Nice work gobbling up Danzig there. That will be very helpful later in the game (and probably with trade.)
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If you want to be HRE, you have to make one of your diplomats the go to guy for that. It is constant, but worth it (mostly) when you gain the crown.
Some advice from my experience in the game:
In regards to economy, tax is going to be your largest source of income in the early game. Try to get that as high as you can. Later on, trade and production become more important. Once your economy can handle it, it's a good idea to start drilling your armies during peacetime to increase their combat effectiveness and your army professionalism.
Prestige is useful, but it's not a country defining trait. Certainly not one you use to compare with other countries. Development, economy, tech level, army/navy size/quality/forcelimit are all more accurate ways to compare yourself with others that I often use myself, but not prestige. Plus, it decays fast, at a base rate of -5% per year. Though later in the game, you'll probably be able to stack enough modifiers to keep it at max level.
I've never played within the HRE, but playing from the outside, unlawful territory isn't really that bad. Though be aware that declining hurts relations with the emperor plus everyone else in the HRE. If you don't want the emperor to constantly demand your conquests, try improving relations with them. Securing an alliance with them is even better if you can manage it.
If you're going to play a (relatively) historical game and not do any crazy blobbing, admin points shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as you pace yourself. As you progress through the game, you'll pick up more admin efficiency, especially once absolutism picks up. Admin efficiency reduces province warscore cost as well as core creation cost. So that's something to keep in mind.
Some notes on early game political developments:
- Surrender of Maine. It looks like England surrendered Maine to France. Normally England chooses to fight, which would allow France to take most of their continental holdings. This is going to put France at a disadvantage.
- Burgundian Inheritance. When Charles dies, Burgundy will most likely fall under PU with either the Emperor, France, or a country they have a RM with. There is also a chance they decide to stay independent. Depending on which option is chosen, a conflict will probably start over the region.
- Prussian Confederation. In 1452, a disaster will start in the Teutonic Order, which if not addressed by 1460, will result in the revolt of Danzig. Poland will get an event to support them by joining the war. If Danzig wins (which will probably happen) the Teutons will be left as a rump state (if not completely annexed) and Danzig will become a vassal of Poland.
- Sweden starts as a subject of Denmark, but they are very disloyal and will want to declare an independence war. They're typically supported by multiple countries and usually win quite easily. If undermining Denmark is something you're interested in doing, consider supporting Sweden's independence.
- Austria will likely get a PU over Hungary and Bohemia, and Poland over Lithuania. None of them are guaranteed, but they'll probably happen.
- Not sure if this has happened already, but the Roman's Invasion event will make Moldavia a subject of either Poland (most likely option) or Hungary.
Okay, I'm just about caught up. It must be frustrating having both the Emperor and the Pope breathing down your neck. Hopefully Brandenburg becomes strong enough that they can ignore them with impunity. I'm not much of an EU4 whiz so I don't have any gameplay tips, but I definitely love the setting!
Stettin, Danzig, Prussia, the Teutonic Order? These factions are just like different kinds of sausages on Brandenburg's massive Wurstteller. That is to say, they should all be gobbled up with a dash of mustard.
Are Poland and Lithuania still in a personal union as they were historically?
Will need to defer to someone more experienced re the peace making question.
Take that, buttheads!
Huzzah! Nothing they wouldn’t have tried in similar circumstances.
Congrats on your victory. The Poles and Lithuanians made greatsacrificesallies, and Brandenburg finally has land in Prussia!
Maybe Stettin still counted as the war leader for some reason? I don't know why they would since the Teutonic Order is a larger and more influential state, but that's the only explanation I have for why a separate peace was possible, unless you negotiated the peace with Stettin first. You can negotiate with lesser cobelligerents and knock them out of wars.
Normally the state you declare on is the war leader, regardless of size or importance. The only exceptions are declaring war on a junior partner of a personal union (at which point the senior partner becomes war leader, e.g. if he were to declare on Lithuania, Poland would be war leader) or the fairly rare occurrence of going to war with an independent country and then during the war the country becomes a vassal/junior partner of a personal union of another, at which point that country becomes war leader. In the latter case, this is almost always the result of declaring on a country that is already losing so badly in another war that the limited amount of territory that you occupy isn’t enough to prevent the victor in the other war forcing vassalization/PU on them.
Under normal circumstances, a war leader can individually negotiate with every non-vassal/subordinate country on the other side, and indeed, this is the optimal way to do peace negotiations if for no other reason than more money is milked out of the enemy this way. The one exception to this is when the war leader is going up against a coalition directed against them. Coalition members are not allowed to make separate peaces. I do need to explain that this does not mean they are fighting a country that is in the coalition; if I attack country X, which is not in a coalition against me, and they call in their allies of Y and Z, who are in a coalition against me, unless I click the co-belligerent button on either of them and cause them to summon in the whole coalition, they’re not treated as fighting against me as a coalition and can be peaced out separately. But if instead I attack Y, X can be peaced out separately, but Z and the other coalition members will not sign a separate peace.
And in cases where a country is not the war leader for their side, such as when the player has been called in as ally to the AI, they can only negotiate with the war leader for the opposing side.
Hope this helps.
Nice work gobbling up Danzig there. That will be very helpful later in the game (and probably with trade.)
It appears to me, that playing inside the HRE/Central Europe is a slightly different beast from playing Southeast Asia, or even my other completed games as Spain or the Ottomans. The sheer number of small countries all trying to grow at each other's expense is a different dynamic (well I suppose Southeast Asia has a lot of small countries too, but in that case there's also uncolonized land to colonize, which I think gives whoever picks colonization ideas an advantage against the rest - as most Southeast Asian countries will not take colonization ideas under the control of the AI, this will be the player.)
This war was pretty easy due to having regional big fish Poland on your side...however, as you implied, you will probably have to fight Poland later. Hopefully Brandenburg should be of equal or larger size than Poland when that time comes.
I also found slashkig's comment to be very informative regarding the fixed historical events that take place in Europe, something I'm not too well-versed in (I still remember the time I declared war on Aragon as Castile in order to annex them, not realizing that apparently you can just diplo-annex Aragon entirely with the Iberian Wedding, as in real life.)
On that note, how did the Burgundian Inheritance go, if it's already happened? And has Sweden launched their independence war against Denmark? That seems like something Brandenburg might want to get involved in.
Could you check which provinces Poland has declared as being of vital interest to them? I can't help but think that Danzig is one of those provinces, because of...reasons.
I admit much of the mechanics mean little to me, but that all seemed to go very well. The benefit of having an ally prepared to do all the hard work while demanding little in the way of actual reward, it's a good trick particularly if you can pull it off again.
The HRE voting thing looked good? Just because I assume higher numbers are better in this context and that getting elected is good, it seems like it should be. And presumably that is the first cardinal of many with the aim of influencing the papal election and perhaps eventually getting a puppet pope elected.
Umm... Short answer: Yes.It's a good thing you called Poland into the war with you. Now they have a truce and cannot declare their own separate war against the Teutons. And you were even able to get away with not giving them anything (are they close to breaking the alliance because of that?).
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Going into Prussia meant it was going to happen eventually. And they can't seek revenge very easily since you're part of the HRE.Umm... Short answer: Yes.
The player increases the relations with other electors.Brandenburg sent envoys to improve relations with each of the HRE Electors, in hopes of someday having more influence with regard to the Emperor.
Run Analysis
The player opens the run with three (3) mistakes.
1. Initial alliancesThe player made alliances with magdeburg-, lüneburg-, berg-, and... poland-tag.
The magdeburg-tag as an ally can be seen as acceptable, but that is part of the initial brandenburg-tag provinces. It usually is more beneficial to keep them in check, to be later annexed, or better, force-vassalised, so no alliance. That tag will want the same provinces as the player-brandenburg.
The lüneburg- and berg-tags are mistakes. The first is again better to keep as a vassal, so leaving it alone to make an alliance with someone around, then force-vassalise in a co-belligerent war. The latter as an ally is a terrible choice. Once it gets a ruler with militarist personality, the code will call the player against tens of tags, as berg-tag has too many neighbours, and the code is at hyperdrive to connect its three separate provinces.
Useful allies are those that do not get greedy so they will not call the player, else those with fewer options or less incentive to conquer, and those that cannot be conquered nor be declared war easily. That means free cities.
Out of the initial allies the player has, the poland-tag is the actual mistake.
Code-poland and player-brandenburg want the same provinces. The player cannot compete with the code-poland, and once it has the Jagiellon ruler with pu-lithuania, the player will be out of the game. The worst condition is the code not taking the Jagiellon ruler, therefore there would be two instead of one potential rivals.
Not to forget: The code-poland will call the player-brandenburg to all its offensive wars, if the player does not increase the relations with the hungary-, the bohemia-, and the muscovy-tags to set the attitude as friendly. Player-brandenburg is a duchy, code-poland is a kingdom, thus the code will accumulate favours faster than the player, and the player does not have the time, nor the opportunity to fend off the code-ally offensive wars through diplomacy - only two diplomats at the beginning. The player will be in utter loss with that alliance.
And the defensive wars: Once code-ottos or code-muscovy gets stronger and declares war, then quit game is much more preferable. There is no gain in surviving such wars. Favours gained with the code-poland will be useless in absolute scale.
Doom case is the code-poland calling the player-brandenburg against the code-teutonic. Again, both tags want and require the same provinces: Danzig and Königsberg. The player will not be able to reach Königsberg due to the forts of the code-teutonic.
Needless to add: Forming prussia-tag requires the player to have the Königsberg province as a core. Not Berlin, not Danzig, not any other, but Königsberg. Danzig is useful to reach Königsberg, but the latter is the requirement. And the code-poland will be faster to reach that province in such a war.
And when it is 1460, the danzig uprising event happens to the code-teutonic, and the code-danzig emerges, makes an event-alliance with the code-poland. Therefore the player is running against time. There is not enough time conquering wolgast-tag, then going against the teutonic-tag, due to the limitation of aggro-exp.
2. Initial warsAs the brandenburg-tag at the beginning, the player has only one (1) advantage: Being an elector.
The brandenburg-tag has no economy, has no valuable provinces, has no defensible position, has no navy, and has no credible army at the beginning. Its manpower recovery rate, normal for a duchy, is in the order of magnitude 10^2. This means in any war the manpower reserves will be depleted, either by defeating else by getting defeated in battles, and it will not recover until ten years pass.
It is also, well, in hre.
This means the conquest potential is constrained by the budget of aggro-exp. If the player ignores and goes on berserking, then the code will hand it to the player. With a punitive war. Not to mention the furor of the emperor-tag, too.
This is the second mistake of this run. The player opens with a conquest on the stettin-tag, and finishes it with an actual conquest. This will kill the run.
Again, the player is in the hre; the aggro-exp has to be rationed for the upcoming series of the conquests. This means: the stettin-tag is more beneficial when it is vassalised.
3. ElectionThis is the mistake that can kill the run.
The player increases the relations with other electors.
Judging by the uncontrolled, unplanned, unreasonable conquest-spree of the player, they will not; but in the case that the player is wishing for getting elected as the emperor, and in the case that the player gets its wish and is elected, then, the run is over.
While playing the brandenburg-tag, one cannot form the prussia-tag while being catholic. Forming the tag requires: core province Königsberg; tag is either protestant or reformed or anglican or hussite; admin-tech 10.
Needless to say, the emperor cannot convert to any religion other than the official hre religion, that is the catholic. Once elected, there will be no forming prussia.
Anyway. Bonne chance with the run.
Favors are useful. It's just that the rate of accumulation is based on your relative power to your ally. So, since Poland is much stronger than you currently, the favors grow more slowly than if you had allied an equal or lesser country. You need 10 favors to call a nation to war, but they can also be used in other ways (getting a lump sum of money/manpower, breaking your ally's alliance with a third party, placing someone of your dynasty on their throne). Favors accrue naturally, so I'd only use a diplomat to curry unless you really need something from your ally or your diplomats have nothing else to do.Honestly, I do not know how to use Favors, nor do I understand the importance of them. I seem to be giving favors to my allies, which they never use. But I tried, once, "curry favors" with a country, and it took FOREVER to get just 1 (as opposed to 10 from a war declaration), so it seems useless.
The Teutons can avoid the uprising, but I've never seen the AI be smart enough for that. You may have not noticed it (depends how zoomed in you like to play). It's not like a normal rebellion. Instead a whole new Danzig tag pops out and takes half the land.Lastly, I've heard people talk about the Danzig uprising, but I haven't actually seen it. Could I have avoided it somehow? Did it happen and the Knights fought it down, and I just didn't notice?
Force vassalizing is still a lot of AE, just less than taking outright. Vassals also have the added benefit of being extra armies, manpower, forts that you don't pay for.I get the impression (I may be wrong, but I swear I've checked) that you get the same aggressive expansion penalty for force-vassalizing as you do for annexing. Or it's pretty hefty for either, anyway. It seemed like I might as well just annex and skip the extra steps.
I would always prioritize tech first over developing. If you can't take tech and are hitting the points cap, that is the time for developing your land.But you're right -- I have had to ration my aggressive moves, both to let the Emperor calm down, and also to allow my Manpower to recover. I would be increasing my Manpower base more aggressively, except that we use the same points to do that as to pursue military tech advancement, so which do I choose?
It depends on your goals. But presumably if you want to go for Prussia then no.Do I want to be Emperor if it means I must remain Catholic?
You can do this. If the Religious Leagues form but no war happens, then after many years the HRE will accept either religion. Alternatively, the war can happen but no side will win, also causing this outcome.Is there any dynamic for turning the HRE into a tolerant empire with allowance for both Catholic and Protestant? Has anyone tried this, if it's even possible?
I'm not sure how it worked in EU3, but for EU4 you just click a button and it changes your state religion. If you are one of the first three Protestant, or one of the first three Reformed, countries you also get a religious center to help with conversion.and later I converted to Protestantism. I don't recall there being anything special I had to do in order to make this happen. Is EU IV different?
Apart from the ported art assets (adviser portraits, some of the ui, etc.) and text-strings of the concepts, the only two similarities between the two are:Is EU IV different?
gamey?You're quite correct on all of these from a "gamey" perspective.
For your power projection in this screenshot, it can be a good idea to get it above 50 for an extra +1 of each point per month. You can embargo each of your rivals to help with this.I think I hadn’t mentioned that the war brought us to 27 Prestige, which compares nicely with the great countries of the world.
Hungary and Austria might've been allies, and then the alliance broke which caused the truce.And Hungary has a truce with Austria. I’m not sure exactly why. I didn’t see that war. There are other circumstances that could cause a “truce”, but I think this must have been a war.
For me, the monarch points are always the more valuable option. Prestige is nice but also very easy to get.one of which involved losing another 10 Prestige but gaining 25 Mil Points (I was not willing to accept this)
I'm not sure on the exact equations (the wiki has those, if you're interested). I've never liked delving into games like that, I think it takes away some of the fun. So to answer your question, I'm not sure. Just know that more trade efficiency is always better (especially later in the game when it becomes your primary source of income).It is apparently our “trade efficiency”, but the income from trade doesn’t seem to scale to those numbers. Why is that?
Drilling is good, but if you are having trouble affording it, then it is better to lower your army maintenance and build up a stockpile of money.What are your thoughts on this?
The cost doesn't scale. Level 1 will always cost 1000 ducats. Your economy will grow to afford these types of investments later on.I suppose it will scale in time.
Provinces in a state have a minimum autonomy of 0%. Non-states (called territories), have 90%. Half-states (something stated but not fully cored), have 50%. States take up more governing capacity (which you can see on the government screen, along with your stability, overextension, etc) and at this point shouldn't be an issue.is it worth it? What are the pros and cons? It appears that it must have improved my tax income from the city.
If you're falling behind in tech, development should be a distant luxury. Tech is more important.I can’t spend too much because I’m definitely falling behind some of my neighbors in tech levels.
That's what I would've done. If your home node (where your capital is) isn't great, then collecting in other, richer nodes is the play. Later in the game you can move your main node someplace richer (like Lubeck or the EC) and start transferring trade to those places. To do that, you can either move your capital (costs adm points) or move your trade node (dipl points).It also seemed that since Lubeck seemed to have twice as much value as Saxony that a merchant positioned there might be able to collect a larger amount of trade than in Krakow, even if we had a smaller portion of the trade power in the node. Was I thinking correctly?
Yes. Those arrows show where the trade is going. Having a higher percentage of strength in a node keeps the money in the node (or wherever your merchants direct it if you are transferring) instead of it following the arrows.that if he steered trade from Lubeck it would be steered in the wrong direction (it appears to cross into the North Sea from the Baltic, yes?).
You can hover over each of them and check (and I don't have EU4 installed currently to see myself), but I think they are your trade power in the node, the amount generated by your merchants, and the amount generated by ships.Incidentally, I don’t know what all those sigma notation symbols are at the top of those columns, and I don’t have the manual handy at the moment. What are those columns, exactly?
Having less autonomy from stating Danzig and building a marketplace in Berlin probably. Plus if you did any diplo development.Any guesses as to where I might have increased my Trade income, judging from the graphics I’ve shown you (if you need to see other graphics ask, and I’ll see if I can find them and post them)?
Three things you could have done:Was there something I could have done to encourage a faster embracing??
Lot's of players do this. Hopefully you took the burgher loans and not regular loans since they have less interest. But either way it was a good move.In the end I took 300 ducats in loans and simply paid the cost to embrace the rest of the way. Is that what a lot of countries have to do?
This can be a good way to pay back the loans you took from embracing the institution.(I don’t think there were any richer countries still lacking Renaissance, by this point)….
I would've chosen Denmark over Hungary as an ally. Denmark is more powerful and aligns more with your goals, while Hungary is far away and will likely get attacked by either the Ottomans or Poland (which will isolate you from the protection of the HRE, since you were not directly attacked.Ultimately I decided this was a bridge too far.
They may look more threatening. But their amount of troops/manpower probably went down overall. Vassals are great, especially small ones, because they still get the base 10,000 manpower and can field their own troops. Now Poland/Bohemia do not get those "free" troops and instead have to pay for them.Poland and Bohemia each absorbed one small vassal, making them bigger, making them look more threatening.
That's a pretty accurate description of how I feel when playing EU4.I am certain I am doing it wrong.
I'm glad I'm not the only one here with a general ignorance of all things EU4. Calling my game knowledge "limited" feels overly generous.Yep those screens all looked very EU4 like. You should definitely do the best things to do in this scenario. Sorry I can't be much more help than that, my knowledge of EU game mechanics cannot be under-stated.