14 DAY TRIAL // When I played my first attempt at a long-term campaign in South America in the El Dorado expansion for Europa Universalis IV, I chose to control the Aztecs and I envisioned a country that would be able to defeat its nearest rivals and to then dominate a solid piece of land while preparing for the inevitable invasion coming from overseas.
For the first few years, I promptly forgot about the Doom mechanics, which are implemented as a meter that constantly increases and needs to be brought down with the War of Flowers mechanic or with other sacrifices.
Basically, South and Central America tend to be a constant battlefield, with neighbors constantly launching even small scale wars in order to try and make sure that their doom does not increase too much and does not cripple their nation.
As the Aztecs, I had a solid army initially, but the constant fighting for captives, especially when coupled with some conquest wars, meant that I was out of manpower relatively quickly and that my first campaign ended when my neighbors created an alliance that gained the upper hand and made it impossible for my country to recover.
The second time around I faced a similar issue, but I decided to restart when two of my kings died because I ignored the Doom.
It gets harder when the Europeans arrive with their explorers
El Dorado makes exploration more rewarding for European powers because there are new event chains that can deliver great rewards for those nations that manage to get to the rumored Fountain of Youth and avoid all traps laid down before it.
For natives of South and Central America, that means more explorers coming through and robust development of colonies that threaten their territory.
The new religions and the reforms associated with them give players a patch to move towards the Western tech group and then stand their ground and take the fight to the invaders.
Unfortunately, I have not yet managed to reach that moment in Europa Universalis IV, which might be a sign that I need to watch some streams created by better players before I try the Aztecs one more time.
Or it might be time for me to try out other nations and see whether that leads me.
