Playing a game as it was intended by the developers is all well and good, but sometimes, you just end up having an issue with something that the devs just never end up fixing. The solution to this age-old dilemma? Mods.
Not only do they add much-needed changes that improve already existing features, but chances are, they also add things you never even knew you needed! And with that in mind, this list is here to shine a spotlight on some absolutely incredible mods for Europa Universalis IV, from small, quality of life changes to major overhauls, that you should definitely check out.
15) x10 Mod
Europa Universalis 4 is a great game that can be a lot of fun and can give you quite a bit of enjoyment in it. But sometimes, it can get a bit frustrating. After restarting for the umpteenth time as Byzantium, or maybe just having a bad game as anyone else, playing normally can get pretty draining.
And this is where this mod comes in.
Every single modifier, no matter how big or small has been buffed, well, 10 times. A nation had 1 extra merchant in its idea set? Now it has 10.
You love stacking morale modifiers with ideas? Well, defensive has you covered with 150% extra moral.
You think that the 5% discipline and 10% manpower recovery speed modifier from the only military Orthodox icon is good? Congratulations, now you have 50% extra discipline and 100% more manpower recovery speed instead.
After the grueling grind fest that playing normally might sometimes devolve into, this mod is just a godsend. It’s both silly and extremely entertaining to play, especially with all of the blatantly overpowered mechanics that both the player and AI are given.
It does get a bit annoying though when certain opposite modifiers meet. For example, fort defense scales far, far, more than siege ability. As a result, you could very easily end up sieging a single fort for literally longer than the game can be played.
And of course, some of the modifiers, especially the force limit ones, can generate incredible amounts of lag, simply because they allow for so much more, and larger, armies to be fielded.
The end result, however, of all of this is a very fun mod that can bring back the cheer and introduce some often forgotten silliness into this game.
Get the mod here.
14) Development Expanded
Development Expanded is the first mod on this list belonging to the Expanded Mod Family, and, rest assured, won’t be the last.
The mod itself makes one of the aspects of the game itself much more interesting and lively. That aspect is, as the name suggests, development. In the base game development is, broadly speaking, static.
For the most part, it only really changes you click the buttons to increase it (or in the extremely rare and circumstantial event that you need to exploit a province for whatever reason) and not much outside of it.
Oh sure, there are missions that occasionally reward certain provinces with extra development, and horde nations even have a mechanic where you can drastically cut down a province's development for monarch points. And recently, even capital pillaging and province development consolidation were added in. However, all of these interactions can be summed the exact same.
At the end of the day, you’re just pressing buttons.
So, in order to remedy this, Development Expanded adds in events and mechanics that change how development functions. Not only can you now have development increase itself automatically, thereby simulating the realistic growth of population numbers in an area, but you can also lose development.
When provinces are devastated by war or some other such nasty events, the amount of people in said province tends to decrease. Be it by people dying or simply migrating away. And speaking of people, this mod also features religion and culture conversions of provinces, simulating yet another thing that happened in history.
Similar to how the formerly mostly Greek Anatolia became Turkish after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, provinces with this mod installed will change to reflect new people coming to settle in lands that were devastated by war.
Overall, considering just how much sense this mod makes, from a historical perspective, as well as how seamlessly its features were integrated, I’m downright shocked that Paradox hasn’t added a similar feature into the game already.
Get the mod here.
13) Subjects Expanded
Told you there were going to be more Expanded mods here.
In all seriousness though, Subjects Expanded adds in, well, more subject types into the game. From fiefdoms that can be established by nations in the same culture group, to satrapies or administrative regions, the amount of subject interactions this mod brings is incredible.
Another example of a subject that makes sense to have, yet is missing from the base game are the several variations of Marches. Sick and tired of just having an incredibly militarily capable subject? Well, fret no more!
Subjects expanded adds not 1, not 2, but 3 extra types of Marches, so that you can customize them to be exactly the kind you want.
Of course, Marches aren’t the only new additions, many countries and cultures have a unique subject type of their own. Persian cultured nations for example can establish Satrapies, and the heirs of Rome can create Roman Client Kingdoms. Buddhist South East Asian nations can now have proper Mandala vassals and nations with the same dynasties can come together in the form of Brother Kingdoms, a sort of proto-personal union.
The amount of flexibility and added customizability of subjects is downright absurd, and you can very easily find yourself lost while trying to make the perfect subject for the situation. I don’t know about you, but having this much choice and freedom sounds pretty darn good. And the best part?
The AI can also makes use of all of these subject interactions!
While the previous two mods affected both the player and AI the same way, that is, by either changing the game itself or through events and mechanics no one has any real control over, this mod actually adds quite a bit of interactive content.
In fact, most of the content added by this mod is interactive, and the fact that the AI can use it as well makes for a vastly more in-depth and engaging experience for pretty much any playthrough.
Get the mod here.
12) Renovatio Imperii
Ave, true heirs of Rome! It is time to reconquer the lost glory of the greatest civilization to have ever existed!
As the name, and intro, suggests this mod is all about Byzantium. Well, for the most part anyway. The mod itself expands upon the mission tree for Byzantium added in by the Purple Pheonix DLC, as well as adding many more features to the game.
From new government reforms for Byzantium to new ideas, events, and even decisions, the mod is a proper love letter to the country.
It also presents a believable, albeit unrealistic, way for the Byzantines to have reversed the course of history and managed to avoid their almost destined fate in 1453. Besides that, certain missions now also have different effects and the new missions that expand upon what was already present allow you to pursue greater conquests. After all, reclaiming the Empire is one thing, but being able to supersede it is another thing entirely!
From subduing the rebellious and pretender states in Germania to putting Alexader’s conquests to shame, this mod is a must-have for any Romaboos out there trying to keep the legend going.
Get the mod here.
11) Xorme AI
Now, I’ll be frank with this. EU4 is a great game with many great things going for it. But the AI is not one of those things.
Don’t get me wrong, developing AI is tough and the sheer amount of mechanics available sometimes means that the AI simply can’t keep up with players. But sometimes… oh sometimes.
From completely abandoning their country and watching it burn down just to siege that one province on the other side of the world, to making some truly bizarre decisions about building placement. The AI can be quite… bad.
And as a result of this, past the mid-game, it often feels like a grind, with the various nations around you posing no real threat. In fact, the difficulty options themselves are just extra modifiers that don’t make the AI smarter, just more annoying to deal with!
And the solution for all of these woes? This mod, right here. From rebalancing the AI’s budget so that it can afford everything and not bankrupt itself every few decades, to more aggressive, and logical, fort placement.
No more will the AI poorly select ideas, nor will they barely interact with their estates anymore.Xorme AI manages to strike a good balance for the AI, where it is much more aggressive than in vanilla, but also much more competent.
Now, it also must be said that not everything here was done with clever coding. Some modifiers were changed for the AI, however, unlike in vanilla difficulty adjustments, all of the changes are maintained purely in the early game, and even then, only result in the AI paying slightly less for its troops and forts than the player.
For a more challenging, but also fair and balanced experience, this mod is pretty much a must-have.
Get the mod here.
10) Governments Expanded
Yet another Expanded Family mod, and just like the two predecessors, it is well-deserving of being on this list.
With the Dharma DLC, players have finally been given the chance to more fully customize their government with various government reforms. Essentially letting you decide how to personalize your country.
Now, this was all well and good but there was a bit of a problem with how it was done. Sure, now you could choose different reforms that gave you different things, but, well, that wasn’t really the case. Regardless if you were playing as a republic, monarchy, or tribe, virtually every single game you’d end up picking the same options, for the given government types.
There was a very obvious meta and most everyone agreed that while yes, the government reforms did add customizability, picking anything else but the established meta was just asking for trouble.
In comes Governments Expanded. It takes the formula that the base game added with Dharma, and drastically expands it. From adding unique government reforms to certain nations, like Byzantium, France, Austria, Jerusalem, and many, many others.
To expanding the choices available in each tier of reform, and even making the choices available dynamic and dependant on your previous choices!
Not to mention the fact the majority of these government reforms weren’t all just pretty green numbers and useful modifiers. In fact, many of the reforms, be they underpowered base game reforms or newly added ones have mechanics that further increase the nuance you experience when choosing from each of them.
In fact, one of the tiers of reforms has a form of choose-your-own-playstyle choice, where you can either focus on vassal swarms, industry and building value or having a colonial trade empire!
So not only does this mod allow you to have a far greater amount of choice in how your country is run, but those very same choices will influence your further choices down the line! Definitely a mod worth checking out.
Get the mod here.
9) Idea Groups Expanded
Yes, yes, I know, yet another Expanded mod, but surprisingly enough, this one isn’t actually a part of them. Shocking, I know.
While there are several other mods that change the idea groups, that this game has, Idea Groups Expanded does more than simply change them. From brand new idea groups to variant ones depending on your religion, to rebalancing already existing ones and doing the same to the policies each pair of idea groups can create. This is definitely an incredibly fun mod to play around with.
The best example of idea variants is the Religious group, where it has a base Religious idea group for most religions, and then special versions of it with different buffs for Christian, Muslim and Confucian countries.
Furthermore, a great feature of the mod is it that streamlines and focuses idea groups into more specialized versions. A great example of this would be the Administrative idea group. Previously, the idea group was a sort of jack-of-all-trades of the administrative idea groupset.
Where it gave you bonuses to your, well, administration in the form of core creation cost reduction and extra governing capacity, while also giving you economic bonuses in the form of smaller loans and cheaper mercenaries for the military round-up.
Now, however, it is much more focused and provides exclusively bonuses tied to, you guessed it, administering your empire. Another thing that I personally think is a great change is the fact that it also rebalances previously underpowered, and therefore underutilized, idea groups. Another great example of this feature would be Aristocratic and Espionage.
Originally, there was literally no reason to pick either group. The fact was that, while they provided a wide range of bonuses, some of which were very solid on their own, neither of them were really worth getting instead of the more specialized idea groups, like Diplomatic and Quantity. With this mod, however, both idea groups have been overhauled to actually be viable for most campaigns, and that is just awesome.
Get the mod here.
8) Beyond Typus
Beyond Typus is an attempt made to bring EU4 more in line with history.
Making borders more complex by adding literally hundreds, if not thousands of provinces to the game, all in an attempt to make the game more historically accurate. And not only that.
A cool feature present in EU4 is the fact that provinces can have dynamic names based on several factors. Be it the culture of your country, or sometimes even just playing as a specific nation will change the name of provinces to your people’s dialect. A famous example of this in vanilla would be Constantinople.
If the province is owned by most nations, it would simply be Constantinople, but as soon as the Turks take it, the name will change to Konstantinyye. The same goes with Slavic countries, which will rename the City of the World’s Desire into Tsargrad, or one variation of that name. Beyond Typus takes this fairly simple concept to a whole other level.
That is of course is not even touching any of the many myriads of events that will change the world and how you play your campaign, all of which were actually historically accurate.
While this may not seem like that much content, believe you me, this mod adds in an incredible amount of sheer stuff to mess around in that it can get quite overwhelming at times.
Get the mod here.
7) Missions Expanded
And you thought you could escape the Expanded mods? Muahahaha! Jokes aside though, this is the final one on the list, I promise!
But man, what a mod this is. Adding literally hundreds of new, extremely high-quality missions to a ludicrous amount of nations. Sometimes, some nations can even have multiple mission trees depending on how you choose to play them!
And on top of just adding absurd amounts of flavor to countries around the world, it also adds unique modifiers not found in the base game, as well as adding them in new and innovative ways.
And that’s not even mentioning all of the events added in by the various missions. From restoring the Caliphate as the Ayyubids of Hisn Kayfa to forming Tatarstan or the Dual-Monarchy, the missions added in by this mod are extremely fun to play around in.
In fact, while the mod lets you choose between Paradox missions and the mods’ ones, the missions from Missions Expanded more often than not match, and even exceed the quality of the missions created by Paradox.
Honestly, once you’ve experienced the great additions and flavor that this mod brings, it would be pretty difficult to go back to vanilla.
Get the mod here.
6) Ante Bellum
Ante Bellum is an alt-history mod that takes place in a timeline where both much has changed, yet much also remains the same.
The HRE is still present and the start date is in a somewhat similar state as it was in the vanilla historical game, that is starting right after a failed crusade. This time, however, instead of the crusade being against the Ottomans, it was instead fought against a declining Andalusia, who might use this opportunity to bounce right back, stronger than ever.
Towards the East, the Byzantines are still struggling to survive, and the balance of power in the region is a fragile thing, however, it would only take a single decisive war there to decide the course of history going forward. And to the far east, the Yuan dynasty is holding onto the last remnants of their once-great empire, hoping to rekindle their ambitions once more and come back into the world stage.
Of course, in-depth lore isn’t the only thing this mod offers. Hundreds of new idea sets, dozens of missions, and an incredible amount of events to spice up the game are just waiting for anyone trying this mod out. It even adds new religions and provinces to the game, as well as an overall rebalancing of certain features and the addition of even more cool and unique mechanics.
Overall, the mod offers a brand new way to experience the classic 1444. start and is a great way to refreshen yourself after a hard-fought campaign in vanilla.
Get the mod here.
5) MEIOU and Taxes
MEIOU and Taxes is basically like Beyond Typus… except more.
There are few mods that straight-up change the game you’re playing, but this is one of them. So many new mechanics are added by this mod that you’re basically playing EU4.5.
Just like the name suggests, M&T is very much about taxes, or rather, administering your empire. Juggling minorities, both cultural and religious, to achieve a stable empire is a key skill that you’ll have to quickly learn while playing this game. Of course, the people of your great country aren’t the only thing you’ll have to worry about.
Using events to simulate a living, breathing economy that will undoubtedly be familiar to any Crusader Kings 2 and 3 event enthusiast, M&T is the closest you can get to Victoria 2 in EU4.
Beyond that, the map itself is also vastly expanded with a similar amount of provinces like in Beyond Typus, also in the name of simulating historical accuracy.
Now, while I’ve been positive about this mod, and there are many things that should be praised about it, it is also worth mentioning that sometimes, there is such a thing as too many things. This isn’t a thing that comes out of nowhere either, the amount of new things that you have to take into account while playing is simply put, astronomical.
So if you’re planning on trying this mod out, which I do highly recommend, be prepared to pretty much re-learn how to play the game.
Get the mod here.
4) Extended Timeline
Ah, Extended Timeline. Now, this right here? This is a certified Hood classic of a mod.
Extended Timeline has managed to maintain its popularity for a simple reason. It’s just good. Extending the, well, timeline, from 2. AD. all the way to 9999. AD, there are plenty of start dates to choose from within this mod.
From the Fall of Rome to the Birth of the HRE, to any of the many modern wars, there’s just no shortage of fun to be had here.
Of course, the mod also adds certain events and mechanics to simulate various historical events with major and profound repercussions. Such as the already named Fall of Rome, Rise of Islam, and the Conquests of the Mongols to name a few.
A very fun campaign that I recommend trying in this mod would be starting as either the Byzantines or the Sassanids. And then recreating their historical rivalry, before trying to hold your ground against the Rashidun Caliphate. It’s all but guaranteed to be a thrilling and exciting experience, similar to the Endsieg mod for Hearts of Iron 4.
Not to mention of course all of the new provinces, religions, missions, and other such features sprinkled throughout the mod’s considerable playtime.
However, there is something that must be noted about this mod. Rather, it’s a truly great mod, with a lot of potential and fun to be had, but it’s also a bit, well, dull. What I mean by this is, and this is especially true for the first couple of century of the game, there is really not much to do. Personally, I very rarely go above 4 speed, since there’s always so much to do, but in ET, more often than not, you’ll just find yourself sitting there on 5 speed, for truces to expire.
So, while this mod is a very easy recommendation, I also have to recommend avoiding the earlier start dates if you get bored easily, despite the great and interesting things you can do in those times.
Get the mod here.
3) Voltaire’s Nightmare
Voltaire once famously said that the HRE is neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire. Well, while the truth of that statement is up for debate, the fact remains that this mod focuses to an extreme amount on the HRE itself.
Giving you a true and proper experience of how Medival Europe was like for all of the many lords and rulers of the land, and giving any mapmakers nightmares, Voltaire’s Nightmare brings you an expanded experience of the HRE.
The camera had been massively zoomed in, showing mostly Europe, though with North Africa and the Levant also being present, the game lets you zoom into unprecedented levels, compared to vanilla.
Of course, map graphics aren’t the only thing this mod changes. With literally hundreds of small countries making up the larger Empire, you’ll have to navigate the many treacherous webs of alliances and rivalries to get your way.
From the failing Byzantine Empire (is there ever a time when the Byzantines aren’t failing?) to the ducal lords of France, and the constant skirmishes of the Iberians, the content this mod has to offer is staggering.
Many events bring in new major players from the edges of the map, and many more events exist to spice up the gameplay you experience. New religions, especially during the reformation, can make a mess of Europe, but end up also making far more dynamic campaigns than in vanilla, despite the complete lack of certain features, like colonization.
Finally, the mod also has plenty of mission trees for many nations, both big and small, but be careful that you don’t find yourself in a nightmare of AE. Considering that the HRE doesn’t take too kindly to uppity princes trying to carve their own empire out of the Empire.
Get the mod here.
2) Imperium Universalis
Imperium Universalis is everything M&T could have been, had it managed to strike a perfect balance of new gameplay and mechanics, as well as readability, at least in my opinion.
Going back in time, so far in fact that it no longer uses AD, but AUC, Imperium Universalis lets you play in the ancient world. A world that is virtually unrecognizable to us, yet, also lead to the one we live in today.
From the struggling Babylonian Empire to the conquests of Alexander the Great, the greatest military genius to have ever lived. You can take control of the many hundreds of tribes, poleis, and empires strewn throughout ancient times.
From trying to unite China into the first true dynasty, to making the Mediterranean your Mare Nostrum as the then small city-state of Rome, playing this mod you’ll be almost spoilt for choice. Of course, just having interesting countries to play isn’t the only great thing about this mod.
There are tons of religions added, primarily pagan, as well as hundreds of “new” cultures to the incredible amounts of land you can conquer. From Albion to Cathay, and from Scythia to Ethiopia, the map you play on is absolutely massive. It is zoomed in a fair bit and, of course, the New World, as well as Australia and the southern parts of Africa are cut off, though, considering the sheer amount of content added in already, you’ll hardly notice these regions are missing.
This does bring me, however, to an important note. This mod is massive, and this is both a good and a bad thing. The same exists in Voltaire’s Nightmare as well, though the problem there isn’t as noticeable, however here it is.
There is simply too much stuff here and it lags the game to an incredible degree. I’m talking about it taking more than a few minutes for a single year to pass on less powerful computers. Thankfully though, the developers have noted this problem and have remedied it to the best of their ability, by allowing you to disable regions you’re not playing it.
Overall, I highly recommend this mod, though be aware that it is probably the mod that can become the laggiest out of any of the ones listed here, simply due to its size.
Get the mod here.
1) Anbennar
Anbennar is a fantasy total overhaul of the game and while it may not have been the first, it is certainly the best.
Describing it is really difficult simply due to the incredible amount of things added by this mod. From a completely new world map, to brand new cultures, religions, and nations. Of course, none of that took into account the incredible amount of brand new lore created for the setting.
Hell, there are even brand new races and a fully-fledged, fully functioning magic system to the game!
The mod is an absolute masterpiece and easily shows exactly how great any mod can be with enough love, care, and effort put into it. It doesn’t just have a single quality of life improvement like some mods, or even an overhaul to a single game mechanic like some others.
If I’m being honest, this mod needs its own category just for the sheer amount of content it adds in. And unlike the previous two mods, while the scope of the mod is as large, and in some areas it even exceeds them, it still manages to maintain its playability, without needing to sacrifice any content.
There really is little that I can say about this other than that you should try it. This is as much a tribute to the community of an awesome game, as much as it is an absolutely amazing piece of content on its own.
Funnily enough, some who have played the mod have even started calling the vanilla game as “that thing you launch to play Anbennar”!
Get the mod here.
