What exactly is EU IV?

[The Yeti Slayer]

Alright, the title might not do justice to this question, but I'm unsure of how to phrase this. I know what the game is about, but... why should I buy it?

I am a huge HUGE CK2 fan. I've got all the major DLCs, even got sunset invasion on day one while most(Or at least, the more vocal of the forum users) were throwing a shit fit about it. I have over 900 hours on CK2, and it's running in the background as I type this.

Right, given this insight, would I like EUIV? And what is like... the main focus? Is it similar to CK2?

 

[SBolshevik]

The main focus is colonisation. A lot of war as always. It actually has trade in it unlike CK2.

 

[b_raven]

There's a great videos "let's play"'s by quill18. See the gameplay and decide for yourself, if you like it. It's a flagman of PDS, and I looking forward to it's release.

[video=youtube;ZlcscBCW4DQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlcscBCW4DQ[/video]

 

[Beric Dondarion]

The Europa Universalis series is about ruling a nation. Crusader Kings is about characters/dynasties.

For example, if your country changes hands due to rebel pretenders or what have you, you won't lose.

 

[HissingNewt]

The Europa Universalis series is more focused on nations rather than dynasties and spans the entire world. There's a lot of colonization and warfare and Bolshevik said, and it also covers the change in warfare from swords and bows to line infantry with muskets.

 

[unmerged(633987)]

The big difference between EU and CK is that youre playing and focusing on a NATION in EU (since u can also play democracies, theocracies etc.) - in CK the main focus is build on Dynasty gaming and stuff. I would suggest everyone EUIV, even more with the "CKII-Savegame-Converter" where u can play just with ur CKII from "Old-Gods" start date till the 18'th century for CKII players.

So we can say:
CKII focuses more on Characters while EU focuses on the State itself, government, technology etc.

 

[Hiiri]

EU always felt like it's a jack-of-all-trades of Paradox games, which isn't a bad thing at all.

If you're a CK2 fan, I'm pretty sure you'll like EU4. There's probably going to be a demo to try at some point.

 

[Grubnessul]

The main focus is colonisation. A lot of war as always. It actually has trade in it unlike CK2.

Not just colonisation. It's about Europe's ascent from the medieval era. Colonisation plays a large part, but I'd say in it's essence it's about empire building.

The big difference between EU and CK is that youre playing and focusing on a NATION in EU

No. You play a state. Nations are for Victoria.

 

[Velg]

The Europa Universalis series is about ruling a nation. Crusader Kings is about characters/dynasties.

For example, if your country changes hands due to rebel pretenders or what have you, you won't lose.

Well, as for me: in CK II you fight pretenders for your life and for your power. In EU IV you're deeply uninterested in those pretenders, but fight fuckers anyway just because they had the nerve to rebel in such a time that overthrowing government would most certainly screw the war you're fighting.

 

[grechzoo]

those quill18 videos were a bit too confusing for me.

I like I imagine the OP have never played any PDS strategy game before the frankly mesmerizing CKII.

So i guess im looking for an overall breakdown of the game mechanics, but i think ill have to wait until after EUIV release, with some hopefully quickyl uploaded video tutorials.

basically the same way i got into CKII cause i need more a newbie friendly lets play than those quill18 vids before ill have any idea about EUIV,.

going on the quality of CKII though, i imagine once i know the ropes ill happily buy it and love it to pieces, i cant imagine owning two games as good and different from each other as CKII and EUIV, i wont know what to do with myself.

 

[arctus]

i wonder if the game is only about paint the map your colour

 

[iridescence]

I think the best way to explain it I think is that PDS tries to tailor their mechanics to suit the historical period the game is set in. Now EU focuses on the period of the Renaissance and Enlightenment so individual characters are no longer very relevant. Feudalism is on the wane. On the pother hand kingdoms and are starting to move towards what we would recognize as states. With bureaucracies, standing armies and far more ability to project economic and technological power You also have the race to "discover the new world" (or genocide the Native Americans and Africans if you aren't fond of euphemism).

So I think someone who is interested in history would like both games as they both are touched with flavour of the epoch they are set in. I suppose if you only like CK2 for the RPG-like elements you may not like EU as much though.

 

[The Yeti Slayer]

Thank for posting that video b_raven. That is exactly what I was looking for It's not what I was expecting, but Paradox can still count on my money. That nifty save game convertor is a huge part of my decision.

 

[iridescence]

i wonder if the game is only about paint the map your colour

No more so than CK2, you can play the Hansa and construct an economic empire without owning much land at all, you can play the remnants of the Byzantines or Granada or a primitive tribe in Africa and just struggle to survive against overwhelming odds.

 

[Comradebot]

No. You play a state. Nations are for Victoria.

Wrong. Even if you aren't using the two as synonyms, a number of the states in EU are very much nations as well, and unless Vicky now allows us to play as groups of people without any sovereign land and no one has told me, it's to no less of an extent than in Vicky.

Heck, EU has a Nationalism CB based around culture, and numerous potential cultural unions.

 

[HissingNewt]

Wrong. Even if you aren't using the two as synonyms, a number of the states in EU are very much nations as well, and unless Vicky now allows us to play as groups of people without any sovereign land and no one has told me, it's to no less of an extent than in Vicky.

Heck, EU has a Nationalism CB based around culture, and numerous potential cultural unions.

Wait, since when has EU had a nationalism CB? That seems like it's kind of before it's time for that.

 

[Slvrbuu]

Alright, the title might not do justice to this question, but I'm unsure of how to phrase this. I know what the game is about, but... why should I buy it?

I am a huge HUGE CK2 fan. I've got all the major DLCs, even got sunset invasion on day one while most(Or at least, the more vocal of the forum users) were throwing a shit fit about it. I have over 900 hours on CK2, and it's running in the background as I type this.

Right, given this insight, would I like EUIV? And what is like... the main focus? Is it similar to CK2?

EUIV is and is not similar to CKII, it's similar in the sense that you conquer, and build onto your nation, but now it's more about your nation than the characters managing it. IE It's no longer about your Dynasty but your kingdom. It's also on a world scale not just the classical dark ages.

 

[RX2000]

EUIV is really similar to EU3, so you can play a demo for that to know what the gameplay is like.

I like EU3 & CKII but I find myself playing CKII more as it always seems to me like there's more stuff to do. I find that there's usually a LOT of downtime in EU3, especially in the beginning, so I just speed up time a lot to wait around on stuff to happen. I dont usually have that problem in CKII.....

 

[Schwungrad]

Wait, since when has EU had a nationalism CB? That seems like it's kind of before it's time for that.

It's a late-game thing and I think nationalism isn't entirely misplaced in the Revolution/Napoleonic era (though EU4 vanilla will end before that, I think).

More of a point of contention among sticklers for historical accuracy are the independence rebels named "nationalists" (if seeking their own state) or "patriots" (if seeking to defect to an existing state)

 

[Pokka]

I think if you love CK then you should go and pre-order EU IV. Otherwise it's huge loss of fun without the converter!