Europa Universalis 4: Emperor - It's like Stellaris, but in history

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Europa Universalis 4: Emperor - It's like Stellaris, but in history

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Fister Roboto posted:

If you're at MIL7 or higher, I strongly suggest using the artillery barrage option for sieges. 50 MIL sounds expensive, but it effectively shaves at least 3 months off of a siege. That saves you manpower and has a compounding effect of making the war quicker. I basically always have MIL focus on in my games.

Also be careful with taking quantity ideas, because the +50% to force limit makes gaining professionalism and pips for your generals significantly more expensive.

Are artillery barrages a DLC feature? I�ve only ever seen the option to storm the walls after they�ve randomly been breached.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 18:20

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# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 06:27

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Dirk the Average posted:

Yeah, it's getting absolutely absurd. I haven't played EUIV since drill/professionalism were introduced, and there's yet another loving bar after that, apparently.

I mean, there's already a reward for having better tech. It's the rewards for having better tech. There's also an ahead of time reward for being ahead of time in tech.

This game really needs either a sequel, or some massive consolidation so that there aren't at least 30-40 modifiers to keep track of, on everything from the province level to the state level to the empire level. Hell, nations even have unique government types or buttons (which are amazing!), that then sit on top of this whole mess.

How on earth is a new player supposed to come in and understand how the game works?

Or even just consider it in the first place. If I had never spent hundreds of hours in Civ 5 I never would have considered buying this game because of how daunting the mechanics are.

Though whenever I read a chapter of A History of the World in 12 Maps I always feel the need to play EUIV the next day. Maybe there's some cross-promotion opportunity there !

# ¿ Feb 6, 2018 20:48

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

doingitwrong posted:

New player here: you don�t. The good news is that the game runs fine even when you don�t know what�s going on.

You come in and start playing on Normal or Easy and make a lot of mistakes but manage to struggle through a run. Or have a bunch of bad starts and reload and try again a few times until you get the very early game dance of setting up alliances etc down. Then you struggle through a run. You follow missions blindly without understanding why. You pick events outcome for RP reasons. Eventually you get bored or it is 1821.

Having done that, you start another run, maybe with the same country maybe with a new one and decide to focus on figuring out one aspect or another of the game. You watch some videos and consult the wiki and search the forums. You read some world history books to get a glimpse of what�s �normal� in the timeline.

You end that run and now you understand one aspect better than before. You start another run, concentrating on another mechanic you�d totally ignored. Someone links that DDRJake video where he fights the Ottomans for 40 years and you realize you�ve been doing war all wrong. Maybe that run starts to feel easy and you get bored in the 1600s. You start again on Hard this time.

What makes this game hobby-grade is that there�s so much to learn. It means there is always something new to try. There is always some aspect to master. And the fact that you can proceed even without knowing fully what�s going on by just unpausing if you are confused, means that there will always be something happening.

I have pretty much been going down this same path, except a bit more slowly. Which makes me question whether I would have given this game a shot in a pre-internet age. When I first got it I was always lookin at Euiv videos on my breaks at work.

I�ve played 3 games so far since buying it, all on easy: Pomerania, my first game, which I abandoned in the 1600s because PL got gigantic and kept tag teaming me with Bohemia. Then I played Portugal to do some colonization and stopped playing it once the update made the save file obsolete.

Most recently I�ve been playing a Norway colonization game. I think I�ll post some screenshots of that one this weekend because the reformation in Europe went absolutely insane. A Center popped in Vienna so Austria joined the Protestant league and successfully switched the HRE to Protestant. Even all of Italy is Protestant, except for the papal state which, after growing super strong in the 1600s and grabbing all of Genoa and a lot of the Balkans, is now relegated to Corsica. The only Catholic countries left are Scandinavia (it�s the late 1700s and I just converted from Norway), Teutons, Livonians, France, the British isles, and Iberia. (So of course this means all of the colonies are Catholic)

# ¿ Feb 7, 2018 15:55

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Wafflecopper posted:

idgi when people talk about "playing tall" in EU4 and not taking land. What else do you do for 400 years if you don't take land? That's all the game is, getting as powerful as possible by taking land

People play the game how they want. I played all the way to 1821 in my Norway>Scandinavia game and didn't even take all of Denmark. (had like 5 colonial nations though)

# ¿ Feb 21, 2018 00:28

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Yeah I guess that's true. This is only my third SP game.

I picked Bavaria on the first day of that saturday multiplayer game and was bored to tears. So I attacked Salzburg and got completely devoured by player Austria. At least I scratched the beast!

# ¿ Feb 21, 2018 00:35

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

The AI will guarantee the neighbors of countries they consider threats in an effort to power balance. Even their allies. "We want you to have our back but we don't want you to grow too powerful or else you'll eat us too."

Yeah definitely seems like the game working as intended from my limited experience. The same thing happened in America in my Scandinavia game: English Louisiana and Vinland both allied with the Iroquois. A century later England was dying a horrible death and let their alliance lapse and the more recently founded New Norway ate them and the English colony.

But this was after the save-scum. Norway (me) and England had been allies since the beginning of the game, and we divvied up America pretty evenly. I hadn't been doing any diplomacy with the native nations and they took advantage of that by attacking Vinland. There was no way I could beat them, so I re-loaded and allied the Iroquois and as a result the new world was extremely peaceful. And in the process I learned a new thing to watch out for when colonizing.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2018 23:25

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Lovin that swole Silesia.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2018 16:46

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Right before RB came out I witnessed the O�Neill dynasty unite Ireland early on and stay independent through the end of the game. Doubt I�ll ever see that again.

Another fun thing that happened in that game (I was Bohemia) was annexing Brandenburg early on and surviving the follow up coalition war thanks to allying the Ottomans. Ottomans saved me during the League Wars too. Finally, Ottomans helped me release Nitra from Hungary. Then, after Hungary was gone and I was Emperor, Nitra joined the empire and gave me 30 IA at once because �rumor has it they fear the Ottomans�. Cool game and I think my first time playing completely landlocked.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2018 14:18

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Deceitful Penguin posted:

Why is there a random new world but not a custom new world

What if I just want to add like, Atlantis, Mu or the Obsidian Empire and Vinland to the actual game map? How do I add new nations to the game? I can't seem to add the Jomsvikings in, do I need to change a provinces culture/religion first?

edit: I just opted into the beta and apparently colonialism being spawned less in the West is a mistake and just, uggghhhh

It spawning in Taiwan in my current game was loving awesome. Figuring out what of the random nonsense I'd done at game start triggered that was hilarious

Vinland is the default name for the Canadian colonial region when colonizing as Norway.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2018 16:18

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

In my current England game all of France went Reformed. It�s the early 1700s and I�ve still held on to Normandy all the way to Flanders as well as Aquitaine, so those are the only non-Reformed parts of France (because they�re Anglican).

All of the HRE and most of Italy went Protestant. So did Norway.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2018 13:25

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Kaza42 posted:

Excuse me, have you met protestants? The state religion, ruler, heir, province, you and the emperor are all different branches who hate each other.

I can't imagine playing this game if this were somehow gamified beyond the three branches they have now. Protestantism is as they say by its very nature fragmentary.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2018 17:36

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

I�ve only played like five to ten games but I don�t think I�ve ever got a 3-star general/admiral. Also when people talk about getting generals with �tradition� I�m not sure what that means or where to check it.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2018 14:11

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Sage Grimm posted:

Open up your country's interface and navigate to the Military tab (the one that is a conquistador's helmet). You will find your country's stats for everything to do with fighting, including how much army/naval tradition you currently have. Whenever you invest mil points into getting a general or admiral, you are rolling their stats based on your current respective tradition. Look here if you want to know the exact formula for how many pips you gain on average at various tradition levels.

Okay so recruiting a general from the nobility just adds 40 points to that stat automatically? Is that how that works?

# ¿ Apr 24, 2018 15:56

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

I just became papal controller for the first time and dang this owns even if the actions are no longer available in the age of absolutism (playing Cologne >Westphalia and it's the 1650s). Extra diplomat in itself is worth it.

Westphalia's cream color though... certainly unique but not really that nice looking.

# ¿ May 2, 2018 19:00

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

I don�t know this game without estates and I think they�re good.

# ¿ May 19, 2018 00:41

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Creed Reunion Tour posted:

Is there any word on when the next expansion will be released? I'm having a fun game playing as Bremen thunderdoming the northwest part of Europe and would like to know if I should dome faster.

I'm actually doing this as well and it's super fun to watch everything around me warp unusually, like Bohemia taking the emperorship and all of Brandenburg before 1500. Denmark PU'd Bavaria super early on and held onto it for almost 2 centuries. The Protestant reformation popped in Lithuania while Reformed took most of my German neighbors and all of Scandinavia (and the league wars never happened). Kiev popped, got huge, turned into Ruthenia, and then got eaten up by Lithuania again, all within 100 years.

The best part is the Ottomans who are doing extremely badly. Karaman and Trebizond are still around and it's almost 1700. Even Byzantium freed itself a little while back with Naples' help who is slowly turning the whole of Italy purple.

# ¿ May 29, 2018 20:05

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

aphid_licker posted:

Don't have a single achievement because I refuse to play with historical lucky nations

Same. I want weirder maps at the end of the day.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2018 16:38

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

oddium posted:

i hate when sieges get stuck at like 49% or worse because it can't advance any higher. makes me right mad

1 in 2 chance!

# ¿ Jun 12, 2018 18:42

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

E: wrong thread

# ¿ Jun 12, 2018 18:45

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

ro5s posted:

So how attached are we to the current thread title?

using the royal �we� in the eu4 thread lol I get it!

# ¿ Jul 1, 2018 16:40

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Wafflecopper posted:

"scornful insults"

If anyone out there can recall some IRL precedents/examples for this I think that would be fun to read about.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2018 18:43

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

oddium posted:

more parts of the world have winter modeled and also monsoon areas get monsoons

but most importantly.......

christmas in july

This is pretty cool.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2018 01:55

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

RabidWeasel posted:

New dev diary. Lots of formables in India with some good NI sets. No longer will you have the 'fun' of having gently caress all military bonuses unless you want to play as Nepal.

Also apparently at least some of the existing idea sets have been revamped as well (Orissa was mentioned specifically but not shown, Malwa has already been shown in dev clashes to have a changed idea set but hasn't been shown in a dev diary yet)

This all sounds rad as hell!

# ¿ Jul 11, 2018 01:57

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

White Coke posted:

The game should end in 1789, and March of the Eagles 2 should cover the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

I understand the �why� (not that I agree with it, in fact I don�t) but from the very first step, ie a business perspective, I don�t see this happening.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2018 17:08

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Senor Dog posted:

Very few people play to the end anyway and this would give a good hook for another series. What is your �business perspective� objection.

I think that�s exactly why it�s a bad idea: why curtail EUIV�s timeline in order to hock this other series? Not only would it appear arbitrary to people who have no interest in that time period, but you piss off those people who wanted the option to play that far (or begin around that time). That�s what doesn�t make any business sense. �Oh great I can�t play to 1821 anymore because Paradox is hocking this other series. gently caress those guys!� - you probably, if your idea were to actually happen

On top of that, what doesn�t make any grammatical sense is asking a question without using a question mark at the end :evilbuddy:

# ¿ Jul 12, 2018 01:15

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Mantis42 posted:

Loose Ducats: As a Jewish horde, raze a province containing a World Trade Center.

pahahahahahaha

# ¿ Aug 1, 2018 19:49

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Wafflecopper posted:

idk about youtubers, but it sounds like you either need more forts or more pausing. Not sure how much you're using those already, but sticking forts in chokepoints (ideally on defensible terrain) helps a lot with preventing the AI from running around your interior and limits their movement options, giving you a lot more opportunities to catch them. They're expensive but so is having your heartlands occupied and paying an army upkeep to chase the enemy around for months. You can disable fort maintenance during peace to save a buck. If I can afford it I have a line along every border and a few on internal chokepoints. As for actually catching armies, one trick if you're having trouble with them cancelling move orders to evade you is to watch the enemy army's movement closely on a slow speed and pause when they get halfway to the next province. At this point their movement gets locked in and you'll see a little padlock icon. Send your army to attack then and they won't be able to cancel the move and go somewhere else.

Agreed with this post 100%: Forts along your border, and then during actual war repeated pausing on slow speed until that padlock appears on the enemy unit.

I will say I prefer to keep my forts up at all times in order to keep army tradition up. So I don�t usually keep forts inland because of the added cost.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2018 14:51

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# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 06:27

Jedi Knight Luigi: Jul 13, 2009

Extremely helpful Reddit post on combat width: https://reddit.app.link/r2AGME77dZ

Sharing because even after a couple hundred hours in this game I never truly understood how it worked. Thankfully more numbers works most every time if you�re clueless (like I was), but this looks truly advantageous to know.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2019 14:04

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