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Hearts of Iron
Developer: Paradox
Publisher: Strategy First
Release Date: 2003
Written by Steve Lieb.
The Europa Universalis engine itself is a grand construct, designed at first only to bring the rules system of the eponymous boardgame to the PC. Somewhere between EU1’s late beta and the release of EU2, the guys at Paradox began to realize that what they had was something more. More than simply a vehicle for implementing boardgame rules for a narrow span of history, they had a general system that could (with proper tweaking) form the foundation of almost any era they wanted to cover.
Crusader Kings will be the development of this code to handle the Middle Ages. Some jaded gamers might not be terribly impressed. After all, there was a technological difference between the Renaissance and the Medieval era, but it was hardly a radical difference. Armies were still made up of horse cavalry (Knights and Mongols, rather than Cuirassiers and Uhlans), artillery (bombards rather than cannon), or infantry (more armor and spears, fewer guns) but not altogether too different. Trade was certainly different over time, but the change in the core mercantilist model from 1066 (the beginning of CK) until the early 19th century (the end of EU2) was mainly a matter of scope and organization. That might be stretching a point, but all in all, some might argue that the transition from the EU2 era back to the CK era will be a slight matter of changing some graphics, lowering some technologies, and that’s it – voila! A new game.
For those of you who may have read the CK article and interview (the first of this pair), you’ll know this isn’t the case at all. But no matter. For those who want to see what Paradox can do with EU when their ambition is really sparked, we have Hearts of Iron.
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