Europa Universalis IV

[oscar]

Brandenburg game so far.

I have to say this by far the best out-of-the-box release by Paradox yet. While all the sprite pack DLCs and whatnot are a little distasteful, their quality control has made leaps and bounds. It's also nice to see that Paradox staff themselves are interacting heavily with modders in both receiving ideas and providing assistance. For instance, I was browsing a mod that expanded English monarch names and a staff member asked if they could include it next patch. Pretty neat.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

My French game (I've played a lot)

I have most of the single province Catholic nations as vassals, and spread very slowly while getting used to the game. I like how annexing works in this game of vassals and PU'd countries. Also, I like the overextension and the coring mechanics this time, too. I think it's a great game, and definitely the best out of the box Pdox game yet. I've had no slowdowns and no crashes. Excellently done.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Anyone who thinks mesoamerica should be a cakewalk and weren't that advanced needs to not be a dumbfuck and read Bernal Diaz's "Conquest of New Spain" and Hernan Cortes' letters back to the Emperor. Europeans didn't beat the Aztecs, they just exploited the situation of a loosely constructed government, and that isn't modeled in the game. This is in stark contrast to better forms of governance in North America with the Iroqouis Confederacy being the prime example, which led to resistance to expansion well into the 1800s. Sure, Aztecs didn't have guns, horses, etc., but most of the time the Spaniard's horses were bogged down or ineffective, especially during any siege, and they were constantly low on powder for their rifles. They lost over 2,000 men getting expelled from Tenochitlan the first time and Cortes was almost killed, pretty handily in fact. Their two handed obsidian blades were better made than much of what the common soldiers were using, they just didn't have pikes(they later fashioned some out of captured Spanish steel), and obsidian is obviously not as durable.

Don't even know why I'm responding. Read a fucking history book, and Paradox should too. No excuses after four iterations of their "world spanning" strategy game.

 

[Kane]

obsidian is called ITZtli i nahuatl. the aztecs are also famous for their codices, which are largely ritual texts.

 

[SCO]

Do give feedback on the alt history scenario if you try it out, I'm all up for making a few adjustments if stuff crops up.

Spoiler

The logical one is that there is a french culture king, living in paris (capital of the empire).

My French game (I've played a lot)

:

obsidian is called ITZtli i nahuatl. the aztecs are also famous for their codices, which are largely ritual texts.

Aztec mythology is cool reading

 

[Kattze]

Anyone who thinks mesoamerica should be a cakewalk and weren't that advanced needs to not be a dumbfuck and read Bernal Diaz's "Conquest of New Spain" and Hernan Cortes' letters back to the Emperor. Europeans didn't beat the Aztecs, they just exploited the situation of a loosely constructed government, and that isn't modeled in the game. This is in stark contrast to better forms of governance in North America with the Iroqouis Confederacy being the prime example, which led to resistance to expansion well into the 1800s. Sure, Aztecs didn't have guns, horses, etc., but most of the time the Spaniard's horses were bogged down or ineffective, especially during any siege, and they were constantly low on powder for their rifles. They lost over 2,000 men getting expelled from Tenochitlan the first time and Cortes was almost killed, pretty handily in fact. Their two handed obsidian blades were better made than much of what the common soldiers were using, they just didn't have pikes(they later fashioned some out of captured Spanish steel), and obsidian is obviously not as durable.

Don't even know why I'm responding. Read a fucking history book, and Paradox should too. No excuses after four iterations of their "world spanning" strategy game.

Tlaxcalan support was so crucial to the Spaniards' success such that after the conquest of Mexico, Tlaxcalans have a higher status compared to the other Indios.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Do give feedback on the alt history scenario if you try it out, I'm all up for making a few adjustments if stuff crops up.

Map of your EU scenario plox?

I posted the initial version of the whole thing for download on page 30.

 

[Ulminati]

Things are going pretty well for Great Britain. After several attemps at figuring out how to win the 100 years war, I finally found a solid strategy and went with it. Very few men were lost and France accepted a personal union. As my new vassal, they couldn't interfere when I shipped my men north and beat the everloving shit out of Scotland. Then my king had the good grace to die. But he had produced a heir, so I didn't get pulled into the War of the Roses. And the new heir was a 3/5/2 übermensch that helped me catch up in exploration tech.


After spending a couple of years recovering manpower and jewgoldz, I led a lighting blitz against Burgundy. My froggy vassals gleefully dogpiled onto them and the eventual settlement saw me taking all their gold, 2 of their provinces and them releasing 4 provinces as independent nations. Burgundy well and truly destabilized, I then turned my eyes to Brittany. They keeled over pretty quick and a period of stabilization followed. I eventually managed to unlock the quest for the new world idea and used portogese naval basing rights to ger my first colony across the Atlantic. My blob in eastern Canada is growing steadily now.

The thing I don't get is the whole personal union thingie. The french have been my slaves partners for 50 years now. I have a royal marriage and a 190+ relations with them. But when I use the diplomacy option to integrate them into my Grorius Empire, I get a negative progress modifier and the integration is stuck at 0. The game is being pretty vague about how to boost whatever factors determine integration speed. Which kind of sucks. I was looking forward to the French being part of my empire proper, just like Denmark did to Norway a couple of years earlier.

 

[pocahaunted]

Managed to break my game due to overextension as I annexed the Aztecs, have rebel doomstacks popping up all over the place, fighting them got my manpower close to zero so I can't really do much about it since coring stops when provinces become occupied (obviously so).

 

[Spectacle]

Managed to break my game due to overextension as I annexed the Aztecs, have rebel doomstacks popping up all over the place, fighting them got my manpower close to zero so I can't really do much about it since coring stops when provinces become occupied (obviously so).

How about reducing your overextension by releasing some non-core provinces as vassals?

 

[Kane]

Managed to break my game due to overextension as I annexed the Aztecs, have rebel doomstacks popping up all over the place, fighting them got my manpower close to zero so I can't really do much about it since coring stops when provinces become occupied (obviously so).

How about reducing your overextension by releasing some non-core provinces as vassals?

You can only release unoccupied provinces.

 

[Malakal]

Anyone who thinks mesoamerica should be a cakewalk and weren't that advanced needs to not be a dumbfuck and read Bernal Diaz's "Conquest of New Spain" and Hernan Cortes' letters back to the Emperor. Europeans didn't beat the Aztecs, they just exploited the situation of a loosely constructed government, and that isn't modeled in the game. This is in stark contrast to better forms of governance in North America with the Iroqouis Confederacy being the prime example, which led to resistance to expansion well into the 1800s. Sure, Aztecs didn't have guns, horses, etc., but most of the time the Spaniard's horses were bogged down or ineffective, especially during any siege, and they were constantly low on powder for their rifles. They lost over 2,000 men getting expelled from Tenochitlan the first time and Cortes was almost killed, pretty handily in fact. Their two handed obsidian blades were better made than much of what the common soldiers were using, they just didn't have pikes(they later fashioned some out of captured Spanish steel), and obsidian is obviously not as durable.

Don't even know why I'm responding. Read a fucking history book, and Paradox should too. No excuses after four iterations of their "world spanning" strategy game.

Aztec government was unstable? Low tech level. Aztec military was primitive? Low tech level. Aztecs didnt have a navy nor did they trade or explore much? Low tech level. Their representation in the game is generous as is since they can advance before the Europeans come in. And the game does not handle 200 vs 20000 situations well it handles 20000 vs 20000 and with those numbers Aztecs or other natives dont stand a chance.

So if you have issues with how the game represents Aztecs or other natives you should blame the logistics and being easily able to ferry 20000 troops from Spain to America. Otherwise if you gave natives good tech modifiers Europe should start at like 100 techs more to balance that. Steel vs stone, yes obsidian is a stone. Caravels vs canoes. Bows vs muskets.

Seriously, they didnt even use wheel. Sure, without domesticated animals its less useful but you can always use carts to transport goods, its WAY better than carrying everything.

 

[pocahaunted]

Managed to break my game due to overextension as I annexed the Aztecs, have rebel doomstacks popping up all over the place, fighting them got my manpower close to zero so I can't really do much about it since coring stops when provinces become occupied (obviously so).

How about reducing your overextension by releasing some non-core provinces as vassals?

You can only release unoccupied provinces.

Yep. Apparently I'll have to allow them to secede and deal with them later. Somehow, a backwater shithole with a lv3 military develops lv15 rebels overnight and gets to keep that same development level after secession. Derp.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Decided to stretch my legs as byzantium and come to the aid of wurtemberg against austria, 4 years of grinding attritional warfare before i said bollocks and abandoned the alliance. Tell you what, you keep your wet, squalid, mountain provinces and i'll hang on to my disgustingly lucrative anatolia thanks.

Europe...wot a fucking catholic shithole

Yes, truly amazing, lets focus on "civilizations" fighting with stone weapons. You should be happy natives are even allowed to tech beyond lvl 1 in any tech.

No, you potato headed fuck. With the amount of shite that's copy pasta'd in this glorified expansion it's about time they filled in the fucking blanks.

 

[oscar]

By the games parameters the most accurate 'representation' would be for Castile/Spain to simply inherit it via an event in 1521. Obviously, this wouldn't be very fun for a human playing the Aztecs but it's an extraordinary situation that is difficult to simulate.

 

[Sranchammer]

The Aztecs and Incas should only be fun to play until the Europeans arrive. Perhaps a nice Incan Succession War once contact with Europe is made.

 

[RedScum]

Just got hit by Peasant wars and Troubled times with Russia. It hurts.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Things are going pretty well for Great Britain. After several attemps at figuring out how to win the 100 years war, I finally found a solid strategy and went with it. Very few men were lost and France accepted a personal union. As my new vassal, they couldn't interfere when I shipped my men north and beat the everloving shit out of Scotland. Then my king had the good grace to die. But he had produced a heir, so I didn't get pulled into the War of the Roses. And the new heir was a 3/5/2 übermensch that helped me catch up in exploration tech.


After spending a couple of years recovering manpower and jewgoldz, I led a lighting blitz against Burgundy. My froggy vassals gleefully dogpiled onto them and the eventual settlement saw me taking all their gold, 2 of their provinces and them releasing 4 provinces as independent nations. Burgundy well and truly destabilized, I then turned my eyes to Brittany. They keeled over pretty quick and a period of stabilization followed. I eventually managed to unlock the quest for the new world idea and used portogese naval basing rights to ger my first colony across the Atlantic. My blob in eastern Canada is growing steadily now.

The thing I don't get is the whole personal union thingie. The french have been my slaves partners for 50 years now. I have a royal marriage and a 190+ relations with them. But when I use the diplomacy option to integrate them into my Grorius Empire, I get a negative progress modifier and the integration is stuck at 0. The game is being pretty vague about how to boost whatever factors determine integration speed. Which kind of sucks. I was looking forward to the French being part of my empire proper, just like Denmark did to Norway a couple of years earlier.

I think it's really hard to inherit large countries in PUs. I don't know what the specific modifiers are, though.

 

[Whisky]

Odd. It's 1560 right now in my Norse Great Britain save transfer and it seems the Protestant Reformation hasn't happened yet. Does it not happen in save transfers, or is this due to the fact that there's only about four remaining Catholic nations in my game?

 

[Ulminati]

Defender of the faith is fucked up. You lose if if someone calls on you to help them in their shitty wars. Even when the person calling you is some Bavarian shithole who got it into his head that he wanted to conquer the Papacy. How the fuck can the Catholic Defender of the Faith title be dependant on me agreeing to beat the shit out of the pope?

 

[Grinolf]

Odd. It's 1560 right now in my Norse Great Britain save transfer and it seems the Protestant Reformation hasn't happened yet. Does it not happen in save transfers, or is this due to the fact that there's only about four remaining Catholic nations in my game?

Reformatinon triggered by hight "reform desire". That number grow depending on choises of all catholic nation in various events. So if there are too few catholic countries, they can't accumulate enough points for Reformation.

 

[Whisky]

Odd. It's 1560 right now in my Norse Great Britain save transfer and it seems the Protestant Reformation hasn't happened yet. Does it not happen in save transfers, or is this due to the fact that there's only about four remaining Catholic nations in my game?

Reformatinon triggered by hight "reform desire". That number grow depending on choises of all catholic nation in various events. So if there are too few catholic countries, they can't accumulate enough points for Reformation.

Ahhh, of course. I forgot about that Reform Desire number.

Well, the Byzantines just converted to Catholicism for reasons I cannot comprehend, so hopefully they'll rack up a few more points of it.

 

[Grinolf]

Well, the Byzantines just converted to Catholicism for reasons I cannot comprehend, so hopefully they'll rack up a few more points of it.

Well, reformation balanced for start with around half hundred of catholic countries. So good luck with triggering it. And I am not sure, there are some date limit or not. Guess, I need to look into it.

 

[RedScum]

Mighty russia will probably meet mighty potato in battle soon.

Spoiler

Hnnghh..that revolt risk,

 

[Malakal]

If it was AI vs AI I would bet on Poland winning battles then collapsing due to war exhaustion and rebels. You on the other hand just have to prolong the war a bit and mix of cultures will bring Polish downfall.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

So far I've listed a few thing I'll probably do in regards to the mod:

1) Add a conversion to Protestantism decision for the three possible baltic breakaway states from Uralica, as well as enable Prot spread events for them?
2) Make Uralica start as a Tribal government to add a bit of instability (breakaway states are Feudal Monarchies)? Tribal Despotism or Tribal Federation being the obvious choices.
3) Breakdown events for Uralica if is AI and shit is fucked. Maybe a player version too where you pick which tag change you go through.
4) Vinland event for Jomsvikings if they cease being a theocracy/Norse and have provinces in North America.
5) Prevent Welsh from forming Great Britain, add Anglo-Scottish revolt events if the Empire is in dire straits.
6) Rename the other Aquitane (the big one) to something cool, surrender money suggestions welcome.
7) Special national idea set for Karelia, being the legitimate successor for the CK2 campaign state.
8) Finno-Ugric civil war for Uralica breakdown between successor states?
9) Uralica as a variant of Celestial Empire?
10) Italian Uprising event for Burgundy-Italy. A lot depends on if you can set the Italians to a Coalition War when it occurs so only Naples can make peace, war ends via event if Burgundy is winning. On defeat Burgundy-Italy would revert to being Burgundy. If it pisses me off too much to work on it, it's just generic forced release + tag change in exchange for restored stability.