Europa Universalis IV: Cradle of Civilization announced

The latest expansion to the historical grand strategy game will be focused on the many interesting and prosperous nations of the Middle East.

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Europa Universalis IV [Official Site] allows players to take charge of any nation between 1444-1821 and lead their nations to greatness. It’s a great deal of fun if you’re into strategy and don’t mind a steep learning curve and it’s the type of game that can steal dozens of hours of your life if you give it the chance. The various DLC that have been released since the game’s original launch over four years ago have fleshed out different aspects of gameplay and different regions of the game map.

Continuing that tradition, Cradle of Civilization aims to add a lot of developer love to the rich and diverse Middle East, giving these nations new mechanics and flavor.

Official Features:

• Mamluk Government: In a diverse empire, where the slaves are now masters, new sultans must rely on cultural power to stay viable.

• Persian Theocracy: Persian nations can use the power of the faith to bolster their regime.

• Tribal Federations: The Black and White Sheep tribes in Armenia and Mesopotamia must expand to exploit the unity of local clans.

• Army Professionalism: The Age of Mercenaries slowly transitions to the Age of Standing Armies as you recruit new generals and drill your peacetime army.

• Iqta Taxes: Muslim governments can impose new taxes every 20 years for special bonuses.

• Trade Policies: Instruct your merchants to take actions in trade nodes to increase your trade power or military advantage.

• Islamic Schools: The wide range of Sunni and Shia disciplines offer unique perks to their disciples and transforms international relations across the Middle East.

• And Much More: The Cradle of Civilization expansion will be accompanied by a free update for all EU4 players, including a new map with many new nations.

In Paradox Development Studios tradition, the expansion will also be accompanied by a beefy new patch. It’s got me excited as it’ll feature quite a few map changes and improvements as well as new trade goods to exploit and profit from. I’ll admit I’ve been on a bit of a EU IV bender as of late, after having putting down the game for a few months, so it’ll be interesting to see how it’ll all pan out.

A release date hasn’t been announced yet, with the date being “late 2017”, but typically these announcements are made 4-6 weeks before the DLC is actually out from my observations. See the full announcement post here.