14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Paradox Development Studios working on Europa Universalis IV is delivering the first developer diary for the upcoming Wealth of Nations expansion, which is designed to give fans an overview of the new content they will be able to enjoy.
The company explains on the official forums that the previous expansion, Conquest of Paradise, focused on the big change that a randomized American continent could introduce and failed to expand other areas of the game.
Paradox promises that “For Wealth of Nations you can look forward to towards more features but perhaps less headline grabbing features, in other words more interesting gameplay changes but perhaps not so many features that force you to completely rethink your priorities.”
As the name implies, the coming expansion will focus on trade and on the impact it can have on the game world, expanding the strategic effects of a good player strategy and introducing more conflict between the nations that have solid merchants.
Trade Companies will allow players to control distant lands and there are also new options for diplomacy and more complex negotiations for peace treaties.
Gamers will also be able to use privateers in order to harass the trade lanes of their rivals.
Apart from of the trade system of Europa Universalis IV, the company will also introduce mechanics for other areas of the grand strategy title.
Paradox adds, “Like the Fervor features specially for the Reformed religion or a brand new mechanic dealing with competition among nations that we have not told you about yet, more on that in a later dev diary (or in the MP stream in a couple of weeks).”
The company will also continue its policy of deploying a major patch for its games at the same time that an expansion arrives, and for EU IV players will see some core features added to the base game and a lot of fixes and changes designed to improve the overall experience.
Wealth of Nations for Europa Universalis IV does not currently have a launch date, but we know that it will only be offered via digital distribution services on the PC.
Grand strategy fans will be able to pick up the Rajas of India expansion for Crusader Kings II on March 25, with an entire new subcontinent to deal with and three religions, each with its own mechanics and events.
The game will also include war elephants for the first time and there are new modding opportunities for the community.