Greetings,
In the past years, I conquered the world three times, twice very per design (Ottomans, GB), once per accident (Brandenbourg/Prussia). I was a bit thrown off of EUIV after Leviathan. I continued playing it, but the joy was a bit lost. Also, I found a job, so I had less time to spend playing. Mostly, I played coop multiplayer games and tried other Paradox games.
Then something happened in February. For an unknown reason, I decided to try playing Kiev and to take Crimea. I needed the downgrade in size, as playing any major set me on a run against the clock to "do better", and thus to try to conquer the world. With Kiev, I thought, there would be far less pressure.
Indeed, I didn't conquer the world with Kiev. I'm only an half-decent player, after all. However, as I was playing, I got the impression I was playing EUIV as it was designed, or at least as I originally envisioned it, for for the first time in years.
I played other games where I was a small power. I played Utrecht, I played the Mikmaqs, but in those cases I had big playing fields. I was able to pick my targets and to prevail at the time of my choosing. Now, as I was playing a small 3PM enclaved in the Commonwealth, I didn't have the luxury of planning ahead and decapitating Muscovy, Austria or the Ottomans before they became unstoppable monsters, for I needed them! Muscovy was my only brother in faith, the strong ally I needed to destroy the Commonwealth. The Ottomans were the best army in the world and I needed them as well. I had no choice but to leave Austria to its own business while I was consolidating.
As a fledging Ruthenia emerged from the corpse of the Commonwealth, I realized the world was very different than it would have been had I played Poland in 1444 : I created monsters. The Ottomans already downed the Mamluks, Muscovy was conquering Scandinavia and Austria was expanding inside Germany and coming toe to toe with a fully formed France. I wasn't contemplating how I would conquer the world, but how I would survive and keep growing my country since every exits were closed.
I managed to pass through a narrow gap without angering Muscovy too much and thus to turn Eastwards, so I retained my great power status, but I was clearly unable to defeat one of those behemot myself. So, I had to rely, not on a vassal swarm, but on a balance of powers.
(Kazakhs are vassals)
France (whom I allied in the meantime) wanted to destroy Austria. Muscovy wanted to destroy the Ottomans (whom I betrayed in the meantime). I had to wait to have the perfect opportunity, to use "prepare for war", to pay France's debts before I finally was able to declare war to the Ottomans, or to Austria. Then it was far from victorious marches. For a few times, I had only partial victories. My country was indebted and not as developped as I would have liked. My army was frankly bad. I was playing Ruthenia, not Russia, and certainly not Prussia! So through countless humiliating half victories and white peaces, I managed to eventually cut down to size my two nemesis, making of the Shun (in the process of becoming China) another ennemy along the way.
It is now the beginning of the 1700s and I'm finally starting to see the end of the tunnel. The Ottomans and Austria suffered crippling defeats. I am now sure I can defeat them, but still with a sizeable muscovite help. My army, thanks to Defensive, doesn't flee anymore at the first sign of danger. It's far too late to do big conquests, but I'm fond of my little Ruthenian empire.
(Bulgaria is a vassal)
And now, since it's a General Forum post, and not an AAR thread, allow me to make a few comments about the game as I played it.
I liked the "historical" feeling of having to contend with powers who I needed as allies, but who didn't see eye to eye. However, I wish there were means to discuss more head to head with them. I wished that for a long time, but in this play it was clear that we lacked tools to do that. Prepare for war is one thing, but the "Distant War" modifier is often frustrating, as are the debts situation of your allies.
You can't make promises, you can't direct them (or ask politely) to not attack specific countries. When the Ottomans attacked Muscovy, which doomed our alliance, there wasn't any forewarning. They just decided to do it. Some other allies became useless as they were too far from the theater where I would have wanted to engage them. If I could have thrown more favors at them to nullify that modifier, I would have done so.
Speaking of favors, there are too much of those. Except in the beginning, since I don't have curry favors, I overflow with favors and manage to make everyone of my allies at 100 trust. The "increase trust button" is annoying, since it used to be instantaneous, but even then I usually end up with 100 favors.
Finally, one annoying situation is that for decades the Palatinate, an Austrian ally, has had Bohemia as a PU, and Bohemia sits at 100% LD, effectively neutral in any conflict between me and Austria. But Muscovy keeps invading it and being pushed back.
So, those comments are mostly about diplomacy. I may also add that I felt how bad my army was since I didn't have military bonuses. It fixed itself once I took defensive, so I guess it's not as bad as I thought it was.
Thanks for your attention and have a good day!
In the past years, I conquered the world three times, twice very per design (Ottomans, GB), once per accident (Brandenbourg/Prussia). I was a bit thrown off of EUIV after Leviathan. I continued playing it, but the joy was a bit lost. Also, I found a job, so I had less time to spend playing. Mostly, I played coop multiplayer games and tried other Paradox games.
Then something happened in February. For an unknown reason, I decided to try playing Kiev and to take Crimea. I needed the downgrade in size, as playing any major set me on a run against the clock to "do better", and thus to try to conquer the world. With Kiev, I thought, there would be far less pressure.
Indeed, I didn't conquer the world with Kiev. I'm only an half-decent player, after all. However, as I was playing, I got the impression I was playing EUIV as it was designed, or at least as I originally envisioned it, for for the first time in years.
I played other games where I was a small power. I played Utrecht, I played the Mikmaqs, but in those cases I had big playing fields. I was able to pick my targets and to prevail at the time of my choosing. Now, as I was playing a small 3PM enclaved in the Commonwealth, I didn't have the luxury of planning ahead and decapitating Muscovy, Austria or the Ottomans before they became unstoppable monsters, for I needed them! Muscovy was my only brother in faith, the strong ally I needed to destroy the Commonwealth. The Ottomans were the best army in the world and I needed them as well. I had no choice but to leave Austria to its own business while I was consolidating.
As a fledging Ruthenia emerged from the corpse of the Commonwealth, I realized the world was very different than it would have been had I played Poland in 1444 : I created monsters. The Ottomans already downed the Mamluks, Muscovy was conquering Scandinavia and Austria was expanding inside Germany and coming toe to toe with a fully formed France. I wasn't contemplating how I would conquer the world, but how I would survive and keep growing my country since every exits were closed.
I managed to pass through a narrow gap without angering Muscovy too much and thus to turn Eastwards, so I retained my great power status, but I was clearly unable to defeat one of those behemot myself. So, I had to rely, not on a vassal swarm, but on a balance of powers.
(Kazakhs are vassals)
France (whom I allied in the meantime) wanted to destroy Austria. Muscovy wanted to destroy the Ottomans (whom I betrayed in the meantime). I had to wait to have the perfect opportunity, to use "prepare for war", to pay France's debts before I finally was able to declare war to the Ottomans, or to Austria. Then it was far from victorious marches. For a few times, I had only partial victories. My country was indebted and not as developped as I would have liked. My army was frankly bad. I was playing Ruthenia, not Russia, and certainly not Prussia! So through countless humiliating half victories and white peaces, I managed to eventually cut down to size my two nemesis, making of the Shun (in the process of becoming China) another ennemy along the way.
It is now the beginning of the 1700s and I'm finally starting to see the end of the tunnel. The Ottomans and Austria suffered crippling defeats. I am now sure I can defeat them, but still with a sizeable muscovite help. My army, thanks to Defensive, doesn't flee anymore at the first sign of danger. It's far too late to do big conquests, but I'm fond of my little Ruthenian empire.
(Bulgaria is a vassal)
And now, since it's a General Forum post, and not an AAR thread, allow me to make a few comments about the game as I played it.
I liked the "historical" feeling of having to contend with powers who I needed as allies, but who didn't see eye to eye. However, I wish there were means to discuss more head to head with them. I wished that for a long time, but in this play it was clear that we lacked tools to do that. Prepare for war is one thing, but the "Distant War" modifier is often frustrating, as are the debts situation of your allies.
You can't make promises, you can't direct them (or ask politely) to not attack specific countries. When the Ottomans attacked Muscovy, which doomed our alliance, there wasn't any forewarning. They just decided to do it. Some other allies became useless as they were too far from the theater where I would have wanted to engage them. If I could have thrown more favors at them to nullify that modifier, I would have done so.
Speaking of favors, there are too much of those. Except in the beginning, since I don't have curry favors, I overflow with favors and manage to make everyone of my allies at 100 trust. The "increase trust button" is annoying, since it used to be instantaneous, but even then I usually end up with 100 favors.
Finally, one annoying situation is that for decades the Palatinate, an Austrian ally, has had Bohemia as a PU, and Bohemia sits at 100% LD, effectively neutral in any conflict between me and Austria. But Muscovy keeps invading it and being pushed back.
So, those comments are mostly about diplomacy. I may also add that I felt how bad my army was since I didn't have military bonuses. It fixed itself once I took defensive, so I guess it's not as bad as I thought it was.
Thanks for your attention and have a good day!
- 9
