Gentlemen,
I recently picked up a new PC game, Europa Universalis. It's a
strategy game, running (for scoring purposes) from 1492-1792, with a
concentration on Europe. Ther are about 10 different scenarios
(inclusing the tutorial), with the start focusing on a specific period
and conflict. "Victory" is determined in one of two ways: 1. Total VPs.
As the game progresses you are given certain objectives to achieve, and
you may accept up to three others. Generally, you have a 5 year time
period in which to accomplish the goal; 2. Mission based objectives. At
the start of the scenario, you will receive a set of goals to achieve by
the time the scenario ends (generally 1792 for most scenarios). Example-
Playing Prussia in the War of Spanish Succession scenario, your goal is
to expand in Germany. You get mission percentage points fopr controlling
certain provinces (such as Western Pomerania, Erz, Anhalt, Pfalz). Each
nations goals are unique to them, and often can be as simple as "prevent
the enemy from achieving its goals." The game runs "real time." You can
adjust the time compression, but the default is a rate of 1 month per
minute. As the manual states, you will not be able to react to every
event that comes up, you will have to prioritize. The models used to
simulate globals are fairly straight forward, yet rather dynamic.
Economics is king, as if you don't have the cash, you can't do much of
anything. You gain your basic cash from taxes (trade and census), and
then get more by sending merchants to trade centers. technology is also
a factor. You can invest in the following technological areas: Land
Military, Naval, Stability, trade, Infrastructure, or just plunk it all
into the treasury. Certain levels in each will give you bonus effects,
and allow you to do certain things. Example- You need a Trade level of 3
to send merchants to trade centers, or an infrastructure of 6 to build
goods manufacturies in a province. Stability is important, as it effects
your tax revenues, trade revenues, and the possibility of revolts in your
provinces. The last thing you want is to be in the middle of a war, and
have half your provinces in revolt. The map is divided into provinces,
and covers most of the world. Certain regions are "permanent Terra
Incognita" as you generally will not achieve a level of technology to
explore these extremely difficult terrain areas. Example- Parts of the
Amazon river basin, or Tibet are "permanent Terra Incognita." Each
province produces a specific commodity, and certain manufacturies give
you bonuses if you build them in a province with teh appropriate
commodity. Example- Building a Naval Goods manufactury in aprovince with
either Fish or Naval goods will give you an annual gold bonus, as well as
a bonus to your Naval technology progresion. Military units are in
threes, with three types of land units (infantry, cavalry, artillery),
and three types of naval units (warships, galleys, transports), and three
types of "specials" (colonists, merchants, diplomats). Religion is also
a factor in things, effecting your revolt risk, diplomacy, production,
and rate of acquiring colonists, merchants, and diplomats. You are
limited to historical possibilities, and you may change freely through
out the game. Example- Prussia may be Protestant, Catholic, or
Counter-Reformation catholic, but may not become Islamic or Eastern
Orthodox. Religion can also effect your stability, as an example, if you
become Catholic, and your provinces are all Protestant, your stability
will go down, and the chances of a revolt happening increase. In terms
of diplomacy, it is more difficult to maintain good relations if the
religions between nations differ. There is also a slide bar, where you
can adjust your tolerance levels for the various religions. It's a zero
sum scale, so if you increase your tolerance of say Catholics, the
tolerance level for the others will go down accordingly. Diplomacy is
intersting, as you can achieve much just by playing the "great game." By
vasslaizing then annexing a province (if independant), you can enlarge
your realm with out resorting to military means. Alliances are also
very, very important. A good coalition of nations can secure you from
outside aggression, or can be the back bone for waging war on another
nation or alliance. That about covers the very basics. On the whole, it
is a very entertaining game, with lot sof replay value. There are
randome events that happen, changes in national leadership, as well as
the usual like weather and the randomness of combat. I really like this
game, it's entertaining, and supports network and net play as well. The
only drawbacks are limited number of scenarios, and you are limited to
playing one of the "major powers" (generally Sweden, Prussia, Britain,
france, Spain, Poland-Lithuania, Austria, Turkey, Russia). However, I
see great potential for expansion packs and add ons that would gretaly
increase the scope of the game.
Josh R
Minister for General Mayhem
"Don't let the bastards grind you down." Gen. Joseph Stilwell
Gott weiss ich will kein Engel sein -Rammstein
Received on Sun Apr 22 2001 - 00:37:00 UTC
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