Quick questions / Quick answers -- EU3

[KPJ]

Still on my first game, finally discovered the new world (as Portugal). I am starting to read up on Colonisation posts, but wanted to know if there was a rule of thumb as to how much/little of the new world i should grab? My eyes, i think, are bigger then my eventual budget. I am the first European power there and have just started grabbing everything.

Will this eventually come back to bite me? Or should i just keep going hog wild and send colonists to every new territory i discover? Should i just stick to Caribbean islands and/or coastal provinces? I wanted to play this first game as colony power but don't want run my country in the ground either!

Well, this is generally a matter of style, and sometimes it's more fun to make your own mistakes and learn from them. Things to base your decisions on:
Colonial Maintenance: If you have 10 level 1 colonies, you're in trouble. This slider can be seen in the budget screen, and the more 'growing' colonies you have the more expensive it is to keep them growing at full rate. So it's usually better to focus on one or two (or more if you have the budget) colonies at a time, until they reach 1,000 and start earning you money, before planting more.
Maneuverability: I've always hated having tons of islands because at war you will be highly dependent on moving your few soldiers around with your navies. So, and this is more a style thing, I prefer keeping my colonial possessions in one or two big chunks, on mainland America.
Expansion into New World states: Sometimes the best way to establish 'colonies' is to take them from the natives. A colony at central America (Panama/Choco or Honduras) gives you a nice place to put your soldiers from which to attack Incas or Aztec/Zapotec/Maya.




Mudcrabmerchant: It is a half-point of morale. It doesn't seem like much but lots of these little modifiers can really give you an edge over enemies. Consider it, that's half of Military Drill, which is a national idea. If you had both military drill and Shiism, that's 1.5 morale bonus. In the early game when morale is around 2-3, that's huge.

[mudcrabmerchant]

Mudcrabmerchant: It is a half-point of morale. It doesn't seem like much but lots of these little modifiers can really give you an edge over enemies. Consider it, that's half of Military Drill, which is a national idea. If you had both military drill and Shiism, that's 1.5 morale bonus. In the early game when morale is around 2-3, that's huge.

Thanks. That's what I thought at first, but a few things I had read seemed to indicate otherwise.

One more question. In one of my games, I just inherited Portugal and their significant colonial empire. Although I would like to hold on to their richer provinces in Portugal proper and the conquered Inca Empire, I want to get rid of their significant North American holdings, which just run up stability and tech costs and give Castille and the Netherlands a colonialism CB on me. However, even though their cores still appear in 75% of the land, it won't let me release any of the Native American nations. Is this a bug, or is it because they're all Portuguese culture now due to conversion? If the latter is true, is there anything I can do to get rid of this liability without wasting 50 diplomats to sell all the provinces?

[KPJ]

Thanks. That's what I thought at first, but a few things I had read seemed to indicate otherwise.

One more question. In one of my games, I just inherited Portugal and their significant colonial empire. Although I would like to hold on to their richer provinces in Portugal proper and the conquered Inca Empire, I want to get rid of their significant North American holdings, which just run up stability and tech costs and give Castille and the Netherlands a colonialism CB on me. However, even though their cores still appear in 75% of the land, it won't let me release any of the Native American nations. Is this a bug, or is it because they're all Portuguese culture now due to conversion? If the latter is true, is there anything I can do to get rid of this liability without wasting 50 diplomats to sell all the provinces?

Hmm, if these american nations still exist outside your borders, you can't release them. Could that be it?
Another possibility is that another colonial power is holding the province which is their potential capital province. If you hover the mouse over the icon telling you they have a core, in the province window, it will say if it can become their capital. If this province is in Castillean or Dutch colony you are out of luck.
Otherwise I'm not too sure... I can release native american nations in the games I've played (though it's probably worth noting that you don't lose infamy for doing so, even if you've made them Christians)

[mudcrabmerchant]

Hmm, if these american nations still exist outside your borders, you can't release them. Could that be it?
Another possibility is that another colonial power is holding the province which is their potential capital province. If you hover the mouse over the icon telling you they have a core, in the province window, it will say if it can become their capital. If this province is in Castillean or Dutch colony you are out of luck.
Otherwise I'm not too sure... I can release native american nations in the games I've played (though it's probably worth noting that you don't lose infamy for doing so, even if you've made them Christians)

I just checked, and although I can't find the capital of Cherokee, I do own the potential capitals of Creek and Shawnee. None of them still exist.

Is it possible I just have too many potential releasable nations? I have over 20 from my conquest of India and Indonesia. However I don't think that's it, as European Portugal itself is releasable, and it was gained at the same time as North America.

Also, after looking through my releasable vassals, it appears that I can't release the Inca or any of formerly Portuguese Africa. I'm thinking that there's just something wrong with the save; in addition to this problem, I've never been able to access the HRE pop-up screen or map mode, despite starting as a Christian nation in Europe.

[dirked]

Thanks KPJ! Very helpful information. Couldn't tell you how many times I have been in that treasury pane and not noticed the Colony maintenance. Thats uh...a big number currently!

[OrangeYoshi]

I just checked, and although I can't find the capital of Cherokee, I do own the potential capitals of Creek and Shawnee. None of them still exist.

Is it possible I just have too many potential releasable nations? I have over 20 from my conquest of India and Indonesia. However I don't think that's it, as European Portugal itself is releasable, and it was gained at the same time as North America.

Also, after looking through my releasable vassals, it appears that I can't release the Inca or any of formerly Portuguese Africa. I'm thinking that there's just something wrong with the save; in addition to this problem, I've never been able to access the HRE pop-up screen or map mode, despite starting as a Christian nation in Europe.

Um... Try clearing the map cache?

[zcar94]

Playing as TO>Prussia, and i vassalized Trier, but for some reason they won't vote for me due to me being unable to be Emperor.
why is this?
i am a Noble Republic , so could that be the problem?
also it said i was unable to b/c i was a heathen, but i just fought bohemia and made them force convert so i don't know why it wont let me now (it quit using heathen as the reason after the war).
also my leader is male.

[Ciaphas Cain]

i am a Noble Republic , so could that be the problem?

Most likely.

[James The 1st]

Playing as TO>Prussia, and i vassalized Trier, but for some reason they won't vote for me due to me being unable to be Emperor.
why is this?
i am a Noble Republic , so could that be the problem?
also it said i was unable to b/c i was a heathen, but i just fought bohemia and made them force convert so i don't know why it wont let me now (it quit using heathen as the reason after the war).
also my leader is male.

Republics can't be Emperor.

[Marconius]

My question relates to the Holy Roman Emperor: I'm assuming you can't become HRE while you have a regency, is this correct? This would also mean that if I'm already emperor and my king dies, but his heir is too young, someone else will be emperor?

Related to this: What about the above if I've already enacted the imperial reform that makes the HRE hereditary?

[Goggles89]

No, your king will still be emperor even if he is wearing diapers.

[Marconius]

Does that apply before the imperial reforms too? Bit weird to think of the electors picking a baby as their emperor.

[Renfrost84]

Short answer: yes

Just as there are many political reasons to vote for one man, and there are many political reasons to vote against other candidates. Maybe a baby in diapers with a regent seems less threatening than Bohemia with ridiculous infamy.

[rmdsc]

Does that apply before the imperial reforms too? Bit weird to think of the electors picking a baby as their emperor.

Not that weird if you think of the electors as scheming bastards putting an amenable baby on the throne to be manipulated

The hereditary reform allows female rulers to be crowned HRE.

[fodzilla]

Playing as a European nation, if I annex North Africa, settle and convert, then re-release as vassals, will their tech groups, graphical cultures or dynastic/leader names have changed?

[meldok]

Playing as a European nation, if I annex North Africa, settle and convert, then re-release as vassals, will their tech groups, graphical cultures or dynastic/leader names have changed?

AFAIK no, the only change is their relgion.

[OrangeYoshi]

Playing as a European nation, if I annex North Africa, settle and convert, then re-release as vassals, will their tech groups, graphical cultures or dynastic/leader names have changed?

They will change religion and culture, as changing from an pagan religion changes the province's culture. I -think- the tech group will change to your tech group, although their tech level will be the same as when they were annexed.

[DrLulz]

1) Concerning culture, I get that cultures from another culture-group get's the "intolerance-modifier" making them pay less taxes, and giving them higher revoltrisk. But what about different cultures, from the same culturegroup, e.g. Swedish and Danish. What are the consequences of that (minimal) cultural difference?

2) When selecting a nation it is rated in terms of economy, diplomacy and military. This resembles the monarch stats and for a long time I thought it was the stats of that countries monarch at that time. But recently I've discovered it's not.
How is the rating (stars) determined, and do they confer any bonuses?

[brifbates]

2) When selecting a nation it is rated in terms of economy, diplomacy and military. This resembles the monarch stats and for a long time I thought it was the stats of that countries monarch at that time. But recently I've discovered it's not.
How is the rating (stars) determined, and do they confer any bonuses?

Not really sure about your culture question, but this one isn't too bad... The stars represent your relative strength in that area, more stars is better so for diplomacy it takes into account things like reputations, alliances, pu, infamy and the like, economy would be size, wealth, and development, military is techs, manpower, and standing army size. I don't know if anyone has ever looked at the exact calculations though.

[OrangeYoshi]

1) Concerning culture, I get that cultures from another culture-group get's the "intolerance-modifier" making them pay less taxes, and giving them higher revoltrisk. But what about different cultures, from the same culturegroup, e.g. Swedish and Danish. What are the consequences of that (minimal) cultural difference?

Cultures within the same culture group give a very small tax penalty, something like 10%.

I don't know if anyone has ever looked at the exact calculations though.

They've tried, and no one has ever been able to make sense out of the stars.