14 DAY TRIAL // Venice was one of the great powers of the Middle Ages, at one point dominating almost all trade that took place in the Mediterranean, which meant that its representatives had access to the powers of both the West and the East and were the most reliable middlemen when it came to exotic goods.
In Europa Universalis IV, the grand strategy title from Paradox Development Studios, trade-focused nations are some of the hardest to play properly, mostly because they lack strategic depth, which means a limited number of provinces, and tend to also have trouble maintaining a powerful army in the long term.
This, coupled with tough neighbors like Austria, means that they have limited chances of short-term survival and it’s rare to see a campaign where the trading empires become dominant in any way, even if they manage to actually survive.
The Wealth of Nations expansion for Europe Universalis IV is set to address this problem and has enhanced the core game experience to make it interesting to play as trade-focused nations.
This means that I am taking charge of Venice (I usually play as Bohemia, France, other German empire minors or Aragorn) and then try to keep my armies small and my focus always on trade, trying to steer as much wealth towards my capital as possible.
Europa Universalis IV might be the best title in the series when it comes to accessibility, but the way money and goods flow around the world is pretty complex and I often found I did not understand trade enough to use it well.
While creating Wealth of Nations, the developers tried to make the entire experience more intuitive and easier for players to reach their goals without getting frustrated.
Venice is a genuine challenge to play well for me, so my short-term goals will be to try to resist any attack form neighbors, even Austria, while dominating at least two major trade routes using my merchants and my fleets.
If that succeeds I will try to expand with outposts towards the East while making friends with as many powerful nations in the West so that I never end up on the wrong side of a war.
It will be hard to stop myself from manufacturing wars and developing an army, but I want to learn the trader’s way and see what it has to offer in Europa Universalis IV – Wealth of Nations.