Is Common Sense for EU IV Worth It?

BvBPL

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There's a Steam sale going on. Common Sense expansion for EU IV is on sale.

Should I buy it? It is the one major expansion I do not have for the game. It seems that since the patch that introduced the expansion, they changed things so I'm noticeable missing some elements of the game.

But Common Sense doesn't have great reviews.
 
I think a lot of the bad reviews were some people who didn't like the direction the game was going and considered the changes pay walling due to the split of features between the patch and the expansion.

I on the other hand didn't consider the changes pay walling. The changes to buildings seemed brutal but as far as I can tell people never actually built all the buildings and would only build a few of the basics or specialise the odd province. You can still build stuff its just that each building is more powerful now and you can still specialise a province as when you build a new building in a chain it replaces the old one. The only thing I regret is the loss of the unique buildings.

One of the other problems was the way that the fort system worked as the rules for blocking movement were not very clear and could lead to unpredictable results. This is being fixed in 1.14 (cossacks patch).

Overall I think that its good expansion, not one of the best but definitely a solid addition and for a 3rd off is probably worth it IMO.

EDIT: Also the rubbish Buddhism changes are being fixed in 1.14 as well!
 
Personally, I think it's great, and have no regrets paying full price for it, so if it's on sale, then definitely.
 
Yeah I don't regret buying it however I'm still not convinced about development as its just a way to get rid of excess monarch points. Also worth pointing out that there will be a new expansion out which I guess will be out early next year.
 
Yeah I don't regret buying it however I'm still not convinced about development as its just a way to get rid of excess monarch points. Also worth pointing out that there will be a new expansion out which I guess will be out early next year.

If you mean the next expansion, Cossacks (1.14), then its out next tuesday the 1st!
 
Personally, I wait to buy the main expansions until they're slightly discounted and then save the other DLC until they're heavily discounted. I just picked up two of the music packs yesterday, for instance.
 
I wait until they are 75% off, there are to many DLC's and more coming. For a 'poor' Person like me it's to expensive to buy them all at full price or like 10 € and more. Also i don't really need them for a good experience with EUIV, but the features they add are nice of course.

The criticism about Common Sense is very different from person to person. Some didn't like the Fort System. Others like it but they didn't like that without Common Sense you are restricted to a few Buildings per Province and no way to change that. So it's a critic about Common Sense without having Common Sense. Stuff like that ... but personally, i don't care much about it. I had a great game with Florence > Tuscany > Italy a few days ago and i never thought that i'm really missing some essential part of the game because i can't spend my Points on Provinces or the money on more and more buildings missing the Common Sense DLC. It was fun, maybe i didn't care because it was the first time i was really able to beat up the Ottomans. :D

At the moment i still play without Art of war, El Dorado and Common Sense. I plan to buy these when they are all at -75% as i said, which means i have to wait at least until the next expansion after Cossacks.
 
The fort system is a strange complaint to have about Common Sense, given it came with a free patch, nor the DLC.

I would wait until it is 75% off. Mainly because I'm hardpressed ever to recommend people pay full price for DLC.
 
I agree, to me it's all cool. Since i'm relatively new to EUIV i'm not used to the mechanics as they were before Common Sense. I had the game for longer but it took my quite a long time to get into it. Now i go slowly for the 1000 hour Mark. ^^

The only DLC i don't care that much about is El Dorado, i love Actec and Maya Culture especially but i'm not sure how 'interesting' it is to play them now. But sooner or later i will buy it. Maybe Christmas, and now with the last Steam Sale i finally picked up Art of War. Really worth it.

I'm watching a Let's Play Series now where the Youtuber for a change plays tall, not wide, and this may help a little bit to decide how much the actual Common Sense DLC adds to the game and personal play-style.

Oh, and even the new Cossacks DLC you can get cheaper until 4th December on greenmangaming, 22% Off with this CODE: 22PERC-WTHGMG-DECMBR
 
That has to be dodgy. It only came out a few hours ago and that site can apparently afford to offer a significant discount already?!
 
Well, i'm no expert with these things, most of my games i buy directly via Steam, but i have two games from them already - working fine - and the site seems to be pretty popular and legit. I got the link from the paradox eu forum, maybe wait for other responses or look on the paradox message board for more information. I just saw it and thought it's interesting.
 
10% for early-bird orders I could understand, but 22% and it's not even from Steam or Paradox directly? It might be all above-board, but it still seems tremendously shady.
 
I think the Green Man code offers 22% off of nearly all of their offerings, including Cossacks.
 
the only thing i miss from not having common sense is the development system. i often end up with too many monarch points especially military. having custom protestant churches would be nice too every now and then. does anyone know if common sense also adds comet sense to the player, that alone would be worth it?

the other features like the fort system were free to begin with
 
the only thing i miss from not having common sense is the development system. i often end up with too many monarch points especially military. having custom protestant churches would be nice too every now and then. does anyone know if common sense also adds comet sense to the player, that alone would be worth it?

the other features like the fort system were free to begin with
Sadly, we still search for this comet sense.

Perhaps if you have a great scientist in 1577 you might perhaps learn something enlightening.

Or play victoria 2, with a more enlightened populance for a more civilized period.
 
Don't you mean that it's an elegant game for a more civilised age? ;)
 
Don't you mean that it's an elegant game for a more civilised age? ;)

Well, there are regions still in need of being civilized(read: exploit colonies for our own gains, while having no regard for the colonized people). So can't say it's a more civilized age.
 
I would say that Common Sense significantly improves 1.12 and later, due to the development option. For background, I've played one game with 1.12 without Common Sense, and have two in-process (but late game) for 1.13 with Common Sense. I've also played six to nine games with 1.11 and earlier versions.

With the 1.12 game without Common Sense, I ran into two problems. One was the frustration that it was not all that uncommon to have a province with 8 or 9 (or 18 or 19, etc.) development, and to not be able to upgrade it to build a new building that may be quite helpful. So, perhaps it had good manpower and a river estuary - it would make sense to spend some monarch points to upgrade it and get both a market and barracks. Common Sense addresses this. The other was that, as a Western tech group nation in that game, there were times when I had monarch points to burn, even with a couple policies enabled, and more so than in 1.11 and earlier since buildings no longer cost monarch points (in my 1.11 games, I'd spend extra points on lots of less expensive buildings). Common Sense allowed making better use of those times with excellent monarchs.

The subject interactions in Common Sense (which I believe is only available with the expansion, not the patch) also adds some nice additional options to vassals/personal union partners/colonies, which I've made use of at times.

So, for the perspective of someone used to 1.11 and earlier, I'd somewhat lean towards saying stay on 1.11 until you have Common Sense, and then jump into the latest patch with earnest. I'll admit I was skeptical of the building limitations and fort mechanics, but it really does work quite well, when you have the Common Sense expansion. Without it, I felt I was partially missing out compared to 1.11 and earlier.

I think the middling reviews were due to the fact that you could notice the lack of the expansion when playing 1.12 without it (those grayed-out development buttons, unavailable building slots, and useless monarch points), whereas with previous expansions they were really all but invisible if you were playing their patch without having them. Lack Art of War? There's no HRE state religion/religious wars. Lack Wealth of Nations? There's no button to send a fleet on a pirate mission. And so on and so forth. Lacking Common Sense was a lot more obvious, both in the UI and in the gameplay, and I can see why that was unpopular with some people.

Overall, I'd currently rate the expansions (except Cossacks, which I don't have yet) in this order, in terms of how I'd prioritize acquiring them:

1. Art of War. Fleet/army templates, subject casus bellis, subject focus, transferring occupation, and the religious wars are all things that improve nearly every game of EU4.
2. Common Sense. In part because development is so necessary in 1.12+, but subject interactions are quite nice too.
3. Wealth of Nations. While not as common as the Art of War mechanics, peaceful trade transfer and piracy do occasionally have their place, and dynamic province renaming is nice. Trade companies and the Reformed fervor mechanic are also nice in games where they are applicable.
4. El Dorado. TBH I haven't used its features much, but I can see where in a colonization-focused game, things such as the treasure fleets and explorer missions would be fun. It also gives you the Support Independence option, even without Conquest of Paradise.
5. Conquest of Paradise. Its Support Independence option is used in more games than El Dorado's features, but is also available with El Dorado without Conquest of Paradise. I feel its other main features - Random New World and the tribal nation reform - are more niche than El Dorado's, so overall its features would be used less often.
6. Res Publica. Very focused on the Dutch, particularly since the most general feature - National Focus - is also available if you have Common Sense but not Res Publica. Good if you want to play the Dutch, though.

The general focus is I've ranked the ones whose features are most generally applicable higher. The less-generally-applicable ones are good if you plan to play the nations they focus on, but can be passed over otherwise.
 
It is on sale now. 66% off

I am still playing 1.11 I just remember coring being expensive in 1.12 and rolled back but I maybe I will have to take advantage of the sale and move along. I would love to use the expanded timeline mod at some point
 
Yes it is worth it. Honestly, I think it's worth it for full price.
 
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