Name | Europa Universalis IV | ||
Developer | Paradox Development Studio | ||
Publisher | Paradox Interactive | ||
Tags | |||
Release | 2013-08-13 | ||
GameBillet | 32.79 / € | ||
Steam | 9,99€ 8,74£ 9,99$ / 75 % | ||
News | |||
Controls | Keyboard Mouse | ||
Players online | 13330 | ||
Steam Rating | Very Positive | ||
Steam store | |||
SteamSpy | |||
Peak CCU Yesterday |
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Owners | 1,000,000 .. 2,000,000 +/- | ||
Players - Since release | +/- | ||
Players - Last 2 weeks | +/- | ||
Average playtime (forever) | 9391 | ||
Average playtime (last 2 weeks) | 1459 | ||
Median playtime (forever) | 3897 | ||
Median playtime (last 2 weeks) | 1459 | ||
| Public Linux depots | EU4 LINUX [50.69 M] | ||
| DLC | Europa Universalis IV: American Dream DLC Europa Universalis IV: National Monuments II Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise Europa Universalis IV: Conquistadors Unit pack Europa Universalis IV: Native Americans Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Songs of the New World Europa Universalis IV: Songs of Yuletide Europa Universalis IV: Native Americans II Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Colonial British and French Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Muslim Advisor Portraits Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations Europa Universalis IV: Muslim Ships Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Trade Nations Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Res Publica Europa Universalis IV: Anthology of Alternate History Europa Universalis IV: Indian Subcontinent Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Indian Ships Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations E-book Europa Universalis IV: Republican Music Pack (Skopje Sessions) Europa Universalis IV: Art of War Europa Universalis IV: Evangelical Union Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Catholic League Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Songs of War Music Pack Europa Universalis IV: Guns, Drums and Steel Music Pack Europa Universalis IV: Art of War Ebook Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado Content Pack Europa Universalis IV: Guns, Drums and Steel Volume 2 Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense Content Pack Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense E-Book Europa Universalis IV: The Cossacks Europa Universalis IV: The Cossacks Content Pack Europa Universalis IV: Sounds from the community - Kairis Soundtrack Europa Universalis IV: Catholic Majors Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum Content Pack Europa Universalis IV: Kairis Soundtrack Part II Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man Content Pack Europa Universalis IV: Fredman's Midsummer Epistles Europa Universalis IV: Songs of Regency Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven Content Pack Europa Universalis IV: Evangelical Majors Unit Pack Europa Universalis IV: Ultimate Music Pack Europa Universalis IV: Ultimate E-book Pack Europa Universalis IV: Early Upgrade Pack Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome Europa Universalis IV: The Rus Awakening | ||
Hey all! Today's Mod Spotlight features pretty art and pretty numbers.
 [h2]Selectable Abilities[/h2] When I first started playing EU4, I was drawn to and inspired by Ages and Splendor Expanded. In my opinion, the default Ages feature was lacking in depth and I wanted to find a mod that improved it asap. It felt unfinished. I loved ASE, but had my own ideas about improvements that could be made to the age mechanics. So as a new modder (with prior experience in another game/genre), I am deeply appreciative of the blessing I received to use ASE as a base from Melvasul and LimonenZitrone. LZ was extremely helpful in answering my questions early on, and without the expanded mod teams help, Ages Reformed wouldnt exist. One thing ASE did well was expand the number of selectable abilities. This is an obvious improvement over the default which features 7 or 8 broadly available abilities along with 3 or 4 nation-specific abilities. A crucial difference though is my strong distaste for nation-locking abilities and for scroll bars. So I fit as many abilities onto the UI as possible without a scroll bar, and removed the nation-specific element from all abilities. This resulted in 18 selectable abilities per age. More than double the amount previously available to all nations. And without a scroll bar! I will talk more about nation-specific abilities in the next section, but basically I made them on by default and reworked selectable abilities to be useful for all nations. [h2]Permanent and Stacking Bonus Pathways[/h2] I added two brand new mechanics to Ages: permanent bonuses and stacking bonuses (from age to age). Many of the abilities you can choose for each age now offer a small permanent bonus that is relevant to the bonus you chose. For example, if you choose the ability called Hardened Soldiers, you will receive the primary buff of -25% Land Attrition until the end of the age, but you will also receive a permanent buff called Endurance which gives your nation +5% Fort Defense until the end of the game.  Not only does your nation receive a permanent buff, in subsequent ages, choosing a similar ability offers you the chance to improve the previously acquired permanent buff. For example, choosing Hardened Soldiers again in a later age, will give your nation +10% Fort Defense until the end of the game. These stacking bonuses come in groups of three and cover a number of different ability and bonus types including: economy, espionage, religion, military, navy, diplomacy, and more. Choosing the third buff in a stack of three in the third or fourth age will give your nation a History of bonus that drastically improves the nature of the buff. Therefore it can be said that the decisions your people make in the Age of Discovery have a lasting impact on their descendants in the Age of Revolutions!  [h2]Nation Specific Abilities[/h2] The default age mechanic locks three or four selectable abilities to certain nations only. In Ages Reformed, these ability slots are freed up for all nations and the removed abilities that must have been chosen as the specific nation before are now granted to those nations by default. Example, the Ottomans no longer need to choose the Guns of Orban. They now start the game with the bonus. In addition, some new nation specific abilities have been added. To see a list of the nation specific abilities present in the game, hover over the icon in the bottom right of the age painting. This list will show all nation specific abilities active from the start of the age. They expire at the end of the age.  [h2]Age Objectives[/h2] One thing that I set out to fix with the objectives feature, was the idea that some of the objectives were not at all able to be accomplished by many nations. For example, in the Age of Discovery, the default mechanic gives landlocked mid-Asian countries the objective to Discover America, something severely out of reach for such nations. I looked for opportunities like this to create objectives which were more broadly accomplishable and took it a step further by introducing the concept of region specific objectives. Now it doesnt matter where you play, youre almost always guaranteed to see eight objectives per age that your nation can accomplish.  To build on top of this accessibility, some objectives which require getting or building x of thing, now define x differently for different nations. For example, while the objective Build a Fleet may require Ming or other large powers to have 10 Light Ships and at least 5 Heavy Ships or 20 Galleys, the same objective only requires 2 Light Ships and at least 1 Heavy Ships or 4 Galleys from tribal nations. Build a Fleet - Larger fleet required to complete the objective for larger nations.  Build a Fleet - Smaller fleet required to complete the objective for smaller nations (Ex: Sub-Saharan Africa).  [h2]Age Objectives - Fulfilled[/h2] When fulfilling age objectives, splendor is no longer the only reward. Now each objective fulfilled provides a buff to your country until the end of the age. This information is visible by hovering over the ribbon icon in the bottom right of the age painting. This provides new motivation to achieve certain objectives!  [h2]UI and Artwork[/h2] As a professional graphic designer, I really put a lot of love into designing the UI for Ages Reformed and I think this is one area where the mod really shines. Lets start with the age frame itself. As mentioned previously, I really did not want to use scroll bars, and so my focus was zoomed in on presenting 18 age abilities, 8 age objectives, and 4 age icons (more for compatible mods) in a concise and compelling way.  I mimicked the art style used by Paradox and really strove to make sure the frame and background fit into the game and looked as if what I imagined the default would look like if they had created the same mechanics that I had. This had me swapping the placement of the age icons, making the age abilities go vertical and increasing the size of the overall frame to accommodate the extra objective per age. [h2]Region or Religion Specific Artwork[/h2] One of the most defining characteristics of Ages Reformed is the region, religion, and culture specific objectives, highlighted by the unique artwork for each. Why use a picture of a Catholic cardinal for Convert Provinces when playing as an Islamic nation, when a picture of an Imam would add so much visual flavor?  These images were sourced from both historical painting, icons I found or made myself, and other images in the creative commons. To get the right look and to create images that have never existed before in the correct postures and art style, I also used Stable Diffusion (ai) to create or edit the foreground or background of many objective icons. Overall, half of the time developing Ages Reformed was invested in image sourcing online, in SD, and tons of editing and original work in Photoshop. I spent a lot of time working on this particular feature of Ages Reformed, because removing the one image fits all default and seeing unique and relevant images for the nation youre playing as adds a ton of flavor and visual interest in my opinion. It really helps immersion! Take a look at how these age objective icons differ by region, religion, or culture. These examples dont necessarily include all of the images shown in game for that objective. Humiliate Rival - In this example, youll see this icon if your rival is likely to be (in order): Native, European, Muslim, African, Indian, Steppe (Mongol), Asian, and Aboriginal (Australian Native).  Regional Market Supply - Unique pictures for different cultures and regions.  Build a Fleet - Unique pictures for different cultures and regions.  Great Leader - Unique pictures for different cultures and regions.  Competent Court - Unique pictures for different cultures and regions.  Religious Unity - Unique pictures for each religious group and some individual religions in the game.  Convert Provinces - A unique picture of a missionary for each religion in the game.  And so much more not shown here! The screenshots above dont necessarily include all icons for the objective. [h2]Age Paintings and Tooltips[/h2] I really endeavored to make sure the age paintings stood out. Each painting highlights something significant from each of the four ages. The realistic paintings have been touched up in Photoshop to highlight certain details. Age of Discovery - Columbus Landing at Guanahani, John Vanderlyn, 1837  Age of Reformation - Luther at the Diet of Worms, by Anton von Werner, 1877  Age of Absolutism - Charles II, by John Michael Wright, 1676  Age of Revolutions - Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze, 1851  You can hover over the question mark icon in the bottom right of the painting to reveal a tooltip that provides details about each painting.  Each of these three hover buttons provides useful information.
 [h2]Mod Compatibility[/h2] Six compatibility patches were made to make Ages Reformed compatible with other popular mods like Ante Bellum, Anbennar, Victorum Universalis, Albert (AIM), 1356, and Lords of Universalis. In addition, Ages Reformed is confirmed to work with the Expanded Mod Family (it replaces ASE) and over a dozen other widely used mods. When I made the compatibility patches, I was sure to add custom content that was relevant to the mods themselves. Check out the following screens and images from a few of the mods. Great Leader (Anbennar) - Unique pictures for different popularly chosen mod-specific races: Elves, Humans, Orcs, Dwarves, Goblins, and Harimari.  Humiliate Rival (Anbennar) - Unique pictures for different mod-specific races: Elves, Humans, Orcs, Dwarves, Centaur, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Harimari.  Competent Court (Anbennar) - Unique pictures for different cultures and regions: Elves (Aelantir), Humans (Cannor), Elves (Cannor), Orcs, Dwarves, Harimari, Humans (Haless), Other.  Age of Feudalism (1356) - The Archoros City, Merl1ncz, 2007  Age of Industrialization (Ante Bellum, Victorum Universalis, Albert AIM) - BASF Werk  [h2]Conclusion[/h2] Thank you for taking the time to read the mod spotlight, and I hope you enjoy Ages Reformed! Ages Reformed has been reviewed on youtube. [previewyoutube=tkhF40GGAyw;full][/previewyoutube] (English) [previewyoutube=KyGN2ZdR9_M;full][/previewyoutube] (Spanish) You can download the mod from the following links: Steam Workshop Paradox Plaza [h3]---------------[/h3] Thank you MDoulos for this detailed spotlight on ages reformed! This will be our last Mod Spotlight for a little while... that is until we return for Europa Universalis IVs 10th Anniversary in August. For such a special occasion we'll be covering a mod long requested. Take your bets on what that is :p Until then, we'll see you later! |
