Just getting into EUIV

[Woozywyvern]

I have just purchased EUIV and a couple of expansions, and wow ... I had heard it was a complicated game but didn't really appreciate how much. The first 2 hours of gameplay have been spent looking at tutorial videos .

But really enjoying my limited game time so far, can't wait to understand things a bit more and dig further into the game. I think Paradox have another convert to the EU series now

I have skimmed through some of the general hints and tips, but anything anyone would suggest to a newbie?

Great game Paradox, looking forward to my time with it and getting some more of the expansions eventually.

 

[CoolSpin]

Well, basically just play, fail, learn and try again. And mouse over absolutely everything for tooltips (not joking).

If you got a 2nd monitor, consider watching an EU4 stream on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Europa Universalis IV on it. You will probably ask a lot of questions there too, I find most people will be very helpful. You will forget more than you can remember, and you will learn stuff all the time - and forget them.

Also the wiki is useful for mechanics, most stuff you read in tooltips and text in the game can be searched on google: eu4wiki land warfare

If something confuses you even more you have this forum, I usually search for eu4 forum <problem im having> before posting. You also have the quick questions / quick answer forum ,but this can be a bit slow depending on which day of week and timezone you live in: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...uick-questions-quick-answers.706726/page-1292

Youtube, if you have the time, can be essential for learning too.

This is basically my starter for How you can best learn EU4 for yourself while learning and playing EU4. Self-learning is important, but you can always rely on this forum!

I'm sure there are additional things I could mention, but this should give you the basic pointers to figure stuff out.

 

[netherlink]

Welcome @Woozywyvern, you successfully trapped yourself!

There's a long way ahead of you, if you truly want to become a master in the art of map painting, but by (buying the game ) watching tutorial videos you should be prepared for your first few rounds of confusing and cruel deaths.

First tip: Don't let you get frustrated too quickly!

my tip is, since that's the way i learned the game back then, to just play a somewhat isolated country (Japan aka "Ashikaga" or Portugal are good examples) and try to win a war and keep your economy stable. Don't focus on too many features at once, but rather one after another.
Check the main tabs left to right, starting with your Court and Country followed by economy and trade. But don't expect to truly understand everything now ^^
Live with the knowledge that some things are confusing for now and reveal their magic later, when you have a more firm grasp on the base mechanics.

If you don't see the effect of a slider or checkbox, just ignore it for now. You'll probably understand it later.

TL;DR: Just play a few games and don't let you stop just because you don't understand everything in the first 5~500hrs

 

[CoolSpin]

Oh, I forgot a very important page on the wiki, the EU4 Jargon: https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Jargon

 

[Swami]

My advice is maybe a bit controversial, I would start as a small nation in the HRE once you know the basics. You are pretty save with Austria protecting you, it learns you to deal with agressive expansion (AE) and personally I found a small nation with small wars and building up from that easier then to dive strait into managing multiple fronts, armies and enemies. Starting small and growing naturally into managing more and more is an easier learn curve imo. Also always try to ally Austria or who is the emperor to prevent them claiming back your conquests

Other advice, save when you feel you are doing good and save scum as a beginner. As making mistakes is going to happen, but I think its more usefull to savescum back, learn from your previous mistakes and then try again with the gained knowledge. Just quiting to main menu and restarting helps less imo. Going back and doing it right next time arround is pretty rewarding.