14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Paradox Development Studios continues to work on the Art of War expansion for Europa Universalis IV, and this week they are offering a few more details about the changes they are making to the diplomacy feature and how they plan to change the internal workings of the in-game Catholic Church.
In an official forum post, the studio says that gamers can now choose to declare war in order to support a rebel faction that was funded by their nation, and a victories player can then enforce the demands of the rebellion on the country, which opens up a number of interesting strategic choices.
Paradox adds, “In Art of War, we have added the possibility to have the losing side give up claims in a peace treaty. We also added the option to have the loser pay war reparations for the duration of the truce, which is currently set at 10% of their monthly income.”
Gamers can now also declare war using the claim of a vassal and there’s a new option to sell ships to any nation that owns a port.
Catholic Church changes
One of the least interesting elements of Europa Universalis IV was the cardinal influence mechanics, and that is no longer part of the game, with Cardinals now linked to provinces and set to number up to 49.
The developer adds, “There is still papal influence, and this is generated by the number of cardinals in your territory, so there is some randomness you will have to deal with. Your relation with the Papacy also has an effect, as do events and other game decisions. You can store up to 100 papal influence points.”
Once a Pope is elected, the controller is chosen and that will not change for the duration of the character’s life and Papal Influence can be spent on other types of actions, like increasing legitimacy or a request for a monetary gift.
The new mechanics make much more sense and it will be interesting to see whether the Artificial Intelligence is able to use the influence wisely in order to compete with players for the control of the Catholic Church.
Art of War for Europa Universalis IV will focus on conflict and will make it easier for gamers to manage their armies, deal with the peace negotiations and take over enemy nations.
The expansion will be offered before the end of the year on the PC.
