14 DAY TRIAL // After trying to see exactly how the Netherlands earns its independence from Spain in Europa Universalis IV – Res Publica, I pushed the start date of the game forward in order to see how the nation can perform when it comes to managing its colonial empire.
In the early XVII century, the country has a number of expansion opportunities in Asia and in South America, and it even has a foothold in the already very crowded North America, which means that the player can choose where he wants to push and build a bigger empire.
I chose to try and control as much of southern Africa as possible because the area tends to be rich in resources and can also help trade steering towards Europe, which can increase future profits as long as my merchants are well placed.
With every new event I tried to push the Orangist agenda, which means that I had better navy and trade power in order to sustain this push, and I took a number of initial big loans so I could sustain a rapid colonization effort, which can be quite expensive.
Portugal was stirring trouble in South America, and after a few failed small colonial skirmishes, I chose to make peace with them in order to focus on other areas, and I also tried to stay positive in terms of diplomatic relations with as many European powers as possible.
Ivory and gold from Africa can quickly become money makers in Europa Universalis IV, and the Dutch are well positioned to use them to become a force, although it’s very hard to compete with England, which quickly declared I was their rival, and with Spain.
I moved much too quickly initially and found out how capable native uprisings can be when most of my troops are two oceans away and when France decides to launch an expansion war in order to pick up some of the territories in South America.
Netherlands is an interesting nation to play in Europa Universalis IV – Res Publica, but it seems that regardless of the moment when I control them they have too many problems to deal with at once and lack the resources to challenge more established major powers.
I will continue to try and succeed with the Dutch for a few days, but I can already see my interest in them dwindling, and my imagination is returning to the grand plans that I had for an expansive Bohemia.