First time playing EU IV - best tips wanted

[qwertzuiop]

Some more things, related to saving monarch points:

- Do not manually raise stability above 1 unless you have a special reason to do so.

- Do not randomly culture-convert provinces. It's not a big deal to have provinces with "red" cultures. Converting these cultures can be useful in some situations, but it's not required at all.

- Diplo points are usually the least valuable points at the beginning of the game unless you happen to play a colonial power (which you are, okay).

- Do not take a military idea group right at the start unless you exactly know what you're doing. Military points are better spent on technology early on, every single technology can make a huge difference, especially the ones which increase military tactics.

- All idea groups are equal, but some are more equal than others. Some offer you important discounts on certain actions, especially reduced core-creation cost (Administrative) and reduced diplo-annexation cost (Influence). If you want to focus on colonization at the start, that's basically the only situation where you do not need them. But for usual large-scale conquests (everything which is not colonization), these discounts are very important.

 

[Megabear]

Here's a good guide for beginners. Will take some time to go through it but it'll teach you essential basics. Highly recommended.

http://guides.gamepressure.com/europauniversalisiv/guide.asp?ID=21613

 

[Desertfox]

- After a big battle, shift-click the "consolidate regiments" button. You don't need to understand why.

I disagree. You should shift-clck the "consolidate regiments" button BEFORE a big battle. Full regiments fight more effectively.

After battle, don't do that; half-strength regiments get to full strenght faster than empty regiments.

Exception is of course if your manpower pool is seriously empty and you expect that it will take many years to fully reinforce your armies;
in that case shift-consolidate and delete some empty regiment to save on regiment upkeep cost for those years.

 

[Magnus Imperator Rex]

Guys, I really cannot say how much I appreciate these tips. It helped more than any guide out there. And since I come from the HOI world I have an easier time figuring some perks out. The transition has been rather smooth. My only problem so far has been the change of paradigms that I'm experiencing in EUIV.

For example, I'm trying to get used to new concepts in the way that I conduct the affairs of the state and army. In HOI3, I could conquer a minor country in a month and a major state in a few months.

However in EUIV, I feel no rush to declare war or conquer someone. I'm really enjoying this laid back style.In HOI I used to be paranoid because everyone attacked you all the time. At first I was playing with this state of mind on EU but after a while I began to relax because nothing really happened...for years. I really feel no rush to subjugate my neighbors. It feels like my neighbors want to keep the peace and are not really warmongers, unlike in HOI3, where war is the norm.

Its 1460. As my first game as Castile I have conquered Granada, Navarra and most of Morocco. But in the process I ruined my economy and long term chances of national stability. I have about 30 loans pending payment, - 3 stability, decreasing budget, have no manpower, no mercenaries available for hire, about 90% overextension, 3 muslim peasants revolts cooking up at a high level, and 25 divisions of peasants occupying northern Castile. I only have 3 cavalry and not much. My state bureaucracy is overwhelmed and can't function properly.

Castile is done for. Should I call it quits and start over?

Also, how many advisors should I use on average? I currently hired 3, the cheapest ones (lolz), but its rather expensive for 3 ducats monthly. For comparison, my entire navy costs 2.2 ducats monthly. Very posh bureaucrats, aren't they?

 

[Chief Iacid]

This was a really good thread for general advice. Does anybody know if it's possible to save all posts in a thread to a single document, or to print out the complete thread?

 

[Philadelphus]

That sounds a lot like my very first game of EU4 (also played as Castile), although I accomplished much less and quit in frustration when the odds were much less stacked against me. Sounds like you learned some really good lessons the best way: by trying and failing. There's no shame whatsoever in calling it quits with those kinds of things happening. Let us know if you have any questions with your next game!

Some random tips from what you mentioned:

• Overextension directly increases your national revolt risk, and once it gets above ~50% it starts getting really dangerous. Whatever you do, don't let it get above 100% as you will start to get some serious additional rebel threats. (If you're coring something and it'll only be above 100% for few days/weeks you can pull it off, but you definitely don't want to sit above 100% for any appreciable length of time).
• Stability also inversely affects your national revolt risk (higher stability = lower revolt risk), and keeping it non-negative is one of the most important things you can spend Admin points on. However, there's generally no real need to max it out. Sitting on 0 or 1 stability is perfectly fine if your revolt risk is low. (You'd only really need to max it out if your revolt risk is high enough that the extra 2–3 revolt risk reduction would be useful, which might be the case if you're sitting on a high overextension for a while.)
• As a Western tech nation, armies with more than 50% cavalry will take a penalty to their effectiveness. I don't know exactly how much or how it works exactly as I usually don't have anywhere near that amount of cavalry, but just so you know so you don't go attacking someone with 5 regiments of cavalry or something. (This ratio is different for each tech group, by the way, and 50% for Western tech is kind of on the lower end. Hordes can actually have armies composed of 100% cavalry with no penalty.)

If you enjoy the peaceful aspects of EU4, my personal favorite peace-time activity is exploration and colonization. Castile and Portugal are the best for it, with France and England a close second, but quite a few European nations (or even a lot of Asian nations) on the coast can also pull it off pretty well. Or if you're a Christian monarchy you can try to play the Personal Union game and get other countries to be inherited by your monarch. I'm pretty bad at it and have only ever gotten a union accidentally, but it was really cool when it happened. Finally, if you have the Common Sense DLC, you could go for a small/medium sized nation and put your points that would otherwise be spent on coring into improving your provinces and turning your nation into a powerhouse. Hope that helps!

 

[Soranya]

I really like to sit on 1 Stablity as a Monarchy, that way I avoid slipping into the negatives by a Monarch Death and allowing alot of Disasters to actually happen.
As another Form of Goverment zero is the way to go (and +1 if you happen to get a + stability event).
If you are at zero Stability and get a negative stability event (not sure if this is even possible at zero stab) try to postpone clicking the button until you are at 1 stability for the exact same reason. (You can postpone clicking evnes up to two or three months, so you have some time to prepare.
Same is true for Rebelevents, if you get an event that triggers Rebels in a specific province try to station a Large enough (as in same size or larger then the Rebel stack) Army in said province beforehand, so you can force the Rebels to be the attacker and dont give them time to siege the Province before your Armies arrive.

As Castile going Colonization is a good way to expand peacefully, and as long as you dont have more developing Colonies then you have Colonists it isnt a economical liability. There is much min maxing involved in Colonizing, but for the Start simply sending your colonist to a High Development low Natives Province in America (or Africa if you can not reach America yet) is simply enough.
Note that developing Colonies should be protected by a contigency of your Armei (with maintance up) roughly equal to the size of the Natives in the Province (so 1 Regiment of Infantry per 1000 Natives) - This is especially true for the High Population Aggressive Africa provinces along the Western African coast.

 

[Sian]

Advisors have the large perk that they give you more Monarch Points, which is the most finite, important resource in the game, so don't be affraid of going into debt (as long as its not to steep) to pay them off. Specially as Castile as they start with a crappy Ruler and a worse heir. Furthermore, while the MP's in and of themselves might well be worth the cost, some Advisors are better than others.
IMO:
Best Administative advisors 'tend' to be Inqusitor (+2% missionary strength, if you have any religious disunity), Theologian (-2 National Unrest can help quite a bit).
Best Diplomatic advisors 'tend' to be Diplomat (+30% faster decay of negative diplomatic modifiers, giving you a bit larger reach in terms of expanding without facing a coalition) and Statesman (+1 Diplomatic Relations which makes it much easier to make friends, and make those friends willing to do what you ask them to).
Best Military advisors is without question Commandant (+5% Discipline, which is a serious force multiplier in combat) followed by either Army Reformer (+10% Army Morale) and Master Recruiter (+10% Manpower growth).

with as crappy rulers such as Castiles (make both your ruler and your heir at the start generals so they have a higher chance of dying), by far the biggest roadblock are lack of Monarch points, as they barely keep up with even very modest expanding if you also intend to keep up on tech (which, more often than not, is a very good idea)

 

[Schiltrus]

-Pray to RNGesus before and after each session.
-Play someone simple like Portugal, many nations have wacky events and such that can screw new players.
-Alternatively, play whoever you feel like if you want to learn through failure (I played a lot of north american tribes early on, fun but difficult).
-Don't waste points on development (assuming you have the Common Sense DLC). The only reason you should be spending points on development is if you're ahead in all techs and have no ideas to take. If you're playing non-western this will never be the case.
-Do not fall behind in military tech, especially early. The first 8 techs are extremely powerful, and a difference of even 1 can turn an even war into a stupidly easy one.

 

[ponasozis]

for a moment there i thought the guy was trolling about waiting on peace to end automatically


oh lawrd
you really should watch allot more youtube videos if you din t knew that you need to sue for peace

 

[KwizzN]

Just a minor point regarding warscore that I think was missed: After 5 years of war, you can get 100% warscore by solely occupying the enemy warleader.

At beginning for Castile (before expanding into Africa), you could use this to occupy Granada for 5 years and just fight off enemies landing in Iberia. This isn't all that efficient but possible if needed,

 

[Magnus Imperator Rex]

Im not quoting any of you specifically because there are so many good tips and info in the replies but Im reading everyone of your posts as they are really sound advice for any player who is new to the game.

I do have some issues with the game though. For example as Castile, Aragon declared war on me and
I then took the initiative and chased the Army of Aragon deep into their country and defeated them. I then ordered my army to defeat what was left of them but to my surprise my army got blocked and trapped there close to the french border and couldn't move which meant that it couldn't finish off what was left of them.

To make matters worse at the same time the army of Aragon sent their armed forces to Spain and started sieging every city and occupied my capital while I was trapped in their country blocked by their forts and I had no option but to automatically engage in a siege that I didn't even want to perform.This was really unfair in my opinion. I should have been allowed at least to go back from where I had come from with my armies.

How many cavalry should I have in a regular field army ? And what should my diplomats be doing constantly?

 

[Soranya]

The Access/Block system can be a bit wonky sometimes. Its rather new and some fringe cases haven't been cleared out yet. Eventually you walked through france or did a naval landing - andwith the fort system you can only march back into the province you entered the Fort Province from.
If this was e.g. a french province and your military access got canceled for what ever reason your armie will be stuck till it finishes its siege.

Regarding Diplomats:
When you dont have anything to do send them to improve relations - you can always cancel it and call them back if you need them without having any negative effects.

 

[kviiri]

For your first idea group, I recommend taking something from the Diplomatic Idea groups - Exploration is very good for colonization (although you will need diplomatic technology too to have enough range to cross the Atlantic) and Diplomatic and Influence are quite good for a variety of strategies.

The reason for this is that the second idea group is unlocked very soon after the first, so it's preferable to save admin points for quickly unlocking that. Taking military ideas early is a fairly bad idea, because early levels of military technology are too valuable to delay if you're surrounded by power-hungry neighbors.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Warfare... Yeah, it has a couple issues with access rules. You can only enter a province where you have military access. If any combatant in a war gets access, any combatant on either side can move there. Navarra and France can probably get you out

You were in a war but you sent an army to destroy their army. Their army died but you got trapped. Then they occupied all of Castile while you were trying to siege one province.

Did you create any new regiments to stop them? Mercenaries can be formed up within a month after purchase.

 

[FranKrsto]

Im not quoting any of you specifically because there are so many good tips and info in the replies but Im reading everyone of your posts as they are really sound advice for any player who is new to the game.

I do have some issues with the game though. For example as Castile, Aragon declared war on me and
I then took the initiative and chased the Army of Aragon deep into their country and defeated them. I then ordered my army to defeat what was left of them but to my surprise my army got blocked and trapped there close to the french border and couldn't move which meant that it couldn't finish off what was left of them.

To make matters worse at the same time the army of Aragon sent their armed forces to Spain and started sieging every city and occupied my capital while I was trapped in their country blocked by their forts and I had no option but to automatically engage in a siege that I didn't even want to perform.This was really unfair in my opinion. I should have been allowed at least to go back from where I had come from with my armies.

How many cavalry should I have in a regular field army ? And what should my diplomats be doing constantly?

Aragon can move freely in their own lands, you can't because forts have zone of control which basically forces you in certain direction or prevents you from advancing further into the enemy territory (to chase the army and destroy it).

You need to be patient with the war. I recommend putting exact number of troops you need to siege the fort (for example 3 guys for lvl1) and keep the rest in the back ready to reinforce if Aragon attacks into you. Manpower is very important in this game and siege can drain you very fast if you keep your whole army on the province.

As far as cavalry goes, ideally you want 50% for a western tech nation. So early game you could have something like 10 infantry and 5 cavalry. Castile is a strong nation so you shouldn't have any problems financing such army.

But you need to be aware that you shouldn't have more than that because having a bad inf/cav ratio means your army will actually fight worse (you should always have a green plus sign in the fight window). If that happens, detach some of the cav before fighting again, attacking with everything you got is not always the best course of action.

There is much more to fighting but some key pointers would be.

1. Always be aware of the terrain, dont attack into mountains/woods, try to avoid crossing the river if possible.
2. Always be aware of your inf/cav ratio
3. Stay even or ahead on military tech
4. Be patient

 

[Cryoshakespeare]

In terms of waging war, you should play defensively and focus on defeating armies and picking good fights early on in the war. This means fighting in favorable terrain, with an advantage in numbers, and hopefully with a better general. Keep your armies in strong, consolidated stacks (though not to the point of taking attrition) and simply observe where your enemies go.

Eventually, you will want to start moving to their territory more, and possibly start stomping on regiments that your enemy has created to reinforce their army. By doing this, you will win the manpower war, and once you do, it becomes much safer to start occupying enemy provinces.

Always remember to not take more attrition than you need to, it only takes 1 regiment to siege an unfortified province, and you can check how many regiments a fort needs to siege it by looking at the number next to the shield icon on the siege interface.

Overall, good luck, and remember that alliances are so strong in this game because of how they affect the manpower war. Consider mixing one or two mercenary infantry regiments in with your troops, though don't go overboard. You'll start to get the subtleties eventually.

Arumba is a very good youtuber who explains his tactical decisions very well, I'd recommend checking him out!

 

[MetalTaberna]

Guys, I really cannot say how much I appreciate these tips. It helped more than any guide out there. And since I come from the HOI world I have an easier time figuring some perks out. The transition has been rather smooth. My only problem so far has been the change of paradigms that I'm experiencing in EUIV.

For example, I'm trying to get used to new concepts in the way that I conduct the affairs of the state and army. In HOI3, I could conquer a minor country in a month and a major state in a few months.

However in EUIV, I feel no rush to declare war or conquer someone. I'm really enjoying this laid back style.In HOI I used to be paranoid because everyone attacked you all the time. At first I was playing with this state of mind on EU but after a while I began to relax because nothing really happened...for years. I really feel no rush to subjugate my neighbors. It feels like my neighbors want to keep the peace and are not really warmongers, unlike in HOI3, where war is the norm.

Its 1460. As my first game as Castile I have conquered Granada, Navarra and most of Morocco. But in the process I ruined my economy and long term chances of national stability. I have about 30 loans pending payment, - 3 stability, decreasing budget, have no manpower, no mercenaries available for hire, about 90% overextension, 3 muslim peasants revolts cooking up at a high level, and 25 divisions of peasants occupying northern Castile. I only have 3 cavalry and not much. My state bureaucracy is overwhelmed and can't function properly.

Castile is done for. Should I call it quits and start over?

Also, how many advisors should I use on average? I currently hired 3, the cheapest ones (lolz), but its rather expensive for 3 ducats monthly. For comparison, my entire navy costs 2.2 ducats monthly. Very posh bureaucrats, aren't they?

This is right up my alley. I've only played 280 hours, so I remember well when those problems crippled me.

First. You are not going to give up. If you give up now you'll be giving up every time you are pushed back by the game. This is part of the game, you give and take. You've taken too much, so let the game take for now.

War in the early modern era was very different from the 1930s. I don't play HOI, so I'm going off my history lessons here, but in the 30s Europe was in paranoia and everyone was afraid of everyone. In 1444, we're still in the late medieval setting. Don't be fooled, war is still the norm, but it's not total war. You take from your neighbors, not too much, make sure you're not growing out of control or you'll face a coalition.
EU4 is about getting around your constraints, be it revolts, coalitions, manpower or money. Here are some tips for your situation right now:

Budget: fire your diplo and mil advisors. Disband your army. Put everything into low maintenance. Just make sure you start making money again. The waiting game might be a pain, but you do not want to go bankrupt.
Stability: keep your admin advisor. Build up admin points; within a year or so you'll be able to raise stability. Play on speed 5. Turn your heir into a general (military tab). He's terrible, this will give him a better chance of dying.
Manpower and mercenaries: do not go to war for the next decade. At least.
Overextention: you've conquered all of Granada and Navarra? Go to the diplomacy tab, to your own country, and release them as subjects. You cannot walk around with 90% oe waiting for your admin points to fill up right now. As for Morocco, see if you can either release them in some way or sell your provinces to those subjects. You can reintegrate them in 10 years. This is costly, but you do not want all that oe right now. Normally, you can make them into cores in the stability and expansion tab, but you need those admin points for stability pronto.
Rebels: accept the peasants' demands. You cannot fight them right now. Don't worry, rebels won't kill you. They're just a pain to have, so, avoid rebels. Check your unrest (it's probably high due to the oe, war exhaustion and stability) and do everything to get it up.
Finally, go to building tab under your country, upper left corner. There's a menu where you can build mercs and lots of other things. Find the autonomy tab. Raise autonomy in every province possible. This will lower your unrest and rebel spawn chance.

Also, do you have allies yet? See who's rivaled you in the diplomacy tab. You cannot ally those countries. But there are plenty of other big countries near that you can ally. See if France, England, or Austria like you. Maybe even Aragon or Portugal.

 

[frmwrk123]

Maybe this tip is not so good for Castile but it works wonders with England. Vassals are useful. It makes sense to release part of your territory as a vassal. Why is this important? They will have their own monarch points. Due to the lacking foreign policy and their non-involvement in wars (make sure to collect extra money), they will spend a lot of their points on development. That way you can improve your territory in a way that you could never do yourself. In my current England playthrough my Wales vassal (3 provinces) has increased all of the provinces to development values above 15 or even 20.

The reintegration would cost me currently some 1016 diplo points. Of course that will take a long time to do. So you can't do this trick too often but carefully planned it can help you big time.

 

[FranKrsto]

There is really no sense in releasing territory you already have cores on, just to develop some provinces and then spend dip points to integrate them back in. If you want cheaper development you can take economic ideas and eventually build universities for even more reduction.