Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations Review

For a game as good as Europa Universalis IV, any addition is a welcome addition. The deep, vibrant world in which the grand strategy takes place is practically made to be expanded. The first expansion, Conquest of Paradise, brought some excellent new mechanics including the brilliant randomised America feature. With consistent free updates as well, EUIV is an incredible package. Yet there are, as you’d expect, small issues with the game. No title is perfect, and one of EUIV’s weakest elements is the trade system that feels more like a tacked-on mechanic than a remotely important part of the game.

Wealth of Nations, the second main DLC for Paradox’s most recent grand strategy title, focuses on that very trade mechanic and claims to turn it from one of the game’s weakest aspects, to a fun and integral mechanic of its own. ‘Claims’ is the operative word there as this is ultimately a disappointing outing from Paradox, especially if you consider the publisher’s excellent history with post-release content. For a multitude of reasons, the expansion fails to bring the revolution to the trade system as promised. There are a few good worthwhile additions, but none that come close to the game-changing mechanics introduced in Conquest of Paradise.

The main issue is that the core trading system has remained essentially unchanged, which means it’s still boring and practically passive. The system of placing merchants in trade nodes, either collecting goods or directing trade flow, is relatively unchanged, which is a problem. If Paradox really wanted Wealth of Nations to be a worthy addition to the game then the trade mechanic needed a full overhaul. The trade was many critics’ and fans’ primary complaint when the game was first released and it’s surprising to see that this DLC, supposedly intended to rejuvenate the mechanic, fails to make it interesting.

The irony of this is that the changes that have been put in place to effect the trade mechanics are generally good. The ability to send privateers out to foreign trade nodes is both amusing and helpful; just imagining all your ships bothering the French tradesmen is a pleasant experience. It’s a good way to build up extra finance and damage enemy trade, but in reality it works in a very similar way to the protect trade feature in the base game. More significant is the improvement of inland trading: specific inland trade nodes are now available, allowing landlocked nations to try their hand at trade. It’s a lot more difficult without the help of a navy, but it’s an interesting scenario for more experienced players to try.

Then there’s the greater implication of trade into EUIV’s diplomacy system, probably the best addition to the game in Wealth of Nations. Working in tandem with the privateer action, it’s now possible for you and other nations to declare war based on conflicting trade power on one node. Trade therefore becomes not only a way to make money, but a way to truly gain power and territorial influence. Conversely, it can make you vulnerable to enemy attack if your army isn’t up to scratch. Although with a functional trade system, your army certainly should be up to scratch. The combination of all these changes makes it much easier for small trade nations to become global superpowers, even without a large home territory.

Of course while it is now a little easier, it’s still not particularly fun. These additions are all well thought through, but they feel tacked-on as opposed to game-changing mechanics. That’s a feeling that dominates much of this expansion; the ability to set up trade companies, for instance, makes colonial provinces more trade-effective, but it does little in the way of interactive gameplay. It’ll bring you extra money in all likelihood, but unlike the colonial nations they won’t provide much in the way of interesting military or diplomatic decisions. The buildable canals are also more of a showpiece than a useful addition to the game. They cost a mind-boggling amount of cash and don’t really offer all that much in return. They’re visually cool, but that’s not really what this game is about.

There are other smaller features, including the ability to designate a trade capital, request trade power from defeated nations and a selection of changes to the religion system. Again, they’re good additions, just nothing that’ll make players leap at this DLC. Perhaps the most annoying part of all of this is the free patch that launched alongside Wealth of Nations. Patch 1.6 brought with it a generous amount of great free changes like a much improved rival system and an interesting policy mechanic. This, all alongside subtle changes to the background workings of the game that make it easier to create a decent army as a non-western army - a crucial addition to the game. It’s worth heading back into EUIV just for this patch; which sadly can’t be said for Wealth of Nations, which feels a little pointless alongside the free additions.

It’s a shame that such an excellent game hasn’t, in Wealth of Nations, received an add-on particularly worthy of its name. Conquest of Paradise was an excellent start to the primary post-release content for EUIV and this isn’t a good continuation of that beginning. The trade mechanic ultimately needed an overhaul in order to be genuinely fun and exciting like many of the other aspects of the game. With no complete mechanical change in tow, Wealth of Nations is ultimately a disappointment, and only really worthy of a purchase if you’re thinking of playing a trade-specific campaign. Those tacked-on additions will improve a trade focused game, but they don’t make it any more fun. Which, considering how slow and unintuitive the current system is, can only be a major drawback.