I have another set of questions im curious about after playing for a good few years more. I know im playing as France, and playing on very easy difficulty, but I must say im finally super-hooked on EU3! Just had one crazy war with Bohemia
Good to hear. Welcome to the club!
1.) Infamy, or as I think some of the forums call "BB"? Anyway, it's 109.35/60.16. I'm guessing this is pretty bad? As France should I care less? What kind of consequences will I pay?
Depending on the version you are playing, Infamy is either bad, or very bad. You want it to be as low as possible. Preferably under ten, certainly under the limit which the tooltip gives you. Most of the negative events can also be seen on the tooltip, but in general it means higher revoltrisk, lower legitimacy, and ruined relations with all other nations, to represent the fact that they fear you. This makes it easier for them to declare war on you, and harder to get any sort of diplomatic deal. For every 10 infamy, you will lose 1 point of relations per year. This adds up, quickly.
In the later versions of the game you will also get hit with random events that cost you prestige, stability, and legitimacy once you go over the limit. Once your relations with the papal controller and the pope get bad enough, you'll be excommunicated, which gives severe maluses to prestige and legitimacy and gives every christian country a casus belli on you.
2.) Does Infamy just recover over time? I put my mouse over the score and it shows all the factors contributing to regaining it.
To manage infamy, build an embassy, hire a diplomat as an advisor, and hope for some good events. To avoid gaining infamy, play strategically. Declare war only using the proper casus belli, and don't just randomly annex nations if you could force vassalization on them, or offer them vassalization diplomatically for a much lower cost.
Essentially, you need to wait it out.
3.) I've been in two wars involving Bohemia now. I have won both and fought very hard with many casualties to gain only 3-4 provinces per war. Once peace is made, Bohemia has constantly sent me events called "A Formal Request". If i say "screw you" I lose 5 prestige and 1 stab (which I think hurts pretty badly), OR I can give them a province back and gain 5 prestige. I notice if you say screw you, they constantly stack this event on you, but if I give up provinces they still blitz me with this event and by the time you know it im giving everything I fought so hard for back. What gives? Such a bad stab score hurts pretty bad, but should I care as France?
You should always care about stability and prestige. Prestige should always be as high as possible. It literally affects everything in the game and makes everything easier. It gives higher morale, more diplomatic skill, and it will give you a greater chance to form and inherit personal unions, among many other things.
Stability is pretty self-evident. It primarily refuses revolt risk and increases tax income. Revolt risk might not be a problem, but +3 stability means +30% taxes. Centainly in the early part of the game, that is worthwhile. More taxes also mean faster investments in technology, which leads to long-term benefits. Keep it at +3 whenever possible, and raise it ASAP to run the most hassle-free and efficient game possible.
There are several ways to avoid this event, which is caused by the fact that you illegitimately claimed provinces of the HRE which are not 'cores'.
- You can use magistrates to enact a provincial decision to take each province out of the HRE, which ruins your relations with the current emperor, but will end the events.
- You can stay at war. The event will only fire when at peace. This means 'gaming' a gameplay mechanic, but is useful if you intend to become emperor yourself.
- You can only grab provinces which are 'cores'. A core represents a legitimate historical or diplomatic claim to a province, and being a core province will have many benefits, one of which is the emperor will stay off your back.
4.) Lastly, is there any way to increase my odds of NOT having my spies detected after a mission? I'm starting to learn how valuable they are
Detection, success and defence depends on relative spy efficiency, which is determined by your domestic policy sliders. You can also get a spy master advisor, and there are several other moves you can make.
Move towards Mercantilism to get more spies.
Move towards Centralization to get more efficient spies
Move towards Free Subjects to better defend against spies.
The idea National Spy Defense will also help
