Europa Universalis IV

[Darujhistan]

Sounds like Emperor 1.30 is a complete disaster, not surprised they've released yet another half-arsed bug ridden mess, another boatload of money for PDS for something they have shoved out the door and to ahve the paying customer beta test and fix for free to boot. Golden Century, IR, La Resistance all crapola on release.

IR was the last PDS product I ever buy on launch or ever pay full price for.

 

[Witto]

So far I've only loaded up the game to see how many of my mods have stopped working (all of them!), but it does sound like it's another own goal on the part of PDS.

It really does beg the question what testing they do before release, not much it seems.

Will be interesting to see the backlash if CK3 also ends up being a mess when it comes out in September, which you have to think it will be based on their recent track record.

 

[philstanbridge]

It's not a complete disaster but it has introduced a LOT of bugs and issues. That said, it's still worth playing. The game is playing slower because the AI can't handle the new estate mechanics. They are also running out of money faster and not keen on starting or joining wars as a result. The game play has been a lot slower, as has expanding. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it needs looked at.

I'm not pre ordering CKIII for that reason.

 

[Darujhistan]

So far I've only loaded up the game to see how many of my mods have stopped working (all of them!), but it does sound like it's another own goal on the part of PDS.

It really does beg the question what testing they do before release, not much it seems.

Will be interesting to see the backlash if CK3 also ends up being a mess when it comes out in September, which you have to think it will be based on their recent track record.

Thier forums are in uproar, and STEAM rating has dropped apparently. PDS have gone full EA/Activision now, they're just pushing anything out the door becuase people will insist on handing over money in advance.

I find it highly amsuing that the Bronze Age mod is already better than IR!

Fanbioi's are saying CKIII will be fine on launch because it's based on CKII to a large extent we'll have to see how well that holds up. I just think they don't care about play-testing outside of live streaming the game which acts as advertising, knowing full-well they have a fanbase who will beta test anything they put out for free, while they go and put development into more profitable avenues.

You just cannot trust them with a penny any more.

 

[HungryHippos]

Thier forums are in uproar, and STEAM rating has dropped apparently. PDS have gone full EA/Activision now, they're just pushing anything out the door becuase people will insist on handing over money in advance.

I find it highly amsuing that the Bronze Age mod is already better than IR!

Fanbioi's are saying CKIII will be fine on launch because it's based on CKII to a large extent we'll have to see how well that holds up. I just think they don't care about play-testing outside of live streaming the game which acts as advertising, knowing full-well they have a fanbase who will beta test anything they put out for free, while they go and put development into more profitable avenues.

You just cannot trust them with a penny any more.

That's the thing though, for me I'd be happy to play a beta test of a game if I had an interest in it, but also if it wasn't a release title.

PDX definitely have enough people that would beta test the games for free, but they don't seem to give beta tests to external people very much, or at least clearly not widely enough.

 

[Darujhistan]

That's the thing though, for me I'd be happy to play a beta test of a game if I had an interest in it, but also if it wasn't a release title.

PDX definitely have enough people that would beta test the games for free, but they don't seem to give beta tests to external people very much, or at least clearly not widely enough.

Yes. There's a vast difference between beta testing an unreleased game for free, and paying to beta test a broken product. They give out the game to influencers again, that's because it provides extra financial benefit.

 

[philstanbridge]

Just reading they are already working on the hotfix. But it wont be out before the weekend. They're obviously aware of a number of significant issues.

 

[No1newts]

I loaded it up, wtf is up with France

So OP with a board of happy little subjects to do your dirty work for you.

 

[Darujhistan]

I loaded it up, wtf is up with France

So OP with a board of happy little subjects to do your dirty work for you.

Quite ironic that with an expansion focussed around the HRE they've broken the HRE...

They don't give a tuppenny jizz what they put out these days...not that PDS are on their own in that regard it's industry wide.

 

[philstanbridge]

It will get fixed.

I've yet to play as France but from what I've read its quite hard forming alliances and everybody hates you

 

[No1newts]

It will get fixed.

I've yet to play as France but from what I've read its quite hard forming alliances and everybody hates you

I was lucky as I had spain loving me but everyone else hates me. I may be able to take on Burgundy early game now as well, horde of minions Vs horde of minions

 

[No1newts]

I'm just remembering what a time sink this is

Game is playing out weird since patch and be interesting if it as intended. Austria struggling and lost emperor very early, Castille struggling and being murdered by Aragon, Papal States taking almost all of Italy, Hungary growing loads (and not just being Ottoman fodder)

Odd map so far. Making decent enough progress so far but Burgundy dropping into Austria slowed that down and to avoid a PU I had to marry a commoner and it tanked my legitimacy so slowed right down dealing with constant rebellions (typically I'm excommunicated at the same time)

Great game but time killer

 

[Witto]

I forgot how ugly EU4 is without any mods installed!

Thankfully everything is now back to how it was before the update, so once PDS get their act together and fix the game I can give it a go.

In the meantime I'm quite enjoying CK2, although coming from EU4 the border gore is not good for my OCD for having everything neat and tidy.

 

[philstanbridge]

What mods do you use? I only mod HOI4 so far. I'm not playing a European country until the game is fixed its just a bizarre time sink. I'm playing as a Unified Japan, which is very interesting and completely irrelevant to the carnage in Europe.

 

[Witto]

I only use a few, but the game looks so much better (imho)...

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (originally by Kryo but now updated by EarthWormDan) - complete overhaul of the map graphics (graphical map improvements is also very good alternative)
Arumba's font mod - replaces the horrible default font with the one used in Stellaris
Simple Fog of War (by Xioben)
Bigger UI (by Prodarit) - worth it for the uncovered acceptance indicator alone
Bigger production UI (by Prodarit)
Cleaner Peace Terms mod (by Parasite03)
Coloured mission tree (a very basic mod that i created myself)

All the above are achievement/ironman compatible.

I'm not keen on the interface changes that come as part of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum mod so I run it locally and edit them out, as well as a few other minor tweaks that are down to personal preference

I also run the font mod locally as I've made a couple of minor changes to that too

Why the uncovered acceptance indicator isn't in the base game is beyond me (it basically swaps the positions of the acceptance tick/cross and the money field on the peace deal window so you can see everything without having to keep moving the pointer)

I was playing outside Europe leading up to the Emporer changes, Jianzhou to Qing was fun, although I think Ardabil to Persia was probably my favourite.

 

[Umbiggy]

Just started getting into this, can’t believe I’ve been missing out, little gem of a game. Managed to face roll everyone with the Ottomans and France as a few introductory games to get used to the game and what not. Been trying Venice for a challenge as it seems quite interesting, but keep getting face rolled by the Ottomans every now and again. Going to try building a larger navy and blocking their armies out of Europe at the Constantinople crossing next play around to see how that goes.

Any other reasonable games anyone can suggest to learn the key game mechanics before I jump into some harder challenges?

 

[philstanbridge]

It is a gem but it’s a slow burner. There is so much to learn. England is always good for a beginner. Has the hundred year war with France and civil wars plus the Anglican Church providing you’ve got the expansion. Teaches you a few things for sure including working with vassals. There are dozens of good countries to play

 

[No1newts]

Argh I hate (and love) how fickle this game can be!!

Playing Naples for the first time, early I got Castille and France to support my independence so broke away taking Sicily back too. Ignored Papacy and got Siena (after a coalition against me for aggressive expansion) Lucca, Bologna and Ferrera under a PU. Fought Venice and smashed the **** out of them and all was good in the game! Allied with Milan (planning treachery in the future but that's par for the course!) Castille, England, Austria and Burgundy I was unassailable and ready for future expansion... Or so I thought....

France broke off relations with me as I was getting too powerful, ok, screw off le frog I'm getting gud. Then Austria broke off with me and rivalled me... Bunch of ***** but I'm still good. I then had to declare a new rival (post Venice smash) and I didn't feel ready to take on France so I went Burgundy and there's another ally down... Still, I have Milan, Papacy, England and Castille with me (they also had PU over Aragon) so I'm untouchable. Top up my man power then let's smash Genoa and onward and upward... Or so I thought...

Milan ruler died promoting a succession war between me and... France, yup, France. I could have backed out but that would be me locked in Italy all game of France gobbled Milan, so in we go!!! I declare, Papacy screw me and run for the hills and both Castille and England have massive debt and don't declare either OH JESUS HELP ME!!!!!

However I have such a big income (22g a turn!) And 1400g in the bank i can do this, then I screwed up I paid off the debt of Castille (850g) so they joined me, I got this!! But I didn't go this I made the mistake of going half cocked against France and they raised Castille to the ground (forcing them to release Aragon!) And curb stomped me making me lose all my territory north of Papacy game done and lost

I had so much cash and such a high income I SHOULD have paid off England's debt to pull them in as well, I SHOULD have got more debt and loaded up on more mercs to supplement my low man power army.... But I did none of that thinking Castille would carry me and that's a brilliant save over

I love the game so much but damn does it punish you if you make a mistake and a good game can unwind so fast

 

[philstanbridge]

It's an amazing game for stories like that. It happens a lot, and if you run the timeline map you can see large AI countries coming and going just like you describe, all because of mistakes like that. Sometimes even large countries like Spain get eaten by much smaller neighbours and alliances. Anything is possible. Ideally you need a plan and try and stick to it. Also focus on the idea groups. A pretty significant bug at the moment is the AI debt spiral. You ran into it yourself. It is delaying a lot of the majors and prevents a lot of them from joining wars, or even declaring. I guess it needs to be fixed asap as it is ruining games for some. You were lucky you had such a large income.

I havent tried Naples believe it or not.. I think I might give it a shot now

 

[suenstar]

Naples is a good fun nation to play as if you enjoy having to negotiate with lots of nations and get wrapped up in a lot of smaller wars.
Depending on how the relationships progress. it can sometimes be a fairly slow start with you being under a personal union under Aragon but you'll generally get a good sense fairly early on if you have to wait long to break free based on who rivals Aragon and Castile.

Albania is another nation that's pretty fun to play as, there's always a high chance that the Ottomans will destroy you early on... but if you're lucky and they leave you alone for a bit, you start off with a very strong general and can explode across the map.