Europa Universalis is the brand name for 2 excellent
strategy games - Europa Universalis 1 and Europa Universalis 2.
Both games were created by the Stockholm-based developer
Paradox Entertainment and were relatively low-budget (EU2 probably had a smaller total budget than
Civ3's marketing budget - and is,
IMHO, nevertheless, a better, though less-known, game).
Europa Universalis 1 simulates the time-frame from 1492 (the year
Columbus discovered
America) to 1792, published in the U.S. by
Strategy First. It was rated at 8.1 ("great") by
Gamespot.
Europa Universalis 2 takes it further and includes the time-frame from 1419 to 1820 (thus permitting the
United States to appear), published in the U.S. by
Infogrames Entertainment. It was rated at 8.5 ("great") at Gamespot.
Europa Universalis 1 was pretty impressive, permitting you to conduct
diplomacy,
economy,
warfare,
exploration and
colonization in 9 scenarios with a number of historic events that guide the nations somewhat along the historic paths.
Europa Universalis 2 has not changed the
UI much (just support for multiple screen resolutions), but has made all > 180 nations playable, improved the diplomacy options and expanded the playground by including more provinces, more religions, cultures, and domestic policy "sliders".
Especially improved in EU2 are the
events - there are much more of them and they have better descriptions. The conditions for their appearance are varied - for example, the
French Revolution appears only if the aristocracy is given too much power (by the
domestic policy).
Both games are
real-time, with adjustable speed, and commands can be issued when paused. Both support
multi-player mode over
LAN and
TCP/
IP.
Both games do have a somewhat steep learning curve, which is somewhat alleviated by a better manual and tutorial in EU2. The UI is not
flashy, but is functional.
The name "Europa Universalis" reflects the technological and overall leadership that
Europe exhibited in
renaissance and
baroque times.
The games seem to capture both the
historical paths (e.g.,
Spain's AI is aimed at going after the
Aztecs and
Incas), as well as the deviations that result from pure chance,
butterfly effects, random events and player action.
Different difficulty levels and different inherent difficulty in playing each country can provide the
required challenge for each player - novices can play
Spain,
France or
England, while die-hard fans can attempt to survive with
Courland or unite
Germany with
Hessen. It is possible (though very difficult, and outright impossible on hardest difficulty on EU2 v1.04) to attempt a total world conquest, though many players will assume a more historical path instead, like maintaining the
balance of power in Europe with
England. Annexing other nations, gaining territory and otherwise being a
warmonger will increase your "badboy" value, thus making you hated by the rest of the world.
The games would most appeal to strategy game and history fans, and can also be recommended to children due to the
educational aspect (both in history and geography - since the map used is real, and you learn it in detail over time). Casual players may also be interested, and become strategy game or history fans after playing :-).
It is a game that requires actual
strategical thinking, as in "how do I play the
reformed and
catholics against each other in the
HRE to my advantage?".
Both games store most of the game data in
plain-text files allowing scenario and event creation, modification and in-depth comprehension. A scenario editor is planned for a future patch of EU2.
Both games have an active
community in the forums on the official website, and both are actively
supported by Paradox with both comments from the developers in the forums and free downloadable
patches (including new features and improvements).
The official website is http://www.europa-universalis.com/.
Europa Universalis is also the name of the
Avalon Hill board game that the aforementioned
computer game is based upon.
Comments and clarifications are welcome.
Some names may be trade marks of companies mentioned above.