Europa Universalis, 1492-1792

ThePlagueRat · July 15, 2002, 17:52

Hi. I have heard some rumors about this game, mostly positive,
but I've got some questions for you too:

Is this a realistic strategy game? And historically correct?

Is it also fun?

Does it require intensive manual reading?

Is there an online manual somewhere?

Ok, Just tell us something about it...

Victor Galis · July 15, 2002, 18:10

Realistic... dunno... I managed to take over the world as France

My glorious empire stretched around the globe, from the Mohave desert to Japan, from the southernmost tip of south America to Iceland... with a couple interruptions between.

Eli · July 15, 2002, 18:29

I never managed to grasp the economy and science part. I never really tried though.

Nostromo · July 16, 2002, 00:37

Quote:

Is this a realistic strategy game? And historically correct?

First of all, you should get Europa Universalis 2 (EU2). It's better. Civ is a strategy game with an historical theme. It doesn't seriously intend to simulate history. EU, on the other hand, does intend to simulate a portion of history. And IMO it does a fairly good job on that score.

Quote:

Is it also fun?

I enjoy it, but I'm not gaga. I don't play it often. For one, games take eons to finish (they are much longer than Civ3 games) and, a bit too often for my taste, there's not much for you to do.

Quote:

Does it require intensive of manual reading? Is there an online manual somewhere?

Huge learning curve. You definitely have to read the manual. Moreover, since the manual doesn't say everything, you will have to consult the EU message forums

thinkingamer · July 16, 2002, 03:14

Quote:

Is this a realistic strategy game? And historically correct?

Well, the Korean golden age was in early-middle 15th century, but in EU2, there are about only 100,000 people in Korea......at late 16th century, Korea was declined a bit (which means no significant pop. growth), and had about 50,000 soldiers, but in my estimation the Korean gov't in late 16th cent. could support up to 200,000 soldiers (but barely) and also provably had well over 1 million men that could fight in a war (if trained).

Conclusion? If i were u would not trust EU2's historical accuracy outside of Europe and America.

ixnay · July 16, 2002, 03:32

I enjoy it (though I haven't played it for a few months). If you want more info, there's an EU forum on apolyton, as well as the official site's forums.

Rune · July 16, 2002, 06:26

Quote:

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
Hi. I have heard some rumors about this game, mostly positive,
but I've got some questions to ask you too:

Is this a realistic strategy game? And historically correct?

Is it also fun?

Does it require intensive of manual reading?

Is there an online manual somewhere?

Ok, Just tell us something about it...

First off, you'll want the sequel, EU2, and be sure to apply the latest patch (currently 1.05). It's basically the same game as EU, but with a lot of improvements.

While it's not 100% realistic and historically correct, it is the most realistic and historically correct strategy game I've ever played.

It's fun, all right. My favourite strategy game!

While you learn a lot from the manual, it's not actually that good. The tutorial teaches the basics, but you need to play a couple of games before you really get into it. It is one of the most complex games out there, but it is definately worth it.

The message boards at www.europa-universalis.com is an excellent place to get info about every aspect of the game.

About the game:
It is not a civ-like game. You do not start from scratch with a civilization. It's based on historical scenarios, and the main scenario, the grand campaign, spans 400 years. You can be one of about 200 nations, and all these nations exist in the game at the same time (not just 7 as in certain other games

)
At first it's best to play one of the "superpowers", but later when you get experienced it's great fun to play as a minor country like Baden, Myanmar or The Knights of St. John.

Higly recommended!

Victor Galis · July 16, 2002, 07:11

Yeah... play as France, annex England diplomatically after thoroughly kicking the snot out of them a couple times.

Grumbold · July 16, 2002, 18:07

I'd recommend EU2 to anyone who was interested in strategy games. The longer you play the game the further from historical reality you get, but that's to be expected if you as the player seek to do ahistorical stuff, like taking over the world.

ThePlagueRat · July 17, 2002, 10:58

Hi again, everybody! I just got the impression that EU2 is the game that I should stick to. I did only borrow EU1 at the library, for now. Hmm...
What's the main differences between them?

Rune · July 17, 2002, 11:13

Quote:

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
Hi again, everybody! I just got the impression that EU2 is the game that I should stick to. I did only borrow EU1 at the library, for now. Hmm...
What's the main differences between them?

- More nations
- You can play ANY nation in the world, not just the 7 preselected for each scenario (NOTE: this can be done in EU1 too, by manually editing the scenario files)
- Domestic Policy Sliders: A great tool for manipulating things like troop cost vs. quality, land vs. naval, research vs. stability etc...
- 100 years longer grand campaign.
- Starts in 1419 with Europe a LOT more fractioned. (NOTE: there is a 1492 scenario too)
- A lot of new interesting historical and random events
- Higher screen resolution
- Probably a lot more which I don't remember right now...

Victor Galis · July 17, 2002, 11:14

EU2 is newer. The grandcampaign stretches from 1419-1819? The maps are more accurate (No more small Catholic East European states with a single Orthodox province (they're all orthodox now)).

Also, events are more interactive. They allow you a choice sometimes. Also, there's some options for how you want your government to run (more centralized or less, more religious, more protectionist, etc. about ten such options).

Victor Galis · July 17, 2002, 11:23

Oh, and you can annex major powers, demand more than 3 provinces out of a single war, and force defeated countries to be your vassals.

ThePlagueRat · July 18, 2002, 17:26

Ok, I was convinced and I just bought the EU2,
but I have not played it yet.

I didn't get the installer shield to work. It stopped halfway reading a file called setup.inx...

This is propably a win2k installer problem, and I'm currently looking into the support forum at the EU2-site http://www.europa-universalis.com/

But, does also win2k ServicePack2 fix such installer bugs?

Rune · July 18, 2002, 17:34

Quote:

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
Ok, I was convinced and I just bought the EU2,
but I have not played it yet.

I didn't get the installer shield to work. It stopped halfway reading a file called setup.inx...

Let me guess: you're a Scandinavian? Some CD-ROMs have a problem with the Scandinavian version of EU2. Here's the solution (from the EU2 support forum):

Quote:

originally posted by Patric

Scandinavian EU2 installation problem (setup.inx)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a compatibility issue with some CD readers and the copy protection.

You can download a working file here: http://www.paradoxplaza.com/files/patches/setup_inx.zip

Try to copy the whole installation to the hd and install from there. Put the downloaded setup.inx in the same folder and off you go. I just tested it and it works like a charm.

Don't copy the *.vpp files though

If you choose to make a custom installation and play music from the CD you will have to edit the music.ini file after installation. Just change as follows:

####My installation####

[Common]
music=c:\Program Files\Europa Universalis 2\MUSIC

####Change to####

[Common]
music=X:\MUSIC

Where X is the drive letter for your CD rom drive. After that you can delete all the installation files you copied manually from the CD.

Patric

ThePlagueRat · July 18, 2002, 18:06

You guessed right! (Arch Bergenser, to be exact)
Thank you Rune. I just found it myself too, thanks to your link above.

Btw: Sometimes I wish I lived in Trondheim 'cause the girl that I love lives there most of the time. But if I was to be there with her, then I could not play EU2 all night and day. And that is what's really important, isn't it?

Hmmm, then I'll be just fine here in Blackdeath city.