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This is the twelfth in a series of reviews looking at the evolution of Europa Universalis IV. See the previous reviews here:
Europa Universalis IV: A Fantastic Point of View
Wealth of Nations: National Trade
Res Publica: A Tradition of the People
Art of War: Reform-Minded Patch
El Dorado: Expansion of Gold
Common Sense: Uncommon Changes
The Cossacks: Cossack Estate
Mare Nostrum: Paradox’s Sea
Rights of Man: Institutions of Man
Mandate of Heaven: Mandated Ages
Third Rome: First Moscow

The second regional “immersion pack” for Europa Universalis IV was announced on October 13, 2017, and released a month-and-a-half later with patch 1.23 on November 16. Cradle of Civilization concentrated on the Middle East, with a number of new features for governments in the region. Follow-up patch 1.24 was released on December 12th, focused on optimization.

Previously On

The most noticeable free update was a new startup screen. Similar to the one introduced to Crusader Kings II in patch 2.4 back in 2015, it has four tabs, the first of which describes recent history and what is going on in the area. At this point, 29 countries had individual histories, with everything else getting regional ones, and they’ve only added to this with every pretty much every major patch since.

The other three tabs talk about your religion and government, and features of the general area you are in. Any features particular to expansions you have will be pointed out with that expansion’s icon in the text (features from expansions you don’t have will not be mentioned).

This is a great addition for new players, and frankly can be very helpful for anyone when starting in an unfamiliar area. For example, the situation in the Timurid empire (mentioned below) is nicely spelled out, letting you know what’s coming.

Reworks

The map was refreshed in a number of places. One of the most obvious was the Arabian peninsula, where Yemen was split up into a number of competing states, as there were multiple claims to power and civil wars in the area in 1444, with Yemen itself still directly controlling a few provinces, but it is also formable by the other states in the region. The rest of the area got much the same treatment, especially the Hejaz.

Egypt was reworked into much better looking provinces along the Nile, while a couple new countries were added to Syria to represent some of the tribal confederations (the same was done in Arabia). Armenia was made a new formable nation south of the Caucasus, and Georgia is now formable (as well as historically existing in 1444, but now split up a bit).

The Timurids are split up into a central (still powerful) state, and a number of vassals, representing the various governors. It’s got modifiers to keep it stable, until Shah Rukh dies (which historically happened in 1446), when civil wars and breakaways become likely.

The Ottomans had already been detailed in Rights of Man, but now other Turkish countries can potentially claim their title of Sultan of Rûm and take over the Ottoman mechanics introduced in that expansion. Additionally, that government type gains the ability to assign pashas to states, which increases autonomy, but reduces costs.

Islam had started out with an extra mechanic of the type that was later instituted in various expansions for other religions. Piety measures a scale from mysticism on one end to legalism on the other. This was brushed up for the patch, with rewritten events, and then new abilities that can be triggered with the expansion. In addition, the expansion gives each Islamic country gets a school of law, which grants an extra bonus trait, but also affects diplomatic relations depending on how two countries’ schools get along (-25 relations if they hate each other…).

A last notable change of the patch was the addition of five new trade goods. Gems, glass, incense, livestock, and paper were all added to the trade network. They have no real outstanding qualities, but of course provide their own unique bonuses for controlling trade or production of these new commodities.

Military Reform

The expansion introduced two new mechanics for the military, both dealing with the transition to highly-drilled professional armies in the period.

Drill is tracked on every regiment separately, and high drill increases damage done and decreases damage received, so a force with high drill will have a substantial advantage against a force with no drill.

The problem is that drill naturally trends downwards, and replacing losses naturally sucks all the drill out (the replacements are considered completely undrilled). The only way to increase drill values is to… drill your armies. This requires the army have a leader, and reduces morale to low levels, and forces that army to full maintenance costs, meaning that a poor country won’t be able to drill often or effectively.

The good news is that drilling has a chance of increasing the leader’s abilities, and increases army professionalism, the other new mechanic. Professionalism makes mercenaries less desirable, as recruiting them is the main way to make that value go down.

Professionalism is another 0-100 meter, and every twenty points grants a new ability, such as building supply depots, which raises supply limits and lets you reinforce in captured territory as if it were the home country. At the same time there’s scaling bonuses to damage dealt and siege ability.

Overall, while it’s “just another mechanic”, it’s a fairly natural one, and naturally lines player motivations up with historical trends, which is really nice to see. However, the passive professionalism bonuses are a bit small to my thinking, while the drill does much more heavy lifting in combat. In general this is all fine, but I am concerned that armies lose too much drill after combat from replacing losses. The real problem is there’s no counteracting veterancy caused by having been through a battle.

Mamluks and Tribes

Part of the rework of the Middle East was the introduction of two new government types. The Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu (along with some smaller Arabian countries) are tribal federations, who get bonuses to conquering territory with a lower cost to take it in a peace, and less separatism once they have it.

All of this was in the patch, with the expansion adding the ability to gain tribal allegiance. (I believe this was later added into the base game.) Tribal allegiance is another 0-100 meter that naturally empties over time, but winning battles and humiliating countries in wars can drive it up fast, and then used to buy bonuses, much like principalities and veche in Third Rome. In this case, they can get a good general, a bonus to cavalry, or get six free cavalry units (which will need maintenance, but you don’t pay to hire them).

The Mamluks got the unique Mamluk Sultanate. While they have the normal legitimacy mechanic for monarchies, they do not use the normal rules with heirs and consorts. Instead, they always choose an heir when the current sultan dies, with one choice having high legitimacy, and having Circassian culture. The other choices will have a culture from within the sultanate, but their initial legitimacy will be quite low (and if you have spare military power, the strengthen government action can help with that…).

The sultan’s ratings for administration, diplomacy, and military also power government abilities of the same style that seen in the new Russian governments of Third Rome, but using them largely depends of having provinces of the same culture as the sultan, so the Circassian choice is safe (high legitimacy), but doesn’t have access to all the special abilities (as Circassia is outside the Mamluk’s initial borders).

Back East

Patch 1.24 added a fair amount of detail to the Philippines, with three new nations in the north, and another four in the south. There’s a mix of religions in play, and each region has their own idea groups. About half the area is occupied now, still allowing colonization to happen, but giving some of the more organized parts their due.

Also, the Oda clan was added to Japan, with their own idea group. Nobunaga doesn’t show up until 1551, but they get some good warlord-oriented ideas, starting with better infantry, featuring extra pips for leaders in shock, fire, and siege, and a bonus to fire damage.

Conclusion

First off, I am always happy to see good map reworks that put in more historical nuance. And both patches did a very good job at that. I also think the new introduction screens are well done and overdue. The new trade items are nice (especially with the expanding number of provinces), but all the new events and nations are the bulk of the patch and very nicely done.

The main general expansion feature is army professionalism and drill. I’m a little mixed on that. It does nicely align player motivations with what they’re representing, which is great. But I think it falls down a bit as there should be some way for battle experience to factor into the mix (which would also keep mercenaries from never being any better than non-drilled troops, even though, as mercenaries, they were largely better experienced than early armies). Thankfully, it’s not a really big complication, though ignoring it may leave your military outclassed in the late game, when dealing with armies with high professionalism and high drill.

The religious and government mechanics are to be expected… and frankly just don’t feel that special. There’s too many special government types, and the Mamluks borrow a mechanic I didn’t care for from Third Rome. The tribal federations seem to be well done, but I don’t have as much experience with them.

So… at the very least I’m happy to have this to support all the non-expansion work that was done. I also do like the drill and professionalism mechanic, despite some reservations. But despite the low (especially on sale) price, I don’t think it can carry the expansion by itself. That just leaves completionism for religious and government mechanics. I’d more get it for the tribal federations in the Syria region than for the Mamluks, though even they get interesting decisions. If you aren’t playing in that part of the world… I’d give this a pass, despite army reform.