One Track Mind

One of my flaws is that I have a one track mind.  When I get an idea, I usually am compelled to run with it.  That comes at a cost of pretty much anything else.  Work, fun, doesn't matter.  It all gets pushed aside until I deal with what I am focused on. I wish it was only ideas that caused this, but sadly worries do too.

The last week or so Sites with Benefits has been on my mind.  If you are not familiar with SwB, it's a user engagement/promotion/giveaway system.  You can see it on the right side of the page.  Anyway, one of the users wanted tighter integration with Twitch.  Sounded good to me, so that is what I have been obsessed with.

Luckily, we are testing it out today.  I hope to go into details next week, once I am sure it is working.  It should free me up to start, you know, playing games again.  ESO starts up on Sunday!  Plus, I want to play some Europa Universalis 4.

I was very close to buying Diablo 3 and the new expansion this week.  Luckily, there were plenty of live streams to watch.  That was enough to satisfy my urge to play, so I saved $70.  Live streams are a funny thing.  Sometimes they get me to buy a game, other times they show me enough that I don't want to buy it anymore.

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Conquest of Paradise

One game I have been playing lately is Europa Universalis 4.  Most of my time has been spent playing as Venice, but the lure of exploration has been nagging at me.  My go to country for that is usually Portugal.  I've been thinking of starting up a game as them, but an announcement has made me hold off.

Paradox announced the first expansion for EU4:  Conquest of Paradise.  It focuses mostly on the Americas, with one big new feature.  In the expansion,  you can actually have a randomized Americas.  This is a first for any Paradox game, they have always used a static map.

So you will truly be able to explore the New World if you so choose.  It'll be interesting to see how the Native American factions/AI adjust to this randomized setting.  In addition to the map, those Native American factions will see new options and more depth.

I'm pretty excited about the expansion, enough so that I may hold off on my exploration plans until it arrives.  December 11th is the due date, which will be here before we know it.  There is plenty to do between now and then, like X Rebirth and the XBox One.

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A Crossroads

When it comes to strategy games, I'm a bit of a cheater.  Before major decisions I tend to make saves and will not hesitate to go back to them if it doesn't work out the way I wanted it to.  During my game of Europa Universalis 4 I've recently run into one of these decisions.  Let me set the stage.

I'm playing as Venice, a Merchant Republic, around 1496.  My goal is to pretty much expand my economic dominance as far as possible and rake in the ducats Scrooge McDuck style.  I had set my sights on expanding into India/East Africa.

To reach this goal, I figure I needed a Red Sea port.  Standing between me and the Red Sea are the Mamluks.  So I declared war on them.  After a few key battles I broke their army and took most of their provinces.  At the peace table, I asked for and received the Sinai Peninsula, including Gaza and Judea.

So I had reached my goal, but was it worth the effort?  It was a long war, and I took quite a manpower and ducat hit.  I also had to use a lot of Administrative/Diplomacy power.  It left me with a bunch of new lands to core, and a lot of rebels to potentially fight.

I also may have made a mistake when selecting my second National Idea. I chose Economic instead of the one that provides explorers and colonists.  So I can't actually make use of my newly acquired ports.   On the plus side, I have more Trade Power in the Alexandria Trade Node now.

I'm debating restarting from my save back before the war.  Although I don't know what direction I'd take from there.

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Europa Universalis 4 Has Arrived

It has been at least a decade since the grand strategy game, Europa Universalis, was released.  Paradox is now on its fourth iteration of the product, and it just keeps getting better.  I had pre-ordered the game on Steam so I could get the bonus DLC.  The past few weeks have been rather busy, so I only recently got to sit down and give it some serious play time.

Venice.  I am always drawn to Venice.  Something about its location and the fact it can be an economic powerhouse. So it is no surprise I chose them for my first game.  Since EU4 starts around 50 years later than EU3, Venice actually has more holdings in Europe than I was used to.  My first order of business was trade, of course.

Trade.  The trading system in EU4 is quite a bit different than previous editions.  It is much too complex to fully cover here though.  Basically Trade is separated into Nodes, which flow into other nodes.  You can assign merchants to nodes who can either collect money or steer it to another chosen node.  Owning provinces within the node area increase how effective you are, as does the present of Light Ships.

The Trade Nodes and paths are all static though, so you have to work with what is there.  As Venice,  I had a lot of Trade Power in Venice which allowed me to make some decent coin right off the bat.  I sent merchants out to Ragusa, Alexandria, and Constantinople to direct trade back to Venice.  I also worked on acquiring territory, like Cyprus, to increase my Trade Power in those nodes.

War.  What's a grand strategy game without war?  Not much to really say here, as the system feels just like previous games.  I spent a good amount of time fighting the Mamluks and Hungry so far, both victories for me.

Navy.  Navies are much more important this go around.  Since Light Ships provide Trade Power, you will see larger fleets roaming the sees.  Blockades also provide a good bit of victory points when going to the peace table.

Engine.  EU4 uses the same engine as Crusader Kings 2.  It feels very slick and polished.  Tooltips with detailed information are everywhere allowing for a much better understanding of what's happening and why.

Flavor.  The addition of unique National Ideas for most countries give them a different feel.  As if there wasn't enough replay value already.

Overall.  I am quire pleased with EU4, it is an excellent game.  I cannot wait to see what they do for future DLC/Expansions.  If you like strategy games, it is definitely one to pick up.
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Mind Blown

Paradox Interactive is one of my favorite developers.  It all started around 13 years ago when I found out about a game called Europa Universalis.  I immediately found a store, yes an actual store, that sold it and bought it that night.  Ever since then, I've pretty much bought every game they have put out.

That includes the latest game in the EU series, Europa Universalis 4.  I've had it pre-ordered for a while now, but Paradox recently announced that they were including a CK2 to EU4 converter!  That means you can take your saved Crusader Kings 2 game, and convert it into an EU4 start.  How amazing is that?





The next step, a EU4 to Victoria 2 converter!  Sadly, that is only in my dreams for now, but we are getting closer to one all encompassing strategy game from Paradox.  Now I just need to really get myself into a CK2 game, which has been a challenge for me.  I'm not sure what about CK2 puts me off, but it is time for me to get over it.

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Give it to me, now.

Now I've done it, I went and watched a video about the upcoming game, Europa Universalis 4 (EU4) and now I have to have it.  Let the obsession begin.  To make matters worse, there are a couple of expansion packs for EU3 which I have neglected to play.  That means I am very close to hitting the Buy button on Steam.

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