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Does anyone actually play the later start dates?

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I occasionally play other dates. For example, in Japan, I pretty much always do a later date because I'd rather be Asakura or Oda or something than one of the starting Daimyos and it starts me closer to getting discovered by Europeans, thus allowing me to become Catholic (and then Protestant/Reformed).

On the other hand, when I do Korea, I prefer 1444 for the starting god-king and more time to deal with the Jurchens and Ming.

In India, I like to pick a date in which the Timmies are a little more subdued, though it does often mean that Delhi is a bit blobbed.

In Europe, scooting the date forward to just before the Reformation or just after the Burgundian Inheritance can be nice to get past the wait. Or perhaps 1453 because my personal peeve is seeing Byzantium consistently last several decades longer than it should. For the record, if EU5 cuts it down to just one start date, I'd prefer 1453 to 1444.

In the Americas, though, it's 1444 or bust. The various independent MA and SA states are quickly absorbed into Aztec and Inca in later starts and I need to get ready to deal with the Europeans, so I really need that time.

In Africa, I dunno. Never really played there.

I don't usually start late, but I do at least occasionally start a bit later.
 
I ceased to care about achievements and Ironman a while back so I ditched the 1444 start date in favor of the 1492 one. The borders come out cleaner, Europe and the Mideast are more balanced, and Portugal can't get to the Americas ahistorically early! Plus, you only lose less than 50 years of gameplay - I wouldn't want to start any later really, but if you're not going for a WC losing a relatively small bit of time isn't that big of a deal.
 
balmung60 said:
I occasionally play other dates. For example, in Japan, I pretty much always do a later date because I'd rather be Asakura or Oda or something than one of the starting Daimyos and it starts me closer to getting discovered by Europeans, thus allowing me to become Catholic (and then Protestant/Reformed).
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As one of the guys who made that set up, I am happy to hear you! :D


Also, Caesare Borgia? Who doesn't want to play as him in Urbino? It is actually fun to play between powerful France and Austria...
 
For those people who play on 1492, do you change NIs? I find AI pick to be bad for most nations, but I consider trying this date.
 
jacobsighs said:
1453 is the best m8
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1453 looks like and easy-mode for Europe. Given that anyone can get easy Burgundian inheritance, Austria is weak, etc. For RotW there is no difference between 1444 and 1453.
 
1492 or later. I find earlier, everything is too messed up in Europe.
 
I never play a later start date. It's more rewarding to play as lengthy a game as possible.

It sucks if your nation is finally starting to get nice and powerful and then the game ends abruptly.
 
slv said:
For those people who play on 1492, do you change NIs? I find AI pick to be bad for most nations, but I consider trying this date.
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No, not usually. The idea groups the AI starts with at the 1492 bookmark are the same they'll take as their first from the 1444 bookmark, as they're chosen based on the historical ideas in the country files, and I'm far too lazy to go through country by country and swap out the old idea groups for new ones. I do, however, like to play with Ninking's Dynamic Ideas, though, as it changes up the ideas chosen later on and so makes everything a lot more interesting.
 
Do a start at the beginning of the great northern war as Sweden, Despite Carolus Rex's god stats its hard as hell in that start, makes you really respect how he was able to hold them off for 9 years until he went on an adventure in Russia -.-
 
cpm4001 said:
No, not usually. The idea groups the AI starts with at the 1492 bookmark are the same they'll take as their first from the 1444 bookmark, as they're chosen based on the historical ideas in the country files, and I'm far too lazy to go through country by country and swap out the old idea groups for new ones. I do, however, like to play with Ninking's Dynamic Ideas, though, as it changes up the ideas chosen later on and so makes everything a lot more interesting.
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I think he meant "Do you drop the idea group that's already chosen for you and take a new one or just keep it?".
 
Only times I've ever loaded a start date in a paradox game that was not the grand campaign date was simply to see what countries existed/how large they were at certain points. Interesting to look over once in a while for me? Yes. Worth playing for me? Not really.
 
balmung60 said:
I think he meant "Do you drop the idea group that's already chosen for you and take a new one or just keep it?".
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Oh, I see now. Well, the answer in that case 'maybe' - it varies from start to start. I'll take 1600 free points invested in something like Innovative or Exploration for sure, but maybe not Aristocratic.
 
cpm4001 said:
No, not usually. The idea groups the AI starts with at the 1492 bookmark are the same they'll take as their first from the 1444 bookmark, as they're chosen based on the historical ideas in the country files, and I'm far too lazy to go through country by country and swap out the old idea groups for new ones. I do, however, like to play with Ninking's Dynamic Ideas, though, as it changes up the ideas chosen later on and so makes everything a lot more interesting.
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You can edit the savefile instead. But yes, it requires some work. Definitely will not bother if the first group is at least somewhat reasonable (admin/innovative/defensive), but maritime?trade for landlocked nation?
 
toroltao said:
I don't cuz not enough play time. What bout u mate.
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Things are really wonky in later start dates, because there are too many of them, and the devs only have limited resources to test each patch.

They were maybe ok balanced (but still not as good as 1444) on release, but they are not adjusted for patch changes (it would be too much anyway).

For example, getting trade power used to not take up a slot. So GB in the latter half of the start dates are getting trade power from like 10 nations, which means if you start as them you will have like -6 DIP until you cancel all of them.

Sometimes nations have occupied territories of other nations they are not at war with, and other wonky things.

Massive OE for large colonial nations are another thing.

Also, it's less fun:
You don't get to choose all your ideas, as they've been chosen already.
Also, ROTW is not fun/playable at later dates, as you need the entire time frame to build your strat of westernizing and tech focus. Starting the game in 1700's 20 techs behind is no fun, esp since if you had played the nation yourself, you might only be 2-3 techs behind in Mil and stand a chance.
 
I've played as the United States for the Revolutionary War. I also played a mid game Mughal Empire. I do it a lot; but I still play from the start date the most often. Usually I play from the start for an interesting late game though- preparing the Aztecs or Inca to hold off the invaders, uniting Sub-Saharan Africa to cut off European trade, etc.
 
later start dates are more balanced than 1444

in 1444 you pick a european nation, you grow, then eventually you find yourself in europe with shitty enemy powers basically. Powers you are most likely actually allied to who probably will never grow any more, and certainly would never grow to the 1 million army i will talk about below

in later start dates, like the 80 years war I enjoy, everything looks quiete historical and balanced. By 1700, 130 years from the start date, the ottoman empire AI on bonus AI will have a 1 million army and the spaniards would have around 500k. Now, this is a game where you can actually enjoy and have an extreme challenge with a nation like France/Russia/austria. Even if you beat up spain with France multiple times, you'd still have those ottos and their 1 mil army... and this is prior 1700

I think most of this has to do with provinces having alot more buildings. At the 1579 start date pretty much every province has all 2-3 lvl buildings

but the bottom line is later start dates cant be really fun and challenging with nations which are too easy at 1444. Try the PLC at 1579 on all hardest, and that, my friend, is a bigger challenge than any theodoro or albania
 
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