14 DAY TRIAL // 
Conquest of Paradise is the first expansion for Europa Universalis IV and the first big strategy release of 2014, created by the Paradox Development Studio in order to both change one of the core elements of the series and to boost the main gameplay mechanics.
The biggest change in the newly released content is the fact that, for the starting dates before 1492, both Americas can be randomized, which means that their familiar shape and resource distribution are eliminated and an algorithm builds a new reality that gamers will have to explore and exploit.
This makes the colonial game much more interesting because it’s harder to know exactly what kind of strategy to deploy, where to deliver colonists and which areas will be the most valuable once the rush for riches ends.
Paradox is not satisfied with the introduction of random elements and wants gamers to actually switch to the colonial nations they create and play as them, which means that a number of new mechanics have been added for them.
Colonies have the ability to fight their own wars against similar political entities and against natives, but their main aim is to declare independence from the home country and become superpowers on their own.
At the same time, the empires that they are part of will do anything and will use military force to keep them under control.
The new ideas are solid and make the game more interesting, but it takes time to get to that stage of Europa Universalis IV where gamers can see them in action.
I have had quite a few games as Spain and Britain where I was unable to dedicate myself fully to colonization in the Americas because nations declared war on me and I needed time to recover from internal disasters.
But once one gets the required technologies and frees up some ships and troops, it’s very interesting to deal with a weird new continent and it requires time and patience to make the right decisions about its colonization and exploitation.
Playing as an Indian tribe in the Americas is also a very different experience that requires a new way of thinking.
Basically, territory is much less important and warfare is more about prestige and humiliation than about annexing nations as each tribe tries to move around the randomly generated terrain to find the most fertile area and then invest in special techs.
Once those are filled up and if an advanced European nation is close by, then reforms become available. They can turn an Indian tribe into a new nation that’s just a little behind in terms of technology and can soon become a world power, as long as it plays its cards right.
This part of EU IV has an immediate impact and it allows the player to put the game on the fastest speed, while he tries to create a confederation and eagerly waits for a European nation to make landfall, hopefully in the lowest possible numbers.
There are some additions to Europa Universalis IV that are linked to the expansion, but not actually part of it, delivered via the free patch 1.4, including a big reworking of all the trade routes coming into Western Europe, more winds to help explorers move around the map and Protectorates to make the colonial game more interesting.
The new trade route nodes have a big impact, making it harder for the Artificial Intelligence to starve me of money while I try to play military leader around Europe.
When it comes to graphics, there are no huge improvements in Conquest of Paradise, as it is easy to discern from the attached images, but the game continues to look lovely, with plenty of tweakable interface elements that allow each player to customize how much information he is getting.
There are new map views to use, useful for those who want to better understand where to settle in the randomized new world, but they do not feel like a core addition in any way.
The music of Europa Universalis IV remains a solid mix of classic themes and innovative sounds, but the game tends to take up so much time that I often find myself muting the repetitive soundtrack in order to listen to some albums off my hard drive.
Conquest of Paradise is a worthy expansion with interesting ideas and its launch will probably draw in once more long-term fans of the grand strategy franchise, but I don’t know if it is essential.
Veterans should clearly pick it up and test a few randomized games, but newcomers are better served by trying the core game and seeing whether they manage to understand and enjoy it.
