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This is the thirteenth 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
Cradle of Civilization: Immersive Cradle

The next expansion for Europa Universalis IV after dealing with the Near East was another immersion pack, this time focusing on the British Isles and surrounds—an area that had already gotten attention, such as the special British government type, in Common Sense. This drew some, deserved, ire from fans who had been hoping for something else, though Paradox certainly found things to do here. Rule Britannia was announced on February 6, 2018 released alongside patch 1.25 on March 20, 2018.

Missions

Missions had originally shown up in EU III, where they were a fairly limited system to give players an immediate goal they could work towards. In IV this had been improved by giving a choice of three missions instead of just randomly assigning one. As of this patch, this was scrapped for a new system.

Missions moved to a new separate tab in the country interface. This graphically shows the various missions available, and how they relate to one another. These relationships generally existed in the old system, but were hidden away, so the player could not see if there were more missions that might open up from accomplishing something, and what the conditions for them were. Decisions now had a tab to themselves, though in 1.26 the tab would also get an interface for policies (which had been introduced in patch 1.6, and were underserved at this point).

There’s a set of three chains of five missions each that a country will get if it doesn’t qualify for anything else, and of course a lot of missions based on particular countries, as well as regional missions, unlocked by the position of a nation’s capital.

Most of the expansions after this point have added further specific missions, but some earlier expansions got them too. Coptic nations get five missions with Rights of Man, and the smaller Russian nations (i.e., not Muskovy and Novgorod, which get their own sets) get ten unique missions with Third Rome. Rule Britannia itself of course has missions for England/Britain, as well as Scotland, and the various Irish countries, with the former two still having some unique missions without the expansion.

This resembles the focus trees from Hearts of Iron IV, though there’s still plenty of differences. The focus trees are generally something you’re always working with, whereas the missions may have to wait a while before you can get to some. For instance, one of England’s first missions is “The War of the Roses”, which requires either completing that disaster, or getting to the Age of Reformation. Which brings up the greatest weakness of the system. While multiple missions might depend on completing an earlier one, there’s no place where completing one locks out an alternate choice, nor is there any way to fail a mission (which might lead to other choices going in a different direction).

New Lands

The main focus of the patch was of course a rework of Northern Europe. Namely, Ireland was expanded to thirteen provinces, each of which start as a one-province minor (except for the English Pale, which is a province). Scotland was reworked a bit, and the Kingdom of the Isles split off. The Low Countries were also reworked into a larger number of provinces, with good development levels to showcase what was one of the richest areas of Europe at the time.

Naval Doctrine

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8642652/europa-universalis-iv-rule-britanniaThe big ‘general purpose’ addition of the expansion is the ability to set a naval doctrine for a permanent bonus. Any country whose naval force limit is above a minimal level (20), can do this.

Surprisingly, this takes money, not diplomatic power, to do, and is not cheap. It’s far from expensive, and as mentioned is permanent, though you can spend money again to change the bonus.

There are four common doctrines, which boost naval maintenance, galleys, trade power, or the chance of capturing ships in combat. There is also a selection of twenty-six optional ones (plus a Mamluk set which can replace the main four) which will take up the fifth slot. It seems like anyone will probably qualify for one of them, though there’s no “default”, so it may be possible to only qualify for the main four.

It’s a neat idea, but seems a little static. It won’t be hard to afford a bonus once and then ignore it for the rest of the game, which I imagine happens fairly often.

Anglicanism

The expansion includes a new Christian religion: Anglican. This is historically the English church as it evolved under Elizabeth I, but it is available to any country in the British culture group.

The religion grants discounts to development and technology, making it handy right there. It also uses the church power mechanic seen in other Christian religions, which is then used to buy a number of instant bonuses (instead of permanent aspects and the like). This includes the ability (with Rights of Man) to divorce the current consort for a bonus in monarch points, and to gain a consort, with a large boost to the odds of getting an heir.

The more “regular” bonuses are quite varied and can help international relations (…with other non-Catholic Christians) as well as various domestic stats. These all generally cost the standard 100 points, but there’s a good military bonus for 200, and a 200-point purchase to boost stability.

There are two problems: The event to convert to Anglicanism happens once, and even after that, you generally can’t convert to it manually. So if it passes you by for one of the other countries in the area, you’re probably stuck. The event does have an option to create a Center of Reformation for Angicanism, but that’s not the historical option, so it is unlikely from an AI player. The other trouble is that this isn’t in the timeline at all, so the only way to get it is through the event in play; you can never start with it.

Innovations

A surprising new feature with the patch is an innovation rating. Like many new features, it’s 0-100 track, but it is more complicated and nuanced than many more recent ones.

Getting a technology either first, or just after anyone else, grants a +4 bonus, and +2 for an idea (which is possibly a bit easier, as there’s a larger number of idea groups to pick from). However, the main shifts will be a +0.01/month from being ahead of time in at least one technology (as long as your ruler isn’t hopeless in all three, that can be done), or -0.03/month from being behind your neighbors.

So, most of the time, most nations should be able to get the slow increase from being ahead on something. The benefit is a reduction to all monarch power costs. There’s also a secondary benefit of a reduction to army and naval tradition decay. These cap at a fairly modest 10% and -1%, but over the course of the game, that can certainly add up.

To a certain extent, this is a ‘rich get richer’ effect, as the better-positioned nations will have a much easier time gaining some innovation than others (especially the great powers from Rights of Man, who are more likely to get the bonus monarch power from high power projection). Nations disadvantaged by the institutions will have a rough time, meaning this is an extra hindrance on them. I’d complain, but I already suspected that institutions are overall not as rough on many nations as they should be.

Industrialism

A surprising addition for the expansion is a new trade good: coal. Certain provinces can change from their normal goods to coal late in the game. These provinces are predetermined, with four of them (out of about 50) in England (plus one in Scotland). This means England is likely to get the trade bonus for the commodity, which is a bonus to goods production.

Coal has a very good trade value, and instead of building a manufactory in its province, it can get a furnace. You would expect that to just be another form of manufactory (+1 unit of trade good produced), but instead grants a global +5% goods production.

None of this happens without the Enlightenment institution, so it is restricted to post-1700. It’s meant to be on the same order of value as gold provinces, but for the late game. It’s a clever idea, and Britain certainly was going over to coal use during the later Eighteenth Century, but it seems a bit out of place, and there’s not a lot of need for more money in the late game.

Conclusion

I can see why people would complain about an expansion not having anything of general interest in it. But I disagree. The entire point of these expansions, and what makes them work, is that they are optional. They don’t have to have something for everyone.

And the effort to have general interest here falls a bit flat. I think having a naval mechanic like the army professionalism introduced in Cradle of Civilization would be a neat idea, but the single-bonus system here isn’t as interesting. Of course, naval matters are often limited enough to probably not deserve a more wide-ranging mechanic, but I still feel this is a missed opportunity. Innovation and Industrialism are better (especially the former), but it is layering on yet another complicated mechanic, and only recommended for someone fairly deep in the game.… who are also the people complaining, so, good audience targeting.

And I’m a bit mixed on missions. In general, I like idea, but would like to see even more flexibility than we have. Maybe a true rework of the concept in EU V would be worthwhile. At any rate, they are now the primary “draw” for any regional expansions, and will help make them worthwhile. And without that, there’s still enough different mission trees in the base game to make it work.

As for this expansion. Well, if you’re interested in playing in the British Isles, get it, naturally. Otherwise, I think the innovativeness rating is interesting, but not enough for a purchase, and the other features are good, but not worth a purchase either.