Paradox Interactive has announced a new expansion for Europa Universalis IV – The Cossacks. It offers new ways to rule your lands, expand them and conduct diplomacy. The new Estate system is advertised as the central new mechanic. It allows you to give a selected local faction more control in the provinces in exchange for a calmer population or an easier army recruitment. Just be careful, those local factions may want more and the Cossacks are legendary for their lack of reverence for even the strongest rulers.

The developers have provided a list of new features in the expansion:

• New Diplomatic Options: Let the world know what you think of your neighbors by setting a public attitude to foreign powers.
• Tell The World What You Want: Designate neighbouring provinces as “places of interest”, build trust with other nations, and entice allies with the promise of land for their support.
• Tengri: Tengri is now a Syncretic faith, allowing it to tolerate a secondary religion as if it were a national faith.
• Horde Unity and Razing: Nomadic nations now must pay attention the horde unity of their tribes – a unity that can only be maintained by the occasional pillaging.
• Improved Culture Change: You can now restore a previous culture to a converted province, or convert a province you hold to a culture that is not your own.
• Native Policies: Set your policy for colonial encounters with natives. Are you focused on quick subjugation, peaceful growth or trading advantages?
• Improved Espionage: New spy actions allow you to study the technology of more advanced countries and prod your rivals’ subjects towards independence.

As is usual with Paradox titles, some features will be available to all players of EU4 in a patch, while purchasing DLC is only needed to get all new stuff.