Welcome to the 44th developer diary for Europa Universalis IV!
We are getting closer to the release, and today I'll tell you about some of the ways we try to help you get started and absorb all the information we have in the game, plus a little something on naval warfare.
The Ledger
The Ledger now has an index, with buttons! The buttons are: Country, Buildings, Military, Economy, Trade, Relations. These all have sub headlines and we also have the main buttons at the bottom, so you can switch easily while looking at another part of the ledger.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_LedgerIndex.png
Country contains a couple of new pages compared with EU3 since we have new stats to look at, and removed some old ones. Score comparison and score over time for example are rather new. We have a religion overview that lists how many countries and provinces follow all the religions in the game.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Religions.pngView attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_ScoreComparison.png
The buildings part is now divided into separate pages for all kinds of buildings (overview, manufactory, government, army, navy, production, trade, fort, unique). In the Trade pages we have a new page called Trade Nodes that lists everything you need to know about those, like trade power and steering among other things.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_TradeNodes.png
Hint system.
You can activate a hint mode. You can then click on buttons with a blue glow, and they will tell you what they do. There will also be links to related topics once you click a button, so you'll be able to read up on anything relevant.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Hints.pngView attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Hints2.png
New Production Interface
We now have a shortcut to build both units and buildings.
Click what you want to build and the provinces where you can build that will become green. Just click on the province(s) to start producing.
The unit part of the interface also lists your force limits towards the bottom, so you can see how much you can build without negative impact.
For buildings, you'll also see fer example what the increase in taxes will do in the province you click which comes in handy when you want to maximize your income. If a building will pay itself in ten or 100 years might be a big part of your decision...
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_UnitBuild.pngView attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_BuildingInterface.png
Tutorial
The tutorial has a whole new look and has been made with a lot of thought put into it. It has a basic part, an advanced part and then a small tutorial campaign to really get playing. With this tutorial and the hint system, I think we are off to a good start to help newbies to the Europa Universalis games get started. What do you think?
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Tutorial.png
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Tutorial2.png
Naval Combat
In Europa Universalis IV, we have given each ship a more defined role. Heavy ships are best for fighting, light ships protect trade and increases your trade power, and cogs transport troops. We have also introduced an early Carrack to make sure that some countries have access to both heavy and light ships at the start of the game. Some types of ship have switched roles from Europa Universalis III to balance the types. For example Caravel, that is now a light ship. We also have Galleys, as someone pointed out below! They are made for inland sea fighting. Not as good as heavy ships, but a whole lot cheaper.
All ship cannons will be equally good, how much damage they do will be based on the ship type they sit on, and what kind of artillery tech you have.
AI does not have any attrition on the sea, just like in Europa Universalis III.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Naval.png
View attachment Europa Universalis IV Flowchart updated.jpg
Something extra: Europa Universalis IV Flowchart
Sometimes, on forums and social media, we see you talk about how hard it is to explain to your friends why they should play games like Europa Universalis,
so we put together this flowchart to help you convince them that empire building grand strategy games is something for them as well!
(Feel free to share it with your strategy-unbelieving friends so you have someone to back-stab in the Europa Universalis IV multiplayer come August 13!)
Click here to get the link to the flowchart on facebook if you wanna share it with your friends
Bonus: EU3 vs EU4 Summary
We are getting closer to the release, and today I'll tell you about some of the ways we try to help you get started and absorb all the information we have in the game, plus a little something on naval warfare.
The Ledger
The Ledger now has an index, with buttons! The buttons are: Country, Buildings, Military, Economy, Trade, Relations. These all have sub headlines and we also have the main buttons at the bottom, so you can switch easily while looking at another part of the ledger.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_LedgerIndex.png
Country contains a couple of new pages compared with EU3 since we have new stats to look at, and removed some old ones. Score comparison and score over time for example are rather new. We have a religion overview that lists how many countries and provinces follow all the religions in the game.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Religions.pngView attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_ScoreComparison.png
The buildings part is now divided into separate pages for all kinds of buildings (overview, manufactory, government, army, navy, production, trade, fort, unique). In the Trade pages we have a new page called Trade Nodes that lists everything you need to know about those, like trade power and steering among other things.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_TradeNodes.png
Hint system.
You can activate a hint mode. You can then click on buttons with a blue glow, and they will tell you what they do. There will also be links to related topics once you click a button, so you'll be able to read up on anything relevant.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Hints.pngView attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Hints2.png
New Production Interface
We now have a shortcut to build both units and buildings.
Click what you want to build and the provinces where you can build that will become green. Just click on the province(s) to start producing.
The unit part of the interface also lists your force limits towards the bottom, so you can see how much you can build without negative impact.
For buildings, you'll also see fer example what the increase in taxes will do in the province you click which comes in handy when you want to maximize your income. If a building will pay itself in ten or 100 years might be a big part of your decision...
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_UnitBuild.pngView attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_BuildingInterface.png
Tutorial
The tutorial has a whole new look and has been made with a lot of thought put into it. It has a basic part, an advanced part and then a small tutorial campaign to really get playing. With this tutorial and the hint system, I think we are off to a good start to help newbies to the Europa Universalis games get started. What do you think?
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Tutorial.png
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Tutorial2.png
Naval Combat
In Europa Universalis IV, we have given each ship a more defined role. Heavy ships are best for fighting, light ships protect trade and increases your trade power, and cogs transport troops. We have also introduced an early Carrack to make sure that some countries have access to both heavy and light ships at the start of the game. Some types of ship have switched roles from Europa Universalis III to balance the types. For example Caravel, that is now a light ship. We also have Galleys, as someone pointed out below! They are made for inland sea fighting. Not as good as heavy ships, but a whole lot cheaper.
All ship cannons will be equally good, how much damage they do will be based on the ship type they sit on, and what kind of artillery tech you have.
AI does not have any attrition on the sea, just like in Europa Universalis III.
View attachment EuropaUniversalisIV_Naval.png
View attachment Europa Universalis IV Flowchart updated.jpg
Something extra: Europa Universalis IV Flowchart
Sometimes, on forums and social media, we see you talk about how hard it is to explain to your friends why they should play games like Europa Universalis,
so we put together this flowchart to help you convince them that empire building grand strategy games is something for them as well!
(Feel free to share it with your strategy-unbelieving friends so you have someone to back-stab in the Europa Universalis IV multiplayer come August 13!)
Click here to get the link to the flowchart on facebook if you wanna share it with your friends
Bonus: EU3 vs EU4 Summary
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