Europa Universalis 3 - Losing all battles

[Malakal]

By active revolts I mean a province that has already rebelled - rebel army is sieging it. Revolt Risk is fine but the event wont fire when rebels siege any province.

It doesnt 'reset' the event, MTTH (meant time to happen) means that there is 1 chance in X for event to fire measured in months so 120 MTTH is 1 in 120. For the event that finishes peasant war its abpout 10 years on AVERAGE. So it could fire instantly or after 30 years if You are unlucky. With large empires with huge travel time between provinces ensuring that nothing is sieged is truly difficult. Consider stationing troops in every province, going up to 3 stab and adopting decisions/ideas for lower revol risk.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

I found the problem, it was a bug. There was some coding supposed to make it last a minimum of 1000 days, which instead made it impossible to remove if it lasted more than 1000 days. I installed the newest patch and that fixed it.

Now I can finally convert to protestantism without being completely swamped in rebellions!

 

[GarfunkeL]

Well I haven't played either, so I don't have a lot of things to compare it to. As far as complexity, is it more complex than the other Paradox games, and how much so?

Anyway, it's kind of academic now anyway, since I remembered I bought Hearts of Iron 2 off of gamersgate over a year ago and never played it.

Well, HoI2 is easier and simpler and has less features than HoI3. Um... HoI3 is Dwarf Fortress and HoI2 is Sim City - horrible analogy but close enough? Anyway, play HoI2 since you have bought it and have fun, do get the addons too and have fun finding my name amongst the betatesters (shameless pimping).

If you have played both EU2 and EU3 then the difference between the two is comparable. HoI3 has a more indepth research system, more provinces, more intricate command&control for the armed forces, much more complicated supply&logistics and has almost no scripted historical events.

 

[Destroid]

Got EU3 and MMU all set up and ready to go now. Currently reading through the 264 page manual which will take a while, but is Sweden or Norway a decent pick for a first play? Thinking I'll create some sort of Scandinavian Empire and then go from there, maybe go colonial?

 

[Malakal]

Norway is poor and very hard to play, Sweden is poor and hard to play. Not good choices. Scandinavia is so bad You wont even be interested in taking those lands...

France is good and a lot harder than vanilla. Austria is probably the easiest nation, Poland is good for supreme military might, Portugal for colonial games (but not very rich right away).

If You necessarily want Scandinavia maybe try Denmark?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'm still wondering about this whole "Austria is the easiest in MM" thing...

 

[Malakal]

I'm still wondering about this whole "Austria is the easiest in MM" thing...

THREE gold provinces at the start and massive base tax and excellent production give it the (probably) biggest income in Europe. Has close to extremely rich areas of Italy including unprotected Venice, borders Bohemia and Bavaria both easy targets for force vassalization or personal unions. Starts as an emperor thus reaping all benefits from the HRE = massive manpower and force limits, great opportunities for expansion and can abuse the position (imperial taxes etc). Will probably gain control over Netherlands area.

Oh yes, Austria is easy mode. Oh, did I forgot to mention starting PU with Hungary for expendable and always loyal ally with big armies? Austria is also made to control the Papacy too...

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

It seems you can't Force Vassalize Bohemia in MM though, which made me mighty butthurt. And since now those assholes have Electorate government, I can't even Claim their throne the old-fashioned way

 

[Destroid]

All the kickass LPs (I haven't got around to your CK one yet) have made me get EU3 first. I'll be choosing between CK and Vic2 after a few games, or what I feel like busting my brain learning a new system again.

 

[Serious_Business]

So whats a better game to play for someone who has played HoI1+2 but none of Paradox's other games, Victoria, EU, Crusader Kings or HoI3?

Crusader Kings is the easiest and at the same time it will fuck you up for no good reason and destroy your empire utterly, unlike the others where it at least makes some fucking sense when everything goes to shit (e.g. FFF's mongol map-painting extravaganza)

To be fair, CK fucking you up makes sense for the period (emphasis on personal rulers etc). I can't think of a better game that modelled the feodal system so proprely. Say, something like Medieval Total War is a joke in comparison, but of course it is a very mainstream game compared to CK. Speaking of which, Paradox is the latest rage on the codex isn't it? Anyway, the best game is still Victoria 1 VIP, as far as I'm concerned. EU2 for all the good historical shit, too.

EU3 is probably the staple game of all new next-gen paradox games (the circle will be completed when CK2 comes out). It's very simple, as far as pdox games go, even with all the expansions. There's a lot of stuff to do in it but all of it is fairly superficial. If you want the real deal, MM is the way to go, but then for a begginer that might not be such a good idea of course.

Its way more developed.

More provinces and better map, longer timeline, more techs and provincial improvements, unit types inside the classic division, new and improved game mechanics. Makes more sense too, instead of precoded 'historical' events.

Make Your own generals, form personal unions, provincial and national/religious decisions, better religion system, improved colonization, espionage, awesome concepts like national ideas further making difference between nations.

Unlike other sequels this one is simply better and more advanced in everything but computer requirements.

Bullshit. Why do you lie? You forgot the historical events. EU2 with AGCEEP (or For the Glory) is definitively a different experience than EU3. Better, as far as I'm concerned. MM is the only thing that can save EU3.

 

[deshields538]

For me multiplayer is where EU 3 really shines. I had this epic game with 2 of my friends where one of them invited his little brother to join. We did a very early start with me picking Tuscany (with the intention of forming Italy) while they picked France, Ottomans and the brother picking Austria.

The reason I mention my friend's bro is because at around 1550 sibling rivalry started to flare up with jibes like "lol, Austria is so strong, I could kick France's ass any time I liked." There were many other sibling issues but it eventually got so serious that Austria declared war because he feared that France was building up its armies to attack. France won eventually and his bro rage quit before returning later as Prussia.

By this time I'd formed Italy and become Holy Roman Emperor. But now the brother had set his sights on becoming HRE too. We got into a battle for influence among the electors and when it looked like he was going to win to started with the jibes again eg. "I'm going to be Holy Roman Emperor next when your king dies. Then you'll be giving your tax income to me bitch!"

I then released a couple of vassals to get Imperial Authority and promptly passed the reform that did away with elections.

He rage quit again.

 

[Erzherzog]

Speaking of which, Paradox is the latest rage on the codex isn't it?

And yet only one response to my thread about starting an EU3 or Vic2 game from you fuckers.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I'm on limited bandwidth atm (fucking O2 and especially BT) plus GamersGate is having issues with my bank so haven't gotten the latest expansions. Would love to play, otherwise

 

[Topher]

This is sort of unrelated but whatever. I'm playing a new game as the Cherokee Indians and I've annexed/conquered my neighbors... is they're anything else to do? Can I even tech-up?

 

[Raapys]

This is sort of unrelated but whatever. I'm playing a new game as the Cherokee Indians and I've annexed/conquered my neighbors... is they're anything else to do? Can I even tech-up?

You have so many tech penalties that research becomes extremely slow. Your best bet would be to try getting an explorer/conquistador; you'll want to 'find' as many other nations as you can, as that will eventually rid you of the 'Isolated' tech penalty. Other than that, just colonize as much as you can and prepare for an extremely tough fight when the invaders come; if you can be where they first arrive, you might be able to take their colonies as soon as they make them, and hopefully greatly outnumber any soldiers they send.

 

[Malakal]

Its way more developed.

More provinces and better map, longer timeline, more techs and provincial improvements, unit types inside the classic division, new and improved game mechanics. Makes more sense too, instead of precoded 'historical' events.

Make Your own generals, form personal unions, provincial and national/religious decisions, better religion system, improved colonization, espionage, awesome concepts like national ideas further making difference between nations.

Unlike other sequels this one is simply better and more advanced in everything but computer requirements.

Bullshit. Why do you lie? You forgot the historical events. EU2 with AGCEEP (or For the Glory) is definitively a different experience than EU3. Better, as far as I'm concerned. MM is the only thing that can save EU3.

Stop the lies start the truths. Those are not historical events those are SCRIPTED events. Difference? You can wage wars on Lithuania as Poland for the whole game and still inherit it when 1569 hits, You always get massive Austria due to other autoinheritances and really a LOT of events do not make any sense. How is that better? In EU III Poland starts in personal union with Lithuania and when certain, clear and obvious, shown for everyone, conditions are met Lithuania gets inherited. In EU II You got an event and thats it, no matter the relations, vassalization status, royal marriages etc etc...

EU III offers mechanics so that history can be shaped, EU II is reenacting history exactly as it was despite the fact that both AI and Player dont act accordingly.

But ultimately its a matter of preference.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Bros I have yet another bug with my game, and I cannot find any solution with google.

Thing is, as a westernized Japan my techs has started to decrease radically in cost! As soon as I research a government/trade/production tech, now priced at somewhere around 4000 ducats, the cost of the next tech in that series jump down to 900 ducats! With "neighbor bonuses" at around 50-70 ducats + adm skill and advisors this means that I rake in several techs each year! Ridiculously OP!

HALP!

 

[cardtrick]

As soon as I research a government/trade/production tech, now priced at somewhere around 4000 ducats, the cost of the next tech in that series jump down to 900 ducats! With "neighbor bonuses" at around 50-70 ducats + adm skill and advisors this means that I rake in several techs each year! Ridiculously OP!

This doesn't sound like a bug. There are 2 things going on:

1) When you Westernize, your "neighbors" become the other Western nations. They are so far ahead of you in tech, and there are so many of them, that you're getting huge neighbor bonuses.

2) The cost for different techs is not uniform. Check out this page from the wiki for the full details, but my guess is that you're somewhere in the tech 9 - 18 region, where things get really funky and some of the costs are very low.

(The reason for the weird costs, by the way, is because EU3 lets you start at any date, with any country, so Paradox did some outwardly strange things with research costs to try to balance it so that a game starting from 1399 and playing forward will result in roughly the same tech levels by a given date as a game actually starting on that date.)

 

[chzr]

It seems you can't Force Vassalize Bohemia in MM though

 

[Brotherman Bill]

As soon as I research a government/trade/production tech, now priced at somewhere around 4000 ducats, the cost of the next tech in that series jump down to 900 ducats! With "neighbor bonuses" at around 50-70 ducats + adm skill and advisors this means that I rake in several techs each year! Ridiculously OP!

2) The cost for different techs is not uniform. Check out this page from the wiki for the full details, but my guess is that you're somewhere in the tech 9 - 18 region, where things get really funky and some of the costs are very low.

(The reason for the weird costs, by the way, is because EU3 lets you start at any date, with any country, so Paradox did some outwardly strange things with research costs to try to balance it so that a game starting from 1399 and playing forward will result in roughly the same tech levels by a given date as a game actually starting on that date.)

Huh. Thanks man.

Yeah you're right I'm just starting to research tech 9 when this happens.

Prior to westernizing, research costs were at around 8000 ducats, then decreased to 5000 with muslim-izing, then decreased to 4000 with westernizing completely. I thought the decrease in cost was due to some bug with westernization bonuses counted twice or something.

Anyways it still feel like cheating

 

[Destroid]

I'm struggling abit with keeping my economy afloat - I'm playing as Portugal to learn the game (as recommended in the MMU manual) and even though I'm at peace, with only a moderate army (only paying 3.5 ducat in upkeep) and spamming merchants out there to the best places I can, I need to mint to break even and drive my inflation up .

Stability is +2, Admin is 5, I have not gone on any conquests, all my original colonies have turned into proper provinces. I was stuck in a war for a few years with England, but thats over now and my WE didn't go above 6 or so.

I'm making 26.5 income (5.5 from trade). My inflation is not bad (less than 1%) but it seems that letting it get high is a very bad idea.

 

[Malakal]

True, Portugal actually is rather poor at the start. Its recommended because it is very safe, can easily colonize a huge empire for itself and has natural allies. And can earn a lot from trading later.

Avoid sending merchants (in the beginning they usually cost more than bring in), focus on up to one-two trade cenetrs while being a part of a trade league (reccomend Venice and Alexandria), dont be afraid to mint a bit. Remember, some nations start with 10-300% tech penalty, 10% inflation is only as much as the first one!
Then go for spice route and reap the benefits of spice monopoly and obscenely rich CoTs in Asia.

 

[Destroid]

Yep I've invested in spice route but it has yet to pay off.

I've got a couple of merchants in Venice, and they produce good profit while they last, but they tend to get booted out sooner or later.

 

[Furious Flaming Faggot]

I recommend those of you who enjoy MM to find the forums for the recently announced MM game on the Paradox forums. It's being developed by the MM team, and published by Paradox. It already looks pretty good and will hopefully iron out a lot of the flaws with the basic game mechanics. In MM I'd say the easiest is either Austria or Castille. It's just that rampant expansion is difficult, even damning. MM is still a vast improvement over vanilla EU3. Any medium or large sized European power is a good introduction to it.

New world goods are obscenely valuable, eastern goods even more so, especially with the large population. Getting colonies in the East and West indies is vital for a colonial nation. Caribbean islands can even approach gold provinces in wealth with enough improvements.

 

[Destroid]

Well, I played through till 1492, got some colonies rolling and what have you. Interesting game, although I think I will enjoy playing it with a more military bent than as Portugal.

Probably the most annoying thing is playing popamole with the pirate ships that crop up from time to time, when they are so easily crushed by my fleets.

With regard to eco - is the best way to handle it to keep your minting as low as possible most of the time, then when you need a cash injection, take out loans and pay them back by minting? There doesn't seem to be a way to make money to pay for your armies and new investments without minting or loans and the resultant inflation.

Which is ok I guess, since the ideal modern real world economy operates under a low level of inflation. I had it up as high as 14% in my game, didn't seem to be a problem at all. I was even or ahead in technology compared to most euro nations.

Nothing much interesting happened in my game, other than Poland inheriting Lithuania and becoming xbox huge and then getting torn in half by Russia and Bohemia.