Actually, France invaded me with 6k troops, led by their King (meanwhile, they weren't even sieging Calais...)
Best Beginner Countries?
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Actually, France invaded me with 6k troops, led by their King (meanwhile, they weren't even sieging Calais...)
My vote is for Castille. Easy targets right from the start to the south, and you can stay away from the whole France-HRE-England-Ottoman Empire mess while you learn the ropes, if you're more warmonger like I am.
Portugal if you're a hippie pacifist and just want to colonize
Portugal if you're a hippie pacifist and just want to colonize
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I wouldn't recommend England until I know how easy it's to avoid the War of the Roses dynamical historical events.
As for Sweden, it often has slow early games, so it's not all that interesting as a first country.
My recommendations are Spain or Portugal, maybe France if you want to step into the action.
As for Sweden, it often has slow early games, so it's not all that interesting as a first country.
My recommendations are Spain or Portugal, maybe France if you want to step into the action.
How did they get there? In any case, you should be able to kill 6 guys.
They had a larger navy than me (since they ambushed my trade fleet when I wasn't paying attention). At that point, my entire army was in Morocco so I had to transport 8k back and build 2k more to kill the French.
Were they at war with England as well? That's a piece of bad, bad luck. Normally the British just sink their navy.
Yeah...I'm considering dissolving that alliance in the full game because they may give up my provinces...
My vote is for Castille. Easy targets right from the start to the south, and you can stay away from the whole France-HRE-England-Ottoman Empire mess while you learn the ropes, if you're more warmonger like I am.
Portugal if you're a hippie pacifist and just want to colonize
The Barbary states are a lot stronger in EUIV than in EUIII. They are very resilient to core creation for one. A reverse conquista (I guess is the term) will always be possible, but it should be more difficult than in the previous EU game.
the french. really the easiest nation to play. and you can do pretty much anything as france (diplo, colonize, war, etc).
Okay, so i read the forums a bit and took advice from friends about what country to start as.
I chose England.
I started in 1444, deciding to do a long campaign despite inexperiance with the game.
I accepted loosing to France and was well on my way to naval dominace and colonial conquest when the Art of War update happened. I also bought Art of War, seeing as i had the others.
Now I find England to be a losing proposition.
I dont know if before this update you started out with the horrid 0 0 0 ruler and simply never noticed, or if thats a new development. Whichever the case is, its made it impossible for me to do anything without losing one war after another. this makes it so that every other country is at mil tech four before i can even longingly look at the chance to do so. France starts with a ruler at 4 2 4, which only makes combat with them far more trouble than its worth.
At this point, nothing i can do makes the game as England worth playing.
If anyone knows if the Art of War expansion changed the balances so the best beginner countires changed, any information would be nice.
I chose England.
I started in 1444, deciding to do a long campaign despite inexperiance with the game.
I accepted loosing to France and was well on my way to naval dominace and colonial conquest when the Art of War update happened. I also bought Art of War, seeing as i had the others.
Now I find England to be a losing proposition.
I dont know if before this update you started out with the horrid 0 0 0 ruler and simply never noticed, or if thats a new development. Whichever the case is, its made it impossible for me to do anything without losing one war after another. this makes it so that every other country is at mil tech four before i can even longingly look at the chance to do so. France starts with a ruler at 4 2 4, which only makes combat with them far more trouble than its worth.
At this point, nothing i can do makes the game as England worth playing.
If anyone knows if the Art of War expansion changed the balances so the best beginner countires changed, any information would be nice.
Portugal most definitely. Just make sure you stay friends with Castile and then going explore and make your empire. England is ok but the main issue is a lack of income till you get the trade really flowing from the new world.
My first game was as Japan. Very good for beginners IMO: no powerful enemies, you can make your feet wet with game basics (diplomacy, warfare, trade and colonisation) at your leasure. Once Europeans arrive it's an easy westernisation.
Nothing new, England always started with long-lived 0/0/0 Henry VI.
However, AoW was a huge buff to England due to the new English Channel trade node giving the English a dominant share in an end node that can get all of the New World, Asian, and African trade sent to it. This makes England rich and allows you to afford good advisors earlier to offset how horrible Henry is.
To try to make things better sooner, make Henry a general and have him lead battles and sieges. Don't try to get his stack wiped, just keep him fighting your enemies in some capacity. Being a general will increase his odds of death, as will leading an army. Additionally, being in battle and leading sieges make it even more likely for him to die (but his stack getting wiped won't help with this, nor will trying to drown him).
Alternatively, don't do any of that and hope for "Die Please Die".
Though either way, as England, you can afford to lag a bit early on, especially if you lose your French lands. Mainland nations will be unlikely to have a CB on you and Scotland and the Irish minors are too chicken to come after you, so you're pretty safe.
My advise would be any strong country outside of western tech group - Muscovy/Russia, Ayutthaya, Timurids, Oirats, and maybe Korea. Top tier westerners are just too easy, and the other tech groups will be just too painful to adapt to after
Just choose among the big western European nations. Or a medium sized nation inside HRE.
Avoid Denmark and Norway though. Denmark start is a bit tricky since you are strong but very vulnerable (one lost war and your Kalmar union gets disbanded and a Sweden starts to stab you). Norway is weakest of the Kalmar union nation, and you don't want to spend your first few hours in EU4 playing a nation with little diplomacy options.
Avoid Denmark and Norway though. Denmark start is a bit tricky since you are strong but very vulnerable (one lost war and your Kalmar union gets disbanded and a Sweden starts to stab you). Norway is weakest of the Kalmar union nation, and you don't want to spend your first few hours in EU4 playing a nation with little diplomacy options.
I will say the addition of mothballing is a huge buff to England as you can keep your non trade ships mothballed.
I second this. Portugal seems to me the ideal beginner nation. Your only European neighbour is your Best Friend Forever Castille/Spain. So there is plenty of room to toy around with trade, colonization, and bringing the light of christ to the filthy heatens, without worrying about the safety of your mainland. There is also plenty of room for mistakes.
I actually think that Austria and France are not good ideas for beginner-countries, yes, they are super-powerful, and more so than Portugal, but they are also in a position, where you can seriously fuck up if you make rookie mistakes. This is so, because while both nations are powerful, they are also neighbouring some of the other most powerful - and often hostile - nations in the game, meaning that an ugly multifront war is always a possible (e.g. Austria can be hit with a multi-front war with France / Ottomans, and France can be dogpiled by Austria/Burgundy/Castille/England at once if you're unlucky).
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