Europa Universalis IV

I spent too much time in the last game focusing on Europe, and the game just felt wrong to me, so I decided to restart and focus on the heathen's in the east. Austria has had the luck of the gods this game. Gained a massive burgandy, has a PU over bohemia and hungary. It's not even 1500 and Austria has easily coasted its way to GP#1.

It's super tempting to steal the brandenburg vassal from Poland, and its time to peace out as they massively outnumber me now, but I don't want to do anything at all to piss off that austria. Gobbling up more of poland it is.

Zajeer said:

Very impressive start. I especially approve of your wall against Muscovy - preventing them from Scandinavia and the Baltic weakens them real nicely. How soon until you can horde?

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Not sure. It’s a lot of land to gobble up, and my manpower is in the shitter atm. Probably 50-60 years, but might shorten that if there’s some good opportunities. Economy is strong and professionalism is low anyway, so I’ll probably go with a lot of mercs and see if I can take a chunk out of Muscovy next or feed Norway.

Managed to cut off Austria from northern Poland in the peace deal, but they went super negative and broke alliance immediately. Had to ally that super pathetic looking France. Have Gotland and Norway as my vassals.

20 years progress. Released Chernigov and fed them. Ottomans doing ottoman things, but no idea how they took a chunk from this Austria. Its one of the most massive Austria's I've ever seen at this point. Once their PU's integrate I think they'll pose a real threat to the ottos. Lithuania and Poland are pretty much an endangered species at this point. Luckily my truce pops a few years before the otto one, so I should be able to take most of them.

Truce with muscovy pops in a few months, and it's looking like an easy winter war. Muscovy is so in debt they have only 6k troops and 15k reinforcements. I had a 5/6/6 heir, so of course he died in a hunting accident.

OneofOne said:

This is on GoG now so I went to go try it out, and holy fuck does this thing have a list of DLC, I had no idea. I'll try and navigate that BS later.

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Just buy the monthly pass. This isnt really a game you play all the time. I ended up buying all the DLCs over time but I play only a few times per year.

OneofOne said:

Hrm the whole idea of GoG is to avoid the BS of Steam, but this does seem like a pretty handy feature. Thanks for making me aware.

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Yeah if you buy the game and the 20+ DLCs, even in a super bundle it still comes out to like $200+

They got me one by one though but if I was starting out now, I'd always buy the game pass.

Zajeer said:

Very nice blobbing so far. Only critique/suggestion I can give is - secure the Baltic centers of trade if you haven't - and you need to get those Bohemian gold mines if you can. I think you mentioned in your last post that your economy was pretty good, but more econ is always better, especially as you scale your army size

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Attack my brothers of faith in the HRE? Decided I'm staying out of the HRE politics unless unless they leave the true faith. Plenty of heathens to be converted to the east. Speaking of the devil, the league war just kicked off. What, supporting the protestants are you ottomans without bringing your allies into the war? Time to learn a lesson from jesus.



That disgusting Nogai is now my vassal too. I got shun as a World power in this game while still having only one institution. That's pretty WTF.

Furry said:

Attack my brothers of faith in the HRE? Decided I'm staying out of the HRE politics unless unless they leave the true faith. Plenty of heathens to be converted to the east. Speaking of the devil, the league war just kicked off. What, supporting the protestants are you ottomans without bringing your allies into the war? Time to learn a lesson from jesus.

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That disgusting Nogai is now my vassal too. I got shun as a World power in this game while still having only one institution. That's pretty WTF.

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Disgusting?

I think its awesome to have an ally called "No Gay" when you're a Deus Vulting Crusader

Have I told you about Jesus Asia????



Reformation war was absolutely brutal and went on for a 10 year slog, as I was on the weak side. Managed to siege down Constantinople, and the ottos lost some territory in the deal at least. In a few years I can start the vital reconquest of Alexanderov-gay, which nogai has been desperately seeking as part of its vital cores.

I have divine, administrative, diplomatic, quantity, and economic (in that order). Religious felt superfluous with the fact I have 4 missionaries, and convert even islamic provinces in under a year. Already at 97%+ religious unity. I feel like I should get exploration or expansion, just because that empty land to my north feels really weird without the russian spam expansion mechanic.

Morning assessment. I've long tolerated the heathens to the south in the ottomans, as they've really become OP as hell, but watching them closely, they are at 0 manpower for a few years now, and my manpower is overflowing. It'll be a super ugly war, as they have way more troops than me, but I think I can attrition them to death, and my goal is only to secure the traditionally tutonic lands of the northern black sea and make contact with my vassal georgia. Yarkand should integrate within a year.



Edit: It's also worth noting that the improvements to the AI in combat are noticeable. It behaves a lot more smartly than before.

We will pray for you

Deathwing said:

How do you guys deal with coring provinces later in the game? It feels like it costs way too much, even if you feed it to your vassal, you just pay it in diplo that I'd rather spend on tech or ideas.

Speaking admin or diplo...I never feel like I have enough to spend on developing provinces. Or if it is even right decision to develop. Buildings are more straightforward, there are guides and far less competition for ducats. 100 ducats for 0.15 base income, that eventually makes money. But 75 admin for 0.06 base income, no fucking clue.

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Core costs are why core cost reduction is so powerful. Some nations have it as part of their ideas, and admin ideas have it too. After that, biggest thing I’d say is get your absolutism/administrative efficiency as high as possible to help once the 1600s hit. It’s also why I’m not too worried about doing things to make province I capture cheaper, like centralize development or razing them.

And really, production and trade are important parts of your income, more so than tax base and churches. I prioritize workshops over them. For deving, I pretty much leave that to “oh shit my power is maxing out”, rather than an actual strategy.