What made you start playing this game/series?

[Desertfox]

Ya, I loved Civ4. Played it a ton. Never played the Caveman2Cosmos mod. When was that finished/released?

Caveman2Cosmos is a free mod for Civilization 4, created by over 200 volunteers. It was released a few years ago by merging some older mods, but it will never be finished. It just grows and grows and grows as more is added to it. The motto of the mod is: more is more. More techs (currently almost 1000), more buildings, more wonders, more unit types, more terrains, more features, more everything really. It has so many new features, just listing them would take a whole page. It starts in the prehistory, 50,000 BC and goes far into the future. Current release version is v36 but like I said there are several updates each week. Caveman2Cosmos is gigantic, most likely the biggest game mod in history.

 

[Von Consul]

I started playing a lot of total war games right from the beginning of that company. However when medieval 2 came out I realized I was skipping battles to empire build. Figured I should find a game without tw battles and I succeeded:

Europa universals :Rome.

Hence my forum avatar, first game and here I am.

 

[MisteGrimReaper]

Don't know. I first had CK2, but did not like it at the time. Then when I saw EU4 on Steam, I don't know, something just clicked inside my mind, and I just thought: "Damn. I have no proper idea what this game is like, but I MUST have it.", so after a month or so, I bought it, and now I have played it for about 1150h.

 

[Will Steel]

What made me start playing this Europa Universalis IV was the fact that I was an avid EU3 player already, always wanted a proper sequel, and after reading reviews that EU4 was a great game, I couldn't help it. Besides, Rome 2 Total War was released and turned out to be a massive train wreck. I was one of those floating survivors looking for a refuge when a huge ship sunk and went underwater. I needed a game and EU4 filled the black hole.

What made me get into the Paradox game series is one online advertisement I saw as a teenager. It was years and years ago. I am a huge Total War player (playing since Shogun 1, their first game), and while surfing the web on my cable internet I stumbled upon some ad for EU2/EU3 (most likely EU2) which said "build your own court, take help from historical personalities like Leonardo da Vinci and bring them to your court, rule a nation with deep strategy in any possible way you want, build an economy, trade and fight all around the globe...." and such. Being a teenager who spent days playing TW games and wanted something new with more features and realism, I was immediately drooling and extremely hyped the moment I saw this. Frantically searched around about this game.

My parents didn't buy me EU2/EU3 back then (I had bought something expensive already), and besides there were no Paradox games' copies available in any stores in India at that time anyway. So I didn't get the game and as time passed I eventually forgot the name and all about EU3, even the existence of it. Years later, one day while searching for strategy games I happened to chance on EU3 again. After some reading I immediately recalled that ad I saw years ago and got hyped again. And this time I didn't take chances and bought EU3 immediately.

It had no expansions back then, and I was initially disappointed at lack of 3d graphics and awesome action (I grew up with games with good visuals). But eventually I discovered how deep the game was, and so much that I started playing it a lot and eventually sunk thousands of hours on it.

As with every game I have ever played, I have a passion and thirst for trying to gain more knowledge and learn more about them. So while searching for guides and wikis and questions about EU3, I stumbled upon this forum and after lurking for a long, long time decided to finally join up. And as I discovered this forum, I found out that EU3 wasn't the only game Paradox made, and that there were other games equally as deep and enjoyable, and bought most of them after some consideration. I didn't start posting on this forum much until Crusader Kings 2 was released.

And here I am, now, before you.

 

[Carmilla]

I was hanging out in a chat room thingie(forgot what they were called precisely) when someone I knew started talking about Crusader Kings 2(the demo to be exact as the game wasn't out yet). It sounded so fascinating and I tried the demo later(I think I did anyway), leading to me getting it on release. Then I tried other paradox games after that and I was sold on the concept of Grand Strategy pretty fast.

Plus getting the chance to lead my home to some greatness and restoring romes borders? Hard to resist being able to do that!

 

[Evander]

Personally, I first discovered the EU series by downloading pirated games by batch around 2006. The name confused me, I first thought it was some sort of encyclopedia, I installed it anyway and was hooked from there on. I then discovered that EU3 was to be released a few months afterwards and that several other series (CK1, Vicky and HoI2) already existed so I bought everything.

 

[EU3NOOB]

I used to play Civilization, then when I got CivV I got shafted with a dud(plus somethings Firaxis was doing) so I decided to search for a new company to patronize. Then I ran into JosephVStalin's LP of the Teutonic Order with HttT decided I needed some of that so I bought EU3. At the same time I ran into Vic2.

This was in 2011.

 

[themunck]

My brother's friend introduced both of us to Victoria, and I fell in love with the ability to actually make an alternate history where Denmark took over the world, and actually had a focus on politics as well. I didn't really understand the gameplay that well, but the cheat codes for all the money and resources I'd ever need where thankfully on Google. I since lost the game when I got a new pc, but I never forgot it. Years later, a friend of mine was playing CK II, and told me both about that and EU. When I realised it was the same people behind it as behind my beloved Victoria, I bought CK II, and when EU IV came out, I was there on day one. Even learned to play CK II and EU IV without using cheats, something I still rely on heavily in my VickyII games >.<

 

[The kalrSalian]

I got into strategy gaming when i got Medieval2 TW as a birthday gift. I also tried the CIV. Craving something a little deeper i bought CK2 on steam thinking it looked kinda intriguing. I then bought EU4. My singleplayer gaming live was completely changed, now when i boot up CIV or TW they just feel so shallow. However i still play with friends in thoose series.

 

[MCBC6]

I was very into the Total War series (that got me into turn based strategy games) and after Empire: Total War failed to impress, I decided to branch out, and checked out EUIII. I fell in love with the game but got sucked back into Total War with the advent of Shogun. I then tried CK2 and enjoyed it more so than EUIII and when Rome:total war II came out and ruined my Total War crush I hopped onto EUIV, and haven't looked back since

Ive seen this a lot on this page, was total war Rome 2 really that bad? I'd always wanted to play the series but EU caught me first

 

[iShurik]

I actually started with Hearts of Iron III. When Divine Wind was released, EU III was on sale so I gave it a try and well... it was awesome. For the german fan translation and beta-patches I started to follow the forum. I have read every DD for EU IV and even pre-ordered. EU IV is now my most played game on steam (461 hours) followed by CK II (213 hours) and I still can't get enough.

 

[perhje]

A friend of mine bought eu3 complete right before we were going on a 1-2 week school trip with bus and ferries from Norway to Poland and Germany to learn about holocaust. He had his computer with him on the trip and showed me the game. Didn't understand much in the beginning but were eager to learn. I sat for hours on the bus and played as Norway and struggled with the swedes and the cost of colonisation. Used gamey tactics with magistrates and cultural power to get a lot of money from great people because the trade system was crap if you didn't own a CoT or was a nation with full free trade.

 

[Erilaq]

Ive seen this a lot on this page, was total war Rome 2 really that bad? I'd always wanted to play the series but EU caught me first

Honestly, yes, if you want to get into the series try medieval II (the modding community is awesome) or Shogun. I've heard Rome II has gotten much better, but honestly after the horrific launch and watered down mechanics, I can't bring myself to try it out again

 

[EU3NOOB]

Honestly, yes, if you want to get into the series try medieval II (the modding community is awesome) or Shogun. I've heard Rome II has gotten much better, but honestly after the horrific launch and watered down mechanics, I can't bring myself to try it out again

I agree, though I don't really see the hate of Empire. Empire is certainly better than Rome II(Back, EU:R fanboys! Back! I don't mean your hypothetical baby).

 

[rayyuri]

One of my friends introduced HOI3 to me - HOI3 was my first Paradox game. I spent quite some time to L2P, then I was hooked.
Before the release of EU4, this guy again told me that EU4 would be an amazing game. I bought it in pre-order period, and I believe it is one of the best purchases I've made ever.

 

[Kathandis]

I had already been playing ck2 when I discovered quil18 then he did a eu3 lets play I thought it looked neat so I picked it up played it a bit. Then the eu4 demo came out and I immediately got hooked and I have been playing off and on again ever since.

 

[Pancakes997]

Had been playing CK2 and loving it, and figured that I may as well try looking up videos of EU4 and seeing what it was like. It didn't take long for me to realize that the game would probably be as fun as CK2 was and I bought it as soon as I found a sale.

 

[Erilaq]

I agree, though I don't really see the hate of Empire. Empire is certainly better than Rome II(Back, EU:R fanboys! Back! I don't mean your hypothetical baby).

really the only issue with Empire for me is the combat at the time was simplistic. Line infantry, cannons in the back, horses flanking, and while that's the basic rule of thumb for any total war game, watching soldiers shoot each other while the only micro was cavalry kind of bored me. That being said, it wasn't a bad game after the Napoleon expansion, just not my cup of tea

 

[MCMartel]

I started it because my friend showed me Hearts of Iron, which led me to victoria, which led me to EUIII.

 

[Snake_Squeezins]

I believe I read favorable comments on Steam and elsewhere about the statecraft and diplomatic options in EU4/CK2 when discussing how games like ROME 2 TOTAL WAR could be improved. It sounded intriguing and so I looked up additional info about the games and it still sounded interesting. I bought in on EU4 during one of the frequent sales and soon added CK2.