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Colonies are pretty good; if people are getting low income from them odds are they don't have the navy to keep the tariff income up. That said, North Africa is pretty dirt-poor.
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If you want a more challenging game experience, pick a smaller nation, don't just blob up indiscriminately (be somewhere that can't do so easily, like the HRE, set yourself limits, or whatever works for you, and most importantly set the game to Low AI Aggression. A lot of the time the reason AIs fall apart is declaring war with no CB over and over until they have a low stability, largely uncored empire with Overextension, maxed WE, no manpower, and one or more nasty events (religious turmoil, peasant's war, time of troubles, civil war, etc) which cause so many rebels that the country just falls apart.
That said, even if you do try to blob up indiscriminately Low Aggression can make things tough assuming you don't start off as someone like Burgundy or France.
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I will try the low Aggression stuff.
For all else, I think Switzerland fits your criteria (and more)? 
But the next time I actually will try to blob up extreeeeeme (colonising everything) and don't do much in europe... I thought Venezia (or Genoa or Savoy) could be suited for this?
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Portugal is definitely the best nation to go on a peaceful colonizing spree, since you can lock out other nations from the Americas (or Indonesia if that's your thing) by grabbing all the intermediary islands to keep them out of range (and inciting the occasional native, although I only had to do that 4 [successful, there were some failed attempts as well] times in my game). Here's my worldmap in 1552: the only wars I've been in were against Morocco (to make that stupid Conquer Tangiers mission go away) and the New World natives. Castille is my PU (peaceful, didn't claim their throne or anything), and the reason my mainland is a bit messed up is because I had to sell Castille the provinces around my capital so that I could move it to North America.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5zezS.png)
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, how do i get that map? F12 just makes a screenshot.
I just ended my game with a little World-War by getting 90 Imfamy :D (i just took tons of Africa/Arrabia at once and annexed every country that went to war with me because of that)... Actually it was no problem to keep the revolts and the Wars in check but you can't stop the events from popping up, which they do constantly (revolts, revolts, revolts, yadadadada... All it takes is about, i don't know... 300-400k men in armies of 25k all over your country and nothing will happen ever ....)...
Tryed it with Naples... Milan killed me, god damn (do they have a technology advantage? I lost plenty of battles i never should have lost numbers wise, my general was also "ok"... That felt strange...
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The map: F12 takes an ordinary screenshot in Steam, but a full map screenshot in EU3 itself, so if you're running EU3 through steam you should get both an ordinary screenshot in your Steam screenshots folder and a full map screenshot in your EU3 Directory\Screenshots folder. You'll know it worked if MAP_SAVED appears in giant white letters over your screen.
As for your Italian game, what tech level was everyone at? Also, were you attacking or defending?
(Also, Milan can field a way bigger army than Naples at the start of the game so there's that)
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On September 19 2011 19:05 Velr wrote:Casuas bellies are really not an issue anymore and infamy is really not that scary anymore when no one dares to go to war with you (or just gets overrun if they do) . I got: "Nationalism" on everyone that has the same culture (That makes basically everything german/austrian "mine"). Tribal War or whatever it's called on all the Arabs or/and something due to being "protector of the Christian faith". The "French Revolution" Idea which lets me declare war on everyone that has not the same government form... My problem is.. That I did not realize that I actually had to "use/select" the Casuas Bellies until the 16th century... So I took full Infamy hits all the time in the beginning of the game which made expanding SLOW (because back then, I had to be careful, getting ~15-20 Infamy could mean instant "game over" with Austria/Burgundi as neighbours and I had to nearly bankrupt myself once by "paying" Austria to like me) Hm.. Now that you say it, there is a pirate ship turning up every now and then (the Arab countries are cores now but still bring like nothing) but... it's to the south and there is access thru the mediterran sea... Can this still destroy the income? Btw: Is it possible to build the Suezcanal if I own these provinces? Shipping around Africa sucks :p.
if you have a ship sitting in the port it stops pirates spawning on the relevent bit of ocean aswell as the adjacent places, so you only need a few ships to completely stop pirate problems
if you are a colonial power you also need a large navy (though it can sit anywhere) to boost your tarif income which replaces production for overseas provinces
almost finished my first grand campaign as france. had problems with tech level due to invading africa with a small navy ; / the increased tech costs really screwed me over. i think ive pretty much recovered now by taking some of europe and increasing the size of my navy
are there many on TL up for playing multiplayer games? im still a complete noob but the game is pretty fun D:
also http://flagland.org/aar/part/1 is a good read for a few laughs plus some good tips on how to play as an opm, inspired me to try it some time
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I'd be up for a multiplayer game as well, and I think someone earlier in this thread mentioned they would be.
Edit: I strongly advise against playing an OPM/TPM (except a select few, like Holland, which are actually set up decently). It basically involves grabbing a few provinces when the opportunity allows, waiting a while for them to core, and then blobbing up just like you would if you didn't start as one; 50 years of x5 speed and you end up in the same place you otherwise would be. Also, I wouldn't really count HRE minors as OPMs (they're technically OPMs since they have one province, but they're so rich that oftentimes they're stronger than non-HRE nations that are several times as big, let alone non-HRE OPMs). I did a Knights playthrough a while back, and it seemed cool until I realized that I was basically just playing Byzantium without cores; once I annexed Byzantium itself (and sicily at the same time) I basically just had to twiddle my thumbs while coring happened at which point I was just yet another midsized European country.
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On September 20 2011 10:58 turdburgler wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2011 19:05 Velr wrote:Casuas bellies are really not an issue anymore and infamy is really not that scary anymore when no one dares to go to war with you (or just gets overrun if they do) . I got: "Nationalism" on everyone that has the same culture (That makes basically everything german/austrian "mine"). Tribal War or whatever it's called on all the Arabs or/and something due to being "protector of the Christian faith". The "French Revolution" Idea which lets me declare war on everyone that has not the same government form... My problem is.. That I did not realize that I actually had to "use/select" the Casuas Bellies until the 16th century... So I took full Infamy hits all the time in the beginning of the game which made expanding SLOW (because back then, I had to be careful, getting ~15-20 Infamy could mean instant "game over" with Austria/Burgundi as neighbours and I had to nearly bankrupt myself once by "paying" Austria to like me) Hm.. Now that you say it, there is a pirate ship turning up every now and then (the Arab countries are cores now but still bring like nothing) but... it's to the south and there is access thru the mediterran sea... Can this still destroy the income? Btw: Is it possible to build the Suezcanal if I own these provinces? Shipping around Africa sucks :p. if you have a ship sitting in the port it stops pirates spawning on the relevent bit of ocean aswell as the adjacent places, so you only need a few ships to completely stop pirate problems if you are a colonial power you also need a large navy (though it can sit anywhere) to boost your tarif income which replaces production for overseas provinces almost finished my first grand campaign as france. had problems with tech level due to invading africa with a small navy ; / the increased tech costs really screwed me over. i think ive pretty much recovered now by taking some of europe and increasing the size of my navy are there many on TL up for playing multiplayer games? im still a complete noob but the game is pretty fun D: also http://flagland.org/aar/part/1 is a good read for a few laughs plus some good tips on how to play as an opm, inspired me to try it some time
Thx... I learned that with colonising/pirates pretty quickly after i had too  . Not that i did notice any effecst anymore in my game (my income was just too high).
Hm.. Juding by this "Flagland" comic i underestimate Vassaling countries .
Before i play multipler i want to invest some more hours into this, i don't like losing (badly )
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well vasselisation gets you free money, free support limit and ezpz good relations with them, without the increased tech cost of being a big player. plus being in the HRE, which is a requirement to survive as an opm means actually taking any land is tough.
i think his key to success was max free trade and plutocracy, plus some luck.
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fuck you guyys OPMing is awesome
my personal favorites are Pskov, Riga, Sardinia (when Savoy doesn't rape me), Yaroslavl, and Crete, and of course, the FUCKING KNIGHTS OF RHODES.
two province countries are also fun. Byazntium, Transylvania, Serbia.
You just open up with mass trade and free market sliders and watch your obscene tech advantage grow. Meanwhile you beat up on guys already getting ganged up on and then fast peace them, and then vassalize other guys so they fight for you without you having to deal with teh gay.
Like in my Pskov game right now I have 4 territories, but I have Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Poland, Lithuania, Tver, and Ryzan as vassals. Every 5 years or so we all gang up on Novogorod and beat the shit out of them. Eventually Pskov will form Russia. Maybe.
If only fucking teutonic order didn't try and invade me every 5 years in the beginning
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On September 20 2011 23:00 Caller wrote:
fuck you guyys OPMing is awesome
my personal favorites are Pskov, Riga, Sardinia (when Savoy doesn't rape me), Yaroslavl, and Crete, and of course, the FUCKING KNIGHTS OF RHODES.
two province countries are also fun. Byazntium, Transylvania, Serbia.
You just open up with mass trade and free market sliders and watch your obscene tech advantage grow. Meanwhile you beat up on guys already getting ganged up on and then fast peace them, and then vassalize other guys so they fight for you without you having to deal with teh gay.
Like in my Pskov game right now I have 4 territories, but I have Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Poland, Lithuania, Tver, and Ryzan as vassals. Every 5 years or so we all gang up on Novogorod and beat the shit out of them. Eventually Pskov will form Russia. Maybe.
If only fucking teutonic order didn't try and invade me every 5 years in the beginning
How the hell did you survive against the teutonic order? they have like 10 times the forcelimit.. They should fuck you up pretty bad.. Sounds fun though.
Tried it out as holland (yeah eaz mode for trade, I know), but I couldn't help myself from forming the netherlands, and then I became the emperor.. I just can't help myself from expanding :/
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I also tryed Holland... It went like this:
First wtf? I am a minor in a royal union? "Meh"...
Phase 1:
The Royal Union ended and I could get Brabant, Friesland, Gelre, Cologne as Vassals (with some little Burgundian wars to the side which mostly ended in white peace or even little gains for me (I just made them release countries), Burgundi was way stronger than me but just at war with too many opms and other minors to "catch up" with everything.
Phase 2:
Ive got The Hansa (Lübeck, yay), Mainz and Liege (?) as Vassals...
Burgundi and their fuckmate Aragorn now declared war every few years but they normally overstretched (they were at war with like all their neighbours except france, sadly). I got white peace(s).
The Palastinate + Hessen declared war (one alone would have been tough for me and all vassals)
After this , and/while propbably some mor Burgundian/Aragon fucktard wars, I began colonizing and it was peaceful for about 20-30 years.
Phase 3:
I colonized for some time and got a province between Portugal and Castille in Northern Africa (2 Colonis in western Africa, Slaves and Fish).
Portugal decided it's not fun that I also got colonies in Africa... So that meant war with Castille/Portugal... on top of that Burgundi/Aragorn and Palastine/Hesse again were being asshats declaring also war... So: From the north Aragorn/Portugal/Castille dropped ton of troops on my neighbor Vassals and from the south and east Burgundi/Hesse/The Palastinate marched in... Burgundi OR Aragorn alone would have been tough  .
I could get a quick peace by releasing Mainz to Hesse/Palastine.
Portugal wanted more than just Colonies (why is it called colonial war? Fuck you).
Burgundi/Aragorn seemed to be in for the kill...
I was at 0 Infamy when this happened, guess I should have gifted them more .
Grr..., Well lets try again tonight ^^
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On September 21 2011 23:07 Euronyme wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2011 23:00 Caller wrote:
fuck you guyys OPMing is awesome
my personal favorites are Pskov, Riga, Sardinia (when Savoy doesn't rape me), Yaroslavl, and Crete, and of course, the FUCKING KNIGHTS OF RHODES.
two province countries are also fun. Byazntium, Transylvania, Serbia.
You just open up with mass trade and free market sliders and watch your obscene tech advantage grow. Meanwhile you beat up on guys already getting ganged up on and then fast peace them, and then vassalize other guys so they fight for you without you having to deal with teh gay.
Like in my Pskov game right now I have 4 territories, but I have Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Poland, Lithuania, Tver, and Ryzan as vassals. Every 5 years or so we all gang up on Novogorod and beat the shit out of them. Eventually Pskov will form Russia. Maybe.
If only fucking teutonic order didn't try and invade me every 5 years in the beginning How the hell did you survive against the teutonic order? they have like 10 times the forcelimit.. They should fuck you up pretty bad.. Sounds fun though. Tried it out as holland (yeah eaz mode for trade, I know), but I couldn't help myself from forming the netherlands, and then I became the emperor.. I just can't help myself from expanding :/
i didn't survive, lol
first try
annexed
second try
annexed
third try
spam diplomats offering guarantees to friggin everyone in russian area. Teutonic order invades and takes all my money and cancels all my treaties. I proceed to suck up to teutonic order up to 200 relations. I then get access to people and find that Novogorod just beat the shit out of Moskva, forcing Smolemsk release. Smolensk then gets buttraped by the Golden Horde, and after proliferate use of mercenaries I vassal them and take Vladimir (yay I'm safe). Teutons insult me and invade again, but because I have Vladimir they can't force peace, and eventually Polish Lithuania picks a fight with them so they take 25 ducats and run. I suck up to them again, and start vassalizing random Russian nations while Novogorod is content to sit on its ass. I get military access from Teutons, making warring me very hard, and then I proceed to vassalize Poland and Lithuania. Then with like 5 vassals and Moskva OPness we buttrape Novogorod, with my general being better than theirs (small nation army tradition es op). Then I stopped and went back to Switzerland mass colonization. lol
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On September 21 2011 23:45 Velr wrote:I also tryed Holland... It went like this: First wtf? I am a minor in a royal union? "Meh"... Phase 1: The Royal Union ended and I could get Brabant, Friesland, Gelre, Cologne as Vassals (with some little Burgundian wars to the side which mostly ended in white peace or even little gains for me (I just made them release countries), Burgundi was way stronger than me but just at war with too many opms and other minors to "catch up" with everything. Phase 2: Ive got The Hansa (Lübeck, yay), Mainz and Liege (?) as Vassals... Burgundi and their fuckmate Aragorn now declared war every few years but they normally overstretched (they were at war with like all their neighbours except france, sadly). I got white peace(s). The Palastinate + Hessen declared war (one alone would have been tough for me and all vassals) After this , and/while propbably some mor Burgundian/Aragon fucktard wars, I began colonizing and it was peaceful for about 20-30 years. Phase 3: I colonized for some time and got a province between Portugal and Castille in Northern Africa (2 Colonis in western Africa, Slaves and Fish). Portugal decided it's not fun that I also got colonies in Africa... So that meant war with Castille/Portugal... on top of that Burgundi/Aragorn and Palastine/Hesse again were being asshats declaring also war... So: From the north Aragorn/Portugal/Castille dropped ton of troops on my neighbor Vassals and from the south and east Burgundi/Hesse/The Palastinate marched in... Burgundi OR Aragorn alone would have been tough . I could get a quick peace by releasing Mainz to Hesse/Palastine. Portugal wanted more than just Colonies (why is it called colonial war? Fuck you). Burgundi/Aragorn seemed to be in for the kill... I was at 0 Infamy when this happened, guess I should have gifted them more . Grr..., Well lets try again tonight ^^
LEARN TO USE SPIES
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I had 0 spies . I don't know if i did something wrong in the options or what was wrong (probably spies on "No" instead of "Normal? :p)... But i never got assaulted by a spie and never had one to use... Felt "strange".
Just accepted it, my last "early" game was a long time ago so i didn't remember if i had to unlock spies...
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On September 22 2011 00:04 Velr wrote:I had 0 spies . I don't know if i did something wrong in the options or what was wrong (probably spies on "No" instead of "Normal? :p)... But i never got assaulted by a spie and never had one to use... Felt "strange". Just accepted it, my last "early" game was a long time ago so i didn't remember if i had to unlock spies...
you probably had your sliders in a way that you didnt get spies.
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not to mention that you probably had some piss poor colonies in africa.
also as a general rule you should always annex centers of trade because of how much stupid money you get. In my swiss game one of my CoTs is producing 170 ducats in tax.
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yeah, the colonis where piss poor but well, i was just starting and my colony range wasn't big enough to get really far yet.
We'll, lets do it again ^^.
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Currently attempting the WC achievement with Ryukyu via the north american conquest route. After conquering the Creek, Shawnee and Cherokee, I noticed that portugal had discovered the Zapotecs and were currently pillaging all their lands, so I picked up my three thousand asian archers and stole like half of their land before portugal could get their hands on it. So now I'm in a weird spot with portugal having gotten a pretty good foothold in central america. I suppose I'll have to try and make some friends. Will post a screenshot of my current progress tomorrowes.
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does anyone know how your 'supposed' to play holland? i got out of the personal union with hainault. formed one with the northern dutch province, cant remember the name, and force annexed 2 other provinces.
i started with sitting back and just trading and completing missions, waiting for a claim on our rivals for free cores, but it never came. so i was forced to leave the hre if i wanted to form the netherlands.
so im now a 4 province country, but my current mission is to take on burgundy ; / but i cant rejoin the hre for help because i have unlawful territory
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EPT
