Art of War is the title of the fourth expansion for Europa Universalis IV. Another chapter in the flag series of Paradox Interactive focuses on the events of the Thirty Years’ War – a 17th century conflict between the Protestant Holy Roman Empire (so-called First Reich) and the Catholic dynasty of Habsburg. Almost all European countries of the period were involved in this bloody war.
The main novelty of the expansion is the new story campaign which has its own unique mechanics. For this purpose, both land (possibilities of raiding and transferring occupation to allied forces) and naval (automatic transportation of land forces and possibility of withdrawing fleets from service) combat was improved. Diplomacy was also improved; now, more peace options are available, new casus belli (you may start a war over a vassal) and using rebel in the enemy country. In other news, there is also a possibility of creating satellite countries and converting them into defensive bastions against our enemies, as well as leaving the territories we are no longer interested in. The process of creating armies was also simplified, as well as enhancing them with one click.
Along with the extension, a new patch is supplied which introduces a bunch of changes in the original game, such as enhanced rebel mechanics, local autonomies on the province level, changed cardinal system for the Catholic countries, different Reformation mechanics, and also new map design.
