Non-historical AI colonizers in EU4?

[Chief of Staff]

Have you ever seen any nations beyond traditional ones (Spain, England, France, Netherlands, and Portugal) colonizing anywhere in the world in EU4? I think the only one I saw was Papal States but I don't really recall, as I haven't played it in a while, being pre-occupied with college lately.

As a side note, I was hoping to see a couple German states establishing one or two colonies but that never seem to happen in EU4, so far. I, however, did saw Prussia establish one or two in EU3.

 

[Sir Iain]

Brittany colonized Cuba in one of my games.

 

[Sartain]

Yeah, I just had Brittany colonize some Carribean islands as well, around the start of the 1600s

 

[Shnipe]

Because no-one gets a free colonist (except I think Norway and maybe Muscovy, idk, I haven't played either) only nations coded to take either expansion or exploration ideas will colonize. From what I've seen this means the normal guys plus Brittany. I bet Ireland and Scotland would too, given the opportunity.

 

[Geobog]

In my experience Ireland is much quicker to colonize than Scotland, though Scotland also got around to it in one of my games where England was being especially sleepy. Ireland even conquered the Aztecs in one of my games, and had almost as much territory as England. Granted, this was probably in part due to my actions of being Mali with the goal of blocking the Portugal-Spain PU (Spain under Portugal) from as many of their colonial endeavors as possible, with England being my ally. So Ireland was free to go crazy in the new world. Texas and all of SW USA plus Mexico was theirs. Oh and Hokkaido lol.

 

[wetblowdryer]

Yeah.

Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Norway, Burgundy, and Aragon are the ones whom I have seen colonize. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that I have seen Granada colonize too.

 

[unmerged(498175)]

Sad really, that the smaller colonisers like Sweden, Denmark, small german states, and even courland aren't given the same chances as they had historically.

 

[Matt3721]

Granada went crazy colonizing the whole world as my vassal one game.

 

[Cake_of_doom]

Denmark will pick expansion, so they should colonize, i have yet to see it though.

 

[Dakilla TM]

I've seen Burgundy, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Aragon, and Granada colonize the new world.

 

[tfjs]

Brittany too - in Newfoundland

 

[Lwantssugar]

Only ones I've seen besides Portugal, the United States of Spain, and a piddly few from England/UK and France is Norway. The Netherlands forming is pretty hit and miss, and only once I've seen Scotland do something besides roll over and die

 

[Fossa]

If Norway stays alive I think they're almost 100% sure to pick exploration. They're very often out there, but usually starts so late they dont get much

 

[Geobog]

I've seen Norway nab the upper 13 colonies before =P. Nordic USA.

 

[StatikShocker]

here's the full list: USA, Japan, Malaya, Muscovy/Russia, England/Britain, Brittany, Burgundy, Castille/Aragon/Spain, Portugal, Granada, Ireland, France, Japan, Norway, Netherlands, Scotland

I think.

 

[Chief of Staff]

So it looks like no one has seen a German state colonized a province anywhere. That's sad, given that historically some German states like Brandenburg-Prussia did actually established overseas colonies during EU period, though small and short-lived.

 

[VampireBoot]

So it looks like no one has seen a German state colonized a province anywhere. That's sad, given that historically some German states like Brandenburg-Prussia did actually established overseas colonies during EU period, though small and short-lived.

It's just that in terms of game mechanics, they're not in good positions for colonizing, so by the time they have the tech level to reach any colonies from their own ports, most everything will already be taken. The same is true for Denmark and Sweden. Given that their colonies are such a minor aspect of this time period, it's not worth changing the game mechanics to enable that.

 

[Chief of Staff]

It's just that in terms of game mechanics, they're not in good positions for colonizing, so by the time they have the tech level to reach any colonies from their own ports, most everything will already be taken. The same is true for Denmark and Sweden. Given that their colonies are such a minor aspect of this time period, it's not worth changing the game mechanics to enable that.

I wasn't suggesting they have to make it easier for them, but it feels like they made it completely impossible for German states to even venture into colonization on rare occasions. Maybe one of you will eventually get lucky enough to see one of those put up a colony themselves. It'd be a long shot, though.

 

[unmerged(804580)]

here's the full list: USA, Japan, Malaya, Muscovy/Russia, England/Britain, Brittany, Burgundy, Castille/Aragon/Spain, Portugal, Granada, Ireland, France, Japan, Norway, Netherlands, Scotland

I think.

A good summary. Just adding: while unified Ireland will join the colonial race, individual Irish minors never will. Same as Dutch and Japanese minors, but Malayan nations will colonize without forming Malaya if the situation is right. But whether one country other than the "common" ones like Portugal, Castile, GB and France depends on whether they exist, and whether they will take the exploration ideas early enough so there are rooms for colonization.

That is, if you are Castile, France, Denmark or England, it may actually make sense to let Granada, Brittany, Norway and Scotland just live on. Norway gets a colonist from their unique national idea, as they are not coded to take Exploration or Expansion. Granada, Britany and Scotland all take exploration as their fourth idea by default, so even if you had annexed them already it's probably not a bad idea to release them by the time you unlock your fourth national idea.

USA gets a colonist as its third national idea, but they can come only after 1750 and the world is already pretty much fully colonized by then. Same with the Malayan nations (Aceh, Brunei, Malacca, Pattani, Sulu and Makassar) who get colonists only as their last national idea.. and these Chinese tech group nations tend to prioritize techs over ideas since they're always behind. Probably you could just conquer them and release them at a later date, hope they get your tech levels, with at least three idea groups filled out.. but I don't really see the point in the endeavor, since by the time you get there there aren't likely to be much left to colonize at all. Same as Japan... they're coded to take expansion ideas but as their last idea group, which they probably never will even reach given their tech group.

 

[xcrissxcrossx]

It would be nice if the AI treated exploration ideas differently, like they would take it under certain circumstances.