Europa Universalis 4 is a grand strategy game where you pick a country to play, and try to lead it down a path of your choosing. There are no clear goals in the game, so the game is not for people who need something specific to progress towards. You set your own long-term goals, and try to accomplish them. An example could be picking Norway with the goal of breaking out of the Union with Denmark, uniting Scandinavia yourself and try to establish dominance in the colonial rush for the new world. A more ambitious person could set their eyes on world conquest, but that is not going to be easy due to time constraints. What do I mean by that? The game, by default, starts out in the year 1444, and stops the year 1821. Whatever you want to accomplish, you will have to accomplish before this time limit. Playing through a game spanning this entire timeline could take hundreds of hours, though, so there is plenty of gameplay to be had.

The game progresses in real-time, but you can select (and change) the game speed yourself, and you are also able to pause the game at will. It is highly encouraged to pause the game and think about your next move before you let the gametime progress again. At it's slowest speed, a single day can take several seconds. At it's highest speed, months fly by in a matter of seconds (although, technically, it's uncapped and relies on the power of your computer).

At the core of the game lies diplomacy, and how you interact with other nations. You cannot simply go to war with whoever you like. You need a Casus Belli - a just cause. The simplest way to get this, is to fabricate a claim on a province (but to do this the province needs to neighbour your own country). Other ways to initiate wars are through trade disputes, religious wars, nations defaulting on loans you've given them. There are many other Casus Belli types, but these would take too long to list.

Even if you have your Casus Belli, there are other things to take into consideration before an eventual attack. Most obviously, how is your military power compared to the target nation? What are the strength of their alliances compared to your own? Are their indepence guaranteed by another nation? Even if I think I can win, will it be worth the cost? Will it leave me open to attack from my other rivals? If you still decide to attack, you still have to be careful about your rate of expansion. Growing too rapidly will upset other nearby nations, and in a worst case scenario you might find the world starting to form a coalition against you to fight your expansionism.

Is the game fair? Absolutely not. If you play France, you will most likely be a superpower. If you play Kongo, you will most likely not play a role in the grand scheme of things. Of 'course, this is not set in stone. Kongo can unite Africa and turn into a superpower - it will just be absurdly hard. The game doesn't enforce history, but it does make sure it's hard to go against it. The nations of the world are divided into technological groups which decide how fast your nation progresses technologically. A sub-saharan nation will have a very hard time standing up to an european country. Nonwestern countries can "westernize" to circumvent this, but it's a long and painful process.

This can be both a strong and a weak point of the game. The game is undeniably focused around Europeans, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to play a nation from another part of the world (in fact, I usually prefer to do so). The game isn't fair, and picking a country which wasn't historically strong will be an uphill battle. Accomplishing something great with a historically insignificant country, though, brings with it enormous satisfaction.

If there is something you do not like about the game, though, there will probably be a mod out there that fixes it. Steam workshop hosts a plethora of mods, and you should be able to find one that addresses your particular issue. If you want nonwestern nations that are as technologically advanced as the western ones, you will find a mod that changes that.

Lastly, I will mention that the game is very complex. It will take time to learn all the ropes, but once you do you will find a very satisfying game. It is worth mentioning that Paradox patches the game quite a lot, and they do change up quite a bit every patch. As with tech groups this is both a good and a bad thing. On the good side, you will always find a reason to revisit the game if you (for some reason :p) stop playing it. On the other side, you might find your usual conventions of how to play the game challenged in a new patch. If you bought the game because of my recommendation and you are very interested in getting into the game, but simply find it overwhelming, feel free to leave a comment. If worst comes to worst and I'm not extremely busy, I will try to help out however I can in order to get you into the game.

Europa Universalis 4 is a grand strategy game where you pick a country to play, and try to lead it down a path of your choosing. There are no clear goals in the game, so the game is not for people who need something specific to progress towards. You set your own long-term goals, and try to accomplish them. An example could be picking Norway with the goal of breaking out of the Union with Denmark, uniting Scandinavia yourself and try to establish dominance in the colonial rush for the new world. A more ambitious person could set their eyes on world conquest, but that is not going to be easy due to time constraints. What do I mean by that? The game, by default, starts out in the year 1444, and stops the year 1821. Whatever you want to accomplish, you will have to accomplish before this time limit. Playing through a game spanning this entire timeline could take hundreds of hours, though, so there is plenty of gameplay to be had. The game progresses in real-time, but you can select (and change) the game speed yourself, and you are also able to pause the game at will. It is highly encouraged to pause the game and think about your next move before you let the gametime progress again. At it's slowest speed, a single day can take several seconds. At it's highest speed, months fly by in a matter of seconds (although, technically, it's uncapped and relies on the power of your computer). At the core of the game lies diplomacy, and how you interact with other nations. You cannot simply go to war with whoever you like. You need a Casus Belli - a just cause. The simplest way to get this, is to fabricate a claim on a province (but to do this the province needs to neighbour your own country). Other ways to initiate wars are through trade disputes, religious wars, nations defaulting on loans you've given them. There are many other Casus Belli types, but these would take too long to list. Even if you have your Casus Belli, there are other things to take into consideration before an eventual attack. Most obviously, how is your military power compared to the target nation? What are the strength of their alliances compared to your own? Are their indepence guaranteed by another nation? Even if I think I can win, will it be worth the cost? Will it leave me open to attack from my other rivals? If you still decide to attack, you still have to be careful about your rate of expansion. Growing too rapidly will upset other nearby nations, and in a worst case scenario you might find the world starting to form a coalition against you to fight your expansionism. Is the game fair? Absolutely not. If you play France, you will most likely be a superpower. If you play Kongo, you will most likely not play a role in the grand scheme of things. Of 'course, this is not set in stone. Kongo can unite Africa and turn into a superpower - it will just be absurdly hard. The game doesn't enforce history, but it does make sure it's hard to go against it. The nations of the world are divided into technological groups which decide how fast your nation progresses technologically. A sub-saharan nation will have a very hard time standing up to an european country. Nonwestern countries can "westernize" to circumvent this, but it's a long and painful process. This can be both a strong and a weak point of the game. The game is undeniably focused around Europeans, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to play a nation from another part of the world (in fact, I usually prefer to do so). The game isn't fair, and picking a country which wasn't historically strong will be an uphill battle. Accomplishing something great with a historically insignificant country, though, brings with it enormous satisfaction. If there is something you do not like about the game, though, there will probably be a mod out there that fixes it. Steam workshop hosts a plethora of mods, and you should be able to find one that addresses your particular issue. If you want nonwestern nations that are as technologically advanced as the western ones, you will find a mod that changes that. Lastly, I will mention that the game is very complex. It will take time to learn all the ropes, but once you do you will find a very satisfying game. It is worth mentioning that Paradox patches the game quite a lot, and they do change up quite a bit every patch. As with tech groups this is both a good and a bad thing. On the good side, you will always find a reason to revisit the game if you (for some reason :p) stop playing it. On the other side, you might find your usual conventions of how to play the game challenged in a new patch. If you bought the game because of my recommendation and you are very interested in getting into the game, but simply find it overwhelming, feel free to leave a comment. If worst comes to worst and I'm not extremely busy, I will try to help out however I can in order to get you into the game.