Europa Universalis IV - Common Sense Review (PC)

Bohemia still has a relatively small chance to become a superpower that can dominate Central Europe and try its hand at colonization in America and Africa, but the new incarnation of my favorite Europa Universalis IV nation certainly has received an upgrade in the most recent Common Sense expansion.

The improved map and the revamped provinces mean that a little more income is available, and I have more strategic options when the numerous wars of the era start.

The Common Sense expansion turns the focus of the grand strategy title to Europe and gives gamers more options to improve the countries they are managing during peacetime and new ways to extract more value from the enemies they vanquish when wars start.

Story

Europa Universalis IV - Common Sense is a history-centered title that allows gamers to choose from a variety of start dates and then select the nation they want to guide through history.

There's a lot of freedom in the title, but the development team is also offering a variety of flavor events, based on both real-world history and potential alternate scenarios.

Europa Universalis IV is the perfect game to create stories in, and after almost any campaign I feel the urge to try and write an After Action Report detailing how I managed to lead once again Bohemia or France or Sweden to moments of triumph and loss.

Gameplay

Europa Universalis IV - Common Sense is the first expansion in which gamers can focus on the development of their nation rather than conquering territory from another.

The core mechanics of the series always encouraged the player to create stability at home and then decide which one of the rivals was the easiest to attack and defeat in order to expand, with the long-term goal being to annex another nation in order to gain power and then the resources to do the same to another.

With Common Sense, Paradox Development Studio has introduced three new development values for each province and has tweaked the building system to make them more crucial in the late game.

Basically, I can now take Bohemia and simply play the long game, making my territories better at producing tax and manpower by spending political and military points, working to maneuver my country diplomatically into a good position and only building up military means to defend myself.

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When a conflict occurs and a country needs to be involved, Common Sense introduces one huge tweak: army paths can no longer be modified once 50 percent of the movement has been executed, which means that gamers need to be more careful before delivering orders to their forces.

Fortresses now also have zone of control areas, and especially in the later centuries, it's harder to move armies around freely and simply aim for high-value provinces, which adds an extra layer of complexity to the combat system.

This makes major conflicts, like religious wars inside Europe or the battle against the Ottomans, more engaging but also longer, with bigger gains for the powers that have resources to see them through to the end, but also with disincentives for gamers who are thinking about starting them or getting involved.

Paradox has also worked on the peace negotiation aspect, eliminating annexation and scaling costs with development.

There are many other tweaks made to Europa Universalis IV in Common Sense, with changes to religions and the way the Holy Roman Empire operates and a new system of government, the English monarchy.

“The game has more strategic options than ever before, and even for powerful and resource-rich nations, disaster is just one bad decision away, like a war that arrives at an inopportune time or the death of a ruler who lacks a solid heir.”

Europa Universalis IV does not have the focus on interactions of Crusader Kings II and does not offer the narrow historical exploration of Hearts of Iron, but it is clearly the most varied grand strategy title offered by Paradox.

I tend to play mostly as Bohemia in the 1444 scenario, and the game offers enough choices that, in 50 years, none of my campaigns will look like any other before it.

And nations from Asia to America and Africa are also available, a lot of them with unique situations and challenges that will surprise those who tend to focus only on Europe.

Graphics and audio

Europa Universalis IV - Common Sense does not make any sort of change to the underlying engine that powers the grand strategy title and those who have not gotten used to the layout of the user interface and the way it delivers info will not see any major tweaks.

There are more ways to look at the map in order to gain a better understanding of the state of the world and the new interaction options mean that the menu system has been streamlined to make it easier to get access to all actions in one place.

Europa Universalis IV remains a very complex game in which getting the right detail at the right time can have long-term consequences for the fate of a country.

Europa Universalis IV - Common Sense HRE focus

But gamers should not worry too much about all the numbers crammed on screen and should first try to play and interact as much as possible, even if the outcome is suboptimal, before learning what every area of the UI tells them.

The soundtrack of Europa Universalis IV has some lovely pieces to listen to, but because of the long sessions associated with the title, I find that it's a better idea to run through one's collection of classical music when playing it.

Multiplayer

Europa Universalis IV - Common Sense will probably force most players to re-evaluate their favorite multiplayer strategies, and that means that it's a good moment for players who have not played with other humans to try out the concept and see how they like it.

The very mechanics of the grand strategy genre mean that a solid chunk of time is required and that in turn gamers should try to play with friends who are ready to commit to the session and are not afraid of losing.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion