Any ideas on streamlining how I play?

[Hrvat115]

I am a pretty good player at Eu4 so far, having put in about 1000 hours, but I find it hard to really find any readily available information to make my gameplay more efficient than....I don't know.....some really efficient thing. You get my point. Anyway, I know all of my basic stuff already (if I came this far without that, then I'd say there's something wrong,) but I kinda need to learn how to keep everything well balanced and such. For example, I burn out of manpower way too quickly because I don't know how to efficiently fight wars, I typically am not very good at balancing monarch points well, ending up, typically, being behind in military tech and such in the mid-late game, I do not exactly know how much land i should take from a peace deal or what land I should be getting in particular (currently, I kinda just take everything I can and run while trying to either make a border with another nation or making the borders look pretty,) &c. This is just the main stuff that I need to know, but I'm open to any advice anyone's willing to give. Hopefully it can help other young Mehmets and Justinians down the line, too, that might wanna streamline some stuff. So far my skill level is about an Early Reich to Manchurian Candidate level of skill (a couple of my latest achievement runs) but Manchurian Candidate I did with a guide so I don't count it as much. I'm trying to work my way up to doing more achievement stuff and get up to Rajput Reich or Sunset Invasion levels of skill, and WC levels as my end goal.

 

[Sfan]

I'm currently writing a guide designed especially for that but it's not over.

It's insanely extensive so that might be a bit boring, but well. It's mostly a game of small details from now on if you have this level of skill, so noone can give you a short answer, and it's more like the 100 small details which all have a very small impact but put together make the difference. The best option is probably to watch youtubers. If you have any specific area you might want to ask for specific areas and provide screenshots, or PM me, as I'm more than ready to answer.

 

[CoolSpin]

Once I can afford it, I have 11 cannons, and if I have a siege general, I put him in charge and leave them to siege it, while putting the rest of my army, infantry and cavalry in own territory if i directly border, or split them up and spread the army out if the next province dont have the supply limit to hold them. From what I gather, if you have your whole army there, and there is a disease outbreak, your whole army in that province gets affected. I also put 11 cannons exaclty for disease outbreaks, if I only had 10 cannons, I would lose a siege bonus for artillery.

Depending on who I am fighting (small, medium, large nations), for long wars I will try to have as many merc infantry in my fighting stack as possible, with non merc infantry in the next province to reinforce if needed - rng... If I am large and can field several stacks of reinforce merc stacks i send them im first. Im not scared of loans, so if I need the extra manpower I take some loans to max out the mercs. Depends on who you are playing as, but loans are generally manageable unless you go full retard, but by that point you have bigger issues anyway.

I also check if I can reach a province before the enemy, in case of woods, mountains, hills, I might have a maneuver general that will increase travel speed, split army up and put my fighter general on the immediately reinforcing stack. Also a maneuver general will "increase" supply limit, if you are stuck in a low supply limit province for some reason. Especially east of muscovy travel times are so bad that you might have lost the battle before your other stack can reinforce since to keep a decent army there you need to split it to several provinces, so you keep more of your numbers closer.

I'm pretty tired so this just came out on top of my head, im no means expert after 3000 hours, but this game teaches you so much, and you forget more than you can remember. I try follow these "guidelines", but some wars are just draining..

 

[Vetgirig]

Some advice:
1. Dont take fight where you are attacker.
2. Dont use MP for anything else then leveling up tech and maybe take a general. (harsh treatment is a no-go).
3. Make sue you have embraced institution when taking tech.

4. Watch youtube videos of one of the best min-max'er there is: Arumba.

 

[qwertzuiop]

2. Dont use MP for anything else then leveling up tech and maybe take a general. (harsh treatment is a no-go).

Harsh treatment is a good use of monarch points if it means preventing a rebellion that is as big or even bigger than your forcelimit while you already have a lot of debt and/or 0 manpower. It is also useful if you are distracted fighting a war at some far away place.

Personally I focus MIL at the start in 90% of all games, make sure I get the important techs fast enough, and after reaching tech 7 or so I have more military points than I need anyway. I'm using them for harsh treatment, artillery barrage, re-rolling generals - not a problem. Of course that is different if I'm playing a country that has to develop for institutions (because I might want to use MIL points for development) or if I wanted to go for a military idea group early.

But in most cases, picking military idea groups early (as part of your first three idea groups) doesn't seem to be worth it. Admin, Religious/Humanist, Exploration, Influence, or Diplomatic just offer so much more in a typical singleplayer game, even though I feel military idea groups gain some additional importance on Very Hard difficulty.

 

[PhoenixG]

Harsh treatment is a good use of monarch points if it means preventing a rebellion that is as big or even bigger than your forcelimit while you already have a lot of debt and/or 0 manpower. It is also useful if you are distracted fighting a war at some far away place.

Personally I focus MIL at the start in 90% of all games, make sure I get the important techs fast enough, and after reaching tech 7 or so I have more military points than I need anyway. I'm using them for harsh treatment, artillery barrage, re-rolling generals - not a problem. Of course that is different if I'm playing a country that has to develop for institutions (because I might want to use MIL points for development) or if I wanted to go for a military idea group early.

But in most cases, picking military idea groups early (as part of your first three idea groups) doesn't seem to be worth it. Admin, Religious/Humanist, Exploration, Influence, or Diplomatic just offer so much more in a typical singleplayer game, even though I feel military idea groups gain some additional importance on Very Hard difficulty.

No. If those rebelion are that big, it cost tons of mil points. For 100-200 mil points for 30% reduction is not worth it and one of the source that will in result bring you beind in mil tech. You're better of increasing autonomy for that.

4. Watch youtube videos of one of the best min-max'er there is: Arumba.

DDRJake is also pretty good in that, since he doesn't take loans, he'll kinda need to squeez every penny for its worth.

 

[Vetgirig]

Personally I focus MIL at the start in 90% of all games, make sure I get the important techs fast enough, and after reaching tech 7 or so I have more military points than I need anyway. I'm using them for harsh treatment, artillery barrage, re-rolling generals - not a problem. Of course that is different if I'm playing a country that has to develop for institutions (because I might want to use MIL points for development) or if I wanted to go for a military idea group early.

You should focus administrative to quickly get to level 10 admin tech and get the first 3 idea groups.

I suggest Influence, Administrative and Humanist as the 3 first groups. So you really gonna need those admin points.

Should have no trouble keeping up in military tech. Before you get Humanist - increase LA and after you should try to stack up on minus unrest modifiers to stop any rebels from fire.

 

[PhoenixG]

it really depends what country you play and your leader. In a place where you need to fight to survive, you really want to focus on mil.

 

[ecrurudesby]

I do not exactly know how much land i should take from a peace deal or what land I should be getting in particular (currently, I kinda just take everything I can and run

Never go over 100% overextension
Take high development provinces with good trade goods (dependant on the year), centres of trade/estuaries and other local modifiers, good buildings for you to steal, and ones that contain institutions that you haven't embraced.

 

[bly08]

Some advice:
1. Dont take fight where you are attacker.
2. Dont use MP for anything else then leveling up tech and maybe take a general. (harsh treatment is a no-go).
3. Make sue you have embraced institution when taking tech.

4. Watch youtube videos of one of the best min-max'er there is: Arumba.

If the player truly cares about minmaxing then all three of those rules rarely apply.

 

[qwertzuiop]

You should focus administrative to quickly get to level 10 admin tech and get the first 3 idea groups.

I suggest Influence, Administrative and Humanist as the 3 first groups. So you really gonna need those admin points.

Should have no trouble keeping up in military tech. Before you get Humanist - increase LA and after you should try to stack up on minus unrest modifiers to stop any rebels from fire.

Influence, Admin and Humanist are a great combo for the start, but usually it's enough to switch the focus to admin points after the first 20/25 years (which is shortly before unlocking tech 7). I think for most of the minor and medium-sized countries, focusing military is more important at the start. Of course, if you are already starting as one of the great powers and your aim is to conquer as much as possible in a short period of time, then admin focus is the best option from day one.


Edit:

No. If those rebelion are that big, it cost tons of mil points. For 100-200 mil points for 30% reduction is not worth it and one of the source that will in result bring you beind in mil tech. You're better of increasing autonomy for that.

Increasing autonomy is better than harsh treatment, yes, but what if you 1. cannot prevent the rebellion even after increasing autonomy or 2. the rebellion is going to fire before you can finish coring the provinces? That's when harsh treatment is useful.

 

[Virupaksha]

Best video guide I've found is ryuku world conquest by remans paradox.

Don't use harsh treatment except in a dire emergency. Provinces must be occupied for five years before rebels get their demands so plenty of time to put down rebellions. unless the land is stated you make little from it anyway, if stated you generally can increase autonomy. If no manpower loan for mercs.

 

[PhoenixG]

Increasing autonomy is better than harsh treatment, yes, but what if you 1. cannot prevent the rebellion even after increasing autonomy or 2. the rebellion is going to fire before you can finish coring the provinces? That's when harsh treatment is useful.

If you can't prevent it with increase autonomy, harsh treatment only delays it abit. In the end you still need to fight it and all you did is burn some mil points. And I don't see a different to fight the rebels before or after finishing coring.

 

[szmik]

just let them rebel asap after peace, kill, and enjoy 10 years without them

 

[TheMeInTeam]

4. Watch youtube videos of one of the best min-max'er there is: Arumba.

Arumba's not a bad player, but "best min-maxer"? I wouldn't put him top 5 among channels I know. I wouldn't even put him higher than me in min-maxing, and I am often too lazy to micro so my one-tags are all late in the game.

If you want min-maxing you want Marco Antonio, Gnostek, Florryworry, bbqftw, atwix type players.

If the player truly cares about minmaxing then all three of those rules rarely apply.

+1.

You're really looking to build up as much power as inexpensively as possible. OP's request isn't actually for streamlining, it's more of a "how to generally improve", and the easiest path there if you can't reliably self-assess is to compare your own benchmarks to elite player timings and figure out why you're not reaching those.

 

[Sfan]

Yes, I was about to comment especially on Arumba. Don't get me wrong, he's a good youtuber because he plays casual and what he does is replicable, and he's enjoyable. But minmaxer, uh, nope. Last time I watched one of his vids was a year ago and I quit after 10 mins because of how horrendous his estate management and trade understanding was.

Ddrjake and Florryworry are the 2 most popular excellent players, and the best players are indeed bbq and atwix. Gnostek and Marco Antonio are insane in a specific area, doing the fastes WC possible.
You can read AARs to get a grasp on how agressivity works, and watch a serie or two from great players to see how they play.

 

[CoolSpin]

I dont watch BBQ as often cus it seems he does these wicked weird runs I dont have the skill for, or the stamina. Atwix you can ask anything and he will explain in detail, and his self imposed rules puts him some pretty interesting situations, which I enjoy watch him solve!

 

[Vetgirig]

Yes, I was about to comment especially on Arumba. Don't get me wrong, he's a good youtuber because he plays casual and what he does is replicable, and he's enjoyable. But minmaxer, uh, nope. Last time I watched one of his vids was a year ago and I quit after 10 mins because of how horrendous his estate management and trade understanding was.

Im not saying hes the best player Im saying he is best at min-maxing the game. He plays slow often pausing the game and thinking over how he can win an extra 0.5 ducat by playing the game smart.

 

[bly08]

Min maxing includes knowing what matters and what doesn't. He pays too much attention to stuff that doesn't matter and misunderstands the stuff that does.

 

[qwertzuiop]

If you can't prevent it with increase autonomy, harsh treatment only delays it abit. In the end you still need to fight it and all you did is burn some mil points. And I don't see a different to fight the rebels before or after finishing coring.

There are situations where harsh treatment after increasing automony can actually prevent a rebellion that would otherwise have happened (don't forget that separatism ticks down, also overextension will go away and it might be possible to use your army for up to -5 additional unrest reduction in a province).

Coring matters because usually the best procedure is to make newly conquered provinces into a state, increase autonomy, and cancel the state. And for that to happen, the cores have to finish first. If you increase autonomy before that, you'll get a 100% autonomy province. But sometimes, if you have conquered a lot of provinces at the same time, rebel progress can tick up so fast that you don't get a chance to finish the cores (there is a lot of randomness involved here as well). In that case, I'd do harsh treatment. I would only increase the autonomy to 100% if I'm really sure I don't need the province economy-wise.