Europa Universalis IV – that big ol’ historical strategy game – is getting an expansion called The Cossacks, out December 1st. If you like naval combat, the Middle Ages and trying to take over the world, boy are you in for a treat. A certain super evil cartoon lab rat would no doubt approve.
Taking over the globe demands a plan. Get those juices flowing by reading about the best PC strategy games around.
The headline feature is a new diplomatic system that allows you to highlight provinces you’re looking to expand; giving both your pals and enemies a heads-up on your future world-conquering plans.
Here are a few other choice new features as detailed by the game’s press release:
- “The Estates: Allocate lands to clergy, nobles and merchants as you try to balance the powers in your Renaissance state.
- Tell The World What You Want: Designate neighboring provinces as “places of interest”, build trust with other nations, and entice allies with the promise of land for their support.
- Tengri: Tengri is now a Syncretic faith, allowing it to tolerate a secondary religion as if it were a national faith.
- Horde Unity and Razing: Nomadic nations now must pay attention the horde unity of their tribes – a unity that can only be maintained by the occasional pillaging
- Improved Culture Change: You can now restore a previous culture to a converted province, or convert a province you hold to a culture that is not your own.
- Native Policies: Set your policy for colonial encounters with natives. Are you focused on quick subjugation, peaceful growth or trading advantages?
- Improved Espionage: New spy actions allow you to study the technology of more advanced countries and prod your rivals’ subjects towards independence.”
Generously, even if you decide not to stump up for the new expansion, developer Paradox Entertainment will be releasing a major free content update for allEuropa Universalis IV players around the time The Cossacks pulls into port next month.
I think the last time I played a strategy game of any form was back in 2001 with Black & White. Making a giant monkey god stomp on a bunch of puny villagers totally counts as ‘strategy’, yeah?