What did you enjoy in EUIV today ?

[agonistes]

Muscovy run I allied Byzantium after Otto dow’d them. It cost me all my manpower, but byz got like 6 cores (including one across strait from const).

Then mamluks dow’d them - it white peaced out eventually, but kept otto’s manpower at almost zero.

Meanwhile I snagged dotf and nobody is touching orthodox nations, and otto has been busy, so Anatolia is seeing some unusual expanding going on.

I then warned otto, so now I’m curious to see their next play.

The downside is I’m behind in military tech , stuck at 4, with a -20% malus atm. So maybe a house of cards if Otto calls my bluff.

 

[Laurent1944]

Tonight I started playing Qara Qoyunlu (aiming for Baa Baa Black Sheep and This is Persia achievements) and for the first time in 3500 hours the AI used Threaten War against me ! The Mamluks asked one of my provinces, and after checking their military power and allies, and mine, I accepted. I recovered it some years later when the Mamluks lost a war against the Ottos. The Ottos were then attacked by Poland-Lithuania and lost Rumania and a part of Bulgaria. I love that ! I stop playing for this evening in 1500, I have all provinces needed for Persia, I am the 5th Great Power and my realm goes from Dagestan to Ormuz. But I should wait for the reform that will allow me to be no more a tribe before switching to Persia. To make it faster I stated all my provinces to have minimal autonomy (according to the EU4 wiki the average autonomy of your country is reducing the number of points received for reform).

Fun fact: Mamluks are allied with Poland. I am happy to have let Aq Qoyunlu survive between the Ottos and me, and as this country is allied to both the Ottos and me, this border is quiet for the moment.

Fun fact 2: in this game, Castille refused the Iberian Wedding, and Crimea refused to become a vassal of the Ottomans (and was fully conquered by Genoa)

 

[iClipse]

Today I liked the fact that you can keep a campaign going even after losing several wars.

Started a 'The Knights' into 'Jerusalem' achievement run.

Won the first war vs the Ottomans by doing a straitblocking tactic with Venice as ally (with promise of land). So, great start. Took about 6 provinces. Afterwards declared on Karaman and made them a March. However, things went sour after that quickly. Couldn't find any allies (+125 relations, but didn't turn to friendly attitude) and the Ottomans declared on me after the truce. They took all their provinces back including all of Karaman, except 1 province of Karaman and Rhodes. Back to square one. Wanted to quit at that point, but didn't.

Continued to look for allies and managed to score a thick Hungary and the Papal states. In the mean time managed to conquer some territories in Byzantium (ottomans didn't fully annex them) and Naples.

Ottomans declared on Theodoro that was allied with Muscovy. I declared on the Ottomans (with Hungary and Papal states called in) to take advantage of that. Of course, Ottomans promptly turned around abandoning (and losing) their war with Theodoro to focus all efforts on me. Unfortunately they had naval superiority as well, so I couldn't block the straits. Lost that war, but managed to keep damage under control. Lost a few provinces in southern Greece, but nothing major (still losing 2-3 provinces when you have 6 in total sucks).

Later on, Ottomans declared on Mamluks. I also declared on Mamluks. Then Tunis declared. Then Ethiopia. Managed to score some key provinces and got myself everything to form Jerusalem as well as release Syria for reconquests. Even though I had only about 8k troops at that point.

Through the mission tree got Malta and declared on Tunis afterwards. Got some territories. Expanded further into Arabia and Mamluks. However, lost track of truce timers and with 4 nations being at +50 AE (mamluks, Aq Qoyunlu, Ottomans and Tunis) it was coalition time Tunis declared on me. Most of my allies accepted the call to arms (except Spain. Spain and finances really don't go well together) and after a gruesome war, I thought I could win (was at +25% warscore at some point) I still lost that war with -50% warscore. Mostly because of it dragging on so long and my allies peacing out. Ottomans carried that war single handidly. Even though we had more troops, Ottomans had 95% participation score in that war and killed us all (damn you early tech western units!). Tunis was at 20 war exhaustion and fully occupied most of that war, but didn't want to peace out for even whitepeace. Lost again a ton of territories. Mostly be releasing Arabian minors, returning all Tunis's cores and returning some provinces to Mamluks.

I declared again on the Ottomans a few years later. Miscalculated that war. Ottomans teched up mid war and again focused all efforts on me. Managed to fight to a whitepeace, mostly by using defensive terrain and ticking warscore. Burned up all my professionalism on manpower. Had at least 10 loans. But it was a whitepeace, which isn't terrible.

For some reason Tunis or Ottomans cancelled their alliance and I managed to declare on Tunis for all my cores back and then some. Annexed the Mamluks (most of Egypt region) and returned my cores.

Some time later, the ottomans were behind on military tech (how does that happen?). They had military tech 14, I had 16. So I was the one to declare again. Called in my huge Hungary ally, Papal states and Milan and this time finally managed to crush them. 99% warscore. Took all my cores back (around 6 provinces), all Karaman's cores (around 6 provinces) and most of Syria's cores for also 6 provinces.

Pfiuw. Managed to work it out in the end.

Lost wars: 3
Whitepeace: 1
Won wars: 2 (if you count the opening war). But the final war resulted in utter Victory.

It's these kind of victories that make EU4 feel incredibly rewarding.


The Kingdom of Heaven is once more.

 

[Siddy00]

This felt amazing

 

[gigau]

Wasn't today, but a few days ago, as Portugal.... I pulled a France on France and an England on England:
- invaded France wrecking its armies and occupied all of France
- destroyed the English fleed before blockading their army on their island while i occupied Ireland and all its colonies

 

[atwix]

As Hamburg I set my goal to get cb on Burgundy. Vassalised Utrecht, got my claim, and France and England flipped friendly due to me being threatened by them.

Promised both of them land, and stole two subjects with transfer subject age ability ( flanders and holland), away from Burgundy while giving france and england one province to keep them above -10 trust loss. Made france release nations in the logical coalition war that followed...

then proceeded to connect lowlands to Hamburg, and rolled in dosh in channel node with plutocratic and trade ideas.

Really fun!

 

[Grab God]

I Started a random new world game.... and chose sibirian frontier as my starter. Without any interaction eith "old world" I am 4th great power by 1500. Also I have 50 ducat income by doing nothing... crazy

 

[Methuen of Melnibone]

So playing over the weekend as Russia, I've expanded from sea-to-frozen sea, with my armies a couple of tech behind Europe, but fine for fighting Steppe tribes. It's 1670-something.

I swiftly come undone when I get into a war that drags Ming in - Ming have been exposed to Western tech, so are 3 military technology steps ahead, amongst other bonuses. My armies are roundly defeated (never seen 35k get stackwiped before !). I end up ceding a good chunk of Manchuria back to various Chinese powers, and avoid taking an economic hit - it nukes my presitge and power projection, however.

This triggers a proper Peter the Great moment, and I disband my Streltsy hordes and start sorting out proper combat-width/artillery armies, techning up, and sorting out estates & so on to get absolutism & discipline up.

Currently I'm training up 90k to be my 'regulars' in the coming reconquest war with Manchu & Ming, and will naturally back-fill with hordes of fresh infantry as is tradition.

I'm allied to Austria, and have neutered Poland-Lithuania (Commonwealth never formed), so my Western border is secure; once the Chinese are smashed, I'll be able to settle in & colonise Alaska (if the Portugese haven't beaten me to it !)

 

[raphi1985]

Just had one of the most enjoyable series of wars in EUIV I have ever had with Austria (normal difficulty) starting at 1473:



The power of the long reigning Austrian Emperor Friedrich III had grown significantly in the last couple of centuries securing the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, and conquering Venetian land in northern Italy as well as a good portion of Bavaria. Moreover, an alliance with Poland-Lithuania secured a stable dominance over eastern Europe and allowed a successful crusade against the upcoming Ottoman Empire in 1462/1463 pushing back the Muslim invaders.

Still the Ottoman aggression in eastern Europe lead to a war between the Turks and the weakened Venetian merchant republic. The French Kingdom as the defender of the faith intervened on the side of Venice protecting their catholic brothers, resulting in a clash of some of the strongest armies and navies of the time. The first year of the war saw a crushing defeat of the Venetian fleet but also the occupation of a significant part of the European side of the Ottoman Empire including an ongoing French siege of Constantinople, whilst the Ottoman army seemed insecure of whether to engage the quickly mobilized and combined armies of their enemies.

With the Ottoman-Venetian war ongoing the truce of the Ottomans with the Austrian alliance ended. Emperor Friedrich already determined to push back the Turks out of Europe, Austria declared war on the Ottoman Empire calling in their Polish allies. The Austrian war goal was the reconquest of Constantinople on behalf of their small Byzantine vassal state, re-established in Greece to become a buffer state to the Muslim world. The Ottomans could only call a few small Khanates to thier aid.

In combination with the Venetian and French armies the Ottomans with around sixty thousand men in arms faced overwhelmingly superior enemies and had to give up defending their Balkan and Greek provinces even unable to defend Constantinople against the French.

It was at this point when the Duke of Burgundy died with Burgundy being inherited by the Austrian Emperor Friedrich. The French unwilling to accept their Austrian rivals influence now extending right to the doorstep of Paris and claiming their own rights to the French-Burgundian provinces declared war on Austria, but clearly underestimated the Austrian alliance network in Europe. It was not just Burgundy and the other Habsburg ruled lands the French had to fight, but also the Austrian allies of Castile, Brandenburg and of course Poland-Lithuania.

The French faced a coalition consisting of half of Europe whilst still fighting in defence of Venice against the Ottomans in the Balkans. It did not take long, till France was occupied from the south and east. Paris fell to a Burgundian army just half a year after the war started and the main French forces were crushed by the Austro-Hungarians in Hungarian territory. The war ended with a humiliating defeat for the French and substantial payments to the Austrian alliance.

The Ottoman war still ongoing with battles concentrating on Crimean territory, the Austrian emperor realised the unique opportunity to take Venice as the Venetian fleet was now unable to protect their capital from Austrian occupation after their defeat against the turkish fleet. Venice had long been desired by the Austrians to become the centre and end point of their eastern European trade network. The war was rather short with Venice occupied by Austrian mercenaries. The Venetians already betrayed by most of their allies after the Ottoman war declaration had no choice but to quickly end their war with the Ottomans and also cede Venice to the Austrians.

The end of the Ottoman-Venetian war meant, that the Ottomans could now concentrate on the alliance of Poland and Austria. However, after some major battles lost, the Turks could not prevent an invasion of Anatolia through the Caucasus mountains and another occupation of their capital, this time by the Austrians. Nearly five turbulent years after Austria declared the Byzantine reconquest war, the Ottomans were crushingly defeated and lost their capital as well as vast lands in the greek Balkans.

After these series of wars the Austrian power was now unmatched in Europe with the French rival humiliated and utterly defeated, the Ottomans losing Constantinople only 20 years after conquering it, Byzantium properly established as a strong buffer state, Venice conquered and last but not least the rich Burgundian lands including the lowlands inherited.

(Sorry: Edited a lot for a better reading)

 

[Siddy00]

Glad to see new tales in this thread! ^_^

Methuen, I always enjoy reading your posts! Especially since you also share these reports of things not going your way and taking steps to bounce back after some losses; that's a great mentality to have (and to share)! Good luck on your reconquest of Manchuria!

raphi, nicely done (and written)! Those were a very lucrative five years --- I especially like the casual, opportunistic conquest of Venice mid-war Like you say, it sounds like you're now totally unopposed in doing whatever you like (except perhaps in the far east); have fun!

To share something myself: I've been trying with Portugal and random new worlds for the past few days. The fourth try finally yielded a random new world with a close trade node flowing into Sevilla. Every try takes some time, since I don't want to reveal the fog of war in the lobby and some graphical bug keeps the trade flow from displaying on the map for new world trade nodes, so I have to either discover the node itself (which is not always close) or find an already settled province (which is not always available) to figure out how the trade flows (I'll still have to try and see whether reloading the game fixes the issue). Anyhow! most of Morocco is under Portuguese rule, I've got enough friends to keep me safe on the continent and my economy is starting to take off (still some loans to pay off, but the monthly ticker is a healthy green), so everything is set to start the colonisation rush tonight!

 

[raphi1985]

raphi, nicely done (and written)! Those were a very lucrative five years --- I especially like the casual, opportunistic conquest of Venice mid-war Like you say, it sounds like you're now totally unopposed in doing whatever you like (except perhaps in the far east); have fun!

Thanx and you have fun with your Portugese campaign! The Austrian Emperor now unfortunately has to betray the trusted Polish ally and claim their throne as well, although they were invaluable in the two crusades against the Ottomans. At least it is not Friedrich III anymore. He died at the ripe age of 80.

 

[The_Sound_Of_Violence]

Having my first 6/6/6 leader on sight, probably getting to the throne at a young age.

 

[holyvigil]

Having my first 6/6/6 leader on sight, probably getting to the throne at a young age.

View attachment 660379

Abandon that throne right now.

 

[klopkr]

I really like when I'm playing a colonizer and I look at the blank map of the americas and get to decide how i'll paint it.

 

[The_Sound_Of_Violence]

Abandon that throne right now.

That didn't even cross my mind . It certainly sounds like the efficient thing to do.

 

[Ekcrbe]

Abandon that throne right now.

Stick sorry old Pierre on an Aerial Faith Plate. There's no time to waste.

 

[TenshiN]

I greatly enjoy the sheer amount of variability that this game provides and how there are lots of possibilities to even play nations that aren't there on gamestart.
Some examples of what i lately did:

-Started as Ming only to destabilize it after passing the first celestial reform, making the Shun revolt fire and switching to play Shun, which even has its own national ideas!

-Lost most of my initial land as Norway, formed Iceland, moved capital to the New World, proceeded to be the big bully since i basically got 2 mostly-empty continents for my personal use

-Used tha japanese daimyo of Kono and its rather big naval bonuses coupled with my own position on the islands to bully everyone, making Ming explode, British colonies declaring independence, destroying Great Powers by blockading their ports and wrecking their pathetic attempts at landing on my soil... All while only having about 10k standing army, which were used to garrison the provinces that i was colonizing.

And many, many more... Generally found myself coming back to EU4 much more often since CK3 got released and disappointed me immeasurably
Just goes to show that the core gameplay of EU4 is really solid, even if its AI is sometimes... underwhelming.

 

[daohan]

Thought a positivity thread might be good - might give people ideas for their next game etc.
What did you enjoy in the game today ?
Me - I finished my second Spain run through, earning a pile of steam achievements and having an absolute blast learning a lot about the military system, being nearly constantly at war somewhere in the world.
1777 - Spain, Portugal, Aragon, Naples, Austria, Britain, Russia, Utrecht - all miiiiine - and since my game goals are all done, I'm building up for a showdown with the Ottoblob - they have 800k men in the field, and reserves of 500k currently.
Steam Achievements - No Pirates, All Your Trade, Traditional Player, Colonial Management, Emperors New Clothes, Spain is The Emperor, Ruina Imperii, Impero Espanol, Magellan's Voyage, Isn't this the way to India, Forever Golden

 

[daohan]

I was greatly enjoyed that how I get the mandate of Heaven in VH mod with QNG in a historical time. As a chinese I have to say EU4 is not good enough as simulater. QNG captured half of a china in one year but in the game I can only , you know, tiny bit once.

 

[atwix]

Killing England as Aachen and make England look purple...

I tried it on spiritbaker "difficulty and AI changes" mod, and for the first time n YEARS the English AI gave me SO much trouble.

God praise dedicated modders in modding community.

if you are interested in mod: "difficulty and AI changes" (mod that fixes AI in 1.30 in economy, buildings etc) is here on steam workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053238435