Right? Managing colonial nations just got that much more exciting. It’s more fun to rip it away from your rivals, but hey, as long as it’s headed to the motherland, it’s going in the right direction. If new ways to manage your overseas expansion gets your strategy rocks off, just wait until you hear about the exciting new ways that you can drain their wealth! Just like a true imperialist, you can concentrate the development of your empire by leeching it from your vassals and colonies and delivering it to your capital. This is a nice touch that expands your ability to hone your colonial empire and makes a big difference in the resulting system that your colonies end up growing into. Specialized colonies will work toward a general goal that you set for them, whether it’s to provide assistance in your military conquests with men and guns, to establish a bustling trade hub, or simply to govern themselves to be the most efficient nation that they can be. Build them up or drain them to build a gilded castle in the capital. Improved capabilities for specializing your colonies, concentrating your development, and managing regency councils in a way that’s favorable to you all let you further grow your nation as you see fit. Turning an Eye Inwardĭon’t worry though, Leviathan offers more than just manipulating and robbing your enemies to Europa Universalis IV. Vive la France! Favors can be traded for several useful benefits. Finally I can truly feel like the legendary Napoleon Bonaparte as I ship the wealth and culture of annexed nations home. The new pillage war goal allows you to ship some of the development from an occupied enemy capital back to your own.

Speaking of outmaneuvering your enemies, we’ve finally been given a particularly efficient looting mechanic to pour salt on the wounds of your defeated foes.

Few things hit the spot quite the same as when you spend your favors to shatter an alliance so that you can take advantage of a newly vulnerable foe. These favors are great for shaping the political landscape as you see fit and getting your hands on some extra resources when needed. While we’ve been gaining (and cashing in) our favors for some time now, currying favors opens new doors as it lets you build them up in a similar fashion to how we were already improving relations. We’ve already had one of the most robust diplomatic systems around for a while, but Leviathan takes it a step further by adding in the ability for diplomats to curry favors from other nations. Regardless of which direction you take your nation in, Europa Universalis requires that you manage your diplomatic relations efficiently or you invite disaster.

Europa universalis 4 review