You could start a game of Crusader Kings II in 1066 as the Count of Ulster, unify Ireland, conquer England, maybe inherit part of modern-day France, and then bring that save game into EUIV to begin your global empire. Though technically unaffiliated, the Crusader Kings II developers went back and built a converter that will import their saves into EUIV. Or, at least, playing the same basic save file. In fact, it’s possible you were playing the same game. At this point, you could start a game of Crusader Kings II in the year 1066 (or 867 if you bought the Old Gods DLC) and it would still appear like you were playing the same game when you finished your game of EUIV in 1820. By and large, I was on my own.Ĭape Verde: The first of many Portuguese colonies. When I started playing EUIV for review, I forgot there wouldn’t be any helpful tutorials out there for me to fall back on. I did it with Europa Universalis III, with the Hearts of Iron games, and even with Crusader Kings II.

With that in mind, let me tell you what my “grand strategy” has traditionally consisted of when approaching a new Paradox title: launch the game, marvel over the epic menu music, load the tutorial, complete the tutorial, feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on the game, start a real campaign, play twenty minutes, realize I understand nothing at all, watch as my empire crumbles to dust, exit the game, and load up YouTube videos with titles like “Learn to Play Europa Universalis!” or “Europa Universalis for noobs!” On the trade map, arrows represent trade routes. You spend a lot of time looking at beautiful maps in this game.

Europa universalis 4 tutorial