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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 Artist: Marcus Edström. 3D Artist: 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. Product Manager: Jeanette Bauer. Art Director: Stefan Thulin. Business Developer: Erik Helmfridsson. Localization Responsible: Florian Santer. Localization: S&H Entertainment 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, Simon Jäger, Nils Karlsson, Tamas Kiss, Mark Kvistgaard Thomsen, Paul Lancashire, Tony Lozina, Jacob Michael 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, Austria and Switzerland: Mario Gerhold, Susanna Mittermaier. UK: Jo Kemp, Simon Callaghan. Italy: Daniele Falcone, Tania Rossia. Scandinavia: Niklas Molin, Daniel Torbjörnsson, Klas Palmqvist. France: Eric Boccara, Geraldine Morisse, Iris Cathala, Caroline Ferrier. Benelux: Johan Dewindt, Wouter Van Vugt, Simone Goudsmit. Spain: Juan Diaz Bustamante. Poland: Rafal Korytkowski, Joanna Zebrowska-Kepka, Mariusz Szlanta. Australia: Ashwin Segkar, Graham Edelsten, Paul Olsen. Russia: Sergei Klimov, Pavel Nechaev. Japan: Shinya Itoh. Hong Kong: Michelle Ho. 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! INTRODUCTION Overview ForNewPlayers YourFirstGame TheGameManualandthe ParadoxForums ForVeteransofthe EuropaUniversalisSeries GETTINGSTARTED Installation SystemRequirements InstallingEU3 LaunchingtheGame MainGameMenu GameOptions GameOptions VideoOptions AudioOptions Controls Settings.txt Tutorials StartingaGame NewSinglePlayerGames SelectingaStartingDate andCountry UsingBookmarks TheDateSelector LoadingaSavedSingle PlayerGame StartingaNewor SavedMulti-PlayerGame THEMAININTERFACE TheMainMap NavigatingtheMainMap TheMiniMap TheTopBar SpecialMenusToolbar HolySeeButton HolyRomanEmpireButton MenuButton LedgerButton MapModeButtons MapZoomButtons: DomesticInterface Province-RelatedInterfaces ProvinceInterface DiplomaticInterface ColonizationInterface MapUnits MessagesandtheHistoryLog HistoryLog MessageWindows FloatingMessages MessageSettings Events 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 15 15 17 17 17 20 20 20 20 21 21 22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24 24 25 Alerts 5 2 Type52 DiplomaticMessages 26 Army/NavalMaintenance TheOutliner 26 DomesticReligion ToolTips 27 WorldReligions PROVINCEMANAGEMENT 28 RealmReligion Overview 28 ReligiousTolerance ProvinceOwnershipandControl 28 ReligiousTolerance'sEffecton ProvinceInterface 29 ProvinceRevoltRisk ProvincialSummary 29 ReligiousTolerance'sEffecton ProvinceDetails 29 PopulationGrowth ProvinceReligionandConversions 31 ReligiousTolerance'sEffecton ProvinceIncome 31 CountryRelationships ProvinceTrade 32 ConvertingReligion CoreProvincesand DefenderoftheFaith ProvincialClaims 32 DomesticGovernment ProvinceImprovements 33 FormofGovernment CityView 33 ChangingYourFormof Government BuildingNewImprovements 34 MilitaryRecruitment 34 NationalIdeas OtherCountries'Provinces 35 DomesticPolicies UnoccupiedProvinces 35 DomesticLeaders DOMESTICMANAGEMENT 36 MilitaryTradition Overview 36 MilitaryLeaders DomesticOverview 36 RecruitingnewLeaders NationalCulture 37 ConvertingaRulertoaLeader NationalPrestige 37 LeaderListing NationalRanking 37 TRADE SpecialPoliticalBodies 38 Overview NationalReligion 38 TradeGoods Reputation 38 SupplyandDemand DiplomaticSummary 39 CentersofTrade Relations 39 MerchantInterface Competition CreateVassal 40 Monopolies DomesticCourt 41 Rulers 41 TradeDisruption RulerAttributes 41 DIPLOMACY,WAR, RulerSuccession 41 ANDESPIONAGE Advisors 43 Overview HiringandFiringAdvisors 44 TheDiplomaticInterface DomesticEconomy 44 GeneralInformation IncomeSummary 44 InitiatingDiplomacy BudgetAllocationSliders 45 DiplomaticActions TechnologyInvestment 45 OfferRoyalMarriage/ StabilityInvestment 47 BreakRoyalTies TreasuryInvestment 48 OfferAlliance/DissolveAlliance FixedExpenses 48 IssueEmbargo/RevokeEmbargo MonthlyBudgetBalance 48 OfferTradeAgreement/ Inflation 48 CancelTradeAgreement Loans 49 OfferVassalisation/Cancel Bankruptcy 50 Vassalisation WarTaxes 50 DemandAnnexation DomesticMilitary 51 ProclaimGuarantee UnitCategoriesandTypes 51 SendWarning PreferredUnitType 51 SendInsult ChangingYourPreferredRegiment ClaimThrone 53 54 54 54 55 56 56 56 56 57 58 58 59 59 60 62 62 63 63 64 65 66 66 66 66 67 67 68 69 69 70 70 70 70 71 72 72 73 74 74 75 76 76 76 76 76 SendGift 76 SellProvince 77 SendWarSubsidies/ RevokeSubsidies 77 OfferLoan 77 RequestMilitaryAccess/GiveMilitary Access/RevokeMilitaryAccess 77 DeclaringWar 78 RestrictionsProhibitinga DeclarationofWar 78 NationalStabilityEffects 79 WarExhaustionEffects 79 ReputationEffects 80 AllianceConsiderations 80 DeclaringWar 80 AlliesandAllianceLeaders 80 PeaceNegotiations 81 NegotiatingPeacewithAlliances 81 WarScore 82 PeaceOffers 82 Annex 83 DemandTribute 83 OfferWhitePeace 83 OfferTribute 83 PreparingtheTermsofa PeaceOffer 84 ProvinceTerms 85 CoreTerms 85 VassalTerms 86 NewNationsTerms 86 SpecialTerms 86 SendingthePeaceOffer 87 ReceivingaPeaceOffer 87 Peace 87 Espionage 87 EspionageModifiers 88 SpyActions 88 InciteTroopDesertions 89 AssassinateAdvisor 89 SabotageReputation 89 InciteAgainsttheMerchants 89 SpyRingInfiltration 90 SupportRevolt 90 CommissionPrivateer. 90 THEMILITARY 91 Overview 91 StructureoftheMilitary 91 RegimentTypes 91 InfantryRegiments 91 CavalryRegiments 92 ArtilleryRegiments 92 ShipTypes 92 Transports 92 Galleys 93 LightShips BigShips UnitTypes RecruitingLandForces Mercenaries ArmyInformation ArmyOrganisation AssigningArmyLeaders RecruitingaNewLeader ArmyBasics MaintenanceandMaximum SupportableTroops Attrition ArmyReinforcement ArmyMorale MovinganArmy Paths MovementRestrictions MovementSpeed LandCombat Overview TakingtheField CombatResolution FireandShockPhases RegimentCombat Characteristics DieRolls LeaderCombatAttributes TerrainModifiers River-CrossingModifier MakinganAttack CalculatingCasualtyDamage CalculatingMoraleDamage LeadershipCasualties EndofDay"Housekeeping" EndofCombat Retreat Sieges CapturingProvinces NavalForces RecruitmentofNavalForces FleetInformationand Organisation Admirals UsingNavalForces NavalAttrition NavalRepair NavalCombat Positioning Targeting Damage EndofBattle NavalRetreat NavalBlockades 93 NavalTransportofArmies 114 93 EXPLORATIONANDCOLONIZATION117 117 93 Overview 117 93 Exploring 95 ExplorersandConquistadors 117 95 ExploringProvinces 118 96 LandandNavalTraditionfrom Exploring 119 98 119 98 Natives 98 AttackingNatives 119 Colonies 120 EstablishingaColony 120 98 99 ExpandingaColony 120 100 ColonialLimitations 121 100 ColonialConquest 121 100 GainingMapsfromOtherNations 121 101 SPECIALPOLITICALBODIES 122 122 101 Overview 101 TheHolySee 122 102 TheHolyRomanEmperor 124 102 TheEmperor 124 102 MemberStates 125 Electors 125 104 104 BecomingtheHoly RomanEmperor 125 104 WarWiththeEmpire 126 127 105 LEDGER 129 105 MULTIPLAYER 105 StartingaMulti-PlayerGame 129 106 PreliminaryRequirements 129 106 ConnectionTypes 129 Host 130 106 106 JoinLANGame 130 106 JoinInternetGame 130 Metaserver 130 107 107 TheMultiplayerLobby 131 107 TheMetaserver 131 108 MultiplayerGameplay 132 109 EndingaMultiplayerGame 133 110 WheretoFindOtherPlayers 133 134 110 APPENDICES AppendixA- 111 NewandChangedFeatureList 134 112 AppendixB- 112 ProvinceImprovements 136 113 AppendixC-Cultures 139 113 AppendixD- 113 TechnologyModifiers 140 113 AppendixE-Religions 140 113 AppendixF- 114 FormsofGovernment 142 114 AppendixG-NationalIdeas 144 114 AppendixH-DomesticPolicies 146 114 AppendixI-TradeGoods 147 INTRODUCTION 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 neighbours, 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 Overview 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, Europa 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 The Game Manual and the you first start to play. You might want to begin Paradox Forums by doing the series of tutorials which will intro- This manual contains a detailed and complete duce you to the most important aspects of the explanation of each of Europa Universalis III's game; then pick a date and country that inter- interfaces and features, as well as general tips ests you and practice what you've learned. that help you to see how each of these fits toBeginners often make the mistake of try- gether in the overall context of play. Everything ing to achieve too much, too rapidly. We would in the game is inter-related. Everything! There recommend that you set yourself some modest is virtually nothing that you do that won't have goals for your first game, and take things slow- some sort of impact on something else. Learnly. Begin by focussing your attention on staying ing these relationships and using them to your relatively peaceful, conducting some research, advantage is what will eventually make you a and gradually building up your country's econ- master. omy. You may also wish to expand your army When in doubt, pause your game and reto ensure your country's defence, and dispatch fer to the manual. For specific issues that you diplomats to help maintain friendly relations may encounter, or questions that might not with your neighbours. Unless your country is be answered in enough detail for your needs, very wealthy, you will probably want to send you may want to visit the Europa Universalis merchants out to supplement your income with III public forums. It's a friendly community of trade revenue. If it's appropriate for the country many thousands of players from around the you have chosen, you could also try your hand world who would be happy to help you. It is at exploration and colonization. also the place to check for any official patches Once you're comfortable with the basic in- to the game which will fix any bugs that are terfaces and controls, consider getting involved discovered after release, and may also include in a small-scale war or two. For your first war, new or revised features. The Europa Universatry to find an opponent that will be fairly easy lis III forums can be found by going to www. to defeat. You should try to avoid early con- europauniversalis3.com and clicking on the frontations with nations that are large, or that "forums" link. 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. If you are a veteran of the series, we have proOnce you're comfortable with controlling vided a general overview of the major changes your armies and fleets, try tackling a more dan- and new features introduced in Europa Univergerous opponent, and don't worry too much if salis III which may be found in Appendix A at the war does not end in your favor. You can the back of this manual. You should find most learn as much from a colossal defeat as you aspects of the game fairly familiar, and we have would through any number of smaller victo- made every attempt to ensure that all of the ries. A word of warning: do not try to expand game's new interfaces are as easy and intuitive your realm too rapidly or allow your country's to understand as possible. Even so, you might reputation to become too tarnished. If you are find some valuable information tucked away too aggressive or underhanded, you could eas- within these pages, so we urge you to read on. ily find yourself at war with much of the rest of the known world. For Veterans of the Europa Universalis Series GETTING STARTED Installation 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 accommodate 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 2. System Requirements 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 Installing EU3 Place the Europa Universalis III CD into your CDROM 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 setup.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 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 available 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. 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 multiplayer 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. Main Game Menu 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 · 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 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 autosave" 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. 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 Video Options · · 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. 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. 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 · Audio Options · · · Controls · · 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. 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 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 WindowsTM 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. Settings.txt 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 adjusting 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. 10 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. Selecting a Starting Date and Country 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 To the left of the map, you will see a set of "bookmarks" that identify specific points in If you prefer, you can use the "date selector" to history that we think might be interesting to choose any starting date you wish. The arrow play. Clicking on a bookmark will automatical- buttons above and below the selector's year disly change the date selector to the bookmark's play will advance the date forwards or backdate; after a moment or two, the map will be wards in increments of one, ten, or one hunupdated to reflect the political situation at that dred years at a time. The smaller arrows to the time. Near the bottom of the map, you may left and right of the month and day allow you see the heraldic shields of several countries that to set a precise date in that year. You may also might be interesting to control if you begin at click a bookmark to get close to the date you this date. Simply click on a shield to select that desire, and then use the selector to adjust backcountry. You are not limited to our recommen- wards or forwards from that point. dations, though. You can select any realm anyAs you adjust the date selector, the game where in the world by clicking on a province refers to its history files and updates the map that belongs to it. to reflect any changes in national borders or The area to the right of the map will dis- the countries that are available. Once you have play the name of the country you have selected, settled on a date, click on the country of your as well as some basic information about the choice to select it and display some basic infornation's ruler and the country's starting dip- mation about its ruler and political situation. lomatic situation. There is also an indication When you're ready to begin playing, click the of how difficult this country might be to play "start" button. when beginning on this date: our graphic art- Using Bookmarks 11 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. Loading a Saved Single Player Game Starting a New or Saved MultiPlayer 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. 1 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 1 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- 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 fleet 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 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- 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 Diplomacy 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 1 "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 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 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 letters of the province's name into the pop-up box, and then select it from the list of provinces that match your search.[ 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- 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 1 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 variety 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 1 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. 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. 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 1 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. Clicking on the Holy See button at the top of the Special Menus Menu Button toolbar opens an interThe "Menu" button is used to disface where you may try play a submenu where you may save to influence the seven important your game; adjust many of the game cardinals that make up the Catho- options; change the in-game message settings; lic Church's curia. If you are suc- resign your current game and return to the cessful, you may gain control of Main Menu; or quit playing and return to the the Holy See which will provide a desktop. number of special benefits to your · Save Game: Click the "save game" button realm. This interface can only be to save your game at the current date. The accessed if your country has Cadefault save name will identify the country tholicism as its official state reliand date, although you may change this to gion, and will be greyed out if this is not the give the file any name you prefer. case. We will look more closely at this feature · Game Options: Click this button to access in the Special Political Bodies chapter of the the same game options that are available manual. from the Main Game Menu. Remember that any changes you make to the graphiHoly Roman cal options will not ocEmpire Button cur until you have quit The Holy Roand re-started the game. man Empire See the "Getting Started" (HRE) is the chapter for more details. · Resign: Selecting this other special political body option will stop play of in Europa Universalis III. your current game and Click on the HRE button return you to the Main to open an interface where Game Menu. You can you may review the curthen start a new game, rent member states, elecor resume a previously tors, and emperor of the saved one. Make sure Empire. Countries that that you have saved are members of the HRE your current game if enjoy several special adwish to return to it. Holy See Button 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. 1 · · 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. 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 mentioned 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 members 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 Ledger Button The Ledger Button opens the game's extensive ledger interface which provides 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. 1 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 HRE 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 Diplomacy 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 flag 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- 0