Much More than an Update

Not About Eye or Ear Candy:

Europa Universalis II may look much like its predecessor, but there's only so much you can do to improve on something so good, interface wise. As plain as it might look, it really is rich in colour (which you can change easily in one of the many configuration text files), and easy on the eyes. Screen sizes can go from 800x600 to 1280x1024, and look spectacular at the higher resolutions.

Sound too is wonderful. If you want to stay with the classic pieces, they're all quite nice. But it's a very simple matter to change the music to anything you want, thanks to the fact that they included all the music in MP3s on your hard drive, and the songs to play are kept in simple text file lists. All one needs to do is place the MP3s into the music directory, and edit the text file to include those MP3s, without their file name extension.
Such as follows:

Akira_Requiem
Biscuits
TrigunScatteredRain
Waltz_For_Zizi

Etc, etc! I have tested it up to 80 different MP3s at a time per century, and it shuffles well. Though, interestingly, the opening music is always in the same location in the text file (Seemingly 42 lines down when there are 80 tracks, in my case). So you can choose which song you wish to play in opening.

Thankfully the MP3s are kept on Hard Drive. And, thankfully, the Video is kept off Hard Drive. In EU1, the videos were taking up space pointlessly on my hard drive, while the music played from CD tracks, which was a real pain, especially since the music for the first was rather bland.

Game Play and Interface:

Anyhow, now that we've got simple appearance and sound away, I can focus on the real value of Europa Universalis. A game like this relies on its graphics and sounds as utility, not eye candy and purpose for the game. The real meat is in the strategy and game play.

When I first heard about Europa Universalis 1, I dismissed it as a Real Time Strategy. Though, as I read more and more about it, and read more reviews on it, my opinion shifted just enough so that I picked it up when I saw it cheap one day. I was amazed how they made a real time game with such depth work so well.

Honestly, you could make it turn based. Day by day. Its more accurate than month by month, or year by year, or even week by week. I like to think that its simply automatically pressing the 'next turn' button for me, at whatever rate I choose, between five minutes for a month, or one minute for two years.

Furthermore, one can pause at any time manually with the pause button on the keyboard, or the clock at the top of the screen. And certain events will automatically pause time flow too. In fact, you can set what events do that in the options menu, or even when they do pop up, with a simple right click to the options. They can appear in a window and pause, in a window without pause, in the hideable log at the bottom of the screen, or not show or give any mention at all if you wish it.

Really, the interface is the best I've seen. Fully customizable as I've said, easy to access, and self explanatory to boot. Pop-up hints appear if you hover the cursor over most items, giving all sorts of valuable information.

Game play is simple enough, though there still is a lot to absorb and learn. Armies, technology, stability, generals, explorers, conquistadors, wars, diplomacy, religion, alliances, and trade are all things one will come to learn about in this game. And each country is different, depending on what its religion, culture, where it is, and what its domestic policies are.

Additionally, various checks and balances are in play, just like the period really had. Without a Casus Belli (Latin for Lawful cause for War), for example, your country will destabilize further when you declare war against a country, and those to whom the country is friendly with will look even further down upon you. Casus Belli can be obtained in a myriad of ways, however, some inborn to your country (what land is considered to be rightfully its own), some random (accidental diplomatic insults), or some intentional (canceling a royal marriage).

Diplomacy is always important in EU2. Having good relations with other countries is important enough, but your Bad Boy rating has also become very important. If people can't trust you, they won't. If you break too many treaties, or do too many dirty things, other countries might join up against you, even. One needs to collect influence and power carefully in this game, or risk losing it all.

Relations improve with countries you have royal marriages with, that you share your religion with, or are allies with, and can be aided by gifts. They worsen based on religious differences, your tolerance for the other's religion (which you can set!), and what you do in the world. Attacking an annexing one country's friendly neighbor might not be a good way to better your relationship with that particular nation.

Really, all this influence and power is there for the money. One needs money to do anything, from build an army or navy, to simply maintaining it. Most importantly, you can invest it towards better technology, which will in turn.. bring you more money. In addition, your military will improve, and new options will become open to you with technology.

Centers of Trade are an important part of the economic world of EU2. They're provinces which are centers of an economic region that mostly disregards national borders. Those provinces are not only very rich, but are a place where you can send merchants to, either manually or automatically. Of course, you get a cut of their business when you do, earning your nation more money.

Colonization is important to many nations, should they choose that path. One can gain colonists (the number you get varies upon your religion and domestic policies, mostly) with which one can colonize lands not owned by a modern nation. Natives might be present in those provinces, and they may or may not be hostile. Sometimes they'll happily go along, and become a part of your empire. Other times your colony will burst into flames not so mysteriously. Eek.

Stability can range from -3 to +3, +3 being the best possible. At +3 stability, you collect the most tax, and have the least chance of revolts. If your stability dips lower than that for any reason, you can invest your money into returning your nation back up to +3. Declaring war, various events, and changes in State Religion are some of the things which can adversely affect stability. Furthermore, it costs more to increase your stability the larger and more diverse your realm is.

Religion is a tricky subject. Some provinces will automaticallychange religion when certain events happen (The Reformation, for example). Some countries can change their religions when those events come around, regardless of their population's religion. This affects Catholic, Protestant, and Reformed religions. Orthodox are always Orthodox as far as I can tell, and the non-Xian religions keep to themselves.

Unfortunately, one's country only has a certain amount of tolerance it can divvy up between religions. Set one too low, and those members are likely to revolt. Having a large realm with many religions can be a big problem. Thankfully, you can get missionaries, if your innovativeness is slow. They have a chance to change the religion of a province, which has many benefits. Provinces are more efficient if they're the same religion that you believe in, for example.

Speaking of Innovation, the Domestic Policies can be changed once every 10 years, just a little bit, which comes at the cost of a little stability. Its hard to change a nation from Serfdom to Freedom, though, and takes lots of time. But it certainly can be worth it. If you don't change for the better, generally you'll lag behind everyone else.

Community, Scenerios, and Editing:

I really can't give the whole manual, as there's so many hints, strategy, and just plain helpful information about interacting with and playing in the EU2 world. The manual the comes with EU2 thankfully has a good index (unlike EU1, which initially came with NO index), and includes most of the relevant information you'll need to play EU2 well. Everything else will come with experience. Or, through their excellent online community, from which many answers can be found! (http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/index.php )
Check in here for all sorts of information, and news on the latest updates.

Thankfully, EU2 has been greatly improved through Paradox Entertainment's hard work. Playing the first version left you open to discovering a menagerie of problems and oddities that shouldn't be there. Version 1.04 fixes most of the problems found in 1.0, and they're still working on new patches with more features for the game. Not only did they fix the bugs, though, but they added features, enriched the history of many countries, and adjusted trade, goods, armies, technology, everything upon the recommendation and experience of the vast community supporting it. Soon, a Scenario Editor will be out, allowing user adventures to be made with point and click ease, and much less hassle for all!

The Scenarios that come with EU2 are all good, though the best by far is the Grand Campaign, which spans from 1419 to 1820, and allows play in more than a hundred countries should you choose to, and even do so with more than one player, though I've yet to try that. I gather you can even save Multiplayer games, and switch countries in the reload, if you wished. Currently, I'm in a Chinese Campaign, all the way up to the year 1780 so far. I own the far east. Period. (I'm playing it in the background right now in fact! I love multitasking.. ;)

One can already edit and make scenarios, if you're good with editing text files, and have some patience. I do a lot of minor editing, to aid in my game play, in fact. One can change the most of the dynamics of game play if you simply look around, and change simple text to your will. Its English, not C++, thankfully. One example is a scripted event to allow Byzantium to gain a Center of Trade should it survive and defeat the Ottoman Empire, and change history forever. There's so many possibilities not addressed as largely only the known reality of the past is scripted in. Hopefully that will change to include all sorts of 'what ifs', like the Byzantine CoT.

I doubt this game will attract many impulse buyers, with its rather dry subject matter, its pleasant but simplistic graphics, and its deep learning curve. But, if you take the time to look into the game, you might discover it worth the purchase. The game play possibilities are on the scale that Sim City and Civilization can provide, with an open ended world to mold to your desires in the end.

~ Tanya Red