Diplomacy is a large aspect of the game, as creating alliances (or vassal states and tributaries), improving opinions, and preventing defensive coalitions are vital to a player's survival. The game is a sandbox environment while there is no strict rule on winning the game, the game of the player is over when the player's nation is removed, or annexed, from the map or the date reaches the year 1821. These nations range alphabetically from Aachen to Zuni. Players can choose to conquer the world by military might, become a colonial superpower, establish trade dominance, etc.

The player does so through their choices as sovereign of their nation, and the spending of resources available to them: prestige, power projection, stability, gold (ducats), manpower, legitimacy for monarchies, republican tradition for republics, devotion for theocracies, horde unity for steppe nomads, meritocracy for celestial empires, and monarch power (administrative, diplomatic, and military). The gameplay requires the player to lead a nation by finding a balance of military, diplomacy, and economy. At the beginning of the game many provinces are considered 'uncolonised' and are meant to represent possible land colonisable by other nations. Each of these provinces contribute to their country either positively or negatively, as provinces can both provide resources to a nation and serve as a point of unrest and rebellion.

The game itself is an interactive map of the Earth divided into the provinces that compose nations. The game has been formed to begin historically, with events occurring when they did in history. It is a strategy game where players can control a nation from the Late Middle Ages through the early modern period (1444–1821), conducting trade, administration, diplomacy, colonization, and warfare. Europa Universalis IV is a 2013 grand strategy video game in the Europa Universalis series, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Europa Universalis III (2007).

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