New to EU4; some questions

[Meamzed]

Right, so, despite having owned eu4 for about 6 months, I've been playing CK2 for months instead... gotten very sick of ol ck2, so i've started playing eu4, and have really been enjoying it so far.... I've done two games; Both Castille; played one on normal mode no ai bonuses ext ext; and gave it up as too easy; and I chose poor ideals. Game the second is castile, and while I'm doing well, much better than game one, I feel like a bumbling idiot in a number of regards; Ideals; Colonialization (****ing stupid moronic ai governors keep losing their colonies, and I can only put out so many fires with my 20k men running up and down the coast.) Troop balance numbers (infantry:cavalry:artillery), generals, and exploring.

so, I'm looking for some answers to a number of questions, and also any explanations of things you think I should know; I want to be as good at eu4 as I am at ck2.

1: Ideas: What are the best ones in each tree? Why should I go for each idea, and what order should I get them. Prioritorize ideas or tech advancement?

2: Colonialization. What are the benefits of it, is it worth expanding; should I bother or not? Do i want to avoid the creation of independent colonial vassal states? or are they good? What is the best path for it; down the coast of africa or west and onwards? are the "indies" really worth getting to, or should I focus on expansion within Europe?

3:War: How EXACTLY does combat work? What are the Ideal troop ratios? Ive been doing 7:2:1, because i always seem to have too many cavalry after I get into heavy fighting; which is annoying as hell. What ideas? How do i get better generals; and how the different pips work with generals; what do they mean and who to they effect my troops? I see the two star generals running around commanding the french doomstacks all the time, yet i always have one star generals, I think I've seen about one twostar in 20 or so generals. How does the Ai have so many generals on the payroll? I've seen france with 5 separate generals at about 1560; just WHAT? how can they afford to have so many? How can I up my military force limit?

4:Economy: Making money. What are the best ways to boost my income... how exactly does the whole trade system work with nodes ext? I don't fully understand it, would be great it someone could explain it in simple terms for me, and how to effectively use it. how can I boost my income; build temples ext, or focus on trade power; an explanation of how to make money well/easily for a noob would be welcome.

5: Ships? all light ships+some transport or what? I don't see ANY use in heavy ships other than war; whereas light ships seem very useful for directing trade. Which are best for exploring? Are Galleys worth it at all or not?

6: Alliances/ personal unions. Limit of 4 alliances/unions ext, so i should focus on the most powerful allies possible? How do I enter into a personal union with another country, and how does it work integrating the two countries?

I'll add any more questions I have from here; but answers to any of these questions would be awesome. I'm running EuIV and have only the art of war dlc, should i get some others?

 

[atwix]

1. both. what idea groups to pick depends on your game goals. Although the idea is to synergize national traditions of your nation with the right idea groups.

2. Colonize if you like it. Whether or not its worth it, well... I only colonize for strategic reasons and trade purposes. Colonisation is a nice money sink and pays off in the end if you go for any provinces that you can turn into trade company (aka africa, asia, oceania).

3. Read the wiki articles on land warfare. www.eu4wiki.com Read any article there, real useful for newomcers.

4. Tough one. Wiki has some explanation. Best way? Take the right idea groups for mad dosh. But that isn' always smartest idea for conquest. Basically, the world is divided in trade territories. Dominate power in the trade nodes to get more trade income.Someone else post guide in strategy forum and there are other guides floating around..

5. Galleys are best if used in inland seas, and dirty cheap. You will need transports. Light ships are for trade purposes only. A fleet of light ships protecting trade in a certain node can lead to a nice boost in trade income. Heavy war ships? Useful in some situations. You can always mothball your fleet in a port to reduce their cost.

6. I wrote some guides on the topic, check my signature below to get links. But beware, its complicated!

 

[ahyangyi]

6: Alliances/ personal unions. Limit of 4 alliances/unions ext, so i should focus on the most powerful allies possible?

The ally limit in EU4 is as soft as the demesne limit in CK2 (you can go over it by one or two for some time and be OK)

 

[Freudia]

There're cases where you can go way over your limit by one or two. Back in 1.7 it was advantageous to go over it by like six if you were in the HRE, just to help limit the spread of AE. Also depending on your goals, you may or may not end up going over it by three or four with a bunch of vassals. There's no clean answer to how high you should go; just go as high as you comfortably feel for your purposes.

Keep in mind diplo points are primarily used for diplo ideas and peace deals, and there's two CBs in the game (Holy War and Overseas Expansion) that result in 0 diplo cost for every province taken.