Paradox Interactive has previewed the latest expansion of its award-winning grand strategy game, 'Europa Universalis IV.' Titled 'Mandate of Heaven,' the forthcoming downloadable content (DLC) will introduce new gameplay events featuring East Asian nations.
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Today, Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven expansion launched onto PC, Mac, and Linux for $19.99 USD. And to celebrate the launch of said expansion, developer and publisher Paradox Interactive released a — you guessed it — launch trailer.
- Mandate of Heaven is the 10th expansion for Europa Universalis IV. It was announced on 2017-03-02 1. The expansion was accompanied by the free patch 1.20 on 2017-04-06.
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Here's an overview of the expansion via Paradox Interactive:
While Europe slowly pulls itself from a period of darkness, the East continues to shine brightly. The Ming throne is set on a foundation of thousands of years of civilization while Japanese warlords do battle in honorable array, holding tight to their bushido code. The gods have blessed Asia with wealth and culture. Are you worthy of the Mandate of Heaven?
In Mandate of Heaven you control the fate of any of the hundreds of countries around the world through the maelstrom of the early modern era, from the Age of Discovery to the rise of Napoleon. This expansion further enhances this epic experience by adding greater depth to playing the major powers of East Asia and adding a new 'Ages' system to add more short-term goals.
Main Features:
Historical Ages and Golden Eras: Meet objectives in four historical ages from the Age of Discovery to the Age of Revolutions, earning new bonuses and powers for your country. Declare a Golden Era to further increase your chance of success.
Chinese Empire: New mechanics for Ming China, including Imperial Decrees and Imperial Reforms to bolster the Dragon Throne
Tributaries:Force your neighbors to pay tribute to your Chinese Empire, paying you in gold, manpower or monarch points
New Japanese Rules: Daimyos now owe loyalty to the Shogun – and the Shogun is whomever controls the imperial capital of Kyoto. Force your lesser rivals to commit seppuku to preserve their honor
Manchu Banners: Rally the Manchu warlords around your throne and call up the traditional banners to reinforce your army
Diplomatic Macrobuilder: Common diplomatic actions are now easily available from the macrobuilder interface
As with all Europa Universalis IV expansions, Mandate of Heaven launches alongside a major free update to Europa Universalis IV that adds new features, and improves the game in a variety of ways. You can check out the patch notes for said update here. Or you could skip the patch notes and just jump straight to the new trailer below:
Released 06 Apr 2017
The tenth major expansion for Europa Universalis IV is out, and the game isn't even four years old yet (that birthday is coming in August). Mandate of Heaven, released last Thursday, brought with it a new wave of features, mechanics and other changes to the continuing saga of this epic grand-strategy game of nations and empires.
To compliment this review, we've published a comprehensive guide to how Ages work.
As T.J. broke down for us in his recent DLC Buying Guide, Mandate of Heaven's headline features mainly centre on new mechanics for key far-eastern cultures: The Chinese Empire has been overhauled and given new mechanics and a sub-game, nations with the 'Manchu' culture get a new way to raise armies, and the Shogunate in Japan has also been overhauled to better represent the political situation there. Confucian and Shinto religions have also been expanded and re-worked to give them more flavour and there is a new ‘Tributary' system that can be used by any country with an 'Eastern' religion.
As far as region agnostic features go, the game is now divided up into different 'Ages', as well as the addition of a diplomatic macro interface. Other minor features such as Artillery Barrages and State Edicts are also present. In summary, Mandate of Heaven follows the trend of many past EUIV expansion where it focuses on one area or theme and builds around nations and cultures relevant to that headline topic. Ultimately, if you're not interested in the history and flavour of the Far East, then this isn't going to tick many boxes for you.
If you've never really played around much with the Far Eastern nations then you might not appreciate the differences at first glance, but through extended testing it's clear to see that they've really tried enhancing the key culture groups in terms of the quality of the experience. Ming now has its own unique subgame that evokes a lot of HRE analogies; as the Emperor of the Chinese Empire you're tasked with making sure you keep hold of the Mandate from Heaven. Instead of Legitimacy you have Meritocracy, which you spend on Decrees that give you 10-year boosts. Generating 'Mandate' also allows you to enact key reforms to help you run the Celestial Empire better. Generally, you want as many tributaries as you can get to follow you, and playing as Ming your job is basically to hold on to the status quo. The reverse is trying to pick the Empire apart from the outside, perhaps even take the Mandate for yourself.
Japan's unique Shogunate system has also been re-worked – the most obvious change is that it's now a lot easier to declare war on neighbouring clans through the 'Sengoku' war-goal. This only applies on other clans that you have a neighbouring province with, but it means you don't have to have a title claim. Your basic goal here is to try and gain enough power to become Shogun yourself and/or unite Japan. The Ashikaga clan start as the Shogun, with everyone else existing as a special type of Vassal under you. They don't take up relation slots, but you can still interact with them like a Vassal and even annex them. When you declare war for the Shogunate, all of your allies automatically join you regardless of how much they like you/the Shogun, and you'll be fighting against everyone else. Unique religion mechanics for Confucianism (for China) and Shinto (for Japan) round off these two culture groups, with the latter especially offering choices regarding Japan's historical isolationism.
Manchu is the last ‘targeted' culture in terms of features. All of the Manchu culture nations get to raise a new type of army called ‘Banners', which cost gold to replenish but don't touch your manpower reserves. It's not as sweeping or as interesting as China/Japan, but it provides additional tools to help you resist the stronger nations.
Europa Universalis Iv Free
As mentioned above, anyone who has an ‘Eastern' religion can have a new Vassal-like entity called a ‘Tributary'. This is a big feature of a Ming/China play-through, but I've seen other big eastern empires like the Timurids have tributaries as well. Hordes are also allowed tributaries. Essentially, if a nation becomes a tributary of yours, you can demand something from them each year; the main things being Gold, Manpower or Monarch points. They can refuse at any point, of course, and sometimes they can't afford one thing so they send you another. They're not obliged to come into any wars you declare, but they can call you into their wars. For example, I attacked a Timurids tributary as Ming, and the Timurids were called into the war to protect them. So far none of my Tributaries have called me into a war though.
The ‘Age' system is probably the most game-changing in a general sense, but it's also the aspect that'll be hardest to evaluate. EUIV's development history is riddled with instances of features/mechanics that, ultimately, haven't really been needed or haven't worked as intended. Television theme songs mp3. Some feel this way about Estates currently, while other things – like the ‘Western European' Trade Node – came and went as they were found wanting. The Ages essentially divide the game into more formal segments, each one coming with its own rules and objectives. Nations can try to achieve objectives to gain benefits and generate ‘splendor', which you can use to get buffs available in that age. If you achieve 3 objectives in any one Age, you can trigger a ‘Golden Age' although this can only ever be done once.
This is ultimately an unproven feature at the moment. Given that my review focused on trying out as many of the new mechanics as possible, I didn't actually progress that far through any one game. A nation can generate Splendor even if they haven't completed any objectives, so unlocking the buffs is still possible but so far I've found them a bit lack-lustre. It does give you something to strive for if you're absent any other driving force, though, which is never a bad thing. Their ultimate impact won't be felt for a while – one needs to get through a game long-term to see how they start changing and defining strategy in those periods, and whether they clash with existing features. Sadly, this is not something I can give advice on this time around.
We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about the free 1.20 Ming patch that released along-side this update, as has been the tradition with Paradox grand-strategy titles for a while now. I'd personally argue this is one of the more balanced free vs paid dynamics we've had in a while – the free patch includes mainly quality of life changes and some additions that allow for basic interactions with some of the premium features. Overall it doesn't seem that ground-breaking, but as always we'd recommend you consult the official patch notes so you have a clear idea of what comes free and what you have to pay for.
Mandate of Heaven is another solid Paradox expansion, although its worth is pretty much derived from how much you want to play in the East. The Ages are also very much TBD in terms of how they impact the game, especially since your interaction with them is limited if you don't buy Mandate. The macro-builder especially is a great Quality of Life improvement to streamline some of the more ‘grindy' aspects of mid-game diplomacy. If you're anything like me then you may be running out of interesting candidates to try in the ‘Old World', so bringing the Far East countries up to par in terms of events, mechanics etc… is a great way to re-discover the game again.
A great expansion, and quite well balanced with the free patch. If you want to head East then this is a must-buy.
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15 Sep 20200Here's an overview of the expansion via Paradox Interactive:
While Europe slowly pulls itself from a period of darkness, the East continues to shine brightly. The Ming throne is set on a foundation of thousands of years of civilization while Japanese warlords do battle in honorable array, holding tight to their bushido code. The gods have blessed Asia with wealth and culture. Are you worthy of the Mandate of Heaven?
In Mandate of Heaven you control the fate of any of the hundreds of countries around the world through the maelstrom of the early modern era, from the Age of Discovery to the rise of Napoleon. This expansion further enhances this epic experience by adding greater depth to playing the major powers of East Asia and adding a new 'Ages' system to add more short-term goals.
Main Features:
Historical Ages and Golden Eras: Meet objectives in four historical ages from the Age of Discovery to the Age of Revolutions, earning new bonuses and powers for your country. Declare a Golden Era to further increase your chance of success.
Chinese Empire: New mechanics for Ming China, including Imperial Decrees and Imperial Reforms to bolster the Dragon Throne
Tributaries:Force your neighbors to pay tribute to your Chinese Empire, paying you in gold, manpower or monarch points
New Japanese Rules: Daimyos now owe loyalty to the Shogun – and the Shogun is whomever controls the imperial capital of Kyoto. Force your lesser rivals to commit seppuku to preserve their honor
Manchu Banners: Rally the Manchu warlords around your throne and call up the traditional banners to reinforce your army
Diplomatic Macrobuilder: Common diplomatic actions are now easily available from the macrobuilder interface
As with all Europa Universalis IV expansions, Mandate of Heaven launches alongside a major free update to Europa Universalis IV that adds new features, and improves the game in a variety of ways. You can check out the patch notes for said update here. Or you could skip the patch notes and just jump straight to the new trailer below:
Released 06 Apr 2017
The tenth major expansion for Europa Universalis IV is out, and the game isn't even four years old yet (that birthday is coming in August). Mandate of Heaven, released last Thursday, brought with it a new wave of features, mechanics and other changes to the continuing saga of this epic grand-strategy game of nations and empires.
To compliment this review, we've published a comprehensive guide to how Ages work.
As T.J. broke down for us in his recent DLC Buying Guide, Mandate of Heaven's headline features mainly centre on new mechanics for key far-eastern cultures: The Chinese Empire has been overhauled and given new mechanics and a sub-game, nations with the 'Manchu' culture get a new way to raise armies, and the Shogunate in Japan has also been overhauled to better represent the political situation there. Confucian and Shinto religions have also been expanded and re-worked to give them more flavour and there is a new ‘Tributary' system that can be used by any country with an 'Eastern' religion.
As far as region agnostic features go, the game is now divided up into different 'Ages', as well as the addition of a diplomatic macro interface. Other minor features such as Artillery Barrages and State Edicts are also present. In summary, Mandate of Heaven follows the trend of many past EUIV expansion where it focuses on one area or theme and builds around nations and cultures relevant to that headline topic. Ultimately, if you're not interested in the history and flavour of the Far East, then this isn't going to tick many boxes for you.
If you've never really played around much with the Far Eastern nations then you might not appreciate the differences at first glance, but through extended testing it's clear to see that they've really tried enhancing the key culture groups in terms of the quality of the experience. Ming now has its own unique subgame that evokes a lot of HRE analogies; as the Emperor of the Chinese Empire you're tasked with making sure you keep hold of the Mandate from Heaven. Instead of Legitimacy you have Meritocracy, which you spend on Decrees that give you 10-year boosts. Generating 'Mandate' also allows you to enact key reforms to help you run the Celestial Empire better. Generally, you want as many tributaries as you can get to follow you, and playing as Ming your job is basically to hold on to the status quo. The reverse is trying to pick the Empire apart from the outside, perhaps even take the Mandate for yourself.
Japan's unique Shogunate system has also been re-worked – the most obvious change is that it's now a lot easier to declare war on neighbouring clans through the 'Sengoku' war-goal. This only applies on other clans that you have a neighbouring province with, but it means you don't have to have a title claim. Your basic goal here is to try and gain enough power to become Shogun yourself and/or unite Japan. The Ashikaga clan start as the Shogun, with everyone else existing as a special type of Vassal under you. They don't take up relation slots, but you can still interact with them like a Vassal and even annex them. When you declare war for the Shogunate, all of your allies automatically join you regardless of how much they like you/the Shogun, and you'll be fighting against everyone else. Unique religion mechanics for Confucianism (for China) and Shinto (for Japan) round off these two culture groups, with the latter especially offering choices regarding Japan's historical isolationism.
Manchu is the last ‘targeted' culture in terms of features. All of the Manchu culture nations get to raise a new type of army called ‘Banners', which cost gold to replenish but don't touch your manpower reserves. It's not as sweeping or as interesting as China/Japan, but it provides additional tools to help you resist the stronger nations.
Europa Universalis Iv Free
As mentioned above, anyone who has an ‘Eastern' religion can have a new Vassal-like entity called a ‘Tributary'. This is a big feature of a Ming/China play-through, but I've seen other big eastern empires like the Timurids have tributaries as well. Hordes are also allowed tributaries. Essentially, if a nation becomes a tributary of yours, you can demand something from them each year; the main things being Gold, Manpower or Monarch points. They can refuse at any point, of course, and sometimes they can't afford one thing so they send you another. They're not obliged to come into any wars you declare, but they can call you into their wars. For example, I attacked a Timurids tributary as Ming, and the Timurids were called into the war to protect them. So far none of my Tributaries have called me into a war though.
The ‘Age' system is probably the most game-changing in a general sense, but it's also the aspect that'll be hardest to evaluate. EUIV's development history is riddled with instances of features/mechanics that, ultimately, haven't really been needed or haven't worked as intended. Television theme songs mp3. Some feel this way about Estates currently, while other things – like the ‘Western European' Trade Node – came and went as they were found wanting. The Ages essentially divide the game into more formal segments, each one coming with its own rules and objectives. Nations can try to achieve objectives to gain benefits and generate ‘splendor', which you can use to get buffs available in that age. If you achieve 3 objectives in any one Age, you can trigger a ‘Golden Age' although this can only ever be done once.
This is ultimately an unproven feature at the moment. Given that my review focused on trying out as many of the new mechanics as possible, I didn't actually progress that far through any one game. A nation can generate Splendor even if they haven't completed any objectives, so unlocking the buffs is still possible but so far I've found them a bit lack-lustre. It does give you something to strive for if you're absent any other driving force, though, which is never a bad thing. Their ultimate impact won't be felt for a while – one needs to get through a game long-term to see how they start changing and defining strategy in those periods, and whether they clash with existing features. Sadly, this is not something I can give advice on this time around.
We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about the free 1.20 Ming patch that released along-side this update, as has been the tradition with Paradox grand-strategy titles for a while now. I'd personally argue this is one of the more balanced free vs paid dynamics we've had in a while – the free patch includes mainly quality of life changes and some additions that allow for basic interactions with some of the premium features. Overall it doesn't seem that ground-breaking, but as always we'd recommend you consult the official patch notes so you have a clear idea of what comes free and what you have to pay for.
Mandate of Heaven is another solid Paradox expansion, although its worth is pretty much derived from how much you want to play in the East. The Ages are also very much TBD in terms of how they impact the game, especially since your interaction with them is limited if you don't buy Mandate. The macro-builder especially is a great Quality of Life improvement to streamline some of the more ‘grindy' aspects of mid-game diplomacy. If you're anything like me then you may be running out of interesting candidates to try in the ‘Old World', so bringing the Far East countries up to par in terms of events, mechanics etc… is a great way to re-discover the game again.
A great expansion, and quite well balanced with the free patch. If you want to head East then this is a must-buy.