If you like strategy games, give this one a chance. It's like a toolkit for Alt-History wargaming, and f***ing addictive. Did I mention it rocks?

I´m still a EU2 person.
No Byzantine Empire in EU3, I´m still sceptical.

Add to that: After years of ultra intensive EU2 play, I´ve STILL not plumbed it´s depths!

How are the graphics? They looked pretty sucky.

I've had EU 2 on my PC for a couple of years now. Every time i decide to start a game, i get lost within half an hour and give up. It's not like some other strategy games where it's relatively easy to pick it up as you go along. That's what i did with all the Civ games and Alpha Centauri, but EU i just can't pick up. Oh well...

Comparing Civ and EU is like comparing American Football and Baseball.

EU is a pastime.

Nope,
Like One Horse Town, I just couldn't get my head around it.
John

Maybe EU3 is more beginner friendly?

The graphics engine is good, though obviously not as spectacular as, say, a FPS like Halo.

Something to consider is that the game is straight alt-history. It´s accurate until you start playing, but there are no longer forced events for every country (like Spain going bankrupt even if it doesn't have an American empire).

In the game I'm playing right now, my Tuscany reunited all of Italy, conquered the Aztecs, and is slowly colonizing part of Indonesia. We also have Hawaii. :haw:

There are maniacs that combined Crusaders Kings->EU2/3->Victoria-> Hearts of Iron.

One of the better ones revolved around the Ynglings of Scandinavian. Basically in Crusader Kings you manage a dynasty as well as territory. This guy manages to co-opt every single noble in Norway and make them all Ynglings (not as easy as it sounds) later Norway unites Scandinavia. It finally winds up several hundred years later in Hearts of Iron (ww2) where the Ynglings Union is a major fascist power based on the ideology that if you don't have the blood of the Ynglings in you, you are not one of the master race.

That writeup was interesting to read. His major problem through the run was population as Scandinavia has a low density population.

I've tried all the games in that series.

My favorite is Victoria.

I like factories and commodities and complicated economies.

If I can't get that from EU3, I'll seek it elsewhere.

Vicky, I´ll have to seek you out one day.

The thing that really sucked about CK was there is no way to have nice Baronial Vendettas. If you declare war on any baron, his King will declare wr on you! Sucks pretty bad if you are both part of the same realm.

I wanted to like Europa Universalis. But I found the micromanagement grew tedious. I also didn't like the scripted historical trends. My Poles weren't ever going to be as technologically advanced as the neighbouring Germans, so those Prussians could go on rampages where they cut through my lands like a knife through butter. I was destined to have a big and dumb nation no matter how much I fiddled with all the levers.

Haffrung,

you can pull off all kinds of stuff. You can conquer the whole world with about any nation in the game. It takes patience and a lot of time invested in understanding the models involved.

Out-teching Germany with Poland should not be that big of a problem for a seasoned player. The learning curve is veeery flat, that´s definitely correct.

General tips for outteching everyone with the poles:

- sliders (I assume you mastered them)
- taxation
- trade
- culture! very important! Your technology costs are a function of the number of provinces and how the provinces culture and religion are in relation to your nation
- inflation. You won´t be succesful in that game if you don´t understand and actually master the concept of inflation as it is modelled in the game

Needless to say, all those factors heavily interellate with each other.

I´d really like to see a savegame from you, I could then talk way more specifically about tips & tricks & general strategy.

The game is uninstalled. And I was playing EU I, so the later versions of the game may have smoothed out some of the rough spots.

I won't say I'll never play EU again. It's certainly an engrossing game, and I appreciate the historical fidelity. I'd just prefer to spend more time on meaningful decisions and less on buying yet another merchant in Paris, or sending yet another colonist to Yakutsk.

Ahhh!
But those ARE meaningful decisions!

Sending the Traders to the right spot is a science unto itself, and not an easy one. Often, the best traders are those, that you never sent! Especially early in the game.

Has anyone seen the screenshots of the new Europa Universalis: Rome?