14 DAY TRIAL // Art of War is shaping up to be the biggest expansion in terms of new content launched for Europa Universalis IV, and the team at Paradox Development Studios is ready to offer more information on the changes that it is making to the map, this time with a focus on the Near East, Arabia and Egypt.
123 new provinces are included in the areas and there are six new nation tags to play with and a Kurdish culture that at least part of the population will belong to.
For Arabia, the defining characteristic for the 1444 start date is that no great power is dominating the land although some factions are controlling the provinces where trade is plentiful.
The team states on the official forums, “Due to its unique geography, this region has benefited greatly from the map overhaul. First, the added provinces have been used to show the depth of the desert areas and the importance of the coastal areas. Second, the wastelands have been redesigned.”
Paradox Interactive says that Rub' al Khali is confined to more southern areas and the new Saudi desert will make military campaigns more realistic.
A new country introduced in Europa Universalis IV – Art of War is Shammar, a tribal state centered on Jabal Shammar to the north of the inhabitable area of the Arabian peninsula.
In Egypt, the Nile is the focus
For Egypt, the studio has increased the importance of the Nile, with more details for high population provinces and an increased power base for the Mamluk state.
The new state is called Makuria, in the Upper Nile region, ruled over by the Banu Kanz clan.
In the Levant and Mesopotamia, power is mostly shared between the Qara Qoyunlu federation in the east and the Mamluks in the west.
Paradox adds, “The focus in this region has therefore been to create a plausible situation once these empires collapse and to make the province setup better reflect the relative importance of some areas. You'll find that the Mesopotamian valleys and the ports of the Levantine coast are now much more detailed.”
Bothan and Lebanon are states that start out as revolts in the area.
Anatolia in Art of War for Crusader Kings II is splintered into smaller politics entities, with the Ottomans ready to conquer them all in order to establish their empire, and more provinces mean that their own power base is better represented for the coming centuries.
The expansion will be out on the PC before the end of the year.
