Hi,
Hoping some veteran players can help me out as a new player. Despite not liking CK2 at all I gave EU4 a whirl from the steam sale and have fallen head over heels for it - absolutely amazing game. However, my first game as Castile is giving me a severe headache and I'd really love some advice on how to proceed.
i) The year is 1592, and the Iberian Wedding event failed to trigger. I've absorbed Navara as a nation, and used military force to conquer the provinces Aragon / Barcelona / Alicante, but the Kingdom of Aragon stubbornly remains encamped in Valencia along with a few other territories. It seems impossible to conquer them in one go (the required war score is 177%), and constant warring seems to end up resulting in giant coalitions against me. It's not possible to vassalise Aragon despite their opinion of me due to the tax difference which I gather is basically a modifier as they are still too big.
ii) On the colonising front, I appear to be doing well - I have 60% of Brazil, 99% of the Carribean and have completely annexed the Incan and Aztec empires as well as some heavy settling in the Peru and Panama nodes. According to the log out screen I have the highest income in the game, the most provinces and the highest trade income. Should I continue chain colonising the New world, or is it worth branching off into Africa as Portugal has done? (Portugal has 40% of the Brazil node and nothing else, Great Britain is slowly expanding over North America). Is it possible to ignore the Africa route and chain hop across the Pacific directly?
iii) My science and ideas seem to lag significantly behind my neighbours. for example, I'm 14/13/15 whilst Portugal is 15/14/15 and they have 23 ideas compared to my own 14. How exactly are the AI generating so many more MP to me and is there something else I can do? I now have enough money to hire +3 advisors when they appear but other than that how exactly am I falling so far behind? They even have more buildings than me so I don't think it can be that...
iv) I've gathered that good generals seem required for combat, after watching my stack of 45 troops get annihilated by 20 led by a decent general. I've also switched to using infantry and artillery almost exclusively based on the forum comments, but is there anything else I should be doing to ensure I can go head ot head with France when she eventually comes knocking?
I'm already looking forward to the expansion and giving England a whirl, but would love to see this game through to the end first as a learning experience - thanks for nay advice!
Hoping some veteran players can help me out as a new player. Despite not liking CK2 at all I gave EU4 a whirl from the steam sale and have fallen head over heels for it - absolutely amazing game. However, my first game as Castile is giving me a severe headache and I'd really love some advice on how to proceed.
i) The year is 1592, and the Iberian Wedding event failed to trigger. I've absorbed Navara as a nation, and used military force to conquer the provinces Aragon / Barcelona / Alicante, but the Kingdom of Aragon stubbornly remains encamped in Valencia along with a few other territories. It seems impossible to conquer them in one go (the required war score is 177%), and constant warring seems to end up resulting in giant coalitions against me. It's not possible to vassalise Aragon despite their opinion of me due to the tax difference which I gather is basically a modifier as they are still too big.
ii) On the colonising front, I appear to be doing well - I have 60% of Brazil, 99% of the Carribean and have completely annexed the Incan and Aztec empires as well as some heavy settling in the Peru and Panama nodes. According to the log out screen I have the highest income in the game, the most provinces and the highest trade income. Should I continue chain colonising the New world, or is it worth branching off into Africa as Portugal has done? (Portugal has 40% of the Brazil node and nothing else, Great Britain is slowly expanding over North America). Is it possible to ignore the Africa route and chain hop across the Pacific directly?
iii) My science and ideas seem to lag significantly behind my neighbours. for example, I'm 14/13/15 whilst Portugal is 15/14/15 and they have 23 ideas compared to my own 14. How exactly are the AI generating so many more MP to me and is there something else I can do? I now have enough money to hire +3 advisors when they appear but other than that how exactly am I falling so far behind? They even have more buildings than me so I don't think it can be that...
iv) I've gathered that good generals seem required for combat, after watching my stack of 45 troops get annihilated by 20 led by a decent general. I've also switched to using infantry and artillery almost exclusively based on the forum comments, but is there anything else I should be doing to ensure I can go head ot head with France when she eventually comes knocking?
I'm already looking forward to the expansion and giving England a whirl, but would love to see this game through to the end first as a learning experience - thanks for nay advice!
