so I'm at the 1490s and I'm soon coming into my first selection of ideas as England and I have no idea what to chose any sugestions
New player questions on idea groups
- Thread starter Gomine
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Exploration -> Expansion for the colonial game, after that maybe Economic, Diplomatic or maybe a military group is worth considering.
pretty much this than. outside of exploration really any other idea group is malleable to achieve your goal
Is there a reason you didn't unlock your first idea group sooner? Have you had rulers with really bad admin stat? Lots of conquering?
Henry VI is usually irrelevant because he's either kicked out by the War of the Roses disaster very quickly or his wife Margaret of Anjou takes the throne. Did you get an heir very early on? Unless they were some God-king 6/6/6 that's pretty unlucky.
Exploration is the go-to colonizer one.
A military idea helps if you're going to hit on other Europeans for colonies or even the mainland, else you don't really need it since you'll almost always be ahead in tech and dev compared to american/african/asian minors you plan on hitting. Offensive is good alone for snowballing because of siege ability and guaranteed OK leaders even at low tradition, but if you're in big, hard wars, you'll need 2-3 military sets in total.
Expansion isn't very good on it's own, but the policy with Exploration makes it pretty worth it and colonizing becomes a lot faster.
If you kept your mainland european territories (and want to expand them), Diplomatic and Influence are good for keeping vassals and personal unions there.
Humanist and Religious can be used to better control your unrest - Humanist does a better job here, but Religious gives a neat CB to slaughter series of minors quickly.
A military idea helps if you're going to hit on other Europeans for colonies or even the mainland, else you don't really need it since you'll almost always be ahead in tech and dev compared to american/african/asian minors you plan on hitting. Offensive is good alone for snowballing because of siege ability and guaranteed OK leaders even at low tradition, but if you're in big, hard wars, you'll need 2-3 military sets in total.
Expansion isn't very good on it's own, but the policy with Exploration makes it pretty worth it and colonizing becomes a lot faster.
If you kept your mainland european territories (and want to expand them), Diplomatic and Influence are good for keeping vassals and personal unions there.
Humanist and Religious can be used to better control your unrest - Humanist does a better job here, but Religious gives a neat CB to slaughter series of minors quickly.
Popular openers for ideas are the Diplomatic Ideas Exploration, Diplomacy or Influence. Diplo being the monarch points you'll likely have an abundance of at the start, and the tech group you can most afford to be behind on. Exploration is required for colonizing abroad (unless you're Norway, or count taking Colonial nations in war as colonizing) while Influence and Diplomacy are two varieties of keeping your friends and preventing coalitions while conquering your neighbors (IIRC Diplomacy edges out over Influence for European Monarchies, mainly thanks to Personal Unions and how the finisher helps with those, while Influence is good anywhere)
After that. Expansion is the next you want to take for colonizing. As for other Administration Ideas, Administration is almost a requirement if you ever want to make any serious attempts of taking over Europe thanks to how powerful mercs can be once the ducats start pouring in. The rest are pretty good, good enough that it's OK to take them before these two if it's better for you at the time (I personally swear by taking Innovative ASAP, but that's just me).
Only bad Military idea is Naval, mainly because of how poor the AI is at it (Maritime, in Diplomacy, is slightly better, with how Naval Tradition improves trading, but devoting the majority of your naval cap to protecting trade works just as well because, again, AI can't do naval warfare well). Offensive and Defensive are the ones I think most people take first, Aristocratic if they're playing a nation that gets powerful cavalry from their government or NI (mainly, Poland) then taking whatever suits their nation best.
After that. Expansion is the next you want to take for colonizing. As for other Administration Ideas, Administration is almost a requirement if you ever want to make any serious attempts of taking over Europe thanks to how powerful mercs can be once the ducats start pouring in. The rest are pretty good, good enough that it's OK to take them before these two if it's better for you at the time (I personally swear by taking Innovative ASAP, but that's just me).
Only bad Military idea is Naval, mainly because of how poor the AI is at it (Maritime, in Diplomacy, is slightly better, with how Naval Tradition improves trading, but devoting the majority of your naval cap to protecting trade works just as well because, again, AI can't do naval warfare well). Offensive and Defensive are the ones I think most people take first, Aristocratic if they're playing a nation that gets powerful cavalry from their government or NI (mainly, Poland) then taking whatever suits their nation best.
Nah dont go colonization first, its very slow, and a big drain on your income.
If you plan to war on the continent, pick something military, something economic or stability related (such as religious), and either something trade like or something diplomatic. So colonization can start anywhere from 3rd to 4th idea group slot.
The reasoning is, as i mentioned, early on you can do much better going for other things instead (like i dont know expand on the continent, mess up your rivals, whatever) and there other groups will help you out more. With diplomatic technologies colonization will become faster (as you get more growth) which means you wont really lose too much of anything.
If you plan to war on the continent, pick something military, something economic or stability related (such as religious), and either something trade like or something diplomatic. So colonization can start anywhere from 3rd to 4th idea group slot.
The reasoning is, as i mentioned, early on you can do much better going for other things instead (like i dont know expand on the continent, mess up your rivals, whatever) and there other groups will help you out more. With diplomatic technologies colonization will become faster (as you get more growth) which means you wont really lose too much of anything.
Expansion is really a terrible idea group. Exploration is great, though. Generally I wouldn't get it first, but if you've unlocking it in 1490 then maybe - are you a Dip tech 7 yet?
For a new player I would advise a Mil group first for a few reasons - that extra edge in battle will help you quite a bit, and you are likely to have MIL to spare around that point. Offensive would be my pick, or Defensive if you think you won't benefit so much from faster sieges or you can't afford to fill out more than the first two ideas for a while.
Humanist can be a good pick as well because it makes certain aspects of the game far easier/less tedious. Stomping rebels gets exhausting fast and can be a significant drain on your manpower to boot. Humanist will mostly eliminate rebels from your game (though your CNs may well still spawn them).
Religious is probably not so useful for England.
Administrative is great if you want to conquer a lot in the old world where you'll need to core it. That second idea makes coring 25% faster as well as cheaper which means less time overextended. It's possibly the single strongest idea in the game.
Diplomatic and Influence are both great, but perhaps of more use to more experienced players.
In terms of other military ideas quality is a good one to go for if you feel you need a bigger army, a cheaper army, or more manpower. Quality is great in the late game. Offensive gives a lovely balance of quality and quantity while also speeding up sieges. My personal favourite mil idea group.
For a new player I would advise a Mil group first for a few reasons - that extra edge in battle will help you quite a bit, and you are likely to have MIL to spare around that point. Offensive would be my pick, or Defensive if you think you won't benefit so much from faster sieges or you can't afford to fill out more than the first two ideas for a while.
Humanist can be a good pick as well because it makes certain aspects of the game far easier/less tedious. Stomping rebels gets exhausting fast and can be a significant drain on your manpower to boot. Humanist will mostly eliminate rebels from your game (though your CNs may well still spawn them).
Religious is probably not so useful for England.
Administrative is great if you want to conquer a lot in the old world where you'll need to core it. That second idea makes coring 25% faster as well as cheaper which means less time overextended. It's possibly the single strongest idea in the game.
Diplomatic and Influence are both great, but perhaps of more use to more experienced players.
In terms of other military ideas quality is a good one to go for if you feel you need a bigger army, a cheaper army, or more manpower. Quality is great in the late game. Offensive gives a lovely balance of quality and quantity while also speeding up sieges. My personal favourite mil idea group.
I dont get how is sitting with other religions provinces better than not just converting them to your own?
Sure, when the reformation starts, the tolerance might stop a revolt or two, but during the entire game time frame, i think religious just wins, no contest.
What am i missing?
OP said his goal is to make the British Empire. If we take that to mean the same as it did historically, then Religious is highly unnecessary and Humanist is superior.