A Tale Of Two Families Eu4

admin

Back in the spring, I was planning to do an article documenting my attempt at a more challenging game of Europa Universalis IV. It came about after I got the feeling that all of my EU4 achievements were ones considered either “easy” or “very easy” by the community. And so I thought, “why not try to get a medium level achievement?” An easy medium, of course, because going all-out on my first attempt at a higher level would be, well, hard. And so I picked one I thought I could do: “A Tale of Two Families”

And that’s kind of what happened with A Tale of Two Families. It would be long, it would be tough, and it would require a lot more planning than I usually do in my games. And so, I maybe tomorrow-ed it for three or four months, until I got tired of not playing EU4 any more. Back in September, I started a new game of Europa Universalis 4.

The Tale of Two Families achievement requires you to start as either Vijayanagar or Bahmanis, the two largest countries on the Indian sub-continent at the start of the game, and completely destroy the other. You need to capture their capital and fully annex all of their land. Vijayanagar, the larger one, would probably be easier, save for Bahmanis being in central India and having more directions to go and more small nations to pick on. As Vijayanagar I would probably have to deal a bit more with aggressive expansion, which is other countries getting mad at me for growing too fast, but it still would it probably be the easier route. So I set up a plan: I would figure out my “difficulty score” for achievements, with very easy being worth 1 and impossible being worth 6, calculating the average of everything I had. A medium, worth 3, would be pretty nice to have. I currently have sixteen very easy achievements and fourteen easy ones, for an average (keep in mind I’m just making these numbers up, I don’t think the community uses them) of 1.47. Less than half the medium score of 3, kind of lame.

Vijayanagar is big at the start, but so is Bahamanis. Completely defeating the other is a challenge.

But achievement hunting can be hard, and time-consuming. Even if I were able to completely obliterate Bahmanis as Vijayanagar, I’d have to do it slowly. There’s a limit to what you can take every war; you’ve got peace treaties to wait out, and back to aggressive expansion, you can’t just keep picking on the same country over and over again. I didn’t play any Europa Universalis for months, because I was a bit intimidated by the challenge of the achievement. And that’s not something new, the only other time I’ve tried any long-planned achievement hunting is in Halo 3: ODST, both the original version and the Master Chief Collection version. Trying to get all of the phones in the city, I missed just one…while crossing off all of the ones on the map. Yes, I know the last one is underground, it wasn’t that one. I didn’t want to look through all of them again, so I gave up. And that’s kind of what happened with A Tale of Two Families. It would be long, it would be tough, and it would require a lot more planning than I usually do in my games. And so, I maybe tomorrow-ed it for three or four months, until I got tired of not playing EU4 any more.

The Download Now link will download a small installer file to your desktop. Remain online and double-click the installer to proceed with the actual download. The Nero BackItUp backup combo offers. Nero backitup 12 image tool download. Nero BackItUp is a tool that lets you back up files and folders and burn them to disc, for safekeeping. Run periodical and scheduled backups to protect your data. The interface of the program is. Nero BackItUp 12, Nero BackItUp 11, Nero BackItUp & Burn, Nero BackItUp 4 – Update.

Back in September, I started a new game of Europa Universalis 4. As France. Shockingly, pre-renaissance France is a pretty easy nation to play. It actually did end of being a bit of a challenge, with England getting in close with the Holy Roman Emperor all game, first Austria and then a scarily big Brandenburg. Seriously, I think they’re going for AI Prussia, which is just nuts. Before that I played a game as the Ottomans, again a very powerful and easy nation at the start of the game. EU4 starts on the 11th of November, 1444, one day after the Battle of Varna, where the Christian Crusaders were defeated by Ottoman forces. So yeah, they’re pretty strong, too.

France is powerful, and I did do okay, but England’s ally Brandenburg got too strong for someone of my skill to deal with.

Before that was a…slightly…harder game. I’d decided to try a run where I didn’t do massive military expansion, Europa Universalis is a pretty military-focused game after all, and instead do a colonization-heavy Portugal run. It wasn’t particularly hard, Portugal is still able to hold their own and has the best colonization bonuses in the game. There was still a bit of a challenge to play differently though, and to more clearly learn EU4’s trade mechanics. Even with all the videos I’ve watched on that, playing a more colonization and trade-focused game was REALLY what got me to figure that out. Which is pretty cool, and why I want to try something different.

I’ve tried harder games before, and failed miserably every time. I’ve taken three or four shots at Morocco, and gotten the snot kicked out of me by the Iberians within the first couple decades every time. I’ve tried Austria, trying to hold together the bickering Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. There I accidentally chose a female heir after a random event killed my previous heir…which the HRE doesn’t allow. I quickly gave up. I KNOW I’ll enjoy these games. Once again, that not-too-hard-but-harder-than-usual Portugal game was my favourite in recent memory. I KNOW they’re how I’ll get better at the game, again, that Portugal game did. But…the easy games are a lot of fun too. And they go so smooth and they’re so relaxing and they’re so easy to plan and they’re just…so fun. And that’s what’s important, isn’t it? They’re fun.

I know I’ll have loads of fun playing harder games of Europa Universalis 4, but I also know I’ll keep playing the easy games. And that goes for loads of other games, too. Halo, Civilization, RimWorld, all of these and more are games I play on around normal difficulty, even though I could and generally have played on higher levels. And so what? They’re fun! A small but vocal part of the gaming community can be pretty aggressive towards people who choose the easy route, but they’re just straight-up jerks. If you have fun playing a game, have fun playing that game. If you need to play it on easy, play on easy. If you need to play on very easy, guess what? Play it in the way that gives you the most fun, because that’s what video games are about, fun.

I was able to rake in the cash in my Portugal game, through mass colonization of Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Now I want to try trade game as Venice, keeping my lands small.

I used to be somewhat disappointed that I didn’t try some of the more challenging parts of EU4, but more recently, I’ve realized that’s silly. If easy stuff is what’s going to be fun, I’ll do it. I know I will try some different EU4 stuff in the future, I’ve had a list for a while. I really want to try that Tale of Two Families achievement in India, and it will probably be my next game. I want to try a Mamluk game after that, who despite being one of the more powerful nations in the world at the start, usually get destroyed pretty bad by the Ottomans. I want to try a Venice game; my Portugal game already got me good at trade through massive colonization, now I want to try trade while not directly controlling much land. I want to try a Naples game, breaking free of Aragon and forming Italy. I want to give another go at Morocco and Austria. I’ll probably do a lot better as Morocco this time, and as for Austria…well, even if I can’t get the Holy Roman Empire nations to stop bickering, I know I’ll learn a lot. Aaand…I want to play as England and France and the Ottomans and Muscovy. Yes, even with all the more challenging stuff I want to do, I still will probably throw the easy stuff in there when I want a smooth run. Because those smooth ones are still fun, and that’s what video games are about: fun. If you have fun, do it. Whichever way you want.

Do you have an internal challenge with difficulty? What do you like to play easier, even if you know you can play harder? Tell us in the comments below, or on Facebook or Twitter!

A TALE OF TWO FAMILIES
How Does Family Wealth Make a Difference?

Meet Byron Green and Max Holland. They're about the same age, work for the same company, and make the same income. They even live in the same neighborhood. But if you compare their net assets, Max has twice as much wealth as Byron. Why is there such a big difference?
Byron is Black and Max is white. What roles have race and wealth played in their life stories?

Max's Family
In 1951, The Greens bought a two-story duplex in one of the areas of Chester, PA, that would rent or sell to African Americans. The Greens scraped together $1,000 for the down payment and mortgaged the $5,500 remaining balance.
The Hollands married in 1948. A financial gift from their parents and a low-interest government VA loan allowed the Hollands to stretch their resources and move to a new suburban development on Long Island. In 1952, they bought a home in all-white Merrick for $21,500.
#2 - Making a Living: The Parents Find Work
Job opportunities for Black people were still very limited. Mr. Green worked as a lab attendant at a nearby refinery. He'd say, 'Black men were the last hired and the first fired.' Mrs. Green provided domestic help for white families in the middle-class suburbs. Mr. Holland financed his college education through the GI Bill. After graduating, he got a job as a 'management trainee' for a big New York textile firm, where he worked for the next 15 years. The sales, technical, and management staff were entirely white.
When manufacturing crashed, many people left Chester, and the area became increasingly segregated. Those who stayed faced higher taxes to maintain public services and schools. While their income remained the same, the Greens saw their expenses climb and their neighborhood begin to deteriorate.
Property values were good and getting better. Max and his brothers enjoyed good schools, parks, libraries, etc. In 1965, Mr. Holland started his own business by tapping into his home equity and borrowing money from an uncle. His business did well and he sent all three of his children to private colleges.
#4 - Leaving the Nest: Growing Up, Moving Out
Byron received an academic scholarship to an Ivy League school. Because of his family's uncertain financial situation, he has always exercised a conservative approach to his personal finances. Max's personal 'wealth-building' began at the age of 13 with Bar Mitzvah checks from friends and relatives. By the time he was 18, Max could use his savings and money from his parents to travel, explore his interests, and go to college worry free.
In 2000, the Greens sold their home for $29,500 - a negligible increase in value considering the remodeling and improvements they put into it over 40 years. This amount has not gone far to provide for Byron's family in old age. At the time of the sale, Chester's population was 76% Black.
In 1991, the Hollands sold their home for $299,000 - 14 times what they paid for it - and were able to retire comfortably to the Berkshire Mountains. They also helped all their children with down payments on their own homes. At the time of the sale, Merrick was still 95% white.
#6 - Inheriting the Future: Byron and Max Today
In 1994, Byron financed the purchase of a condominium and continues to make monthly mortgage payments today. He also needs to look after his parents' finances and must be ready to pitch in whenever unforeseen expenses arise.
Max bought his own house in 1985. His parents are financially secure and his home is all paid for and appreciating in value. Max is free to focus on the future - to provide a safety net or launching pad for his own children.

CONCLUSION
This tale was based on a true story. Byron and Max are real people (their names have been changed). They are the directors of California Newsreel, the company that produced this television series.
As you can see, in one generation, discrimination makes a big difference in the relative wealth of these two people. In 1995, the average white family had eight times the wealth of the average nonwhite family. Even at the same income level, whites have, on average, twice the wealth of Black families.
Wealth isn't just about luxury. It's also the starting point for the next generation. Until the wealth gap is addressed, whites will continue to have an advantage over nonwhites, generation after generation.