Europa Universalis II

Europa Universalis II
Europa Universalis II game box Europa Universalis II game box
Developer(s)	Paradox Interactive
Publisher(s)	Strategy First MacPlay
Engine	Europa Universalis engine
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X
Release	NA November 12, 2001
Genre(s)	Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Europa Universalis II is an empire-building, computer strategy game, based on European and world history and spanning a timeline between 1419 through 1820.

In the game, the player controls a single nation across many centuries, managing their nation's economy, military, political alliances, scientific development, exploration and colonization, religious affairs, and internal stability. In addition, yearly random events as well as hundreds of pre-scripted events based on historical events make for a great deal of gameplay challenge and variety.

EU2 differs from many similar, turn-based strategy games in that time flows continuously during gameplay, rather than taking place in discreet turns. The player can always pause the action to ponder the situation and give orders, then speed up or slow down time to let events take their course.

The game ships with several historical scenarios, including games that take place during the Age of Exploration, the American Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. There is also a Grand Campaign that lets players choose one world power and guide it from the end of the Middle Ages and into the 19th Century. There is also a Fantasy Scenario in which starting positions are more or less equal.

While the Grand Campaign is geared primarily towards the major European powers of the time, such as Russia, England, France and Spain, the game is unique in that players can choose to play as one of more than a hundred minor, obscure or no longer extant nations, in locations as diverse as the Indian subcontinent or Southeast Asia.

Game Modding

The game goes into a great deal of granular detail, including urban populations for each of the hundreds of provinces, thousands of historical monarchs, generals, and explorers, as well as names for colonies, armies, and fleets.

In addition, with almost all of the game data stored in easy to edit text files, the game is easy to modify and customize, yielding a large and thriving mod community. Players have been able to create new flags, maps, units, historical events, leaders, and entire scenarios, too.

Publishing History

The game was developed by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Europa Universalis , and was first released for the PC in 2001 by Strategy First, with a Macintosh port created by Virtual Programming and published by MacPlay.

A version of the game, called Europa Universalis II: Asian Chapters, was released for Asian markets, adding new graphics and scenarios that centered around Asian history instead.

Gallery

• Initial menu screen
  Initial menu screen
• Political map mode
  Political map mode
• Rebels on the march
  Rebels on the march
• Resource map mode
  Resource map mode

External links

Official Sites

• Paradox Interactive
• Official EU2 forums
• EU2 Gameplay FAQs

Reference

• Europa Universalis II Wiki
• Europa Universalis II at MobyGames
• Europa Universalis II at Curlie
• - Game Rankings.com (avg. 85%, 63 reviews)

Mod Sites

• Mod Directory Paradox Forums
• Crazy Ivan's Europa Universalis 2 website - MyMAP New Provinces Mod
• AGCEEP mod - mirror - mirror - Alternative Grand Campaign / Event Exchange Project Mod

Editing Guides

• Havard's EU2 Editing Pages
• Builder's Paradise