Uniting the isles as an Irish minor in 1.5.1

[pontis]

Is anyone else having trouble with this? I'm a fairly poor player, but in the past I've given England a run for their money.

I've tried to unite GBR as an Irish minor many times since the release of EUIV, firstly as Tyrone because in EUIII it was the richest province, but more recently as Connaught because of their superior adm ruler/heir. In the previous patch I was able to take all of Ireland, Wales, Cornwall as well as Gloucestershire and Wessex before Scotland broke their alliance, rivaled me and got steamrolled by England/Denmark which had annexed Sweden and Norway.

In this patch however, I just can't seem to do much. I can take the 4 Irish provinces bar Meath before England rolls Scotland, forcing me to take Lothian, Ayrshire and The Highlands lest England get them in their next war. Then I get #rekt by England and it's game over.

Now as I've said, I'm a fairly poor player so I'm not saying "omg the game's broken everything should be easy for me" or anything, but I just want to ask if anyone else is having a similar experience so I know whether or not to wait for the next patch and try for a different achievement in the meantime.

If anyone is interested I can provide details of my earlier and current strats and why I think it's harder right now that it was earlier, but as I said I'm a poor player - what some of you would call a "casual" and I couldn't give exact details on the mechanics.

 

[Jaqwon_The_Chef]

Get France/Burgundy and Scotland as your Allies. England usually has a lot of rebels early. You have to wait and take advantage of a weak england. Most of my games Ireland is formed because England's early events are so crippling to the AI. My most recent game Tyrone formed Ireland and freaking Scotland annexed almost all of england.

EDIT: Also Mercs are great. Don't worry too much about loans. You can pay them off after you have a decent tax base. Wait untill they are at war and make sure your Allies will join you.

 

[Alblaka]

Scotland is guarantueed by France till '64 or so. By then, I had easily conquered Ireland (use the HYW distraction to DOW england as well. In my case they even got the rose war event right into that, making them willing enough to give up the conquered territory after only a short waiting) and parts of Brittany. Currently I'm allied to France, Portugal and Denmark (who inherited Norway) and are guantueing Scotland to prevent England from DOWing it.
On the other hand, can't attack either, since Brittany+Scotland+England are in a colation and my allies wont join any offensive wars.

 

[pontis]

Get France/Burgundy and Scotland as your Allies. England usually has a lot of rebels early. You have to wait and take advantage of a weak england. Most of my games Ireland is formed because England's early events are so crippling to the AI. My most recent game Tyrone formed Ireland and freaking Scotland annexed almost all of england.

EDIT: Also Mercs are great. Don't worry too much about loans. You can pay them off after you have a decent tax base. Wait untill they are at war and make sure your Allies will join you.

I always ally Scotland and France - my point is that in the latest patch in my last 3 games Scotland has lost most of their provinces by 1470, which forces me to take their last 3 before England gets them. Then England DOWs me and takes the Scottish provinces, and then the Irish 10 y France doesn't do much against England, even allying a naval nation like Portugal doesn't seem to work.

Scotland is guarantueed by France till '64 or so. By then, I had easily conquered Ireland (use the HYW distraction to DOW england as well. In my case they even got the rose war event right into that, making them willing enough to give up the conquered territory after only a short waiting) and parts of Brittany. Currently I'm allied to France, Portugal and Denmark (who inherited Norway) and are guantueing Scotland to prevent England from DOWing it.
On the other hand, can't attack either, since Brittany+Scotland+England are in a colation and my allies wont join any offensive wars.

I'm not strong enough to take England, even with the HYW from day 1. It might be possible, but I don't think I can do it. In my 3 1.5.1 games, England hasn't had the WOTR or the Lollards once as far as I can tell - and I keep a pretty close eye on them. That's why I made this thread, am I just unlucky with England coming out on top or does 1.5.1 make England easier to play?

 

[Viperswhip]

The AI is much better at landing troops in this patch but unless England loses it's navy to France, which can happen, at least it happened in my last game, Portugal can't land many troops. England hasn't had much internal strife from what I can tell either but it's hard to know unless you are allied as a mainland country.

Well, Britain wants to take those provinces, it's hard coded into the AI, it's like playing Provence or something, France wants you and there is little to nothing you can do to prevent it from happening. Ireland's actually in a better place because you can colonize and that's the most often made suggestion to western based minors in EU4, go west and come back fierce later. I don't know how the latest DLCs have changed that strategy though.

 

[pontis]

I'll try colonizing then, if I take exploration as my first tech I might be able to take a few African colonies and head for India, build up a decent tax base and come back with lots of mercs before 1821. As I've said a few times, I'm not the best player, but taking India at my own pace I should easily be able to get the achievement before 1821. I've never really considered it before because of how well I was doing with a direct approach pre 1.5.1. Thanks Viperswhip.

 

[Viperswhip]

I'll try colonizing then, if I take exploration as my first tech I might be able to take a few African colonies and head for India, build up a decent tax base and come back with lots of mercs before 1821. As I've said a few times, I'm not the best player, but taking India at my own pace I should easily be able to get the achievement before 1821. I've never really considered it before because of how well I was doing with a direct approach pre 1.5.1. Thanks Viperswhip.

You kind of have to be England to have dreams of Europe in EU4 and even that's tough as the manner to win keeps changing through the patches. You way to win is also England's easiest way to win but the AI just takes the isles instead. You will probably run into Portugal and maybe Castille going south. However, allying either Portugal or Castille on day 1 will get you egress into Africa, as they often war with Morocco and Castille does attack Granada early as well, and they are often allied with places down there. Take a territory during such a war and you can get started early so that when you get your first idea you are ready to rock.