EUIV as an accurate simulator?

[Chaingun]

The EU4 AI does a mix of simulating a historical nation, a human player, and a sacrificial lamb. I wouldn't expect very useful results, simply because the intention of EU4's design has never been simulation. A lot of the logic is driven by randomness, which might be another issue (then again, it's possible to do Monte Carlo sampling).

 

[Chaingun]

There is no such thing as a history simulator.

You can't reset the variables and rerun the experiment. Nothing is testable or repeatable. You can't even identify the factors: 'their various factors' just doesn't cut it. History is not a science, it is interpretation and extrapolation from a limited set of source material (which may or may not be congruent with or useful in identifying what actually happened). Often the author and the intended audience have as much influence on the work as the source material.

I don't think you can say it's not possible to create a historical simulation. Wikipedia: "Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time." However, depending on the scope it's very difficult or more likely impossible to validate it which makes it useless for scientific and academic purposes.

 

[Trin Tragula]

EU tries its very best to give an immersing experience but it is not intended to be a simulator and I would not recommend to use it as such

 

[Trin Tragula]

specifically because the developers use Wikipedia as their main source,

This isn't really true mind. But it'd be very complicated to go through all reference material we do use so I still agree with your assessment. EU does not, and does not try to, meet academic standards for research. This is what allows us to cover some parts of the map at all in the first place and for a game I think we have a pretty good level of detail but it's certainly not to be used as reference material for research (unless what you're researching is research for games in the first place ).

EDIT: What's not true is that wiki is the main source. We do use wiki for quick reference on a number of things, and for that it works quite well IMO. But we're well aware of its limitations. I think for one thing you'll find we cover things that wiki has no mention of

It's funny to see how the internet perpetuates information in some ways. I am pretty sure EU has in some cases influenced online pages on things. For one thing I've seen the flag I personally made for Bahmanis back when I was a modder (and which is now in the main game since release) appear on sites on the net with no reference and a claim that it is indeed their royal flag.

As I know what it's based on I know that it's very unlikely that someone decided on using the same symbol as I did and then color it the same way.

 

[Trin Tragula]

Wiz quote is still very relevant I would say It's a balance act though.