Europa Universalis IV announced

[Zanza]

When I played the Hansa the last time, I just didn't give a fuck which faction was in place. They give some minor bonus, but it didn't seem worth spending any monarch power on changing them.

[garbon]

Exactly. Irrelevant. Actually to some extent estates have basically the same problem (which apparently are removed by this added faction system for rev republics) but at least those have actual power bases so gives some sort of strategic depth / some of the events about them are interesting.

As someone on the board noted, the three-way faction system since it showed up for Ming was a boring mechanic, same for merchant republics - so surprising they'd want to expand it.

[garbon]

Rights of Man ultimately seems like it is a wait to buy until it goes on sale. Paid features don't seem all that compelling given that it is going to cost $20 or local equivalent.

It would have been cool if Great Power mechanic was more than just bonuses but actually liked to some DHEs. At least intervening to maintain BoP is kinda cool.

New goals for Coptic and Fetishist religions
-Leader Traits giving battle hardened commanders added prowess
-Queen/King Consorts and Consort-Regencies
-More detailed military instructions for Subject Nations
-Revolutionary Republics now have Factions to balance
-Ottoman Empire gets new Harem Politics events and options
-Special Prussian Monarchy government type
-Great Power mechanic grants special bonuses to the strongest nations

Small paid features mentioned this week were war bodycount (okay?) and then one that does look nice though which is shown below. Minimap with highlights showing presence of friendly, allied and hostile forces.

[Zanza]

Just bought Rights of Man, Mare Nostrum (at -50%) and The Cossacks (at -66%). I haven't played EU4 in a while, so I am looking forward to the various new features.

[garbon]

This one I'm struggling on as Rights of Man has some features I like but then I'm like that's still a fair penny (so I guess my position hasn't evolved all that much in a month ).

Let us know about how you feel about Mare Nostrum features. I still can't see much from the description that makes it seem all that worth it.

Also, I saw Steam now has bundle for Rights of Man + its contact pack. Discount for buying in bundle? 0%

[Sophie Scholl]

Edward IV of England, father of 10 children, earner of the new ruler trait... infertile?  What the hell, Paradox.

[Syt]

Edward IV of England, father of 10 children, earner of the new ruler trait... infertile?  What the hell, Paradox.

"Father" of ten children, husband to a wife with many male friends, maybe?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Or maybe put it about too much and contracted a disease that compromised his fertility?

[Syt]

I have all the expansions for EU4, but I never really got into this. I love CK2, but EU4 for some reason leaves me befuddled and confused.

[garbon]

I have all the expansions for EU4, but I never really got into this. I love CK2, but EU4 for some reason leaves me befuddled and confused.

In what way?

[garbon]

Edward IV of England, father of 10 children, earner of the new ruler trait... infertile?  What the hell, Paradox.

Glad you are picking up on key errors!

[Syt]

I dunno, it seems like many moving parts and I struggle to find the right balance between the systems, what I need to look at, and what works how. I find CK2 more intuitive and less abstract in many ways.

[garbon]

I dunno, it seems like many moving parts and I struggle to find the right balance between the systems, what I need to look at, and what works how. I find CK2 more intuitive and less abstract in many ways.

Here and there, CK2 has done okay with pruning out systems (like say more than one way to assassinate, making it easier to understand how to raise children). EU4 has a lot of chrome that has been added, not necessarily for the better.

Good thing with EU4 is that, at least in singleplayer, there are many systems you can avoid. Main thing to really always recognize is how precious manpower is. Something that actually wears down quickly and takes a long time to build back up.

[Syt]

I think part of my issues with EU4 is that I usually start with smaller nations to make sure I don't have too many balls to juggle, which often leads to a frustrating run of being kicked and bullied by stronger neighbors. If I play larger countries I tend to feel a bit overwhelmed, and I think it's mostly a function of me not having made the time to get into all the systems.

Starting as a count in CK2 is usually not fraught with such issues (unless you're in a region with holy wars), and playing on King level is still easily manageable.

[garbon]

I think part of my issues with EU4 is that I usually start with smaller nations to make sure I don't have too many balls to juggle, which often leads to a frustrating run of being kicked and bullied by stronger neighbors. If I play larger countries I tend to feel a bit overwhelmed, and I think it's mostly a function of me not having made the time to get into all the systems.

Starting as a count in CK2 is usually not fraught with such issues (unless you're in a region with holy wars), and playing on King level is still easily manageable.

Yeah, I think you should start with larger nation with EU4 and just realize that sure, first time through you won't find it easy to work all the systems but that isn't necessary at start. Particularly if you start with say Portugal.