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Paradox Grand Strategy - Thread of Fighting WW2 as Bithynia

F

frontovik

Banned
Thanks for the info and advice, Fitz! In my Castilian campaign, I did receive a PU with what was left of Aragon when they were in a regency council; unfortunately France decided to press a claim and seized it from me. I got as far as colonizing the entirety of the Caribbean, parts of Central America, and the Ivory Coast, but was unable to make any gains in Europe. I lost interested in continuing afterwards.

It's my understanding that Castile's national ideas are more suited for colonizing the New World and expanding towards North Africa. I'm going to start another playthrough as Burgundy or France for the "Burgundian Conquest" or "Big Blue Blob" achievements respectively.

Do you have any tips if you've attempted or completed either of those achievements? I've taken a look at the Wiki & some guides by players that have achieved it, but more advice is always appreciated.

At the moment, my only concern is fighting the HRE as I understand the Emperor can demand that I return provinces back to the empire; which would make seizing provinces from them kind of pointless? I've heard the workaround is to seize it when the Emperor is at war or have him allied to your cause.

edit: trying Big Blue Blob right now. I'm in an alliance with Austria, Castile, Brittany .. and maintaining friendly relations with Burgundy; so it's a great start as far as I'm concerned. My main rivals are Aragon, Denmark, and England. I seized all the continental cores from England, and seized one of the Irish kingdoms without a casus belli. I was planning to attack Savoy and claim provinces from Naples, but they're both allied to Austria, so it seems I'm unable to focus on the European front. If they weren't allied to Austria, I was planning to expand eastwards into the Balkans and Ottoman-held Anatolia.

Now it seems I have to focus on northwards expansion into the British isles and work my way through Norway and into Sweden.
 
F

Fitz

Member
You're on the right track for the Big Blue Blob, the typical strategies are either to go north through the British Isles -> Scandinavia then from Northern Russia eat your way south, OR, go south into Iberia then across the med and into the Balkans. I suspect that with the recent map change it's even more favourable to go the northern route.

The way fighting in the HRE works is, if you attack a HRE state without a CB, or if you yourself are a non-HRE state (CB or not), then the current Emperor will be called in (as a co-belligerent iirc). From outside the Empire you can avoid this in the same way as a usual alliance call to arms, e.g. wait until he won't accept the call for whatever reason. Or if you're strong enough, just take him on directly.
Once you've taken Imperial Land that isn't your core, the Emperor, if his relations with you are below 100 I think, will send a return request. You can and generally should deny this request, but be prepared for both the temporary penalties to the provinces, as well as the relations hit with all HRE members.
 
U

Uzzy

Member
A good way to get around the Unlawful Territory request from the Emperor is to chain wars. The Emperor can't make the request if you're at war, so if you start a new war before signing a peace deal where you'd take HRE land, you avoid the request and you'll have time to core the land.
 
F

frontovik

Banned
Update: My first attempt failed because I was unable to gain a solid foothold on the British isles and I was running out of time. My subsequent attempts involved the invading Ireland -> Scotland -> Norway route, but England either kept kicking me out or I was running out of time and suffering aggressive expansion penalties by attacking without CBs.

During one attempt I tried to expand westwards by taking on Burgundy and Provence's lands, and ended up with a HRE/Italian coalition against me.

I'm going to try for the southern Italy -> Balkans route, and seize land from the Ottomans. Would I still suffer AE penalties from my Europeans neighbours for attacking non-Christian nations?
 
U

Uzzy

Member
Forget invading Burgundy. Instead, ally several electors and improve relations with them, and try to become Emperor yourself. At which point, if the Burgundian Inheritance fires, you'll get all their lands for free. That's one hell of a boost. You'll have to get lucky, but if you get it early, then BBB becomes very doable.
 
R

Royal_Phalanx

Member
I want to play a colonization campaign as Sweden. What's the best way to do this? I once did a Norway playthrough and I got to Greenland (was pretty impressive for a noob actually) but my bad economy combined with an aggressive Sweden made me give up on it. I still don't understand trade and how to make money in EU4. I assume I'll have to annex Norway, really easier said than done.
 
F

Fitz

Member
Royal_Phalanx said:
I want to play a colonization campaign as Sweden. What's the best way to do this? I once did a Norway playthrough and I got to Greenland (was pretty impressive for a noob actually) but my bad economy combined with an aggressive Sweden made me give up on it. I still don't understand trade and how to make money in EU4. I assume I'll have to annex Norway, really easier said than done.
Click to expand...

You definitely want to start by gobbling up the rest of Scandinavia and breaking free from Denmark, it's been quite a long time since I've played as Sweden though, so I'm not up to speed on the current best strategy. But I imagine looking to improving relations with Denmark's enemies and getting them to support your independence is the soundest move. Blockading the straits with massed galleys is probably not feasible with the changes to blockade somewhat recently, you'd have to occupy at least one side of the straits quickly for that to work. Depends what nation is helping you, e.g. England.

Money primarily comes from tax and production in your provinces, trade income can be vast, but it's a bit of a lengthy topic, to greatly simplify: Every province is part of a specific trade node (check trade map mode), each province in a node contributes to the value of the node, nations can then collect from that value, or try to move the money to a location where they're better able to collect. One of the primary aims of colonisation as a European is to maximise your power in trade nodes around the world to snake the value all the way back into your home node.
Check out this link if you're after specifics: http://www.eu4wiki.com/Trade
 
U

Uzzy

Member
Royal_Phalanx said:
I want to play a colonization campaign as Sweden. What's the best way to do this? I once did a Norway playthrough and I got to Greenland (was pretty impressive for a noob actually) but my bad economy combined with an aggressive Sweden made me give up on it. I still don't understand trade and how to make money in EU4. I assume I'll have to annex Norway, really easier said than done.
Click to expand...

For colonisation, you want to do two things. Firstly, focus on getting free. For this, you need to focus on naval supremacy, and watch out for Novgorod. Not because Novgorod is a thread, but because if Novgorod is on the same side as Denmark, or friendly with them, then it's likely that they'll grant military access to Denmark's allies, such as Poland/Lithuania, and then you'll have angry Hussars roaming through your lands. Which is a problem. So carefully check the diplomatic situation before declaring independence.

Secondly, once you get free, focus on conquering Norway's Icelandic provinces, and jump to Greenland then the New World. You can also potentially go east, and start colonising into the Siberian wastelands, but that requires you to defeat Russia.

Trade is a complicated issue. But for Sweden, you'll want to get into the Lubeck trade node, as that's really quite rich. When you can, move your home trading port into the Lubeck trade node, and have your merchants transfer trade power from the Baltic Sea and Rheinland trade nodes to Lubeck. Once you get your colonies in the New World going, have your merchants transfer trade to the North Sea trade node, then to Lubeck. Make sure to build light ships to protect trade in your important trade nodes. I'd experiment a bit too, move your merchants around to transfer trade or collect trade in Lubeck, and watch the trade screen, see what gives you more money.

Finally, you may be tempted to move in and take Lubeck itself. That's a good idea, but be very careful about doing that when the HRE is strong, because you will get destroyed by an angry Austria. But if you see a moment of weakness, go for it. You can eventually take the entire Baltic coastline if you want, but just make sure to move at the right moment.
 
F

frontovik

Banned
I am feeling ambitious enough to try for the Theodoro and Basileus achievements as well. With regards to the latter, I've heard that it is no longer practical to spam galleys to blockade the Ottomans, is that true? I'be heard some achievements are easier in previous patches, notably 1.14, I'm currently using 1.15
 
U

Uzzy

Member
Galley spam took two nerfs. Firstly, build times were increased, then secondly, Paradox changed the rules so you could freely move your units between two provinces divided by a strait if you occupied both provinces. So the Ottomans can just ignore your blockade and crush your navy.
 
F

frontovik

Banned
Thanks for the info! It's clear that the method is no longer feasible then.

After several restarts, I managed to obtain an alliance with Hungary and Austria, and we were able to seize back the Balkans from the Ottomans. It should be 'smooth sailing' from there since the initial danger was Constantinople being encircled. Now I just have to plan to take back Anatolia and parts of Crimea...

There was one core that belonged to Hungary that I had to return to them during the peace settlement with the Ottomans... I'm kinda of dreading the thought of declaring a war just to seize one province for the achievement. It's my understanding that if an ally and I both have claims to a province, I can only hand it over to them? I didn't see any options to seize the province from them regardless of their claim.

With regards to Big Blue Blob, I was able to claim most of southern Italy through the Inheritance of Anjou, now I just need to plan for a blitz through the Balkans.
 
H

Hyperactivity

Banned
frontovik said:
Thanks for the info! It's clear that the method is no longer feasible then.

After several restarts, I managed to obtain an alliance with Hungary and Austria, and we were able to seize back the Balkans from the Ottomans. It should be 'smooth sailing' from there since the initial danger was Constantinople being encircled. Now I just have to plan to take back Anatolia and parts of Crimea...

There was one core that belonged to Hungary that I had to return to them during the peace settlement with the Ottomans... I'm kinda of dreading the thought of declaring a war just to seize one province for the achievement. It's my understanding that if an ally and I both have claims to a province, I can only hand it over to them? I didn't see any options to seize the province from them regardless of their claim.

With regards to Big Blue Blob, I was able to claim most of southern Italy through the Inheritance of Anjou, now I just need to plan for a blitz through the Balkans.
Click to expand...

If you and an ally have claims on a pro vice, it's a matter of who gets there first. If a province of occupied, you can only give it to an occupier.
 
F

frontovik

Banned
I was fortunate enough to get the Inheritance of Anjou early and claimed southern Naples by 1447. I planned to expand to the Balkans through Serbia and then seize more territories from the Ottomans in order to fabricate claims on Crimea.

Unfortunately, Hungary/Austria/and Poland tend to fight between themselves which prevents us from ganging up on the Ottomans.

I can't expand into Aragon or Naples anymore because they've allied themselves with Austria.

Castile keeps dragging me into a lengthy war with Morocco/Tlemcen, or a weakened Austria calls me to defend it from an aggressive Burgundy.

Sucks when the alliance network works against you.
 
E

Erheller

Member
bonesmccoy said:
Oh HoI you old devil

The new you looks so good
but will you actually work?
Click to expand...

I've been playing HoI3 these last two weeks, and the game will just keep running slower and slower the longer I go without restarting it.

On another note, I'm going to miss the Allied/Axis/Comitern/unaligned nations having different fonts for their names on the map. It's fun to invade England and force America to join the Comitern so it gets GLORIOUS RUSSIAN FONT.
 
F

frontovik

Banned
After several attempts at Big Blue Blob, I'm just going to give it up for now. I tried expanding through the Balkans route several times by taking low development provinces from Serbia -> Bosnia -> bits of the Ottomans -> Crandar -> Crimea -> Circassia -> Golden Horde -> and then conclude at Muscovy or Novgorod. And that route doesn't as always work out as planned due to unexpected regency or instability

Unfortunately, when it came to Muscovy, it became a superpower and managed to overwhelm a Lithuanian/Austria/Hungarian alliance.

However, the worst thing is when I get tons of separatist rebels popping up when I have a - national unrest advisor and keeping my stability up/war exhaustion down. It's even more ridiculous when these separatists manage to defeat an army that outnumbers them. Now I know why Einstein once said that "insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results". My best record so far was 86 provinces before the target date.
 
B

bonesmccoy

Banned
Erheller said:
I've been playing HoI3 these last two weeks, and the game will just keep running slower and slower the longer I go without restarting it.

On another note, I'm going to miss the Allied/Axis/Comitern/unaligned nations having different fonts for their names on the map. It's fun to invade England and force America to join the Comitern so it gets GLORIOUS RUSSIAN FONT.
Click to expand...

I tried to replay it a year ago or so. It was too frustrating (after being so used to CK2 and EU4) and clunky so I gave up. In fact I decided 4 would be more of the same, so I avoided all the teases, releases and videos...

... Until last week. And now they're my going to bed, wind down watching. I'm going to end up getting this. :I

May - June is an excellent couple months for strategy games.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
bonesmccoy said:
I tried to replay it a year ago or so. It was too frustrating (after being so used to CK2 and EU4) and clunky so I gave up. In fact I decided 4 would be more of the same, so I avoided all the teases, releases and videos...

... Until last week. And now they're my going to bed, wind down watching. I'm going to end up getting this. :I

May - June is an excellent couple months for strategy games.
Click to expand...

HoI3 being kinda hard to use is the least of its problems, lol. Even as an expert player you'll fight against the unintuitive supply system. You could receive supplies through your port near the front, but why do that when you could be supplied all the way from the other side of eurasia? You didn't want your troops to be in supply anyway.
 
H

hobblygobbly

Member
Preorders are open for HoI4 (from stream right now). View more detail on store page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/394360/

iLBn3XL.jpg
 
Z

ZZMitch

Member
So I guess the question is, will I save money by buying the $90 version now, since it is very likely I will buy all the major expansions anyway... hmm.
 
B

bjaelke

Member
Hearts of Iron IV - Development Diary 57 - Poland: United and Ready
When we posponed HOI4 release it was mostly a question of getting more time for programmers to fix bugs, which left our scripters and artists a little underused. We figured we would put this to use on adding more flavor and fun for some minor. We have a lot of polish players, so focusing on Poland seemed to be a good idea. We werent sure if we would get this complete on time, and since we wanted to see if this kind of content packs would be well received we figured the best idea was to make it a separate DLC from the base game. Things worked out and it got ready on time, so we decided we should just release it to everyone for free (this isn't just for preorder, you will get it whenever you buy HOI4, forever).
Click to expand...
 
C

CzarTim

Member
In EUIV what should I be looking for in colony spots? Especially with random new world. Most development? Best chance at good trade goods? Center of trade?
 
H

Hyperactivity

Banned
CzarTim said:
In EUIV what should I be looking for in colony spots? Especially with random new world. Most development? Best chance at good trade goods? Center of trade?
Click to expand...

I would say important trade spots is #1. In general, trade and goods is what you care about - trade will be your biggest money maker.

Random new world may or may not screw you over entirely, I've seen RNWs where the vast majority of trade flows to Asia or the trade going to Europe goes just to the North or South.

And don't forget to build some old world colonies too - early game just going for the Gold Coast province is good, but afterward try to get a powerful trade company in the Ivory Coast.

Development only matters for the trade value. That still makes it useful. There is no hard and fast rule, asides from trying to box other colonizers out, and after I secure the one or two trade provinces I tend to choose case by case
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
CzarTim said:
In EUIV what should I be looking for in colony spots? Especially with random new world. Most development? Best chance at good trade goods? Center of trade?
Click to expand...

You won't really benefit from development in colonies, you're not likely to make them states and most areas don't have high development to begin with. You mostly just want to aim for a centre of trade, then fill out the rest of that trade node to establish a monopoly. The Caribbean is pretty good, then Mexico, then the Thirteen Colonies.
 
C

CzarTim

Member
Thanks scum team. Playing my first game as Portugal and have nearly taken over the South Pacific. I set up a few new world colonies but the continent didn't really have much in the way of trade goods, so I shifted focus to the east.
 
H

Hyperactivity

Banned
Does anyone have any experience in how fun colonial nations would be? I was thinking of playing as one, but maybe choosing a later start date so that it's not just me bearing on natives on my own with little real competition

EDIT: I'm not sure what I did for this strangeness, but I don't remember Saxony starting off with two uncored lands, or France having a core on some random native they probably don't know of, or three of the Ottoman cores in Anatolia going on Wallachia, or Lubeck's on Danzig

That, and the Burgundian Inheritance in 1448. Playing as Holland btw
 
H

hobblygobbly

Member
Aiii said:
Not a lot of hype for Hearts of Iron IV yet?

Quill18 has started uploading his first lets-play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiqAAGj79hc
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been watching, Quill will also be streaming in less than 2 hours time (playing Japan) and Arumba in less than an hour (not sure what nation he will be playing as) on twitch.

HoI other than Vicky is their most niche game due to the learning curve so I don't feel that many follow it as closely as EU:IV or CK2. They made it easier to get into so HoI should see more new players with this release any ways.
 
Z

ZZMitch

Member
Super excited about HOI4, but I hope it doesn't lose my interest as quickly as Stellaris did. I've already gone back to my epic CK2 campaign! To be fair, HOI4 looks a lot more fleshed out then Stellaris though.
 
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