Best first national idea in HTTT

[nailsworthnobby]

I think the cost of changing is reasonable. It is like turning your nation 180°. Especially if you go from SCP to the Drill. If tomorrow, the UK decided to scrap the navy because they want every body to go to church, the government would be quite unstable for a while.

Regrettably, I think you will find that the UK has indeed decided to scrap the navy. Instead they want everyone to worship at the alter of reality TV.

 

[Dogia]

edit: I've only ever taken NB once, in my very first sustained game of EU3, when I went bankrupt twice in the first decade of the game [played Connaught].

Yeah national Bank can be disatrous for a small country for just that reason. Who wants to constantly have 200 ducats on hand just incase the national bank fails, which always seems to happen. I certainly would not recommend it for a small country.

 

[Johnny X]

Early ars are mostly won by destroying the enemy army. Siege only gets important after fort level 3-4.

If you want to landgrab before the opponent's armies arrive, to get quick warscore, then getting those sieges won early can be the difference between fulfilling a mission and thus getting another precious core and getting your tiny army minced by the Timurids.

Situational, Al, situational.

 

[Al. I. Cuza]

Situational, Al, situational.

Yeah maybe. Still I find the NI most useful mid- to lategame.

 

[unmerged(11600)]

Yeah national Bank can be disatrous for a small country for just that reason.

For just what reason? I went bankrupt twice inside of the first ten years and had 12% inflation in almost no time, so I took NB as my first NI to get it down. Having NB did not in any way cause my bankrupcies.

-Pat

 

[Dafool]

For just what reason? I went bankrupt twice inside of the first ten years and had 12% inflation in almost no time, so I took NB as my first NI to get it down. Having NB did not in any way cause my bankrupcies.

-Pat

I think his point was that NB can become something you rely on and hence you may overextend, which can be disastrous if something really hits you hard (invasion, big stab drop, etc). On the other hand, they're probably on a bad path anyway if they're playing that poorly, so it's not entirely because of NB itself.

 

[unmerged(184154)]

For just what reason? I went bankrupt twice inside of the first ten years and had 12% inflation in almost no time, so I took NB as my first NI to get it down. Having NB did not in any way cause my bankrupcies.

-Pat

I guess he talks about this event. But it's quite rare, actually.

 

[alvanio]

Patron of Arts is propably the best one, because of the broad range of bonuses you get from 5-6 advisors.

My 2nd Idea is National Bank to so that I can kick the Master of Mint(5) that I got from PoA.


EDIT: But I must say that I like the RP element of the game, and thus picking NIs that feel authentic to the nation I pick. Like Swedem, doesnt feel that PoA at 1399 - then I propably go with Military Drill instead.

 

[delra]

I like NTP as Sweden after PotA (or as first NI, switched from CAD with icons).

Gilden Iconography is a choice depending on how crappy your future provinces will be. If you expect to have a colonial empire or to have a bunch of tax 2 provinces getting most of your income from either trade or production, go for it. If you're in Germany, Netherlands or Italy and expect to unite a number of extremely fat provinces with taxes through the roof, think twice about -8%.

Also, you can either cancel this later with iconoclasm decision - or offset by going reformed and grabbing church taxes. So it's not like it's forever.

 

[Blastaz]

Church Attendance Duty, get Guilded Iconography, switch to Millitary Drill.

2nd Idea is Battlefield Commisions/QFTNW.

Same every game. Unless I'm a trader in which case CAD/GI -> National Trade Policy. Guilded Iconography is just so powerful, you can't miss it, and if you do it straight away it doesn't take long to get the 3 stab back.

 

[midget_roxx]

What is this guilded iconology everyone is going on about :/

 

[delra]

Cultural decision giving you +1 prestige and +3 culture in exchange for -8% tax income. You need to have Church Attendance Duty as your NI and at least one Temple built to take it.

 

[lordkestrel]

My first choices (catholic country, no particular order):

Church Attendance Duty - Decision is nice, stab cost savings are really nice, papal influence is quite handy.
Military Drill - An extra +1 morale is huge this early in the game. Really helps when fighting the Ottomans (they'll still kick your butt, but at least you last longer), and with assaulting fortresses.
National Bank - Still useful, especially when your income is too low to support hiring minters (or you need to take a different advisor)
Press Gangs - Spam enough galleys, and it doesn't matter how lousy they are, you can blot out the sun with your swarm
Battlefield Commissions - Military Tradition is always useful
National Trade Policy / Shrewd Commerce Practice - Both useful, SCP is more useful early on. Get both of them for a few good decisions and free building events.

 

[unmerged(106498)]

Unless you're a trader or quick colonizer, Military Drill or Patron of the Arts should be your first pick.

National Bank is a worthless national idea since Heir to the Throne. If you're having problems with inflation, you should take Patron of the Arts. One level 5 master of the mint does the same as national bank. If you're still having problems with inflation after three masters of the mint, you're doing something wrong.

Patron of the Arts can also do the same as shrew commerce practice, national bureaucracy and, to a certain degree, national trade policy. Building ships probably is not your most important thing to do early game and if you need a strong army you should take military drill. National bureaucracy is not really worth it. 5/130 % is a tax increase of only 3,8%, making it a better decision to invest in trade. Colonial ventures may be useful if you're in a slow tech group and there's plenty of free provinces to colonize near you. Merchant adventures is not that useful and it may be more efficient to mint some money to set up your trade. If you need that much merchants to stay in COTs, take NTP or hire an advisor to increase your trade.

During certain parts of the game, Patron of the Art may become more or less useless, but it will become useful again, sooner or later.

I disagree with this strongly. You get many national ideas, only 3 advisor slots. Patron of the arts is usually pick#2 or 3 for me, but I don't stick mint masters in slots when I'm busy trying to take over the world. With all the revoltrisk/non state religion provinces/BB from a constant expansion, and the occasional over-expansion pentalty or super low legit leader from letting a pretender take over to get out of a regency, I need those advisor slots... all three of them. If I'm in a cash crunch which is seldom since I'm usually collecting war taxes, National bank is ok as maybe pick 3 or 4 in most situations, 1 or 2 in specific situations. If you're playing a trade empire like Holland where you don't typically need lots of BB reduction on a constant basis or revolt risk suppression, then sure, maybe a mint master would be ok.

 

[Al. I. Cuza]

I can't understand why many of you seem to think inflation is something you can't go with. I had succesful games even with 20%...

 

[lordkestrel]

I can't understand why many of you seem to think inflation is something you can't go with. I had succesful games even with 20%...

20% is about the limit for what is managable. I personally end up gaining a fair amount of Inflation in the first 100 years (up to 20%, although I try to keep it under 10%), and that's often with minters or National Bank. It's good to keep it lower obviously, but ducats are so useful in the first few decades (buildings, armies, bribes) that I'll happily gain inflation to keep my country alive and hopefully expanding.

 

[Al. I. Cuza]

I disagree with this strongly. You get many national ideas, only 3 advisor slots.

Yeah, but you can't change your NI as easy or without penalties like you can advisor slots. So I tend to use advisors for temporary jobs like reducing inflation. When I'm done, I just change them to whatever I want.

 

[HarkovAdm]

So it seems the

Church Attendance Duty / Guilded Iconography / switch to Military Drill

wins.

 

[Dafool]

So it seems the

Church Attendance Duty / Guilded Iconography / switch to Military Drill

wins.

Or just Military Drill. I've only went for Gilded Iconography once or twice and usually it didn't make that much difference. Cultural tradition is already incredibly easy to keep up anyway, so it's not necessary to take an 8% decrease in taxes for minimal gain in the long run. I'm sure plenty of people may like it, but it's not exactly a must-have decision.

 

[delra]

I still like to have Patron on top of everything. For one thing, it can make you Innovative crazy fast. And I am going to stick with it even in DW.

Cultural tradition will decay in DW even during peace. Since buildings will cost magistrates and since buildings will be destroyed when a province changes hands, buying culture with magistrates will be out of the question and all the things that give cultural tradition will simply be priceless.

This means: Patron -> Church Attendance -> Drill -> National Trade Policy -> Shrewd Commerce -> Bureaucracy (magistrate events) -> everything else.