Austria too strong?

[Heatth]

An honest question, as I am not too familiar with how they were in EU3 nor with their actual historical context. However, when I played as Austria in the demo I was greatly surprised about how insanely strong they are! Their army is massive, the end screen told me I had the biggest army in the world and I wasn't even trying. I lost troops in a bloody war against France and never recruited more than 5 regiments and, yet, I was apparently the strongest military force in the world.

Also, their income is ludicrous. Even with their massive army, I still had enough income to support a couple of great advisors, including a level 3 one at one point. My income greatly dwarfed Venice's and probably anyone else in the world. This seems a bit excessive. Was Austria really that rich? Why does anyone care for Venice, anyway? Their trade income can't hope to archive such level.

Sorry if I am saying something stupid, but this really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to have such an easy time playing as them. The income in particular really threw me off. WAsn't expecting to be able to hire high level advisors so quickly.

 

[1alexey]

Austria had some of the few gold mines existing in Europe. Also, Austria is relativly big and has good province goods. It definitely had money to support big wars historically, being much smaller than say France.

 

[Zarine]

Austria was one of the top countries during that time.
If the other big one destroyed each other, it's not hard for you to be the first one.

 

[ejones44]

They rule the HRE!

The Ottomans are no slouch as a land power in the demo either... I had #1 army and made mountains of ducats as Ottomans also.

 

[justin6477]

They rule the HRE!

The Ottomans are no slouch as a land power in the demo either... I had #1 army and made mountains of ducats as Ottomans also.

Right, this is a factor. Being Kaiser gives you manpower and force limits boosts. Perhaps gold as well?

 

[Heatth]

Austria had some of the few gold mines existing in Europe.

The gold mines barely factor, actually. Their income is inferior to what I was making out of trade in the end. What really composes their income is the taxes. Their tax base is massive. Austria region alone have a superior tax base than all Venice. Adds that to their free cores on the whole Netherlands and you have an insane tax income.

Austria may be an strong power, but are they really supposed to be the richest country in the world in 1520? That seems a bit off.

 

[aitaituo]

Austria may be an strong power, but are they really supposed to be the richest country in the world in 1520? That seems a bit off.

This was the extent of the Habsburg lands in 1547:

I'm not sure Austria should really be so rich, but it allows them to project a historically accurate amount of power.

 

[Heatth]

This was the extent of the Habsburg lands in 1547:

I'm not sure Austria should really be so rich, but it allows them to project a historically accurate amount of power.

Habsburgs lands =/= Austrians lands. At most it was a personal union, but even then, it didn't last much. Half of that is Spain, and a good chunk of the rest are lands you don't have at the demo start.

 

[Skyhunteren]

The gold mines barely factor, actually. Their income is inferior to what I was making out of trade in the end. What really composes their income is the taxes. Their tax base is massive. Austria region alone have a superior tax base than all Venice. Adds that to their free cores on the whole Netherlands and you have an insane tax income.

Austria may be an strong power, but are they really supposed to be the richest country in the world in 1520? That seems a bit off.

You should know that most of european trade used to be done along the big rivers, so it was easier to transport out to the sea. The two most importent rivers are the Donau and the Rhine.

The Donau runs through Austraia which means that it have basical been one of Europes great trading hubs since the Roman empire. Lots of trade that brings lots of people and so on. The netherlands on the same account sits at the end of the Rhine making those two places some of the riches part of Europe.

 

[KomnenosDynasty]

Anecdotal, but in my game Austria lost a huge war with France, losing most of the Lowlands and Savoy.

 

[Heatth]

You should know that most of european trade used to be done along the big rivers, so it was easier to transport out to the sea. The two most importent rivers are the Donau and the Rhine.

The Donau runs through Austraia which means that it have basical been one of Europes great trading hubs since the Roman empire. Lots of trade that brings lots of people and so on. The netherlands on the same account sits at the end of the Rhine making those two places some of the riches part of Europe.

Okay. So? I wasn't talking about trade much. The trade income, while significant due the Netherlands, was still relatively small when compared to the tax income.

Also, no matter how much trade Austria can make, I still find suspicious they can make so much more money than Venice.

 

[Jebusrocks]

I was playing as Milan and even though up till 1510ish Austria was really powerful, they were quickly overpowered in a huge war with Spain, even conceding territory to me (I was not part of the war).
If you play as pretty much any tier one nation, the game's gonne be super easy imo, hopefully the AI difficulties make it harder for humans vs ai. The only exception I've seen so far is Sweden, literally one year into playing them I had -3 stability (stupid nobillity events), no money and zero republican tradition (which means stability costs are outrageous).

 

[Skyhunteren]

Okay. So? I wasn't talking about trade much. The trade income, while significant due the Netherlands, was still relatively small when compared to the tax income.

Also, no matter how much trade Austria can make, I still find suspicious they can make so much more money than Venice.

Trade brings people. People is the tax base. Austrian lands was extremly rich at this time.

 

[Heatth]

Trade brings people. People is the tax base. Austrian lands was extremly rich at this time.

So rich that they easily dwarfs everyone else? I am just not buying it. Venice brought much trade than Austria and, yet, Venice province worth less than Vienna.

PS:That sounded wrong. I know Austrian lands alone don't dwarfs over everyone else. They are still considerably more worthy than Venice's Italian holdings. And the free cores on Netherlands means Austria have so much tax base their total income is the higher of the world.

 

[Skyhunteren]

So rich that they easily dwarfs everyone else? I am just not buying it. Venice brought much trade than Austria and, yet, Venice province worth less than Vienna.

Alright you asked and I answeared. Now you can either believe my explanation, go do your own research or believe that paradox have only done it for game purpose.

 

[Heatth]

Alright you asked and I answeared. Now you can either believe my explanation, go do your own research or believe that paradox have only done it for game purpose.

It is not I don't believe you, but your answer seems incomplete. So, Austria is rich because of trade. Fair enough. However, at the time Venice was the center of the European trade due to its Mediterran business. Yet, Austria is richer than Venice, taxbase wise.

And not only that. Venice importance in European-Asian trade and its decline due to to Portuguese's new African route are a big deal in history. However, Austria makes something like 3 times the amount of money as Venice. That is what is throwing me off. It simply doesn't fit what I have learned about European economy at the time.

Basically, yes, Austria is rich, I do not deny that. But I still find massively suspicious it is the richest country in EUIV.

 

[maxirage]

Austria's land wasn't actually that valuable in reality. It's just exaggerated in EU in order to make them more influential and long lasting.

 

[Natte]

Keep in mind that in the demo Austria starts with almost all of the low countries as cores, that region was for a very long time, and still is, one of the most densely populated areas of Europe, and is very rich. I think their massive tax base has more to do with that rather than Austria proper. The Netherlands was just stinking rich historically speaking.

 

[Skyhunteren]

Alright longer explanation then.

In reality and ingame Austria have alot of things going on for them at this point.

They have the gold and silvermines of tyrol which is about 1/7 of your income in the game. In real history this was the place where you could find the largest silvermine of Europe.
They have the netherlands which is a small but very rich region in Europe. So rich that the spanish will fight for 80 years while trying to keep it and that they are able to build their own colonial Empire. They seem to be a little over 1/3 of your income
Together those two things alone are about half of your economy in game.

Now on top of that they have Wien which is the east most trading city on one of the two most importent trading rivers in the hre. It is the bottleneck to Europe and it is about 1/12 of your income. It might be a little high because it is a capital and as such get +2 taxation, but that is a game mechanic.
You are the emperor. It is hard to guess how much that would bring in in reality in bribes and such, but for the game it increase your taxation with 5%

Then you have the rest of the Austrian lands which isn't known for being dirt poor either.

Now you keep comparing it to Venice, but remember that with the rise of the Ottomans Venice have lost a large amount of its land and trade power at this point of the game. Maybe it is more that Venice is a bit to poor compared to how it should have been.