User Guide

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APPENDICES
Appendix A - New and
Changed Feature List
If you are a veteran of Europa Universalis II,
this appendix provides a summary of most of
the new or altered features introduced in Eu-
ropa Universalis III. It is by no means a com-
plete list since there far too many minor tweaks
and changes to itemize them all here.
• EU3 is the first major Paradox strategy
game to be introduced with 3D graphics.
The large 2D world bitmap and animated
sprites have been replaced with fully-ren-
dered 3D models to produce a more ap-
pealing overall visual effect.
• You may now start the game at any date be
-
tween May 30
th
, 1453 and December 30th,
1792. The game engine uses detailed his-
tory database files to generate an accurate
set-up.
• The end date of the game is now December
31, 1792.
• All monarchs and leaders who existed on
the date that you start will be included
in the set-up. Their deaths are now deter-
mined randomly and all future rulers will
be generated randomly and given a name
that is appropriate for the country. Future
military leaders are now either recruited
or may appear as a result of an event, but
these, too, are randomly generated.
• The concept of military tradition has been
added to the game. Military tradition is
gained by fighting battles, exploring un-
charted provinces, and by building certain
province improvements. It is gradually lost
by remaining inactive for a period of time.
Military tradition is tracked separately for
land and naval activities and it is the prime
determining factor in the quality of gener-
als and admirals that you will be able to
recruit to lead your military forces.
• Leaders are no longer given to you accord
-
ing to a preset, historical timetable. In-
stead, you will recruit them as needed by
expending a portion of your military tradi-
tion, some gold, and one of your diplomats.
The quality of your leaders will depend on
your military tradition when you recruit
them. You may also convert your ruler into
a leader, although there are potentially
dire consequences if he subsequently falls
in battle.
• Armies are now formed of regiments that
are a fixed size and recruited from your
provinces. By default, armies have no lead-
er and will perform poorly unless com-
manded by a general. Armies replenish
their losses automatically over time, draw-
ing manpower from your national pool
until they return to full strength. This
reduces the frequency that you will need
to recruit new forces to replace your com-
bat or attrition losses and makes each regi-
ment a precious commodity that you will
be heartbroken to lose.
• Similarly, fleets must be commanded by
admirals to be truly effective and are as-
sembled from individual ships that are
built one at a time in your coastal prov-
inces. Each ship now has an "operational
strength" that affects its performance in
battle and can be reduced due to attrition
or by damage sustained in combat. Ships
are rarely sunk except in large naval battles
but will periodically need to visit a friend-
ly port to repair any damage they sustain
through combat or attrition.
• Naval attrition is now treated as a chance
of encountering trouble at sea, allowing
smaller fleets to embark on long voyages if
they dare. The unpredictable ocean storms
of EU2 are gone, and are now simply in-
corporated as a component of attrition. If
you are lucky, it is possible to sail great dis-
tances with only a ship or two in a fleet,
although it is unlikely that the navy will be
in any shape to defend itself if it encoun-
ters a hostile force.
• Overall manpower levels have been greatly