Alright Boyz, Here We Go! The Europa Universalis Rome first Impressions

[Sporkimata]

Well downloading it right now, but it has been getting solid reviews. Can't wait to spend some time with it. Even an immediate patch out with it, covering a lot of issues found when the Demo came out.


Doh! Was so worried bout spelling universalis right I forgot the rome bit. Nice, well its fixed now.

[MrBug708]

Which one is this?

[Icy]

New version after III or are you just a few years late to the party?

[Icy]

Dola, a fast search showed that Europa Universalis: Rome has been released. Too bad i don't have time for new games now, this one looks interesting.

[Passacaglia]

I guess the number of exclamation points in the thread title really does correspond to interest in the game.

[Groundhog]

I plan on grabbing this on the weekend.

[MrBug708]

Eh, EU3 barely runs on my computer. I dont hold much hope that this one does

[path12]

I always think I'm going to love Paradox games because they are right in my wheelhouse thematically but then can never get into them.

You might call it a paradox.

[Groundhog]

Once I pickup a Paradox game I play it pretty much straight for weeks on end.

[sabotai]

Sweet! I'll probably download this tomorrow after work and give impressions. I've been waiting for this one for awhile now.

[Izulde]

I pre-ordered the Collectors' Edition, which includes a GamersGate download in addition to the physical CD, which I presume is en route in the mail.

Started up a dynasty as my test game.

[MrBug708]

You just want the Rome Bust

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

You just want the Rome Bust

I forget now just -why- I pre-ordered the Collectors' Edition, but I know there was a reason.

Though I imagine the bust will be pretty nifty

[sabotai]

So far, I'm liking the game a lot. Now, every trade item gives a certain bonus or allows you to build a certain kind of military unit. Mostly, you spread the bonuses throughout your nation with internal trade routes, but trading with other nations gives about 3 times more money per trade route.

There are characters like in CK, but it's a bit hard to navigate. Family Trees (at least for Rome which is what I played for awhile) aren't that important. Characters can be named a governor of a province, leader of an army/navy, or placed in charge of a technology.

Those two changes really make a difference. Also, they don't show all of the results of all of the equations. You aren't explicitly shown when certain things will happen (when your stability goes up, for instance). I think that makes it much more fun since now you can't plan around a bunch of knowns. Keeps you on your toes a bit.

I played through with Rome for a few decades of game time. Got into two wars with Carthage, one I won and took a few provinces in the Med. Sea. The other, they attacked me while I was battling a massive barbarian horde in the north. It was scary at first, they had a much bigger navy than me and were landing troops in lots of areas, but I defeated the horde and beat back Carthage until we signed a white peace.

[MrBug708]

My game keeps crashing to desktop

[Izulde]

Can we get the thread title changed to EU:Rome?

Cuz vanilla EU is like, so 15 years ago.

[ColtCrazy]

I saw it in Gamestop today and almost bought it. I'm wrapped up in a multiplayer EU3 game right now so I figure I'll get EU:Rome with the next paycheck. Looks sharp though. EU games are so damn addictive.

[Sporkimata]

Yeah Ive played a long term game as Macedonia and I have had almost too easy of a time. I think the game has great potential but is gonna need some help to reach its potential.

[Barkeep49]

Anyone still playing?

[Izulde]

I haven't been, no, though there's a multi-packaged mod on the Paradox forums that makes significant enhancements.

[MrBug708]

I just upgraded my video card and it works some of the time without any slowdown. I havent figured out the combo to get it to work all of the time though

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Once I pickup a Paradox game I play it pretty much straight for weeks on end.

Me2

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Sporkimata

I think the game has great potential but is gonna need some help to reach its potential.

This may actually be the Paradox company mission statement.

[Galaril]

I traded my ten days afetr I got it for Rome Total and Warrior of Persia. I will pick it up in a year or so when the price is done and the development cycle of this is done with a few patches.

[sabotai]

My initial positive impressions of the game have faded. I still like some of the changes they have made, but the same old problems are making this game nearly unplayable. I waste so much time chasing these 1 unit armies around that take 4-5 battles to kill. I'd let them go, but they can win sieges pretty damn quickly, so I have to send my troops around to kill them.

I saw a MOD on the forums that says it fixes a lot of the issues, but it hasn't been released (well, it was, but it had a lot of problems so they are working on it again), so I'll be waiting for that before I start up again.

[Barkeep49]

I'm thinking that when I'm on Winter Break next year it will be the right time to pick up the game. Paradox games just seem to need a lot of time for the combination of patches/mods to live up to their full potential.

[chesapeake]

Is there any game that Paradox has ever put out that could be called a finished product -- even months after release? Most of them end up being playable after a few patches from the developer and a mod or two put out by the community, but you always seem to have to just accept that their games are always going deeply flawed jewels.

What is the deal with these guys? Is Paradox Interactive 2 guys in a basement somewhere in Europe?

[MrBug708]

Either Vista or GeForce will need to come up with a patch where my video card won't devote so many resources into shared video memory. *sigh*

[Barkeep49]

The gold version is currently $4.99 on at least Impulse. Is this game worth $5?

[DaddyTorgo]

that's a good ? BK...

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

The gold version is currently $4.99 on at least Impulse. Is this game worth $5?

I've been going back and forth on whether or not I want to get this.

Bottom line is that this game uses the EU3 engine but is not as stable or good as EU3 is. People who love this time frame tend to like it more, but most everyone else prefers EU3. The biggest hurdle for me in getting this is that the game is simply too unplayable without the expansion pack. From what I understand the expansion pack makes it a decent game that still has blemishes. (EU3 took two expansions for instance before it became a great game to play). Does the gold version also include the expansion or no?

[Alan T]

To answer my own question, GOLD does include the expansion pack. I see it for $9.99 though on Impulse.. where is it $4.99? I'll get it for that price.. heck that is a happymeal.. my daughter will just have to go without.

[Izulde]

EU:R was one of the biggest gaming disappointments ever IMO.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Izulde

EU:R was one of the biggest gaming disappointments ever IMO.

Yeah I have to agree, I was so looking forward to this, but when it came out it fell completely flat - buggy and a lot of questionable design decisions. I think it would have been a lot better if they hadn't tried to shoehorn it into the existing EU model and made it its own game.

[Flasch186]

FBPro99

[Neon_Chaos]

A friend of mine bought the Gold edition, and apparently, they added CK elements to the game with the Vae Victis expansion.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

A friend of mine bought the Gold edition, and apparently, they added CK elements to the game with the Vae Victis expansion.

I have the Gold edition too.. and I've tried to play it.. I really did try... I just couldn't get into this one.

[Blade6119]

Just picked this up on steam when it was on sale for 4.99, and its been a blast so far. Took over single province Sparta and am kicking some major ass. Started off in a minor war with another 1 province neighbor, but suddenly mighty Macedonia jumped in on their side and somehow I ended up beating both and taking hold of much of greece. Slowly but surely I have built up and expanded north into barbarian lands, but after a few revolts and a little eastward push to take Thrace, I landed in Italy and fought by far my biggest war yet against Rome. Took everything I had, but I beat them finally and took most of southern italy and a few germanic provices to link up with my current colonisation plans. One big gripe I have about the entire EU series is after I have literally taken every roman city, and they have 0 units on the map, the most Rome would allow me to take in the peace treaty was like 4 provinces. I get they are strong italian provinces, but when I have completely annihilated their entire army and country they should be much more flexible about giving up colonies in germania. Now its time to take account of what I have won, and hope my Selucid allies on my eastern border remain content to take Egypt on while I wait for my peace treaty with Rome to expire so I can strike again and take whatever else they have left.

Im using the spartan method of just raping everyone with heavy infantry, and have destroyed some much larger armies using national ideas to boost discipline and sound tactical leaders.

[whomario]

Hi guys, i´m propably going to buy this shortly as i´ve gotten way into roman history again and would like to play it out in a way

Question though : I also read raving review on Rome Total War, but it sounded like that one is way more about battles and much more "click-demanding" (i.e. very much more time consuming and even more micro managing) . Is that correct ?

Question 2 : It says to go from 280 to 27 BC (EU Rome), but in the dynasty section there´s one by abe sargent starting in 474 AD, is that due to the expansion or a mod ?
Is there a mod that you´d recommend (and a link to it would be nice) ? I´d like for it to be more realistic of possible but not add many more functions.

Thanks in advance