I'm playing the most recent patch, and it seems that in every single game, there will be a Castile/Aragon/Naples Spain, Danish/Norwegian/Swedish Scandinavia and Polish/Lithuanian commonwealth. The first and last can possible be avoided if the events go the wrong way and PUs are never established, but it just seems that Personal Unions never break apart. At least Sweden used to break out of Denmarks control, didn't they?
Have personal unions become too stable?
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I've played 5 Ironman games in 1.18 and 1.19...
- Spain: The Iberian Wedding happens in most games, but not every game. 4/5 for me and I never messed with Iberia to influence it personally.
- Denmark: Always starts the game with Norway and Sweden under PU, Sweden has broken free in every single game, although admittedly I did support Swedish independence as England and Brandenburg. It sometimes takes a bit of time, depending on geopolitics, but if Muscovy consolidates quickly, they usually support Swedish independence along with Scotland and sometimes AI England.
- PLC: formed in 3/5 of my games, I didn't interfere with them at all in the early game. I wish the PLC was more reliable... the existence of the PLC totally changes the dynamic of the game in Europe.
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Spain isn't nearly as stable as it could be and Naples gets freed quite often.
Sweden has broken off in every run of mine even without my intervention.
Aside from anecdotal evidence, Muscovy and later on Russia hates Denmark and will support their independence. Same for England and/or Scotland.
If they are stable in every run of yours I would guess you had bad luck or weakened Muscovy/England too much.
Or they just lost the war a bit too often.
As for PLC, Poland and Lit are historical friends. Their PU is as stable as it gets once it forms. Though the AI denies it more often than not.
Sweden has broken off in every run of mine even without my intervention.
Aside from anecdotal evidence, Muscovy and later on Russia hates Denmark and will support their independence. Same for England and/or Scotland.
If they are stable in every run of yours I would guess you had bad luck or weakened Muscovy/England too much.
Or they just lost the war a bit too often.
As for PLC, Poland and Lit are historical friends. Their PU is as stable as it gets once it forms. Though the AI denies it more often than not.
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I suppose it has only been coincidental with my last runs then, haven't even had the chance to support independence due to low liberty desire. And I happened to notice that keeping my two unions as Austria also was a complete breeze, but perhaps it's always been like that. First Austria game
Sweden now tends to break free later as opposed to the start of the game
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In all of my games Sweden never broke away... but Norway did it 2 times (I think due to cancelling PU). 
Diplomatic reputation lowers liberty desire. Austria has like 10 dip rep without even trying so their subjects will have very low liberty desire
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There's a new (with the Denmark patch) event that can make Sweden and Denmark historical rivals that tends to happen ~1500; if the AI takes that path, then holding the PU together becomes significantly more difficult.
On the other hand, unlike old versions, Sweden doesn't generally start as disloyal essentially on day one, so it doesn't attract support for independence right away.
You're making this all based off the unions that actually have the Historical Friendship bonus, lowering liberty desire with the exception of the Danish/Swedish Union. and Sweden are so dirt poor while Denmark is in a rich trade node with some decent land that it's really no surprised the Swedish break free later rather than sooner.
I've actually seen the AI break unions willingly lately, which was a surprise to me.
Apart from that, if you want them to become less stable, just interfere yourself. For example, if you want Aragon and Naples to break free, just commit to taking Castille's land away. I assure you that the liberty desire will be above 50% before long.
Apart from that, if you want them to become less stable, just interfere yourself. For example, if you want Aragon and Naples to break free, just commit to taking Castille's land away. I assure you that the liberty desire will be above 50% before long.
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They're the most stable subject it would seem... as England, I had France in PU always at very negative LD, even after forcing Protestant on them. While vassals and Colonial nations frequently went over 50%.
In my current game:
Bohemia (having eaten Hungary) is under PU with Palatinate.
Spain/Spanish Naples is under PU with Portugal.
Austria was under PU with Provence... and only broke free more than 200 years later when GB + all colonies ALSO came under PU with Provence.
It's a Bengal Tiger run, so I'm a Sunni on the other side of the world. The state of Europe is proving to be a real pain.
Bohemia (having eaten Hungary) is under PU with Palatinate.
Spain/Spanish Naples is under PU with Portugal.
Austria was under PU with Provence... and only broke free more than 200 years later when GB + all colonies ALSO came under PU with Provence.
It's a Bengal Tiger run, so I'm a Sunni on the other side of the world. The state of Europe is proving to be a real pain.
Yes, PUs are much more frequent now than they used to be and they are extremely stable leading to some major blobbing in some games. Developing to reduce LD is extremely easy and the AI does it a lot. With each release the game keeps bouncing back and forth between vassal independence chance. 1-2 years ago you could always rely on CNs breaking away in the late 1700s. Then they made that a little less likely and now it's on the other end of the spectrum. I often see OPMs (or nations with just a handful of provinces) holding vast colonial nations at 0% LD or a GP holding another GP under a PU for 200 years. For me this is the biggest problem with the current game.
They do seem pretty stable. In my current game I've only seen two break apart. Sweden broke free of Denmark (although it took them 200 years) and Naples broke free from Aragon (although Aragon then invaded and conquered most of their land anyway). Other than that, Hungary were inherited by Austria, Aragon inherited by Castille and Norway integrated by Denmark. I don't think I've ever seen an independent Norway in any of my games. Usually they are absorbed by Denmark, although if I'm playing as England/GB then Norway can be pretty good to release/reconquer all their land.
Well, in real history Norway also was never independent in EU4's time frame (but they tried at least in 1814).
Well it was added a few patches ago, but when I started playing the game in 1.13, IIRC denmark/sweden started with historical rival.That event is in fact not new
In my current game as Pomerania, Norway and Sweden have trouble breaking away from Denmark. Though it keeps on resetting when they can be inherited by Denmark when they have independence wars.
In my current game Sweden broke free of Denmark and formed Scandinavia. Norway then broke free of Denmark and formed Iceland. The Iberian Wedding fired. Aragon broke free but Naples didn't. Poland had the PU over Lithuania but manually integrated them because they didn't own Danzig and couldn't form PLC.
Now a rump Brandenbug got a PU over a one province Saxe-Laurenberg.
Pretender rebels can gum up the works a bit.
Now a rump Brandenbug got a PU over a one province Saxe-Laurenberg.
Pretender rebels can gum up the works a bit.
In my current game Aragon managed to keep hold of Naples despite being reduced to the single province of Malta which seems to me a bit much. Naples liberty desire was 37% if i remember right.