Ireland crushed by England

[JC1939]

10 Ireland crushed by England, Goto 10

I am new to EU4 v1.11. I have been trying to play Ireland in Ironman mode. I am on game #10.

I have never united Ireland, touching Meath is impossible due to England's strength. I have taken all the other Irish provinces.

I am trying to survive long enough to give me a chance to get out of the mid 1500's.

My problem is no matter what I do, England crushes me, over and over. No matter how much I spam the loan button. If I survive I end up in bankruptcy, which I can get out of, but then I eventually get crushed again.

I have done some research and people suggested the following strategies, of which I have tried most, but some I just do not see working.

* Attack England right away. For this to work, you have to attack in the first few turns, when it is weakest. They start with 15?, but within a few years they have 20-30. I can muster a 10 stack, while getting raped with interest. There is no way I am going to be able to take them with my 10 in the time before they hit their 20+ stack.
* Kick England when its down during the war of the roses. This event is random whether it even spawns, but I have tried to do this, but typically get blocked from sending units to England because of English ships in the channel.
* Ally with Scotland. They are too weak, even with my help we (20) get crushed with 30+ units from England. Scotland gets vasseled then assimilated.
* Appease England. I have done this, but eventually they want my lands and attack no matter how happy I try to make them.
* Ally with lots of powerful friends. Tried this, but those who accept to join the war, never send troops. In all my 10 games I only saw England come close to losing, it was glorious, but Scotland ended the war before we could really crush them.
* Expand beyond Ireland. I am trying that with Brittany with mixed results, I have to hope I am lucky and they do not ally with anyone powerful, otherwise game over. I am hoping Brittany land/funds will allow me to put up a decent fight with England.
* Start a colony in the new world. I have not tried this, wary of doing it due to the "at any moment England could attack" concern.

I enjoy a challenge, which is why I choose ironman. I am not interested in restarting games until I find random settings that favor me. I want to be challenged, but I am finding this at this point impossible, so I am looking for advice on what I can do to increase my chances of surviving England.

 

[Zak Preston]

I am new to EU4 v1.11. I have been trying to play Ireland in Ironman mode. I am on game #10.

I have never united Ireland, touching Meath is impossible due to England's strength. I have taken all the other Irish provinces.

I am trying to survive long enough to give me a chance to get out of the mid 1500's.

My problem is no matter what I do, England crushes me, over and over. No matter how much I spam the loan button. If I survive I end up in bankruptcy, which I can get out of, but then I eventually get crushed again.

I have done some research and people suggested the following strategies, of which I have tried most, but some I just do not see working.

* Attack England right away. For this to work, you have to attack in the first few turns, when it is weakest. They start with 15?, but within a few years they have 20-30. I can muster a 10 stack, while getting raped with interest. There is no way I am going to be able to take them with my 10 in the time before they hit their 20+ stack.
* Kick England when its down during the war of the roses. This event is random whether it even spawns, but I have tried to do this, but typically get blocked from sending units to England because of English ships in the channel.
* Ally with Scotland. They are too weak, even with my help we (20) get crushed with 30+ units from England. Scotland gets vasseled then assimilated.
* Appease England. I have done this, but eventually they want my lands and attack no matter how happy I try to make them.
* Ally with lots of powerful friends. Tried this, but those who accept to join the war, never send troops. In all my 10 games I only saw England come close to losing, it was glorious, but Scotland ended the war before we could really crush them.
* Expand beyond Ireland. I am trying that with Brittany with mixed results, I have to hope I am lucky and they do not ally with anyone powerful, otherwise game over. I am hoping Brittany land/funds will allow me to put up a decent fight with England.
* Start a colony in the new world. I have not tried this, wary of doing it due to the "at any moment England could attack" concern.

I enjoy a challenge, which is why I choose ironman. I am not interested in restarting games until I find random settings that favor me. I want to be challenged, but I am finding this at this point impossible, so I am looking for advice on what I can do to increase my chances of surviving England.

There is a funny workaround for Ireland players:

• Start as Brittany,
• fabricate claims on Cornwall
• DoW England ASAP while they fight French in HYW. Another option is to wait for the War of the Roses.
• Take Cornwall at very least, but the best option is to take Meath or Wales also.
• Conquer Irish provinces one by one
• Change capital to Irish province and culture shift into Irish.
• At ADM 10 tech you can form Ireland by decision with much (I mean MUCH) better NIs and much more BT.

Your best buddies vs England are France\Burgundy, Scotland and maybe Spain. Beware of English navy, for they can decimate your transports.

 

[Katsue]

I got jammy in my (non-ironman) game. The Wars of the Roses caused Cornwall to split off England, and Cornwall owned Meath. Since I had a navy, and Cornwall didn't, it was trivial to capture Meath from Cornwall.

 

[Sredit]

When I did my Luck of the Irish run, as Ulster, I allied Scotland, who helped me annex the other Irish minors. When I had all of Ireland except Meath, I improved relations with France until I could ally them. I broke alliance with Scotland, and was lucky enough for them to declare war on Norway for Orkney. As Scotland was getting stomped by the Scandinavians, I declared on them, to take a bunch of their land. Was able to annex everything except Western Isles after the second war with them.

By chance, Provence took some land off of Brittany, which revolted and flipped to me. I took the rest of them soon after. At this point, I had the following:
- All of Ireland except for Meath,
- All of Scotland except for Western Isles
- All of Brittany

Since I was allied to France, I didn't have to worry about England declaring on me. France and Burgundy had already taken all of England's continental cores, so I didn't have to worry about my ally starting something and dragging me in either. Next came the waiting game. I just waited until probably 1580, at which point England got into some trouble with wars and peasant revolts. I checked the ledger, saw that they were low on troops and had zero manpower, and so pounced on them myself. I managed to take 3 provinces in Northern England. By this point, France was strong enough to have a decent navy, and was able to land troops to help me siege. After this first war, England never really recovered, and I was able to declare on them after every peace treaty ended. I wouldn't have been able to do it without France's help. The key is to kill their navy, in order to allow allies to bring in support. I made sure to force England to break all alliances in every peace deal, so that they never had any allies of consequence to call to arms.

Once of my major strategic successes was to prevent English troops from landing in Meath after a big peasant revolt there. That province was occupied by rebels for 100 years, and I think that had a large part to play in English weakness

 

[JC1939]

When I did my Luck of the Irish run, as Ulster, I allied Scotland, who helped me annex the other Irish minors. When I had all of Ireland except Meath, I improved relations with France until I could ally them. I broke alliance with Scotland, and was lucky enough for them to declare war on Norway for Orkney. As Scotland was getting stomped by the Scandinavians, I declared on them, to take a bunch of their land. Was able to annex everything except Western Isles after the second war with them.

By chance, Provence took some land off of Brittany, which revolted and flipped to me. I took the rest of them soon after. At this point, I had the following:
- All of Ireland except for Meath,
- All of Scotland except for Western Isles
- All of Brittany

Since I was allied to France, I didn't have to worry about England declaring on me. France and Burgundy had already taken all of England's continental cores, so I didn't have to worry about my ally starting something and dragging me in either. Next came the waiting game. I just waited until probably 1580, at which point England got into some trouble with wars and peasant revolts. I checked the ledger, saw that they were low on troops and had zero manpower, and so pounced on them myself. I managed to take 3 provinces in Northern England. By this point, France was strong enough to have a decent navy, and was able to land troops to help me siege. After this first war, England never really recovered, and I was able to declare on them after every peace treaty ended. I wouldn't have been able to do it without France's help. The key is to kill their navy, in order to allow allies to bring in support. I made sure to force England to break all alliances in every peace deal, so that they never had any allies of consequence to call to arms.

Once of my major strategic successes was to prevent English troops from landing in Meath after a big peasant revolt there. That province was occupied by rebels for 100 years, and I think that had a large part to play in English weakness

Thanks for the replies. BTW, I am not playing whatever this thing people keep mentioning called "Luck of the Irish," I just got the game a week ago and started a standard game by picking Leinster. Been playing same one ever since.


Few questions.

How do you check England's troops and manpower levels when not in a war with them?
So you were only able to kill Englands Navy with support from France?
It appears winning has a lot to do with luck in circumstances and then taking advantage of those circumstances?
What is "Jammy?"

 

[loveactually]

There is a funny workaround for Ireland players:

• Start as Brittany,
• fabricate claims on Cornwall
• DoW England ASAP while they fight French in HYW. Another option is to wait for the War of the Roses.
• Take Cornwall at very least, but the best option is to take Meath or Wales also.
• Conquer Irish provinces one by one
• Change capital to Irish province and culture shift into Irish.
• At ADM 10 tech you can form Ireland by decision with much (I mean MUCH) better NIs and much more BT.

Your best buddies vs England are France\Burgundy, Scotland and maybe Spain. Beware of English navy, for they can decimate your transports.

you can't get the achievement like this.
you MUST start as one of the irish minor in 1444 start

How do you check England's troops and manpower levels when not in a war with them?

use ledger. press "L" in the game.
and then choose military tab

 

[IIWW]

Thanks for the replies. BTW, I am not playing whatever this thing people keep mentioning called "Luck of the Irish," I just got the game a week ago and started a standard game by picking Leinster. Been playing same one ever since.


Few questions.

How do you check England's troops and manpower levels when not in a war with them?
So you were only able to kill Englands Navy with support from France?
It appears winning has a lot to do with luck in circumstances and then taking advantage of those circumstances?
What is "Jammy?"

"Luck of the irish" is an (steam) achievement, He wanted to get it that's why he calls it "LotI run".
1. In the ledger. Just hit "l" and look for military tab (You'll find it easily)
2. Spain would propably be better, but if You ask if You would be able to do it without any help, then the answer is no. You need some help, form strong ally.
3. Welcome to EU4
4. From "jam" (like in trafic jam). He got stuck a bit, didn't knew/couldn't make progress for a while.

 

[The Custodian]

I managed to pull it off with an exile into north america then return in the 1700's to wreck england. Not the funnest option but its relatively safe overall..

 

[Pellucid]

My method was to rush-conquer the other Irish provinces, ally France and Scotland, then wait until a moment of weakness from England.

 

[ikkiks]

My method was to rush-conquer the other Irish provinces, ally France and Scotland, then wait until a moment of weakness from England.

Pretty much this. Use the war of the roses to take land from England and hope for another opening. Ireland isn't an easy one to play.

 

[Pellucid]

PS: The best way to prevent Scotland from helping another minor against you is, after allying them, you should remain at war with Scotland on your side until all other Irish minors are conquered. If this isn't possible, just make sure you take the last two at the same time (annexing any Scotland are allied with before concluding peace with the other). Leinster (or Connaught) is easiest because you can take Connaught first and get claims on the other two from there.

 

[waypin]

I got Luck of the Irish via the 'diaspora method' of waving goodbye to Europe and setting up in the New World. It had a little hairyness at the end when I accidentally gave France an English province in a peace deal.

 

[komspace2_]

If you are new to EU IV you simply should start with an easier nation.

 

[Moah]

Just a quick comment: if you're trying to extend beyond Ireland to avoid England's wrath, I'm not sure Brittany's such a great idea since you'll get the exact same problem with France wanting Brittany provinces.

 

[pleinair00]

4. From "jam" (like in trafic jam). He got stuck a bit, didn't knew/couldn't make progress for a while.

He actually means he got lucky. Its a british thing, I used to hear people say it in school a looong time ago...

AFAIK the origin of it comes from the british biscuits Jammie Dodgers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammie_Dodgers) if you're actually curious. Oh, you're a jammie dodger! (you lucky thing! ) >.>

Weird, but thats Britain for you xD


( ahem, sorry continue with the irish challenge talk )

 

[Katsue]

He actually means he got lucky. Its a british thing, I used to hear people say it in school a looong time ago...

It's also an Irish thing.

 

[JC1939]

I made some progress on this last night. I watched a video on youtube of some guy playing the luck of the Irish and got some good pointers.

- Invest your military points to get a really good commander. As in spend them all on 3-4 guys and pick the best.
- Create fortress Ireland. Carefully watch if any army tries to land on the island and meet them before they get there, you have to win every fight and with the landing penalties, you have the advantage. Use this strategy over time until the aggressor's war score wears down until you can white peace out or get some gain.
- Build up your naval forces, using naval idea group and some heavies and with the help of an ally destroy the English navy.

I tried this and saw some promise in it, going to continue trying this strategy.

 

[YuriiH]

1) Conquer all the Ireland island.
2) Ally Scotland and transfer ALL troops to the Britain island.
3) DoW England immediately during its HYW or immediately after (when En is weak), or wait for Scotland DoW England.
4) Win war.
5a) If Scotland was the agressor: make England release both Welsh minors and probably take smth for yourself. in a separate peace.
5b) If You are an agressor: release both Welsh minors and give smth to Scotland for increased AE (to avoid its bad alliances).
*Don't take Meath, it is insignificant at the beginning but provides free warscore. Prefer coastal English lands.
6) Immediately DOW Scotland and conquer.
7) In 5 years DOW Welsh minors and conquer.
8) Fabricate claim on Britany. DoW it for 1 province (don't take all, France will hate you)
9) DoW England, take land.
10) Rinse and repeat, items 8-9
11) Get an achievement.

 

[pgroves]

When I did my Luck of the Irish run, as Ulster, I allied Scotland, who helped me annex the other Irish minors. When I had all of Ireland except Meath, I improved relations with France until I could ally them. I broke alliance with Scotland, and was lucky enough for them to declare war on Norway for Orkney. As Scotland was getting stomped by the Scandinavians, I declared on them, to take a bunch of their land. Was able to annex everything except Western Isles after the second war with them.

How did you avoid France DoW on you, as they guarantee Scotland? I've only managed to DoW Scotland without France DoW on my when I was already in another war with France at the same time (they won't DoW you then)

 

[pgroves]

How did you avoid France DoW on you, as they guarantee Scotland? I've only managed to DoW Scotland without France DoW on my when I was already in another war with France at the same time (they won't DoW you then)

Anyone?

BTW am thinking of starting a game as Leinster, as they're a proper Irish green and have the Irish harp as their flag to tide me over until I get to Admin 10 and can form Ireland