England/GB overperformed in real life. They really weren't top-tier until the 18th century.
ENG/GB Underpowered?
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Even if we ignored England's growing prominence from the mid-16th century until the beginning of the 18th century, that still leaves more than 31% of the campaign without a powerful England. Snowballing is still a thing in EU with this game, and a weak England in the 17th century is gonna stay weak, and a crippled England (which happens too often) may just disappear altogether.
England is the easiest start; you have two equally safe choices.
1. win the hundreds years war; when ae is returned you will earn yourself a thorny coalition enemy, but in the meantime you may eat France with impunity.
2. Abandon the mainland; survive the wars of the roses, eat Scotland and Ireland, and become a colonial/naval power that never needs to fear the European mainland and use the great profits of the navy to fund an army that could make things very painful for the ai expansion if your goal is balance of power, or conquer you a non colonial empire.
Unlike France or Denmark where early on you could actually lose England really has no excuse for not winning in player hands.
In the 1200's the population of Iceland is often estimated to have topped at 100k. The plague killed a large portion of that in 1402 and Iceland had no population increase from then on until the 1860's or so due to decrease in global temperatures and increase in poverty(largely thanks to Denmark).
Iceland had a colony in Greenland until about 1500 where a few thousand people lived and they regularly sailed North America to get wood, so a large Norse Colony in North America isn't that far fetched. Of course it would most likely be sparsely populated and not as incredibly large as happens sometimes in the game. The Base Tax mechanic gives you a weird after taste when colonizing(1000 people have moved there? Good! the province has reached it's full potential!).
england always sucks globally in my games, maybe lucky to grab one or two islands in the caribbean and newfoundland.
I have not played England yet, so I do not know what needs fixed but I would concur it needs a buff.
Out of the 20 or so campaigns I have played, England ends in the top 5 only once - it consistently under performs.
Out of the 20 or so campaigns I have played, England ends in the top 5 only once - it consistently under performs.
I was playin as 3PM Connacth when England decided to dow me. I had 4 military King who morphed into 4 shock general. They transported a mix of 8-9 stack armies to Ireland and I was annihilating them with my 6 stack army. They just kept coming until I got the WS to nab Meath 
Well.. long story short. England is fine as an European power, if neighbouring countries are left to AI they form UK way too early. Scotland is especially too weak to counter England compared to how they were in Eu 3.
However, they completely suck as colonial power. Certainly they need a colonist and increased colonial range from NI's.
Well.. long story short. England is fine as an European power, if neighbouring countries are left to AI they form UK way too early. Scotland is especially too weak to counter England compared to how they were in Eu 3.
However, they completely suck as colonial power. Certainly they need a colonist and increased colonial range from NI's.
Depends on when we're talking. But France, Spain and Austria/HRE were fairly consistently top-tier for most of the first half of the game (although Spain went into a serious decline from the middle of the 17th century). Other nations came and went from that tier.
Add in that Spain and the HRE spent much of the period either as close allies or in actual personal union, then look at a map, and you understand why the French were so willing to support Protestants in the HRE and ally with the Ottomans.
EDIT: you mentioned the Ottomans in your quote, but just to clarify, they were also top-tier for most of the first half of the game.
buff GB, they should be OP. just life france, spain, austria etc, its juts right, and creates a "balance" between them.
IMO it needs (when AI)
1- To pick wars where it is evenly matched in land forces
2- If any opponent has a bigger land army than them, then ALWAYS send its troops nearby an allied army, so it can attach ot it and therefore not be destroyed piecemeal.
There, done.
1- To pick wars where it is evenly matched in land forces
2- If any opponent has a bigger land army than them, then ALWAYS send its troops nearby an allied army, so it can attach ot it and therefore not be destroyed piecemeal.
There, done.
Can it be coded so AI GB has to have a set number of transport ships compared to its army i.e. in the early game it needs 20 transports but late game it must maintain 80 so it can actually move decent sized armies around. Then force the AI to only transport large armies and a big part of the AI GB's weakness is gone.
The other part is actually making trade useful to GB again. The NA nodes should be direct to London because the AI can't dominate the north sea or WETN.
Finally, make it so they peace out of the 100 years war more easily. If AI coding is too difficult then an event with a 24 month timer that has an option to peace out could force the issue. The trigger could be something like if the French have occupied an English county in France or in England, WE is over 6, the country has more than 1 loan etc. If that condition is met and England is AI then they will concede defeat and hand over any occupied French provinces to France. It sounds harsh but its better than the utter collapse England normally faces when it loses its whole army, racks up huge debts and WE and then gets hit by all its unique flavour disasters.
In human hands though GB is an easy superpower since, unlike the AI, they can handle the above problems.
The other part is actually making trade useful to GB again. The NA nodes should be direct to London because the AI can't dominate the north sea or WETN.
Finally, make it so they peace out of the 100 years war more easily. If AI coding is too difficult then an event with a 24 month timer that has an option to peace out could force the issue. The trigger could be something like if the French have occupied an English county in France or in England, WE is over 6, the country has more than 1 loan etc. If that condition is met and England is AI then they will concede defeat and hand over any occupied French provinces to France. It sounds harsh but its better than the utter collapse England normally faces when it loses its whole army, racks up huge debts and WE and then gets hit by all its unique flavour disasters.
In human hands though GB is an easy superpower since, unlike the AI, they can handle the above problems.
GB is definatly the easiest country in the world to play as. Get your army, navy and tech right and u can easily dominate the world.
lolno
Spain and Port >>>>> GB. As Port you get first dibs on all colonization; as Spain you can take other people's colonies. Set up enough colonies and you get insane manpower when they convert to cores.
AI GB has been doing poor in 1.4.x true.
But I wouldn't have agreed to this until I saw the Teutonic Order take over Ireland. The Teutonic Order in Ireland.
(France in Wales is just a bonus.)
But I wouldn't have agreed to this until I saw the Teutonic Order take over Ireland. The Teutonic Order in Ireland.
(France in Wales is just a bonus.)
Ok people time to sit and have a long discussion about this, as I don´t like what I see. When France can make a fleet by 1480 and beat and invade England, liberating Wales/Cornwall etc... Houston, we have a problem.
I suggest people post their outcomes in this thread so we compare how often UK failing is na issue and how to fix it.
I suggest people post their outcomes in this thread so we compare how often UK failing is na issue and how to fix it.
Yeah definitely. How many times do you see england get crushed by scotland? Once every other game. And paradox themselves have said they were historically "the winner" of eu4. Needs a buff so it can be a legitimate threat on par with france/spain
However on the flipside, it's very hard to invade England herself. Histortically, England had a lot of issues during this peroid and couldn't muster up a decent invasion army since the HYW however England had a lot of defensive advanages as a Island nation. Due to AI's inability to land large forces correctly, England tends just survive.