Does anyone here have experience with Europa Universalis?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:06 pm

If so, we here at 4xgamer would like to interview you! Because fuck if I can figure out what the goddamn game is about.

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:44 pm

I really suck at it! I've sucked at multiple versions, no less. An interview with me wouldn't be too illuminating, aside from revealing just how much I can suck at games.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:38 pm

Which one? E.U., E.U. II, E.U. III, E.U. Rome, (or multiple of these versions), and do you think the upcoming E.U. IV (3rd Q 2013) will suck as much as a sump pump?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:38 pm

How is it different from a 4x game like Civilization or Master of Orion?

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:45 pm

I was actually playing EUII earlier this week (found a copy at my local thrift store). But I'm not currently allowed (and haven't really been encouraged) to contribute anything to 4xgamer.com until I finish up this article about Alpha Centauri mods.

So...

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:25 am

pinback wrote:How is it different from a 4x game like Civilization or Master of Orion?

Huh, well, a lot of ways. I'm not the most qualified person to talk about games on any level (my "insight" generally limited to "I like game" vs "I don't like game"), but:

* EU is real-time, Civ is turn-based

* much stricter restrictions on things like diplomacy, declaring war, etc in EU. You've got to plan much more, and lay the groundwork for many years before taking some actions.

* real-life history is a constant presence in EU. If you pick a country that was historically Catholic, it's going to be Catholic (or you're going to have a hell of a time changing it), and that's going to affect the ways you deal with other Catholic countries, Protestant countries, Orthodox countries, etc. Also, some real-life historical events are going to happen and change the direction of the game regardless of what you do.

* real-life geography is also important -- cities/territories are more or less fixed (I think if you travel into eastern Asia/North America you get a little of the adventure/nation-building thing -- I generally play as Austria, so I don't really know). You don't have the tabula rasa aspect of Civ.

* building units/managing economies are so much more complicated in EU that just thinking about it makes me weep.

Lots more, I'm sure. Maybe I'll fire up EU this weekend. It's probably been a year since I last tried it and I've forgotten a lot. I've since also picked up Hearts of Iron, which is same/similar engine and similar difficulty, and usually ends with me completely losing World War II by about 1938.

(I have no idea what "Master of Orion" is -- late '70s Rush album? -- so I can't even feign intelligence about that.)