Europa Universalis II

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Lore & Background

Europa Universalis II continues the grand strategy tradition of its predecessor, which was originally based on a French board game of the same name by Philippe Thibaut released in 1993. The game uses the Europa Engine, a proprietary software engine developed for the original. It went gold on January 23, 2001. The game proceeds in a pausable real-time format, with part of the world initially invisible as terra incognita, explorable by the player. Players direct one of the eight European powers available in the scenario and represent individual historical rulers, who change over time according to historical realities and have different skills—for example, John III Sobieski has high military skills, and Suleiman the Magnificent has high administrative skills. The game features historical events such as the Reformation, the Treaty of Tordesillas, and the uprising in the Netherlands, which significantly impact gameplay. Technological development is linear, with four areas: army, navy, infrastructure, and trade. Rebellions can occur due to religious differences, taxation, or game events, and rebels can secede and declare independence. Colonisation of uninhabited territories is a special element, using conquistadors and explorers to discover new provinces and settlers to settle them.

In Their Own Story

The year is 1492. The court of Castile buzzes with the news of Columbus's return—not with gold, but with tales of strange lands and stranger peoples. I, a humble clerk in the Royal Treasury, watch as King Ferdinand pores over crude maps of the New World, his fingers tracing unknown coastlines. Our treasury is thin, our armies weary from the Reconquista, but the promise of glory is intoxicating. I calculate the cost of a new fleet, the risk of war with Portugal, the whispers of heresy from the north. Every decision is a gamble—one wrong move, and our fledgling empire could crumble before it begins. The world is vast, but the margins of history are razor-thin, and I sharpen my quill, ready to write the next chapter.

Reader's Guide

Europa Universalis II is a historically accurate real-time strategy game that recreates 300 years of history from 1492 to 1792. The game lets the player take control of one of seven European nations (others are available in different scenarios), expanding power through military might, diplomacy, and colonial wealth. The game takes place on a two-dimensional map divided into approximately 1,500 provinces, and proceeds in a pausable real-time format. Part of the presented world is invisible for the player (terra incognita)—it is however possible to explore individual provinces. The player directs one of the eight European powers available in the scenario and represents individual historical rulers, who change over time according to historical realities and have different skills that translate into the development of the country. For example, John III Sobieski has high military skills in the game and Suleiman the Magnificent is a character with high administrative skills. The game features a number of historical events, such as the Reformation, the Treaty of Tordesillas and the uprising in the Netherlands, which have a significant impact on the game. The player can take care of technological development in their own country by allocating part of the budget to research. Technological progress is linear and consists in reaching higher and higher levels of technology in four areas: army, navy, infrastructure, and trade. With progressive development, the player gains new capabilities, such as improved units. It is also possible to increase spending to maintain stability in the state or to abandon all subsidies to increase the state treasury at the expense of rising inflation. Rebellions of the population can be a problem for internal development. Rebellions occur when there are differences between the state religion and the religion followed in a province (there are several different faiths and religions in the game), taxation of the population through the establishment of a tax collector's office, or as a result of game-activated events. Rebels can even secede from the state and declare independence. Therefore, the stability system plays an important role in the game, which determines the risk of rebellion in the provinces, as well as the speed of city development and the amount of taxes collected. A special element of the game is the colonisation of uninhabited territories. The player, using conquistadors (in the case of land forces) and explorers (for sea forces) has the possibility to discover new provinces and thanks to the settlers can settle the chosen territory.

Did You Know?

• Europa Universalis was originally based on a French board game of the same name by Philippe Thibaut that was released in 1993.
• The game went gold on January 23, 2001.
• The game features historical rulers like John III Sobieski with high military skills and Suleiman the Magnificent with high administrative skills.
• The game includes historical events such as the Reformation, the Treaty of Tordesillas, and the uprising in the Netherlands.
• The game's map is divided into approximately 1,500 provinces.