STRA-tegy

Got sick of trying to make Savoy work in EU4 for the moment, and so turned my ambitions to the septentrional, specifically to the Teutonic Order.

Prussia Universalis!

 

Why am I feeling so deeply blue about myself?

 

That'd be the opinion mapmode. If Brandenburg-Prussia forms in this timeline, it won't be by peaceful means. Gimme a break, this is still better than I usually do at the game and we're only a century in. I did just manage to take a tasty chunk out of Denmark at least, while clawing my way out of near-bankruptcy, and maintaining an alliance with Lithuania as buffer has kept me safe from the south and east so far.

But for all that Europa Universalis is billed as the definitive "grand strategy" title, little to none of that comes of any coherent plan on my part. Rather, half of it comes of predetermined events with predetermined outcomes, like being instantly billed for two decades' worth of income by the HRE's peasant revolt. The other half is just opportunistically exploiting the fumbling AI, which for a series so heavily dependent on politics and alliances, still flatly refuses to coordinate. I jumped into war against a Denmark weakened by Sweden, only for Sweden to react to my coming to its rescue... by ceding half its territory to Denmark. Nice one, Sven. Between that and the AI randomly giving itself massive opinion penalties against you whenever it feels like turning its coat, plus tech advancement limited by neighbour bonuses/penalties, plus peaceful vassalization/annexation almost impossible due to the economic base exponential penalty or foreign support penalty, playthroughs mostly boil down to keeping up with the Joneses while making land grabs when alliances randomly drop. With EU3's infamy for conquest nerfed and compensating mechanics like coalitions failing to pick up the slack for the AI's aforementioned fickleness, the rich just get richer faster. It's all about the superpowers now and scoring top points.

Don't get me wrong, at least you're no longer constantly playing whack-a-mole with revolts as in EU3, and I love the historic details and the delightfully convoluted economic side more than ever. Still, that approach has its downsides. Despite different idea groups or national bonuses, EU 3/4 has always felt too restrained for my tastes. Nations' opportunities might differ based on their place in the world, but their character always feels rather similar, names and sprite packs notwithstanding. Which admittedly suits EU's historical focus (monkeys are still monkeys, no matter what barrel you toss them into) and it is good <Strategy> sure, but so far of overstated grandeur.