Europa Universalis V confirmed

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Is it worth buying yet?

[crazy canuck]

Definitely

[Norgy]

I would recommend it, definitely.

It is sometimes frustrating, sometimes like a wet dream for a history nerd, but it is a very strong game. Stable, runs smoothly, no technical issues.

I've spent some time understanding the supply chains and trade mechanics, and this is much more detailed than just owning a centre of trade like in previous EU games. Granted, I have not not tried the colonisation mechanics. I don't even know how to recruit an explorer.

I would say, expect to spend a fair amount of time learning the game. I doubt the next patch will upend the gameplay completely, as Paradox seems to have learned from the rather frantic patching last year.


I have played another 20 odd years. The reformation has unfolded, but FoW prevents me from seeing much. My only European ally is Hungary, who of course drew me into another war. I have reorganised my armies completely. With the armoury, you get a nice boost to manpower, so I have one 16k strong army, and a smaller one for sieges. The early arquebusiers really litter the floor with Turks, at least. The Knights Hospitallers are no more. Wonder who ended them? Oh, right, that was me. That Serbian alliance did not help much, so now parts of northern Macedonia are: Ours. Hungary's vast armies attacked from the north. Job done in two years.

I am still learning, but it is fun. My next goal is a very ambitious one. Taking back the Holy Land.

[Josephus]

Here's one (of many) things I can't understand.

So why is the cost of building, for instance, a tool workshop different in two different provinces of mine, within the same market?

The first option is to draw from local goods before the market. If there are local goods available, then the cost of production will almost always be lower than the cost of obtaining those goods through the market.  The construction will also be quicker. There are also a bunch of other factors that effect the cost, but I don't remember them.

I don't think the cost increases if the pops who will populate the building after completion are not available.  One of the reasons to construct a building is to allow for the opportunity for those pops to be created.

By local (buy local) do you mean the province or the country?

[crazy canuck]

Province

[Norgy]

I think I got the worst smallpox outbreak I have seen. After ticking slowly up to ten million POPs in the Empire, two years of smallpox has laid waste to most of Inner Anatolia, and is moving westwards. I have built the buildings, like hospitals and lazarettos, but the - sign hovers between 25k and 70k each day, and that is brutal.

And I was doing so well! 

Good income, good tax base, finally some interesting tech and an army that at least sometimes could withstand Mamluk onslaught (they build enormous professional armies and do not even try with levies against them).

I've been trying to roleplay this to the best of my abilities. What would be important for an emperor? To please god, first and foremost, so the Holy Land was re-taken at great cost. The levies evaporated, my fleets, which I had not upgraded much, were easy prey, and only some robust use of the two professional standing armies saved the day. The war lasted almost a decade.

And just when I have finished integrating the provinces, and assimilated most of Anatolia to a, well, passable degree. They speak Greek, but don't look it. Then the pox.

I both love and hate this game. Playing wide is challenging, very much so. Byzantium does, understandably, not have lots of flavour content after 1453. That does not bother me too much. I think the designers knew a lot of players would choose Byzantium, and made it more than a bit challenging.

There are still mechanics I do not understand, like the wild fluctuations in income, despite otherwise stable conditions.

The AI could be tad more aggressive. I am in a bad spot right now, but no-one seems to interested in taking advantage of that.