Hi been checking out this game. Looks similar to Risk but might be too complicated for me. Anyone have any opinion on any of these games 1 or 2 or 3 version? Also, is there another game that is similar to this one but much easier to play. I do not mean to win the game easy. But to understand it and play it.

Thank you!

I love the Europa Universalis series (and similar Paradox games - Hearts of Iron & Victoria). You're right - EU is complicated, and does have a steep learning curve. So, if you're looking for some instant gratification, EU probably won't give you that. But, the complication is part of what makes it fun, and I find it to be worth the effort. (This is also why it is hard to pick something that is comparable to EU but also simpler - complex detail is partly what defines it.)

As for alternatives... well, the campaign mode in the Total War series is a lot less complicated. You can auto-resolve a lot of battles if you don't want to get down to the battlefield-level nitty gritty all the time. Still, it's not the same kind of game as EU. (Don't get me wrong, the TW games are great - Rome: Total War is one of my favourites of any genre; but different from EU).

There's also King Arthur - but it is more like Total War than EU. It adds some interesting RPG-style elements. You could try Hegemony, which has a slightly different take on this sort of strategy game (seamless transition from board-game-style overview map to the battlefield). But now I've strayed pretty far from EU. :P

Hopefully someone else has some better suggestions for you. I'd love to discover some too.

I may be posting after the battle is over, but I would like to point out that Paradox's community is very active, and has published a number of tutorials and guides for each game. Personnally , I've found them to been very helpful. As a entry point into the EU games, I would go for Europa Universalis II.

Here's the link for EU2's wiki:
[url=]http://www.paradoxian.org/eu2wiki/index.php/Main_Page[/url]

If you want easier province conquering goodness...Go for Knights of Honor...Once you get the hang of it (and it didn't take long for me) it's easy, and fun...Not the same as Europa Universalis exactly...but, there is similarites...One of my favorite games really.

If you like abstract strategy games and have no interest in the historical periods portrayed or in military what-ifs, pass your way.

I only played EU1. I wanted to like it but it was badly broken, like many computers games and indeed other Paradox games, but moreso than usual.
It was unnecessarily complicated, some stuff made no sense, one needed to exploit the rules instead of being smart, arbitrary factors one could not affect were used to steer history on its course, the balance was enforced in illogical ways which prevented players from building upon their achievements. All in all, it was a very frustrating experience.
So yeah, there's a learning curve... but it's not a learning curve like those of proper strategy games: instead of understanding the game's tradeoffs and dynamics from the ground up, one has to learn by trial and error how to navigate around the game's quirks and how to pick strategic goals which don't go against the game's grain.

In spite of this, it can be a fun game for a while if you like to go "oh! shiny!" and don't take the game too seriously.
So I'll go against conventional wisdom and claim that such games are better for casual than serious gamers. They may not be easy to play well but it's easy enough to fool around with the historical material used in these games and watch fun stuff happen (for some values of "fun").

Great game. EU3 is NOT so complicated, so it might be worth a try. At the beginning, you won't use all the features (colonies, religion, ...) but you will learn them while playing.

Rather "hardcore", but certainly not the most hardcore, or realist, game out there.

Europa Universalis isn't that hard if you take the time to read a few FAQs. EU3: Divine Wind is the one I am playing right now and it's still ongoing so it would be a good choice in terms of support.
If you choose EU3: Divine Wind, I would recommend starting out easy with one of the Big Three (Castille, England, France), this will get you accustomed to the game and you won't have to worry about getting eaten by a nation higher up the food-chain. Since the game introduces concepts slowly you have time to get the basics down before you have to worry about religion and colonies.
KOCollins and Nedrix mentioned Knights of Honor and Rome Total War, respectively. I would highly recommend these games, especially if you don't have a lot of experience with RTS. If you are a veteran though then you have nothing to fear from EU, in fact it's a great challenge and very rewarding, there is always a sense of accomplishment when leading a poor nation into the worlds greatest power.

I think that if your looking for a game that looks like Risk, has some historical influence and is not as hard to pick up and play as the EU series, then I would recommend Civ V. It has a sliding difficulty scale and is overall not as daunting as the EU series.