Europa Universalis IV – Developer Diary 12 - Dominium Maris Baltici

[anubisfike]

Personally I'd sod Livonia and the Baltic and focus on Scandinavian unification and later on colonizing what is today known as "Canada." Easy way to become the leading producer and trader in fur which is sure to fill my coffers with sweet, sweet income. Whenever I try to establish the Swedish dominance of the Baltic it always ends up badly with either everyone and their mothers ganking me or just a slow bleeding of my coffers due to having armies and navies that are too large for the relatively poor income I get from my provinces, even accounting for fur and lumber trade.

Except fur is pretty much just average at best. It doesn't give enough income to make it worth focusing on obtaining, it's only slightly better than fish and about the same value as salt. You don't want either of those in your colonies. The supply of fur is likely to be plenty as well in comparison with the demand.

 

[Olligarchy]

I was with you, until you said you'd colonize Canada. We live in a frigid, cold, forested, furry place - so you'll colonise a frigid, cold, forested, furry place? seems like a lot of voyage for nothing to me why don't you go for Brazil, Africa, Asia?

Because I'm talking early game. A skilled player can unite Scandinavia inside a century, and even then the Colonial period is just starting. With Greenland and Iceland under your control Canada is the easiest place to head and colonize until you have sufficient range to build colonies somewhere in south-africa and then move onto the richer provinces in Asia and South America.

Except fur is pretty much just average at best. It doesn't give enough income to make it worth focusing on obtaining, it's only slightly better than fish and about the same value as salt. You don't want either of those in your colonies. The supply of fur is likely to be plenty as well in comparison with the demand.

But that sweet prestige bonus!? I'll admit I never really studied what goods sold the best as such (except coffee and sugar seemed to sell like hotcakes), but I always did note that majority of my income as Sweden came from the furs sold from my Finnish provinces, so I tried to maximize their production anyway I could.

 

[anubisfike]

Well yeah by comparison fur is probably the most valuable thing in Scandinavia but that doesn't say much on the larger scale of things. Fur is a decent good but it's not valuable in the big picture, it has too few modifiers on demand. Also you can get the prestige bonus from just casually trading in Russia, or maybe even only from the Swedish and Finnish provinces in the early game.

 

[Lundgreen]

damn swedes.. Going to wreck you as the true kings of Scandinavia, The Danes

 

[DarkieBabZ]

damn swedes.. Going to wreck you as the true kings of Scandinavia, The Danes

You better remember to hold onto Skåneland then ^^

 

[justin6477]

You better remember to hold onto Skåneland then ^^

And liberate Finland. Can't forget that.

 

[DarkieBabZ]

And liberate Finland. Can't forget that.

Liberating Finland would mean nothing if Sweden took Skåneland, whereas keeping Skåneland would mean all
That being said, ofc it would be smart to liberate them

 

[justin6477]

Liberating Finland would mean nothing if Sweden took Skåneland, whereas keeping Skåneland would mean all
That being said, ofc it would be smart to liberate them

Oh, I certainly agree. But liberating Finland would weaken Sweden, reducing their ability to take Skåneland in the future. It also means that you don't have to deal with Swedish rebellions, or the threat of Sweden wanting their clay back. One also gains an ally to attack from the North and East, in addition to Denmark's Southern angle and Norway's Western one.

 

[Brent15]

I guess they'll still have it. NIs are 'hard-wired' and not alternate history friendly - you get them regardless of the context. You can potentially have Swedish noble republic with 'Swedish Absolutism', absolutist England with 'Bill of Rights', or protestant Spain with 'Devout Catholicism'.

Yea, that stuff's going to bother me. I want the history, but only when it fits within the context of the game's progression.

 

[DarkieBabZ]

Yea, that stuff's going to bother me. I want the history, but only when it fits within the context of the game's progression.

That seems to be the way the majority feels like..
Lucky enough for us, if the NI turns out being a problem (we can't know yet, they might end up being wonderful etc) there is always modding.