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Europa Universalis IV |OT| A Game of Blobs

ZZMitch

Member
I don't think EU4's been optimized very well. I'm fairly sure it should be less demanding than CK2, but my laptop doesn't even bat an eyelid at CK2 and yet runs EU4 quite poorly at times.

I have heard that EU4 is supposed to be more demanding than CK2 since EU4 has to deal with the whole world while CK2 is confined to Europe. Dunno how true that is though.
 

Sye d'Burns

Member
It's 1532 and my game as Scotland is weird. Castille and (up until its last war with Morocco) its ally Portugal has spent so much time warring with France that they've almost completely forgotten about colonization. I was able to grab some land on the African coast and I've had the Caribbean almost entirely to myself.

NkKltvS.png

I'm torn as whether to form GB or not. Those country ideas are certainly enticing.
 
So yeah, running through my first game. Did the tutorials but still trying to get a feel for all the systems, currently playing as Castile, and I really don't understand if I should be completing as many mission as possible and I don't quite understand why I'm always having negative effects when going on offense against another combat unit.
 

Clevinger

Member
So yeah, running through my first game. Did the tutorials but still trying to get a feel for all the systems, currently playing as Castile, and I really don't understand if I should be completing as many mission as possible and I don't quite understand why I'm always having negative effects when going on offense against another combat unit.

I wouldn't worry about the missions until you better understand the game.

As for the negative effects. You have to have more infantry than cavalry in a unit, or it'll have a penalty. And if there's a little skull symbol, that means the unit is suffering from attrition. This can be caused by having two or more units in the same province (you can fix that by moving one, or all but one, out or merging them into one unit). Or it could be caused by the province's supply/attrition stats. Click on the province and check out if those numbers are smaller than your unit size.

One more negative effect you might have is your armies have low maintenance. Depending on how low you have the slider, it will hurt their morale. Go into the economy tab and move the army maintenance slider all the way to the right. When you're out of wars/revolts, go back in and slide it back down to save/earn more money.

Oh, and always assign a leader to your main combat units. It'll help a lot. But there's a limit to how many leaders you can have, so just put them on your main, big units. I don't remember if the penalty for having too many is gold or military power, but you probably want to avoid that.
 
Thanks, I reloaded an older save, I wasnt having fun warring with Aragon. I'm beggining to get acess to building and the game is really opening up. I got my first idea group and chose innovative ideas, although it seems to be causing friction in a monarchic state.
 

Almighty

Member
Oh, and always assign a leader to your main combat units. It'll help a lot. But there's a limit to how many leaders you can have, so just put them on your main, big units. I don't remember if the penalty for having too many is gold or military power, but you probably want to avoid that.

Its military power.

I remember because I had a few leaders over the limit for my last big war with France, forgot about them and was getting hit -4 military power a month for a few years before I noticed. I am betting I probably lost out on 120 or so points over that time. That hurt since I was barely keeping up in the military tech arms race to begin with.
 

Fitz

Member
After playing Brandenburg and Muscovy I thought I'd have a go as the Cherokee. They weren't too hard in EU3 as long as you could westernise, pagan tribes are definitely harder to play in EU4, but still very doable with a little luck. The tribal governments and pagan religions have much bigger penalties than they did in EU3, and because of the way ADM points work, you can catch up in tech, but you'll never be able to catch up in ideas with Europe. In EU3 you could focus on trade after westernising and completely dominate everyone in tech by the the end.

Anyway, I messed up at the beginning and so not only did it take me too long to get a core next to a western neighbour to westernise, but I didn't managed to grab the thirteen colonies region for the No Trail of Tears achievement. I could easily conquer those lands as of about 1690 as I'd caught up on military tech, however... I joined a coalition war against France in 1700 with the rest of the world. "Great" I thought, soften them up so it will be easier for me later, but because of the goddamn AI, this war has been going on for over 30 years now. We've been at 99% war score for over 20 years but Spain just won't end it.


I colonised the middle section of Cuba as soon as possible, hoping someone would colonise and core one of the other two sections, but the scumbag AI never touched the island until long after I'd westernised. With just over 80 years until the end of the game, it's still possible to grab the east coast, but after 30 years of war, I don't see anything changing to make Spain end it.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
v1.1.2 said:
Second hotfix is out. This is a small one that mainly fixes some OOS errors, makes it easier to search for games via using the tags field and fixes some bugs with the invite steam friend to game feature.

We are continuing to work on improving and updating the game, including work on optimization and game balance and you will see more updates in the not so distant future.

If steam doesnt autoaupdate your game, restart steam.

1.1.2
- Filter on tags now works
- Fixed issues with joining/inviting friends from friends list
- Server requests password if it ain't provided
- Fixed dedicated server not displaying the correct version
- Fixed sorting on server names
- Improved joining server status message
- Keep server browser scrollbar position when adding new servers to the lis
- Fixed a better oos-message. The client now gets an error-code so we can know what it was that went oos. (revision 8323)
- Supply, demand, total_produced, num_supply_provinces and num_demand_provinces for tradegoods are now saved in savegame (fixes hotjoin OOS).
- Fixed pause-bug on standalone server.
- Added better information for the client during hotjoin-request.
- Connection popup no longer in front of password popup
- You no longer get password rejected message when getting an invite to a password protected game
- No longer possible to filter on empty tag, either all servers or some tags
- If you search for a tag, steam will now return a global search enableing any player to find any game if his searching for the tag

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?714668-1.1.2-Hotfix
 

mkenyon

Banned
Okay, my fourth run on Denmark and things started going really well. First, I my heir was 2/5/5, which was perfect as I selected Trade as my initial idea group. I started off with annexing Holstein rather than expanding to Livonia. I also enter a military alliance with Brandenburg as they are an amazing buffer against Austria as I expand to the Hansa and other small states in the region.

I end up nearly wiping Hansa off the map, and have them release Hamburg as their own soverign state. At this point, I see Novgorod pushing into Livonia, so I take my opportunity. End up getting all of the coastal regions, including Riga. I also have them release Kurland. So now I have two great buffers as allies in Kurland and Hamburg to help swat down enemies and get some gold in defensive wars.

I let things settle down, and begin annexation of Norway. I take the opportunity of waiting for the annexation to get my stability way up and possible revolts down. They enter the union, and almost as if they didn't think I'd follow through, Novgorod insults me. A few years later, they accept a peace deal that has them essentially landlocked, with both Sweden and myself gaining lots of territories. I of course push a number of the territories towards Sweden, as this means no diplomatic power required to take them for myself. I'm already halfway through the process of annexing them.

I spend a few years making all the necessary territories core and squashing rebellions out of the Novgorod/Finland area. But, my chance to finally get Lubeck arrives, so I begin a war against a number of german states as well as the HRE. This is of course while they are already at war with Poland.

So I grab Lubeck, push forward to get enough war score to just take that and some money, and call peace. Now this is where things start to get tricky.

Basically, despite a +2 Stability, having a core claim on nearly every province I own and having all of the odd cultures changed to Danish for the most part, I'm getting rebellion after rebellion after rebellion.

A good portion of this is due to the Protestant issue, but even after I convert, unrest is through the roof. The only thing that I can make sense of what is causing this is a 48% overextention from not yet claiming Lubeck as a core province (I swear a rebel army pops up every single time I have to send my major units to Norway/Sweden).

What are my possible options for reducing the amount of unrest caused by nationalists beyond what is obvious? It's now to the point that I've even run out of manpower from fighting so many rebellions.
 

Fitz

Member
What are my possible options for reducing the amount of unrest caused by nationalists beyond what is obvious? It's now to the point that I've even run out of manpower from fighting so many rebellions.

The only thing I can really suggest is to check and see what the demands are for your current rebels, sometimes it's best just to accept their demands and take a hit to prestige/tax etc when things are getting especially hairy. Other than that, don't forget you can use Military Power to reduce the revolt risk in a province by 5%, and also to check and see what the main causes of your revolt risk are so you can focus on combating it.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Yeah, had to do that with Peasants and Protestants, but the requirements for the other rebels is Norwegian/Swedish/Hannoverian independence, which is not acceptable.
 
Wow, looking through the thread made me realize that my castlle hasnt grown as much as others, altough I've been able to become Spain without having to take over Aragon (whoch now took over te land of napels) and I had fat loans to pay off.. :(. The upside is that europe is pretty fragmented, and France and England are being chipped away at little by little. I still don't have much of a grasp on ideas, does simply having them affect my nation or do I need to keep upgrading them?
 

Fitz

Member
Wow, looking through the thread made me realize that my castlle hasnt grown as much as others, altough I've been able to become Spain without having to take over Aragon (whoch now took over te land of napels) and I had fat loans to pay off.. :(. The upside is that europe is pretty fragmented, and France and England are being chipped away at little by little. I still don't have much of a grasp on ideas, does simply having them affect my nation or do I need to keep upgrading them?

Once you've picked an idea branch/tree/line you get nothing initially, however every 400 (at default) of the appropriate ADM points you can pick up the next in the line. Once you unlocked a single perk, it's passive bonus will effect you forever. Of course spending points on ideas is points not spent on technology, so you have to find a balance.
 

xenist

Member
First, my France game is still going well. Brittany and Provence are all the French provinces that remain separate and they're a mere invasion away. Austria is being pushed westwards by Hungary so they are going to be my next concern. I'm being overly cautious but I love being able to wage wars without losing money or raising war taxes.

Second, the menu music is sooo good. It's like Basil Poledouris and Howard Shore had an awesome baby.
 

ZZMitch

Member
I like the music in EU4 but there is this one track that comes up some times that sounds very Mexican for some reason. It always throws me off when I hear it because I am playing as Russia heh.
 

Cigol

Member
Chasing a large stack of enemy troops across Europe is the worst. I'm in love with the game but the third time they evaded me only to end up doubling back and sieging another of my provinces successfully I nearly screamed. Yeah I shouldn't have given chase to broken troops but it was a stack of doom that hides in the fog of war only to return when I least expect it. Feel cheesed by the ai since he always turns and runs ffs and when I do catch him off he trots before coming back replenished. Argh... I'm such a fool.
 

xenist

Member
Chasing a large stack of enemy troops across Europe is the worst. I'm in love with the game but the third time they evaded me only to end up doubling back and sieging another of my provinces successfully I nearly screamed. Yeah I shouldn't have given chase to broken troops but it was a stack of doom that hides in the fog of war only to return when I least expect it. Feel cheesed by the ai since he always turns and runs ffs and when I do catch him off he trots before coming back replenished. Argh... I'm such a fool.

Don't chase them. Try to anticipate where they're running to. If you can't be waiting for them it's not worth it, in my opinion.

Anyway, in my game it's go time. Half of the HRE led by Austria together with Aragon and England versus the other half led by Bavaria allied with me. I'd have preferred to be a bit more teched up but this is as good a chance at crippling Austria and Aragon as I'll ever get. I just hope Spain and Hungary join the fray. Otherwise this war will go on for decades.
 

Omikron

Member
This is the current state of play just north of my borders... France is all but gone, Brittany is starting to get a bit bullish and attempted to take over Armagnac, but I don't think they quite noticed that they were allied with England who were allied with me and they just got stomped hard and lost a province to Armagnac and I also freed a couple small countries while I was at it. Just taking gold for myself as I am dealing with the lack of cores in my colonies as you can see from the list... :-/

(Still my first game of EU4... so, learning as I go)

 

Timurid

Member
This is the current state of play just north of my borders... France is all but gone, Brittany is starting to get a bit bullish and attempted to take over Armagnac, but I don't think they quite noticed that they were allied with England who were allied with me and they just got stomped hard and lost a province to Armagnac and I also freed a couple small countries while I was at it. Just taking gold for myself as I am dealing with the lack of cores in my colonies as you can see from the list... :-/

(Still my first game of EU4... so, learning as I go)

:lol the AI's Burgundy is better than my Burgundy. :(
 

Xater

Member
I don't know what information is out there at the moment, but I got to talk to Johan from Paradox yesterday. Hee are some tidbits:

- They are already working on a bigger patch that should address some exploits including farming the Aztecs for gold.

- Lucky nations will always be activated in Iron Man mode because they consider that the true experience.

- They will also not change the saving interval but work on the algorithm so that the game doesn't hitch up as much.

- the picture with the dinosaurs was just a joke because of the people tat hated the sunset invasion DLC in CK2.

- they already have people working on expansions as well, he had like two pages full of ideas for them.
 

xenist

Member
[cigar_chomp] I love it when a plan comes together! [/cigar_chomp]

Aragon is now a doormat. Austia is out of manpower. I must have chomped through at least a couple of hundred thousand HRE and Aragon troops. Stupid AI, haven't you heard of central positioning? Now to consolidate my gains, fish for a CB on what's left of Provence and Aragon, placate Spain until I tech up enough to bottle them up and marry my way into some anti-Austrian alliances. The only plan I haven't fully formulated yet is what to do with England and its big ass navy. Parading their filthy giant stacks of doom up and down the Channel. They know better than to land any troops near me but at the same time I can't reach them.
 

Son1x

Member
I don't know what information is out there at the moment, but I got to talk to Johan from Paradox yesterday. Hee are some tidbits:
- Lucky nations will always be activated in Iron Man mode because they consider that the true experience.

Really disappointed in this one. I wouldn't mind it occasionally, but I don't want to see BBB, Mega Austria etc. every game. I want some variety, damn it.

Fortunately, I don't care that much about achievements and I usualy like to branch up my saves, going for different routes of expansion from the same point. So I guess I'll rarely touch the iron man mode.
 
I'm getting quite a lot of variety in my ironman games. Spain has always been very successful so far, but both France and Austria are doing quite poorly.
 

tirant

Member
Hey guys,

Do you think a Geforce GT520 is good enough to play this game? I have a Xeon Quad Core (2.4GHz) with 4GB of RAM and a Samsung 250GB SSD.
 

Fitz

Member
I don't know what information is out there at the moment, but I got to talk to Johan from Paradox yesterday. Hee are some tidbits:

- They are already working on a bigger patch that should address some exploits including farming the Aztecs for gold.

- Lucky nations will always be activated in Iron Man mode because they consider that the true experience.

- They will also not change the saving interval but work on the algorithm so that the game doesn't hitch up as much.

- the picture with the dinosaurs was just a joke because of the people tat hated the sunset invasion DLC in CK2.

- they already have people working on expansions as well, he had like two pages full of ideas for them.

As far as fixing the gold from tribes "exploit", I saw a really nice suggestion where someone said that very large influxes of gold should add inflation. That way you can still get money from normal wars without penalty, and still raid pagans for riches, but if you abuse it, it will break your economy. I just hope they don't take a really ham-fisted approach and simply make gold cost a lot more war score, or add more penalties to pagans just to force them to drain their gold reserves.

I was originally really unhappy about forced lucky-nations in Ironman, but I've warmed up to it over the past few games, when you consider how poor the AI can be in many situations, it doesn't feel unfair. (Can always play in standard mode anyway.)
 

Xater

Member
As far as fixing the gold from tribes "exploit", I saw a really nice suggestion where someone said that very large influxes of gold should add inflation. That way you can still get money from normal wars without penalty, and still raid pagans for riches, but if you abuse it, it will break your economy. I just hope they don't take a really ham-fisted approach and simply make gold cost a lot more war score, or add more penalties to pagans just to force them to drain their gold reserves.

I was originally really unhappy about forced lucky-nations in Ironman, but I've warmed up to it over the past few games, when you consider how poor the AI can be in many situations, it doesn't feel unfair. (Can always play in standard mode anyway.)

Yeah can#t tell you details. After the latest hotfix they want to do a big patch next month. So I guess there will be more changes than just the Aztect exploit thing.
 

ZZMitch

Member
Really disappointed in this one. I wouldn't mind it occasionally, but I don't want to see BBB, Mega Austria etc. every game. I want some variety, damn it.

Haha. Austria is not even around in my ironman Novgorod/Russia game. They were diploannexed by Spain who is now a powerhouse (along with massive Ottomans). France is practically gone as well (Spains doing again). Oh and Holstein has the fifth largest army in the world. There is still variety so don' worry heh!
 

xenist

Member
Hey guys,

Do you think a Geforce GT520 is good enough to play this game? I have a Xeon Quad Core (2.4GHz) with 4GB of RAM and a Samsung 250GB SSD.

I wouldn't expect any problems. It doesn't feel it should have too taxing graphics.
 

Cigol

Member
Play the demo first to make sure. Realistically it shouldn't but I don't think it's that well optimised. My gfx fans are running quite high relative to what's on screen.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
Well in my Portugal non-Ironman game it is ~1750 and I am the dominant world power after a huge coalition war cut down France. Playing portugal is really too easy as long as you stay out of European entanglements. Once you get that Ivory Coast -> Caribbean trade route kicking the rest of the game is simply beating up on low tech natives to optimize it and extend it. I think I'm going to try England Ironman next, as I have read they are actually fairly hard to play, the trade route seems less lucrative.
 

Fitz

Member
I have yet to try them in EU4 yet, but as I understand, the main difficulty with England comes if you try to stay in and win the Hundred Years War. Of course winning, and thus getting a PU with France guarantees you as no.1 forever.
 

ZZMitch

Member
Does anyone know why some of the provinces you capture get the nationalism trigger that increases revolt risk while other provinces don't? I have been trying to figure out what causes this but haven't yet.

edit: hmm it might be the fact that the country I took these provinces fun had a nationalist revolt win the siege there and the nationalism revolt modifier has carried over to me.
 

Kabouter

Member
I have yet to try them in EU4 yet, but as I understand, the main difficulty with England comes if you try to stay in and win the Hundred Years War. Of course winning, and thus getting a PU with France guarantees you as no.1 forever.

Friend of mine in MP got hit with Wars of the Roses + Peasants War at the same time as England, that was rough.
 

xenist

Member
You guys got any good trade and economic tutorials? I have everything humming along quite nicely but there has to be some discrepancy between what I calculate and what I get. I must be missing something.
 

Mr.Mike

Member
Playing as England I've managed to win the Hundred Years War and randomly get Portugal in a Personal Union under me in the process. Unfortunately while I was fighting in France the War of the Roses event came up, and I suppose I lost that war. So now I have France and Portugal under me in PU but my country is broken with negative stability, really low legitimacy and low prestige and in debt.France doesn't seem to be doing much better, considering their problems with rebels. Normandy claimed independence from me and Gascony freed itself into a vassal of France. Soon after I won the HYU Burgundy declared war on France, but with mine and Frances forces devastated by the war I lost two provinces to Burgundy. Hopefully Burgundies King will die heirless and give France back that land and more.

That said, if I can stabilize my country and rebuild my army I should be in a strong position to mop up the rest of the British Isles and France. Then I'll have 3/4 major colonial powers under my control... with more to come soon

Also, does anyone know if your lesser members in a union will go about colonizing for themselves? I'm thinking it might actually be best to not integrate France and Portugal for a while so that I can essentially have 6 settlers working at once rather than just the 2 you'd normally get.

EDIT: I have now managed to also acquire Castille under me in PU, diplomatically too. And I've got Scotland as my Vassal, working on diplo-annexing them and forming Great Britain.
 
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