What would YOU like to see in Europa Universalis IV?

[George LeS]

Totally agreed, I would also like to be able to bid on provinces (to make things like the louisiana purchase easier to accomplish).

Something I'd love to see about colonization is the ability to claim a piece of land in the US without actually owning it. This would, through a little scripting, make the Inter Caetera, Treaty of Tordesillas and Treaty of Saragossa easier). It might even be nice to have a little algorithm create an arbitrary line through the new world between the first powers who own say 4 colonies in line with the Inter Caetera. Breaking a claim to piece will not immediately start a war but give the player a strong CB against the nation settling in their claim. This might be a solution to small nations colonizing the heck out of the New World as it will already be claimed by the major powers, and create a complete new level of diplomatic play between the major powers.

In EUII, one of the ToT powers could just move into a province with their shield (looked like a little core shield, but on a different map), and seize it, as we now do with colonies at war. The differences were that it could be a city, and it did not entail war, but only a CB. That's what I'd like to see in the colonial claim region. (I'd say "sphere", the natural word here, except that's already in use.)

@RedRooster: "No peace beyond the line" is precisely what we need.

Note that there's a thread for this:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?626188-More-sensible-colonising-patterns

 

[Korsan82]

I would like to see more than 1 coloniser per province... I don't like the idea of "send first and reserve the province". It doesn't work that way.. I'd prefer if one province can be claimed by more than 1 nation and the population is split in %. Some kind of civil war might be the outcome of such contested provinces where we are allowed to support the group acting in our favour.

 

[takedown47]

more control over what tactics your armies and fleets use prior to battle rather just randomly generated tactics from CK2. it would also be great if battle lasted 1 day rather than drag on for weeks which is just ridiculous. the map is really beautiful though and i love the moving ships and seagulls on the trade lanes, it's a nice touch! go paradox!

 

[suplanter]

i would love to see more characters in a eu game. ck has way to many characters and eu not enough. sure i want to know who my monarch is but who is his family. who are the rival families. who are my ministers or in a constitutional monarchy who is my prime minister. maybe add something like that screen in tw that showed the monarch his spouse heir and ministers. wouldnt even need pictures names are enough. in line with this i would love to appoint viceroys or create mercantile charters in lue of the colonization system.

the viceroys could be done with military or settlers while the company charters more of a behind the scenes kind of thing only brought to the forefront when it is large enough to be absorbed by the sate as with india.

i love to rp in my games and it would be great to have more of an outlet for that.

 

[ANO1453]

In EUII, one of the ToT powers could just move into a province with their shield (looked like a little core shield, but on a different map), and seize it, as we now do with colonies at war. The differences were that it could be a city, and it did not entail war, but only a CB. That's what I'd like to see in the colonial claim region. (I'd say "sphere", the natural word here, except that's already in use.)

@RedRooster: "No peace beyond the line" is precisely what we need.

Note that there's a thread for this:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?626188-More-sensible-colonising-patterns

I see several problems with the claim thingy:
- very often, the country was the first to discover the land and kept his discovery secret. It makes no sense for you to claim anything until someone else discovers it.
- even in history, it wasn't followed very strictly. For example, Spain kept the Phillipines even though they were on the Portuguese side of the line.

 

[Jaol]

Speaking of which, a nice feature would be 'no peace beyond the line': a nice English turn of phrase for more or less constant warfare within the colonial sphere beyond the line of demarcation, where European politics did not have full effect.

Yes. In fact, I'd like to see that pushed one step further. Have No Global Alliances. All alliances would be limited to specific theaters of action and/or specific targets.

For example, England and Russia could be allied against France, but Russia wouldn't be able to call England into its wars against Sweden. Or England and the Netherlands could be allied in Europe, but wouldn't be allied outside of that region and could even be on opposite sides of colonial wars without breaking the European alliance.

 

[alvaro]

I see several problems with the claim thingy:
- very often, the country was the first to discover the land and kept his discovery secret. It makes no sense for you to claim anything until someone else discovers it.
- even in history, it wasn't followed very strictly. For example, Spain kept the Phillipines even though they were on the Portuguese side of the line.

i think that was an agreement considering also the expansion of portugal in brazilian hinterland.

 

[marty99]

For me, a better, cleverer AI is the biggest thing that needs to be improved. And I don't just mean a harder game for the player, (that could be easily achieved by giving the player very severe penalties on the hardest difficulty level) but a computer that makes more logical choices. I understand that probably won't be easy, I've never played any strategy game where the AI performed anywhere near the level of an average human, but I think it can be improved a lot from EU3. This shouldn't mean WC's aren't possible, but that gamey exploits and mindboggling AI decisions are much harder to come by.

A more detailed battle system, but I accept that we won't have Total War style battle complexity, just enhanced a bit more from EU3. Something that's always mildly annoyed me is how a fight involving a couple of thousand men can take weeks. It might not make sense with the rest of the game if battles took place in real time, but if battles can be shortened without messing up the battle mechanics they should be.

A more complex trade system, happily that's already been confirmed.

Really leaning away from deterministic historical gameplay. Personally I don't see any reason to nudge events towards how they happened historically, I believe the only criteria is that it unfolds logically, with nations following plausible strategies that befit their environment and rulers (here the advanced character system) and many of the major events in history weren't likely to happen. However I understand there has to be a compromise, but I think EU3 had enough historicity in it and I'm glad we won't be returning to EU2 style railroading.

 

[GreatSlayer]

Miniskirts.

 

[ANO1453]

i think that was an agreement considering also the expansion of portugal in brazilian hinterland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Zaragoza Not very different from Tordesillas.

 

[heppehu]

A borderless windowed mode, really helpfull for us with two monitors

 

[RedRooster81]

I would like to see more than 1 coloniser per province... I don't like the idea of "send first and reserve the province". It doesn't work that way.. I'd prefer if one province can be claimed by more than 1 nation and the population is split in %. Some kind of civil war might be the outcome of such contested provinces where we are allowed to support the group acting in our favour.

I think that part of the problem is that you know instantaneously what is going on everywhere at once. As King of Spain, with my capital in Toledo, in 1750 I know exactly what my settlers in California are doing, how the battle between my Pacific fleet and the pirates in the Sea of Japan worked out, and that my conquistador in Spanish South Africa just discovered a new province. Yes, October 10 was a good day.

If you want to go for realism, there needs to be a time delay between your action and events that unfold on the other side of the world. In Spain's case, overland travel was so slow that it took six weeks for news to travel from Cadiz to Madrid, the same amount of time roughly that it took word to travel from Havana to Cadiz, in the late eighteenth century.

Fighting the historical Dutch War for Independence, an EU3 Spain has the same level of intelligence and perhaps even quicker reaction time as NATO command today does about operations in Afghanistan. I can imagine Felipe II in his situation room, waiting for the latest satellite images to load and for the Duke of Alba to confirm attack orders over satellite phone.

My point is that time and space was a big factor in governing an early modern empire, and their effects went into decision making. In Spain's case (as in other overseas empires), an army of bureaucrats did what they could to keep track of every 'province' and what was going on there, but in game terms, there was a fog of war once you get beyond the capital. Increasing bureaucracy could slowly remove this effect over time.

So that's my rant for realism. EU4 is the descendant of a board game of the same name, so being able to see and direct your whole empire at the same time is a legacy of that.

 

[Agnstar]

Not sure if this has been said yet, but I'd like to see a population size counter/estimator. Not a POP system (which isn't being included) but just a rough estimate of how many people live within your realm. Just for flavor.

Couple of things I also thought of

To also build upon the idea of naming newly discovered provinces, naming newly discovered seazones would also be great. It is strange in EU3 to see Latin Names everywhere in the South Atlantic and in the Pacific when your English or Dutch navigator discovered them. Likewise for the English names in the North Atlantic.

Artwork like in Victoria 2 or CK/2 for various events and popups. I am sure all artworks that actually came from this era are public domain so it would just require a little manpower.

 

[An Elder Thing]

A balanced Trebizond, it shouldn't be a 3 base tax province, it is a wealthy city today and a wealthy city back then.

I also want to see a unique decision for the Swiss.

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

I'd like to be able to name the provinces I've discovered. Or at least give them culture-specific names by the nation that discovers them. In EU3, it was always strange to see the Spanish discover "Newfoundland" or the English discover "Tortuga". Also historically, it was the discoverer's right to name his new lands just as he wanted to.

Agreed. Small feature that would increase immersion. Some of the code from naming kids in CK2 could probably be used.

 

[TrueCoppa]

Something like the liferatings in Vicky 2.

 

[George LeS]

Agreed. Small feature that would increase immersion. Some of the code from naming kids in CK2 could probably be used.

I dislike this. It just makes it harder to remember which colony is which.

 

[NewbieOne]

- Same level of accuracy, diligence and attention to detail for Poland as for western European countries, especially with regard to provinces (number, names, borders), characters (period- and social class appropriate names) and tech; we were not the type of backwater EU3 paints us to have been, with ludicrous differences in combat value between our troop types and western ones in addition to delay in achieving the similarly numbered tech levels--just give us historically accurate slide bars (decentralisation, aristocracy, serfdom) and that will do the job.

- Smarter concept for hordes. As in a bit more plausible, a bit less of an obvious metaphor/gameplay device.

- Smarter AI reaction to/initiative with alliances, marriages and vassalisations.

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

I dislike this. It just makes it harder to remember which colony is which.

No, because there would be a default name you could keep if you wanted. This would just be optional (just as renaming your kids is in CK).

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Since renaming provinces is already possible in EU3, I think that it is safe to assume that it will also be in EU4.