This short Dev Diary will introduce you to the four different nations types in Imperialism: Concert of Europe.
- Great Powers are major modernized nations such as France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Austria. These are the nations the human player is generally expected to play, and the game is designed assuming that one of these nations will normally be chosen. These nations have at least five provinces, with Russia having far more. These nations begin with technology allowing them to begin industrializing at the start of the game, but Russia will be a little bit behind the rest. Great powers can colonize minor traditional nations and can sphere minor modern nations.
- Minor modern nations include all European nations that are not Great Powers, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain. The player can play as some of these nations, namely those that have some potential to gain colonies or to grow. These nations can have colonies but cannot have spheres (as they are spheres). The playable minor modern nations are a good choice for players who want a challenging game experience.
- Old Empires are major traditional nations, such as the Ottoman Empire and Qing China. Japan begins the game as an Old Empire but will become a Great Power after the Meiji Restoration event. Old empires cannot be colonized, but some of them can lose some provinces to Russia. The human player can play as the Ottoman Empire or Japan. China and Persia may or may not be playable in the final game.
- Minor Traditional nations include all non-European nations that are not old empires, and make up the majority of nations in the game. These nations can be colonized. Some of these nations can be colonized from the beginning of the game (most of India, the East Indies, and Cape), another group becomes available for colonization at the start of the Middle Era (1848) and the remaining become available at the start of the Late Era (1881). The human player cannot play as any of these nations.
Imperialism: Concert of Europe 