#SO EU4 SOFTWARE#
#SO EU4 PROFESSIONAL#

IвЂ™ve played virtually all of their games. EU4 is made by a Paradox Interactive, which specialize in grand strategy games.

Afterwards, a lot of the satisfaction of playing is applying a large understanding of the game in an effective way, while still brushing up on the more obscure rules and mechanics. Getting to know EU4 well enough to play a proper campaign takes longer than it takes to finish many AAA games, and itвЂ™s a funstrating process. Or finally, the military option, where being the weaker nation my only recourse is to salt my own lands and harry him for decades, hoping heвЂ™ll have to give up due to an internal conflict. Or I could ally his ally, forcing him to fight his own ally to get to me. Or I could take out a lot of loans, hire another nationвЂ™s army as mercenaries, and figure out a way to deal with the resulting inflation later. If IвЂ™m being threatened by a stronger neighbor, I could try to marry my dynasty into another in the hope of securing another alliance. My main interest in the game is in its depth. More than in most other games, alliances are important, wars are fought for specific reasons, and being stabbed in the back by the AI hurts. There is a strong focus on war, but diplomacy and economy are very complex and important mechanics as well. Close to three thousand individual provinces divided between more than a thousand nations. The game simulates the entire world between 1444, when the Ottomans won at Varna and started to expand into the Balkans, until 1821, the death of Napoleon. I try to meet up with friends, even though IвЂ™m incredibly clumsy in social situations, and they are mostly unavailable.Д«ut above all, and probably more than everything else combined, I play Europa Universalis 4, or EU4 for short.Д®U4 is a grand strategy game, where a player takes charge of a country (in the form of вЂњanвЂќ invisible guiding handвЂќ) and tries to achieve goals which are largely left to the player to define. I watch some shows, which was my main occupation the previous time I had a similar episode. On bad days itвЂ™s so difficult and boring it makes me want to cry. I do some consulting, whenever I feel able to, even though I get nothing out of it. ThereвЂ™s a lot of time I feel I need to spend away from day to day life, and that time need to be filled, somehow. I retreat in my own head, by which I mean occupying myself with some tasks with that had little or no feedback in the real world. It can take a long time of mental preparation, and a long time of вЂњorganized retreatвЂќ/recuperation after the fact. Taking a shower is not a ten-minute task. Most people that have depression are incredibly ineffective. Him being there is enough for me to make the effort to eat. I skip breakfast, as I have since I hit puberty. He wakes me at 10:00, and I force myself to take a shower every day. I live with my father, and this makes things a lot easier then they would be living alone. I donвЂ™t even feel bored or sad and if I do, itвЂ™s such a constant presence that I stopped noticing a long time ago. I also donвЂ™t practice any of my other hobbies: reading, writing, photography. Even though I have decent amount savings, I donвЂ™t travel, not even to meet close friends. As soon as the structure of a regular day job was removed, I regressed into a lethargic existence. I was very lucky that I did that when I did. Following a correct intuition, I quit, packed my bags, and flew home. I felt terrible, and couldnвЂ™t imagine myself feeling even slightly less terrible anywhere in the future. In hindsight, I was suffering from a severe clinical depression that was pulling me to the edge of functionality. Evenings were opposite: I didnвЂ™t go to bed until I nearly collapsed, afraid to admit that the day was a wash, and also delaying the sleep that would see me waking up anew. Dreading the fact that soon as I would get up, a new day would start, with all the difficulties that brings with it. Mornings, I wanted to stay in bed indefinitely.

#SO EU4 SOFTWARE#

As a software developer, it was quite detrimental to my work. I had no energy, motivation, or ambition. I had a nice circle of friends, and after a lot of flathopping I had finally found a flatshare with agreeable people. I was working a job abroad that I had loved for years: interesting work, fun colleagues, and a great boss. This is a guest post and does not represent the views of CheckPoint.

#SO EU4 PROFESSIONAL#

Author: professional game developer in Sweden

So eu4