So I just got EU4 a few days ago... Yes I'm 2 years late to the party lol. I've always been a fan of the Europa universalis series, but one thing that bugs me a bit is that it forces you to go full conquistador to have fun. If you play a game like Venice, you can only have fun by trying to conquer Italy or expand into colonies even though historically, Venice grew rich from trade not war. In EU4, can you play, for example, as a historial Venice fighting trade wars and watching your coffers fill with gold, without physically acquiring territory? And have fun in the process? Or is peacetime still mostly waiting for the next war to start?