14 DAY TRIAL // Paradox Interactive followed up on the August release of the new grand strategy World War II videogame Hearts of Iron III by putting out the Heir to the Throne expansion for Europa Universalis III, which covers the history of the Middle Ages, with a focus on Europe.
Considering that the company is selling a package called EU III Complete, which includes the original and Napoleon's Ambition and In Nomine expansions, is might seem absurd for a new expansion to be delivered but after playing around with it for a few years, I can confess that there's no way I could actually imagine playing the game without it.
Heir to the Throne markets itself as refining most of the aspects of Europa Universalis III without expanding the time frame and it delivers on a grand scale. But the most important additions are not the new dynasty elements, which make it easier to plan for succession and to get territory through succession wars, or the new options added to the Merchant Republics or the tweaks made to the combat system, allowing for less ping pong in the battles.
The biggest new element in Heir to the Throne is the fresh Casus Belli system that manages to actually introduce some structure to most of the countries you can play as without actually giving up the free flowing structure of the game.
In the original EU III, it's hard to take on enemies without preparing the field extensively, robbing them of allies and making sure you would not take a stability hit. With the new expansions, you can claim a variety of reasons for a declaration of war and you get specific goals for the war you begin, which determine when you can end the conflict and what you can get out of it in terms of territories and other rewards without picking up the much feared Bad Boy points.
And it seems, after a few hundred years played, that it actually makes countries develop more naturally, rather than going on rampages and conquering all their neighbors. And the very good news is that the Blue and the White blobs that Austria and France were could pop up with less frequency.