![]() ![]() It is also easier to build new and more massive armies than attempting to transport your warriors to some of the far-flung lands. This is entirely necessary because the clock is ticking and you need to conquer as much land as possible to win the game and therefore need to be conquering in multiple directions. This is also where the game begins to become both cumbersome to play and a bit unrealistic historically.Īt the easier levels, you don't have to worry much about the loyalty of your nobility, so you can amass huge standing armies to aid in your conquest. At the early stages of the game, it is actually easy enough to expand your lands and build troops, but as with other strategy games, the latter parts become an experiment in multi-tasking and micromanagement. It also requires that you build up the ranks of your armies, recruit mercenaries, and train those squires and knights. This includes improving the defenses for your lands, increasing farmlands, and expanding castles to increase the number of knights that will follow you. Peasants and nobles are a bit trickier, but a successful ruler eventually learns how to keep everyone moderately happy, and that is the best you can use hope for in Crown of the North.Īs with previous EU titles, you also need to continually build up the infrastructure of your kingdom. Fortunately, you can do things like expand churches to make the religious faction happy, while increased trade will keep the merchants in line. Storm clouds suggest a rebellion might be brewing with that group, while sunshine suggests they're completely content at least until you make a decision they don't like and the clouds make a return. The game's developers used a handy weather-themed interface to let you know how your people feel. These factions include the church, the nobility, your peasants, and the merchant guilds it is up to you to keep each of them as happy as possible. Random events like trade opportunities with European powers, possible wars with Russian princes, and Papal invitations will further affect your standing, and more importantly, will also play a factor on your influence with the various groups at home. Success on the battlefield (as well as your management of the economy) will determine your overall honor and score. You'll have three primary resources to manage, which include food, wealth, and honor (victory points). You'll begin with only one, perhaps two, territories to govern, and from there you get free reign of how to expand your empire. What makes Crown of the North so enjoyable is that it doesn't start off with more than you can chew. Playing as one of six different major factions from the region, it is up to you to forge alliances, conquer territory, keep your people in check, and, of course, do all this in real-time! This latest title, which is a fully self-contained game, has the action focused on the struggles for the Scandinavian crown from 1275 through 1340, when the semi-independent lands of Norway and Denmark challenged Swedish rule. In hindsight, this is how things with EU should have been all along. The latest addition to the series, Europa Universalis: Crown of the North, is even slower paced - at least at the beginning of the game - and allows you to get things going at your own speed. The follow-up, EU2, took things back in time to the Middle Ages and allowed for a more relaxed gaming experience. The Age of Enlightenment setting also meant that you had a semi-industrialized society to run, an expanding global empire to manage, and most importantly, a new game system to master. ![]() The biggest downside was that from the very beginning you could get overwhelmed in a very complex game. With everything happening at once, you had to make quick decisions while trying to expect the unexpected. The real-time gameplay of Europa Universalis was quite an achievement in strategy gaming. ![]() Multiplayer options allow players to compete through the Internet or a LAN. Three campaigns - the Alternative Grand Campaign, Independent Europe, and Vinland - are also available. Players can control Norway, Sweden, or Denmark (each has two playable factions) and attempt to survive the poisonous political intrigues between peasants, churchmen, nobles, and merchants. Europa Universalis: Crown of the North concentrates on northern Europe from 1275 to 1340 the nobles and the church held most of the power, but Sweden teeters on the verge of civil war. ![]()
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