Paradox Interactive EUROPA UNIVERSALIS 3 User Manual

Paradox Interactive

President and CEO: Theodore Bergqvist. Producer: Johan Andersson. Game Design : Johan Andersson.

Lead Programmer: Adam Skoglund. Programming : Thomas Johansson, Pontus Åberg, Anna Drevendal, Johan

Andersson. Lead Ar tist : Marcus Edström. 3D A rtis t: Dick Sjöström. Nikitova Tutorial: Marcus Edström.

Original Music & Sound Effects: Andreas Waldetoft. Lead Tester: Chris King.

Sales & Acquisitions: Fredrik Wester. CFO: Lena Eriksson. Marketing and PR Director: Susana Meza.

Marketing Assistant: Keisha Salmon. Pr oduct M anager : Jeanette Bauer. Art Director: Stefan Thulin.

Business Developer: Erik Helmfridsson. Localiz ation Responsible: Florian Santer. Localization: S&H

Enter tainment Localization. Manual: Chris Stone. Strategy Guide: Ed Hanks. Editing: Robbie Graham, Digital

Wordsmithing. Web: Brian King, Simon Aistleitner, Jean-Philippe Duflot. Intro movie: Stuart Diamond, Russ Allen.

Beta Testers: Frank van Aanholt, Tom Adriaenssen, Jose Maria Aguirre, Simon Aistleitner, Markus Alahuhta,

Guillaume Alvarez, Mike Amberry, Gustav Björklund, Loic Brient, Thomas Broman, Joe Chandler, Thomas Corriol,

Luis Miguel Nunes Corujo, Tony Cristanelli, Inge Davidsen, Maarten Demeyer, David DiCicco, Jan Peter Dijkstra,

Jean-Philippe Duflot, Peter Ebbesen, Aric Ferrell, Wesley Ferris, Alexander John Fowler, Michael Girard, Stephen

Gregson, Jean-Alain Grunchec, Ed Hanks, Markus Herrmann, Jeremy Holley, Kalle Isotalo, Robert Jackson,

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Lundgren, Rajeev D. Majumdar, Nicholas Malouin, Carsten Mannetje, Thomas Mittelbach, Fokke van der Molen, Robert O’Regan, Anu Pakanati, Maxime Penen, Kevin Peter, Thomas Pettersen, Pent Ploompuu, Derek Pullem,

Ludovic Russo, Kevin Simmons, Jason Snyder, Jarkko Suvinen, Kevyn Taylor, Sascha Tesch, Lars Thomsen,

Douglas Troiani, Jens Van Heuverswijn, Patrick Wegerle, Gene Whitmore, Mark Williams, Emre Yigit

Partners

USA : Ezra Chen. Germany, Aus tria and Switzerland : Mario Gerhold, Susanna Mittermaier. UK: Jo Kemp, Simon Callaghan. Italy: Daniele Falcone, Tania Rossia. S candinavia: Niklas Molin, Daniel Torbjörnsson, Klas

Palmqvist. France : Eric Boccara, Geraldine Morisse, Iris Cathala, Caroline Ferrier. Benelux: Johan Dewindt,

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Thanks to our partners THQ/Valusoft ( USA), Snowball (Russia), Friendware

(Spain), Cenega (Poland) , Koch Media (UK, Germany, Italy, France), Pan Vision (Scandinavia), Cyberfront (Japan),

Typhonngames ( Hong Kong), Auran (Australia) and Atari (Benelux)

Special thanks to all our forum members, partners and supporters,

who are integral for our success.

FORZA DJURGÅR’N!

INT RODU CTI ON 6

Overview 6 For New Players

Your First Game

6 The Game Manual and the Paradox Forums

For Veterans of the Europa Universalis Series

GET TING STARTED

Installation 8

System Requirement s

8 Installing EU3

Launching the Game

Main Game Menu

Game Options

9 Game Options

9 Video Options 1

0 Audio Options 1

0 Controls 10 Settings.txt 11

Tutorials 11 Star ting a Game 1

2 New Single Player Games 1

2 Selecting a Star ting Date and Country 1

Using Bookmarks 1

The Date Selector 1

3 Loading a Saved Single Player Game 1

4 Star ting a New or Saved Multi-Player Game 1

THE M AIN I NTE RFAC E 1

The Main Map 1

5 Navigating the Main Map 1

7 The Mini Map 1

The Top Bar 1

Special Menus Toolbar 2

0 Holy See Button 2

0 Holy Roman Empire Button 2

0 Menu But ton 2

0 Ledger Button 2

1 Map Mode B uttons 2

1 Map Zoom Buttons: 2

Domestic Interface 2

Province-Related Interfaces 2

2 Province Interface 2

2 Diplomatic Interface 2

3 Colonization Interface 2

Map Units 2

Messages and the History Log 2

3 Histor y Log 2

4 Message W indows 2

4 Floating Messages 2

4 Message S ettings 2

Events 25

Alert s 25 Diplomatic Messages 2

The Outliner 2

Tool Tips 2

PROVINCE MAN AGEMENT 2

8 Overview 28 Province O wnership and Control 2

8 Province Interface 2

9 Provincial Summary 2

Province Details 2

Province Religion and C onversions 3

Province Income 3

Province Trade 3

2 Core Provinces and Provincial Claims 3

2 Province Improvements 3

City View 3

Building New Improvements 3

4 Militar y Recruitment 3

4 Other Countries’ Provinces 3

5 Unoccupied Provinces 3

DOME STIC MAN AGEMENT 3

6 Overview 36 Domestic Overview 3

National Culture 3

National Prestige 3

National Ranking 3

Special Political B odies 3

National Religion 3

Reputation 38 Diplomatic Summary 3

Relations 39 Create Vassal 4

0 Domestic Court 4

Rulers 41

Ruler Attributes 4

Ruler Succession 4

Advisors 43 Hiring and Firing Advisors 4

4 Domestic Economy 4

Income Summary 4

Budget Allocation Sliders 4

Technology Investment 4

Stability Investment 4

Treasury Investment 4

Fixed Expenses 4

Monthly B udget Balance 4

Inflation 4 8 Loans 49 Bankruptcy 50 War Taxes 5

0 Domestic Militar y 5

Unit Categories and Types 5

Preferred Unit Type 5

Changing Your Preferred Regiment

Type 52 Army/Naval Maintenance 5

Domestic Religion 5

World Religions 5

Realm Religion 5

Religious Tolerance 5

5 Religious Tolerance’s Effect on Province Revolt Risk 5

6 Religious Tolerance’s Effect on Population Growth 5

6 Religious Tolerance’s Effect on Countr y Relationships 5

Conver ting Religion 5

Defender of the Faith 5

Domestic Government 5

Form of Government 5

Changing Your Form of Government 59 National Ideas 5

Domestic Policies 6

Domestic Leaders 6

Militar y Tradition 6

Militar y Leaders 6

Recruiting new Leaders 6

Conver ting a Ruler to a Leader 6

Leader Listing 6

TRADE 66

Overview 66 Trade Goods 6

Supply and Demand 6

Centers of Trade 6

Merchant Interface 6

Competition 68 Monopolies 69 Trade Disruption 6

DIPLOMACY, WAR, AND ESPIO NAGE 7

Overview 70 The Diplomatic Interface 7

General Information 7

Initiating Diplomacy 7

Diplomatic Actions 7

Offer Royal Marriage/ Break Royal Ties 7

Offer A lliance /Dissolve A lliance 7

Issue Embargo/Revoke Embargo 7

Offer Trade A greement / Cancel Trade Agreement 7

Offer Vassalisation/ Cancel Vassalisation 75 Demand Annexation 7

Proclaim Guarantee 7

Send Warning 7

Send Insult 7

Claim Throne 7

Send Gif t 76 Sell Province 7

7 Send War Subsidies / Revoke Subsidies 7

7 Offer Loan 7

7 Request Military Access /Give Militar y Access /Revoke Military Access 7

Declaring War 7

8 Restrictions Prohibiting a Declaration of War 7

8 National Stability Effects 7

9 War Exhaustion Effects 7

9 Reputation Effects 8

0 Alliance C onsiderations 8

0 Declaring War 8

0 Allies and A lliance Leaders 8

Peace Negotiations 8

1 Negotiating Peace with Alliances 8

1 War Score 8

2 Peace Of fers 8

Annex 83 Demand Tribute 8

Offer W hite Peace 8

Offer Tribute 8

3 Preparing the Terms of a Peace Of fer 8

Province Terms 8

Core Terms 8

Vassal Terms 8

New Nations Terms 8

Special Terms 8

6 Sending the Peace Of fer 8

7 Receiving a Peace Of fer 8

7 Peace 87

Espionage 87

Espionage Modifiers 8

8 Spy Actions 8

Incite Troop Desertions 8

Assassinate Advisor 8

Sabotage Reputation 8

Incite Against the Merchants 8

Spy Ring Infiltration 9

Suppor t Revolt 9

Commission Privateer. 9

THE MILITARY 9

Overview 91 Structure of the Military 9

1 Regiment Types 9

Infantr y Regiments 9

Cavalry Regiments 9

Artillery Regiments 9

2 Ship Types 9

Transport s 92 Galleys 93

Light Ships 9

Big Ships 9

Unit Types 9

Recruiting Land Forces 9

Mercenaries 95

Army Information 9

Army Organisation 9

Assigning Army Leaders 9

Recruiting a New Leader 9

Army Basics 9

8 Maintenance and Maximum Suppor table Troops 9

8 Attrition 99 Army Reinforcement 10

0 Army Morale 10

0 Moving an A rmy 10

0 Paths 101 Movement Restrictions 10

1 Movement Speed 10

Land Combat 10

2 Overview 102 Taking the Field 10

2 Combat Resolution 10

Fire and Shock Phases 10

Regiment Combat Characteristics 104 Die Rolls 10

Leader Combat Attributes 10

Terrain Modifiers 10

River-Crossing Modifier 10

Making an Attack 10

Calculating Casualty Damage 10

Calculating Morale Damage 10

Leadership Casualties 10

End of Day “H ousekeeping” 10

7 End of Combat 10

7 Retreat 107

Sieges 108

Capturing Provinces 10

Naval Forces 11

Recruitment of Naval F orces 11

0 Fleet Information and Organisation 111 Admirals 112

Using Naval Forces 11

2 Naval Attrition 11

3 Naval Repair 11

Naval Combat 11

3 Positioning 113 Targeting 113 Damage 114 End of Bat tle 11

4 Naval Retreat 11

4 Naval Blockades 11

Naval Transport of Armies 11

EXPLOR ATION AND COLONIZATION 11

7 Overview 117 Exploring 117

Explorers and Conquistadors 11

Exploring Provinces 11

Land and Naval Tradition from Exploring 119

Natives 119

Attacking Natives 11

9 Colonies 120

Establishing a Colony 12

Expanding a Colony 12

Colonial Limitations 12

1 Colonial Conquest 12

1 Gaining Maps from Other Nations 12

SPEC IAL P OLI TICAL BODIES 12

2 Overview 122 The Holy See 12

2 The Holy Roman Emperor 12

The Emperor 12

Member States 12

Elector s 125 Becoming the Holy Roman Emperor 12

War With the Empire 12

LEDG ER 127 MULTI PL AYER 129

Star ting a Multi-Player Game 12

Preliminar y Requirements 12

Connection Types 12

Host 130 Join LAN Game 13

Join Internet Game 13

Metaserver 130

The Multiplayer Lobby 13

The Metaserver 13

1 Multiplayer Gameplay 13

2 Ending a Multiplayer Game 13

3 Where to Find Other Players 13

APPENDI CES 134

Appendix A New and Changed Feature List 13

4 Appendix B Province Improvements 13

6 Appendix C - Cultures 13

9 Appendix D Technology Modifiers 14

0 Appendix E - Religions 14

0 Appendix F Forms of Government 14

2 Appendix G - National Ideas 14

4 Appendix H - Domestic Policies 14

6 Appendix I - Trade Goods 14

INTRODUCTION

Overview

Europa Universalis III is a grand strategy game

set during the Renaissance and Reformation periods of history. You will select one of more than 200 countries that existed in the world during this time, and attempt to guide it through more than 300 years of diplomacy, warfare, trade, religious turmoil, scientific development, exploration, and colonization.

The game begins just after the fall of Constantinople in May 1453, and is played in continuous time until its conclusion in December

1789. As the days pass, you will devote most of your efforts to looking after the domestic needs of your country, negotiating with your neigh-

bours, and conducting wars of self-defence or

conquest.

Each country begins the game owning one

or more “provinces”. A province is the essential

building block of a nation; contributing vital tax and trade income to drive its economy, and supplying much-needed manpower for use in its military. The more provinces your country owns, the more powerful you will be. If you lose your last province, your country will be eliminated and you will lose the game.

There are areas of the globe where you may find provinces that are unoccupied and available for colonisation; however, the majority of the world’s provinces will already belong to other countries, and to increase your power, you must find ways to obtain them. Although it is possible to achieve this through diplomatic means, you are far more likely to extend your power by waging war. Expansion and conquest are the goals of most nations, thus creating a very volatile and potentially dangerous geo-political environment in the game. It is your goal to see to the needs of your country, to prevent your enemies from taking what is rightfully yours, and to expand your nation through diplomacy or war.

At its heart, Europa Universalis III is a game that allows you to explore an infinite range of

possible “what if” scenarios within a complex, flexible, context-sensitive historical environment. Do not expect the history you learned at school to repeat itself on your computer screen. Instead, you will begin with an accurate historical set-up and then have complete freedom to chart your own course through time. As the game world begins to deviate from history, Eu- ropa Universalis III ’s underlying engine will evaluate these changing conditions and then direct countries to react to them as their historical counterparts might have done. Nations may rise or fall, unexpectedly, based entirely on the interactions they have with one another and on the outcome of events as they unfold.

The game ends in the late 19th century when some of the most powerful nations of the world had already begun their transition into the next major period of history: the Industrial Revolution. Traditional ideas of “country” and

“realm” would be replaced with a new vision of

the “Nation-State”, and society would undergo radical revolutions spurred on by rapid advances in science, technology, and the art of war. If you have been attentive to the needs of your country and successful in your ventures, you may find yourself at a similar crossroads when the game comes to its conclusion.

Europa Universalis III maintains a ranking for each country in the world, and the “winner” is nominally the country with the highest ranking at the end of the game. You may prefer to set your own arbitrary goals, using a measure of victory that is based on the country you are controlling and the style of play you enjoy. For small countries, merely surviving until the end can be considered a victory. When playing a large and wealthy nation, you might set more lofty goals of continental hegemony or even try setting your sights on world domination.

For New Players

Your First Game

If you are new to the Europa Universalis series, you may find the complexity, scale, and sheer

range of possibilities somewhat daunting when you first start to play. You might want to begin

by doing the series of tutorials which will introduce you to the most important aspects of the game; then pick a date and country that interests you and practice what you’ve learned.

Beginners often make the mistake of trying to achieve too much, too rapidly. We would recommend that you set yourself some modest goals for your first game, and take things slowly. Begin by focussing your attention on staying relatively peaceful, conducting some research, and gradually building up your country’s economy. You may also wish to expand your army to ensure your country’s defence, and dispatch diplomats to help maintain friendly relations with your neighbours. Unless your country is very wealthy, you will probably want to send merchants out to supplement your income with trade revenue. If it’s appropriate for the country you have chosen, you could also try your hand at exploration and colonization.

Once you’re comfortable with the basic interfaces and controls, consider getting involved in a small-scale war or two. For your first war, try to find an opponent that will be fairly easy to defeat. You should try to avoid early confrontations with nations that are large, or that have powerful allies, even if this means that you have to buy your way out of the war or give up a bit of territory in surrender. By engaging a major nation, you could easily find yourself in over your head if you aren’t prepared for the onslaught.

Once you’re comfortable with controlling your armies and fleets, try tackling a more dangerous opponent, and don’t worry too much if the war does not end in your favor. You can learn as much from a colossal defeat as you would through any number of smaller victories. A word of warning: do not try to expand your realm too rapidly or allow your country’s reputation to become too tarnished. If you are too aggressive or underhanded, you could easily find yourself at war with much of the rest of the known world.

The Game Manual and the Paradox Forums

This manual contains a detailed and complete explanation of each of Europa Universalis III’s interfaces and features, as well as general tips that help you to see how each of these fits together in the overall context of play. Everything in the game is inter-related. Everything! There is virtually nothing that you do that won’t have some sort of impact on something else. Learning these relationships and using them to your advantage is what will eventually make you a master.

When in doubt, pause your game and refer to the manual. For specific issues that you may encounter, or questions that might not

be answered in enough detail for your needs, you may want to visit the Europa Universalis III public forums. It’s a friendly community of many thousands of players from around the world who would be happy to help you. It is also the place to check for any official patches to the game which will fix any bugs that are discovered after release, and may also include new or revised features. The Europa Universa-

lis III forums can be found by going to www. europauniversalis3.com and clicking on the

“forums” link.

For Veterans of the Europa Universalis Series

If you are a veteran of the series, we have provided a general overview of the major changes and new features introduced in Europa Univer- salis III which may be found in Appendix A at the back of this manual. You should find most aspects of the game fairly familiar, and we have made every attempt to ensure that all of the game’s new interfaces are as easy and intuitive to understand as possible. Even so, you might find some valuable information tucked away within these pages, so we urge you to read on.

GETTING STARTED

Installation

System Requirements

To play Europa Universalis III, your computer should meet or exceed all of the following system requirements:

• 1.9GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent with 512MB RAM (1.0GB RAM is highly recommended).

• 128MB Video Card with Hardware T&L and support for Pixelshader 2.0 or better.

• DirectX7 compatible sound card

• CD-ROM drive

• Windows-compatible mouse. Mouse with scroll wheel highly recommended.

• At least 1GB of free hard drive space to ac

commodate game files and saved games. This does not include any space used by the Windows® swap file.

• DirectX9.0c

• High-speed Modem connection is required for multiplayer games.

• Windows® 2000 (with Service pack 1 or higher) or Windows® XP (Home/Professional/Media Edition) with Service Pack

Installing EU3

Place the Europa Universalis III CD into your CD-

ROM drive. If auto-play is enabled on this drive, the installation will begin automatically. If autoplay is disabled, use Windows Explorer to navigate to your CD-ROM drive and double-click the set- up.exe file in the CD’s root directory. Simply follow the on-screen directions to install the game to your computer. By default, EU3 is placed in a

new directory on your C drive and a shortcut will be added to both your desktop and your start menu. You may change these options if you prefer to install it to a different location.

Launching the Game

After installing Europa Universalis III, launch

the game by clicking on the shortcut on your desktop or start menu. If you choose not to install shortcuts, use Windows Explorer to navigate to the directory you specified during the installation process and click on the eu3.exe file. You can also place the CD in your drive to launch the game automatically, although it is not necessary for the CD to be in the drive in order to play.

You will see an initial menu that offers several options. You can choose to launch the game, visit our community forums, check to see if there is a new update for your game, or register the game if you have not yet done so. We periodically release patches for all of our games to correct any minor bugs that might have been discovered since release. These often offer additional performance or feature enhancements that will make the game even more interesting and challenging to play. Click on the link in the loader to see if there’s a new update avail-

able for download.

Once you have chosen

the option to play Europa

Universalis III, the game

will require a short while to complete its initial loading procedure. You will see a progress bar on the screen as the game loads, after which the Main Game Menu will be displayed.

Main Game Menu

The Main Game Menu offers a series of options, allowing you to choose a single or multiplayer game, to launch the game’s tutorials, or to alter any of the game’s main options. You can also view the game credits to see all of the people involved in the production of Europa Universalis III.

• Single Player:

Allows you to start a new single-player game or load an existing saved game.

• Multi Player:

Used to host or join a multi-

player game.

• Tutorial:

Launches a series of instructional tutorials that familiarise you with the basics of play.

• Options:

Allows you to change the game’s default graphics, sound, and game play settings.

• Credits:

Displays a list of the people who helped to design, produce, and test Europa Universalis III.

• Exit:

Click this button to exit the game and

return to your Windows desktop.

Game Options

Click the “Options” button of the Main Game menu to change any of the game’s default settings. Each tab at the top of the interface allows you to adjust a type of option: game play, video, audio, or controls. After making your changes, click the “apply” button at the bottom of the menu to save these and return to the main menu; click the

“back” button at any time

to abort. Many of these settings can also be changed

during play by accessing the “Options” menu from within the game. Please note that most changes to the graphical options will not take effect until you exit and reload the game.

Game Options

• Difficulty: You can change the overall difficulty of the game to make it somewhat more (or less) challenging than normal. Lower difficulty settings will reduce some of the game’s variables to give you an extra advantage over computer-controlled countries. Higher settings will make it more difficult to manage your realm and will make the AI harder to defeat. “Normal” places the player and AI at an equal advantage, and is the setting we use when establishing overall game balance.

• Auto-Save Frequency:

You may allow Europa Universalis III to automatically save your game every month, six months, year, or five years of elapsed game time; or you can select “never” to disable this feature.

When enabled, the game will automatically

be saved with the frequency you have set.

You will see a saved game named “autosave” and a

second one named “old au-

tosave” in your saved game

folder. This allows you to resume a game from either of the two most recent auto-save points. Enabling auto-save can be handy for trying different strategies, or to recover a game that

has been accidentally interrupted. Of course, you can also manually save a game at any time you wish; there

is no limit to the number of saves that you may have

stored for later use.

Video Options

Important: Graphical options are loaded into memory during the initial launch process, so any changes you make to these settings will not take effect until you have exited and restarted the game.

• Resolution:

Use this control to change the game’s video resolution to one of many supported resolutions, including 1024x768 and higher. The default value is determined

by your current desktop resolution. If your monitor’s resolution is not listed for any reason, you can manually edit the settings.txt file in the EU3 root directory to provide any resolution that is 1024 x 768 or higher. We do not recommend extremely high resolutions on smaller monitors as this may make some of the in-game text and controls too small to use effectively. You must exit and restart the game before any changes will be applied.

• Screen Refresh Rate:

Use this control to adjust the screen refresh rate from the default value determined by your desktop settings. Warning: an incorrect setting can cause damage to your monitor. Please refer to the user manual for your monitor before changing the default screen refresh setting.

• Gamma:

This slider adjusts the overall contrast level of the game’s graphics. For most systems, the middle position should provide excellent crispness and contrast. Shifting the slider to the left will reduce contrast, and shifting it to the right will increase contrast.

• Multisampling:

Use this control to set the level of multisampling (also commonly called anti-aliasing) used to display graphics in the game. Higher levels will produce a more pleasing visual image, but will also cause a slight reduction in game performance.

• Shadows:

Enabling shadows for objects that are displayed on the main game map will reduce the overall performance of the game very slightly, and is not necessary for

play. Enabling shadows will provide a more appealing overall image.

• Trees:

If your system is very close to the minimum game specifications, you may be able to improve your game’s speed and performance by turning off trees. You should only disable this feature if you have a very low-performance graphics card since terrain plays a very important role in movement and combat. You should first try reducing the anti-aliasing level and disable

both the decorative map info and shadows before you resort to turning off the trees.

• Decorative Map Info:

There are a number of small, decorative objects that are added to the main game map to enhance the overall visual appeal. These do not have any effect on play and can be turned off to gain a slight boost in game performance.

Audio Options

• Master Volume: This slider adjusts the overall volume of all game music and audio effects. This setting only affects the game volume and will not change your audio card’s master volume used for other system sounds.

• Effects Volume:

Use this slider to adjust the volume of any special sound effects that are played in the game. This includes interface sounds, and ambient sounds such as combat effects, naval environment effects, and other sound cues.

• Music Volume:

The original score of Europa Universalis III is designed to complement game play and will change depending on the events that are occurring in the game. You may use this slider to adjust the music volume, but you may lose some special audio cues if it is completely disabled.

Controls

• Scroll Speed: This slider adjusts the speed that the game’s main map will move when scrolling. If you find that the map is scrolling too quickly and is difficult to control, or

if you find the movement somewhat jerky, try lowering this setting.

• Zoom Speed:

This slider affects the rate that the map will zoom in and out as you roll your mouse’s scroll wheel (if your mouse has one). If you find it difficult to obtain the zoom level you desire, try using a slightly lower setting.

• Mouse Speed:

This slider adjusts the speed that the in-game pointer moves as you move your mouse. If you find it hard to accurately click on items, try a slower setting to improve your pointer control.

Settings.txt

All of the main game settings are stored in the settings.txt file located in the root folder of your EU3 installation. You can open this file with any basic text editor (e.g. “Notepad” that is included with all Windows™ installations) and manually adjust any of the above settings. You can also use this to set a screen resolution that your monitor supports which may not be included as a standard resolution in the game.

We do not recommend any resolution below 1024 x 768 as this will cause some menus and interfaces to merge or conflict with one another. You can also force the game to play in Windowed mode by changing the line “windowed = no” to “windowed = yes”; although windowed mode is not officially supported and may cause performance loss, visual issues, or crashes with some systems.

Tutorials

Click the “Tutorials” button in the Main Game menu to access Europa Universalis III’s series of tutorials. These are designed to quickly introduce you to the basics of play and to give you essential knowledge that you are likely to need when you begin your first campaign. Each tutorial will teach you critical things about your country’s domestic needs or military power that will affect your ability to survive in the game. Complete mastery of Europa Universalis III may take many, many hours of play, so do not be disheartened if your first attempts are less successful than you might have envisioned.

Starting a Game

New Single Player Games

Click the “Single Player” button on the Main Game menu to start a new single-player game, or to load an existing saved game. After a moment, you will see the main country selection menu that you will use to choose a starting date and nation to play during your game.

The central area of your screen is dominated by a large, scrollable map of the world. Moving your mouse pointer to the edge of your screen will pan the map in that direction, allowing you to move to almost any position on the globe. For convenience, EU3 uses a rectangular Mercator projection of the world and restricts you from panning too close to the north or south poles. You may use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll the map if you prefer.

Above the map is a red banner that shows the game’s start date. The default starting date

is May 30th, 1453, which is shortly after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman army.

You may choose to start at a later date by ad-

justing the “date selector”, located to the left of the map at the bottom of a list of historical

“bookmarks”.

On the map itself, you will a multi-coloured patchwork of countries, with thick red lines marking the borders between each nation. Thinner black lines distinguish the separate provinces within each country, and are the primary object of conquest. If you hover your mouse pointer over a province, you will see a small tool tip that shows the province’s name and the country that owns it. Clicking on a province will select that country as being the one that you wish to play. Before doing so, you should first decide on a starting date for the game because the availability of countries and ownership of provinces is determined by the start date.

Selecting a Starting Date and Country

Europa Universalis III covers a period of great international upheaval. Countries evolved into new nations; others disappeared or were destroyed; several new states declared independence and broke away from a former state; and, throughout the era, the borders of nations were constantly shifting through war or inheritance. For any date you select, the game will consult an extensive set of history files that determine which countries are available for play, who rules them, which provinces they own, where their borders are drawn, and much, much more. You will be able to play almost any country you desire, provided that it existed at that date you have selected. There are two ways to choose your starting date: you may use one of the convenient historical “bookmarks”, or you may manually select a specific date.

Using Bookmarks

To the left of the map, you will see a set of

“bookmarks” that identify specific points in

history that we think might be interesting to play. Clicking on a bookmark will automatically change the date selector to the bookmark’s date; after a moment or two, the map will be updated to ref lect the political situation at that time. Near the bottom of the map, you may see the heraldic shields of several countries that might be interesting to control if you begin at this date. Simply click on a shield to select that country. You are not limited to our recommendations, though. You can select any realm anywhere in the world by clicking on a province that belongs to it.

The area to the right of the map will display the name of the country you have selected, as well as some basic information about the nation’s ruler and the country’s starting diplomatic situation. There is also an indication of how difficult this country might be to play when beginning on this date: our graphic art-

ist’s sense of humour made him use a skull and crossbones to show a difficult country, and a

baby’s soother for an easy one. If you change

your mind about playing a country that you

have selected, simply click on a different one

to select it instead.

Once you’re satisfied with your choice, click the “start” button in the lower right corner of the screen. There will be a short delay as all of the specific historical data for that starting date is loaded into the game; you will then see the main game map and interface appear on the screen.

The Date Selector

If you prefer, you can use the “date selector” to choose any starting date you wish. The arrow

buttons above and below the selector’s year display will advance the date forwards or backwards in increments of one, ten, or one hundred years at a time. The smaller arrows to the left and right of the month and day allow you to set a precise date in that year. You may also click a bookmark to get close to the date you desire, and then use the selector to adjust backwards or forwards from that point.

As you adjust the date selector, the game refers to its history files and updates the map to reflect any changes in national borders or the countries that are available. Once you have settled on a date, click on the country of your choice to select it and display some basic information about its ruler and political situation. When you’re ready to begin playing, click the

“start” button.

Loading a Saved Single Player Game

To resume playing a saved game, click on the

“saved game” tab that is located just above the

bookmarks, near the upper left corner of the screen. The bookmarks will be replaced by a listing of all of your saved games (including any auto-saved games if you have that feature enabled). Click on a file name to select it, click the “load” button to load this game’s current date into the selection screen, then select your country and click the “start” button to resume your game. If you wish, you can choose a different country to play when you resume your game by simply selecting it on the map.

Starting a New or Saved Multi-

Player Game

The same general method is used for starting multiplayer games; however, only the “host” may change the date, and each player must select a country before the “start” button will be enabled. Detailed instructions for multiplayer games can be found in the separate Multiplayer chapter near the end of this manual.

THE MAIN INTERFACE

Once the game has finished loading, you will see the main interface. It consists of a large map that displays the provinces in a small portion of the world, and a variety of buttons and other interface elements that you will use frequently while playing. In this section, we will give you an overview of this interface and provide references to the chapters where you will find more detailed information about each of the game’s elements and features.

The Main Map

The largest portion of the screen is filled with a main map. The world is divided into approximately 1700 individual provinces, shown on the map with a thin, dotted grey border.

About 450 of these are water provinces which your fleets will use to navigate and explore the world. The remaining 1250 are land provinces which have various types of terrain. You may see forests, swamps, rivers, hills and mountains, all of which will have an impact on the movement and combat capabilities of your armies. We will discuss this in detail in the chapter on the Military.

Land provinces are the main building

blocks of nations. Each province generates important tax and trade revenues to support your country’s economy, and contributes manpower that is used to build and maintain your military forces. National borders are drawn on the map using a thick, continuous red line. Only land provinces may be owned by a country. Water provinces are never owned, and do not contribute to a nation’s economy in any way.

Historically, provinces usually contained

many small villages, hamlets, and towns; however, in Europa Universalis III, we pay attention only to the largest and most important city in each of the provinces. You will see the provincial capital displayed on the map, and its size will give you an indication of the overall population of the region. There will be a flag flying from each provincial capital to show which country currently owns it. If you don’t recognise the flag, you can hover your mouse pointer over the province and a small tool tip will appear to provide you with those details.

If you have the “decorative map info” graphics option enabled, you may also see some small towns and villages on the map. These are there purely to enhance the overall visual ap-

peal of the game and have no effect on actual game play. They do help to provide a visual clue about the total population of a province

-- as does the size of the provincial capital city’s graphic -- which has a fairly large effect on the amount of tax income generated for your country and the amount of manpower that it will contribute to your armed forces. We will explain the majority of this when we take an in-depth look at your provinces.

Each country has a national capital that is of vital importance to the realm. You can easily see each country’s capital by looking for a golden crown circling a province’s flag on the map. Losing control of your national capital will cause fairly significant damage to your economic situation, and will result in a loss of prestige that will impact your ability to conduct diplomacy with other realms. Prestige and the art of diplomacy are covered in the chapters on domestic affairs and diplomacy.

You may see a variety of other small graphics displayed on the map. Most are used to show that one of a variety of special “province improvements” has been constructed in the province. There will also be a number of loca-

tions that contain a special “bag of gold” symbol to indicate that the province is a regional center of trade. Provinces that are on a sea or ocean’s border will often contain a special port symbol positioned somewhere on the coastline. This is a quick way to see that it has a port suitable for a f leet to make harbour and conduct repairs. You’ll find each of these described in their appropriate sections of the manual.

While Europa Universalis III does not model individual storms or weather patterns, some provinces are subject to periodic seasonal effects of winter. This is shown graphically on the map and has three different levels of effect: mild, average, and severe. Winter conditions will greatly increase the attrition rates suffered

by any army that is on campaign outside of its nation’s borders and should be avoided if at all possible. Details of this can be found in the section on the Military.

You will notice that most of the map is somewhat darkened, except for the provinces that belong to your country and any immediately adjacent provinces. This is called the “fog of war” and it prevents you from seeing anything that isn’t immediately within your general area of control. Certain diplomatic actions will lift the fog of war from a friendly country’s provinces, but in most cases you will only be aware of your own lands and of the provinces located in the vicinity or your armies and fleets.

We’ll discuss this further in the sections on Di-

plomacy and the Military.

Many distant provinces will be completely obscured by a white, impenetrable fog. These areas are called “terra incognita” (Latin for “unknown land”) and will remain hidden from view until you have explored them or learned about them from other countries. There are also some parts of the world that are so remote and inhospitable that you will never be able to explore or colonize them. These areas are called

“permanent terra incognita” and are unavailable

during play. Parts of South America, the far north, and regions in Asia fall under this category. We’ll talk about this again in the section on exploration and colonization.

Navigating the Main Map

The world is far too large to fit on your screen all at

once, so you will frequently need to examine distant areas by simply moving your mouse to the edge of the screen, causing it to pan in that direction. You may also pan

the map using your keyboard’s left, right, up, and down arrow keys, if you prefer. If you

mouse is equipped with a scroll wheel, it can be used to zoom the map out to display large areas of the world, or zoom in to see more precise details of a small handful of provinces. If your mouse doesn’t have a scroll wheel, you can zoom the map in and out by clicking on the “+” and “-” magnifying glass buttons located on the Special Menus toolbar at the extreme bottom-right corner of your screen. If you wish to quickly return to the location of your country’s national capital, click the house-shaped “home”

button that is positioned just above the Special Menus toolbar, or press the “home” key on your keyboard. If you wish to locate a specific province, you can click the arrow-shaped

“province locator” button, type the first few let-

ters of the province’s name into the pop-up box, and then select it from the list of provinces that match your search.[

The Mini Map

Towards the lower-right corner of the screen is a small map of the world. This “Mini Map” is a handy navigation tool that

allows you to quickly jump great distances on the Main Map by simply clicking on the part of the world that you’d like to move to on the Mini Map. The portion of the world that is currently displayed on the Main Map is shown as a small white square on the Mini Map, making it easy to orient yourself if the Main Map is displaying a part of the world with which you are unfamiliar.

The Top Bar

The Top Bar is the narrow bar that extends across the top of the screen and is visible at all times. The left and central portions of the Top Bar provide a quick overview of a number of very important values that you will refer to very

frequently. Each symbol has a drop-down tool tip that will appear if you hover your mouse over it. The tool tips provide detailed information about each item and the rate that it is currently changing each month. The current game date is displayed on the right side of the bar; and beside this is the button that activates the very useful “Outliner” tool. Let’s look at each of these, one by one, from left to right:

Manpower Pool: Your manpower pool represents the number of

your citizens that are currently available to be recruited for your country’s armies and navies. Manpower is drawn from each of your provinces on a monthly basis and is used to replenish any losses that your forces may have suffered in the field. Any excess manpower is placed into your country’s manpower pool and may be used to recruit new armies of

navies. There is a limit to the size of your pool which is determined by a wide variety of factors including your country’s overall population, your domestic policies, you na-

tion’s “ideas”, and the presence of certain province improvements that you may build. We’ll look at this in detail in the Military section, although some of the factors that affect its replenishment rate and maximum size are discussed in the chapters on Province Management and Domestic Management.

Stability: This critical value represents the overall social stability of your country and can range

between values of -3 and +3. At very low levels of stability, you will be under increased risk of rebellion or may even be on the brink of civil war. At high levels of stability, your population will be very content and is unlikely to rebel or actively oppose you. Stability also affects your monthly tax income, since a disgruntled population will be far less productive than a happy one. Many of the game’s historic and random events will have an effect on your stability, as will any diplomatic actions you take that are likely to upset your population. We’ll mention stability many times in this manual, but the rule of thumb is to try to maintain a positive value whenever possible.

Treasury: The treasury is your country’s current reserve of money, which is used for a wide vari-

ety of activities in the game. We use the term “ducats” to refer to units of money, rather than anachronistic or regional terms such as “dollar” or “pound”. Every month, you will receive an income based on the tax revenue of your provinces, as well as any merchant trading you are conducting. You will probably allocate most of this income to technological research, maintenance of your land and naval forces, and a few other things that incur a monthly cost. Any ducats left over from your monthly expenses will be added to your treasury. You will need plenty of money to construct special buildings that will improve your provinces, to purchase new regiments and ships to expand your military, or perhaps to be used as

an incentive for a country to listen to your diplomatic overtures. We will look at your economy in detail in the chapter on Domestic Management.

Merchant Pool: Merchants are used to increase your country’s monthly income, and this value

shows how many are currently available for use.

You can generate significant amounts of trade

revenue by sending them out to the world’s centers of trade where they will try to compete against other countries’ merchants for a share of the profits. Competition will usually be fierce, so you will need a steady supply of merchants to replace any that have been driven out of business. New merchants will be added to your pool fairly gradually; with the rate of replenishment being determined by a variety of factors. You are allowed a maximum of five merchants in your pool at any one time. Merchants and trade are discussed in detail in the chapter on Trade.

Colonist Pool: You will need a steady supply of colonists if you

intend to explore new lands and establish colonies in any of the unoccupied provinces you discover. Colonists are needed in order to hire the intrepid explorers and conquistadors who will chart the unknown water and land provinces that are terra incognita. You will also use them to establish and expand new colonies that will increase your country’s territories and wealth. The top bar shows how many colonists are currently interested in joining an expedition. As you use them, the pool will slowly replenish itself up to a maximum of five colonists at any one time. This is discussed in detail in the chapter on Exploration and Colonization.

Diplomat Pool: No matter what

style of game you want to play, a

regular supply of diplomats will be crucial to your success. Diplomats are sent

to negotiate all sorts of agreements with other rulers; and to hire new generals or admirals to lead your military forces. Keep a close eye on this value, particularly if you are at war. As is the case with all of the pools, the rate of replenishment is determined by a wide variety of factors that are discussed throughout the rest of the manual. You may have a maximum of five diplomats in your country’s pool at any one time.

Missionary Pool: Missionaries are used to convert wayward

provinces to your country’s official religion. While you are unlikely to need very many missionaries early in the game, they will be invaluable to you if you conquer provinces that practice a different religion or if you are playing a country anywhere in Europe when the Reformation begins to take place. We will talk about religion in the chapter on Domestic Management and we cover the specifics for using a missionary in the Province Management chapter.

Spy Pool: Not all affairs of state

are honourable. Your spies will be

able to conduct a variety of clandestine missions that can hamper or disrupt an enemy. Success can reap some very interesting rewards, but failure has its consequences too. We discuss the use of spies in the chapter on Diplomacy. You may have a maximum of five spies in your pool, which will slowly replenish itself.

Date/Pause: The current date in the game is always displayed towards the right side of the Top Bar. Unless you pause, the date will continually advance one day at a time from whatever starting point you have chosen until you reach the end of the game. Most of the things you do during play will require a certain number

of days to achieve and will usually provide you with an estimated date of completion which you can check against the current game date. The display also acts as an on-screen pause button. Click anywhere on the current date display to pause the game; click it again when you are ready to resume. You may also pause (and unpause) the game using either the “pause|break”

button or space bar on your keyboard.

Game Speed: Beside the date, you will see a graphic indication

of the current game speed setting. If the game is paused, you will see two red bars. Otherwise, you will see a number of small gold arrows. The more arrows you see, the more rapidly each day will advance to the next. The maximum game speed you can achieve will depend on the power of your processor, and will vary from computer to computer. To adjust the game speed, click the “+” or “-” buttons immediately to the right of the date, or use the “+” and “-” keys on your keyboard.

The Outliner: At the extreme right end of the Top Bar is a button that

toggles the Outliner display on or off. We’ll talk about this amazingly powerful tool a little later in this chapter.

Special Menus Toolbar

The Special Menus toolbar is located in the bottom-right corner of your screen and provides access to a variety of interfaces and “map modes” that you are likely to use on a very regular basis during play. Let’s look at them one by one, starting at the top of the toolbar.

Holy See Button

Clicking on the Holy See button at the top of the Special Menus toolbar opens an inter-

face where you may try to influence the seven important cardinals that make up the Catholic Church’s curia. If you are successful, you may gain control of the Holy See which will provide a number of special benefits to your realm. This interface can only be accessed if your country has Catholicism as its official state reli-

gion, and will be greyed out if this is not the case. We will look more closely at this feature in the Special Political Bodies chapter of the manual.

Holy Roman Empire Button

The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) is the other special political body

in Europa Universalis III. Click on the HRE button to open an interface where you may review the current member states, electors, and emperor of the Empire. Countries that are members of the HRE enjoy several special ad-

vantages over countries that aren’t, and the emperor receives even greater advantages that are based on the total number of current members.

The emperor is elected by seven speciallychosen members of the HRE, each of whom will vote for the country that is liked the most when the current emperor dies. You will find this interface extremely useful when you try to plan a diplomatic strategy to become the next ruler of the empire. Further details can be found in the Special Political Bodies chapter.

Menu Button

The “Menu” button is used to display a submenu where you may save

your game; adjust many of the game options; change the in-game message settings; resign your current game and return to the Main Menu; or quit playing and return to the desktop.

• Save Game: Click the “save game” button to save your game at the current date. The default save name will identify the country and date, although you may change this to give the file any name you prefer.

• Game Options:

Click this button to access the same game options that are available from the Main Game Menu. Remember that any changes you make to the graphi-

cal options will not occur until you have quit

and re-started the game. See the “Getting Started” chapter for more details.

• Resign:

Selecting this option will stop play of your current game and return you to the Main Game Menu. You can then start a new game, or resume a previously saved one. Make sure that you have saved your current game if wish to return to it.

• Message Settings: There are a variety of different “messages” that you will receive during play that may require varying degrees of your attention. These can be displayed in several different ways, and are set to their default settings when you first install Europa Universalis III. Choose the “message settings” option to access the game’s message settings interface, where you may change the display method to suit your preference. We’ll talk about the various message types in a moment.

• Quit:

The quit button will stop play and exit directly to your desktop. Be sure to save your game first if you intend to return to it.

Ledger Button

The Ledger Button opens the game’s

extensive ledger interface which pro-

vides a wealth of information about your country, military, diplomatic situation, and a great deal more. Details of the ledger are provided in a separate chapter near the end of the manual.

Map Mode Buttons

The next six buttons are referred to as the “Map Mode” buttons. Clicking a map mode button will change the appearance of the Main Map to allow you to review various types of important information at a glance. This can save you a lot of time that would otherwise be required to review and compare that same information for each individual province. We’ll explain the meaning of each of the Map Modes in their respective sections in the manual, and simply provide an overview of them here.

Geographic Map Mode: This is the

default view of the Main Map. You can clearly see the mountains, hills, forests, swamps, and other geographic features on the map. This mode is particularly important when considering military manoeuvres where terrain will have a significant effect on your armies’ movement speeds and combat results.

Some provinces are also subject to special winter climate effects that can only be seen when using the geographic map mode.

Political Map Mode: This map

mode is the one that you see when you select a country at the beginning of the game, where each province is given a colour that is unique to the country that owns it. It is not uncommon for a province to fall under the temporary control of another country during a war; when that happens, this map mode will show both countries’ colours in alternating stripes. This makes it easy to tell at a glance when a territory has fallen to an enemy, to keep track of the progress of your wars, and to quickly review the size and extent of other countries.

Religious Map Mode: Each of the

game’s many different religions has a unique colour that is shown for each province on the Main Map when you active the religious map mode. A province does not necessarily practice the same faith as its ruling country’s official religion, and so some provinces may be displayed in alternating stripes to make it easy to see if there might be religious tensions in the area. This map mode is particularly useful when determining whether there are any provinces in your realm that should be converted by one of your missionaries, and may also be of some importance when considering potential wars or conquests.

Imperial Map Mode: As we men-

tioned above, the Holy Roman Empire is a special political body composed of a number of member states. You can use this map mode to quickly review the current mem-

bers of the HRE. The provinces belonging to the current emperor are shaded in a bright green colour on the Main Map, while the seven electors’ provinces will be shaded in a medium green, and the remaining member states will be shaded in dark green. The Imperial map mode

is particularly handy for seeing which countries should be the target of your diplomatic efforts when you are trying to arrange for your election as the next emperor. It is also useful when preparing to go to war in that region, since members of the HR E usually present a more difficult challenge than you might otherwise expect. The emperor enjoys a number of significant military advantages that should make you very wary of engaging him unless you are extremely well prepared.

Trade Map Mode: All international

trade in Europa Universalis III passes through a limited number of provinces that contain a special “Center of Trade”. A center of trade is a location where the trade goods from nearby provinces are bartered and sold by various merchants, generating additional monthly income for the countries that sent them there.

When you use the trade map mode, the Main

Map will be colour-coded to make it easy to distinguish between the provinces that contribute to each center’s value; what’s more, the tool tip that appears when you hover the mouse pointer over a province will give you detailed information about the business being conducted in the local center of trade. This is an extremely useful map mode to use when you are deciding where to send one of the merchants available in your country’s pool.

Diplomacy Map Mode: The Diplo-

macy Map Mode provides an easy way to view to review your relationship with other countries. Provinces that are part of your country will be shown using a bright green colour. Your allies will be displayed in bright blue, and any country with which you have a royal marriage will be shown in darker blue. If you have any vassals or are part of a personal union, these provinces will be dark green. Bright green stripes are used to indicate a “core province”, and red is used to show provinces that belong to an enemy. We will discuss the meanings of all of these terms later in the manual.

Map Zoom Buttons:

As we mentioned earlier, the two

small magnifying glasses at the bottom of the toolbar are used to zoom the Main Map in and out. It is unlikely that you will use these buttons if your mouse has a scroll wheel.

Domestic Interface

Near the top-left corner of the screen is a large, ornate shield that displays your country’s coat of arms. This is the same coat of arms that flies on the f lag of each of your provincial capitals, and on the banner of each of your armies and fleets. It serves as the method to access to one of the most important interfaces in the game: the “Domestic Interface”. Simply click on your shield to open it; when you are finished, click again to close it. We will spend quite a lot of time detailing the many features and controls to be found here when we discuss Domestic Management.

Province-Related Interfaces

If you click on any land province on the Main Map, one of three different interfaces will open in the lower-left portion of the screen. The interface that is displayed will depend on whether the province you selected is part of your country, part of another nation’s country, or is currently an independent province that is available for settlement by one of your colonists.

Province Interface

The Province Interface will be displayed whenever you click on a province that is owned by your country. This will allow you to review important information about the province, and to initiate a variety of different province-

based activities. You will use this interface to construct new “improvements” that will help to increase the economic or military contribution that the province makes to your country. You will also use it to recruit new regiments to serve in your armies and to build new ships to

be added to your navy. If the province does not currently share your official state religion, you will also access the province interface to send a missionary to convert the population. You will find all of the details in the Province Management chapter.

Diplomatic Interface

If you click on a province that is owned by another country, the Diplomatic Interface will open. You will see some general information about the province as well as a series of important diplomatic options that you may wish to pursue with the province’s owner. You will use this interface to suggest an alliance, declare war, settle peace, and a wide variety of other possible negotiations. Details about all of the diplomatic actions can be found in the Diplomacy chapter.

Colonization Interface

If a province is currently un-owned, clicking on it will display some basic information about the province as well as the Colonization Interface. You will use this to establish and later expand a colonial settlement which, in time, may grow into a full-f ledged colonial city. We will look at this interface in the chapter on Exploration and Colonization.

Map Units

Beyond pursuing the finer points of diplomacy and managing your realm, most of your day-today actions will probably involve moving your armies and f leets around the map to explore new provinces or prosecute your wars. Armies and f leets appear on the map as over-scale animated models that are large enough to select and move without being forced to zoom in too close on the map. Once you zoom the map out

to a certain distance, these will disappear and

be replaced by a marker that carries your country’s coat of arms. We will discuss armies and navies in detail in the Military section of the manual, but the basic approach to controlling a unit is to select it on the Main Map by clicking on it, and then right-click on the province to which you would like it.

You will only be able to see your own units on the map, or units that are located in provinces that are not currently covered by the fog of war. To move into a province that belongs to another country, you must have some sort of diplomatic agreement that allows you to do so, or you must be at war with that country. Water provinces do not belong to anyone, so your fleets may freely enter any water province you wish.

Provinces that are currently shown as terra incognita on your map cannot be entered unless your unit is controlled by a special type of leader: a “conquistador” for armies, or an “explorer” for fleets. We’ll talk about these in the Exploration and Colonization chapter. Any part of the map that is “permanent terra incognita” is too remote or hostile for your units and can never be entered at any time during the game.

Messages and the History Log

You will periodically receive on-screen messages to inform you of things that may be particularly important to you during play. This includes reports from your military about battles or sieges, messages from your diplomats about the success or failure of their missions, information from merchants about their activities in centers of trade, reports from your spies about the outcome of their missions, and many other things of importance. There will also be details of some of the commonly-known events and happenings from throughout the known world.

History Log

The history log is a scrollable record of all messages that you have received in the game. When you first load a game, the history log will be hidden from view, but you can display it by clicking the small, circular “+” button near the bottom of your screen. The button’s exact location will depend on your current screen resolution setting. If you are playing at 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, the button will be just to the left of the Mini Map. If you are playing at higher resolutions, the button will be located further to the left, towards the center, near the

bottom of the screen. If you find that it is obstructing your view, you can hide it again by clicking the small “-” button in its upper-right corner.

Message Windows

Messages that are particularly important to your realm will be displayed in a special message box that opens on the screen. The message

box will close once you click the “okay” button to confirm that you have read it. Many message boxes will also have a “goto” button that is sensitive to the context of the message. Clicking the “goto” button will either move the Main Map to a location that is relevant to the message, or it will open the interface that will allow you to react to the message’s content.

Floating Messages

Some messages that relate to your realm are of general interest and only medium importance. These are usually displayed directly on your screen as “f loating messages”. They typically provide only general information and will rarely require a specific response or action to be taken. Floating messages cause a slight increase in the processing demands on your system, so you may wish to consider changing them to display in a different way (or perhaps turn them off altogether) if your computer is very close to the game’s minimum system specifications.

Message Settings

As we mentioned a little earlier, each type

of message has a default setting that can be changed by clicking the “menu” button on the Special Menus toolbar and selecting the

“message settings” option from the menu. This

opens an interface that contains a complete list of each different message type and allows you to change the way it will be displayed in the game.

Most message types are set by default to be written to the history log. The more important ones will also open a message box, while the general interest ones will be displayed as f loating text (some of these will not be written to the history log). By using the “message settings” interface, you can toggle each of these display types on or off. Once you have saved your preferences and resumed play, the new settings will take effect. There may be some message types that cannot be displayed in all three different ways, so if you click on a toggle button and it doesn’t change, this is most likely the reason.

Europa Universalis III remembers your message setting preferences and will continue to apply them to all future games. If you toggle the setting of a message to be off for all three display types, the message will no longer be displayed anywhere on your screen and might cause you to miss something of importance. Don’t forget this when starting a new game, since you may have turned off a particular message type in a previous game that might be more critical to you in a new one.

There is also a quick way to change a single type of message’s display setting if it is currently displayed on your screen. Simply right-click on the message to open a small dialogue box

that will allow you to toggle the settings on and off directly in the game. You can do this by right-clicking on a line in the history log, or by right-clicking anywhere in a message

box. This allows you to alter the setting for that message type without going through the longer process of opening the message settings interface and locating the message type in the list.

Events

Europa Universalis III has a large number of special “events” that may occur within your country during the course of play. Events will appear on your screen in a message box and will usually require some sort of decision as to how you would like to respond to them. There are two different types of events: random and historical.

Historical events are based on the recorded past as we know it, and will occur when the situation in the game world closely approximates the situation that caused it to happen in history. Because the game situation can diverge from recorded history fairly easily, we have based these events on the root causes that are generally accepted as having contributed to the event taking place in “real life”. This means that a historic event can happen to any nation that satisfies the criteria we have established for the event.

You will be given at least two choices of how to respond to a historical event, and your decision will often have a large, long-term impact on the development of your nation. Some events are beneficial; others may be quite the opposite. Many are “neutral” and simply present you with a choice to make along your road into the future. You will often be equally as likely to succeed no matter which path you take, but the methods you will use to achieve victory will probably be different.

Random events are

somewhat more generic in nature. They provide a little added spice and unpredictability to the game, but their effects are usually not as great (in either extreme) as those you will receive

from historical events. You may receive a gift

of gold to your treasury or perhaps your peasants may cower in superstitious fear for a short while after sighting a meteor. You should be ready to take advantage of the good events, and to overcome any problems that arise from the less beneficial ones.

The type and frequency of events will vary considerably depending on what is happening in your particular game’s version of history. It is not practical to list all of them here (there are

hundreds) but each will include a descriptive text that explains the historical context of the event, and will usually have at least two possi-

ble options that you may choose when deciding

how to respond to them. Hovering your mouse over each option’s text will display a tool tip with the precise details of what will happen if you choose that action. Very few events have a

“right” or a “wrong” choice. Most simply present

two or more alternative paths, either of which may have negative implications or benefits. Just select the option that you feel is most suitable for your country in your current situation.

Alerts

You will receive a number of special “alerts” or reminders

that should help you to manage your realm. These are usually displayed when the game feels that there is something important that you might have overlooked and could require your immediate attention. Alerts appear as small red flags near the top of the Main Map. You can hover your mouse over the alert to see view the message, or click on it to

have the game take you to the appropriate location or automatically open the relevant interface for you.

Alerts will include reminders that

you can change your domestic policy, that a loan will soon be due, that your country is at war, or that your economy is currently running a deficit. You do not need to respond immediately to an alert if you are

busy doing something else. It will remain there until you have time to review it, or will disappear if it is no longer relevant.

Diplomatic Messages

Countries will occasionally send you diplomatic proposals that do not require your immediate attention and might be annoying or disruptive to the game if they auto-

matically opened a message window. Instead, you will see a diplomatic message appear as a small scroll icon near the bottom left of the Main Map. The scroll will show the flag of the country that has sent you the message and the symbol on the scroll will tell you the type of offer the message contains. You can hover your mouse over the message to find out roughly what it contains, or click on it to open the message and respond.

Most diplomatic messages will be automatically rejected if you do not respond to them within 30 days. The scroll will

blink for several days prior to its expiry, and will disappear once you have responded to it or when its time limit expires.

The Outliner

Earlier in this chapter, we mentioned that there is a button at the right end of the Top Bar that

opens an extremely powerful tool called the “Outliner.” This acts as a customisable toolbar that you can use to quickly access many of the game’s features or interfaces that you use on a frequent basis.

Clicking the button opens the outliner display in the upper-right corner of the screen. When the outliner is visible, you can click on any item on the list to immediately jump to its location on the Main Map or to open the relevant inter-

face that is normally used to control it. There are more than a dozen different categories of items that can be displayed in the list. In the example shown here, we have chosen to list each province in our country, our active centers of trade, our armies, and our navies.

Right-clicking the button allows you to customise the categories that are included in the outliner’s list when it is open. The options are:

• Provinces: Enabling this item will include a list of each of your country’s provinces in the outliner list. If an enemy is besieging one of your provinces, a small siege icon

will appear beside its name. If you hover the pointer over a province’s name, a tool tip will display the province’s culture, religion, income, revolt risk, and manpower. Clicking on a province’s name will move the Main Map to center it on the province.

• Sieges:

This option will list any sieges that your armies are currently conducting. The approximate progress of the siege will be shown beside the location’s name and a tool tip provides an estimate of how much longer the city might be able to resist you. Clicking on the province name will center the Main Map on the location

of the siege and open the Siege interface.

• Combats:

The outliner’s list can include any battles that that your armies are currently fighting. The current size of the opposing armies is shown on the list and a tool tip provides a detailed breakdown of the composition of the forces and the commanders that lead them. Clicking on the conflict will center the Main Map on its location and open the Combat details interface.

• Recruiting Regiments:

Enabling this item will list any of your provinces that are currently recruiting new regiments for your armies as well as the number of days remaining until the regiment will be ready for action. Clicking on the province name will center the Main Map on that location.

• Building Ships:

This option is the same as the “recruiting regiments” option, except it will list provinces that are currently building ships.

• Colonists:

If you are in the process of establishing or enlarging a colony, this option causes the outliner to include a list of provinces that currently have a colonist en route to them. You will see the name of the province and the estimated time until the colonist arrives. A tool tip will show the estimated chance the colonist will succeed, the current size of the colony, and the number of natives (if any) that also live there. Clicking on the province name will center the Main Map on that location.

• Buildings:

Enabling “buildings” will add a list of any buildings that are currently being constructed in your provinces and the estimated time until the project will be complete. The tool tip will identify the location and completion date, while clicking on the

building name will move to that location

on the Main Map.

• Missionaries:

If you have sent missionaries to a province to convert the population to your national religion, you can have a list of

the provinces included in the outliner. The list will indicate when you should expect the missionary to finish his task, and clicking on a province’s name will move to that location on the Main Map.

• Centers of Trade:

Enabling this option will list every center of trade where you have at least one currently active merchant. A tool tip will display the total value of trade passing through the center, as well as the monthly revenue generated by your merchants. Clicking in the province’s name will center it in the Main Map and open the Center of Trade interface to allow you to send additional merchants to that location.

• Naval Combat:

This is the naval version of

the “combats” option.

• Armies:

The outliner can include a list of each of your country’s armies. A tool tip will show the army’s current commander and location; and if is moving you will also see the intended destination. Clicking on an army’s name will center its location on the Main Map and automatically select the army.

• Navies:

This is the naval version of the “ar-

mies” option.

Tool Tips

Before we move on to look at the components of the various interfaces in detail, we should point out that virtually everything in Europa Universalis III has a tool tip associated with it. If you are not sure what something is, or what it means, hover your mouse above it for a moment and a tool tip is almost certain to appear. Many of the tool tips are two-stage tips, displaying additional details if you continue to

hover a little longer. The extended tool tips for many numerical items (such as most of the values displayed in the Top Bar) include details of exactly how the value is calculated. If in doubt, look for a tool tip.

PROVINCE MANAGEMENT

Overview

As we said in the previous chapter, the map of

the world is divided into approximately 1700 provinces. Approximately 450 of these are water provinces, while the balance of them will contain at least some amount of land. Land provinces are the building blocks of countries. Every country must own at least one province in order to survive, and only land provinces can be owned. When the game begins, there are usually more than 200 countries that exist somewhere in the world, although the exact number will depend on the starting date you have chosen. Each individual province contributes a number of things to the country that owns it, so before we can look at things on a national scale we must first take a close look at this critical component of your realm.

Province Ownership

and Control

Land provinces will always either be owned by a country, or be “vacant” and available for colonization. There is a very important distinction we must stress between ownership and control.

• Province Ownership:

Unless it has not yet

been colonized, every land province (including islands) will be owned by a country. Provinces that are owned by your realm will contribute income to your country in the form of monthly tax revenues. They are also the source of the manpower you will need to recruit regiments, build ships, and replace any combat or attrition losses you suffer. The residents of the province are effectively the population of your country. Other nations’ armies are prohibited from entering provinces that you own unless they are at war with you or have diplomatically obtained your permission to allow them

“military access.”

• Province Control:

Under normal circumstances, the country that owns a province will also control it. However, during times of war or rebellion, an enemy army may move into a province and overcome its defences. When this happens, the control of the province will change, but the ownership does not. Ownership can only be transferred as a result of a peace agreement, a diplomatic purchase of land, or outright rebellion of a province’s population. Unless a province is owned and controlled by the same country, it will not contribute in any way to either country’s economy or military.

• Un-owned Provinces:

Depending on the starting date you have chosen, some provinces may not be owned by any country at the beginning of the game. Any country is free to move its army into that province, and any country may send a colonist to the province in an attempt to establish a basic settlement. Ownership is not established until a settlement attempt has been successful, at which point it becomes part of that country.

Province control may seesaw back and forth between antagonists during a war, but ownership of a province can only change when it is ceded to another country as part of a peace negotiation. If a country is forced to cede its very last province to an enemy, it will cease to exist and is eliminated from play. Control of a province is immediately and automatically returned to the country that owns it at the end of a war.

We’ll talk about the details of this in the Di-

plomacy chapter. The one exception to this rule involves a colony that has not yet grown large enough to become a full-fledged colonial city. During war, ownership can be transferred immediately if an enemy gains control of the province, although this does not happen automatically. We provide details of this in the chapter on Colonisation.

Province ownership can only change in

three other ways:

• Various circumstances can lead to a province's population revolting against its owner. An army of rebels will form and attempt to gain control of the provincial capital. If they are successful and can maintain control for a period of time, the province may subsequently declare itself free from its oppressor and form a new, independent country. Ownership of the province will be automatically transferred and will become the new national capital of the fledgling realm.

• There are occasions when you will be able to voluntarily grant a province its freedom. When you do so, the new nation will become your vassal and be given ownership of the province. We'll talk about this in the Domestic Management chapter.

• One of the many diplomatic actions that are available in the game is for a country to purchase a province from another country. If the proposal is accepted, the ownership of the province will be transferred in exchange for gold.

Province Interface

When you click on a land province that you own, the Province Management interface will appear in the lower-left portion of the screen. The display is divided into approximately two halves: the left half shows a picture of the provincial capital, and the right half contains a

“Provincial Summary” as well as a few impor-

tant interface buttons. The Provincial Sum-

mary portion of the interface will be almost identical when you click on another country’s province or an un-owned province, but most of the extra interface buttons will be removed.

Provincial Summary

The Provincial Summary is divided into several distinct areas that provide information about the province’s details, religion, income, and trade. We’ll look at each of these in turn.

Province Details

The banner that runs across the top of the Provincial Summary shows the name of the province and has a small “X” button at the right-

hand end which you can click to close the Province Interface. You may also close it by clicking a second time on the province on the Main Map. You don’t need to close the interface to change to a different province. Just click on another location on the map and the display will change to the newly selected province. Below the banner you will see some detailed information about the province. Each item has an associated tool tip that provides additional details about the values displayed:

• Population:

A province’s population has a significant impact on the wealth of the province. The larger the population, the more tax income it will generate for its owner. When a country has positive national stability, a province’s population will usually grow. There are various factors that may also cause a province’s population to

decline, including very low stability or the province being under siege by an enemy. The tool tip will display a detailed list of any factors that are affecting the population growth in the province.

• Supply Limit:

Each province is able to feed and support a limited number of active armed forces. Each factor of the displayed supply limit allows the province to feed and supply 1,000 men in an active army located in that province. The supply limit depends on the base supply value of the province, its production, the terrain, and the level of fortification (if any). Forces from other countries cannot avail themselves of the full supply capabilities of a province. An ally’s army can be supported up to about 80% of this value, and an enemy army is able to forage for only a minimal amount of supply from the countryside.

• Max. Attrition:

This reflects how rapidly an army will lose men if it exceeds the province’s supply limit, and depends primarily on the terrain and its level of military technology. The value shown is the maximum percentage of the total force that can be lost due to monthly attrition while it still exceeds the supply limit.

• Revolt Risk:

This is the provincial equivalent of stability and is very closely tied to your country’s stability. Any positive revolt risk value indicates that there is a risk that this province may rebel against your country. As revolt risk rises, the province will generate less tax income than it would if there was no risk of rebellion. If the population of the province revolts, an army of rebels will appear and attempt to capture the province. If you fail to stop them from gaining control of the province, the province will then either defect and declare allegiance to an adjacent country, or they may declare independence and attempt to survive as a new independent country. The revolt risk is determined by your country’s current stability, as well as other factors such as whether your

realm is tolerant of the province’s religion, and whether it is culturally aligned to your rule. There are province improvements that will alter this value, as well as several random and historical events that may increase or reduce the revolt risk for a period of time. Revolt risk is also heavily inf luenced by war. The longer your country remains at war, the higher the revolt risk will rise. If the province is captured by an enemy, it will rise considerably further. Once the war is concluded, the revolt risk will slowly recede

back to its base peacetime level.

• Culture:

This is one of the factors that influence a province’s revolt risk. As we’ll see when we look at your domestic affairs, each country has a primary state culture and may have one or more cultures that it considers to be acceptable. If the province’s culture is accepted, there will be no penalty. If the culture is different, the risk of rebellion will

be greater and the province will contribute

somewhat less to your income.

• Manpower:

This is the amount of manpower that the province contributes to your country’s manpower pool. Manpower isn’t used directly from the province, but rather on a national level. The manpower of the province is based primarily on its population, although there are other things that may increase its value, including your domestic policies and national ideas.

• Capital:

This is strictly for historical interest and has no effect on game play. The names chosen for many of the game’s provinces are often not the same as the name of the most important city in that area, so we include that city’s name here for in case you are curious.

• Garrison:

If the province has a fortification of any size, the number of troops currently garrisoning it will determine how long an enemy must besiege the province before it is captured. If the enemy attempts to storm the walls, the garrison will rally to defend the city. Larger fortifications can house

larger garrisons and withstand longer sieges; as the siege progresses, the defenders will eventually begin to die and the attacker may eventually breach the walls and capture the province. Once a siege is lifted, or a province is captured, the garrison will slowly regain strength until it reaches its maximum level once more. We’ll talk about this again in the warfare section.

Province Religion and Conversions

To the right of the first column of figures, you will see a symbol that shows the province’s religion.

While historically there were

many instances where several faiths were practiced in the same region, we have chosen a simplified approach by restricting each province to having only one dominant religion; however, this will

not necessarily be the same as the official state religion of the country that owns it. If the provincial religion is different from the realm’s religion, there is a reduction in the income value of the province and there is also a potential for a much higher revolt risk. The level of revolt risk is determined by your country’s tolerance towards that religion. Religious tolerance is a component of domestic management which we will look at in the next chapter.

You can send a missionary from your country’s missionary pool to attempt to convert the population of a province that you own. To do this, click the “send” button that is immediately below the small missionary picture in the interface. It will often take a considerable period of time and a large investment in gold to convert a province, and success is far from guaranteed. Larger populations tend to be more expensive to convert and the attempt will usually

be less likely to succeed. Your ruler’s personal capabilities (which we will

look at in the next chapter) will also inf luence the likelihood of success.

You can see details of the cost, time, and

likelihood of success displayed immediately

below the missionary picture. The send button will be greyed out if the province already follows your state religion, if you lack the necessary funds in your treasury, or if you have no available missionaries in your national pool. You can only convert a province you own, so the “send missionary” portion of this interface will not be displayed when you are viewing another country’s province, or one that has not yet been colonized.

If you decide to go ahead with the conversion attempt, a missionary will be removed from your pool and the appropriate number of ducats will be immediately deducted from your treasury. You will see a small animated graphic on the Main Map in that province to indicate that a missionary is at work. Once the required time period has elapsed, you may be fortunate enough to have your missionary succeed and the province will change its religion to match your state religion. Should your missionary fail, there is a strong likelihood that your province’s population will object to his actions and revolt.

Province Income

Each province generates a monthly amount of income that it contributes to your country’s economy. This is shown in a box in the upper right corner of the Provincial Summary. There are two components of this income: the taxation amount and the production amount.

• The taxation amount is determined by the base tax value of the province and the size of its population. This will be modified by your country's stability, any differences between the province culture or religion and nation's culture or religion,

and any special buildings that you construct in the province that alter tax income. Some percentage of tax revenue is inherently

lost from provinces that are overseas, and may be further disrupted by pirate activities and enemy blockades.

• Production income is based on the value of the province's primary trade resource (we'll look at this in a moment) and is modified by the size of its population and the country's production technology level.

You can also build "province improvements" that will increase the amount of production income generated by the province.

Province Trade

Each province has a primary resource that it produces in sufficient volumes to have a surplus available for trade. The value of the resource is determined by the global demand for that item, which fluctuates over time. The number of units produced is based on the level of your country’s production technology, and on any infrastructure improvements that may have been built in the province. As we saw a moment ago, this results in a certain amount of production income being added to the province’s income. It also increases the value of the center of trade through which the goods are marketed.

We will talk about centers of trade in detail in the chapter on Trade. For the moment, it will be sufficient to say that this part of the interface identifies the province’s primary resource, its value, and the volume of that item it produces. The name of the local center of trade is shown on a button below this, and clicking it will automatically open a special Trade subinterface which allows you to send merchants there to capture a greater share of the market. Doing so will generate additional revenues for your country, over and above the production income you receive directly from owning the province.

Core Provinces and

Provincial Claims

At the beginning of the game, each country

will be assigned a number of “core” provinces based on the historical claims that existed at that time. Claims were usually based on dynastic inheritance rights, or on traditional national boundaries, so we use the concept of “core” provinces to indicate that a country considers a province to be a rightful, integral, core part of its realm. Countries will not necessarily own all of their core provinces when play begins, since territories frequently changed hands in those volatile times. You will often find that one (or more) of a country’s core provinces is currently part of another realm. As you might imagine, this is likely to lead to many conflicts in the game, just as territorial disputes have sparked many wars throughout history.

As the game progresses, a province may be added to the list of a country’s core provinces as a result of random or historical events. A province can also become considered a core if your country has owned it, uncontested, for a significant period of time. This process is slow and usually requires that it be part of your realm for at least fifty years. Claims will also disappear when a country that considers a province to be a core has not owned it or attempted to capture it for a period of twenty-five years.

If a country considers a province to be a core province, its shield will be displayed just below the Trade summary box in the Provincial Summary. It is not uncommon for there to be more than one shield, nor is it unlikely that some provinces will have no existing claims. If

you see a shield you don’t recognise, you can hover your mouse above it to display a tool tip indicating the nation’s identity.

As we will see in later chapters when we talk about the domestic and

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