[Basileus777]

Paradox has revealed on their TwitchTV Stream that the Project Truman that they've been teasing is EU4. You can view the announcement trailer here. Release is in Q3 2013.

Here's a full list of features:

- Take your own decisions: Nation building is flexible: decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and more. The possibilities are endless.
- Use your Monarch Power: Experience the new system of monarch power where your spread of choices is influence by the caliber of the man you have at the top. Do you have a warrior King? Then it is time to make war.
- Experience history coming to life: The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Thousands of historical events guide you, with unique different flavor depending on the country you play. Have more than a thousand historical leaders and over 4000 historical Monarchs at your disposal.
- The world is now your playground: Players can enjoy over 300 years of gameplay in a lush topographic map in full 3D. Lead any one of more than 250 countries that originally existed during the game’s extensive time span.
- Experience the all new trade system: The trade system adds a new dimension to the great trade empires of the period. Seize control of key ports to expand your trade, support it with your powerful fleet and the wealth of the world will flow to you.
- Bring out your diplomatic skills: Deeper diplomatic gameplay, with coalitions, threats, fleet basing rights and detailed support for rebels. Introducing unilateral opinions, a country may dislike you, but you can be neutral towards them.
- Engage in Multiplayer: Battle against your friends or try co-operative multiplayer mode that allows several players to work together to control a single nation for up to 32 players. Featuring hotjoin, improved chat, new matchmaking server andsupport for a standalone server.
- Create your own history & customize your game: Europa Universalis IV gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire.

Kotaku has an article up on it:

Europa Universalis IV benefits not only from the hindsight brought about in the five years since the last game's release, but also developers Paradox's growing success with other "grand strategy" titles like Sengoku and Crusader Kings II. So in addition to the expected advances - like a prettier 3D map (that now reflects seasons) and improved trade system - there are things learned directly from CKII's surprisingly broad popularity, like a greater emphasis on "personality" (ie the relationships between the 4000 historical rulers in the game) that'll be reflected in EUIV's idea of "Monarch Power". Paradox Development Studio manager Johan Andersson tells Kotaku that CKII's success - it seems to have become something of a watershed title for the team - has taught the developer a few other valuable lessons, which are being applied to Europa Universalis' development (and which necessarily weren't as important with the studio's previous games). These include a greater emphasis on making the game "look better", how to "streamline interfaces without dumbing anything down" and, perhaps most importantly, the importance of spending time polishing a game before release. Paradox will also be paying closer attention to actual history this time as well. Andersson says that rather than simply letting players loose on the world and allowing stories to unfold entirely by themselves, they'll be continually confronted with events (the game's miniature quests or important decisions) that are unique to that nation and appropriate to the culture and time period (as opposed to the more generic events generated previously).

[Bending_Unit_22]

Paradox has revealed on their TwitchTV Stream that the Project Truman that they've been teasing is EU4. No information other than that yet, they just showed a teaser trailer.

Argghhhh, badly badly need that.

screens and info

Ah, thank you my good man. It's not a lot but it will do.

[Clevinger]

screens and info

edit: release is Q3 2013 + being shown at gamescon

[Goldmund]

Oh, this looks just lovely.

[Basileus777]

screens and info edit: release is Q3 2013 + being shown at gamescon

Paradox will also be paying closer attention to actual history this time as well. Andersson says that rather than simply letting players loose on the world and allowing stories to unfold entirely by themselves, they'll be continually confronted with events (the game's miniature quests or important decisions) that are unique to that nation and appropriate to the culture and time period (as opposed to the more generic events generated previously).

Interesting, this is the very approach they swore off when they made EU3. Obviously they won't be going back to the old EU2 deterministic approach, but I like that they are trying to put more history back into the game.

[Steeven]

Day 1.

[Sir Fragula]

Yum! Assume this is still Clausewitz engine.

[ctrayne]

.

[TheExodu5]

Some day...I'll learn how to play EU3.

Here's to hoping they include a better tutorial, as well as a better messaging system in EU4.

[miladesn]

feature list

- Take your own decisions: Nation building is flexible: decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and more. The possibilities are endless. - Use your Monarch Power: Experience the new system of monarch power where your spread of choices is influence by the caliber of the man you have at the top. Do you have a warrior King? Then it is time to make war. - Experience history coming to life: The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Thousands of historical events guide you, with unique different flavor depending on the country you play. Have more than a thousand historical leaders and over 4000 historical Monarchs at your disposal. - The world is now your playground: Players can enjoy over 300 years of gameplay in a lush topographic map in full 3D. Lead any one of more than 250 countries that originally existed during the game’s extensive time span. - Experience the all new trade system: The trade system adds a new dimension to the great trade empires of the period. Seize control of key ports to expand your trade, support it with your powerful fleet and the wealth of the world will flow to you. - Bring out your diplomatic skills: Deeper diplomatic gameplay, with coalitions, threats, fleet basing rights and detailed support for rebels. Introducing unilateral opinions, a country may dislike you, but you can be neutral towards them. - Engage in Multiplayer: Battle against your friends or try co-operative multiplayer mode that allows several players to work together to control a single nation for up to 32 players. Featuring hotjoin, improved chat, new matchmaking server andsupport for a standalone server. - Create your own history & customize your game: Europa Universalis IV gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire.

[Forsete]

Day 1.

Yup

Started playing EU3 DW again.
North America is mine, all MINE!

[diamount]

Excellent, this and Rome 2 will be me go-to games in 2013.

[Clevinger]

Some day...I'll learn how to play EU3. Here's to hoping they include a better tutorial, as well as a better messaging system in EU4.

In the Kotaku article, the developer says that a good tutorial is a big goal for them this time around.

[Basileus777]

You can see the trailer here.

[XiaNaphryz]

Yum! Assume this is still Clausewitz engine.

Assuming they're building off of CK2, that would be a reasonable guess.

Some day...I'll learn how to play EU3. Here's to hoping they include a better tutorial, as well as a better messaging system in EU4.

For now, you can follow this:

http://lparchive.org/Europa-Universa...I-Divine-Wind/

[Rapstah]

CKII's UI and "look" was very well thought through. I can imagine a Europa Universalis game playing pretty well with the same circumstances surrounding its UI.

[Bending_Unit_22]

Day 1.

Yup Started playing EU3 DW again. North America is mine, all MINE!

I used to do that, now I leave it to others to pay to beta test Paradox's games for them.

Thank you.

[Perkel]

FUUUUCKKKK YEEEEESSSS !!!


Now i need take few years of free time from my work and i'm all ready to go !

[SparkTR]

I used to do that, now I leave it to others to pay to beta test Paradox's games for them. Thank you.

CK2 has taught Paradox a valuable lesson about the benefits of actually polishing their games before release. I'm completely expecting this to be relatively bug-free.

[Kabouter]

feature list

- Use your Monarch Power: Experience the new system of monarch power where your spread of choices is influence by the caliber of the man you have at the top. Do you have a warrior King? Then it is time to make war.

This doesn't sound that great, I don't want a more personal focus anyway. I like that EU3 focuses on states rather than people. Don't let the Crusader Kings/EU: Rome/Sengoku style creep in too much into EU.

- Experience history coming to life: The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Thousands of historical events guide you, with unique different flavor depending on the country you play. Have more than a thousand historical leaders and over 4000 historical Monarchs at your disposal.

This either won't work properly or will constrain the game too much, and make every game feel the same, which is why Hearts of Iron 3 and Victoria II have a far shorter lifespan for me than EU3 did.

Rest sounds good, and eh, in general wait and see I guess.

[guit3457]

I can't stop playing CK2. Amazing game.

Day one.

[Bending_Unit_22]

CK2 has taught Paradox a valuable lesson about the benefits of actually polishing their games before release. I'm completely expecting this to be relatively bug-free.

Cool, will be following the patch updates and sounds like I might be getting it sooner than expected.

[Enkidu]

This either won't work properly or will constrain the game too much, and make every game feel the same, which is why Hearts of Iron 3 and Victoria II have a far shorter lifespan for me than EU3 did.

I don't think it will be too constricting in terms of keeping you on a real historical track like in EU2. It will probably be more along the lines of tons of flavor events/decisions so that various countries/cultures feel more unique to play.

[speedpop]

Goodbye social life.

[Perkel]

This doesn't sound that great, I don't want a more personal focus anyway. I like that EU3 focuses on states rather than people. Don't let the Crusader Kings/EU: Rome/Sengoku style creep in too much into EU.

I think it is improvement. Big one. Heir to the Throne introduced many different mechanics to the game. Problem is you can't track where are your ruler family tree goes.

Sure Full CK2 family menagment is wrong answer but simplier version of that is in my opinion ok.

In Ck2 you can be almost anyone from bishop to ruler. So in EU4 they should keep it only as ruler with all those genetic-backstabing included.

That improvement is what i wanted even before CK2 was released.


Oh i forgot:

I hope they will improve AI and give AI more backstabing power.

AARs will be glorious.

[Kabouter]

I think it is improvement. Big one. Heir to the Throne introduced many different mechanics to the game. Problem is you can't track where are your ruler family tree goes. Sure Full CK2 family menagment is wrong answer but simplier version of that is in my opinion ok. In Ck2 you can be almost anyone from bishop to ruler. So in EU4 they should keep it only as ruler with all those genetic-backstabing included. That improvement is what i wanted even before CK2 was released.

Oh man, that's really really the last thing I want. EU3 is about nation building, not about family intrigue.

I don't think it will be too constricting in terms of keeping you on a real historical track like in EU2. It will probably be more along the lines of tons of flavor events/decisions so that various countries/cultures feel more unique to play.

Well, it will probably be more constrained than EU3 otherwise they wouldn't have made special note of it. There's also the emphasis on historical rulers in the released feature list.

[GopherD]

Man, with this and Rome TW2 and about 500 hours of my life is about to evaporate.

[+Aliken+]

Most important of all, though, could well be UEIV's approach to the tutorial, an area Paradox games have traditionally fallen short in (and which has prevented less patient gamers from enjoying their titles). Andersson tells us "I can tell you that we plan to do something rather dramatically different" when it comes to UEIV's tutorial system, and that "we hope to make a tutorial that gives the gamer more a chance to learn by doing. But creating a good tutorial is always a challenge for a grand strategy game with a wealth of features that all needs to be introduced. But I promise, we are on top of it!"

I really hope so, this was my major problem with the previous games. I tried but just couldn't get the hang of it.

[Rapstah]

Hearts of Iron 2 had a nation-specific events system as well as generic random ones. The issue with that game was how the larger nations had pretty much everything tied into the events system: the US or France had elections tied into it, but if you were to play a democratic Germany from 1936 you would never get the events for elections. Smaller nations just got the smaller events too, so if you were playing as, say, Haiti, you'd just get "Coup d'état!" or "Right-wing politician fumbles!" half the time regardless of whether you had conquered half the world.

Basically, it's a good system until you do something the game doesn't expect you to do, and doing unexpected things is basically the game in Paradox series. Maybe it's a lot better as they offload politics and such mechanics into their own systems?

[Basileus777]

Oh man, that's really really the last thing I want. EU3 is about nation building, not about family intrigue. Well, it will probably be more constrained than EU3 otherwise they wouldn't have made special note of it. There's also the emphasis on historical rulers in the released feature list.

They specifically note that they want to learn from CKII and that game is not deterministic at all. Adding more historical flavor isn't the same as going back to the pre-Clauswitz days. Paradox has said many times that they want their games to be sandboxes and not simulations.

Hearts of Iron 2 had a nation-specific events system as well as generic random ones. The issue with that game was how the larger nations had pretty much everything tied into the events system: the US or France had elections tied into it, but if you were to play a democratic Germany from 1936 you would never get the events for elections. Smaller nations just got the smaller events too, so if you were playing as, say, Haiti, you'd just get "Coup d'état!" or "Right-wing politician fumbles!" half the time regardless of whether you had conquered half the world. Basically, it's a good system until you do something the game doesn't expect you to do, and doing unexpected things is basically the game in Paradox series. Maybe it's a lot better as they offload politics and such mechanics into their own systems?

It actually worked pretty well for HOI2 with its short timeline and how narrowly focused the game was. Early HOI3 with it's fantasy scenarios and ahistorical nonsense ruined the game, a WW2 game where a bunch of implausible stuff happens right from the start with no player involvement is not compelling. EU3 was much better off without those events though, at least once a few expansions came out and the game had enough mechanics to keep it interesting.

[Almighty]

CK2 has taught Paradox a valuable lesson about the benefits of actually polishing their games before release. I'm completely expecting this to be relatively bug-free.

CK2 has been selling really well for them then I take it?

It was the first Paradox game I bought and I love it. It is my game of the year so far in fact. I will be keeping an on EU4 now. Hopefully I will have an easier time getting into it then I did with EU3. I was never able to wrap my head around that game.

[Basileus777]

CK2 has been selling really well for them then I take it?

They haven't released any numbers as far as I am aware, but the game has been hugely successful for them.


Speaking of CKII, I wonder if they will adopt its modular DLC approach with EU4.

[Kabouter]

Speaking of CKII, I wonder if they will adopt its modular DLC approach with EU4.

They said all future games, so sadly, yes.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

OH MY GOD.

I JUST WET MYSELF FROM READING THE TITLE.

I HAVEN'T EVEN LOOKED AT THE OP YET.

[Bending_Unit_22]

It actually worked pretty well for HOI2 with its short timeline and how narrowly focused the game was. Early HOI3 with it's fantasy scenarios and ahistorical nonsense ruined the game, a WW2 game where a bunch of implausible stuff happens right from the start with no player involvement is not compelling. EU3 was much better off without those events though, at least once a few expansions came out and the game had enough mechanics to keep it interesting.

From the debates I used to get into on the Paradox forums, there were quite a few people who found only that compelling. Otherwise the game was just a history lesson and boring. Personally I swiftly lose interest with stuff like that (like HoI3 originally having the US declare war on Germany in 1939 and sometimes being the country to start WW2), but I never understood why there wasn't an option in these games for mostly historical play, semi-historical play, or ahistorical play.

I really hope so, this was my major problem with the previous games. I tried but just couldn't get the hang of it.

CK2 has been selling really well for them then I take it? It was the first Paradox game I bought and I love it. It is my game of the year so far in fact. I will be keeping an on EU4 now. Hopefully I will have an easier time getting into it then I did with EU3. I was never able to wrap my head around that game.

Yeah, I really don't know how they expected people without a strong EU background to pick up EU3. It took me some trial and error to get it and I had been playing EU and EU2 for the previous 7 years and followed the dev diaries and the rest.

[Perkel]

Oh man, that's really really the last thing I want. EU3 is about nation building, not about family intrigue.

Problem is, what you described (family problems) is big part of monarchy history. Neglecting that part is like neglecting wars in that era or religion. Not only that it is actually interesting how families interact with each-other.

Example 1:
In around 1400 year in my country there were big problems with other C warlike party, (not nation) queen of mine nation and King of B nation got married. B country religion changed to Christianity from paganism and both nation were united to fight with C warlike party. Not only this marriage gave peace to both kingdoms for over 300 years (creating stacks of doom) but also nation B was treated with respect (Christianity buff).

Example 2:
Also from my nation history. King died leaving domain devided for his 10 or 14 sons (don't remember how many) Sons weren't united. Long story short. Other used this moment and invaded.

Sure we don't want to extra deep with this change like in CK2 but any improvement over HtTT is better way. Just few simple choices to menage your family will be good.

Part of what make EU3 incredibly fun game is it's randomness. You think you have all it straight and then in small matter of time you don't exist anymore or your power is 10% of what it used to be.

[Basileus777]

From the debates I used to get into on the Paradox forums, there were quite a few people who found only that compelling. Otherwise the game was just a history lesson and boring. Personally I swiftly lose interest with stuff like that (like HoI3 originally having the US declare war on Germany in 1939 and sometimes being the country to start WW2), but I never understood why there wasn't an option in these games for mostly historical play, semi-historical play, or ahistorical play.

I'd agree with those people with other games, but for a WW2 game I want something more specific that resembles something that is at least plausible.

Yeah, I really don't know how they expected people without a strong EU background to pick up EU3. It took me some trial and error to get it and I had been playing EU and EU2 for the previous 7 years and followed the dev diaries and the rest.

A lot this is due to how many features were added through expansions over the years. Vanilla Eu3 was the first Clauswitz game and it was pretty barren when came to features and mechanics. They just never added the tools to explain how all the stuff they added worked, and I imagine it must be overwhelming to people coming in late and trying to learn everything at once.

[Rapstah]

It actually worked pretty well for HOI2 with its short timeline and how narrowly focused the game was. Early HOI3 with it's fantasy scenarios and ahistorical nonsense ruined the game, a WW2 game where a bunch of implausible stuff happens right from the start with no player involvement is not compelling. EU3 was much better off without those events though, at least once a few expansions came out and the game had enough mechanics to keep it interesting.

Is the assumption that they are still using events to keep the AI in line then?

[Coppertracks]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!

With this and RTW2 I'm going to have no life.

[IndieJones]

Pffff, you can tell that all they care about is the graphics.

[Giard]

Awesome. Had lots of fun with EU3, hope this one is as good.

[Basileus777]

Are those trade route drawn on the ocean in the screenshots they've released?

[Almighty]

They haven't released any numbers as far as I am aware, but the game has been hugely successful for them.

That's good news. That game deserves every sale it gets.

Yeah, I really don't know how they expected people without a strong EU background to pick up EU3. It took me some trial and error to get it and I had been playing EU and EU2 for the previous 7 years and followed the dev diaries and the rest.

Yeah. I think if they improve on the tutorials and the UI I think I could really enjoy EU4. EU3 itself was one of those games where I really wanted to enjoy it. I really liked the premise, but I could never grasp the game play well enough for the game to just click and didn't feel like a chore for me to play.

[alstein]

I used to do that, now I leave it to others to pay to beta test Paradox's games for them. Thank you.

By the time the beta is done, Paradox will have their game at least half off.

Wasn't CK 75% off after one month. I've learned my lesson with Paradox. I will get this game in 2014 sometime, but not day 1. You'll need that 75% off to pay for the DLC/expansions, they'll probably do at least five.

[Basileus777]

Is the assumption that they are still using events to keep the AI in line then?

I was just discussing how they did things back in the HOI2 days. I doubt they ever go back to that sort of determinism. I wouldn't expect anything like that in Eu4.

Edit: Here is a quote from someone on the dev team about it

We are not going back to the determinism of EUII but history will play a bigger part.

[Kabouter]

Problem is, what you described (family problems) is big part of monarchy history. Neglecting that part is like neglecting wars in that era or religion. Not only that it is actually interesting how families interact with each-other. Example 1: In around 1400 year in my country there were big problems with other C warlike party, (not nation) queen of mine nation and King of B nation got married. B country religion changed to Christianity from paganism and both nation were united to fight with C warlike party. Not only this marriage gave peace to both kingdoms for over 300 years (creating stacks of doom) but also nation B was treated with respect (Christianity buff). Example 2: Also from my nation history. King died leaving domain devided for his 10 or 14 sons (don't remember how many) Sons weren't united. Long story short. Other used this moment and invaded. Sure we don't want to extra deep with this change like in CK2 but any improvement over HtTT is better way. Just few simple choices to menage your family will be good. Part of what make EU3 incredibly fun game is it's randomness. You think you have all it straight and then in small matter of time you don't exist anymore or your power is 10% of what it used to be.

Just because it's something that played a part in history doesn't mean that EU4 has to cover it, like others have noted, it's not a simulation. Paradox franchises tend to focus heavily on certain things, in Hearts of Iron it's warfare, in Victoria it's economic development, in EU it's nation building. It's fantastic that each of the franchises are so different from one another. There's no reason why EU4 should include palace intrigue as a significant gameplay element.

[speedpop]

Wasn't CK 75% off after one month. I've learned my lesson with Paradox. I will get this game in 2014 sometime, but not day 1. You'll need that 75% off to pay for the DLC/expansions, they'll probably do at least five.

I'm a bargain fiend as much as the rest, but I think I'd lose it if I knew EU4 was sitting there and ready to buy and play. Sale or no sale, it's going in my belly and I will take many days off to play it.

It also helps when they don't try to overcharge you just because your IP is in Australia.

[Scipius]

Good news, but judging from the screenshots posted, it looks like the provinces are pretty much the same as EU3's. If they're going for more historical accuracy, it's disappointing that the topographical accuracy will remain as poor as it was in EU3.

[BladeRunner12]

Strategy Informer has just posted up an interview.

Lots of new information in there.

[Sir Fragula]

CK2 has been selling really well for them then I take it? It was the first Paradox game I bought and I love it. It is my game of the year so far in fact. I will be keeping an on EU4 now. Hopefully I will have an easier time getting into it then I did with EU3. I was never able to wrap my head around that game.

It's one of my GotY's too. In fact it's on my list twice since I'm double counting it with the Game of Thrones mod (which is fucking awesome).

Good news, but judging from the screenshots posted, it looks like the provinces are pretty much the same as EU3's. If they're going for more historical accuracy, it's disappointing that the topographical accuracy will remain as poor as it was in EU3.

What in particular do you see being wrong?