Europa Universalis IV announced

[Josephus]

It's been a while since I played, and I'd love to go back to it but A)I can't remember all the nitty gritty details and B) It's probably changed a lot in the last two years or so since I played.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I go through that with all of the PDox strategy games, I play them a ton in spurts, then don't touch them for a few years. They usually have changed significantly in the interim, and because the games have so many arcane features to begin with it usually takes a bit to get back into the swing of things.

EU4 and CK2 are probably their two titles with the most feature bloat, so this problem is even more pronounced with those titles.

[crazy canuck]

Next DLC "Lion of the North" will be released on Sept 13th. Basically missions and other content for Baltic countries. As it has new content for Lübeck, I will of course buy it on release day.

This is one of the DLCs I am excited about.  Won't be able to pay for a couple of weeks, but looking forward to hearing what you think about it.

[Sheilbh]

I like the idea of Novgorod being interesting - it feels like it should be

[Zanza]

Novgorod didn't get new content from the DLC though, only indirectly from the new patch (estates, government reforms).

I was too tired yesterday to start playing, but probably will play today or tomorrow. 

The early feedback on reddit is rather positive. 

[Solmyr]

It's got quite good reviews on Steam.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah, it is getting quite good feedback on Reddit as well. In regards to Novgorod the big change (I guess from 1.34) is the "Great Veche Republic", which allows Novgorod to keep its government form when forming in Russia. In the previous base game the big hit on Novgorod is once you formed Russia, it essentially became identical to a Muscovy-->Russia game, you became a Tsardom and etc.

[Syt]

If anyone wants EU4 but without DRM, it's now on GOG, with all DLC. Game and DLC are currently 50% off ... so it's only a few hundred EUR for the complete package.

https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20221123_launch_europa_universalis_iv

[Josephus]

So I decided to give EU4 a go in December. it's been a while, and it took me sometime to remember the nitty gritty stuff--"what does absolutism do, again? you can upgrade COTs?" --this after spending most of the year on HOI4, CK3 and lately Vickie III.

I think EU4 is such a great game. I know it has far more development than either of these other ones, but the other games seems very samey. I don't imagine I'll be playing any of them 10 years from now, and enjoying them as much as EU4.

Not saying it's a perfect game. The last 80 years or so, when all the countries go revolutionary, and some revolutionary country is the papal controller, and monarchies are allying with revolutionaries gets a bit werid; but it is "this" close to perfect.

[Zanza]

I agree. I can't compare it with HOI4, but it certainly has more depth than CK3, Stellaris and Vic3.

And I like the direction Paradox Tinto is going: not adding so many new mechanics, but rather adding options to previously underused mechanics, e.g. naval doctrine, government reforms, new idea groups in the next update etc.

[mongers]

I agree. I can't compare it with HOI4, but it certainly has more depth than CK3, Stellaris and Vic3.

And I like the direction Paradox Tinto is going: not adding so many new mechanics, but rather adding options to previously underused mechanics, e.g. naval doctrine, government reforms, new idea groups in the next update etc.

H'm maybe I should give it a go this time, steams says I played it for just one hour last year.

[Syt]

I occasionally launch EU4, but then stop again after a few hours. I played a bit at launch and liked it but after a few years and a number of expansions I feel lost. I've watched tutorials and all that, but with the amount of mechanics the game has now, I find it extremely frustrating to understand what mechanics really matter, or what to look out for, and let's not talk about the meta of troops/fleet composition ratios, combat width, looking up critical event conditions for the country you play on a wiki, ... there's tons of moving parts, but I've honestly given up on trying to understand how to balance them at this point. (and the game doesn't scale well to 4K; even with mods like Stellaris font I find the text hard to read at times)

[Zanza]

I play EU4 without min maxing everything, so I have no idea about the meta. Following the mission trees that most countries have by now (if you own all DLCs like me) is fairly rewarding and gives you some goals to achieve. That said, I rarely reach 1700 as the first half of the game is more fun for me.

But EU4 has so much variety. It is by now fun to play in virtually all corners of the planet. And the scenarios you are facing are sufficiently different to give a new experience each time.

[Josephus]

I occasionally launch EU4, but then stop again after a few hours. I played a bit at launch and liked it but after a few years and a number of expansions I feel lost. I've watched tutorials and all that, but with the amount of mechanics the game has now, I find it extremely frustrating to understand what mechanics really matter, or what to look out for, and let's not talk about the meta of troops/fleet composition ratios, combat width, looking up critical event conditions for the country you play on a wiki, ... there's tons of moving parts, but I've honestly given up on trying to understand how to balance them at this point. (and the game doesn't scale well to 4K; even with mods like Stellaris font I find the text hard to read at times)

See, i don't know half that shit either. I know the basics, and tinker tinker with the other mechanics. And the metas...that's what turned me away from HOI. You HAVE to know how to build a good tank division. I don't think all that matters in EUIV, not in SP anyway. I do have a guide i got off some dude on YouTube for army compositions in each age,  but I'm not sure if those are the "metas" and whether they've changed over the years.

[Solmyr]

I've played EU4 quite heavily recently, especially since we are playing a MP game with some friends. I recommend The Red Hawk on Youtube for various country guides as well as fun/crazy stuff he does with all sorts of countries, he knows the mechanics quite well and explains what they do.