Europa Universalis IV: Art of War Review

Art of War is an unusual choice of title for Paradox’s latest DLC for Europa Universalis IV. It’s certainly the biggest update to the warfare mechanics of the grand strategy title yet , but it’s not the best thing about the expansion. The phrase itself also implies a closer look at the Eastern provinces of the game (Sun Tzu and what not), yet the core feature of the DLC looks at Europe once again, in particular the 30 years’ war that ravaged the Holy Roman Empire during the 17th Century. Considering that title, I was hoping for a much grander overhaul of the game’s military systems which, while functional, have never been especially exciting. Instead we have yet another solid, but not essential, piece of DLC.

The Paradox DLC packs of late appear to be developing a focus on more specific time periods within history. The Charlemagne pack for Crusader Kings II tried, but didn’t really succeed, to tighten the focus of a campaign. The 30 years’ war system introduced in Art of War is more successful, but largely because it’s less prominent. Around the beginning of the 17th Century, the two religious powers of Europe (Catholicism and Protestantism) will divide into two Leagues; and no, it’s not football that’s on their minds, but rather religious domination of the Holy Roman Empire and therefore Europe.

What this means for the player is an interesting mechanic that allows you to join a League (or lead it if you’re powerful enough). The leader of the Protestant League can then declare war on the Holy Roman Emperor and kick off a HUGE European war that’s likely to be bigger than anything you’ve yet to see in EUIV. Which, for obvious reasons, is pretty cool. You just need to hope that you’re on France’s side... stupid France. Whichever side wins will take control of the HRE, so only nations of the victorious religion can be Emperor or electors to that position. There are a nice collection of specific events that tie in with the 30 years’ war, so all in all it’s a good addition to the game that’ll mix up the pace of European campaigns at the half-way point.

Weirdly, Paradox has also thrown in some small new mechanics and events that associate only with Revolutionary France. It’s weird because this point in history is so late in the game it hardly seems worth the time and effort. Nobody is going to start a campaign at this point just to try them out, and it’s a very minor addition to a large-scale French campaign. Sure, it’ll make the end-game a little more interesting, but the changes (in which you can choose to either support the revolution or fight against it) feel a tad insignificant. I think I’m just a little disappointed; after I read that the Napoleonic era would feature more prominently my love of Sharpe sent my imagination into over drive. Still, could have been more.

Tieing in with the Napoleonic vibe, however, is a cool new client state system that allows you to break off individual regions within your nation and set them up as customised states that act just like vassals. So you can begin to form your own Napoleonic-esque empire of extended control even if you’re not surrounded by tiny little states that just want to be friends. This comes alongside a bunch of new mechanics that focus on better control of your vassals. You can now dictate how your underlings act during a war: do you want to to raid armies, towns, or just stick near your forces? You can also set up Marches from your vassals, which don’t give you any revenue but provide a bigger, better army. All of these changes make it much more interesting to form vassals rather than directly taking land, which for many players could be a new experience.

Aside from the giant war of the 30 years’ conflict, there are some smaller, fairly average additions to the warfare mechanics. You can form pre-designed armies, navies are much easier to manage, especially now that you can just upgrade your current ships with one button press (a long, long overdue feature), and warfare diplomacy has received a few UI buffs. As mentioned, considering the title of the DLC I was hoping for some more significant additions to the combat systems. Most of these changes have a rather small effect on the game, the only properly decent mechanics are the ability to tell allies which regions to focus on and the ability to hand regions over to the war-leader.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Paradox grand strategy DLC without an accompanying free patch. In traditional form, a lot of the free content is better than that of the DLC. For me, the headline feature of the whole update (including the expansion) is the inclusion of hundreds of extra territories largely in areas outside of Europe. So now South America includes a lot more land, so too does Africa and certain parts of Asia. The non-European areas have also received a bit of an overhaul with new, more numerous territories. So now the Americas and Asia actually equal (or at least come close to) the number of territories in mainland Europe. It’s another positive step away from the Eurocentrism that dominated the first version of the game, making non-European nations much more interesting to play.

An overhauled rebel system is also available in the free patch, but this is less significant than the word overhaul actually implies. The mechanic is different, but the gameplay and effects are largely the same. Keep a check on your unrest (which replaces revolt risk) by building courthouses and the like, while plugging money and monarch points into regions to keep people happy. Being able to join, or start, a war in support of rebels you’re funding in another nation is a properly neat addition, although this one is only available through the DLC. I used that on more than a few occasions in my latest campaigns.

Art of War encapsulates so much of what I’ve thought about all the DLC for EUIV so far (with the exception of Conquest of Paradise). It’s a good array of content that fits very well into the larger experience, making it richer and more enjoyable. It’s content that would have been fantastic when I first fell in love with the game, but now as a veteran it’s not really enough to get me properly excited. The individual changes are just too small to notice any significant alterations. It’s worth playing a new campaign with the DLC, but you’ll probably have just as much fun with nothing but the new land brought through the patch. Again, it’s a good piece of DLC, if a little overpriced, but nothing revolutionary. Which is a phrase I’m becoming a little too familiar with in relation to Paradox.