Strategy gamers fulfill their power fantasies in 4X games. One of the most reliable suppliers of such “I conquer the world” dreams is Paradox Interactive. They have been working on a new game in Barcelona for years, with everyone assuming that it will be Europa Universalis V. Now they have introduced a new mechanic that has every world despot dreaming.
What kind of game is this? Officially, the game is called “Project Caesar,” developed by Paradox Tinto, and nobody knows exactly what the mysterious project hides.
Unofficially, everyone is clear that the game must be “Europa Universalis V.”
Europa Universalis is one of Paradox’s flagship series: The series of historical strategy games simulates the world between the 15th and 18th centuries. The current Europa Universalis IV was released in 2013 and has received so many DLCs over the last 12 years, that one has to shell out nearly €400 on Steam to get everything.
Europa Universalis V has not yet been officially announced, but what is known about the game so far sounds fantastic: Europa Universalis V is supposed to simulate the world between 1337 and 1821. Central Europe alone is expected to fragment into 357 nations.
This jab is granted by Paradox: On February 12th, Paradox introduced a system in a new blog post on how to form new nations in Project Caesar (via Paradox).
The developers at Paradox have hidden a little jab at Civ 7 in the announcement. The text begins:
“Instead of your country automatically changing with each era, you change your nation by fulfilling certain objectives. Usually, you need to control a certain percentage of a predefined group of locations; for example, Scandinavia requires 75% of the places in the Scandinavian region.”
This alludes, of course, to the most controversial mechanic in the new Civilization 7, where you have to choose a new civilization in each of the 3 eras to continue your game. In Europa Universalis, you do not have to change nations, but usually want to. Because with an ascension to a “higher-tier” nation, you also receive higher-tier bonuses.
The world despot wants an ever-growing throne
This has been the power fantasy so far: In previous games, you could rise as an empire and shape ever larger nations, but at some point it comes to an end.
You can start as a small county in Ireland (Tier 0), then form a duchy (Tier 1), then the nation of Ireland (Tier 2), and finally Great Britain (Tier 3), but then it’s also over. The whole system of founding new nations in Europa Universalis IV is a case-by-case decision and often quickly hits its limits.
To form the next larger nation, certain requirements must be met: It’s about land ownership or having a certain culture, following a religion, or reaching a certain technology level. For some nations, you also have to complete complicated events or win wars.
Those who form such a new nation usually have special bonuses, unite more cultural groups, or even receive new tech and mission trees.
The highest goal in Europa Universalis V is to become Europe
This has been the power fantasy so far: However, in the so-called Europa Universalis V, a mechanic has now been introduced that even goes up to Tier 5. This means that not only will you form nations that historically existed, but even nations that were historically conceivable. However, these exist only if the player opts for it – they can also choose the setting that only “real” countries exist.
What is the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal in Europa Universalis V will apparently be to form a “Tier V” region – namely Europe. There are many ways to achieve this goal.
One possibility would be: You start as a Tier-0 land, perhaps somewhere in Ireland. Now you conquer some neighboring provinces and form the Tier-1 nation of Connacht.
Now you acquire the neighboring provinces and absorb them until you become the Tier-2 nation of Ireland.
Now it’s Scotland, Wales, and England’s turn. Once the power has consolidated, you rise to the Tier-3 nation of Great Britain.
Now it would be possible to grab Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. You then declare the ahistorical “Kingdom of the North Sea,” consisting of Great Britain and Scandinavia. However, this is also a Tier-3 empire. In EU V it will be possible to form higher or equivalent empires, just don’t downgrade – so don’t go back from Great Britain to England.
The next goal could be to form a Tier-4 nation: perhaps the Holy Roman Empire, Byzantium, or the “ahistorical” Rome: reviving the empire of the ancient Latins.
But the ultimate power fantasy is to form a Tier-5 nation: Europe itself.
Now that is a power fantasy befitting Europa Universalis.
Germany’s reigning Gamer of the Year, Maurice Weber, has come far with his relentless will to power:
This is what it’s about: In Paradox’s 4X strategy games, there are no real goals, only goals that players set for themselves. “Normally,” you rule over the entire game in Europa Universalis IV as France when you have a successful game, but it’s indeed a gigantic France that stretches from London down to Africa in the south and Istanbul in the east, encompassing South America and North America as well.
Providing clear goals here and linking them to tasks will greatly please many fans of the game. You can read more about the game, which we must not call Europa Universalis V, here: Steam: Strategy geniuses reveal map of the Holy Roman Empire with 357 playable nations – fans rejoice
