Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Paradox Interactive
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win 7, Pentium IV 1.9 GHz or equivalent CPU, 128 MB graphics card with Vertex and Pixel Shader 2.0 support, 512 MB RAM, 1 GB hard-drive space, DirectX-compatible sound card, DirectX 9.0c, Europa Universalis III and Heir to the Throne expansion
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Europa Universalis III turned four this January, just in time for the release of Divine Wind. Paradox Interactive, having polled its fans, decided that an extra, unplanned expansion would be the best way to crown what has become their flagship strategy franchise. To date, Europa Universalis, in all of its iterations, has focused on European-style politics, religion and imperialism. Considering that the historical period covered by the game sees European countries dominate large portions of the world, this is no surprise. But because the game must account for the the rest of the world as well, its mechanics have often failed to really deliver a culturally distinct gaming experience for Asia and India. Japan and China have been treated as European nation-states, creating bizarre gaming situations, such as Ming China conquering swaths of land all the way to Eastern Europe, or Japan having a nice, quiet, and very politically unified gaming experience for 400 years, nevermind all those pesky samurai and daimyo. Europa Universalis III: Divine Wind is an expansion that recognizes cultural, political and religious differences in the world to which European explorers and merchants set sail.

Ming China has been given a vast overhaul in its gameplay. Much like the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, Ming China now has its own unique political system. Instead of having a standard government, the Ming dynasty now has three political factions that exert influence on the country’s politics: the Temple, the Eunuchs and the Bureaucrats. Depending on which faction currently is in power, the actions of Ming China are limited. For example, only the Temple faction allows the declaration of wars, while only the Eunuchs allow merchants to be placed in centers of trade. Your monarch’s abilities and your domestic policy sliders largely determine which faction is dominant; this means neither the player nor the AI can quickly rearrange the internal politics of Ming China. Whatever faction is in power will likely be in power for a decade or more without serious effort on the part of the player. This in turn makes managing Ming China a bit more difficult, but Paradox has also removed all of the old, nonsensical penalties previously applied to Ming China. If you can arrange the internal politics of the country to your liking, you can accomplish much more. The challenge is now internal for anyone who wants to dominate the world as China.

Japan has also received a complete overhaul. Gone is the unified and politically quiet Japan of previous expansions. Japan now has four daimyo vying for the position of Shogun, and they conduct their diplomacy and wars in a Japan that now has more provinces. The Emperor of Japan still rules in Kyoto, but the daimyo are busy fighting amongst themselves and conducting diplomacy to try to solidify their control of the country. This creates a unique political and foreign-policy situation for Japan, because only the Shogun can really conduct diplomacy with the outside world. Depending on how violent the situation is, there might not even be a Shogun in power, resulting in Japan not having much of a foreign policy at all. It can take quite a bit of time (say, a century) for you to unify the country and eliminate the opposition. But foreign meddling in Japanese affairs is not tolerated. Any outside power that declares war on Japan risks the daimyo setting aside their differences and unifying the country to repel the foreign enemy. While the country faces disunity and political infighting, other countries can’t just waltz in and crush Japan without provoking a tough fight.

Also improved are the khanates of the Asian steppe. They no longer function as typical nation-states. Instead, their default diplomatic position with neighbors is to be at war, not peace. But being at war with them doesn’t mean fighting battles, occupying provinces, and then demanding provinces in a peace treaty. Instead, while battles can be fought and provinces occupied, peace treaties can only generally contain clauses that force one side or the other to pay tribute. To actually take a province from any of the khanates, you must instead occupy it and then send colonists to settle it. If you can hold it long enough to build a 1,000-person settlement, the province changes ownership to the occupier, regardless of peace treaties. Also, the khanates tend to get bonuses and suffer little war exhaustion while at war, unless they are in the middle of a succession crisis. These changes to the game mean that now it’s simply too difficult to blitz through the Asian steppe in 10 to 20 years. It also means that anyone who borders the khanates cannot simply remain at peace with them. You must always be ready to post troops along the border and be ready for war when the short-lived truces expire. This mimics more closely the political considerations of everyone who actually bordered these states. It also means that Europeans will find it difficult to reach Asia via a conquered land route unless they’re already in Eastern Europe and are willing to spend the time and effort settling the steppe.