EU4 is a pretty awesome game and one of the must have games for fans of strategy games. Even Game Gavel has the game features twice on the site, once for best strategy games and once for best RTS games. So with so much praise, love and popularity, it’s no surprise the EU4 has a ton of mods, going over a whopping 4k.
Now, I’m sure none of you really want to sit through that long a list of mods, so I’ve listed a collection of some of the best ones out there, and the ones which will most likely appeal to you for their impact on the game, or how it skins it. 🖥️ 🎮
Related: Best HOI4 Mods
#1 Imperium Universalis
This is what’s known as a total conversion mod, and as the name would suggest, it changes pretty much everything in the game. For this one, you’re thrown back into 612 and really puts you in a detailed historical environment with hundreds of nations to choose from.
It also adds a bunch of extra mechanics such as a senate (who doesn’t like a bit of intrigue?), rises of different kinds of religions, slaves and their uprisings, and a completely new food system that drives both your armies and your population. To add on to all that, the graphics are just simply amazing, and for a small team, they’ve done a great job of making everything look gorgeous.
Keep in mind that this update to the visuals might require you to get a slightly more powerful GPU for gaming if you’re already running EU4 on minimum requirements.
#2 Common Universalis
Another total conversion mod and one meant for more experienced players, Common Universalis doesn’t change the period so much as it goes into deep details. Most of the changes come in the form of mechanics, rather than graphical changes (although there are some of those two). Unfortunately, this doesn’t work with other total conversion mods, so you can’t just layer it on top of Imperium Universalis.
One of the biggest changes is actually quite familiar if you’ve played Paradox’s other game Stellaris. Much like the empire sprawl in Stellaris, this mod adds a ‘governance capacity’ which puts a limit on how much land you can actually rule, which itself is based on the number of population in your primary culture. You could always invite more cultures to join, thereby increasing your governance capacity, but you will lose a bit of control on the process.
Your expansion options are also increased, with provinces now having nationalism and their own little ways of developing. There’s no option to spend monarch points to develop your provinces, and instead, they progress at their own rate, which is affected by things such as literacy and agriculture. Actually, literacy also sort of works like it’s own fourth development option, so it’s actually pretty interesting.
Honestly, there’s a ton more stuff added to the game through the mod, so you should definitely check it out at the link below.
#3 MEIOU and Taxes
Another big mod which will likely be palatable to more people is MEIOU and Taxes or M&T for short. Interestingly, it really does affect or alter pretty much every part of the game, adding a lot of extra mechanics and depths that you wouldn’t necessarily expect if you haven’t played a total conversion mod before. Of course, being such a heavy mod, you’ll need a hefty computer to handle this mod without too much slowdown.
Some of the additions include over 1500 new provinces, for a total of about 4000 as well as over 900 nations. M&T also overhauled the graphics quite a bit, so the game looks even snazzier than it did before. New religious and trade systems for you to sink your teeth in as well as a new subject integration system. They’ve even added a new musical score . . . yeah, they did a lot.
#4 Extended Timeline
If you just really, really, really love EU4 and want to spend as much time with it as possible, then this is the mod for you. Extend Timeline gives you a whopping 10,000 years of gameplay, starting you off at 2AD and going all the way to 9,999. More impressively, they’ve actually managed to pack in a ton of detail at the start of the game, using realistic leaders, nations, buildings, and territories.
Overall, we’re talking an extra 500 new countries, as well as hundreds of new events and decisions to make. That being said, it does start to sputter out a lot once you reach modern times, and you’re likely to see things get boring. On the bright side, you can absolutely pick where you want to start on the timeline, so you don’t necessarily have to sit through thousands of years of doing nothing.
#5 A Song of Ice and Fire
Yes, you read that right, this mod actually turns your game into Game of Thrones, accompanied by houses, a new map with different lands and really everything you’d expect from GoT. You also get Free Cities and clans and doesn’t focus so much on houses as it does on empire building. Of course, it doesn’t do massive changes to the mechanics, as it’s mostly just a graphical mod with some tweaks here and there, but overall it’s a ton of fun.
That being said, it doesn’t do as good a job at recreating GoT as the Crusader Kings II mod does, although it is an option for those who prefer EU4.
#6 Warcraft
Much like the GoT mod, the Warcraft mod (also known as Warcraft Universalis) take the whole game and turns it into Azeroth and the Outlands for you to play in. You can take control of any faction that you like, even the Burning Legion or Stormwind, depending on the type of person you are (I was always alliance). The time frame itself starts with the Rise of the Horde and ends with the Mists of Pandaria, so it’s quite a bit of time to cover.
Interestingly enough, the mod team has done an excellent amount of due diligence and has managed to really draw from the lore and add a bunch of detail. There’s new religions, governments, magic and even gnome and goblin specific tech. Each nation has its own ideas and quirks, and they’ve even managed to squeeze in decisions and event-specific to that culture, all drawn from the world of . . . warcraft.
#7 Europa Universalis 4 to Victoria 2 Converter
The last mod isn’t so much a mod as it is a save file converter which takes your EU4 save-game and makes it compatible with Victoria 2. It’s actually a pretty interesting little concept if you like the setting and narrative you’ve developed so far in EU4, yet you want to give it a shot in Victoria 2. Interestingly enough, this converter also works for Crusader Kings 2, so that’s also an option if you’re into that.
Conclusion
As you can see, EU4 has some really great mods, and even though there are literally thousands, these often come up as the most popular ones. Whether you’re recreating GoT or going far into the future that we can’t even imagine, I hope you enjoy your modded EU4 experience.
If you’re intrigued with modding, here are our other lists of outstanding mods to check out: