Europa Universalis IV

[Blaat]

Okay thought I'd try my luck and see if anyone else is playing this.

For those who don't know Europa Universalis IV or EU4 is a grand strategy game made by the Swedish company Paradox, their games tended to be aimed for a niche market but with the release and unexpected popularity of Crusader Kings 2 (Game of Thrones helped ) they've turned more mainstream.


So far I'm having a blast I love the trade system, I also think the monarchy points system is excellent but there needs to be some tweaks (admin points are highly desirable, military points not so much). Still for a Paradox game the release is rather good although some areas still needs some improvement. I've also read they're planning to add 25 new NIs in the next patch, which is excellent the less generic ideas the better.

[Newhope]

Picked it up cheap played half a game got pissed off and haven't played it since.

[Blaat]

Let me guess you picked England and got your ass handed by France in the hundred years war and later the war of the roses?

[Newhope]

Nope Scotland had already taken all England and all but one provence in Ireland.

But helped a ally in a war, at that time the religion stated to flip then game decided to keep giving me bull events ended up at -3 stability and half my provences decided to revolt and at the same time Norway decided to declare war, to top it all off the ally that I had helped refused to give me docking rights so couldn't embark my army so lost nearly everything.

[Irenicus]

Typical introduction to Paradox games.

The weak self-selects out; the strong gets back up, fights on, and eventually goes on Paradox forums to complain about the weak AI and exploits and that world conquest is too damn easy as Ryukyu and you really shouldn't be able to convert North Africa to Catholicism in, like, thirty years.

Alternatively, start as Portugal or something and befriend, befriend, befriend Castile/Spain and just do your thing learning the game. Play wingman, join Spain's wars, build colonial empires, etc.

_________

That said, didn't Paradox and a whole bunch of game reviewers emphasized the whole thing about EU4 being the most accessible and polished of the series yet?

Myself, I'm planning to get it at least a year after, per my long-standing policy of getting Paradox games at their best, patched out and well-modded. And cheaper *cough*

[Newhope]

Played Paradox games before never had anything so retarded happen before.

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by Newhope

Nope Scotland had already taken all England and all but one provence in Ireland.

But helped a ally in a war, at that time the religion stated to flip then game decided to keep giving me bull events ended up at -3 stability and half my provences decided to revolt and at the same time Norway decided to declare war, to top it all off the ally that I had helped refused to give me docking rights so couldn't embark my army so lost nearly everything.

Were you by chance overextended (overextended events can be rather nasty), your provinces revolting is perfectly 'normal' when your stability is -3, add lower religious unity (increase revolt chance) and possible overextension and you have the perfect storm for angry peasants, revolutionaries and what not.

Originally Posted by Irenicus

That said, didn't Paradox and a whole bunch of game reviewers emphasized the whole thing about EU4 being the most accessible and polished of the series yet?

Myself, I'm planning to get it at least a year after, per my long-standing policy of getting Paradox games at their best, patched out and well-modded. And cheaper *cough*

Yeah since CK2 their 1.0 release have been rather solid. It's not perfect by any means but really solid, I'm really curious how the game will look after the expansions.

[Newhope]

Nope all cored, religion couldn't do anything about it's a scripted events that start randomly fliping British isle provinces from catholic too protestant.

Would have been fine apart from a retarded 200/200 relationship AI not granting shipping rights, so had 32k troops stranded with the only real option to disband but no way to build new units fast enough to fight.

[Blaat]

Why would you need fleet basing rights to get your troops, couldn't you just move your troops from a coastal province into the fleet on the adjacent sea zone?

[Newhope]

Originally Posted by Blaat

Why would you need fleet basing rights to get your troops, couldn't you just move your troops from a coastal province into the fleet on the adjacent sea zone?

You can off load troops but you need fleet basing rights to embark troops back onto the ships.

[Blaat]

You do not need to send a fleet to the port in order for troops to embark on it. Keep the fleet on the coastal sea zone and order your army to move to the fleet (you do have to split the troops manually if the army size is bigger than the number of transport ships).

This avoids the need of fleet basing right.

[Newhope]

Tried it wouldn't let me.

[Blaat]

Okay after testing it out you can embark troops in neutral/allied territory on a fleet without fleet basing rights.

I'm guessing Newhope you're army was bigger than the amount of transport ships you had in the fleet either you lost some cogs during a naval engagement and forgot about it or perhaps you accidentally split the transport ships from the fleet (the shortcut key for building units and splitting transport ships from a fleet is the same (v)).

[Haigon]

The only Paradox Game I played was Vicky II.

Is EUIV that different?

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

Alternatively, start as Portugal or something and befriend, befriend, befriend Castile/Spain and just do your thing learning the game. Play wingman, join Spain's wars, build colonial empires, etc.

As a Portuguese I am completely 100% against this tip out of sheer unfounded rivalry with our neighbouring Spanish

But back on topic: I actually haven't picked up EU4 yet after not finding anywhere near enough time to play EU3 or CK2 (a personal favourite of mine ever since I played the first game online with a friend of mine. Damn those pesky overpowered muslins ).

Originally Posted by Haigon

The only Paradox Game I played was Vicky II.

Is EUIV that different?

I haven't touched Vicky yet but everyone tells me that EU is easier than it (less micromanagement).

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by Dextro

As a Portuguese I am completely 100% against this tip out of sheer unfounded rivalry with our neighbouring Spanish

If you have been friends long enough you even get a nice 'historic friends' modifier! In my Portugal game Spain and Portugal best buddies, just like it should be.

Seriously though being friends with Castille/Spain is definitely the way to go for newcomers to the game playing Portugal as an introduction game.

Originally Posted by Dextro

I haven't touched Vicky yet but everyone tells me that EU is easier than it (less micromanagement).

Pretty much, I always though the EU series was the jack of all trades of Paradox's grand strategy games, it has a little bit of every thing but it doesn't go deep into like Vicky's economy, population and government system.

[Haigon]

Originally Posted by Dextro

I haven't touched Vicky yet but everyone tells me that EU is easier than it (less micromanagement).

I always heard that the only Paradox game harder than Vicky was HoI (After +200 hours of Vicky it no longer that hard...)

Originally Posted by Blaat

Pretty much, I always though the EU series was the jack of all trades of Paradox's grand strategy games, it has a little bit of every thing but it doesn't go deep into like Vicky's economy, population and government system.

Seems neat, I'll get it on steam, I think that will take a while to me to be used to it after to much Vicky :P

[Hooves]

Trying to form the German Nation as Brandenburg is time-taking.

[Jazzrat]

Been sinking my game time into this game. It's pretty similar to Victoria 2 but less emphasis on micro managing the people and political party. Kinda wish non-western countries doesn't have crippling tech disadvantages but it does add difficulty into the gameplay for people who wants a challenge especially if you play native american / chinese tech oriented country.

Combat is also simplified since you only have inf-cav-arty mix to worry about though the interface is less intuitive compared to Crusader Kings 2 when it comes to identifying river crossing or mountainous region.

Trade system focus less on actual commodity and more on controlling trade flow and trading centers. Still tinkering with it to work out the best strategy but basically you want to control & direct trade coming into your capital with merchant ship while ensuring you got enough infrastructure built to ensure profit stay within your capital.

I'm still in my first playthrough with Ottomans that are very focused on expansion and conquest but i have manage to gain a foothold in North America. France is just one spot ahead of me in points and racing with portugal & spain to colonize America.

[erneiz_hyde]

In my limited experience in the Europa Universalis, I find that playing as the Asian (especially the South Eastern parts) nations were a LOT easier than most of the European nations even with the Tech penalty. Haven't tried IV, but the one game I was successful in III, I used Majapahit, form Malacca, and colonize Portugal and Great Britain. Sadly Holland got absorbed to blob Burgundy who vassalized the most of Europe (but somehow still haven't got the territories to form France), so I couldn't get my East Indies just desserts. I can't play this well when playing as European nations.