Arcthos reporting after a somewhat extended hiatus (Sorry folks, it looks like we may need to reorganize our posting schedule. College can take up a lot of your time!). I thought I'd bring to your attention a game I started playing over this summer. This is another one for all of you strategy fans: Europa Universalis 3. I haven't even completed a full game yet, but I have been suitably pleased with what I've found so far.
Let me just start by saying this game is quite in-depth compared to most of my usual strategy fare. There are many factors to consider as you guide your nation through medieval and renaissance times. Do you have a positive balance in your treasury at the end of year, or are you on the verge of taking out a loan? How likely are revolts in all of your provinces? Is your rule considered legitimate, or do you have a weak claim to the throne? These barely scratch the surface of the questions you have to keep in mind as each game month passes. Luckily, there are plenty of displays and informational menus to help you make the best decisions.
And while I'm talking about the intricate choices you can make, let's not forget one of the most fundamental that affects your entire gameplay experience: What country will you be? In Europa, the answer to this is no small feat, as there are literally hundreds of options (especially if you download certain mods!). You can be a small Holy Roman Empire member nation in the middle of Europe, a bigger player like England, one of the Far Eastern countries, or even a Native American nation, all depending on the challenge and style of play you think you want. A fair warning: playing as anyone outside of Europe is naturally more difficult, as the Western tech tree is considerably more powerful than Eastern or Native American.
To give you an example of some actual gameplay, here is a brief overview of my time as the sovereign state of Bohemia. From the earliest possible start date (1399 A.D.), Bohemia is the Holy Roman Emperor, which confers some very nice bonuses to your economy, army, and administration. The Holy Roman Empire is essentially an elective monarchy, where one nation is in control until their ruler dies, at which point the nation who currently has the most votes among electors is made the new Emperor. I am proud to say that I have managed to never lose my Emperor title, despite several close calls. In fact, there are 8 imperial reforms that you can try to pass as Emperor, each one requiring you to spend 50 Imperial Authority (gained through performing various actions in maintaining the Empire) and each one increasingly centralizing power in the hands of the Emperor. I recently passed the last of these reforms, inheriting all of the remaining members and becoming a massive entity tagged as the HRE.
The game is full of choices and random events, and is styled in an open-ended fashion, so you can essentially set whatever goals you want along the way. You don't necessarily have to conquer the whole world; you might decide to dominate trade in a particular region, form a specific modern-day country, or even choose a historically insignificant nation and just try to survive to the end of the timeline. Yes, the timeline does have a definite cut-off date of 1821 (though this can be extended by a number of mods as well), so assuming you start in 1399, you'll have 422 years to complete your grand, or merely modest, plans.
I would certainly put this title as one of my top recommended, if only because if offers something noticeably different than most other games I play. I feel extremely involved in all of the details of running my nation, and the pause feature allows me to take a moment and survey my situation before issuing orders. Definitely a must-have if you've been wanting a little something more out of your strategy games.
-Arcthos
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