Castille WC strategy tips

[Balmore]

Hey guys,

wondering whether you could give me some advice on doing a WC from this position.

A bit of game history here:
- got Iberian Wedding around 1450, so it was an ideal start
- No CBed Circassia to get a foothold further east, since I think early expansion is hard for Castille - couldn't bother to struggle with France..
- abused weak situations of Lithuania and Poland; also just kicked Muscovy's butt a little bit. I didn't dare to get into any fights due to manpower, so I peaced out at 26% from occupying Muscow and some other provinces and took 3 or 4 provinces so that I now border their capital

idea groups so far: 1st exploration, 2nd administrative

Question 1: Are those provinces around Muscow needed to form Russia or do I have to conquer more of them to prevent that?
Question 2: Which idea group should I take next? I'm thinking either influence or quantity.
Question 3: What strategy do you advise from here on forward?
Question 4: Should I conquer Portugal now?

My current plan: My troops are ready to take some more of Luthiania, afterwards I'll go and conquer Shirwan and see whether I can conquer my way to India.

 

[Big Bad France]

Conquering Portugal is a good idea. You want to grow Aragon to their maximum size that still allows you to form Spain. You can either give them Berber lands or if you have an opportunity to win wars against France, giving them French land in the Genoa trade node is great. You can attack England before you attack France and release Gascony. That gives you a reconquest CB against France with a lot of cores to take.

 

[Balmore]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for next time. I actually screwed it up big time.
Ottomans declared war on me the second I declared war on Lithuania and brought in Aq Q. and Crimea as allies. No need to say that they first killed my navy which was stationed in the Crimea area and quickly hunted down my army that had nowhere to go, wiping all my forces from the map. Now, they won't accept any peace without me releasing Naples and giving them a ton of provinces.

 

[Vulkandrache]

Are those provinces around Muscow needed to form Russia or do I have to conquer more of them to prevent that?

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Europa_Universalis_4_Wiki
Get used to it, you can thank me later.
https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Russia
You can take any one of those province pairs and they are done.

Which idea group should I take next? I'm thinking either influence or quantity.

I would have takes Religious second, but you will find many people who'd disagree with that.
Quantity is still the go-to group for WC for newer players. Influence requires a specific playstyle which you dont seem to be employing (yet).
No use for the integration stuff if you are not integrating constantly and no use for -AE if you arent conquering much ( which you are not).

Should I conquer Portugal now?

If you have to ask that question now you have allready made mistakes.
You decide at the start if you want to let them live or not.
If not, then they shouldnt be alive anymore. If yes, they should be your Vassal by now. In which case you yourself might not even need Exploration ever.

What strategy do you advise from here on forward?

The first thing i would do is asking myself why im conquering such crap land instead of making my way towards India or Indonesia in some way.
The land you have conquered is garbadge in development, not in anyway relevant to your trade and doenst give any strategic benefit.
Getting the goldmines around Mali, working your way towards the Cape and making the Berbers disspear are all more useful easier to achieve goals which much more payoff
that will set you up better for the midgame.

Are those provinces around Muscow needed to form Russia

While you are worrying about a nation that is usually a papertiger the Ottomans have allready grown immensly because you are wasting ressources bashing all the nations that should keep them in check. Have fun lategame.

I think early expansion is hard for Castille

Castille is one of the strongest starts in the game. The 15% morale alone is disgusting.

Iberian Wedding around 1450

Nice. Why is Napels not integrating yet?


You are not at war, how are you loosing money?
You seem to be using the coexistence native policy, get used to stationing troops in your colonies.
All in all if it was 1480 or even 1470 it would look amazing, but in 1503 i have to ask what you are doing with your time.

 

[Vulkandrache]

No need to say that they first killed my navy

How does ANYONE win against Castilles Navy at any point in the game.
Where are your 10 Heavies which you should have at all times.
Where are the Galleys of Aragon and Napels?

 

[gia257]

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Europa_Universalis_4_Wiki
Get used to it, you can thank me later.
https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Russia
You can take any one of those province pairs and they are done.


I would have takes Religious second, but you will find many people who'd disagree with that.
Quantity is still the go-to group for WC for newer players. Influence requires a specific playstyle which you dont seem to be employing (yet).
No use for the integration stuff if you are not integrating constantly and no use for -AE if you arent conquering much ( which you are not).


If you have to ask that question now you have allready made mistakes.
You decide at the start if you want to let them live or not.
If not, then they shouldnt be alive anymore. If yes, they should be your Vassal by now. In which case you yourself might not even need Exploration ever.


The first thing i would do is asking myself why im conquering such crap land instead of making my way towards India or Indonesia in some way.
The land you have conquered is garbadge in development, not in anyway relevant to your trade and doenst give any strategic benefit.
Getting the goldmines around Mali, working your way towards the Cape and making the Berbers disspear are all more useful easier to achieve goals which much more payoff
that will set you up better for the midgame.


While you are worrying about a nation that is usually a papertiger the Ottomans have allready grown immensly because you are wasting ressources bashing all the nations that should keep them in check. Have fun lategame.


Castille is one of the strongest starts in the game. The 15% morale alone is disgusting.


Nice. Why is Napels not integrating yet?


You are not at war, how are you loosing money?
You seem to be using the coexistence native policy, get used to stationing troops in your colonies.
All in all if it was 1480 or even 1470 it would look amazing, but in 1503 i have to ask what you are doing with your time.

all fine except stationing, get used to just killing the natives

 

[Vulkandrache]

get used to just killing the natives

Early on, yes. But once you get going with 4+ colonies running the Mil cost becomes prohibitive.
Once a handfull of troops can beat natives at 10% funding you are good.

 

[Balmore]

To be honest, whenever I play Castille I seem to have trouble with cash. That is, until the colonies start paying off.

I didn't pay so much attention to the Otto's since I didn't bother about their expansion into Hungary. I though it more important that they wouldn't expand south and east, which they kind of didnt since they allied Aq.

But oh well, it seems I still have a lot to learn.

Oh and by the way.. I am using the wiki, I also saw that map about Russia - just didn't know what to make of the different colors on that map. Now it makes sense. Thanks.

 

[CountKino]

Not answers to your questions, but Castille was my most recent WC, got the One Faith in 1800, so maybe something I share is useful.

I took Exploration as first idea group, conquering natives to establish colonial nations, not just using the colonists. (You only need to core 5 provinces in a region and the colonial nation forms. Then they'll start colonising for you and if they don't, subsidise them 2 ducats a month and they will). I got an enormous colonial nation in Mexico very early on, while only paying to core 5 provinces. I had a sizeable colonial nation in every region by 1600 and consequently loads of money, merchants and extra force limit. All while not having to spend very much admin at all.

I took Religious 2nd, then Influence 3rd, Admin 4th. My conquering path was roughly speaking down the west coast of Africa and back up the East coast, then over to the spice islands. Once those were tidied up, and Absolutism came around, I went into China and then India (I probably would have done this the other way round, but Ming had low mandate and looked weaker than Bahmanis). Once the trade company land was done and money was infinite, it was just blobbing in every direction.

I got a lucky PU over France which helped, but as for the rest of Europe I just occasionally checked for isolated nations diplomatically and took them out. I used a lot of Vassals to help with conversion, so influence ideas and then the policy from admin+influence were very important.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention, I did conquer Portugal, but left them with one province in Iberia. Then after they had a few colonies, I took their Iberian capital, demanded all their colonies and repeated the process for 200 years.

 

[Vulkandrache]

That is, until the colonies start paying off.

Thats because you are trying to build the whole thing from zero.
Naked colonies takes decades to pay back the money you spend on making them.
America only start generating cash once its mostly filled up.
The early trade money is gained by pushing around Africa.




The screenshots are from two different games but these are Portugal starts, not even Castille.
Whats money.

 

[schondetta]

It would behoove you take out France early. You only need one or two solid wars before they are no longer a threat