Europa Universalis IV

[Vaarna_Aarne]

That's actually my favourite hated bug: The AI is a dumbass who doesn't bring its stacks back to the homeland after not-conquering or losing territory. It just leaves them there.

A very good APD example is the "Satsuma will forever be free" situation, where AI Japan just forgets to withdraw its stacks from Kyushu and thus cannot declare war.

EDIT: Right now I've started a "let's see what happens if ALL the states within Russia are freed from the start" campaign as Ural State (next time will probably try to create Potato-Hitman Commonwealth), and things are going craaaaaazy. Well, not really. Just less disruptions to Prussian beatings of Austria, and Prussia conquered another slice of Poland like they've done in my three previous campaigns.

I think I should try a Grossdeutschland campaign at some point.

 

[Luzur]

So I put 27 hours into EU3 in the last week. (Thanks Luzur).

I think I have a grasp on the basics now (tutorials are for pussies, so I figured everything out by trial and error). Firstly, I find it boring to play as the super powers, it's much more fun to take a 2nd or 3rd rate power and dominate. So started a handful of games as Denmark and Ayutthaya, and a couple as Sweden.

My main complaint in general is that there is a lack of direct actions you can take. Everything except diplomacy and wars feel like it's adjusting some minor rate and waiting 10 years to see the effect. Peacetime in general is extremely boring. Diplomacy kind of sucks other than suing for peace, which is amazing. Here's my list of complaints about diplomacy:

Why can't I demand recurring tribute?
Why can't I work with another nation to research faster?
Why is there no direct nation to nation trade and everything goes through CoTs?
Why can't I make battle plans with my allies(like in Alpha Centauri where you could ask your allies to attack a specific city)?
Why can't I demand tribute during peace time, especially from vessels? Followed by, why can't I threaten war if a nation won't cooperate?

Also, I wish you could manage the royal family like you can Total War games. Just being able to see the family tree and set an heir would be nice.

exactly, i would love for EU4 to be a mix of the EU series, Crusader Kings, Civilization and Total War.

do you want fries with that too?

no, i take some Chicken Bits instead, thanks.

 

[GarfunkeL]

That's actually my favourite hated bug: The AI is a dumbass who doesn't bring its stacks back to the homeland after not-conquering or losing territory. It just leaves them there.

A very good APD example is the "Satsuma will forever be free" situation, where AI Japan just forgets to withdraw its stacks from Kyushu and thus cannot declare war.

EDIT: Right now I've started a "let's see what happens if ALL the states within Russia are freed from the start" campaign as Ural State (next time will probably try to create Potato-Hitman Commonwealth), and things are going craaaaaazy. Well, not really. Just less disruptions to Prussian beatings of Austria, and Prussia conquered another slice of Poland like they've done in my three previous campaigns.

I think I should try a Grossdeutschland campaign at some point.

Hmm, since you're capable of modding, might want to delve into what the 4.02 patch for TFH/HoI3 did for the AI, as it's now much better on running over-seas campaigns and doesn't abandon most of its army on some unnamed Pacific Island. Namely, I've seen Japan actually conquer most of Pacific, including Sydney, before the Kwa throw them back and land in Osaka by '44/'45 - so if the HoI3 AI can now manage that, one would think that the Vicky2 AI could be taught the same thing.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I don't do AI modding tho, I'm only good for fairly basic stuff.

 

[Irenaeus]

Why can't I work with another nation to research faster?

When was this done in EU3's period?

 

[tuluse]

Why can't I work with another nation to research faster?

When was this done in EU3's period?

When did governments invest in technology at all in the 1400s? Wasn't all research done by bored monks?

 

[Irenaeus]

Why can't I work with another nation to research faster?

When was this done in EU3's period?

When did governments invest in technology at all in the 1400s? Wasn't all research done by bored monks?

Well, there have been Universities around since the 11th century. Also, madrassas and similar stuff in China.
Other than that, there were those Renaissance men, like Leonardo (not the turtle). Also, there were also military and naval proto-academies around for those types of tech.
I think governments didn't invest directly on research, other than grants for scholars and academies. If I were designing a grand strategy game, I would place an somewhat unfocused research system based on the countries current activities (might be a lot work to devise correlations) and, of course, the always fun randomness.

 

[Malakal]

The most realistic research system in Paradox games was introduced in CK where its mostly random, slow, and beyond your control. It perfectly shows how it was done in medieval times and up to the XIX century. Its just that players hate this kind of research.

 

[Delterius]

Have they said anything about technology discrepancy between Western Europe and the World? Will I still be able to conquer a Indian-spanning empire with 40 thousand troops?

 

[Average Manatee]

I hope missions and decisions will be a bit more free-form. Sure England gets in fights with France a lot, but if I'm Aragon or Savoy and France is my rival I want similar stuff to happen.

Have they said anything about technology discrepancy between Western Europe and the World? Will I still be able to conquer a Indian-spanning empire with 40 thousand troops?

I'd be OK about the tech discrepancy if Paradox would let natives actually properly mass and surround western armies at 10:1 odds. The way EU3 combat worked was that the enemy landed 20k units on a 20k supply limit (god help you if the AI landed 30k and just beat attrition with manpower) and you had to attack with your 20k army. And even if you were fighting 40k vs 20k, your flanks did jack shit and just stood in line until the middle died rather than a surround and rape. So give lower tech units a 2-5x supply bonus depending on tech level and let excess troops flank like they are in other paradox games. And of course they need a way to support the troops on a gimped economy, so make the cost and maintenance cheaper as well.

 

[tuluse]

Sweden as more important than Portugal and Austria hahahaohwow.jpg

I'm not sure the numbers within the tiers are rankings. I think they're treating all tier 1 countries as equally important.

 

[Average Manatee]

Sweden as more important than Portugal and Austria hahahaohwow.jpg

Swedish devs. Not that it matters, both are in the same tier. Look at Bohemia, apparently it's less relevant than Japan. Someone at Paradox is about 500 years off.

 

[Delterius]

From a game balance stand point? Eastern Europe sucks without a eastern european empire. The first time it ever happened to me was when Hungary formed "Russia" through Poland and Crimea, and it was a pretty awesome game. Especially since the Big Blue Blob just hasn't happened for quite some time now.

From a determinism X freedom point of view? Some manner of determinism is necessary - otherwise the game starts feeling like fantasyland after a few playthroughs. One where nothing has anything to do with our world.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, I agree that you want some semblance of power balance between regions. Eastern Europe is just a cluster fuck in EU3.

True. Japan at the time was a divided, insignificant feudal backwater. I would've put Genoa, Viyanagar (always becomes a monster in my games), Hungary or Burgundy ahead of them.

Not only that, but Japan completely cut off foreign trade from anyone other than china and the dutch, which were restricted to a tiny island away from mainland japan. This lasted from the 17th century until the US forced it open again in the 19th century. EU3 is about a time period of colonization and trade, and Japan is literally the least involved with any of that in the world.

I'd definitely like to see Burgundy somewhere. It always annoyed me that it was just a pushover for France at the start of EU3, but now it's a nice contender to the throne that has a decent shot of winning. Again, I hope that some French events will carry over to Burgundy whenever Burgundy is dominating.

 

[oscar]

Japan turning completely isolationist isn't something that should be set in stone. Following the Sengoku Jidai they had the best firearms in the world and were Westernising (large numbers of the populace were even converting to Christianity) due to extensive trade and contact with Europeans. It's quite plausible that we could have seen a more aggressive and assertive Japan in the 17th and 18th century had the Tokugawa not gained control and enacted sakoku. With a large population, efficient economy and ready access to Western technology and advances we probably would have seen them expanding into the Pacific, butting heads with the Qing over Korea, and a lot more of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasions_of_Korea_(1592–1598)

 

[Average Manatee]

Japan turning completely isolationist isn't something that should be set in stone. Following the Sengoku Jidai they had the best firearms in the world and were Westernising (large numbers of the populace were even converting to Christianity) due to extensive trade and contact with Europeans. It's quite plausible that we could have seen a more aggressive and assertive Japan in the 17th and 18th century had the Tokugawa not gained control and enacted sakoku. With a large population, efficient economy and ready access to Western technology and advances we probably would have seen them expanding into the Pacific, butting heads with the Qing over Korea, and a lot more of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasions_of_Korea_(1592–1598)

Yeah, but the point isn't what if. Otherwise Paradox should start putting time into making content for a what-if scenario of Poland taking over the world and reaching space by the 18th century. Or Aztecs invading europe

 

[Kattze]

Japan turning completely isolationist isn't something that should be set in stone. Following the Sengoku Jidai they had the best firearms in the world and were Westernising (large numbers of the populace were even converting to Christianity) due to extensive trade and contact with Europeans. It's quite plausible that we could have seen a more aggressive and assertive Japan in the 17th and 18th century had the Tokugawa not gained control and enacted sakoku. With a large population, efficient economy and ready access to Western technology and advances we probably would have seen them expanding into the Pacific, butting heads with the Qing over Korea, and a lot more of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasions_of_Korea_(1592–1598)

I've read somewhere that Toyotomi Hideyoshi (ie. last paramount Japanese ruler before Tokugawa Ieyasu) was even contemplating an invasion of Spanish Philippines. Given that Japanese guns (teppo) at that time were superior to that of Europeans at that time, I bet they would have completely overrun the Spaniards.

 

[Malakal]

Sweden as more important than Portugal and Austria hahahaohwow.jpg

I'm not sure the numbers within the tiers are rankings. I think they're treating all tier 1 countries as equally important.

Sweden shouldn't be tier 1 at all but its just their bias. Austria/France/England/Castille/Portugal/Muscovy/Ottoman Empire/Poland should be tier 1 with special help aimed at Brandenburg to perform as it did. Scandinavia is utterly unimportant as far as this game is concerned.

 

[oscar]

Exactly. Before the Tokugawa the Japanese were getting their hands into all kinds of overseas business. It should be just as possible for them to Westernise (though for a big stability penalty and probably make them face a huge traditionalist revolt to balance it out) and go onto kick serious ass. This isn't ASB territory as Tokugawa's ascension was hardly a historical certainty.

The AGCEEP mod for the venerable EUII was fantastic on this front. Thousands of complex event chains for majors and minors and alternate history chains. Ruling the English Republic as Cromwell or bring the Reformation a century early as the Hussites were great experiences. I like some specific historical events (if the parameters are similar to the situation that the event occurred in real life) because the generic EUIII-style events simply can't model something like the English Civil War.

 

[RedScum]

Sweden shouldn't be tier 1 at all but its just their bias. Austria/France/England/Castille/Portugal/Muscovy/Ottoman Empire/Poland should be tier 1 with special help aimed at Brandenburg to perform as it did. Scandinavia is utterly unimportant as far as this game is concerned.

You jelly potato?

 

[Erzherzog]

Sweden was rather significant in the 30 Years War and in the Great Northern War. I hate to say it but for the timeline they're quite important.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Sshhh, don't put words of sense in here! It's all about everyone's national butthurt about to overflow!

 

[ohWOW]

Sweden was, is and will be an unimportant wasteland no one is interested in.
Eventually, they will die out, as they suck on librul homo propaganda and soon every male there will be gay and every kid aborted.

 

[GarfunkeL]

See what I mean? M:

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Sshhh, don't put words of sense in here! It's all about everyone's national butthurt about to overflow!

The worst part is that us Finns have nowhere to go in this! In a way we should probably support the Swedes in hopes that they make the Hackapell decision better or add a special Idea about the scruffy Finnish cavalry. But on the other hand they're fucking tar-stealing Swedes.

Exactly. Before the Tokugawa the Japanese were getting their hands into all kinds of overseas business. It should be just as possible for them to Westernise (though for a big stability penalty and probably make them face a huge traditionalist revolt to balance it out) and go onto kick serious ass. This isn't ASB territory as Tokugawa's ascension was hardly a historical certainty.

Sengoku Jidai is a bit too nuanced for a game operating on EU scale though. It doesn't help that the whole period was turned on its head by minor underdogs suddenly starting to kick all kinds of ass around them (I'm talking about Nobunaga and the Battle of Okehazama, which the war mechanics simply could never handle, what with some 2,000 men defeating ten times their number)