The Europa Universalis IV Thread

[Ser Jorah Mormont]

Is this supposed to happen? I was playing Najd, had conquered all of Yemen including the island of Socotra which rebelled after the war. As I was unable to land enough troops to beat the rebels I just left them there thinking Yemen would declare independence solely on Socotra since I controlled all other former Yemeni territory. But when they declared independence they got ALL their former lands despite me having cored them and everything

 

[Ducksforcup]

Is this supposed to happen? I was playing Najd, had conquered all of Yemen including the island of Socotra which rebelled after the war. As I was unable to land enough troops to beat the rebels I just left them there thinking Yemen would declare independence solely on Socotra since I controlled all other former Yemeni territory. But when they declared independence they got ALL their former lands despite me having cored them and everything

Sadly yes.

Once I let Russian Taiwanese rebels go (thinking the same thing as you and yes Russia had colonized Taiwan) After a while, they were able to enforce their demands and then suddenly half my empire became Russia .

You have to eliminate all of the nationalist rebels; this was a relatively recent change. Before it was too easy to just negotiate with the nationalist rebels and receive a little autonomy. I think this change was a good one.

 

[Ser Jorah Mormont]

Sadly yes.

Once I let Russian Taiwanese rebels go (thinking the same thing as you and yes Russia had colonized Taiwan) After a while, they were able to enforce their demands and then suddenly half my empire became Russia .

You have to eliminate all of the nationalist rebels; this was a relatively recent change. Before it was too easy to just negotiate with the nationalist rebels and receive a little autonomy. I think this change was a good one.

At least I know for future games , it was actually looking pretty good this attempt Najd is piss poor and everyone around them hates them. If you're unlucky and lose a major battle then it's basically game over because they have no manpower and hardly any money to get mercs, even with loans.

 

[MadArcand]

Last two games I've taken quantity. I HATE taking that idea, but the manpower issues are just so extreme lol.

I think you are right that speed is key.

And kleptocracy lol. What a great term.

Quantity is easily the best military idea group, unless you're Ming or Russia. I almost always take it.

If I ignore colonizing, I'd ideally go Influence, Administrative, Quantity, Religious, Diplomatic, Aristocratic, Offensive, Defensive, though that order is not set in stone and depends on circumstances. But those are the 8 I'd choose. If truly colonizing then Exploration-Expansion-Quantity are unquestionably the first three picks.

 

[Pirate King Luffy]

England is doing well on the Continent. Looks like you are involved in some big war with the Swiss?

Holy moly the Turks in your game are absolutely killing it. Going to be hard to beat them.

Interesting setup to be sure. And go Ryazan/Perm! Ryazan especially has formed quite the empire there.

On a purely random note, I love your steam name lol. GINYUUUUUUUUUU

The Swiss were a vassal of Bavaria. I ended losing the succession war and only had to give back two provinces to Switzerland. Bern, and the one under St.Gallen.

France has been swallowed up by Provence. Provence and France were both my allies, but I chose Provence as they were o the upswing. France is still around with 4 provinces left.

Spain is barely a Great Power now. I got Sardinia, Corsica and Palermo to have all Italian provinces from Spain. I got the little island west of Spain as well. I made them release Galicia and Aragon. They are crippled. Portugal has eaten southern Spain and Provence has gained lands from Norther Spain as well.

My dynasty died out because my prestige took a hit when I declined multiple wars. I ended up getting Lithuania's dynasty. Lithuania, Portugal(from me) , Poland, Mecklenburg(from me).

Mecklenburg has completely taken out Demark and Pomerania.


Ryazan is also bigger than Russia and swallowed most of Perm as well.

 

[Ducksforcup]

Quantity is easily the best military idea group, unless you're Ming or Russia. I almost always take it.

If I ignore colonizing, I'd ideally go Influence, Administrative, Quantity, Religious, Diplomatic, Aristocratic, Offensive, Defensive, though that order is not set in stone and depends on circumstances. But those are the 8 I'd choose. If truly colonizing then Exploration-Expansion-Quantity are unquestionably the first three picks.

No doubt it is a great idea group. It just seems like a waste to me.

Since they have started nerfing the other military groups though, it makes all the sense in the world to take it. As a small country, manpower is just such a massive dilemma. The 50 percent increase in force limit is huge if you can afford it.

I'm personally a big fan of humanism...what do you think? More and more I've been taking diplomatic ideas as well. The last couple times I've taken trade ideas, but that's a situational thing (for Oman it made a lot of sense).

 

[MadArcand]

No doubt it is a great idea group. It just seems like a waste to me.

Since they have started nerfing the other military groups though, it makes all the sense in the world to take it. As a small country, manpower is just such a massive dilemma. The 50 percent increase in force limit is huge if you can afford it.

I'm personally a big fan of humanism...what do you think? More and more I've been taking diplomatic ideas as well. The last couple times I've taken trade ideas, but that's a situational thing (for Oman it made a lot of sense).

Trade's a bit of a win-more - nice if you're smaller and need the money, but if you grow huge, it becomes meaningless.

Humanism is very nice if you stay relatively small size / smallish number of cultures. I think you can accept 10 cultures with humanism. I prefer religious though - and it also has the great Deus Vult! CB.

 

[AfroThunder396]

So I got all the expansions and played a game with one of my old TF2 clan buddies and finally know what I'm doing!

Started a game as Castille, it's currently 1525 AD. Conquered Grenada, formed Spain diplomatically and inherited Aragon, got a few North African territories after war with the Berber country with a funny name. Got some really cool colonies going. The Papacy actually gave me claim on Spanish Brazil once I got 5 territories set up there. Also got Puerto Rico, all of Hispanola, a La Plata province, and three North American provinces near Chesapeake. My ideas are Economy, Expansion, and Defensive Military.

Still trying to figure out how to maximize trade efficiency. Things that make sense in my head don't end up being the most efficient. What exactly does trade power measure? Am I best to just send merchants upstream from Sevilla to direct trade and then collect in my node?

And what's the end game? Do I just keep playing until time runs out, or are there victory conditions?

 

[Bjorn Le]

So I got all the expansions and played a game with one of my old TF2 clan buddies and finally know what I'm doing!

Started a game as Castille, it's currently 1525 AD. Conquered Grenada, formed Spain diplomatically and inherited Aragon, got a few North African territories after war with the Berber country with a funny name. Got some really cool colonies going. The Papacy actually gave me claim on Spanish Brazil once I got 5 territories set up there. Also got Puerto Rico, all of Hispanola, a La Plata province, and three North American provinces near Chesapeake. My ideas are Economy, Expansion, and Defensive Military.

Still trying to figure out how to maximize trade efficiency. Things that make sense in my head don't end up being the most efficient. What exactly does trade power measure? Am I best to just send merchants upstream from Sevilla to direct trade and then collect in my node?

And what's the end game? Do I just keep playing until time runs out, or are there victory conditions?

That's the beauty of Paradox games. There really isn't a "victory". I mean sure, you can try to do achievements or finish as the #1 ranked country but winning can also be roleplaying a Sweden who turned its focus away from European politics to colonial interests. You achieve what you want to achieve.

 

[Ducksforcup]

So I got all the expansions and played a game with one of my old TF2 clan buddies and finally know what I'm doing!

Started a game as Castille, it's currently 1525 AD. Conquered Grenada, formed Spain diplomatically and inherited Aragon, got a few North African territories after war with the Berber country with a funny name. Got some really cool colonies going. The Papacy actually gave me claim on Spanish Brazil once I got 5 territories set up there. Also got Puerto Rico, all of Hispanola, a La Plata province, and three North American provinces near Chesapeake. My ideas are Economy, Expansion, and Defensive Military.

Still trying to figure out how to maximize trade efficiency. Things that make sense in my head don't end up being the most efficient. What exactly does trade power measure? Am I best to just send merchants upstream from Sevilla to direct trade and then collect in my node?

And what's the end game? Do I just keep playing until time runs out, or are there victory conditions?

Welcome to EU4!

Like Nullus said, there isn't an end goal. What I've started to do is to get achievements which do have a *goal, but the game is extremely open-ended.

Sounds like you are doing a fine job. The more you play, the more you will learn. Trade is a difficult thing just tinker with it see which combination gets you the most amount of money.

 

[Bjorn Le]

It's kind of crazy how much better this game has gotten with expansions. I've played it since it came out, which at the time it was my first Paradox game. The game just works extremely well now, and it's little things that I don't expect.

When fighting a colonial war, like in real life, the two sides are mostly sticking to fighting in the colonies. As Sweden, I was colonizing (which in this case, meant mostly conquering) Mexico, and Portugal started to colonize the to both the north and south of me. By the late 1500s I'm getting sick of this mismatch of blue and green, and decide to take their colonies. Portugal is allied to Spain, the Papacy and a few other minors. Save for a few naval battles in the North Sea, neither Spain or Portugal try to land armies in my core territory. The Papacy dropped one army in Norway, but that was it and they concentrated most of their efforts through their navy. Despite leaving my homeland almost completely undefended (a single stack of 22), Spain and Portugal exclusively land troops in my colonies. They were fighting in the theatre that concerned the war goal and that makes me really happy to see. Early on, a "colonial war" was just as likely to become a home war.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

If you have manpower issues it means you aren't using enough mercenary infantry. At least half my infantry is mercenaries by the end of every war.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Been trying to get back into EUIV and I'm pretty rusty. I also have a problem with my games going ahistorical. I don't know why. I started a game as the Hansa, conquered a bit of northern Germany, but when I had to chance to annex Denmark I didn't because I didn't think the Hansa should own Denmark. Well, it came back to bite me. Fighting a defensive war with Sweden against Muscovy, then Denmark attacks my vassal. In less than 2 years my entire country is conquered, by Denmark lol...



I think Japan is by far the easiest nation to play in VII. You can westernize ridiculously fast, but all your neighbours remain uncivilized for a very long time. European nations don't screw with you until the 1900s unless you get unlucky and crisis' start in Korea (which you should invade pretty much immediately to avoid Korea ending up under China or Russia). Netherlands and Spain usually end up pretty weak which means you can take their valuable colonies, then when the civil wars start in China you can carve out a few provinces that have millions of people. V2 is a hard game to conquer a lot in, but by the end of one of my Japan games (and I was by no means a "good" player when I did this), I had conquered the entire Chinese seaboard, a bunch of the high POP inner provinces, all of Korea, all of SE Asia was my satellites, allied to Britain, and was in the midst of invading the mainland USA because I had nothing better to do. Total population of almost 500 million, limitless numbers of brigades, a fleet better than just about every combined, and tens of millions sitting in the bank. Oh, and easily 1/1/1 in the rankings.

They call Japan the "tutorial island" for a reason. If you want to learn V2, Japan is a good place to start.

Yeah I hear yah. Basically all I had to do to secure my economy forever was to capture Jahor and make sure I had good enough relations with Britain that she wouldn't boot stomp my venture. After that my economy was secure for basically forever.

I want to try and make a Serbian empire as it's located in the juicy underbelly of the Ottoman Empire and is close to the main action in Europe. Unfortunately the Serb budget is a terrible disgrace to start and I am not yet adept at overcoming major lack of resources like Serbia has. I think if I were to play a Serbian game I would use big brother Russia as a means to an end to carve out parts of the Balkans from the Ottomans.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Is it normal to turn my army maintenance all the way down in times of peace? Right now I'm maintaining ~50 land units and the cost is about 64d a month. I can only make money if I turn it down.

It's inhibiting my expansion because I have to build up a war chest of like 300-400d, then turn the maintenance all the way up and wait for morale to rise before I attack.

I sent 5 caravels to protect trade in the Caribbean and that helped, I now control the Caribbean trade node, but Portugal still has more than me in Sevilla.

 

[Ducksforcup]

Is it normal to turn my army maintenance all the way down in times of peace? Right now I'm maintaining ~50 land units and the cost is about 64d a month. I can only make money if I turn it down.

It's inhibiting my expansion because I have to build up a war chest of like 300-400d, then turn the maintenance all the way up and wait for morale to rise before I attack.

I sent 5 caravels to protect trade in the Caribbean and that helped, I now control the Caribbean trade node, but Portugal still has more than me in Sevilla.

It's pretty normal I would say to slash the army budget, but just be careful about it. Put the troops inland away from enemy forces, so if they declare war you have time to retreat and regain your morale. Ideally by mid-end game that's not an option you want to pursue, but sometimes you just don't have a choice.

That seems pretty expensive. Are you over your army force limit? And do you currently employ mercs?

Also do you have all three advisers and are they level 1, 2, or 3? The advisers tend to take up a huge chunk of change.

 

[Ducksforcup]

If you have manpower issues it means you aren't using enough mercenary infantry. At least half my infantry is mercenaries by the end of every war.

Oh no doubt mercs are your best friends at the end of wars.

That doesn't make quantity ideas irrelevant though. Your regular troops are still the better option all things considered. They perform better and are cheaper to maintain.

 

[Pirate King Luffy]

50 land units costing 64 ducats a month? How many soldiers can you support? If you go over that amount the price to maintain them increase significantly. You might have to get rid of some units., to make some money. Also turning down you army maintenance all the way down will ruin your morale, army tradition etc. if you get invaded your troops will get wrecked.

 

[Bjorn Le]

Yeah I hear yah. Basically all I had to do to secure my economy forever was to capture Jahor and make sure I had good enough relations with Britain that she wouldn't boot stomp my venture. After that my economy was secure for basically forever.

I want to try and make a Serbian empire as it's located in the juicy underbelly of the Ottoman Empire and is close to the main action in Europe. Unfortunately the Serb budget is a terrible disgrace to start and I am not yet adept at overcoming major lack of resources like Serbia has. I think if I were to play a Serbian game I would use big brother Russia as a means to an end to carve out parts of the Balkans from the Ottomans.

Sebia is one of the hardest nations to play in V2 unfortunately. It's because the game is a little too outdated to accurately simulate the situation with the Ottomans. Yes, they're still the "sick man of Europe", but European nations actually actively ally with them, which makes carving up the Balkan's without direct intervention pretty difficult. Serbia just needs a lot of luck.

 

[Teemu]

I'm playing a Vicky 2 game as Bavaria right now. It's brutal overcoming all of the advantages that Prussia/NGC get.

 

[Bjorn Le]

Lithiuania was broke by pretender rebels led by one Jonas Valanciunas lmfao.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Started a colonial war with Great Britain. I control Florida colony, Hispanola colony, and Spanish Brazil colony so they did most of the fighting. Sweden tried to land some units but I crushed them. So pretty much all of the New World was under my control, except for a few territories owned by Brittany and Portugal that I don't care about.

Then out of nowhere Tuscany joins the war on Britains side halfway through and starts tearing apart my homelad, I had to re-load from my autosave to avoid embarrassment.

 

[Bjorn Le]

Started a colonial war with Great Britain. I control Florida colony, Hispanola colony, and Spanish Brazil colony so they did most of the fighting. Sweden tried to land some units but I crushed them. So pretty much all of the New World was under my control, except for a few territories owned by Brittany and Portugal that I don't care about.

Then out of nowhere Tuscany joins the war on Britains side halfway through and starts tearing apart my homelad, I had to re-load from my autosave to avoid embarrassment.

I always say don't over commit to colonial wars. Your opponent doesn't, so don't hemorrhage yourself. You can conquer loads of colonial territory with around 20 warscore, but you can be pretty devastated if a local power is involved in the war and invades your core territory. You can go from winning to scrambling to bring your troops back all too fast.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

Occupying the home country is key to winning. Colonial territory has a negligible impact on war score as long as you occupy the target. Siege out portugal, take every colony for 30 warscore.

 

[Ducksforcup]

Started a colonial war with Great Britain. I control Florida colony, Hispanola colony, and Spanish Brazil colony so they did most of the fighting. Sweden tried to land some units but I crushed them. So pretty much all of the New World was under my control, except for a few territories owned by Brittany and Portugal that I don't care about.

Then out of nowhere Tuscany joins the war on Britains side halfway through and starts tearing apart my homelad, I had to re-load from my autosave to avoid embarrassment.

It is a tough break when the AI brings in allies midway through a war. These things happen, but I have to say I'm impressed with your first game. You've made it pretty far.

Assume that if the AI declares war on you, it will attack you and in the dumbest way imaginable. Distance is irrelevant. I just saw a game where Scotland (it only controlled Scotland at the time) conquered large swaths of Lithuania.

 

[Bjorn Le]

It may seem dumb but it's based on a game logic that is decently easy to figure out. If Scotland rivals Lithuania, and it is possible, they might attack.

I've seen an Indian country land troops in Newfoundland. Now that's ****ed.