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So, since CK2 has its own and I've seen others playing this game, I thought it was time to start one for EU4.
So, I've been doing some games lately - as Poland, and from my CK2 export as Wendish Empire, and today I've read some vital stuff I didn't know that will now revolutionize how I play these factions. What do I mean?
Well, for one, trade and merchants - you collect automatically in your "home" trade node. So yeah, having one merchant more for transfers is just godly. As Wendish I have my capital in Lubeck trade node (Stettin), and control Lubeck, Baltic Sea and potentially also Novogrod if I had another merchant - which I goddamn have, it would seem. Now most of Novogrod's trade is sent through White Sea to North Sea, circumventing my Baltic and Lubeck nodes, I can change that now. Also in the future with Trade Ideas that's also sending to Astrakhan and Kazan to divert trade there towards Novogrod and then to Baltic and Lubeck. Should make a hefty profit, yes? If I wanted/could go against Byzantium I could also do it Astrakhan-Crimea-Kiev-Baltic-Lubeck, since I have pretty much all the land in the Kiev trade node and could control the flow there without much investment. In any case, this makes for a whole new game!
The second thing - to get a culture as Accepted it has to have a large enough share of your income. It means multi-nationals like the future Commonwealth or my Wendish can easily make Russian an accepted culture through conquest/annexation, without the need to dump diplo power in it, leaving it for tech and trade infrastructure instead. Quite nifty.
Then there's this - Claim Throne actually gives you a Casus Belli to do it by force, and you don't actually have to wait and pray the other guy dies without an heir, you can just press the issue militarily. This would have given me Rus and Sweden at the very least in my Wendish game, and as Commonwealth it would be Sweden as well, letting me monopolize the baltic trade node. At 84% required warscore this is a godly tool for expansion.
Think it's time to begin another game. Again. Maybe Ironman. Think the secret may be in foregoing westward expansion as Poland/Commonwealth, having great relations with the HRE/joining the HRE and expanding east and north to prevent the creation of Russia by Muscovy and dominate Baltic trade, all the while acting as Ottomans don't exist. Perhaps I could even try to dislodge Austria as the emperor and replace them, though I wouldn't like to have to form the Empire and lose my colours! A Commonwealth/HRE union would be unstoppable.
Also, I think westernization is a sad requirement for playing big. Military Tech lvl 20+ the gap in units gets quite horrific.
Europa Universalis IV the thread
#1
Gothos 
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Posted 03 January 2014 - 11:42 AM
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#2
Gothos
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Posted 03 January 2014 - 11:43 AM
Oh and also fuck the converter from making my Wendish Empire started as Pomerania as Germanic cultures group, decision to form Prussia and EASTERN tech. Please make up your mind, game.
Also, I seem to be plagued by either ridiculously dumb (1/1/2 like) or autistic (0/6/0) rulers, while everyone around me seems to have superhero rulers. Dafuq?
Also, I seem to be plagued by either ridiculously dumb (1/1/2 like) or autistic (0/6/0) rulers, while everyone around me seems to have superhero rulers. Dafuq?
This post has been edited by Gothos: 03 January 2014 - 11:50 AM
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#3
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Posted 03 January 2014 - 01:46 PM
Gothos, on 03 January 2014 - 11:42 AM, said:
The second thing - to get a culture as Accepted it has to have a large enough share of your income. It means multi-nationals like the future Commonwealth or my Wendish can easily make Russian an accepted culture through conquest/annexation, without the need to dump diplo power in it, leaving it for tech and trade infrastructure instead. Quite nifty.
The threshold for getting accepted cultures is at the moment 20% of base tax, which makes getting Russian accepted fairly easy. The others not so much, especially once Lithuania is integrated. However, you can lose accepted culture if it then drops below 10%, which to my mind hardly makes sense, but anyway.
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Then there's this - Claim Throne actually gives you a Casus Belli to do it by force, and you don't actually have to wait and pray the other guy dies without an heir, you can just press the issue militarily. This would have given me Rus and Sweden at the very least in my Wendish game, and as Commonwealth it would be Sweden as well, letting me monopolize the baltic trade node. At 84% required warscore this is a godly tool for expansion.
It used to be, but now the same-dynasty requirement limits its usefulness somewhat. So now you either have to spread your dynasty around or fall into an established one, like the Habsburgs. When it works though it's incredible. After falling into the Valois dynasty as Byzantium, I was able to integrate a French state with land in southern England and Aragon, giving me complete control of the Mediterranean.
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Think it's time to begin another game. Again. Maybe Ironman. Think the secret may be in foregoing westward expansion as Poland/Commonwealth, having great relations with the HRE/joining the HRE and expanding east and north to prevent the creation of Russia by Muscovy and dominate Baltic trade, all the while acting as Ottomans don't exist. Perhaps I could even try to dislodge Austria as the emperor and replace them, though I wouldn't like to have to form the Empire and lose my colours! A Commonwealth/HRE union would be unstoppable.
Also, I think westernization is a sad requirement for playing big. Military Tech lvl 20+ the gap in units gets quite horrific.
Also, I think westernization is a sad requirement for playing big. Military Tech lvl 20+ the gap in units gets quite horrific.
Preventing Russia from forming is very easy. Just make Muscovy release Perm before 1500 and they lose their access to Siberia (they need a land connection to colonise eastward). Russia without Siberia is a pushover.
Also you don't have to form the Empire once you're Emperor. Just pass the penultimate reform and stay Emperor of a HRE that's unified in all but name, and watch your vassal hordes swarm like ants over your enemies.
Gothos, on 03 January 2014 - 11:43 AM, said:
Also, I seem to be plagued by either ridiculously dumb (1/1/2 like) or autistic (0/6/0) rulers, while everyone around me seems to have superhero rulers. Dafuq?
The lucky nations have a +1 to all leader stats (among other things), leading them to have exceptionally good rulers (and thus tech levels as well). So in 1444 England, France, Castile, Austria, Muscovy, Sweden, Portugal and the Ottomans are lucky, and thus prosper accordingly. Anything else (like Ulm for instance having godlike rulers) is probably just confirmation bias though.
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.
#4
Gothos
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Posted 03 January 2014 - 02:54 PM
+1 is all nice and dandy, but they continuously get leaders like 6/5/5, 6/4/5, 6/5/6 etc, every generation. It gets annoying when I'm stuck with 0 admin fuckups that make my admin tech stall for half a century due to all the arbitrary comets and other stability consuming shit that comes every now and then. Not to mention last game I had rulers change 4 times in 10 years, and they weren't old or leading armies either, just chain-deaths until I had a foreign dynasty on my throne. And yeah, my branch of the family of af Munso were drooling halfwits, while the guy sitting in Sweden was 6/4/5. Good times. Should've DOWed them.
Do all the HRE vassals take up diplomatic relation slots? That's quite a few, even with Emperor bonuses.
Never felt much threathened by Muscovy anyway, just frustrated by their ties to Bohemia and Austria and how they just kept re-allying every time I forced them to annul treaties after a war. Fighting all 3 of those every time I want to pop some gain is really tiresome.
Makes me wonder in some of the timelapse videos on youtube, Poland tends to have some gains against HRE nations like Bohemia and Brandenburg before even forming the Commonwealth. I wonder how they make the Emperor not intervene?
Do all the HRE vassals take up diplomatic relation slots? That's quite a few, even with Emperor bonuses.
Never felt much threathened by Muscovy anyway, just frustrated by their ties to Bohemia and Austria and how they just kept re-allying every time I forced them to annul treaties after a war. Fighting all 3 of those every time I want to pop some gain is really tiresome.
Makes me wonder in some of the timelapse videos on youtube, Poland tends to have some gains against HRE nations like Bohemia and Brandenburg before even forming the Commonwealth. I wonder how they make the Emperor not intervene?
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#5
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Posted 03 January 2014 - 03:33 PM
Gothos, on 03 January 2014 - 02:54 PM, said:
+1 is all nice and dandy, but they continuously get leaders like 6/5/5, 6/4/5, 6/5/6 etc, every generation. It gets annoying when I'm stuck with 0 admin fuckups that make my admin tech stall for half a century due to all the arbitrary comets and other stability consuming shit that comes every now and then. Not to mention last game I had rulers change 4 times in 10 years, and they weren't old or leading armies either, just chain-deaths until I had a foreign dynasty on my throne. And yeah, my branch of the family of af Munso were drooling halfwits, while the guy sitting in Sweden was 6/4/5. Good times. Should've DOWed them.
Lucky nations do get shit rulers occasionally, it just means that the average stats of their rulers is higher (so the absolute lowest they can get is 1/1/1). As percentages for the stats gets lower as they get higher, that +1 base bonus really starts to matter as they can be 10% more likely to get a 5 stat ruler than you are, meaning it happens way more often. You think it's bad now though, before 1.2 it used to be a +2 bonus.
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Do all the HRE vassals take up diplomatic relation slots? That's quite a few, even with Emperor bonuses.
Nope. After Revoke the Privilegia (or maybe Proclaim Erbkaisertum, I can't remember) any vassals released within HRE territory don't cost a relations slot. That also means that you can conquer territory (Denmark for instance), add it to the empire and then release it as a vassal without it costing a diplomatic relation. One guy (I think he did it as the PLC) managed to get 125 vassals that way.
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Never felt much threathened by Muscovy anyway, just frustrated by their ties to Bohemia and Austria and how they just kept re-allying every time I forced them to annul treaties after a war. Fighting all 3 of those every time I want to pop some gain is really tiresome.
Makes me wonder in some of the timelapse videos on youtube, Poland tends to have some gains against HRE nations like Bohemia and Brandenburg before even forming the Commonwealth. I wonder how they make the Emperor not intervene?
Makes me wonder in some of the timelapse videos on youtube, Poland tends to have some gains against HRE nations like Bohemia and Brandenburg before even forming the Commonwealth. I wonder how they make the Emperor not intervene?
The common way to get people into a war without drawing in their allies is to declare war on a third party allied with your target that also isn't allied with anyone you can't afford pissing off. That brings your target into the war, and unless they become warleader they can't call in the Emperor and you can make a separate peace. For instance, you want to take a bite out of Bohemia. Hungary is allied with Bohemia and Savoy. Attacking Hungary will bring Bohemia into the war, without dragging in Austria, because Hungary isn't a HRE member. Carpet-siege Bohemia, take what you want in peace and then make a separate peace with Hungary. You can make a lot of gains very quickly that way, though you'll have coalitions spawning out of your ass if you do so.
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.
#6
Gothos
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Posted 06 January 2014 - 12:31 AM
Nifty thing about that HRE. But if/when I tried adding myself, I was already too big for the Kaiser to accept it - after incorporating Mazovia, Moldavia and Teutonic Order into Poland. Might have to make that move earlier, right at the start, yes? Sell someone some provinces maybe? And later - how do you make electors like you enough to vote? Prestige&Relations?
So I did an Ironman Mode game as Poland -> Commonwealth, it's the 1720ies and things have been quite interesting. I've been more aggressive northwards and southwards this time and completely ignored Muscovy. This lead, after the standard opener of Alliance->PU with Lithuania -> vassalize Teutons -> incorporate Mazovia, Moldavia and TU, I took Livonia off of Denmark, Livonian Knights and Riga rather early. It was kind of risky, I ended up having 2 coalitions against me when doing that but I prevailed. Then I started nibbing on Hungary bit by bit. Some gametime onwards and I've formed the Commonwealth, my alliances at this time were Austria, Pomerania and Serbia (who blobbed a bit while not being bothered by Ottomans and me succesively cannibalizing Hungary. I've managed to be mostly up to date with military tech throughout the entire game, so I've got that going for me. It's way too much to describe everything that happened so I'll just say the big picture over time:
Austria did their usual thing with implementing imperial reforms. At the current time the HRE is restored and brings me much anxiety and joy as Austria was my friend but the HRE isn't in the least.
Hungary got eaten by me completely, though it took a painfuly long time, especially since the point they became a Duchy not a Kingdom and were allied to France, vassalizing them at this point (with France taking lead of the war) became... doubtful. In the end I got them due to their alliance to Brandenburg who left the HRE after the vassal reform and, oh yeah, I finally consumed those guys too a bit later. And Croatia. Oh and the thing with Ironman - one time they called me to war and it was just autosaving and I was clicking on some other dialogue window and the game interpreted it as me refusing to join the war - we became very distant since then, and they're in the HRE team now.
To the north, after the initial danish dominance, Gotland emerged, then Sweden, who consumed Gotland and took a large chunk out of the danish. Also Norway split at one point and stayed that way. Denmark, for a long time my bitter trade rival, got close to me after I repeatedly saved their fellow catholic asses from encroaching heretics from Norway and the Hansa, and ended up as my vassal and finally annexed. At this point I completely control Baltic trade and I'm fine with that.
In the east, Muscovy did their thing and formed Russia. Crimea is surprisingly still alive. The ruskies stretch all the way to the Pacific Ocean and have a monster sized army. However, I'm yet to see it in action as enemies, since I haven't fought a single war against them yet. Still, they choose to stay as Rivals for the entire game, the fuckers.
In the west, France is blobbing like crazy, though I've been in coalitions with Austria and others to cut them down to size at least twice. They're very, very strong anyway. They took present day Canada in colonization, inherited Scotland and generally are my bestest friends now, and good, as the HRE is looming over me like a sledgehammer. Good allies now! England is doing their thing in present day USA and have, unsurprisingly, a kick ass navy. We were friends for a time against France but now they're in league with the HRE, so no friends of mine, nuh-uh! Medium strength on land. Castille formed Spain and spread their piss coloured blob all over most of both Americas. Currently an ally but not much relations other than that. Portugal isn't doing anything spectacular.
Ottomans... well, they're fucking strong, as strong as France. Choose me as their Rival for the whole game but I'm yet to fight them. They're good friends with my own good friends Tuscany so I've fought two big wars now side to side with them against the HRE, both victorious. They could notice we make natural allies already!
As for the HRE... two wars so far, first one was simply epic, a Coalition war started by France. It lasted for years. At first I didn't know if we'll be able to make it as I wasn't seeing much of France's fabled 290k troops (colonies?) but Russia not joining their allies in the fight and Ottomans getting into it on our side meant we just made it. I sieged Wien like super quick and kept my whole army in the area. The Kaiser didn't quite like it and brought his boys 'round to chase me off. I was about to flee but decided - hell, Wien is a mountain province, combat width is going to be tiny, this will take a long time for them to beat me, let's see how it goes - and my allies didn't disappoint. Ottomans came in guns blazing, the Frenchies came in as well, both sides kept getting reinforcements, this battle alone lasted for like three seasons or more. This is the score after it finished (some revised history with Poles and Ottomans fighting on the same side in the Siege of Wien AGAINST Austria! hah!) So it happened that the Holy Roman Empire, Naples and Serbia stood against the Commonwealth, Bavaria, Brandenburg, the Ottomans, Bohemia and France and Hood was sated on that field of battle. Spoilered for size:
There was another battle of impressive proportions in that war (Salzburg) but we won that one too. After some more minor (70k per side!) skirmishes blanket sieging commenced and finally the Kaiser had to give up. All that did though was releasing Milan, ceding 3 provinces to France and... well, that's it, pretty much.
I just finished another war with the HRE - Tuscany called me into a war for cleansing heresy in Milan. That I am Catholic, Milan is Catholic, HRE is Catholic, Ottomans are Sunni and Tuscany is Reformed didn't seem to matter, I stood with the heathens and heretics against catholics and prevailed. Wien is such a nice place to trap HRE armies in battle. In the end Milan didn't even convert.
Mind you, the HRE wasn't Defender of the Faith (that was... Aachen. yeah.) nor allied to Milan, nor was Milan their vassal - why did they join this war at all?
So I did an Ironman Mode game as Poland -> Commonwealth, it's the 1720ies and things have been quite interesting. I've been more aggressive northwards and southwards this time and completely ignored Muscovy. This lead, after the standard opener of Alliance->PU with Lithuania -> vassalize Teutons -> incorporate Mazovia, Moldavia and TU, I took Livonia off of Denmark, Livonian Knights and Riga rather early. It was kind of risky, I ended up having 2 coalitions against me when doing that but I prevailed. Then I started nibbing on Hungary bit by bit. Some gametime onwards and I've formed the Commonwealth, my alliances at this time were Austria, Pomerania and Serbia (who blobbed a bit while not being bothered by Ottomans and me succesively cannibalizing Hungary. I've managed to be mostly up to date with military tech throughout the entire game, so I've got that going for me. It's way too much to describe everything that happened so I'll just say the big picture over time:
Austria did their usual thing with implementing imperial reforms. At the current time the HRE is restored and brings me much anxiety and joy as Austria was my friend but the HRE isn't in the least.
Hungary got eaten by me completely, though it took a painfuly long time, especially since the point they became a Duchy not a Kingdom and were allied to France, vassalizing them at this point (with France taking lead of the war) became... doubtful. In the end I got them due to their alliance to Brandenburg who left the HRE after the vassal reform and, oh yeah, I finally consumed those guys too a bit later. And Croatia. Oh and the thing with Ironman - one time they called me to war and it was just autosaving and I was clicking on some other dialogue window and the game interpreted it as me refusing to join the war - we became very distant since then, and they're in the HRE team now.
To the north, after the initial danish dominance, Gotland emerged, then Sweden, who consumed Gotland and took a large chunk out of the danish. Also Norway split at one point and stayed that way. Denmark, for a long time my bitter trade rival, got close to me after I repeatedly saved their fellow catholic asses from encroaching heretics from Norway and the Hansa, and ended up as my vassal and finally annexed. At this point I completely control Baltic trade and I'm fine with that.
In the east, Muscovy did their thing and formed Russia. Crimea is surprisingly still alive. The ruskies stretch all the way to the Pacific Ocean and have a monster sized army. However, I'm yet to see it in action as enemies, since I haven't fought a single war against them yet. Still, they choose to stay as Rivals for the entire game, the fuckers.
In the west, France is blobbing like crazy, though I've been in coalitions with Austria and others to cut them down to size at least twice. They're very, very strong anyway. They took present day Canada in colonization, inherited Scotland and generally are my bestest friends now, and good, as the HRE is looming over me like a sledgehammer. Good allies now! England is doing their thing in present day USA and have, unsurprisingly, a kick ass navy. We were friends for a time against France but now they're in league with the HRE, so no friends of mine, nuh-uh! Medium strength on land. Castille formed Spain and spread their piss coloured blob all over most of both Americas. Currently an ally but not much relations other than that. Portugal isn't doing anything spectacular.
Ottomans... well, they're fucking strong, as strong as France. Choose me as their Rival for the whole game but I'm yet to fight them. They're good friends with my own good friends Tuscany so I've fought two big wars now side to side with them against the HRE, both victorious. They could notice we make natural allies already!
As for the HRE... two wars so far, first one was simply epic, a Coalition war started by France. It lasted for years. At first I didn't know if we'll be able to make it as I wasn't seeing much of France's fabled 290k troops (colonies?) but Russia not joining their allies in the fight and Ottomans getting into it on our side meant we just made it. I sieged Wien like super quick and kept my whole army in the area. The Kaiser didn't quite like it and brought his boys 'round to chase me off. I was about to flee but decided - hell, Wien is a mountain province, combat width is going to be tiny, this will take a long time for them to beat me, let's see how it goes - and my allies didn't disappoint. Ottomans came in guns blazing, the Frenchies came in as well, both sides kept getting reinforcements, this battle alone lasted for like three seasons or more. This is the score after it finished (some revised history with Poles and Ottomans fighting on the same side in the Siege of Wien AGAINST Austria! hah!) So it happened that the Holy Roman Empire, Naples and Serbia stood against the Commonwealth, Bavaria, Brandenburg, the Ottomans, Bohemia and France and Hood was sated on that field of battle. Spoilered for size:
Spoiler
There was another battle of impressive proportions in that war (Salzburg) but we won that one too. After some more minor (70k per side!) skirmishes blanket sieging commenced and finally the Kaiser had to give up. All that did though was releasing Milan, ceding 3 provinces to France and... well, that's it, pretty much.
I just finished another war with the HRE - Tuscany called me into a war for cleansing heresy in Milan. That I am Catholic, Milan is Catholic, HRE is Catholic, Ottomans are Sunni and Tuscany is Reformed didn't seem to matter, I stood with the heathens and heretics against catholics and prevailed. Wien is such a nice place to trap HRE armies in battle. In the end Milan didn't even convert.
Mind you, the HRE wasn't Defender of the Faith (that was... Aachen. yeah.) nor allied to Milan, nor was Milan their vassal - why did they join this war at all?
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#7
Morgoth
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Posted 06 January 2014 - 08:14 AM
Ignoring Russia can be a huge problem mind you. In my Najd game Russia has more than twice the manpower of Spain, and Spain is a thing of nightmares. They inherited Portugal and all their massive holdings in Africa and South America. They've also conquered all of Southern France, most of Southern Italy and large swaths of India (the parts not controlled by me).
Spain is the reason I've accepted defeat and turned my sights to something less ambitious than the reunification of Islam. Now, I have 50 years to conquer Istandbul and make it my capital, which should be perfeclty doable. Alas, for a Third time in the history of Najd the ruler died with only a child as an heir, and the council was usurped by an ambitious advisor. I now have a ruler With 0/0/0 stats. for the Third time. You would think retarded councilors would be the losers of internal power struggles, but in Najd it would seem politics work in different ways.
So, even though I am stronger than the Ottomans on paper. I've westernized, I have military traditions and a university. The Ottomans are still keeping ahead of me in military tech, and their national modifiers makes an even battle a sure victory for them. Where my juiced up cavalry would make up the difference in previous years, it's all about the infantry this late in the game.
Spain is the reason I've accepted defeat and turned my sights to something less ambitious than the reunification of Islam. Now, I have 50 years to conquer Istandbul and make it my capital, which should be perfeclty doable. Alas, for a Third time in the history of Najd the ruler died with only a child as an heir, and the council was usurped by an ambitious advisor. I now have a ruler With 0/0/0 stats. for the Third time. You would think retarded councilors would be the losers of internal power struggles, but in Najd it would seem politics work in different ways.
So, even though I am stronger than the Ottomans on paper. I've westernized, I have military traditions and a university. The Ottomans are still keeping ahead of me in military tech, and their national modifiers makes an even battle a sure victory for them. Where my juiced up cavalry would make up the difference in previous years, it's all about the infantry this late in the game.
Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
#8
Gothos
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Posted 07 January 2014 - 01:31 PM
Russia has grown in power considerably, I've seen them field over 300k troops in a battle against Ottomans. Thankfully I was on the same side in this war. European diplomacy is weird, everyone's allied to someone but often two of your allies are enemies, there's no clear blocks. TBH I'd rather just sit in my provinces till the end of the game by now but they just keep DOWing each other and drawing me into their conflicts. Not very fun at that point anymore I must say, I can't significantly expand anymore, and the game keeps crashing and crashing all the time, I'm considering abandoning it and starting something new.
I might just repair my relations with Russia now as they've dropped their rivalry attitude towards me and broke ties with the HRE. Me, Russia and France would steamroll the HRE at will now. England remains a bother, I keep getting into wars with them by proxy and their navy just obliterates mine every time, they have like 150 ships and most of them threedeckers, with english and naval ideas that's just so painful, I have to either keep my fleet in port or lose half of them every time I go to war. Not very fun at all.
Just before the game crashed last time Serbia DOWed me citing Coalition. With Milan and Tuscany. Against me, France, Bavaria, Naples, Gotland and the Netherlands. This is going to be quick.
I might just repair my relations with Russia now as they've dropped their rivalry attitude towards me and broke ties with the HRE. Me, Russia and France would steamroll the HRE at will now. England remains a bother, I keep getting into wars with them by proxy and their navy just obliterates mine every time, they have like 150 ships and most of them threedeckers, with english and naval ideas that's just so painful, I have to either keep my fleet in port or lose half of them every time I go to war. Not very fun at all.
Just before the game crashed last time Serbia DOWed me citing Coalition. With Milan and Tuscany. Against me, France, Bavaria, Naples, Gotland and the Netherlands. This is going to be quick.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#9
Morgoth
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Posted 07 January 2014 - 02:00 PM
There's an expansion coming out in just shy of a week. I'm holding off starting a new game until that time.
This post has been edited by Morgoth: 07 January 2014 - 02:00 PM
Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
#10
Gothos
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Posted 09 January 2014 - 07:12 AM
I'm actually getting more excited for it now. I've abandoned my Commonwealth Ironman game again, mainly due to frequent crashes that late in the game, and started anew as Japan in 1444. Took me quite a while to unite the damn islands (diplo annex takes such a long time!) but it wasn't difficult, and then I proceeded to omnomnom Korea, before Manchu could finish them off and Ming vassalized them. From then on I could get bogged down in continental warfare, or expand in a different way... and so I chose Exploration ideas and sailed the Pacific. Colonizing Taiwan, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, the Kuryls, Philippines, Celebes, then started island hopping - Guam, Palau, Micronesia, Wake, Midway, Kiribati, Hawaii... and invaded the Aztecs. Soon after I've got enough diplo tech for more colonial range and could hop over from Hawaii to Baja California and Mexico with cores, and get a core bordering a portuguese core (while colonization efforts continued down under in Australia and New Zealand) and got to... westernize. Started in 1584-ish, finished by 1610 - if not for TWO monarch deaths while I was already boosting my stability it'd be done way before (mind you, my first 5/5/6 ruler! no ironman for achievement, though). I'm now 2nd on score, continue colonizing and turning my attention westwards. I've got a tonne of income from Aztec gold, thinking of also going south to wipe the Inca from the map, and I'd really like to break Ming apart... they're allied to Shan, Ayyyyyy-something down south and Tibet; my own allies are Shan and... well, that's it. Oh btw I also inherited Dang Viet from royal marriage, yay.
So I want to break that alliance block apart // stagger them with truces, I went to war with Pegu (no CB + royal ties = -3 stab, ouch. no border for forging a claim either) who were allied with the thai folks to get them to war separately, vassalized Pegu and here I am now. TBH I'm thinking of reloading before that war ended and forcing the thai folks to release a few nations and return a few cores as well before I force vassalization on Pegu. Would be nice to break them apart to break their power (they blobbed a bit).
So, the colonizing game is kind of fun, if overpowered. They're going to make it more fun with the xpac? yes please.
Think I'll have to take either trade or expansion ideas, as well as navy - that's a LOT of ideas in the diplo line to take
imo Naval should be in military...
So I want to break that alliance block apart // stagger them with truces, I went to war with Pegu (no CB + royal ties = -3 stab, ouch. no border for forging a claim either) who were allied with the thai folks to get them to war separately, vassalized Pegu and here I am now. TBH I'm thinking of reloading before that war ended and forcing the thai folks to release a few nations and return a few cores as well before I force vassalization on Pegu. Would be nice to break them apart to break their power (they blobbed a bit).
So, the colonizing game is kind of fun, if overpowered. They're going to make it more fun with the xpac? yes please.
Think I'll have to take either trade or expansion ideas, as well as navy - that's a LOT of ideas in the diplo line to take
imo Naval should be in military...
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#11
Morgoth
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Posted 09 January 2014 - 07:34 AM
In the new expansion you will be able to play with a randomized new world. They've also added a lot to colonial management (when colonies get large enough they become something akin to vassals). In addition, they've made it so you get a slight tech discount for each complete idea you have within that genre.
There will also be several hundred New events (mainly for colonies and new world nations I suspect), and there's talk of revamping the westernization system.
There will also be several hundred New events (mainly for colonies and new world nations I suspect), and there's talk of revamping the westernization system.
Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
#12
Gothos
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Posted 09 January 2014 - 08:51 AM
Yeah, westernization isn't very fun right now, seems so very random - damn monarch deaths, comets and army reforms! They might make it a little more involved tbh.
As for the colonial stuff, I wouldn't mind that. Right now I keep a 16 strong troop in Mexico in case Portugal got any ideas (they'd steamroll me I know), I'd rather have them with the rest on my side of the Pacific! TBH if not for the Gold from there I'd consider selling/releasing that part of the world anyway now that I'm done with westernizing.
I like the idea thing. You invest a bit of power at first, but if you take, say, an early diplo idea group, that 3200 or so investment will pay off in the long run as you have over 20 techs before you with a discount. Should also make admin/diplo ideas more popular, since right now military seems to be the way to go as there's not much use for military power other than tech (and you'll eventually get prohibitive ahead of time cost inscrease anyway).
As for the colonial stuff, I wouldn't mind that. Right now I keep a 16 strong troop in Mexico in case Portugal got any ideas (they'd steamroll me I know), I'd rather have them with the rest on my side of the Pacific! TBH if not for the Gold from there I'd consider selling/releasing that part of the world anyway now that I'm done with westernizing.
I like the idea thing. You invest a bit of power at first, but if you take, say, an early diplo idea group, that 3200 or so investment will pay off in the long run as you have over 20 techs before you with a discount. Should also make admin/diplo ideas more popular, since right now military seems to be the way to go as there's not much use for military power other than tech (and you'll eventually get prohibitive ahead of time cost inscrease anyway).
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#13
Morgoth
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Posted 09 January 2014 - 11:28 AM
I use a lot of diplo ideas, as diplo points are the least usefull early on, and unless you're a western nation you need most of your army points just to keep up.
I'd love to be able to use more of the admin ideas though.
I'd love to be able to use more of the admin ideas though.
Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
#14
Gothos
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Posted 09 January 2014 - 12:15 PM
converting culture and trade buildings. Poland games you use a lot of both - convert latvian, lithuanian, byelarussian and russian culture after forming the commonwealth is required, you won't get them as accepted. Which is kind of annoying, Commonwealth should at least add Lithuanian as accepted culture, since it was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, despite lithuanian nobility eventually adopting polish culture.
On the subject of cultures, the West Slavic group kinda irks me. Why the hell do they put Hungary in there? Hungarians are not slavic, not in the least. Sigh.
Mind you, how do you make a culture dominant? After moving my capital to Danzig I got a decision to change culture to prussian since the province had prussian as its culture (accepted after integrating the TO) but it requires it being dominant... "Accept cultural shift" it was called. Hm. Might try that thing with the next poland playthrough with the HRE option.
On the subject of cultures, the West Slavic group kinda irks me. Why the hell do they put Hungary in there? Hungarians are not slavic, not in the least. Sigh.
Mind you, how do you make a culture dominant? After moving my capital to Danzig I got a decision to change culture to prussian since the province had prussian as its culture (accepted after integrating the TO) but it requires it being dominant... "Accept cultural shift" it was called. Hm. Might try that thing with the next poland playthrough with the HRE option.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#15
Morgoth
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Posted 10 January 2014 - 07:21 AM
So, my Najd game is over, and I failed to both unify Islam and capture Constantinople. I had Constantinople in my grasp, but the Ottomans managed to ally with both Spain and Russia and that was that. Russia alone fields an army four times the size of mine, and though I had the third highest income in the game (behind Russia and Spain), Spain had an income almost three times my own. They had more heavy ships than I had ships in total. It was insane.
At least, by the time the game ended I had taken all of North Africa, Eastern Anatolia, Northern India, East and South East Africa and of course the Middle east. Persia was the junior member of our union, and would have been absorbed given another 50 years or so. I had westernized, made Judea my capital and remained the defender of Islam for the last two centuries. All in all I am quite pleased with the game. My first Ironman with a real underdog. The first two centuries were pretty rough, and the game never felt easy, even at the end. Mainly because of Spain's insanse dominance of pretty much everything, but Russia and the UK both would problaly have beaten me in a straight up war too.
Next I'm debating whether I should go for an east asian nation and try to colonize a randomized New world, or go for one of the Italian city states and build a true lighthouse of the renaissance. That will have to wait for the expansion though.
At least, by the time the game ended I had taken all of North Africa, Eastern Anatolia, Northern India, East and South East Africa and of course the Middle east. Persia was the junior member of our union, and would have been absorbed given another 50 years or so. I had westernized, made Judea my capital and remained the defender of Islam for the last two centuries. All in all I am quite pleased with the game. My first Ironman with a real underdog. The first two centuries were pretty rough, and the game never felt easy, even at the end. Mainly because of Spain's insanse dominance of pretty much everything, but Russia and the UK both would problaly have beaten me in a straight up war too.
Next I'm debating whether I should go for an east asian nation and try to colonize a randomized New world, or go for one of the Italian city states and build a true lighthouse of the renaissance. That will have to wait for the expansion though.
Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
#16
Gothos
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Posted 10 January 2014 - 09:36 AM
Still that's a lot to accomplish. As the game goes on european countries get comparably stronger and stronger, and being Muslim you probably had a hard time allying the key players. Russia's manpower bonuses are insane and quite frankly way too big. 25% to start, 100% as ambition? really, 100%?
In any case, I abhor the idea of "Lucky Nations", paradox games should be a sandbox as per usual. Favouring a certain outcome to match history isn't something I was looking for. Still, you can turn that off in non-ironman, so there's that.
For my Japan game, I've only managed to get a bit done yesterday. I've set my plans in motion to dismantle Ming. They've blobbed over Manchu, and were allied with Shan (my allies as well), Ayyuthaya, Tibet and Qirat Horde, so I had to pick that apart. Tibet blobbed over eastern India, and Ayyuthaya over indochina, so I had to somehow stagger that alliance.
I started with a proxy war against Ming, with Tibet, Qirat and Shan backing them up (no Ayyyu due to truce), fought them a bit, and in the peace deal I got them to cede one province in Canton and annul their treaties with Ayyu, Shan and Tibet. Of these, only Shan continue to be their friends to this day.
After this war I went against Ayyuthaya again, shattered their armies and blanket sieged the whole place. End result was forcing them to release Khmer.
Next up, to keep the staggered truces going I declared on Ming again and took a province in Korea from them, plus annuled treaties again and some money. Punching bag Ming.
Next up it was time to finish off Ayyu, but not yet it seems - Aceh was invading them as well and occupied one province so I couldn't get warscore to 100%, so I forced them to release Lan Na and return cores to Lan Xang. Ayyu is utterly broken now and should be vassal-able within 1 or 2 wars, np.
Time to war on Ming again, and this time I forced them to release Xi. I was winning, yes, but I was running out of manpower to fuel my sieges, and they have a lot of provinces and are fully defensive, so didn't want to hang around for 100% warscore - next time! Annoying how Shan constantly gravitate towards Ming and by the time our truce is done they're allied again - I should consider a punitive expedition against the burmese tiger. They distract my flank and all in all usually their army is more of a problem than Ming.
Time for Ayyu again, and after Khmer took a big bite off them too - just 4 provinces left now, and their two province ally from India - I went to 100% warscore then went on to siege Kachar, and that's when my game crashed and I decided it's high time to go to sleep.
I feel I'm getting better at this game as time goes on. Think I'll do another Ironman soon.
In any case, I abhor the idea of "Lucky Nations", paradox games should be a sandbox as per usual. Favouring a certain outcome to match history isn't something I was looking for. Still, you can turn that off in non-ironman, so there's that.
For my Japan game, I've only managed to get a bit done yesterday. I've set my plans in motion to dismantle Ming. They've blobbed over Manchu, and were allied with Shan (my allies as well), Ayyuthaya, Tibet and Qirat Horde, so I had to pick that apart. Tibet blobbed over eastern India, and Ayyuthaya over indochina, so I had to somehow stagger that alliance.
I started with a proxy war against Ming, with Tibet, Qirat and Shan backing them up (no Ayyyu due to truce), fought them a bit, and in the peace deal I got them to cede one province in Canton and annul their treaties with Ayyu, Shan and Tibet. Of these, only Shan continue to be their friends to this day.
After this war I went against Ayyuthaya again, shattered their armies and blanket sieged the whole place. End result was forcing them to release Khmer.
Next up, to keep the staggered truces going I declared on Ming again and took a province in Korea from them, plus annuled treaties again and some money. Punching bag Ming.
Next up it was time to finish off Ayyu, but not yet it seems - Aceh was invading them as well and occupied one province so I couldn't get warscore to 100%, so I forced them to release Lan Na and return cores to Lan Xang. Ayyu is utterly broken now and should be vassal-able within 1 or 2 wars, np.
Time to war on Ming again, and this time I forced them to release Xi. I was winning, yes, but I was running out of manpower to fuel my sieges, and they have a lot of provinces and are fully defensive, so didn't want to hang around for 100% warscore - next time! Annoying how Shan constantly gravitate towards Ming and by the time our truce is done they're allied again - I should consider a punitive expedition against the burmese tiger. They distract my flank and all in all usually their army is more of a problem than Ming.
Time for Ayyu again, and after Khmer took a big bite off them too - just 4 provinces left now, and their two province ally from India - I went to 100% warscore then went on to siege Kachar, and that's when my game crashed and I decided it's high time to go to sleep.
I feel I'm getting better at this game as time goes on. Think I'll do another Ironman soon.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#17
Morgoth
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Posted 10 January 2014 - 09:44 AM
I only play Ironman these days. It gets so much more tense.
Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil
#18
Gothos
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Posted 10 January 2014 - 10:14 AM
the frequent autosaves make my CPU cry
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
#19
MTS
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Posted 11 January 2014 - 02:28 AM
Gothos, on 09 January 2014 - 12:15 PM, said:
Mind you, how do you make a culture dominant? After moving my capital to Danzig I got a decision to change culture to prussian since the province had prussian as its culture (accepted after integrating the TO) but it requires it being dominant... "Accept cultural shift" it was called. Hm. Might try that thing with the next poland playthrough with the HRE option.
Making a culture dominant requires that culture to be in your capital and 50% of your provinces IIRC. If you want some ideas of what you could do with a Poland playthrough, check out this thread: http://forum.paradox...Russia-Strategy
Morgoth, on 10 January 2014 - 09:44 AM, said:
I only play Ironman these days. It gets so much more tense.
I haven't played Ironman for a long time as I've been checking out what the modding community has been up to, plus I have a love/hate relationship with the Lucky Nations mechanic. You can get some awesome and wacky results (like AI Byzantium retaking Anatolia), but it also leads to things like Spain reaching into the middle of Siberia if Russia doesn't colonise, which bothers me. I'll probably start up an England Ironman game in a few days once the new expansion comes out though.
This post has been edited by MTS: 11 January 2014 - 02:29 AM
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.
#20
Gothos
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Posted 13 January 2014 - 10:52 AM
I've become pretty bored with the Japan game. After I've won a trade war against both Spain and Portugal, two colonial powers, without breaking a sweat - it all seems pretty easy now. China is broken up into Zhou (RM+Alliance), Shun (RM+Alliance), Xi (RM+Alliance) and Ming. Manchu became a OPM. Ayyuthaya is completely annexed, Shan in a PU under me, Champa, Laos and Lang Na diplo-annexed, Khmer vassalized. Not much to do there anymore, at least until Russia comes knocking.
Side note, I wonder why the AI rarely creates Commonwealth...
Side note, I wonder why the AI rarely creates Commonwealth...
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
