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[King Allant]

My super-early comments on the game, playing as Castile on Iron Man mode:

* The game's a lot more transparent than previous EUs. This is definitely a good thing, although it might be more of an information overload for new players.

* Trade is vastly more interesting. I'm a little concerned about trade routes being static rather than dynamic, though, especially considering I love taking backward Asian countries and modernizing them. I understand why Paradox didn't go with dynamic routes, because it'd be much harder to implement, but hopefully they'll do something with expansions/DLC.

* I'm not sure I like the huge importance of monarchs. In the short term, you can get by with a slow accumulation of Admin/Diplo/Military points. In the long term, you can be screwed by a succession of bad monarchs and fall behind in tech/ideas for reasons (mostly) outside of your control. The EU series has gradually given more and more agency to the player. This bit, though, seems like a step backwards. This mechanic also brings up a weird dissonance for me: am I, the player, controlling a monarch? If not, what, exactly, am I controlling? If so, why can I make good decisions as a player but somehow simultaneously suck as a monarch? This incongruity was always present in EU but seems stronger here.

* I like that the ping-pong problem of combat seems to be basically solved.

* The graphics are undoubtedly prettier than EU3's, but I have to admit that they obscure things a bit for me (I'm playing on a 1080p, 52" TV, if that makes a difference). I can't glance at the screen and immediately parse everything quite as easily. Hopefully this will change the more I play.

* The inclusion of Iron Man mode, by itself, might be a game changer, because now I don't need continual self-discipline to avoid reloading. I like how the achievements are used to add a little extra incentive to playing in this mode.

In general, I'm as blown away as I thought I would be. This is--by far--Paradox's best grand strategy game at release. I can only imagine how good it'll get with more time.

wait your playing on a 52 inch tv?! Jeez, how are you able to read the small front.

 

[Morfeo]

I have two questions as well.

- Does Piety have any negative influences? On the screen it only shows up as positives, but I would guess there are some hidden factors here for a lot of the events to make sense?

- Is there a "limit" on recommended regiments like there was in EU3? A value where the price suddenly increases with alot?

Edit: Never mind the second question, found the force limit in the military screen where I should have looked all the way. Still wonder about the first one though.

 

[Chairman Yang]

wait your playing on a 52 inch tv?! Jeez, how are you able to read the small front.

I sit pretty close. Font size isn't really an issue for me, although the general clarity of the game in comparison to EU3 is.

 

[Son1x]

I started my real game as Tuscany. So far I've eaten up a few minors around me. Doing good so far and I really like the fresh gameplay. I'm so used to EU III that everything from trade to adm/dip/mil points is just pure fun.

I'll take a few screens tomorrow ^^

 

[Basileus777]

So do I understand this correctly? You automatically collect from the trade node your capital is in, but any other one requires you to use a merchant.

 

[Almighty]

Well I have decided that manpower is going to be the death of me. I am so used to waging bloody wars of conquest in CK2 that it will be a hard habit to break in EU4. Even a little boarder war with Scotland has cost me too much of my precious manpower. Stupid Scots, why can't you let me gobble up Ireland in peace. Those Irish need the caring hand of England to guide them.

 

[Morfeo]

So I found out that piety does make investing in new tech more costly, which makes sense ofcourse. A bit weak of them not to have that info there on the religion screen as well, but at least now I know.

 

[Mgoblue201]

This is the tooltip I get:

I see the negative factors but I don#t know what to do to get rid of them.

Hire an inquistor if you can. He'll give you +2 missionary strength. Other than that, you'll have to wait for the Spanish inquisition which you'll receive after taking about six ideas, or take the religion idea group. Those are the only ways I can think of to improve your chances. So far I actually like the idea that certain provinces may not be amenable to conversion without force. It seems much more realistic to me.

Oh wow, you only get achievements when playing Ironman mode.

Ironman mode also limits the difficulty settings. No easy mode, and you can't give yourself a handicap.

 

[Fitz]

So do I understand this correctly? You automatically collect from the trade node your capital is in, but any other one requires you to use a merchant.

That's right, although you can place a merchant in your Capital node to get more money out of it, unless you own all the provinces in that node I believe. As for non-Capital node, you can place a merchant to collect as long as you own at least 1 province in that node, otherwise you can only steer.

 

[Basileus777]

The way this game handles culture is strange. The ahistorical ease and importance of cultural conversion (and the constant missions that encourage it) make conquest feel like some weird ethnic cleansing simulation. EU3's system of accepting cultures worked better and actually made sense for the time period.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

The way this game handles culture is strange. The ahistorical ease and importance of cultural conversion (and the constant missions that encourage it) make conquest feel like some weird ethnic cleansing simulation. EU3's system of accepting cultures worked better and actually made sense for the time period.

You still have accepted cultures in EU4 iirc. You have to core a certain number of one culture group, just like EU3.

 

[eznark]

PC Gamer review: 91


Bohemia begins its rise against the Ottomans.....now!

 

[ag-my001]

I stared at the start screen for twenty minutes trying to pick a country. I didn't want to colonize, that can get boring. Naval and trade heavy nations will be held off until I learn the changes. I like taking OPM and making something of them, but I wanted to stay out of the heart of the HRE. Finally, I had it: a grand campaign of Tuscany, starting in 1066 with CK2.

I've already won my independence from the HRE while they were distracted, so I'll likely just play for a bit to grab a couple more Italian provinces. The only thing that concerns me is Byzantium, as their fall never seems to happen organically. If they get split up in a succession crises or something, I'll likely export there and see how it translates.

 

[Sakura]

It seems kind of silly that large swaths of North America are considered a "wasteland" that can't be traversed or colonised. I understood when it was far north Russia that couldn't be colonised, but central North America I don't really see how they are wastelands. Oh well. Game seems alright so far.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Back to a unified Japan for the 1444 start date? Divine Wind DLC incoming...

 

[Sakura]

Back to a unified Japan for the 1444 start date? Divine Wind DLC incoming...

I unified Japan.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I unified Japan.

Oh, so it does start divided? Good. Earlier versions of EU3 just had it as a unified country from the start date.

 

[Mgoblue201]

Japan starts off with something like 13 daimyos in EU4, which is a huge improvement over EU3. There were never enough daimyos in Divine Wind to make it all that compelling to play.

And I believe the rationale for having wastelands is that they represent territories that weren't significantly settled, for various reasons, until after the game's time span. That doesn't really explain why Africans can't settle the interior of Africa, though.

 

[Kabouter]

Man, France in my ironman game, absolutely insane. I don't think I've been this afraid of the BBB since like...EU3 In Nomine. Even coalitions made up of countless nations only seem to result in feeding the BBB with more provinces. I'm not sure anything will stop France in this game at this point, good lord. Worst of all, Denmark has had an alliance with them for what seems like decades, so any time they get grumpy, I get French forces against me . I've lost three wars against them at this point I think. Last war I paid Denmark off with about a thousand ducats :X

 

[Basileus777]

It seems kind of silly that large swaths of North America are considered a "wasteland" that can't be traversed or colonised. I understood when it was far north Russia that couldn't be colonised, but central North America I don't really see how they are wastelands. Oh well. Game seems alright so far.

Wastelands are just the generic words they used for lands that aren't supposed to be heavily settled in the game's timeframe. And parts of central North America belong in that category.

Man, France in my ironman game, absolutely insane. I don't think I've been this afraid of the BBB since like...EU3 In Nomine. Even coalitions made up of countless nations only seem to result in feeding the BBB with more provinces. I'm not sure anything will stop France in this game at this point, good lord. Worst of all, Denmark has had an alliance with them for what seems like decades, so any time they get grumpy, I get French forces against me . I've lost three wars against them at this point I think. Last war I paid Denmark off with about a thousand ducats :X

Coalitions seem to fall apart so quickly and sometimes wars don't always bring in the coalition and I'm not sure why. Coalitions are probably too reactionary, they don't attack me and I can break them up by improving relations and coring provinces in-between wars. Playing as an aggressor, I think the old bad boy system was more punishing, though I love the idea of coalitions.

 

[Manik]

Could anyone explain to me, or point me in the direction of some tutorial videos which explain, how the HRE / Papal Controller stuff works. It's something I couldn't wrap my head around in EU3 either. It's kind of sitting in the blind spot of my brain, where, no matter how much I read about it, it just doesn't stick.

I don't really understand the process of becoming the papal controller, or using the HRE (holy see?) stuff to my advantage. Or how it impacts the game at all. Really basic stuff, I'm sure.

Does it make more sense to start a game as Austria and just learn as I go?

 

[Kabouter]

Coalitions seem to fall apart so quickly and sometimes wars don't always bring in the coalition and I'm not sure why. Playing as an aggressor, I think the old bad boy system was more punishing, though I love the idea of coalitions.

Oh, coalitions work very well most of the time. I've seen large nations get absolutely demolished in many games (including my own :X), but France just got lucky at a few points and is now so big that the rest of Europe can do very little to actually hurt it enough. I think that's the sole weakness of the coalition system, once someone is large enough, aggressive expansion really doesn't matter much anymore provided that nation doesn't fuck up in some big way.

 

[Basileus777]

I can't speak to how it works on the AI yet, but I don't agree that the coalition is quite so polished yet when dealing with the player. The idea behind the design is sound, but I think how the AIs in coalitions act need to be tweaked.

 

[Kabouter]

I can't speak to how it works on the AI yet, but I don't agree that the coalition is quite so polished yet when dealing with the player. The idea behind the design is sound, but I think how the AIs in coalitions act need to be tweaked.

I strongly disagree, I've been torn apart by coalitions so many times, even as powerful nations. The system absolutely works, against players as well.

 

[zoku88]

I got torn apart as Prussia vs a coalition :-/

I think I was wee bit careless in my conquests....

 

[Ikuu]

How exactly do you remove Terra Incognita for islands/land, is there a random element to it? Also as Portugal if I'm not joining in wars early I'm just exploring while waiting for the Tech. to be able to colonise?

 

[Toma]

How exactly do you remove Terra Incognita for islands/land, is there a random element to it?

You need to get the colonization idea to send a conquistador to the "terra incognita" on lands so you can colonize it. Same thing with TI on sea.

 

[Toma]

Generals and terrain is also important here. Also, I think the muslim have better cavalry than you, so that might affect the battle as well.

Is there any possible way to see a comparison between the enemies units and mine? The shock /fire value seems to be the important difference, right?

 

[Basileus777]

The game thinks I am running a mod or have altered the game and has disabled achievements, but I haven't messed with any of the files. Anyone else encounter this?

 

[Toma]

The game thinks I am running a mod or have altered the game and has disabled achievements, but I haven't messed with any of the files. Anyone else encounter this?

Someone else mentioned that it maybe wasnt perfectly downloaded. Just try the file verification and if that doesnt work a completely new download. Its probably just missing a random file somewhere.

 

[i_am_ben]

the size of rebel armies are kinda freaking me out.

i was 5 years into the game and an army of 14 rebels rose up. Kinda crazy for so early in the game.

 

[Toma]

the size of rebel armies are kinda freaking me out.

i was 5 years into the game and an army of 14 rebels rose up. Kinda crazy for so early in the game.

What were you playing as?

And does anyone know how to judge this scenario?

I want to attack country XYZ, but country XYZ is allied with ABC, who is also allied with me. Is there any way to find out whether ABC would stand with me or with XYZ? Prestige? Legitimacy? With the one who has the better relations between to ABC? I guess it also depends on who declares the war? I want to attack, but I need to make sure ABC doesnt attack ME as well.

 

[archnemesis]

Bah, I wasn't going to get this day one but I feel like I'm missing out when I'm reading the impressions of it in this thread. What's the cheapest place to get it from online? My GMG discount vouchers aren't compatible with it.

 

[Morfeo]

What were you playing as?

And does anyone know how to judge this scenario?

I want to attack country XYZ, but country XYZ is allied with ABC, who is also allied with me. Is there any way to find out whether ABC would stand with me or with XYZ? Prestige? Legitimacy? With the one who has the better relations between to ABC? I guess it also depends on who declares the war? I want to attack, but I need to make sure ABC doesnt attack ME as well.

I dont know how this works in EU4, but in EU3 a country allied with both would mostly side with the defender, however if they had a weak relation and/or something else, they could reject the call to arms from the defender, and then be called from you. 90% of the times they would side with the defenders though.

 

[Morfeo]

Is there any possible way to see a comparison between the enemies units and mine? The shock /fire value seems to be the important difference, right?

There was in EU3 I think, but I havent found it yet in EU4. Will tell when and if I find it.

 

[Manik]

What were you playing as?

And does anyone know how to judge this scenario?

I want to attack country XYZ, but country XYZ is allied with ABC, who is also allied with me. Is there any way to find out whether ABC would stand with me or with XYZ? Prestige? Legitimacy? With the one who has the better relations between to ABC? I guess it also depends on who declares the war? I want to attack, but I need to make sure ABC doesnt attack ME as well.

I had a situation similar to this. As Denmark I wanted to declare war on the Livonian Order, who were allied with the Teutonic Order. I struck up an alliance with the Teutonic Order and went ahead and declared war and the Teutonic Order stayed out of the war completely.

It felt like I was slightly gaming the system by doing it that way, though.

Another way would be, I guess, on the Declare War screen, hover over the Call Allies button and see whether they would join you. At least that way you'll know half of the information!

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

First MP game today with Kabouter.

Online crap is still garbage, wouldn't move beyond speed 3 without forcing a slowdown. Even connecting to the game was a nightmare, and to do it properly I have to right click on his steam name, join (which fails every time), then the name of his game appears in the public lobby, then I can join. Unless he's loading an autosave, in which case the game crashes and I get a runtime error. If he renames the autosave to something else, it loads. Fucking Sweden, man.

I was playing Savoy, Kabouter played Sweden. I made slow progress, he slowly plotted to break out of Personal Union with Denmark. At one point I got steamrolled by france, then before I could recover got piled on by Milan. After clawing my way back up and reclaiming the provinces they transferred back to Switzerland, I allied with Castille, who had a very large army and navy. I built myself back up to full strength, and then attacked Milan. My revenge would soon be complete! Except not, because Castille never even undocked its navy, let alone send ground troops to help out. This was not a problem Milan shared, as its two minor italian allies grouped up to outnumber me 3 : 2, moving as a single concentrated force, anihilating my army and sieging my whole country. I constantly tried to offer peace, they wouldn't accept anything except giving away half my territory. The warscore hit 100, they took two provinces and transferred a third to Switzerland. I quit the game.

Useless fucking Castille. Ungh.

 

[Toma]

I had a situation similar to this. As Denmark I wanted to declare war on the Livonian Order, who were allied with the Teutonic Order. I struck up an alliance with the Teutonic Order and went ahead and declared war and the Teutonic Order stayed out of the war completely.

It felt like I was slightly gaming the system by doing it that way, though.

Another way would be, I guess, on the Declare War screen, hover over the Call Allies button and see whether they would join you. At least that way you'll know half of the information!

I ended up waiting for my ally to start a war themselves and hoped they wouldnt join a war against me if they were busy otherwise. Worked out in the end and I steamrolled Aragon and Naples.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Could anyone explain to me, or point me in the direction of some tutorial videos which explain, how the HRE / Papal Controller stuff works. It's something I couldn't wrap my head around in EU3 either. It's kind of sitting in the blind spot of my brain, where, no matter how much I read about it, it just doesn't stick.

I don't really understand the process of becoming the papal controller, or using the HRE (holy see?) stuff to my advantage. Or how it impacts the game at all. Really basic stuff, I'm sure.

Does it make more sense to start a game as Austria and just learn as I go?

Did you ever go through the learning LP of EU3?

http://lparchive.org/Europa-Universalis-III-Divine-Wind/

They have an HRE game example. Scroll down to their Austria section.

 

[Shaldome]

All right, time to try my independence war against France. They are on the process to annex me. Damn frenchs.
Wish me luck!

 

[KorrZ]

Could someone help point me in the right direction for a good, general tutorial? I tried to get into EU3 and got locked out after the tutorial didn't really help. EU4 seems similar so far, the tutorial is a bit better but there's still just so much.

I'd really like to be able to play this game.

 

[Toma]

Could someone help point me in the right direction for a good, general tutorial? I tried to get into EU3 and got locked out after the tutorial didn't really help. EU4 seems similar so far, the tutorial is a bit better but there's still just so much.

I'd really like to be able to play this game.

This one is pretty good:

quill18's new player guide. That should get you started:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGH-Sc1EfdI&hd=1
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF8jWQx6RsA&feature=youtu.be&a&hd=1
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lYvU__anR0&feature=youtu.be&a&hd=1

Also this time around they apparently put a lot of effort into their tutorial and there even is a small tutorial campaign. The game also now has a way better in-game hint system.

 

[Hari Seldon]

I have the same issue in 1444, but in 1492 it wasnt an issue. Anyone got an idea?

Yeah I got this same thing yesterday. I'm guessing at some point your tech will allow for this, because those negative modifiers are too great even at full stability.

Edit: I just remembered reading on paradox forums that after the reformation happens, missionaries get boosted all around I believe.

 

[Clevinger]

Thank god for Greek rebels.

This Byzantium game would be going so much worse if they didn't rise up and take two provinces from the Ottomans and take Athens (which was guaranteed by the Ottomans). I don't fully understand why, but they automatically joined Byzantium when they broke off from them.

I had been trying to beat Athens for so long (even when the Ottomans were being torn apart by war, they could find the time to swing by and kick my ass) and then suddenly it was in my "empire" and I was like "...wha? Huh? Did I cheat somehow?"

 

[Jhriad]

Can anyone explain to me why a full moral 18 man portuguese army is losing to 12 man from morocco? I just cant seem to win that battle with the 1444 start date while I had NO issues at all with the demo. Full moral, same tech level. So weird.

What is the army composition? Remember that early in the game cavalry will have more impact than infantry because most cav has actual shock value whereas most infantry has only morale values.

What terrain are you fighting on and does it benefit your army composition more than your opponent?

Do you have a general assigned and is he good and/or better than the enemy general?

Are you taking losses from attrition due to staying too long or having too large a stack in low supply limit provinces?

It seems kind of silly that large swaths of North America are considered a "wasteland" that can't be traversed or colonised. I understood when it was far north Russia that couldn't be colonised, but central North America I don't really see how they are wastelands. Oh well. Game seems alright so far.

Much of the central United States was considered wasteland or desert by early settlers. Nothing unusual about that. There are still areas like the Sandhills in Nebraska that are still largely untouched because the land is extremely hard to use.

First MP game today with Kabouter.

Online crap is still garbage, wouldn't move beyond speed 3 without forcing a slowdown. Even connecting to the game was a nightmare, and to do it properly I have to right click on his steam name, join (which fails every time), then the name of his game appears in the public lobby, then I can join.

What we've found in our multiplayer games is that connecting via the Server ID (that annoying 1000000 digit # the host can see when he hovers over the EU4v1.1.0 stuff while hosting) works far more frequently. Pretty much the best way to connect to the host atm.

 

[Hari Seldon]

You need to get the colonization idea to send a conquistador to the "terra incognita" on lands so you can colonize it. Same thing with TI on sea.

You can also run an explorer back and forth. They have a random chance to uncover costal or island terra incognita.

 

[Jhriad]

Thank god for Greek rebels.

This Byzantium game would be going so much worse if they didn't rise up and take two provinces from the Ottomans and take Athens (which was guaranteed by the Ottomans). I don't fully understand why, but they automatically joined Byzantium when they broke off from them.

I had been trying to beat Athens for so long (even when the Ottomans were being torn apart by war, they could find the time to swing by and kick my ass) and then suddenly it was in my "empire" and I was like "...wha? Huh? Did I cheat somehow?"

You lucky bugger. I'm on my third Iron Man Byzantium game and I'm finding myself hoping that the 'Support Rebels' covert action wins some provinces over for me (or at least weakens the Ottomans) but so far I haven't had much luck.

 

[Manik]

Did you ever go through the learning LP of EU3?

http://lparchive.org/Europa-Universalis-III-Divine-Wind/

They have an HRE game example. Scroll down to their Austria section.

Ah, I didn't - thanks! I learned EU3 through trial and error and a few YouTube vids here and there, but mainly kept out of the way of the HRE by playing countries not involved with it. Will have a read through the above one though, so thanks for that

 

[eznark]

Went to load my save from last night and see this message:

"Save game belongs to another user or is edited. Achievements will be disabled"

What the f?

 

[Toma]

My Ironman Castile game is going well so far. 1460 and this happened:

- I annexed Granada
- got a few provinces from Aragon and Naples (so I can create easy claims for my next war on them)
- Made Sicily independent from Aragon
- Made Naples independent from Aragon

Gotta chill out now for a while though to lower my war exhaustion and work on my economy, but Aragon should be easy enough now during the next war.