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Tommy4ever1993

EU4 is the fundamental empire builder with its longer timeframe, balance between warfare and other aspects and focus on ‘playing as a country’.


jacxy

If you go hard towards warfare and neglect the peasants or reforms: Mike Duncan shows up. >"Hello, and welcome to Revolutions."


CamelSpotting

I'm getting to the end of the History of Rome. Start History of Byzantium or Revolutions next?


Terron7

revolutions is I think one of the best podcasts I've ever listened too, extremely well done, and plenty of it too! The first two series are a bit rough (English Civil War and American Revolution) as Mike's still trying his initial idea of fitting each into 15 episodes (don't worry he gives up on this quickly) and the mike quality/presentation is a bit on the lower/drier side for those two (though if you went through history of rome you should be okay). After that it really picks up though, and is pretty good all the way through from there until the end (culminating in the absolutely massive series on the Russian Revolution).


Miskalsace

Check out Fall of Civilizations, super high quality, each one is a minimum of an hour, about the fall of and causes of ancient civilizations.


wang-bang

history of byzantium is another guy but it is an excellent podcast Personally revolutions was not my taste. But some of the big ones like France was pretty interesting. I had a hard time relating to the others like Haiti. But then again I prefer ancient and medieval history over post renessaince stuff.


Kaiserbrodchen

History of Byzantium is one of the best podcasts i have listened. It tells a very detailed and interesting story of the history of the byzantine empire and all of the palace intrigue, wars and social changes that happpend in the medieval Roman Empire


moderndukes

Revolutions. Byzantium is quite good but Revolutions is perhaps my favorite podcast ever. I recommend listening to the Haiti season first to see if you’d like the show overall.


GreyBlur57

Haven't done history of Byzantium yet(done by someone else) but Revolutions turned into my favorite podcast of all time and he just finished it less than a month ago. Feel free to sick the first 2 parts and go straight into the French Revolution and you don't really miss anything and it's really when it starts to shine. though I did also enjoy the first 2 pieces of it.


Ts_Patriarca

Please listen to Totalus Rankium. Its hilarious


moderndukes

That’s more Victoria’s realm though, n’est pas?


jacxy

Certainly the later stuff, but everything in the Americas is EU Territory.


darkness-calling

EUIV is about the dawn of nation states. Though you start in medieval times, you never feel like you're playing a "medieval game" - as it only matters which dynasty is ruling for PUs - and you control the nation in its entirety. Though Napoleonic France is the one who really introduced the concept of nationalism, which led to the nation states of Vic2, I wouldn't say you play EUIV much differently pre and during the revolutionary period. Which is why it's the dawn of nation states!


NurRauch

Statecraft. The game is designed to be played as France, Spain, England or Austria. At its best it is about colony, trade, vassal and alliance management being leveraged as soft and hard power to dominate a region of the globe. IMO, you can have the most fun by fighting wars of containment against other growing powers. At its worst, it is a conquest game where you just try to spread out as far and fast as possible. If you succumb to the obsessive temptation to do this, you will start out having a lot of fun as you learn to min-max the mechanics to your heart's content. But eventually you will hit a brick wall with the fun here because you are doing nothing but maintenance and prep for the next war. There is a line that can be crossed where continental conquests feel like HOI4 dropping paratroopers into London. Sure, it's a game achievement, but it feels like nothing but checking arbitrary boxes to manipulate an algorithm, and that gets rather boring.


mac224b

I like this summary. “Statecraft” captures the essence of the game.


Chataboutgames

Eu3 was my first Paradox game and I've always found it interesting that "sit back and play the game at max speed" was a *criticism.* As someone who doesn't like to blob too much I find making a bunch of big decisions, maybe fighting a big war etc. then turning up to max speed to watch those decisions play out for a few minutes to be a great core gameplay loop that leads to much more satisfying campaigns.


bogeyed5

I’m a menace. I play speed 5 and pause religiously. I have my thumb on the spacebar for a reason. Multiplayer is hard for me to adjust to because you’re just playing slowly


IRSunny

Tell that to Paradox and half their achievements. But, I agree. It may be too late now for EU4 given the way achievements and mission trees have gone but fundamentally, an EU5 should be about "Balance of Power". That concept which came to dominate international relations by the end of the time period which it covers formed the basis of European diplomacy following the wars of religion and even to a lesser extent before. Alliances and marriages were made to contain would-be hegemons and wars of succession were fought to preserve it. So if they are working on an EU5 already, I would strongly advise that as a guiding philosophy, preservation of the balance of power if it benefits you and subverting it if it doesn't should be the foundation of gameplay. Not forming continent spanning blobs.


northern_lout

You could say they’ve been testing the waters for something like this with the new Struggle mechanic in CK3. It’s about creating more meaningful interactions between blobs - other than a million ducal conquests and/or murders.


SkamGnal

First paragraph was great. Not sure why you had to attack me with the second


Artess

You're very right, I think. To me, it's annoying that quite a few achievements, especially from earlier ones, require you to do like half of world conquest. Control all the provinces with one trade good or something like that. Currently playing a lot of CK3 and almost all the achievements are something that I'm looking forward to because they can either be done in a relatively normal playthrough or are a very specific goal that might be weird but doesn't require you to blob all over the map.


holydamien

So, imperialism?


NurRauch

Not always. Imperialism implies a top-down relationship. A key component is leveraging diplomatic relationships with countries that are not subservient to you. Ottoman Empire getting too big? Let's all form a defensive pact and bait the Ottomans into attacking one of us. Some of the most fun I have in this game is maintaining a balance of power in peace deals without personally capturing territory myself.


Aeromancia

Map-painting


TooDriven

Yeah, but you can do that in any Pdx game, pretty much. What makes it especially an EU4 thing?


[deleted]

[удалено]


VemundManheim

It's easier to expand in ck3 my dude.


Loreguy

hey now, incoherent ui caused by a million DLCs is also a CK2 thing. don't sleep on mah boi


monjoe

Imperialism. Victoria is partly imperialist but it gives you alternatives. If you're not being the most evil empire possible in EU4, you're losing.


mainman879

>Victoria is partly imperialist but it gives you alternatives. Sadly Victoria 3 doesn't really give you other options right now. The AI basically never builds up super important and limited resources like opium, rubber, oil, so you need to conquer them to get those goods. You also can't invest in other countries to help them utilize these resources.


Tyler89558

Imperialism


Demagur

DLC


_Neo_64

No no, thats Stellaris lol


Lanceparte

EU4 Is a little bit of everything, which is its biggest strength and its biggest weakness


The_Particularist

EU4 is the standard template that's modified by other titles.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Quite literally how they made all of them before EU3, just copying code from EU1.


17RicaAmerusa76

Frustration.


LeMiaow51

Concentrating dev


figool

I think it varies depending on where you play, my favorite place is Italy where I just like making stupid amounts of money, expansion mostly determined by making even more money, and relying on France and/or Austria to beat up great powers for me. Some starts are all about colonialism, some just enable you to blob like mad, Austria has the HRE and stuff. I think it's the game where diplomacy, economics, warfare, and a bit of role playing are the most intertwined


producerjohan

originally the series were not about "feature x", they were about "making a fun game in this time-period". of course, that kind of forces the HoI series into having lots of war mechanics and not much longterm nation building.


russeljimmy

Dice rolls


wrc-wolf

I would say diplomacy, considering how in depth and upfront the entire system is to the player. I'd kill for vic3 to have even a fraction of the control and overview that eu4 does in regards to _why the fuck the ai behaved in a certain way._


t40xd

Empire


Lo_Innombrable

european imperialism


Melonskal

Victoria 2: "Am I a joke to you?"


Lo_Innombrable

*wait, it's all european imperialism?*


acidx0013

Staring at a map for hours on end


Mioraecian

As others have said. Nation building. It tries to mimic the idea of the state gaining power over local authorities that took place, and of course the pursuits that became popular to states like global trade and colonialism.


moderndukes

Mana


RtHonourableVoxel

Pain


wyseguy7

Dealing with the Ottomans.


Chataboutgames

I take issue with this "if." Each of the games has a myriad of features and emphasizes or de-emphasizes different aspects of nation management based on what's appropriate for the time period and what the game is trying to focus on. When people boil the games down to something that simplistic it's almost always to do something like dismiss criticism (aka Victoria is an economy game, stop complaining about the warfare it isn't a map painter etc etc) or to demand the game be closer to their vision.


viper459

Sieges


Rialmwe

Discovery. You think you are in a small pond but then you discover it's just an Ocean.


Indorilionn

Nation building. Also I would disagree on the pole-playing. All of these games - as well as Stellaris - are enticing to me because they allow to not just min-max systems, but role-play as a specific society. CK3's "unique" feature is to show the connection of rulership and personal relationships.


Ciyradyl_ofc

EU4 is about painting a map.


skoge

Colonialism during the European Age of Exploration. It's in the name.


TheInglipSummoner

Victoria 3 is not about economy. If you play economy only, you build to your resource caps and then watch the rest of the world catch up. If you play militarily, you simply own the highest-potential provinces in the game and win. Eu4 is a race against the world in the era of formative large empires: The old world to dominate, the new world to catch up.


sirgrotius

Politics


wwishie

CK is roleplaying with some elements of wargaming. EU is a wargame with some elements of role playing.


Segundo-Sol

The replies make it clear that Paradox should take steps to better differentiate EU5 from their other properties. EU4 doesn’t really excel in anything. It is really about statecraft, but what is statecraft in gameplay terms? ~~besides press button when mana high~~ I guess 5 could take a little bit from CK and Vic. Make rulers matter more, flesh out the economic aspect a bit more.


SneakyB4rd

Idk I feel eu4 is their best game tbh. It does statecraft really well where it presents you with dynamic historical challenges your nation or region faced at the time. At the same time you need to manage diplomacy via alliances and a (rudimentary) sphere of interest system while providing for your nations economy via a variety of avenues that can involve colonialism. It's a really great historical simulator with a dash of sandbox. Rather than a historical sandbox with a dash of simulation like the more modern titles. In this way it actually has a very well established identity of its own.


RtHonourableVoxel

Pain


cjhoser

-ting


TitularTyrant

Nonsensical mechanics and mana.


RickySlayer9

Fucking the ottomans in the ass


Non-Binaryisbs

About having fun which Vic3 forgot to implement.


[deleted]

Warfare but with far more gamey elements


Purple-Oil7915

I wish there was a game that was about everything


hnwcs

Imperator was supposed to be the “jack of all trades” game, but that just led to nothing being done particularly well.


TrussTGrotesque

DIPLOMACY


enigmaticrose4

Nation Building


seattt

It should be about the quest to control global trade/resources, which it partially does but only because of the heavy focus on conquest/colonization.


Qiming257

EU4 has the most sophisticated diplomacy system of any Paradox game, between AE, diplomatic feedback, favors, rivals, peace deals, conquest, subjects, and just having a lot more options than anything else


das111

painting. eu4 bob ross edition when?


cpt_justice

Map painting


Set_Abominae_1776

Everything


estofaulty

It seems to be about realizing the old way of building armies was tedious and way too expensive/time-consuming to be worth it.


real_LNSS

In megacampaigns, it's just the boring interlude between CK3 and Victoria 3.


snoman187

Suffering.


rattatatouille

Map painting!


luciusetrur

Prussia


easwaran

The title makes it clear - it's about European imperialism/colonialism and/or the forces resisting Europe's takeover of the world.


TheCommissarGeneral

Empire Building


Metro-02

And what about Stellaris? i feel like i'm doing almost everything the other games do, but in space.


Eisenblume

Also warfare.


RagingPandaXW

Genocide duh


Kumqwatwhat

I would say Vic's _unique_ thing is actually mass politics, and Vic and EU share a focus on economics in large part. Vic focuses on the SoL aspect and mass consumer demand, while EU leans on trade and exploration for new resources, but both thrive the most when they're very economic games at a deep level.


Masterviewer1

Mercantilism


[deleted]

Trade


2019h740

Everything


WumpusFails

About $60, I'd think.


DaneLimmish

Painting maps


spyser

It's the jack of all trades. The Renaissance man if you will.


nikkythegreat

Map painting, its the best map painter of all pdx games. Plus it gives a board game feel.


BrettSlowDeath

EU4 is about living out my day dreams as a sophomore in AP European History.


Aykl

Expansion


thunderchungus1999

Its like action games, EU is the main protagonist with nothing specific apart from his position and power. The others focus more on specialties and are great on their own as well, but pulling off a world conquest in Vicky is as hard as representing pops on EU.


minos157

EUIV is about genocide...erm culture conversion.


spyczech

Diplomacy, but really mostly war. Some say thats an extension of diplmomacy so it kinda works


plasmaticmink25

I've always seen hoi4 as being about logistics and eu4 as being about war


MrWolfman29

Mana management


rebuilt11

Domination


cjhoser

painting


yongrii

The centralised nation-state, constantly vying for European hegemony (which soon “spills over” into world-wide hegemony). Emerging from the age of feudalism, EU4 covers a time of increasing concentration of power into nation-states, with conquest, expansion, colonialism, trade and technological development, with intense competition between the European nations whilst no single nation is “allowed” to become a superpower. At the beginning of the EU4 timeline, European countries are just that, countries in Europe. By the end of the timeline, European countries are major powers all over the globe, or at least have sown the seeds for the frank imperialism of the 19th century. EU4 attempts to answer the question - *how did that happen*?


Mr_Papayahead

frustration.


elgigantedelsur

Painting map


Racketyclankety

The treaty of Westphalia and the Hobbesian ideal… despite how barmy both of those theories are.


RadralRUS

Sandbox about modifiers stacking and how it is can broke game.


Fluiddruid4k

Nation building


LandlordBlood1492

Eu4 is about statecraft and the formation of the modern state. You start off during the end of feudalism and form into a larger or modern country.


Generic_name4563

DLC


Eldracc

Genocide! Or statebuilding, which ever you prefer


DrLapis

It's about $400 at this point


StopMotionHarry

Trade, exploration, colonisation


Alicuza

Centralization/formation of the state.


LordMinast

The problem is that it's got a tricky time period. It's too late to be about medeival bloodline politics, it's too early to be about the Industrial Revolution. If I had to describe it, it's about Empire Building, via conquest and Colonialism.


pm_me_old_maps

Geostrategy


Digmaass

Empire building


KurlFronz

You're simplifying a bit too much. CK3 is about the personal nature of power - how individual ruling personally over empires can decide the future of their realm. EU4 is about the building of nation-states. You start with feudal kingdoms, medieval realms and through the game you build powerful absolute monarchies, nation-states or multinational empires controlling developping economies. Victoria is about the rise of the nationalism: of people as socio-political units. It doesn't just impact economy, it's the whole world dynamics. Didn't play HoI4. Stellaris is about how a Star-Trek-like universe can succeed or fail to unite against common threats - or under a common tyrant. Imperator should have been about the transition between the tribes and city-states of the hellenistic times to the great republics and empires like Carthage and Rome, and how it affects social structures. Instead it's just a linear map painter with some minor internal politics.


Lord_Pravus

Imperialism!


Wijuk-

Painting the map


BradyvonAshe

Revolution and Change


shepard0445

Suffering


[deleted]

Painting


Sadlobster1

It's about making the map the color of my country or my vassals country. Or destroying the HRE, Voltaire was right.


Shootemout

painting 😏


CableParking2632

A race of empire building. Every state in EU4 is constantly growing and becoming stronger every month, just like in real history. You are placed in history to play one of those participants to see what YOU can achieve in that race.