Europa Universalis IV - Page 106

On January 07 2015 04:55 RvB wrote:

Depends, I liked the total war series as well. If you like the combat the most EU4 is probably not a game for you, if you liked the city management the most it's a perfect fit.

Does anyone know a fun country to play as? Got bored of my Najd game and started a Tunisia one but it's too easy...

On January 07 2015 05:15 KwarK wrote:

I am all about that turn based strategy management shit.

On January 07 2015 05:15 KwarK wrote:

I am all about that turn based strategy management shit.

Usually it does not make sense to collect at such a node, unless it is so disconnected from your collection node that you probably wouldn't colonize it.

Yes there is a small upstream transfer of trade power, unhelpfully labeled in the upstream node as "transfers from downstream."

They made this weird change to trade where if none of your merchants are assigned to Collect Trade, you get a bonus to trade efficiency/income. Always check manually if you ever try to Collect. I usually find that placing a merchant downstream of my capital, it is more profitable for him to transfer trade power (to nowhere useful) for the tiny upstream transfer of trade power (back to my capital) and less profitable for him to actually collect. (Incidentally, this is also why it is never worth it to Collect in your capital anymore, in spite of the bonus trade income it gives you there.)

Your colonial hub should almost certainly transfer to Sevilla. The obscure mechanic in the preceding paragraph is the most important reason, I think. But there are also nations whose home node is the Caribbean, and by halving your trade power there you let them pull a lot of trade value out of the trade network and into their pockets. Check the "retained trade value" pie chart in the Caribbean node.

Assigning a merchant to steer also multiplies the trade value steered (details escape me). Skipping one on your last stop before collection feels wrong, but you obviously know that already or you wouldn't have asked why.

If my answers are vague, it's because my understanding of the trade system is too. Corrections and clarifications are welcome. The control you actually wield over trade is quite limited, so I've never dug too deeply into its formulas and usually just experiment lazily.

On January 07 2015 05:35 Gladness wrote:

If you want to have Strategy Game Nerd Cred ten years from now, you're going to need to be able to talk about EU4. The current version (1.9.2) is very stable, balanced, and fun. It's a good time to try it.

On January 07 2015 17:26 WindWolf wrote:
Currently playing my first Ironman game (as Portugal, and I've just started to colonize). This can be fun, although I wish game-play mods were also Ironman-compatible

On January 08 2015 07:56 ShiaoPi wrote:
not familiar with your mod, but are the mongols still a horde? If so just wait and colonize until you can stomp their armies into the ground with superior units. If you are impatient and confident in your ability to win wars with them just give them the treatment usually reserved for the big blue blob.
DoW until their WE is high and manpower is gone, take a chunk of provinces+gold and get popcorn for rebel fireworks. If there are no rebels trucebreak them to the ground until they implode. You might also want to carve out some nice vassals for later annexation (if you can make them spit out Ming or another chinese tag, you can probably sell them all the provinces in the region so they core it for you.)

If you play in the HRE it is paramount to get on good terms with the emperor and at best ally him so he will not hit you with unlawful territory. Once you annex a couple of smaller neighbors you can afford to play a bit less careful (as long as you manage AE)
Try to stay in good terms with Austria (assuming austria will keep the emperorship) while gobbling up more minors. At some point you will have to get friendly with France to overtake Austria in the HRE (and hopefully snatch HRE from them). Worst case scenario is austria breaks the alliance and rivals you (due to finally realizing that you are a jerk, who keeps annexing) before you were able to secure an alliance with France (or at least a strong Poland-Lithuania/Russia). Until you have decent size as in close to forming Germany you will pretty much always need at least another greater power as ally, preferably 2 (unless you play Brandenburg/Prussia) as being in the center of europe means you have more directions to expand but also more people, who hate your guts. Depending on how the midgame went France or Russia will be your best buddy into the lategame with Austria gone or diminished and whoever you are not allied to being a rival.

Just a lot of general hints I suppose, but in the end every session is a bit different. Maybe if you give a better example I can help out more :D

In terms of ideas diplo first is pretty good, I usually follow up with offensive and then religious if your ruler does not suck too bad. Religious just offers you so much during the reformation imo. Afterwards you will kind of need to stack military ideas to be able to keep up with the stronger powers around you.

On January 08 2015 08:29 ShiaoPi wrote:
You should check whether or not they are a horde it will make matters so much easier if they are.
By trucebreaking I mean outright taking the stabhits after you destroyed them in the war before. Circumventing the truce with allies/coalition would be ideal of course but if you don't have the opportunity you have yo do this the hard way. By eating the stabhit you pretty much gurantee that they will be unable to recover and the AI nations around should start dogpiling them once you drive up WE on the mongols and you deplete their manpower.
Usually you can stop trucebreaking once the dogpile begins since if they are hit hard enough even OPMs might join the fun. Peace out with a nice chunk of land/gold, consolidate and watch them crash and burn.

On January 08 2015 08:42 ShiaoPi wrote:
since they are a horde I would actually suggest taking your time. Their units will fall off horribly later and you can just squish them with a single stack pretty much. You might be able to achieve the dogpiling AI in a single war if you tank a bit of WE because of call for peace.

But yes if you want to go trucebreaking you need to keep a hefty reserve of admin/dip points. Or have ideas like optimism and religiouss(giving you free stab). I usually only resort to that in lategame when you have admin efficiency helping you out and you need to break a strong france or russia for example