“My strategy is always focused on the long-term, as strategies should be,” he explains.

Zimmerman, also an astute student of history and politics, lives for such moments. “Many of the attendees are serious history buffs, attracted to how the game creates all these moments of maybe that require you to pivot one way or another when forced to make a critical decision,” says software engineer Nathan Zimmerman, a rising Europa star (and longtime friend). Officially, it’s Paradox Interactive’s second “ Grandest LAN party.” Unofficially, it’s yet another kind of Geek Olympics, in which players will don the tricorne hats, clerical collars and heavy metal breastplates representative of the countries they’ve chosen to play. Pitted one against the other, Europa Universalis provides them with the tools to do what human leaders do best: stab each other in the back, over and over again, because the rigged system of world politics offers them no better choices.īut now, in an effort to push the diplomatic intrigue to 11, the sub rosa negotiations have moved from chat windows and Discord conversations to a 17th-century Polish castle, where several of the world’s top Europa players, including the legendary Florryworry, have gathered to settle their grievances in person.

Nor can you control your opponents, the 30 or 40 schemers who can pile into a multiplayer game and wipe you off the map. But you can’t control your peasants, nobles, merchants and clergy, any of whom will revolt against what they perceive as tyrannical rule. You, the absolute and undisputed monarch of your domain, dictate everything that happens within those borders: taxes, military training, education, fortress upgrades. It’s not just “strategy” but “ grand strategy,” a diplomacy simulator on a massive, almost unthinkable scale - real-time gameplay in lieu of turns, the entire world map serving as your sandbox instead of a finite number of small tiles and hundreds of playable countries at your fingertips. Imagine the Civilization franchise on steroids and you’re on your way toward understanding EU. They’re doing so by playing a game called Europa Universalis IV - the signature product of a Swedish software company called Paradox Interactive. These dignitaries for the day, some dressed in costumes redolent of a Renaissance Faire, are warring their way through 400 years of world history, from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th. The people tasked with saving the world are squatting around high-powered computers set up on wooden tables in an old Polish castle named Moszna, moving dots around a map with the click of a mouse.

Europa universalis 4 poland