I’m back in Europa Universalis IV. I can’t stay away from grand strategy forever, it always manages to suck me back in and cause sleepless nights. I am, however about $104 worth of DLC behind, because Paradox is crazy good about continually updating their games.

However, because it’s such a complex game, and there were a bunch of changes since I last played, my first game ended in catastrophe. The second went a little better, and then I hopped in to multiplayer with a very experienced friend as England, and was able to get fully into the swing of things again, crushing Scotland and the various Irish provinces, converting to Anglican (which was a new thing for me) and beginning colonial expansion. We spent a couple days on that game, and was able to appreciate some of the new nuances. For example, I really like the more autonomous nature of colonies now thanks to the addition of colonial nations, the new mission system, and government reforms.

I always gravitate toward colonialism and trade in this game, because I tend to be pretty awful at diplomacy and conquest. Which is fine, because despite doing that almost every time, each playthrough feels so different.