Ahead of its The Cossacks expansion release on Tuesday, Europa Universalis IV [official site] developers Paradox have pulled together all of the features the sixth major update has to offer in one handy developer diary. Expect improvements and more in-depth explorations of domestic politics, culture, diplomacy, and maintaining peaceful inter-territorial relations in exchange for a little coin. Running countries, eh? Easy when you know how.

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The next expansion for Europa Universalis IV [official site] goes by the name The Cossacks and it’ll be with us before the end of the year. As the name suggests, there’s a spotlight on the independent soldiers of the steppes but the new features mostly seem to improve your options for peacetime management. The key addition is the “Estate system”, which allows you to assign control of provinces to local factions. You’ll lose out on some income but gain benefits related to the faction in charge. More details below as well as a trailer.

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Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy games create extraordinary scenarios. Often they’re based around small, local events – everyone seems to love sharing Crusader Kings II‘s twisted family trees and tales of incest, treachery and knives in the dark – but occasionally a story emerges that shows how preposterous and impressive these games can be at the other end of the scale. I’ve never seen anything quite like this million-man battle from Europa Universalis IV [official site] though.

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September was absolutely packed full of games in the RPS community, with events taking place in Dirt Rally [official site], Europa Universalis [official site], Guild Wars 2 [official site], Terraria [official site], Trove [official site] and more!

Want to know what happened and how you can get involved? Read on!

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July is for lazy mornings in the sunshine, lounging around beer gardens with family in the afternoon, and tackling gaming challenges with friends in the evening. Despite the height of summer, the RPS community has continued to soar, with action in Arma 3 [official site], Europa Universalis [official site], Guild Wars 2 [official site] and Terraria [official site].

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First off, let’s not fall to finger-pointing of the laying of blame. It’s nobody’s business but your own why this article is suddenly relevant and important to your well-being. Europa Universalis IV [official site] is a game of ruthless caprice, where even slight mistakes, misjudgments, and lapses in attention can bring you to ruin.

Perhaps you declared war on someone the day before they hit a new level of military technology. Maybe you gambled that your enemy’s powerful ally wouldn’t actually bother to travel across Europe to fight you, but they did, and now they have arrived, unwanted and obligatory guests at your war, and they look hungry. Or maybe you just got unlucky, and your enemy had a military genius in their back pocket while you’re stuck with the equivalent of Ambrose Burnside.

The point is, you’re losing a major war in EUIV, and you’re losing it badly. And getting out isn’t going to be easy. If it were easy, if it were just a matter of agreeing to a minor settlement, you wouldn’t hesitate. But no, this is a war that poses an existential threat.

It seems like all is lost. But this is why EUIV is a game where it pays to never give up, and never reload. The chances are, you can not only survive this crisis, but come out of it almost unscathed.

You might be watching a rout unfold, but here is how you turn that into a victory.

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Common Sense prevails! At least in Europa Universalis IV [official site], since that’s the name of its new expansion. It won’t let you shrug off the monarchy like it ain’t no thang, but it will add “new tools so players can manage the growth of their domains”, and “adds depth to domestic rule and adds a number of major changes to diplomacy.” Come see a teaser trailer below.

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