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New open beta patch available: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?753515-Open-Beta-v1.4.1.2-Checksum-0a0f Final patch should be next week.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:05
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Red_Fred posted:I'm Russia in 1642 and I took Diplomatic, Offensive, Religious and Expansion as my first 4 ideas. What should I choose for my 5th? Consider Economic as well if you can spare the admin points. The +20PE will make you mad bank, which you should promptly spend on even more soldiers. But really as Russian in 1642 it doesn't really matter, you're going to be so ridiculously strong that you should just pick bonuses you want. Use your power to experiment with idea groups and find some you like. That's how I found my intense love for Innovative; I originally picked it as Brandenburg to cheese it up with perma 100% military tradition (which is amazing, always do this), but it's just just a fantastic idea group in general. Especially for central Europeans who can't be expanding too much in the early game, and colonizers who probably won't need the admin points in the early game. Gorelab posted:How the heck does AI England always annex Scotland in one war? It seems like it should take more than one for that much land. AI only mission probably? Normal WS cost for Scotland is 112% I think, but I know from my Novgorod games that the AI seems to get screwy missions; while Muscovy had the 'Subjugate Novgorod' mission that would give the human player claims on all of Novgorod, the AI would always declare war on me as 'Reconquest of Novgorod' implying they had a core on my capital, which they did not.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:16
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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PittTheElder posted:AI only mission probably? Normal WS cost for Scotland is 112% I think, but I know from my Novgorod games that the AI seems to get screwy missions; while Muscovy had the 'Subjugate Novgorod' mission that would give the human player claims on all of Novgorod, the AI would always declare war on me as 'Reconquest of Novgorod' implying they had a core on my capital, which they did not. The subjugate Scotland CB for the player doesn't reduce the cost IIRC, so it must be AI only. Like someone said earlier, as England you can just declare war on Scotland for Ayrshire which brings it down enough to do in the second war.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:32
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The Subjugate Scotland CB is basically a normal Subjugation CB, so it does decrease the vassalization cost. But yeah, not the province costs, hence why I suspect it's an AI mission only type of thing.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:38
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Disco Infiva posted:The larger maximum combat width you have (number of units that can fight in a battle at once, depends on tech), the more 4:1:5 you put in your stacks For example, if combat width is 20, you'd want at least 16 infantry, 4 cavalry, and 20 artillery at the start of battle. Is that right?
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Feb 3, 2014 19:39
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PittTheElder posted:Consider Economic as well if you can spare the admin points. The +20PE will make you mad bank, which you should promptly spend on even more soldiers. But really as Russian in 1642 it doesn't really matter, you're going to be so ridiculously strong that you should just pick bonuses you want. There are no AI-only missions.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:42
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Sindai posted:New open beta patch available: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?753515-Open-Beta-v1.4.1.2-Checksum-0a0f Ha, that one guy who posted Tibet invading Italy got mentioned in the patch notes 
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Feb 3, 2014 19:45
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PittTheElder posted:The Subjugate Scotland CB is basically a normal Subjugation CB, so it does decrease the vassalization cost. But yeah, not the province costs, hence why I suspect it's an AI mission only type of thing. Huh, gonna try it again, I'm sure that mission required two wars in my last WC attempt.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:46
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If you have 2 armies with 2 leaders, is it better to merge them before a big fight or are they as effective while separated?
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Feb 3, 2014 19:48
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Wiz posted:There are no AI-only missions. Really? Then why would AI Muscovy attacking human Novgorod be declaring war with a Reconquest of Novgorod CB? Although that was 1.2 so things could have changed. It certainly had the same name as the mission human Muscovy gets, but the effects seemed to be different. A Tartan Tory posted:Huh, gonna try it again, I'm sure that mission required two wars in my last WC attempt. It gives you a Subjugation CB, but it's only good for 10 years, which is less than the French guarantee of Scotland, so if you pick the mission right off the bat, but wait for the guarantee to expire, the CB will be gone before you can use it. Koramei posted:If you have 2 armies with 2 leaders, is it better to merge them before a big fight or are they as effective while separated? If your generals are of equal capability, then it doesn't matter. If you prefer one general over another, merge the stacks so you can choose who runs the show.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:52
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Can we stop talking about army compositions in terms of ratios? Because it's very misleading. If you tell someone you need 4:1:5, they might build an army with 4 infantry and 1 cavalry, or an army with 40 infantry and 10 cavalry, either of which is a terrible idea.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:55
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8/6/6 bumped up to 10/8/8 bumped up to 20/8/20 is the only way to go. 
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Feb 3, 2014 19:56
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PittTheElder posted:Really? Then why would AI Muscovy attacking human Novgorod be declaring war with a Reconquest of Novgorod CB? Although that was 1.2 so things could have changed. Really. There's never been any AI-only missions in EU4.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:58
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Does anyone know if your colonial nations count as border territory for the purpose of Westernization?
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Feb 3, 2014 19:59
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Fister Roboto posted:Can we stop talking about army compositions in terms of ratios? Because it's very misleading. If you tell someone you need 4:1:5, they might build an army with 4 infantry and 1 cavalry, or an army with 40 infantry and 10 cavalry, either of which is a terrible idea. I've had the best experience in large stacks (40+) of scaling up with my max combat width how much Infantry vs Cavalry I use, and having a full back line of Artillery. So in open plains or desert let's pretend my current max width is 32 regiments. 6 Cavalry, 28 Infantry, and 32 Cannons will simply bulldoze just about any army with comparable morale/discipline. As was mentioned it is very effective to keep a large stack of almost pure infantry nearby as they can take massive casualties during prolonged battles and cannons become useless very fast if your infantry are overwhelmed. If you're defending a mountainous province with a width of 10 I would probably go for a 8/2 Infantry/Cav split and 10 Artillery, when defending it's less crucial to be able to reinforce because mountainous terrain is impossibly hard to break into in EU4. The general idea is that you're going to want a full back line of Artillery, a significant chunk of Infantry to soak up bullets, and just enough Cavalry to fill out the wings of your formation. brocretin posted:Does anyone know if your colonial nations count as border territory for the purpose of Westernization? If you are a sub-Western tech and a Western Colonial Government is nearby, you can Westernize off of them. If you are a sub-Western tech and one of your colonies is near a Western nation or Western colony you will not be able to Westernize off of it.(edit: you can Westernize off of them if you do not develop a full colonial nation) 420 Gank Mid fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Feb 3, 2014 |
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Feb 3, 2014 20:13
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PittTheElder posted:It gives you a Subjugation CB, but it's only good for 10 years, which is less than the French guarantee of Scotland, so if you pick the mission right off the bat, but wait for the guarantee to expire, the CB will be gone before you can use it. Beta patch made this 25 years and the mission expires once you lose the CB, one of many excellent changes.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:15
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Fister Roboto posted:Can we stop talking about army compositions in terms of ratios? Because it's very misleading. If you tell someone you need 4:1:5, they might build an army with 4 infantry and 1 cavalry, or an army with 40 infantry and 10 cavalry, either of which is a terrible idea. Well, what you really want is 2-4 cavalry, enough infantry to flesh out your combat width, and then a full back rank of artillery. That said, for major wars, it's worth bringing along more infantry than your combat width allows just so that holes don't develop in your lines over time. But the ratio is okay on most scales. 16 inf / 4 cav / 20 art is a terrifying mid-game field unit, even though it would benefit from another 10 inf.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:19
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quote:AI: Will now start the game with their rivals picked, to make for more consistent diplomacy. That should complicate the 100-Years-War strat a bit.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:30
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Jackson Taus posted:That should complicate the 100-Years-War strat a bit. It may or may not. It might just mean you restart immediately until you get Austria & Castile allied instead of restarting after about a month of play when Castile picks you as a rival.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:44
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Finished my first Ironman game as France. Looking back I made lots of mistakes. The biggest one wasn't immediately adding my capital to the empire once my vassals had voted me in. Not being affected by Landfried would have been great, but even as vassals they only vote reliably for you when you are in a war against Austria and Bohemia. Cost me probably fifty years and completely wrecked my plan to convert early and then use the Reformation to build imperial authority. Not sure how feasible it was. Consequently I would have gotten a lot of mileage out of taking religious. Force religion is all but useless without it. The royal marriage with Russia I had going for halve the game worked out in the end both Portugal and Spain didn't. In hindsight I'd switch around most idea groups. There were a lot of wars that could have ended sooner if I had had forced march to hunt down retreating stacks. Administration would also have been more useful than Economics. Finally how do revolutionary empires work? When I let republican tradition drop to zero my revolutionary republic just reverted to an ordinary monarchy. At least Napoleon lost thirty years in the process.
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Feb 3, 2014 22:20
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How do you manage your economy early on? I've briefly read the primers on trade and production, but all that seems way more relevant to a kingdom that has had 150 years to develop and 5 idea groups plus tech. Starting out with Castille I just can't seem to make my budget work and get enough spare cash for building upgrades everywhere. I've cheated my way to the early 1500's (1515-ish? I'll check when I get home) by just going ~ cash 1500 whenever my funds run low. I started the campaign to get a handle on the mechanics, coming from CK2. I think I went Offensive, Exploration (the one that gets you conquistadors and explorers) and I forget what for my third idea, but it covered whichever point sink Exploration didn't. I've started colonizing the new world and I've taken over the Aztecs & Inca, spawning vassal colonial governments, and have one of those going in Brazil too. I'm trying to fill in the Caribbean to stop Portugal from getting a toe-hold, but they've got 5-10 spots and I don't think I can totally shut them out. Merchant-wise, I've only got the two that I start with and I can't figure out how to get more. I keep one in Seville to gather cash, and the other is currently steering trade from the Caribbean, but steering trade from Bordeaux seemed equally useless. I have 11 light ships working in Seville, and 5-6 working in the Caribbean. Production-wise, I've got improvements built everywhere (cheating for cash, remember) at Tech level 10-ish. I've got tech parity with my neighbors, so I don't feel like I'm behind in options. Expense-wise, I'm sure I'm spending too much money on something (everything?). I'm running three colonists pretty much all the time to lock down the New World. I've got a not-quite-maxed fleet cap: 21 heavy ships in the old world for wars as needed, 5 heavy ships in the new world to take out pirate blockaders, 11 transports to ferry dudes around, and then the 15-16 light ships manning my trade nodes. I've got what's probably a way too large army; three 7-9 unit armies in the New World I used for conquering the Aztecs & Incans, and plan to use to take over the other nations there plus helping defend my colonies when I expand to more difficult areas. Then I have another 30-ish units in an army on the French border, because they're my rival and I have a royal marriage with Burgundy, so occasionally get dragged in there. Last, and certainly not least, are advisers. I think I can get a modest surplus if I keep 1-star advisers in all three slots, but losing 2 adm/dip/mil points per month seems like a hefty sacrifice. Is it just impossible to use a 3-star adviser all the time? What should I be doing differently with my economy? Finally, how the hell do you form Spain? I've been in a Royal Marriage (formed by offer, not by event) with Aragon since about two years into the game, but we've sat side-by-side for fifty-plus years and nothing's happened. I can't get them into a PU, and they keep having heirs, so I can't force my way in. I randomly lucked into a PU with Burgundy a few years back (I have RMs with Aragon, Portugal, and Burgundy), and apparently I have to wait 50 years to do something with that.
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Feb 3, 2014 23:38
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I think you just have to reign your expectations in a little bit. Having all buildings built everywhere isn't realistically going to happen in the early game. It's also a tremendous drain on your monarch points, so unless you're swimming in those, it might also be a better idea to sticking to manufactories built with funds looted from natives (hit them hard and often). Same with advisors; running even one three star advisor is very tough in the early game. Generally you're going to be sticking with one stars until things start to kick off in the late 17th and 18th Centuries. In earlier versions of the game, the massive gold mines you'd steal in Mexico and Peru would be jamming your economy into overdrive, but now those go to your colonial subjects. Sounds like you're doing fleets and colonies correctly, although if Portugal already has 10 or so provinces there, you're not denying them a toehold, you're actively competing for territory. Trade wise, be sure to check how your cash is getting from the Caribbean to Sevilla. Is it going through Western Europe? If you don't have a merchant there, is it being split 4 ways, or is some other power stealing all of it? If you want more merchants (you do), take Trade Ideas, that'll give you 3. 1 more in Expansion (but I'd rather take Naval ideas really), another for an East India Trade Company decision that's really easy, another from Thalassocracy if you want to gently caress around with the Mediterranean trade (you don't), plus another from being a merchant republic (don't do this). If anything, I'd say you're actually short on armies. 30k is not enough to hold France back, although having Burgundy in a PU will go a long way to evening the odds there. As for forming Spain, did you not get the Iberian Wedding event? That is the 'normal' way of forming Spain, and places Aragon under you in a personal union. If that didn't happen (sometimes it doesn't), get conquering. The two decisions, Form Spanish Nation Diplomatically/Militarily are your guide here.
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Feb 3, 2014 23:59
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Quick question here, I'm itching to play a really military-heavy game, anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking of starting Brandenburg, expanding eastward and forming Prussia, then coming back and conquering the HRE by force. Are there any other interesting nations with good military ideas and a lot of potential conquering to do? Preferably in the Western tech group, I've had to westernize my last few games and am sorta sick of it.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:00
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Brandenburg, Sweden, or Burgundy are probably decent choices. Aragon might be too if you just ignore forming Spain and go off to do a Mediterranean empire sort of thing. Any of the three Crusading Orders if you're some sort of sadist.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:10
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Sheriff posted:Quick question here, I'm itching to play a really military-heavy game, anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking of starting Brandenburg, expanding eastward and forming Prussia, then coming back and conquering the HRE by force. Are there any other interesting nations with good military ideas and a lot of potential conquering to do? Preferably in the Western tech group, I've had to westernize my last few games and am sorta sick of it. I'm trying to come up with ideas other than the three PittTheElder suggested and I'm failing. If you haven't done a Brandenburg/Prussia game, definitely try that out first. It's a fun start, you're a weak three-province minor but you can leverage your elector status and best-in-game military ideas to expand and once the Reformation hits you can easily take advantage of the resulting chaos to grind everyone who stands in your way into a fine paste. Also, having infinite army tradition forever rules. Burgundy is caught between France and the HRE (can't easily join, I don't think) so you'll be in a LOT of wars. Bohemia might not be bad, their military ideas are not terrible and they're in a decent position to become Emperor and expand east.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:32
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As others have said, cash early game is supposed to be low. The whole point of money is that it's a limiting resource - you can't do everything so you've got to pick and choose. In the mid-game when you're making cash by the boatload you can be more profligate. But in terms of real advice, I'd say you should
Arcturas posted:I've started colonizing the new world and I've taken over the Aztecs & Inca, spawning vassal colonial governments, and have one of those going in Brazil too. I'm trying to fill in the Caribbean to stop Portugal from getting a toe-hold, but they've got 5-10 spots and I don't think I can totally shut them out. Open up the ledger. Sort countries by gold. There will be some crappy native tribes with 500-1500g. Go dunk them. Rinse and repeat - they probably have more gold than Incas did because they can't spend it on anything. Arcturas posted:Merchant-wise, I've only got the two that I start with and I can't figure out how to get more. I keep one in Seville to gather cash, and the other is currently steering trade from the Caribbean, but steering trade from Bordeaux seemed equally useless. I have 11 light ships working in Seville, and 5-6 working in the Caribbean. You get more Merchants through Ideas (National Ideas for some nations, Trade Ideas, Expansion Ideas), the East India Company decision, and government form. Arcturas posted:Finally, how the hell do you form Spain? I've been in a Royal Marriage (formed by offer, not by event) with Aragon since about two years into the game, but we've sat side-by-side for fifty-plus years and nothing's happened. I can't get them into a PU, and they keep having heirs, so I can't force my way in. I randomly lucked into a PU with Burgundy a few years back (I have RMs with Aragon, Portugal, and Burgundy), and apparently I have to wait 50 years to do something with that. There are two decisions to form Spain which you can see in your decisions list. Basically you have to either conquer and core major Aragon provinces, or you need to vassalize or PU Aragon. There's an event called the "Iberian Wedding" which fires if between 1450 and 1500 Castile and Aragon have heirs of different gender and puts Castile in a PU under you. This event used to be basically guaranteed to fire when it was eligible until 1550, but now that they nerfed it it's no longer a safe bet. Sheriff posted:Quick question here, I'm itching to play a really military-heavy game, anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking of starting Brandenburg, expanding eastward and forming Prussia, then coming back and conquering the HRE by force. Are there any other interesting nations with good military ideas and a lot of potential conquering to do? Preferably in the Western tech group, I've had to westernize my last few games and am sorta sick of it. PittTheElder suggested a lot of the good ones, but also consider France - it has +20% Manpower, +20% Morale, and +10% Discipline. However this means playing as the Big Blue Blob - you'll spend a considerable amount of your time beating on helpless countries instead of fighting even matches.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:36
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Brandenburg sounds fun. How bad is the wiki's strategy?
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Feb 4, 2014 00:36
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Thanks for the advice, folks, I'll take another look when I get home. I'm not actually that worried about France. Between my Spanish armies and my New World armies I have about 5-10k more men raised than they do, and I used that, plus the Burgundy alliance, to recently trounce them in a war. It about exhausted my manpower reserves, but France is also completely out of manpower and has basically no standing army to speak of for the moment (though they will rebuild quickly), and I was able to take three of their provinces just across the Pyrenees and mess up their vassal relationships. So I bloodied their nose and might do it again after they recover. Sounds like I should look at taking over Aragon, though, over the course of 3-4 wars. And Portugal, I suppose, what with them getting a few Caribbean islands.
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Feb 4, 2014 01:32
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Bold Robot posted:Brandenburg sounds fun. How bad is the wiki's strategy? Here's how I'd start: get an alliance with Brohemia and whichever of Denmark, Poland, or Austria is available and works best with your strategy. War dec the Teutonic Order and get Neumark back, you can try and grab Danzig or other additional provinces but they're a bit hard to hold (no land connection until you take Pomerania). Keep in mind Poland and Denmark have huge boners for Danzig, by allying one or both of them and bringing them into your war they'll have truces with the TO and make it less likely they'll take Danzig in an independent war (and more likely you end up with most/all of the TO). Note that taking the TO will piss Poland off majorly, so don't expect that alliance to be terribly long-term. While you're smacking around the TO, rival and fabricate claims on Pomerania and Magdeburg, then declare war on Pomerania as soon as you finish the claim and bring Brohemia along to vassalize them. You may need to wait a year or two, but then you should vassalize Magdeburg as well. Why Magdeburg? It's an Archbishopric so you can't diplo-vassalize them, it's a fat 9 base tax, and they don't often have many friends other than the Hansa. The main point is to be super aggressive early on, get the TO and maybe LO before Denmark & Poland, eat your neighbors. Brandenburg is The Little German Minor That Could, you have a pretty crappy start but your military NIs allow you to punch WAY above your weight once you get established some. You'll finish unlocking your Prussian ideas right around the time the Reformation hits which is ideal because you want to use your superior military to take control of the HRE and start farming authority to pass reforms. For Ideas, take Diplomacy, Innovative, and either Offensive or Defensive, your choice. Edit2: eventually you will want both Defensive and Offensive, it's largely down to personal choice and your MIL points income. If you're a bit starved for MIL points, focus on staying on part in techs and grab the first two Ideas in Defensive. If you have the MIL points to spare, Offensive might be a better choice. Prussia is unique in being able to have infinite 100 Army Tradition (=baller generals, high morale, manpower recovery) with Innovative and Defensive ideas. Side note: anyone notice the AI largely failing at managing the HRE this patch? Seems like with the reduced AE all the HRE minors blob up and the Emperor is terrible and rarely gets more than 1-2 reforms passed. For other military-focused games I'd also throw Poland in as an option, they have great military ideas and a strong starting position, but you are quickly faced with expanding into Russia, the Ottomans, Scandinavia, or the HRE. They're Eastern tech, but you can join the HRE right at the start and they have a University (-15% tech cost total), so their tech costs are barely above Western. Edit: honestly I think most nations boil down to a pretty bog standard basic strategy, at least for me. Can you join the HRE? Probably should do that. Can you vassalize any neighbors in 1-2 wars? Solid plan. Make a strong ally or two, smack down your local proto-blob (France and Muscowy are great examples). Take a DIP idea (Diplomatic or Exploration if you're a colonial nation, usually) first, then a MIL and ADM in whatever order your point income allows. Hoard points in general. Suplex your regional blob so that it shatters into its component vassal states, then hoover them up. Congrats, it's you, you're the regional blob. Do whatever you want! I think the nations where you really NEED a specific and detailed strategy are for "challenge" openings such as Byzantium or winning the HYW as England. Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Feb 4, 2014 |
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Feb 4, 2014 02:02
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Manchu is easy in eu3 they stood no chance against ming but for once I decided that I wasn't gonna do any colonizing and just went straight to Korea & Ming. First idea: Offensive, incase any wonders  just not sure how am gonna westernize, don't really feel like waiting for Spain to colonize above me which means I'll have to wait at least until 1650s anyway this MP game started out fun and effectively, can't wait to play more
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Feb 4, 2014 02:11
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What I initially read about the new expansion was that the quality of the random New World was very low. Has it been improved yet?
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Feb 4, 2014 02:14
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Pellisworth posted:Edit: honestly I think most nations boil down to a pretty bog standard basic strategy, at least for me. Can you join the HRE? Probably should do that. Can you vassalize any neighbors in 1-2 wars? Solid plan. Make a strong ally or two, smack down your local proto-blob (France and Muscowy are great examples). Take a DIP idea (Diplomatic or Exploration if you're a colonial nation, usually) first, then a MIL and ADM in whatever order your point income allows. Hoard points in general. Suplex your regional blob so that it shatters into its component vassal states, then hoover them up. Congrats, it's you, you're the regional blob. Do whatever you want! So am I doing it wrong as The Hansa and putting all my points in Trade, Innovation, Plutocracy and Expansion, and beelining to colonize North America in order to get the gently caress out of Europe? Because, uh, that's what I've been doing-- or had been trying to do, before suddenly the Netherlands appears and butts in on my trade in Antwerp, allied with France, and now they're kicking my rear end and destroying my economy before I've properly relocated!! 
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Feb 4, 2014 02:16
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Bold Robot posted:Brandenburg sounds fun. How bad is the wiki's strategy? Probably not great, given that it even entertains the idea of allying with the TO. Here's what has always worked for me, although I have not tried it since 1.3.
Some idea lines you'll definitely want, probably in the order you want them: Defensive (Tradition, Morale), Innovative (Tradition, WE reduction, cheaper advisers), Offensive (discipline, forced march), Quality (Discipline, Combat Ability). Once you start stacking on Discipline bonuses your armies will be so comically powerful you can do whatever you want, to whomever you want, at all times. Your limiting factor is always going to cash to build them. There's no particularly obvious solutions to this; eating Denmark will do it, taking Economic ideas for the +20PE goes a long way too. You might want Religious ideas more though, that one's a toss up. I have no answer for what to do with the diplomatic points you have no use for; you'll want Diplomatic ideas at some point, but I'll always take the military ideas first if monarchs allow. 1The one question mark on this strategy for me is the rules around annexing vassals. Do you need to have more provinces than a junior to annex them? You didn't in the past, but that may have changed. If you do, then bludgeon Poland or Pommerania first, or just core the Prussian provinces yourself.
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Feb 4, 2014 02:25
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DrSunshine posted:So am I doing it wrong as The Hansa and putting all my points in Trade, Innovation, Plutocracy and Expansion, and beelining to colonize North America in order to get the gently caress out of Europe? Because, uh, that's what I've been doing-- or had been trying to do, before suddenly the Netherlands appears and butts in on my trade in Antwerp, allied with France, and now they're kicking my rear end and destroying my economy before I've properly relocated!! There's no "wrong" way to play this game, it's a sandbox! When most people ask for guides it's with the general goal of "how do I get huge and make pretty borders" and I think the general strategies are similar for most nations. PittTheElder posted:I have no answer for what to do with the diplomatic points you have no use for; you'll want Diplomatic ideas at some point, but I'll always take the military ideas first if monarchs allow. I still think Diplomatic first is the best option since you can just DUMP points into ideas and start unlocking your NIs earlier, those DIP points don't do much for you otherwise. Most of the time I don't have anywhere near enough MIL points to keep up with tech and buy into military ideas. What's more, the extra diplomat and +2 relations from the first three Diplomatic ideas really accelerates your early to mid game diplomacy. You'll acquire and annex vassals faster, you can have more alliances, start buttering up to electors faster, etc. I'd rather have the Diplomatic ideas and let Brohemia and other allies/vassals do most of the fighting for me, early game.
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Feb 4, 2014 02:33
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PittTheElder posted:1The one question mark on this strategy for me is the rules around annexing vassals. Do you need to have more provinces than a junior to annex them? You didn't in the past, but that may have changed. If you do, then bludgeon Poland or Pommerania first, or just core the Prussian provinces yourself.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:03
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Epinephrine posted:During the first 5-year truce with the TO I like to force-vassalize Pommerania. Usually a cakewalk if you can pull some combo of Bohemia, Poland and Austria in. Diploannex, and the province question goes away. Yeah, my start is usually Ally Bohemia + one or two other big neighbors War with TO for Neumark + maybe other provinces? Fabricate claims on Pomerania and Magdeburg during war with TO During truce with TO, war dec and vassalize Pomerania and Magdeburg Second war with TO, hopefully vassalize them this time around. Not a bad idea to take two provinces off the LO in the likely event they join the TO's wars, then you can vassalize LO. From there your options are pretty open. Brandenburg has a really weak start, you likely won't be able to afford advisers until you've annexed Pomerania. Once you've annexed Pomerania, TO, and Magdeburg, you'll be a pretty respectable midsize power and a plausibly historical Prussia! A couple of things to keep in mind: diplomatic points aren't terribly useful for you, so don't be afraid to go over the relations limit for vassals. Get most of your vassalization and annexation out of the way before you make a play for Emperor, since Legitimacy favors heavily in Emperor votes and if you went on a diplo-annexation spree you may need to wait a ruler or two. Also, if you haven't played Brandenburg/Prussia or in the HRE much this patch, you can get away with a LOT more internal aggression due to the reduced AE mechanics. Which is a very good thing for Brandenburg, as you'll need an aggressive early game to get yourself established.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:28
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Diogines posted:What I initially read about the new expansion was that the quality of the random New World was very low. Nah, I don't think the quality is 'very low'. It falls short of its potential for a bunch of reasons, but it's still interesting/fun. They generate the world from scratch from a seed in a few seconds every time you reload the game, which means they use really quick'n'dirty generation. This causes aesthetic issues, like no 'shallow' continental shelf like the rest of the world, so the New World doesn't look quite as... 'anchored' on the map. Mountain ranges are kinda random arcs and the coastlines are really smooth and not very 'fractal', which looks kinda dull. The biggest issue I see is that the trade system is really designed around the vanilla map and the network can often be kinda bizarre and nonsensical because it remains the same as vanilla regardless of the layout of the land. For example, as England you could have a long 'Canada' on the north part of the map that gives easy staging and open ocean access to Asia, but you can't ship any Asian trade through that ocean because Asian trade ONLY flows via the vanilla map routes, into Mexico/Caribbean. It's still fun though, and worth the money in my opinion, especially as it makes native americans way more fun to play even on the historical map. There is a fan random map maker that does the whole globe right now and will eventually do random new worlds too. It uses a more 'realistic' algorithm which, depending on your taste, makes better looking continents.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:41
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PittTheElder posted:
You do not need to be larger than them to annex, it just slows down the process of annexation when your vassal is larger than you. I guess there could be a point where the size difference would make annexation impossible, but that the difference would have to be really big. jzilla fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Feb 4, 2014 |
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Feb 4, 2014 03:53
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Diogines posted:What I initially read about the new expansion was that the quality of the random New World was very low. It doesn't always look very impressive (although I've had a couple that did - depends on the luck of your gen.) but if you're someone who is seriously into the colonisation side of the game, like me, then it's well worth it. It is way more fun to be genuinely exploring a new continent rather than just sending 'explorers' directly to the provinces you want and know exactly where to find. Sometimes the maps are lovely, and sometimes they are awesome. They could definately do more to improve the ratio but it's still fun.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:59
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Since I'm posting a ton tonight anyway, Last Emperor, here's another info post that can go in your OP if you like. The Burgundian Succession and You! The Burgundian Succession is a complex and commonly seen event that fires early in the game and usually (but not always!) divides Burgundy between France and Austria. If you're in Western or Central Europe, it's probably worth keeping an eye on Burgundy before the year 1500, you might just be able to inherit a bunch of those provinces. If you're the Holy Roman Emperor or have ambitions to become emperor it's even more important to take an active role in determining the fate of Burgundy. How does the event work? It can fire before 1500 in one of two ways, either Burgundy is at peace, heirless, and in a regency, or Burgundy is at war (higher chance for negative warscore). In either case, all of Burgundy's land is split between France and the Emperor (usually), though it's possible for other nations to inherit the Netherlands. Here are the requirements for the event to fire and the list of priorities on who gets the land: Must be before the year 1500 Either at war or at peace and have an heirless regency France must NOT be at war with the Emperor <--- this is important French region provinces always go to France HRE provinces go to the Emperor IF they are Austria with 6+ provinces or anyone else with 8+, if that's not the case the priority is Neighboring HRE member with 3+ provinces and a Royal Marriage Any HRE member with 3+ provinces and a Royal Marriage Castile/Spain, if Royal Marriage Most of the time the Burgundian lands will split between France and the Emperor (usually Austria at this point). However, if the Emperor is a smaller nation, keep a close eye on Burgundy's marriages, you may very well be able to score the Netherlands as another HRE member or Spain. Additionally, the event will never fire when France and the Emperor are at war, so if you want to keep Burgundy intact as the Emperor simply ally with them and accept their calls to arms against France, they're almost guaranteed to survive past 1500 (Austria specifically gets a CB to PU Burgundy past 1500 so it's usually best to ally with them against France). Edit: just to clarify, this event ONLY fires for AI controlled Burgundy. You don't have to worry about it if you're playing Burgundy yourself. Which I should really do sometime, just to see how viable replacing most of my army with mercs would be
Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Feb 4, 2014 |
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Feb 4, 2014 04:00
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