When do you stop playing a nation?

[unmerged(161484)]

I am just getting a bit bored with my latest Ottoman game. The Sultan ( rather the Doge, went republic some years back.) is powerfull the treasury wellfilled, new scienses is explored, the realm stabel. I have more vassals the I can keep track on, all allies, some quite good.

There are no tempting targets around, no reason to attack and no-one dares attack me. (Srsly I never seen some many cowards!) No new missions besides "Build X in Y".

Icould go after Europe, they dont dare aid each other... boooring. I WAS considering going after Novgorod, he is growing realy big, but... I have no real reason, what should I do with more provinces???

All there is to do is building churches, marketplaces etc and keeping the economy. And its only 1570 !! There are another 250 years to play but I cant see the point.

When do you say "Ok I am done here. Next!" ?

 

[unmerged(236246)]

I am just getting a bit bored with my latest Ottoman game. The Sultan ( rather the Doge, went republic some years back.) is powerfull the treasury wellfilled, new scienses is explored, the realm stabel. I have more vassals the I can keep track on, all allies, some quite good.

There are no tempting targets around, no reason to attack and no-one dares attack me. (Srsly I never seen some many cowards!) No new missions besides "Build X in Y".

Icould go after Europe, they dont dare aid each other... boooring. I WAS considering going after Novgorod, he is growing realy big, but... I have no real reason, what should I do with more provinces???

All there is to do is building churches, marketplaces etc and keeping the economy. And its only 1570 !! There are another 250 years to play but I cant see the point.

When do you say "Ok I am done here. Next!" ?

I quit when I have achieved my goals, grown too powerful for any challenge to be left or if I get bored, but I'll save the game and continue it if I feel like it.

 

[unmerged(398952)]

Declare war on Novgorod.

 

[Uebergold]

Depends. When I play an italian minor for example, my goal is the unification of Italy. After that the game experience decreases because I am already too powerful and I play another nation. Some people like to do World Conquests but that's not interesting to me and I dare to say for the majority of EU3 players.

When you see the lack of joy of playing further, just chose another nation and go for higher difficulties. Or start playing multi player games. In the end, you can spend a lot of time with EU3 and have lots of fun. There is no need to stick on a campaign which gets boring.

 

[ywhtptgtfo]

I am just getting a bit bored with my latest Ottoman game. The Sultan ( rather the Doge, went republic some years back.) is powerfull the treasury wellfilled, new scienses is explored, the realm stabel. I have more vassals the I can keep track on, all allies, some quite good.

There are no tempting targets around, no reason to attack and no-one dares attack me. (Srsly I never seen some many cowards!) No new missions besides "Build X in Y".

Icould go after Europe, they dont dare aid each other... boooring. I WAS considering going after Novgorod, he is growing realy big, but... I have no real reason, what should I do with more provinces???

All there is to do is building churches, marketplaces etc and keeping the economy. And its only 1570 !! There are another 250 years to play but I cant see the point.

When do you say "Ok I am done here. Next!" ?

Switch to an OPM and try to dismantle your Ottoman empire.

 

[MondoPotato]

I stop playing my nation when it's 1821. It's pretty rare I don't play a game through to completion, unless I get annexed prior to the end date.

Some things to keep games interesting:

Never, ever, ever:
- Go over the infamy limit.
- rage-quit/reload when when bad things happen, no matter how frustrating. No "test wars", no reloads when France, Austria, Great Britain and Castille all declare war on you at once. If your empire falls apart, let it, and enjoy the next phase of your game as you try and rebuild. Losing is often way more fun than winning.
- Declare war without a valid CB. Only declare war when you can do so without a stability hit. If you don't have a CB, tough luck, no wars for you.
- And finally, never ever ever annex territory in defensive wars. If you're attacked, the only goal is white peace, ending treaties, or the revocation of cores. No releasing vassals or states or taking territory, even if you have a core.

Sometimes:
- Set major and minor goals. One hard overarching game goal, and three or four minor achievements. For instance in my last game playing the Ottomans, my major goal was to form the extent of the empire from the real world. Easy enough. Side goals were to invade Castille, because dammit the Ottomans deserve some revenge, extend turkish culture throughout the empire with settlement policies, wipe out Shi'ite Islam, and convert all of the HRE states to Sunni Islam. Obviously Don't westernize at any point.
- Don't annex territory unless you have a core. You can release a vassal and give them land if necessary, but if you don't have a core, you can't keep the territory, and either must release or sell.
- Never manually move sliders. Slider moves by event only.
- Give in to rebel demands.
- No matter how suicidal, always ALWAYS answer your allies call to arms.
- Pick a random nation you're not really opposed to, and buddy up with them. Do everything in your power to ensure they succeed by sending them money, free territory, beating up their enemies, etc.

In an open ended sandbox like EUIII, sometimes you just need to make the game fun on your own terms.

 

[Uebergold]

I don't know but several of your restrictions seem to be anything but fun.

 

[Lithuanian2]

- And finally, never ever ever annex territory in defensive wars. If you're attacked, the only goal is white peace, ending treaties, or the revocation of cores. No releasing vassals or states or taking territory, even if you have a core.

:huh:

 

[MondoPotato]

I don't know but several of your restrictions seem to be anything but fun.

For sure, not for everyone. I prefer to think of them as challenges more than restriction, and that extra challenge makes the game more enjoyable for me, and gives me a reason to play for more than building a superpower by 1500 and then starting over because there's little else to do and zero challenge left. Definitely not for everyone. I don't always follow every single restriction every time I play either.

:huh:

I mean, if you are attacked by anyone (a defensive war), and pummel the tar out of them, don't annex their land. That doesn't mean you can't siege and control their land during the war, it just means no taking the controlled land in a peace deal. White Peace them out, make them concede defeat, or revoke their core on your land that started the war in the first place or whatever. If you're intent on conquering their territory, attack them in an offensive war. Honestly, if some country attacks you and you smash them to the point you can grab their territory, they aren't a threat anymore anyway, so weakening them further from a defensive war only makes the game that much easier in the long run.

 

[andersonm]

As MondoPotato alluded to... I've found that once you get good at the game, if you don't restrict yourself to not save/reload you just crush everyone (even with a small nation) and it gets boring... you need to take the bad breaks when they come or it's just a slow inexorable growth without any true challenge.

 

[Helios Panoptes]

Save/reload breaks the game over its knee with a sickening crack.

 

[Uebergold]

You guys should try out Dwarf Fortress

 

[Luhood]

Me, I prefer to play my EU3 and CK games historically. For example, in my former Ottoman Empire game I didn't set up any 400 year goal, or even 100 year goal. I just decided to see what happened and go with the flow, doing what the ruler would've done or what my advisors told me to do (AKA Missions). My first missions was to seize Rhodes, the Greek provinces, the Turkish provinces, and Thrace. Said and done, so I did. Meanwhile I was in a near constant war with the Timurids which I continued by colonizing my way eastwards, seeing as not bringing culture to the nomadic hordes would be a disgrace to Islam.
Following that I was in several Holy Wars against the powers of Europe, and since the Ottomans are more powerful than them at the beginning of the game I decided to try and take out the source of their religious attitude: Rome. In one of the wars the Papal States was dragged into it by their alliance with Castille, and in the following war I defeated both of them and vassalized the Papal States. And it was there I realized the mission of my dynasty: an eternal struggle to bring Islam to the christian heretics of Europe (which I succeeded with in the Brittish Isles, Scandinavia, and Germany, but had yet to finish in the rest of it) and as the New World was discovered I sent out my explorers to conquer this new land in the name of Allah. The Christian Alliance between Catholic Bohemia and Protestant Bavaria were my eternal nemeses, and so was France before I (with the help of my several Holy Roman vassals) managed to beat down the French threat in the last Holy War to grace the European mainland.

In my earlier Sweden game I decided on the Viking approach, and did what my forefathers would've: Unite Scandinavia under a common flag, take the rest of the lands surrounding the Baltic ocean, and then take the Iceland -> Greenland -> Canada approach to the New World in the late 1400s, while holding my European grounds against the Russians and the non-united HRE down south, as well as British and French minor wars due do their boredom (I suppose).

Now, to answer your question: I don't. I still consider myself far to Noob to rule any game I take on, and as such play them through to the end to learn the tips and tricks to how a good game of EU3 is played. Also, as I said, I play my games on a historical note and as such have fun thinking of how I take that historical approach in my game. It is rather fun actually! ^^

 

[unmerged(161484)]

Save/reload breaks the game over its knee with a sickening crack.

Hmm that would put another twist on things. I'll remember that after my break.
And perhaps I will try someother start then Grand C. Napoleonic wars perhaps....

 

[Hastu Neon]

My games end up in 1821, with two exceptions:

1. Being annexed (very rare occurrence)
2. Being severely smashed down in a war. But I mean, really severely. For instance, total annihilation of army/navy and loss of many provinces. In this case, I may rage-quit or reload.

 

[Klewer]

I try to never quit a game early but mainly do when I lose interest in achieving anything with my nation.

 

[safferli]

When the rest of the world combined no longer poses a credible threat to me, I usually stop the game. Unless I'm still having fun with some other type of goal.

 

[Some Georgian]

I am just getting a bit bored with my latest Ottoman game. The Sultan ( rather the Doge, went republic some years back.) is powerfull the treasury wellfilled, new scienses is explored, the realm stabel. I have more vassals the I can keep track on, all allies, some quite good.

There are no tempting targets around, no reason to attack and no-one dares attack me. (Srsly I never seen some many cowards!) No new missions besides "Build X in Y".

Icould go after Europe, they dont dare aid each other... boooring. I WAS considering going after Novgorod, he is growing realy big, but... I have no real reason, what should I do with more provinces???

All there is to do is building churches, marketplaces etc and keeping the economy. And its only 1570 !! There are another 250 years to play but I cant see the point.

When do you say "Ok I am done here. Next!" ?

Start in 1815 march 20 as rev.france DON'T start after march 20 if you do the war leader will be sardina piedmont so you'l be able to WP out easily

 

[Manfred Cornburg]

Start in 1815 march 20 as rev.france DON'T start after march 20 if you do the war leader will be sardina piedmont so you'l be able to WP out easily

That sad feel when Napoleon dies

 

[Some Georgian]

That sad feel when Napoleon dies

he won't die if you start in that date and re-vassalize spain! no seriously i'l give you a cookie if you can do that...