• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Speaking as a pretty old-time EU player myself, I think this AAR is absolutely wonderful, Rhadok. I've never been a really super-detail oriented player, so it's nice to read in to the details you've given. The message settings bit in particular is a good example of how helpful this kind of tutorial can be, as that's something many, many players would likely not even think about for a long while.

One thing I personally can't wait for is whenever you get to colonization. I'd love to see an explanation of what logic to follow when starting out colonizing. Reading the forums, one can get the sense that lots of players don't know where to start colonizing, when to start, how to properly follow through, etc.

Thanks for the great work!

Well thank you! I really appreciate comments and whether it's good or not. I sincerely hope at least one person will benefit from this AAR, then my mission is a success :).

Well eh, we will see about colonizing when we get there. To be honest I haven't got a plan yet, though I don't think there is a good 'how should one colonize'. It would be more like 'how can one colonize and what should you keep in mind?'

It was the plan, although someone else (Perhaps Naggy), might end up doing it. :)

Probably Naggy yes. When the time is ripe to start dividing.

An excellent tutorial; much better then the built-in one. Will be following, and this has inspired me to create my own tutorial for CK on another forum. Cheers. :)

Wow great thanks! Glad you like it. Well I got inspired too by another tutorial. Linky link.

as long as he doesn't do "How to manage your economy":p :D;)

I will do the "how to avoid loans" section. :)

Haha, I think the economy will be well covered in an update, namely Trade. But a 'how to avoid total bankruptcy when in war time' can be covered :).
 
Haha, I think the economy will be well covered in an update, namely Trade. But a 'how to avoid total bankruptcy when in war time' can be covered :).

In my case, he's referring to the fact that in every single one of my AAR's, I've taken at least one (often more) loans from simply getting tied up doing something and forgetting to mint for a month to avoid going negative.

It's become a tradition. :)
 
Chapter Four:
Coat of Arms Menu. Part One
Overview, Court and Technology

So I guess you've been wondering how you actually rule your nation? I can tell you, it isn't easy. Luckily for you, I try to get you on your way. Ok let's get crackin'.

CoA.jpg

That is your Coat of Arms you see in the upper left screen. It highlights when you hold your mouse on top of it. This is your nations' nervous system, heart, brain and stamina all in one menu. Click on it.

flag.jpg

Now you see this. Here you see your nation at a glance. We are a feudal monarchy ---more on governments later---, our primary culture is English and we are ruled by Henry IV Lancaster. The big number is our prestige with below that our ranking. The wooden cross means that our primary religion is Catholic. You can click on modifiers, but it won't show you anything yet. Our reputation is honorable, this is related to our infamy. When our infamy score is high, this sentence will change. Below that you can see our relations with the world and how the AI sees us. The button at the bottom create vassals is where you can release nations. The benefit is a reduction in infamy and you can leave some difficult regions to govern to them. We probably won't use that however.

When you click on the crown, we go the next tab.
crown.jpg

What you see here is our king Henry and 'how good he is'. Before we check up on Henry here, let me tell you what leader statistics ---henceforth: leader stats--- is all about. A ruler ---this includes regency counsils--- is scaled on three topics.
  1. Administration. Administration is how good exactly is a ruler when dealing with internal administrative problems. Is he any good doing 'the paper work'? Does he think outside of the box? Can he make any good new laws? Napoleon was a good administrator.
  2. Diplomacy. How well can your ruler handle himself when dealing with foreigners? Is he blunt and arrogant? Or subtle and devious? I think of former US president Bill Clinton as a good diplomat.
  3. Military. Can your ruler wield a sword? Does he know how to shoot an arrow or load a musket? Can he manage the public opinion about a bloody war? Does he have strategic insight? A ruler with good military stats was Julius Ceasar.

Now how do you scale a ruler into these categories? It's quite simple really. Every ruler will get a number between 3 to 9 on each topic, where 3 is the lowest and worst, and 9 the highest and thus the best. This number remains throughout the rulers life, you can't educate them. So now you know this, have you got an idea how 'good' our Henry is?

---You might see some advisors in this and the next screenshots. I will come to that in a bit. Don't panic.---

Let's examine him closer. Hold your mouse above administration.
adminskill.jpg

You see that he is rated at 4. This is no good. When you see the benefits, you might think it is any good. However the benefits can be far greater with a better administrative ruler.

diploskill2.jpg

Too bad he isn't much of a diplomat either. Besides the benefits you see, there are some hidden benefits of a good diplomatic leader. Your diplomatic actions ---see previous chapter--- are heavily affected by it. A ruler with a 7 or 8 for diplomacy, you can get almost anything. This is very important when you want to diplo-annex ---ask a vassal to become annexed by you--- someone.
Furthermore early in the game, the ruler's diplomacy rating primarily determines the infamy 'burn rate' ---how fast your reputation among the world improves--- until other methods become available. The burn rate is 10% of the diplomacy rating per year. This will limit how aggressively a nation can expand early in the game. The diplomacy rating also determines the number of diplomats generated per year. This is particularly important for non-Christian nations, as Christian nations have bonuses ---2 diplomats per year for Catholics, 1 diplomat for the other faiths--- which other faiths don't have. The rating also increases the chance for the Boundary Dispute event ---more on events later--- to fire which gives you free cores ---cores will be discussed later.---

Let's hope he is a military genius then...
milskill.jpg

Okay, we are in bad luck. He isn't even that. A leader with a 3 on his military stats can't even raise a sword, let alone struck a blow. He gives some bonuses, but they are the very lowest you can get. If we ever want to convert our king to a general---will be explained later---, he won't be any good.

---Here is something that you can remember easily. A rule of thumb: 7+ in a stats will speed up/allow better events, 3/4 in a stats will speed up/enable bad events.---

Henry isn't much for a king. Well, maybe his heir is.
heirskill.jpg

Wow, apparently Henry is married to a smart woman. His son is moderate. If Henry the king would die a little early, his son can take the throne when aged 15-16. If the king would die now, we would get a regency council until his son is old enough. Now you will probably notice something else, his claim strength. A claim on the throne ---not to confuse this with the diplomatic action claim throne!--- is categorized in three strengths.
  • Strong. When the king dies, his son takes over. No problems. Your legitimacy immediately falls to 80 if it's already higher than 80, but would also rise to 80 immediately if it's lower than 80.
  • Moderate. If you just had a dynasty change, the rulers' heir would have a moderate claim on the throne. Here you can expect a pretender rebel to take over the throne instead. Your legitimacy immediately falls to 66 if it's already higher than that, but would also rise to 66 immediately if it's lower than 66.
  • Weak. When the heir has a weak claim, our nation is in a bad position. Other nations may falsely claim that our crown belongs to them ---only when their prestige is higher than ours--- and pretender rebels will popup when the king dies. There is nothing you can do when the heir has a weak claim, only hope he dies in a hunting accident or gets ill. Your legitimacy immediately falls to 33 if it's already higher than that, but would also rise to 33 immediately if it's lower than 33.

Below the heir stats you see your advisors. I'm not totally sure that you see the same advisor as I have, but his name is Geoffery Chaucer. So what is so special about him? He is a four star advisor. That is quite good really, as an advisor can be anything between one and six stars. Well take a look to what he does. Monthly stability investment +12. Have you got an idea what that means? Well it basically means that besides our investment in stability ---is explained further down in this chapter--- he puts an additional 12 points to it every month! That means even if we don't invest anything in stability, it will get at least 12 points each month. However that would take forever to gain a level, so we need more than those 12 points.

Now an advisor can help you, but at a cost. This Geoffery guy needs to get paid 0.4 ducats each month. That is something we, as England, can overcome easily. Do you see the black spots beneath him? That are advisor places that are empty at the moment. That's a waste of a good advisor! So let us fill those places up. Click on one of the empty black spaces

advisorsselect.jpg


Here you can select a new advisor. I won't go into full details here about them all, but you will see different advisors than I do as they are randomized at the beginning of the game. So how do you know who to hire? Here are some recommendations for start advisors.
  • If you see a Statesman ---my pretty avatar picture---, you can hire him. Hire the highest star ranked statesman advisor. He will help you with your governmental research ---explained below--- to make sure you'll get a National Idea ---will be explained--- as fast as possible. I personally always go for a statesman, other forumnites don't. I really depends on your game style.
  • Depending on your strategic goals, a natural scientist or a land reformer are equally important as a statesman for being starting advisors. If you are going to war soon, a land reformer can help you to get better land technology ---technologies will be explained---. Natural scientist are important too as they will help speed up production technology which you need to get workshops.
  • If you don't see a statesman, land reformer or a natural scientist, consider hiring a Master of Mint. He can help you battle inflation ---will be discussed in the next chapter.---
  • A Master of Mint isn't always required at the beginning of the game. In stead I've chosen to increase my monthly income ---explained in the next chapter--- with a sheriff.
  • Other high ranked advisors that you can hire at the beginning of the game:
    Treasurer, Statesman, Natural Scientist, Army reformer and Naval Reformer. They become obsolete later in the game, but are terrific for a game start. Any of those are great for getting an edge in a technology you wish to specialize in.

Advisors have an age. When they are getting older, they cost less on the market. Young advisors costs the most. Their monthly costs stays the same though. From time to time they die and we need to search for a new one. All these advisors you see here on the market are yours to be hired for a whole year. So on October the 14th of the year 1400, our not hired advisors are cut loose from England and everyone in the Western technology group ---will be explained below--- can hire them. In about a year from now, we need to pause the game and see if there are any good new advisors on the market.

Have you found any good advisors for your two spots?
Note that the advisors are in black and white now, that means you can't get rid of them for a month. After that you can switch again.


Remember I told you that this menu contains the brain of your nation? I wasn't lying, being a bit metaphorical. The following screen is the most important in the game. I can't stress this enough. Many faults made by beginners are made here. Want to know what the heck I'm talking about and why you are warned here? Good plan. Here it is. ---Please, pay attention to this section as it really is the most important.---

The Budget Screen
budgetsliders.jpg

---I'm going to be very detailed here to make sure you understand what you are looking at. I urge you to read this several times as some things may have changed since you last read it.---

For this purpose, and for this purpose only, we will start at the right section of the screen. What do we see?

Well, we are in the Western Technology group ---also known as the Latin technology group.--- The world is divided into several technology zones. Each zone has their own unit group. So in Western Europe you'll be fighting with pike men, while in Asia you have sumarai like troops. For the first part of the game, Eastern and Muslim cavalry troops are much better than Western onces. Troops will be explained later at more detailed level. Now the technology groups, here they are. ---Technology is researchable, will be discussed after this. Just bear with me on this one, all will be clear.---
  1. Western Europe technology group. All of Western Europe is in this group. The Western Europeans don't have any penalty to their research, so they will go the fastest.. Furthermore we get:
    • A large bonus to our research when other Western technology nations are ahead of us.
    • When a province is explored by a Western Europe nation ---like Portugal---, we discover that province automatically after 50 years ---this can be modified at the beginning of the game. ---the spread of land/sea provinces.---
  2. Eastern Europe technology group. This group contains, like the name suggest, Eastern Europe. Technology is slower researched, as they need to pay 11% more for their technology research. That is, every new research level needs 11% more research points to be completed. So what is bad about that? Well, whoever has the highest technology can easily beat somebody else. On land, on sea but also on an economic level.
  3. Ottoman technology group. Yes, the Turks have their own group as they were a 'special case' in the Renaissance. They research their stuff a tiny bit slower than the East Europeans, as their research costs 11,76% more than the Europeans. A very big plus for the Ottomans is that their technology starts at level 6, while the Europeans start at level 3. The Ottomans are almost 75 years ahead at the start of the game.
  4. Muslim technology group. The Muslim group contains the entire Middle East and Muslim North African countries. They pay 12,5% more than the Europeans, but like the Turks, they start at level 6.
  5. Indian technology group. This means India, not native Americans. The Indians pay 20% more than the Europeans. They don't get compensated as they too start at level 3, like the Europeans.
  6. Chinese technology group. This is Asia, I don't know exactly where the borders lie. They need to pay 25% more than the Europeans. Everyone in the Chinese technology group starts at level 3.
  7. Sub-Saharan technology group. ---Formerly known as the African group.--- All the nations in Africa are in this group, with the important exception of the Muslim North Africans. They need to pay 50% more for their research. All their technologies start at level 1. It is not possible to build boats if you don't Westernize ---will be explained in a bit.---
  8. New World technology group. This is group is meant to not advance. Even in 1820 they would still be very very very far behind. Every nation in this group ---all the tribes in North and South America--- needs to pay 100% more to advance in research and what's even worse is that they start their technology at level 0. That's right, zero. Plus, they also can't build boats if they don't Westernize at least twice.

Now what does this mean? It means that the West Europeans will always be more advanced than any other country, just like in history. There is a way to escape and become very advanced yourself when you are in a other technology group than the Western one, that is to Westernize. That is for advanced players, so I won't go into detail. But basically it means that will do everything you can to get into a higher technology group. Each time you Westernize, you jump 1 group higher. Take a note, the AI does seldom Westernize, as I have yet to see it.

Now I've spoken about technology groups, but what are technologies specifically? And, I also seem to think monthly income is important. What is that? Well, let's start with the technologies.

Technologies are divided in levels. Nearly each level unlocks something, be it a building, new troops, a new National Idea, anything. To get to a new level, a specific number of points must be invested. This is done monthly. The slider determines how many points get invested into each technology. The total amount of points you need to invest is dependent on several things.
  1. Your inflation level. ---We will discuss this later.---
  2. Your innovation - narrowmindness slider setting ---We will get to that later.---
  3. The amount of provinces you have. ---Getting bigger isn't always better!---
  4. Specific buildings decrease the amount of points to be invested or provide a monthly investment of their own.

As you can see, there are 7 sliders. Let's focus on the first five.
  • Government. This is your governmental research. You can adjust the slider, put it to the right to try it out now. The more to the right, the more money is invested and the faster you reach the next level. If you hold your mouse above the slider, it will tell you when we reach the next level and what that unlocks. In this case a new National Idea ---will be explained--- and temples. Governmental research is important for your National Ideas, important buildings and new forms of governments. It is very important almost throughout the game.
  • Production. The production slider is also important. The higher it gets, the higher your production efficiency will be. This efficiency will determine how much money of your production value will actually go into research. The higher, the better. Production research is important as it unlocks various important buildings, like workshops and factories. Production is even more important if you want to conquer lot's of land and don't want or can't trade very good ---as trade requires low infamy, which you probably don't have when you go conquering.---
  • Trade. Invest in trade to increase your trade efficiency and compete chance of your merchants. Trade also unlocks important buildings like the marketplace. As we are going for a large trade empire, trade will be important for us.
  • Naval. Naval is your research of the sea. Here is decided how well our fleets can fight, but also how far we can colonize. Naval technologies also unlock better ships, which we need to fight our wars and protect our trade lanes across the ocean. As England, naval will be more important to us than land.
  • Land. Land is also one of the most important technologies in the game, just like government. As you might have guessed, land technology determines the way we fight our battles on land. With each new level, our troops fight better and have more morale so they can withstand more damage. Land technology unlocks better troops and eventually cannons.

Now you know what those sliders do. But what about the flash of lightning thingy? Well, ignore that. That will grab 200 ducats ---money--- from your treasury and invest 100 points in the selected technology. That's a waste! Don't you ever do that.
I think you already know that the number behind a slider is the current technology level.

Now what about that sixth slider? Well, that is your stability slider. Here is decided how much money gets invested into restoring order. You probably remember me going on about how important stability is, so put this slider to the full right and right click it. You will notice all the other sliders go to the left, so while we are increasing our stability, all researched is being slowed. That's why it's important to get stability up again so we can focus on research. When you right click any slider, it will get locked so it doesn't move when our monthly income is suddenly changed. You can unlock it by right clicking it again.

Okay, you have learned enough for now. We will continue with the next chapter called Coat of Arms menu. Part 2: Monthly income and inflation.
 
Last edited:
Don't know if you're planning to discuss the ruler stats and their game effects in more depth later, but there are two important effects of diplomacy:
- Early in the game, the ruler's diplomacy rating primarily determines the infamy burn rate - until other methods (glorious monuments, diplomat advisors, some decisions) become available. The burn rate is 10% of the diplomacy rating per year. This will determine how aggressively a nation can expend early in the game.
- The DIP rating also determines the number of diplomats (not the advisor) generated per year. This is particularly important for non-Christian nations, as Christian nations have bonuses (2 for Catholics, 1 for the rest).

And another important bonus: the mean time to happening of getting a border dispute is halved for an 8 DIP monarch (chance ~ doubled), and halved again for a 9 DIP ruler (chance ~ quadrupled!).
 
Hah, any kind of king is usually better then regency, but your king... oh god...

Haha. Yes he isn't really worth anything. Let's hope his son survives to take over the throne.

Don't know if you're planning to discuss the ruler stats and their game effects in more depth later, but there are two important effects of diplomacy:
- Early in the game, the ruler's diplomacy rating primarily determines the infamy burn rate - until other methods (glorious monuments, diplomat advisors, some decisions) become available. The burn rate is 10% of the diplomacy rating per year. This will determine how aggressively a nation can expend early in the game.
- The DIP rating also determines the number of diplomats (not the advisor) generated per year. This is particularly important for non-Christian nations, as Christian nations have bonuses (2 for Catholics, 1 for the rest).

And another important bonus: the mean time to happening of getting a border dispute is halved for an 8 DIP monarch (chance ~ doubled), and halved again for a 9 DIP ruler (chance ~ quadrupled!).

Ah, great information. Thanks. I will add some of this to the post. Thanks again.
 
A simple rule of thumb: 7+ in a stat will speed up/allow better events, 3/4 in a state will speed up/enable bad events.
 
So I completed chapter 4. What do you think? Please read it fully before posting. I'm particularly not sure about how I explained technology.

First off, let me say that you know how to organize a wall of text. I found everything to be quite readable.

One thing that immediately stuck out to me was the last sentence you had about land research, mentioning cannons. It felt somewhat out of place, in that you didn't mention the other two troop types there. I think the sentence has the potential to be more confusing than informative.

As far as the rest of the technology section goes, one thing that came to my mind is perhaps mentioning some key early milestones. I might be wrong on the exact numbers, but some come to mind. Land 5 for your first upgrade, Gov 4, 9, 11 for your ideas. Trade 7 for QFTNW, Production 9 for workshops. I know I always beeline for Gov 4, then Land 5, for example, and beeline for other goals after that rather than spending evenly.

I can see how that info might be a bit too much at this stage, but another thing that came to mind is how nation size determines tech cost. I think this is a pretty big point to mention, but it might fit in better later. The wiki covers this topic quite well: http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Research_Strategies

Anywho, those were just my thoughts on that section. What's already been presented is, as far as I can see, quite informative.
 
Last edited:
First off, let me say that you know how to organize a wall of text. I found everything to be quite readable.

One thing that immediately stuck out to me was the last sentence you had about land research, mentioning cannons. It felt somewhat out of place, in that you didn't mention the other two troop types there. I think the sentence has the potential to be more confusing than informative.

As far as the rest of the technology section goes, one thing that came to my mind is perhaps mentioning some key early milestones. I might be wrong on the exact numbers, but some come to mind. Land 5 for your first upgrade, Gov 4, 9, 11 for your ideas. Trade 7 for QFTNW, Production 9 for workshops. I know I always beeline for Gov 4, then Land 5, for example, and beeline for other goals after that rather than spending evenly.

I can see how that info might be a bit too much at this stage, but another thing that came to mind is how nation size determines tech cost. I think this is a pretty big point to mention, but it might fit in better later. The wiki covers this topic quite well: http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Research_Strategies

Anywho, those were just my thoughts on that section. What's already been presented is, as far as I can see, quite informative.

I'm happy that you like the writing style. It's important to make a block of text as readable as possible, I did my best. Still not sure about the diplomacy section though.

Okay it is better to delete that part with the cannons, it distracts I believe.

The milestones are a great idea! But I think I will leave that to when the actual game play starts and when the game is at +3 stab. Then we need to have an research strategy, that will be a better time to mention the milestones.

I completely forgot that the size of ones' nation has a drastic effect on the speed of research. I mentioned it already but will discuss it fully when we start colonizing.

Hmm..I left out a part about the advisors. Will make that part this evening or maybe tomorrow.
 
nice , nice
the claim isn't fixed to 80,66 and 33 , i've got up to 100 and down to 20 :D
[edit] It's not? I always thought that it was when a new heir takes over the throne it will do a static modification to your legitimacy.

Great stuff!!! Really, really anxiously awaiting the next chapter...

Haha, yeah that will be tough one...

Hmm..I left out a part about the advisors. Will make that part this evening or maybe tomorrow.
Sometimes I like to quote myself :cool:, but I've added in a piece about advisors. Not yet full blown in detail, but enough to get started. The advisors will be covered together with cultural tradition in a later chapter. What do you think?

I also made corrections to the to explanation of technology advances. Is it still understandable?
 
Last edited:
Chapter Five:
The Coat of Arms menu. Part Two
Inflation and Monthly Income

---Before I begin, you do still have the game paused right? Hold on, just read what I have to say before you can unpause.---

Ok let's continue where we left off. Where was that exactly? Ah, the budget screen. Here it is again.

budget2.jpg

---You remember that you had to shift the stability slider to it's max right?---

There is a seventh slider which we have not yet discussed, it's called Treasury. This Treasury Slider has proven itself the most complex game element to grasp for newcomers. Well, this AAR is here to lend you a hand!

First you ought to know that the economy in EU3 works a bit differently than what you expect. It's completely normal to lose ducats ---the games' currency--- every month. This shouldn't be a problem, as you receive a bunch of ducats every 1st of January. Now what has this to do with the treasury slider?

To understand this slider, you need to know its rules.
  1. The slider should always be at the most left slider setting to make sure you don't acquire a nasty pest, inflation ---explained in detail in this chapter.---
  2. When it is not, your country is converting its monthly income to cold hard cash, rather than spending it in research.
  3. By default, when the slider is at its most left position, no inflation is gained and deflation ---the opposite of inflation, will be explained--- does not occur.

Try setting the slider to its max right position. See what happens?
inflation.jpg


We see that our monthly nett income has risen. If we leave the slider at this position, we would gain 15.3 ducats every month. Wow, that's a great way to get rich isn't it!? All we have to do is change a slider. What can be difficult about that?

Well, it's in the price we pay for getting rich. Yes, we gain a lot of money each month, but that would cripple our economy and our technological research. As you see, all those technological sliders are set to the left, so nothing gets invested. What's far worse however, is with this slider setting we will be gaining 0.99 inflation each year.

You probably read that as you read the sports section in the newspaper. But any member on the forum is shocked with that much inflation every year! How come? Well, inflation works differently in the game than in real life.
  1. Inflation makes everything ---technology, stability, colonists, decisions, troops, maintenance, missionaries, fleets and much more. Literary everything!--- more expensive by the factor of inflation you have. So we would have 1.00 inflation, everything we build is 1% more expensive ---(inflation% + 100%) x actual without inflation cost = how much we must pay now. ---
  2. Example. If we want to build a regiment of Latin Medieval Infantry in London, that costs us 8.1 ducats. If we would do nothing and let the treasury slider the way it is for one year, we have approximately 1.00 inflation.
    That would mean: (1% + 100%) x 8.1 = 101% x 8.1 = ~8.2. So now our troops are bit more expensive.
  3. Example 2. In order to gain a stability level, we need to invest 320 points. Now, with this slider setting for a year we gain 1.00 inflation. Thus:
    (1% + 100%) x 320 = 101% x 320 = ~323 points.

1.00 inflation isn't that bad. But watch as you depend on this money you get from minting ---that is, setting your treasury slider even a tiny bit to the right.---
After 5 years, we will be at 5.00 inflation. Here are the same examples.
  1. Example. A regiment of troops for 8.1 ducats with 5.00 inflation will be:
    (5% + 100%) x 8.1 = 105% x 8.1 = ~ 8.50.
  2. Example 2. (5% + 100%) x 320 = 105% x 320 points = 336 points.

Now you've seen the impact of inflation on a small scale. As these are small examples of a powerful phenomenon. Imagine when we have a big empire and stability isn't 320 point but say, 17.500 points. A fragment of inflation can be killing!
Be a good player and put that treasury slider back where it belongs, the left side. It's possible to either double click or right click on a slider so it becomes locked. Lock the treasury slider back in position on its left side and set the stability slider back to its right side. Here's how it should look.
budget2.jpg


There will be times when we want some extra cash, then we will mint a bit. Why? Well, because it's possible to eliminate the acquired inflation or even better, mint and still get no inflation at all. Now how do we do that?
  • Get the National Bank National Idea ---National ideas will be covered soon enough.---
  • Hire a Master of Mint advisor.
  • Certain national decisions helps to eliminate acquired inflation.
  • The Centralization - Decentralization policy slider ---Policies will be explained later--- can help to battle inflation.
  • In the mid-game ---around 1600 or so--- we will be able to build Tax Assessors buildings. These building can radically decrease inflation to a point where inflation is nothing more to worry about.

When we get across inflation in the unpaused game, I will explain it further.

---Something to note. Minting here on the forum is setting the treasury slider to the right, even a tiny bit. Minting should be avoided at all cost, even though it is possible to do so without getting inflation. Just remember: the treasury slider to the max left is good. Even a tiny bit to the right is bad in the long run.


---Important! When writing this chapter, there were some arguments going back and forth about rather or not minting is bad all the times. On a personal note I believe minting should be avoided at all cost, even if it's possible to do so without 'penalty' (there is a penalty, slower tech research). As that is my personal opinion, I'm obliged to say that others disagree. This is from one of the posts when this AAR was written.
But [minting] is not bad under all circumstances.. I would actually say it's good under all circumstances since it is a very good tool to prevent tech backwardness.. If you mint as much as you can without gaining inflation you can build workshops in all of your provinces almost as soon as they come in play. You can build temples in every province and when you get marketplaces you can spambuild them everywhere the very same day they become possible. You will get money to build CoT's and manufactories. And the more money you have the faster you can build them. More minting => faster/more buildings/manufactories => faster tech progress.
Inflation = bad
Minting = good
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Time to move over to the Balance Sheet, or Monthly Income Sheet. It doesn't have a proper name.

Here we see the following:
  • Tax. Tax will be our major income for at least a hundred years, maybe more. The percentage means how much of the base tax modified by modifiers gets into your treasury. Buildings that improve base tax, local tax modifiers, stability, sheriff advisors and revolt risk all influence this percentage. Stability itself raises this percentage with 10% with each level. Another reason to get it as high as possible.
  • Production. The percentage behind production is our production efficiency. Every province has an production output ---with the exception of colonies--- and this percentage tell us how much of that production output we really receive. As you will see the screenshots below, what you see is not what you get.
  • Trade Income. Merchants can be placed at Centers of Trade, also known as CoTs. This percentage tell us how much money they really make at a CoT. Again, what you see is not what you get.
  • Gold income. When we have gold provinces, that income is shown here separately. We don't need to worry about this right now.
  • Tariffs. As said before, colonies don't produce things, but they generate tariffs. Tariffs can be seen as trade sea lanes which need to be protected by our fleet. Tariffs should always be at 100%, whenever it gets lower we just need to expand our fleet with either big ships or light ships.

Do you notice that the total of this income, which is 21.9, is entirely spend on stability? That's why we lose money every month! Monthly income goes straight into research or stability, unless we mint. I explained the dangers of minting to you, so you know you shouldn't :).

londonoverview.jpg

When you click on any province, you see this little screen somewhere in the bottom. Your provincial income is seen here. The particular screenshot is taken from London.

londontax.jpg

This is what you see when you hold your cursor above Tax. The number 14 is called base tax which is higher because it's our capital and has the national focus surrounding it. The higher the base tax, the better. The way taxes are calculated is different than normal mathematics. Most calculations in EU3 are determined by (base + flat modifiers) * (sum of all % modifiers). ---Examples shall be given at a later moment.---

londonproduction.jpg

Here you see a summary of our production income. Its efficiency is the same number we saw on the income sheet. This efficiency can be raised by investing in production technology and build factories.

Well that covers the basics of income ---it can be explained on a much more sophisticated level but that is not necessary for a beginner.--- But we also spend money each month. Where does that money go?
  • Investments. This is our monthly income being distributed among our research and stability.
  • Advisor salaries. Remember I told you that those advisors cost a bit of money each month? Here you can see the total.
  • Colonial maintenance. Colonies need to be maintained. Food and supplies needs to be send there. Of course this costs the state money. No private colonizers! This bit shows you how much money the colonies costs. Do note that colonies grow and will be self sustainable when reached 1000 population ---will be discussed when we go colonizing---, then they don't need states' help anymore.
  • Military maintenance. We can choose how much money our military get to fight, cloth and equip themselves ---will be discussed later---. Here you see how much money goes to the military. Important note, many newcomers go broke because they overspend the military!
  • Missionary maintenance. Whenever we go preaching ---which we won't until the Reformation hits---, costs us money. Again here we can see how much.
  • Interest. If we ever decide to take a loan ---which we hopefully won't. Loans are too expensive to be a efficient income--- or forced to take a loan, we need to pay a monthly interest fee. This is shown here. High stability and a banker advisor can lower the interest rates.
  • Total expenses. On top of our investments, we spend money. This is the total.
  • War Subsidies. War subsidies doesn't really fit under expenses. Because we can either receive money from a foreign nation or give money to them. We can expect to receive war subsidies when we are fighting a rival ---AI term for having a programmed arch enemy. For example France is programmed to hate England--- from somebody else. However as England is a major nation in the game, we probably won't receive any. War subsidies can thus be either a positive or a negative number. When we give war subsidies to a nation and receive war subsidies form another country, the nett difference is shown.

Now we see the balance which is a -4.3. This is the money we lose every month. Many new players believe that this balance ---a very unhappily chosen name--- should be zero. That is the wrong assumption. Like said before, the game wants you to lose money every month. Only very small nations can gain money without inflation.

Below that we see our inflation level which is 0.0. That is good! Inflation rises as a decimal, so it would first be 0.1 then 0.2 until it slowly reaches 1.0. Inflation can go all the way up to ... anything really. Even higher than 100.0. I hope you know that more then 100.0 inflation is the worst that can happen to anyone!

If we ever want to take a loan, we only need to click on the button below the balance sheet. It is inadvisable to do so, unless it is absolutely necessary.

The two sliders below that can influence how well our preachers preach and how fast our colonies grow. It is recommended to have them as they are now, as that will benefit the missionaries preaching and increase colony growth.

Wow, that was one difficult chapter. I do hope you've learnt something. We are not yet through the Coat of Arms menu, but the most difficult things are talked about. In the next chapter we will finally leave this menu and in the chapter after that, we can start playing!

On to Chapter six: The Coat of Arms menu. Part Three. Brief Military, Policies, Advisors, Tradition, Missions and Decisions.
 
Last edited:
Still greatly appreciating your tutorial AAR! It inspired me to really take another shot a game of EUIII.

Well, last night after about 4 hours (10 years game time) I had learned a ton regarding game mechanics... (untold bazillions of tons to go however)

Here is something regarding inflation that only became clear to me last night that may be part of the confusion most newbies face.

I incorrectly believed that if I set my treasury slider only far enough that my budget was balanced, that I would NOT be minting. I thought that you have to be making a 'profit' for 'minting' to occur. Therefore inflation would only take place once your went to a net positive each month.

Now I realize that any treasury position beyond all the way left is in fact minting. Even if you are running a net loss for the month...

That was a difficult distinction for me that I only finally came to grips with.

Thanks,

Javasligner