Can someone describe, and give pros and cons of Europa Universalis?

[Leonidas]

Folks - this is a very complex game. Everything works fine once you understand it. You simply can't build armies and then go marching off to war. You will be defeated every time.

There is a downloadable index for the manual at Paradox's forums. There is also a ton of advice there. My best advice is to go to those forums and you will learn everything you need to know about this game. Within a very short period of time everything will make sense. BTW in the next patch a save feature will be available for the tutorial.
http://www.europa-universalis.com/

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Go tell the Spartans, passerby:
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.

[Dr Strangelove]

If the game prohibits the annexation of a great power, what happens if you occupy all its provinces, destroy its forts, and take its capital city?

Could you strip a great power of all its provinces by occupying them one by one and negotiating them away? If you stripped a great power down to its capital province, what would happen if you then took the capital province?

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"I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!

[Kyle]

Use the -/+ keys on the number key pad (along with CTRL). Works much better.

[Steve Clark]

Pros: Incredible historic modeling for a strategy game and to quote Imran, "You have to balance money, technology, religion (especially with the Reformation and all), colonization, trade, and war." Plus, war comes at a price to all facets of the game.

Cons: The Learning Curve is steepest maximus, but it didn't have to be. Even with a verbose manual and a Tutorial, neither one teaches you how to play the game. The manual needs far more gameplay examples (and less historical lessons). If any game cries out for a Straegy Guide out of the box, it's EU.