in-one go or bust EU4. I miss the ability to create advisors.

I really don't miss the old trade or colonisation systems. Or the provincial decisions.

While I don't miss the policy sliders, once you take an Idea Group, you're stuck with it. I still prefer the new system, but it is a little restrictive (perhaps on purpose).

Your comments?



PS And I still use EU2 music.

 

[Lothair]

Well, one thing that hasn't changed: I pay no attention to the trade mechanism. Boring.

 

[alex89m]

I do really miss the policy sliders, for me they added a lot more personality between nations then most national ideas do.
I'm also not sold on the whole powerpoints thing yet..
Still a great game though, and it actually runs on linux! so all in all i feel its an improvement. (and some art of war features seem to make that even more so )

 

[MaticT]

I miss the old idea system and the sliders. It made it possible to turn Bohemia into a colonising power, or England into a land war machine. Mercantilism vs. Freetrade was much better represented that way and pretty much more historicaly realistic, yet I imagine complicated and prolongued the learning curve for the game. I'm obviously more of a sandbox type of player.
Also later on one of my favourite things was culture conversion, as it was quite random it was a tough achievement to turn 90% of the europe into the desired culture, without the pagan exploit of course.

I don't miss the old trade system, constantly checking all those trade nodes...

 

[Tigurus Fay]

I miss how in Eu3 it felt more random on how the world evolved. Instead of Eu4 where mostly the same things tend to happen at some points both in terms of conquest, colonization and alliances. But that could just be me.

 

[WeissRaben]

I miss the idea of policy sliders and provincial decision (but not in the same shape as EU3, obviously; I still maintain that the sliders could have been integrated in the MP system quite flawlessly, and provincial decisions were useless in their current form - but not in many mods). What I miss in idea AND application is the old culture conversion. Now it's a joke, and a bad one.

 

[DKinator]

I miss how in Eu3 it felt more random on how the world evolved. Instead of Eu4 where mostly the same things tend to happen at some points both in terms of conquest, colonization and alliances. But that could just be me.

That's more to do with the current direction of the game. It was not uncommon to see Blobhemia when the game was first released. But war itself has become more punishing and the AI is often not able to handle it unless they're already a blob. Main culprit? Coalitions and lucky nations.

 

[Grubnessul]

Not missing the sliders at all.

Come to think of it, there is nothing I really miss. I haven't been ableto play EU3 since EU4 was announced...

 

[DrLulz]

I miss the sliders. Though the longing for the sliders has been little alleviated by the introduction of policies.

Everything else is better or unchanged, but the highlights are colonization, trade and more plausible worlds (yes, they are hardly all that plausible, but EUIII could get really absurd, remember how, after DW introduced the colonization of horde territory, Bohemia (or Poland or Austria) and Korea often both colonized the hordes all the way to modern Kasahkstan, and had an epic showdown around 1650.)

 

[fleetothemoon]

I miss the faster monthly ticking time due to lower performance requirement.

 

[Bread8756]

I really, really miss policy sliders. They did not really add that much depth to the game, but they at least sort of represented the more intricate quality's of some nations(centralization vs. Decentralization, ETC.). I would love for Paradox to add them back into the game! They added a really nice role-play element to EU3.

I most definitely do not miss trade mechanics or the colonization from EU3. Multiple times have I tried to play EU3 again, but the lack of idea groups is so devastating for me. I would say ideas were the best thing Paradox added to EUIV.

 

[ero_sk]

I miss money minting therefore inflation system- it wasn't perfect though inflation was bigger challenge than it is in EUIV.

I don't miss trade system (never bothered with it at all).

 

[TolHydra]

Auto-coring. I missed that. I know why they removed it, I know what good it's absence does well, I just can't help.

Also tech tied to economy was good.

 

[Pro]

I miss not having monarch points.

 

[Nyrael]

I miss Culture Conversions, it was far more realistic and balanced at the time (you can try to assimilate a province, but how long will it take and if you will ever succeed was questionable, just like in real life). Still hoping for someone to mod it back into EU4...

Coring is another thing I miss: b their definition and name, the cores are supposed to represent the privileged territories of your nation, but nowadays they just represent the recently conquered territories that wait for new administration to be set up... which makes them redundant.

 

[ero_sk]

(...)Also tech tied to economy was good.

Agree. I see the point developers tried to achieve, i.e. to get rid of system where only very small or very large nations could be technologically advanced but... the solution isn't good IMHO. Let's look at the issue realistically- what makes countries to be technologically advanced is wealth. The system should be improved not by introducing monarch points but through huge rework of economy system which in the end would be tied to technology system.

 

[brifbates]

I miss the slightly more realistic pace of colonization and the ability to stir up native populations to destroy colonies.

The provincial decision mechanic allowed some mods to do wonderful things but the base game usage was pathetic.

Don't miss sliders at all since you always moved them to the same place no matter who you were playing.

 

[WeissRaben]

Don't miss sliders at all since you always moved them to the same place no matter who you were playing.

Which place? Just curious, because I've heard of about five thousand different "same places". It's one of those things that everyone points out as obvious, without noticing that everyone is pointing at a different thing.

 

[birincikalite]

I miss blobbing hordes LOL , it was funny to see that, only the ones who played in teh worst patches would understand

 

[WeissRaben]

I miss blobbing hordes LOL , it was funny to see that, only the ones who played in teh worst patches would understand

The Golden Horde extending from the Adriatic to Denmark? Good times. Good times.