mostly experience with CK2
- Thread starter Joel M Bridge
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Read the wiki. Read the tooltips. Experiment and see what happens. It's a sandbox—half the fun is learning how all the systems fit together in the first place.
I find the exact opposite so maybe I can help.
In CK2 I want to build armies and conquer people when I should be marrying etc. While diplomacy is still important in EU4, growing by conquering is more so (there are exceptions), diplomacy supports this. Really, you should be right selecting a big nation like the Ottomans and focusing on expanding.
You want maybe 2 big and solid allies who you increase relations with, marry etc. Then you want maybe 1 vassal who you give some of your conquered land to. When you attack, make sure you have a Casus Belli (you can make 1 when you have 25 power from the covert option) before you attack. Ideally you take enough war score to be just under 100 over extension then deal with any rebellions before attacking someone else.
Everything else just supports this type of attack. I would suggest a Ottoman game as they are very strong at the start and close enough to Europe to eventually get all the tech. Castille might be another good option if you can ally France and are mostly happy playing with colonisation.
In CK2 I want to build armies and conquer people when I should be marrying etc. While diplomacy is still important in EU4, growing by conquering is more so (there are exceptions), diplomacy supports this. Really, you should be right selecting a big nation like the Ottomans and focusing on expanding.
You want maybe 2 big and solid allies who you increase relations with, marry etc. Then you want maybe 1 vassal who you give some of your conquered land to. When you attack, make sure you have a Casus Belli (you can make 1 when you have 25 power from the covert option) before you attack. Ideally you take enough war score to be just under 100 over extension then deal with any rebellions before attacking someone else.
Everything else just supports this type of attack. I would suggest a Ottoman game as they are very strong at the start and close enough to Europe to eventually get all the tech. Castille might be another good option if you can ally France and are mostly happy playing with colonisation.
IF you are NOT a ragequiter, pick a big and somehow safe nation like Ottomans or Castile, or even England. Set a big goal with some achievements in mind, try to reach it. Play aggressively, this is how you make the most mistakes. The more mistakes you will make, the more you will learn.
0) Watch at least some Let's Plays that teach you about the game (usually it is mentioned the video title).
1) Pick a small nation, because big nations are no-brainers for a newcommer and do not teach you much, except moving troops.
2) Play on Very Easy. I mean it! You loose almost nothing gameplay-wise, but VE gives you easier time to get into the tonns of options of the game, while AI is much less aggressive.
3) Savescum.
3.1) Savescum rolls in battles.
4) Pick up a long-term goal and do everything to achieve it.
5) In the middle of your gameplay, find the game boring and restart with another nation on Easy.
6) Repeat the above, but restart on Normal.
I did the same thing you did. I started out in CKII, played my heart out (so much so that I got bored), then migrated to EU4 because I really, really wanted to learn to play this game. For me, CKII was much easier than EU4. In my experience, EU4 gives you much more game control but all that control has to be learned. I'm 500+ hours in and I still have questions.
As others have said, YouTube Let's Plays are a resource but I found many to be out of date (I really started playing about 12-18 months ago). For example, Quill18 did one on Castile that is now a little out of date, but does explain the basic mechanics of the game well. It may be helpful to roll your game back to whatever patch was in place when he did that tutorial so you can follow along. Arumba did a couple, too, that are also good. There's one Russia that I used to learn to play but I can't find it now. Just watch for the date on the video.
The Wiki is excellent. Play with it open. It will save your life. And there's nothing wrong with pausing the game every few minutes to look up something on the Wiki.
I take notes - literally. I have a notebook I filled with notes on the game.
Otherwise, some general suggestions from my experience.
1. I didn't start on very easy and maybe that was a bad idea. I died a lot in the beginning because the game is hard. So maybe that's a good suggestion? If you don't start on easy or very easy, just be prepared to suffer losses. For me, I find that when I learn a game on easy, I want to keep playing on easy. So I started on normal and 500+ hours later I'm still there.
2. There's a lot to learn here. A lot. Don't be discouraged if 100 or even 400 hours in you still have questions. The difficulty and the learning curve are what makes this game so enjoyable.
3. The easier starts (IMO) are the Ottomans (which are almost stupid easy - which I played for like an hour and got bored), Muscovy (which starts with a good general and will give you an immediate war you can win, so you can learn battle mechanics in a safe mode), Portugal if you want to learn to practice colonization. I recently played England and found them to be quite easy, but I avoided any wars in Europe until around 1515 and never got the Hundred Years War.
4. That said, I would honestly just pick a nation that interests you. People on the forum and elsewhere told me to play the Ottomans when I was learning. Thing is: I had no interest in the Ottomans. Playing the game became work and when something bad happened, I just wanted to quit. My second or third nation was a daimyo in Japan that I really wanted to play. I did two runs, died both times - and loved it. It's the challenge of the game that keeps me playing.
The very best advice I received on this forum: Don't give up. If something bad happens - and something bad will happen, this is EU4 - stick it out and fight your way back. If you can do that, you can win the game.
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Oh I do find the Ottoman statue made it in just those are going to be one later games I play. From the military to the trades hubs it's just so much going on.