Any ideas on streamlining how I play?

[TheMeInTeam]

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.

His outcomes/game performances are worse than mine, and I'm a tier down from the names I listed above. Computation without performance is not min-maxing. It's attempting to min-max.

Actual min-maxing is done by optimizing results, and any of the names I listed easily outperform Arumba. I don't care how many numbers you crunch, if you compare what happens in any patch era of the game I've seen he's not min-maxing. I didn't just outperform his "Aztec aggression" for example, I completely outstripped his performance with a weaker start while being locked on speed 3 oftentimes since it was a co-op LP. Unless he has massively improved since 1.19 it's the same deal now...hopefully he's not where you got that 1-3 list, especially #1 .

The top level min-maxers like Marco can 1-tag the world by/before 1600 with hordes and are probably doing most if not all of a 1 tag during absolutism age even with generic nations (not sure).

 

[UnluckyKat]

Best ways to save manpower is to
1. Avoid useless fights.
2. Always try to siege with the minimum amount required(4 for lvl 1 fort, 7 for lvl 2 fort, 10 for lvl 3 fort etc).
3. The only times "attacking" is acceptable is when defending a siege or when you can squish the enemy.
4. Getting enough influence for the nobles, getting the nobles above 55% loyalty to demand some manpower while not getting the penalty and getting quantity ideas.
5. Having a state with only nobles, maximizing base manpower through development, building the manpower building and turning on the manpower edict.
6. Replace regular infantry with merc infantry if you've suffered heavy losses and will make you run out of manpower eventually if you keep it up.
Some pointers might be obvious but if you fail to do some of them it will add up and will like you said burn your manpower

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I find it really odd that multiple people say to defend rather than attack. The AI presents so many opportunities where an attack is favorable, often outnumbered/weak composition, sometimes even without generals, and this is before we even consider diving the enemy just after declaring to catch them with a bit lower morale than usual.

In all of the WC runs I've done I attack more than I defend, by a large margin.

 

[Dominion]

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.

And after winning those 0.5 ducats he loses 200 in the blink of an eye.

That's the opposite of minmaxing. He doesn't squeeze the most out of everything, he just randomly looks for whatever is available right now, decides to get the most out of that and ignores everything else.

I remember his BBB run, which made me sick from watching. 2 hours of "who should I rent condottieri to and how should I manage them" and losing several hundred ducats and a ton of Monarch Points in the process because he ignored everything else.
Not to mention that wasting almost 10% of your whole run on condottieri managment is a joke.

Some of the comments under his video read "I'm going to try, but it looks difficult" which made me pick up the achievement. Finished in 1484 without breaking a sweat.

He used to be informative, give in-depth explanations and make mistakes but play out of them, which allowed you to learn how to deal with catastrophic events.
Last time I checked his knowledge is completely outdated (IA exploit on 1.22?) and sometimes just flat out wrong.

Just because someone has a lot of excel sheets doesn't mean he's good. I've surpassed him long ago and I'm barely decent.

I can not recommend watching him any longer. You actually become a worse player by watching him.

 

[bbqftw]

Ultimately blobbing hard comes down to this:

Never take a hard war when an easy war is available.

Know which hard wars you have to take.

Past early early game, if you are at peace for more than 5 years, you did something wrong. Tighten your play.

Frankly a lot of players focus on the micro and then miss a bunch of easy wars that wouldn't require micro at all.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You can't neglect micro though bbqftw. I know you've probably forgotten what the game looks like when you hemorrhage manpower attaining nothing, but a lot of those "easy wars" don't show up if you're floundering on basic resource management, doing crap like bottoming out manpower while fighting Albania/Byz/Beyliks as Ottomans.

When you choke away resources, you can't consistently push wars such that you have 5 years or less between (I feel like I'm screwing up when I get to 3 years between wars TBH, and you're probably doing better than that if you measure it).

To a rookie player, Ottomans attacking Mamluks is not an easy war (I've seen a friend lose it in MP when trying to teach the game). To a moderately experienced player trying out a WC, they're still not getting the opportunity to even see easy wars because their economy and progress to date don't allow it. The snowball can roll both ways.

The idea for WC style runs is that your micro is to conserve resources, not to eek out barely-wins...even if the latter is admittedly more fun.

 

[Dominion]

You can't neglect micro though bbqftw. I know you've probably forgotten what the game looks like when you hemorrhage manpower attaining nothing, but a lot of those "easy wars" don't show up if you're floundering on basic resource management, doing crap like bottoming out manpower while fighting Albania/Byz/Beyliks as Ottomans.

Think he meant micro necessary for wars. Sometimes I play on speed3, some wars I even go down to speed2. But if an easy speed4 war is available and the clay is nice it doesn't hurt to throw a few mercs over there, DoW, run them down and take it.

On a different note: Can you please just load a random WC, open the subject interface and appoint three governers to your colonies

 

[Robert de Bruce]

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.

Maybe WC should not be the end goal. I got WC, but failed several times as Aztecs and never really tried Nagaur, since I did not even manage Orissa succesful. Especially Aztecs are kinda different to most games, so you can't compare it to anything else than other natives.
I think, there are several playstyles required for the different country types you can start with. Being good in one of them does not necessarily mean you will perform well in the others. Maybe the best is to perform better in a "normal" start and then read about the special things you need to deal with in a special starting position.
As "normal" game I'd recommend Castille, Ottos or Muscovy. Ofcourse everyone of them has their unique things, but overall you have pretty average mechanics with them, which you basically will have with any nation and they are not altered by something special like HRE AE mechanics (for HRE members and neighbours), complicated diplomatic position (e.g. Aragon), no feudalism (Kongo, Mali).
Most "special" starts you can transform in a "normal" game with some time and knowing what you do and then it's like playing one of the big ones I mentioned. But there are starts not transformable or at least it's not wise to do. I think on natives and hordes. And for that you need many trial&error or you go read some guides/AARs.
"Normal" game basically means get to India as fast as possible, conquer it, get trade companies everywhere, use your huge income for advisors, mercs and buildings, then conquer as much as possible after you hit admin 17. It sounds imple, but it is that simple. That's how many pro players use no-CB wars in start to reach India faster (most often Circassia). India might be replaced by East Africa, but when you can reach East Africa, you can reach India, too.

 

[Sfan]

Nagaur is really overestimated. It's actually pretty easy compared to some other achievements. You should be threatened by Malwa and thus be able to ally Delhi, or something similar, and carry that until you form Hindustan (does not prevent the achievement). Nagaur is Sunni so they have an excellent diplomatic setup, they're way easier than Manipur and Ceylon thanks to that who both have a -20 modifier on diplomatic actions because of their religion.

 

[Robert de Bruce]

My only Nagaur game just ended after 3 months or so, since I had my army on minimal maintenance and then some foreign rebels decided to cross my only province on their hunt to siege down the next province, resulting in my army stackwiped. Never tried again.

 

[Sfan]

Oh, the Mewar/Marwar rebellion .

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Think he meant micro necessary for wars. Sometimes I play on speed3, some wars I even go down to speed2. But if an easy speed4 war is available and the clay is nice it doesn't hurt to throw a few mercs over there, DoW, run them down and take it.

On a different note: Can you please just load a random WC, open the subject interface and appoint three governers to your colonies

I can get that any time.... You can see there are obviously some things I don't care about. I've been meaning to do the Taungu one though, it's one of the few ones I have left that looks legit rough.

 

[Dominion]

Maybe WC should not be the end goal. I got WC, but failed several times as Aztecs and never really tried Nagaur, since I did not even manage Orissa succesful. Especially Aztecs are kinda different to most games, so you can't compare it to anything else than other natives.

The point is valid but the baseline is still always the same: Blob, blob, blob

There are a few interesting achievements out there with which I struggle (horrible Horde player for example) but generally speaking doing a WC will net you the experience needed for more than half the achievements.

So getting those times down and doing a pre1700 WC or Jewish OF will mean you can play regions and nations you've never touched before and get associated achievements with ease.

I can get that any time.... You can see there are obviously some things I don't care about. I've been meaning to do the Taungu one though, it's one of the few ones I have left that looks legit rough.

Oh just admit it, you know you're not experienced enough to touch more difficult starts like France and Austria

 

[Robert de Bruce]

@Dominion: I don't think we disagree anywhere.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Oh just admit it, you know you're not experienced enough to touch more difficult starts like France and Austria

You got me there. There are trials associated with picking these nations that I don't want to brave. It was bad enough picking Ottomans, Spain, and Poland in recent months. I have to spread these out.

 

[bigaristotel]

Arumba's not a bad player, but "best min-maxer"? I wouldn't put him top 5 among channels I know.

on top of that he's boring

 

[Jetstreamed]

I'll just try to give some tips to some of your questions:

General Info

• Use the Wiki

manage manpower

• Look at the "Supply Limit" on most provinces around you and make stacks based on that. If you're france (lots of grass and farm), so Limit is 20, then you can make 16k stacks. If you're persia with mountains everywhere, with limit of 15, you might want 12k stacks.
• Do not build past your max manpower. If your FL is 20 and manpower is 15, try building only 14k troops. Use mercs to fill the rest.
• Put bare minimum troops on a siege. There's a handy button that let's you split your army up so that only the number of troops needed to make a siege tick are left behind.
• Keep an eye out on the attrition of your stacks (in the side panel stacks taking attrition will be in red). If you can keep attrition <1.0 for most of the time, your manpower will last longer. If you can keep it at 0, even better...
• Take ideas that reduce attrition (quantity, defensive, quality-exploration policy).

Keeping up with tech

• Best way to do this is to simply use advisors. Try to use advisors as often as possible. If you have enough money, get a discounted advisor from the estates and use that also.
• Another option is to change your monarch focus. Try focusing mil or dip or admin based on what you're lacking in. Say your tech is 10/10/10 but your king is 0/5/5, you should focus admin. Or, say your tech is 10/10/10 and your monarch is 6/3/3, but you just opened up an admin idea group (ex: economic ideas), you might want to focus admin so that you fill ideas while keeping up in tech.
• Try to make use of Power Projection as much as possible - >50 PP gives +1 monarch point in each category.
• Tip: If a tech is falling way behind, you might want to try Focus + advisor + > 50 PP.
• Another useful tip is to build spy network. After tech 9 spy networks give tech cost reduction based on how far behind tech you are to the one you're spying on.

Peace deals

• In general you want to aim for high value provinces first in peace deal. CoT, gold mine, High priced trade good, High dev province. I personally tend to aim for CoTs first since I try to make my money off of trade for the most part.
• Best thing, to be honest, is to not take unjustified demands. The less WS you take, the shorter your truce timer, so making a small peace isn't a big deal. But proper peace deals just comes with practice and there's so many different deals for different cases...
• You might want to make a claim, then vassalize the country instead of taking the province.
• Another option is to make a claim on a province which has a country with a lot of claims that can be released. So, you claim 1 prov, attack for it, annex it in deal then release the country as an opm. In follow up wars you just do a reconquest. Ex: Reconquest with kazakh, persia, iraq, etc. but you'll need to check cores to see what's useful for this strat.

These tips are mostly to help build a pretty strong, stable and centralized country... For your llast statement "Rajput Reich or Sunset Invasion levels of skill, and WC levels as my end goal.", You'd need to disregard pretty much most of this. If you want to do sunset invasion (I haven't purely because I got bored in 1600 even though I owned, London, Lisboa and some of the other necessary provinces), you need to learn to make a decent economy quickly enough (such as dev'ing gold mines), while keeping up with relevant tech (mil/admin) using any method you need. Everything else can basically be disregarded, you just conquer as you see fit till you get the achievement. WC is something else entirely and you need to basically run your country like an unstable disaster zone. You'd also need to know how to do things like rotate truces, etc.
I've personally not even attempted a WC, less because it's "too hard" and more because I can't be arsed since it's very tedious to do... but you'll need to really learn the ins and outs to pull that off and know when it's probably a good idea to do things like truce break...

 

[Robert de Bruce]

WC is something else entirely and you need to basically run your country like an unstable disaster zone. You'd also need to know how to do things like rotate truces, etc.
I've personally not even attempted a WC, less because it's "too hard" and more because I can't be arsed since it's very tedious to do... but you'll need to really learn the ins and outs to pull that off and know when it's probably a good idea to do things like truce break...

I disagree with this, but agree with everything else. Actually, WC isn't really tedious, you don't need to be unstable, at least not if you don't want it to be superfast. And you don't need any trucebreaking, this is a last-exit-solution if you made great mistakes before and didn't manage to handle it in time. WC is all about building solid power base and then start late game conquest. I couldn't believe the many other people here stating this, but I made the expereince, they are all right. Your skill will just determine how fast you will be and from which start position you can get a WC/OneFaith etc.

 

[Jetstreamed]

I disagree with this, but agree with everything else. Actually, WC isn't really tedious, you don't need to be unstable, at least not if you don't want it to be superfast. And you don't need any trucebreaking, this is a last-exit-solution if you made great mistakes before and didn't manage to handle it in time. WC is all about building solid power base and then start late game conquest. I couldn't believe the many other people here stating this, but I made the expereince, they are all right. Your skill will just determine how fast you will be and from which start position you can get a WC/OneFaith etc.

Actually when i wrote that, I was thinking more of "3 mountains" type WC. But maybe i'm still wrong lol

 

[Sfan]

WC is not about the unstability at all. It's about the agressivity which is a different thing. Read an atwix AAR, play as the Ottomans in normal, follow a rule that you can't be at peace for more than 3 years early on and more than 6 months after Absolutism, and finish your WC easy mode even if that's your first try, judging by your knowledge of the game and the achievements you list.

Edit: Yes, Ryukyu requires instability, even with absolutism.