Best Beginner Countries?

[yerm]

Portugal isn't as peaceful as it was back at launch, with the introduction of those trade bonuses for certain provinces. Since Portugal's goal is to suck as much of the trade of the world as possible to their home node, it's very, very tempting (if not almost necessary) to grab those provinces. Whacking Benin and then Kilwa are your early wartime goals; since the latter has almost certainly blobbed the entire East African coast by the time you get there, Kilwa can be a pretty large and tough foe early on. But since those two won't be as advanced as you, they are a bit of an easier learning curve for warfare than having to learn to do so as a European power vs other European powers. After those two, you start getting entangled with more advanced Asian nations (from Arabia to Indonesia), were some of the more complex facets of EU4 warfare come into play...

That's not really a problem for a new player, in my opinion. Losing a war to Kilwa is about the furthest thing from game-ending. One rather annoying thing about Portugal for a new player is that you start with these explorers, who wreck your mps, and you need to use them right away. The first time I played Portugal I didn't even realize I started with them. It's not as bad as England - you start with I think 1 military point per month is it? Either way, I probably should have though about mentioning starting leaders when recommending nations; I have to assume I'm not the only one who completely overlooked them when new.

 

[Aries666]

Totally disagree about Portugal. So much of this game is about war and Portugal isnt strong enough to compete with Europeans. You could do the whole playthrough stomping on low tech nations leading you into a false sense of security. I would choose Castile and Ally France this means you can be confident of never losing wars regardless of how many battles you lose whilst learning.

 

[Casus_Belli]

Castille, England is harder to play, as you need to use trade more, which is harder as a beginner.

Also, Castille is forgiving, you can make mistakes and still survive.

 

[Demetrios]

That's not really a problem for a new player, in my opinion. Losing a war to Kilwa is about the furthest thing from game-ending. One rather annoying thing about Portugal for a new player is that you start with these explorers, who wreck your mps, and you need to use them right away. The first time I played Portugal I didn't even realize I started with them. It's not as bad as England - you start with I think 1 military point per month is it? Either way, I probably should have though about mentioning starting leaders when recommending nations; I have to assume I'm not the only one who completely overlooked them when new.

Military points aren't an issue with Portugal - since the ideas you'll be taking will be almost all Admin and Diplo, and since you will only have a few provinces to put military buildings in (due to wanting to set up Trade Companies and CNs everywhere other than South Africa), you'll have gobs of Military points to spare. I actually usually end up on the cutting edge of Military tech as Portugal because of that. And once the cash starts flowing in, you can support massive armies even when going over way your limit - in my current game I have a larger standing army than France (and still raking in 140 or so gold a month) and it's only 1560 or so!

 

[Mudcrab]

Those countries featured in the EUIV demo all those long months ago; any one of Portugal, Venice or Austria to get you started.

 

[GeneralVonGelre]

Best Beginner Country = Clearly Albania, if you survive you are meant to play this game.

 

[Sharples88]

Pretty obvious that the best beginner country is of course Chimu. Incredibly easy to play and has no challenges whatsoever.

 

[GeneralVonGelre]

You do know Incas got a rework right? It isn't that hard anymore

 

[yerm]

Those countries featured in the EUIV demo all those long months ago; any one of Portugal, Venice or Austria to get you started.

Starting as the holy roman emperor as a brand new player? Ok.

 

[GeneralVonGelre]

Starting as the holy roman emperor as a brand new player? Ok.

Does that even matter.. if you can't handle that you lose it.. and then still you are a great HRE power.

 

[yerm]

Does that even matter.. if you can't handle that you lose it.. and then still you are a great HRE power.

I just completely disagree. If you hold onto the title, you are forced into brutal wars against france, burgundy and Denmark trying to defend imperial territory. Your authority will be all over the place and you probably won't understand how to use half the tools at your disposal.

If this means you hand off being emperor, you get to "enjoy" imperial bans and constant relation penalties for annexing members and all the other fun, possibly losing the low countries to the new emperor, and having any land you hold (especially if you DID inherit before losing emperor) being disconnected from your core lands and requiring military access the old-fashioned way.

Oh yeah, also, support limits and attrition.

I really don't intend to sound mean, but I wholeheartedly disagree with choosing Austria as a start when you're brand new.

 

[Nassau]

Just pick a country with a nice color. No matter what you do, you learn best from mistakes.

 

[marceror]

I decided to give Castile a try as my first faction. Enjoying so far. Just annexed Granada. Good times.

 

[marceror]

Playing as Castile in EUIV, and have played for around 100 years so far. I'm playing mostly as a pacifist in Europe so far, except my conquest of Granada to complete the Reconquista. I'm mostly focused on exploration and colonization, which seemed a reasonable goal for my first play through.

I played it cool with Aragon, who I believe is meant to be my natural rival, and did what I could to keep our relations high. We had a royal marriage, but I did not become their ally as I didn't want to get dragged into their wars. In spite of them declaring me their rival, I eventually received a decision to hold a Castilian wedding, and that put me into a tight alliance with Aragon and Naples, since our leaders are all from the same dynasty. But they almost became like my vassals, even though I received no money from them. Eventually Aragon decided to join with me and form the Kingdom of Spain. I took over all of their forces and holdings in one fell swoop, without any fighting required and went from a moderate European power to a true heavy hitter, controlling the entire Iberian Peninsula minus Portugal as well as some of Southern Italy. A while later I was able to also integrate Naples into my kingdom, and at that point controlled all of Southern Italy and much of Central, bordering the Papal States in Rome.

Colonization has been the real battle, particularly against Portugal. But in spite of a couple silly misunderstandings from me on the mechanics at first, I'm in the lead with colonies. I focused first on the West Indies, and built my colony to the point that it became self sufficient (the AI took over, to my surprise and assumed the name Castilian West Indies. They control nearly all of the good islands and most of present day Cuba. Of course, Portugal is right there, and they took a share of the spoils as well.

Next I focused on Brazil and managed to establish an AI controlled "Spanish Brazil" along much of the eastern coast of South America. I'm trying to get another similar colony established in Western Africa. And while continuing to explore and develop my colonies I noticed that I was all of the sudden at war with my former ally Portugal.

My colony, Castilian West Indies actually attacked Portugal's colony in the same area, and is fixing to kick them out of Cuba. They also are also colonizing lands on their own and have a fairly sizable army and navy. Wow.

So I left off way too late last night with that war still to be fought. During it all I actually managed to become the top ranked nation in the game. This game is completely amazing.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Pretty obvious that the best beginner country is of course Chimu. Incredibly easy to play and has no challenges whatsoever.

Joke's a bit old, especially now that they aren't particularly difficult to play. They weren't a top 10 difficulty country even in 1.4-1.7, but they're not even worth mentioning now.

 

[yerm]

Colonization has been the real battle, particularly against Portugal. But in spite of a couple silly misunderstandings from me on the mechanics at first, I'm in the lead with colonies. I focused first on the West Indies, and built my colony to the point that it became self sufficient (the AI took over, to my surprise and assumed the name Castilian West Indies. They control nearly all of the good islands and most of present day Cuba. Of course, Portugal is right there, and they took a share of the spoils as well.

Next I focused on Brazil and managed to establish an AI controlled "Spanish Brazil" along much of the eastern coast of South America. I'm trying to get another similar colony established in Western Africa. And while continuing to explore and develop my colonies I noticed that I was all of the sudden at war with my former ally Portugal.

Just FYI, the colonial nations form when you have 5+ finished colonies in that area, but this only applies to the new world and Australia.

 

[marceror]

Just FYI, the colonial nations form when you have 5+ finished colonies in that area, but this only applies to the new world and Australia.

That's actually just about perfect. It's historical to lose some control of colonies in the Americas, AND it eliminates a certain amount of micromanagement from a larger empire. Yet in Africa you can still build and control large colonies, which can be used to increase your armies and such, and just let you have the enjoyment of controlling some of your colonies.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

That's actually just about perfect. It's historical to lose some control of colonies in the Americas, AND it eliminates a certain amount of micromanagement from a larger empire. Yet in Africa you can still build and control large colonies, which can be used to increase your armies and such, and just let you have the enjoyment of controlling some of your colonies.

CNs add micromanagement. CNs do not remove micromanagement.

1.8 made it less annoying though so that's welcome.

 

[marceror]

CNs add micromanagement. CNs do not remove micromanagement.

1.8 made it less annoying though so that's welcome.

So far my experience is that they do in fact remove micromanagement... but they do add management (i.e. not the "micro" variety).

They expand on their own. They construct armies and navies on their own and move them around on their own. They build their own buildings and have their own goals that they carry out on their own. They deal with their own war exhaustion, core creation, etc, etc, etc. That's the micro-management level stuff that is removed.

On the other hand, yes, it's good to keep an eye on them... manage them at a bigger picture perspective. And sometimes I'm finding that I get pulled into their wars, though not always. So when that happens I have to get involved as a war leader, but if I so choose I can simply elect to end the war. Though it is often profitable to invest in the war to consolidate colonial holdings... and perhaps even obtain some goodies for myself directly. But that's more macro level stuff. It isn't micro.

ION - I compare your join date and post count to mine, and conclude that either you are one prolific fellow, I don't say enough, or both are true.