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Nice getting started in Greenland. I too am a bit perplexed about the whereabouts of Portugal and pals. Shouldn't they own all of Louisiana by now? ;)
 
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Portugal has attacked Morocco, sensing weakness. But the aggressive Iberians are currently losing heavily. Lisbon is their only unoccupied home province. How did the Moroccan navy beat the superior Portuguese one, you may ask? That is because of how EU4’s military access system works.
...and also, it is the core example of morocco-portugal principle.
Still it is too long and impossible to explain completely without butchering the thread, but will try (and hopefully not mess it up).

Code vs. code, morocco- and portugal-tags have even chances against each other, in the one-on-one case. Individual advantages are countered;
- portugal-tag has the advantage of the castle in Ceuta, a good general Earl of Avranches at the start, and it may get higher navy tradition by missions and early exploration;
- yet it has paper-thin army, low manpower, very limited naval power, low income, very limited options for alliances, and a below average ruler, Infante Pedro, a 7-monarch, only good for faster colonisation in the early phase​
- but as the code, the tag is one of those that starts as lucky tag, so has the luck modifier​
- morocco-tag has the advantage of the three castles in Fez, Marrakech, Tangiers, all on mountains and hills, higher manpower, higher naval power, higher income, can raid costs for quick riches, AND three vassals
- yet it has paper army, a government type that is always susceptible to paralysing-regencies, and a terrible starting ruler​
- but it has the Wattasi Revolt event, and when the pretenders win, the code gets a turbo-ruler of the house Wattasi​
Considering these, each has even chances against each other, and when code-morocco runs smart and ally with either the tlemcen-, tunis-tags, then code-portugal tag will fall. If it hits a mamluks-alliance, or else, an otto-alliance, then the code-portugal will be no more.
And when code-portugal runs smart, allies code-castile and brings it to the war, code-morocco can easily fall, yet in this case there is the risk of code-mamluks taking the defender of the faith, due to the early rivalry between mamluks and either castile-tag else france-tag.

And all these scenarios change drastically when there is the player in the vicinity, else naturally when one of them being the player.

That is the morocco-portugal principle.

For the player, portugal-tag is actually a scam-run, meaning the code advantages are underestimated by the player, since as the player it does not have the luck modifier, and dice rolls (for any action that requires rolling; battles, sieges, hiring generals, new rulers, or even chance of new heir) of the player will be always lower than what the code can have.
- personal experience suggests that the player-portugal gets a higher frequency of runs being left without an heir, so the player has higher chances of falling under a pu.​
If the player-portugal attacks code-morocco alone, earlier before the code showing signs of decay in its power, then the player falls into the trap; having better mil-tech, higher navy tradition, higher naval power, bringing troops more than force limit will not be enough, and the code-morocco can and will annihilate the player-portugal, easily.​

For the player, morocco-tag is actually a restricted-run, meaning the run has not much after destroying the iberian tags, as then it will be a generic colonisation-run else the banal mappainting-run. But oh yes, not to forget playing as morocco-tag, the player will now face against not one but two, and possibly three tags with luck modifier from the start, all rivalling the player, and the player runs with the dice roll potential of the player.
- personal experience suggests that the player-morocco gets a higher frequency of falling under a regency. The tag has the government without consort mechanics, meaning very long periods of unable to do anything, as regencies do not allow war declaration. The player with an heir, 1 year old, will have to wait 14 years of nothing, which can very well serve as more than enough time of the code-iberians to recuperate from their previous defeats by the player.​
If the player-morocco attacks code-portugal alone, earlier before the code showing signs of decay in its power, then the player falls into the same trap. In this case player-morocco may have higher chances to win against the code than the player-portugal against the code; but emphasis on may, and besides it will definitely ruin the economy, and a lot of raiding has to be done to recover, and also: the code-ottos usually running with 10k ducats in debt, and when there is no more otto-castile or otto-france rivalry, the otto-alliance can fall, leaving the player-morocco alone. Oh yes, of course the code-mamluks will not take the defender of the faith when the player is the morocco-tag, because it will be taken by the code-ottos, while in 10k ducats debt, way after granada-tag falls, a situation that serves null in helping the khanates in the north, because it will not discover the muscovy-tag for a good 30+ years, so gaining double of the nothing, more nothing, of the code for taking the defender of the faith, other than causing headaches to the player.​
Try playing as jolof-tag and experience it yourself, getting constant war declarations by code-portugal, -castile, -france, -england, -norway, -scotland, -papacy, and code-ulm, because why not. Then try as one of those against the code-jolof, and face the code-mamluks as the defender of the faith, the ally code-ottos, the guarantor code-mali, the warning by the code-france, and of course, the coalition started by the code-ulm. Sigh.


Minor correction and some trivia;
That light blue spot in Hungary by the way is the Ottomans’ eyelet, a unique subject-type for them.
eyalet (turkish, borrowed from arabic, through persian)
Means an administrative unit, such as a province (old), or a state (contemporary), as in federal state, e.g. Land Nordrhein-Westfallen (federal state of north rhine-westphalia) or State of Washington.

Edit: Corrected typographical mistake.
 
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Thank you for creating this AAR - really helpful for an EU4 noob like me.

Are you playing this on Normal? If yes, how different would your play be on higher difficulties?
 
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Good luck with your crops in fertile Greenland. I always liked uncovering the hidden tiles. Late colonialism for the Iberians? Thanks for the update
Thanks! And the Iberians aren't out of the game yet. But the next two chapters are focused on our diplomatic situation at home instead.
Congrats on the first colony. Modest, to be sure, but a springboard for exploration and eventually more colonisation. The race is on against the big colonising powers!
It's a race we hope to win, or at least not place last.
Greenland is one place that I wouldn't necessarily covet as a colony, but it sure is a nice springboard to the new world!
It's the only place we could reach, and as you and the others have said, it's a great springboard.
Nice getting started in Greenland. I too am a bit perplexed about the whereabouts of Portugal and pals. Shouldn't they own all of Louisiana by now? ;)
EU4's colonization is fast, but not that fast! :D
That is the morocco-portugal principle.
Always glad to have your in-depth explanations filcat!
Thank you for creating this AAR - really helpful for an EU4 noob like me.

Are you playing this on Normal? If yes, how different would your play be on higher difficulties?
You're welcome!

I'm playing on Normal. Harder difficulties don't make the AI behave differently. Instead, the AI gets bonuses to its manpower, unrest reduction, etc.

The other main setting I use is "No limits on idea groups." With this setting turned off, you can't pick multiple of the same category (admin, diplo, or mil) in a row. I dislike this, since I think freely allowing idea groups opens up more strategic options and combos.

- - -

Next Chapter Coming Tomorrow.
 
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It looks like Brittany fell victim to the false advertising campaign of the Scandinavians... at least their future colonies should be more productive. Are you planning to colonize Newfoundland and other parts of Canada first?

Portugal shall not seize control over Greenland...
 
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It looks like Brittany fell victim to the false advertising campaign of the Scandinavians... at least their future colonies should be more productive. Are you planning to colonize Newfoundland and other parts of Canada first?

Portugal shall not seize control over Greenland...
Canada is on the list of places I'd like to colonize. That, the East Coast, Mexico, Africa, and the Caribbean. We don't have the budget to go everywhere at once, so we'll have to be selective.
 
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Thanks for the insights, especially the notes about naval movement. As I usually play Paradox offerings that do not feature naval combat or attrition this was interesting to see.

It looks like Brittany fell victim to the false advertising campaign of the Scandinavians...
Nothing like a little marketing language!
Although I'm sure that the indigenous (despite their lack of success in their uprising in this installment) likely would have preferred the Europeans to come up with a different name for their lands.
 
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Thanks for the insights, especially the notes about naval movement. As I usually play Paradox offerings that do not feature naval combat or attrition this was interesting to see.
You're welcome!
Nothing like a little marketing language!
Although I'm sure that the indigenous (despite their lack of success in their uprising in this installment) likely would have preferred the Europeans to come up with a different name for their lands.
They probably would've. I can rename any provinces owned by Brittany or a subject, so if anyone would like to have a province named, let me know (I've played about 90 years past this point because I just felt like playing. So it will take a while for the new name to show up if you want it).
 
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Shifting Diplomacy (June 1476-May 1478)
Author's Note: Next week's chapter won't be posted on the usual Monday time, since I'll be returning from a trip that day. Expect it to come on Tuesday instead. Thanks as always for your readership and comments!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Shifting Diplomacy
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(June 1476-May 1478)

We could take the newest mil tech in August for some Innovativeness, but it’s 3 years ahead-of-time. You know the drill. We wait.

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That December, a comet is spotted streaking across the sky. We suffer an unavoidable Stability loss because of it. Oh well. Our admin points aren’t as tight as before, but it still stings a bit. We bring our Stability back up to 0 because you never want to have negative Stability. It’s bad news.

On July 6th, I try something. I don’t remember why I did this, but I decided to provoke some of our rebels. Provoking a rebellion causes them to rise up instantly, but also gives them +50% more troops. It can be useful if you’re planning on fighting a war and don’t want the rebellions to happen while your armies are busy in enemy territory.

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Anyway, we provoke our heretic rebels (similar to Noble and Particularist rebels in that they want to increase Autonomy, but they all have slightly different effects). But I’ve underestimated the enemy’s strength. I hire 2 extra infantry to deal with the rebellion (and to replace the one we lost in Ireland a while back), but it’s not enough. We lose the fight in Arvor and retreat to Penn-ar-Bed.

Reluctantly, I take out the Bourgeoisie loans and hire 3 more infantry, bringing us up to our forcelimit of 15.

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The rebels successfully occupy Arvor while our army recovers and waits for reinforcements. The penalties this gives the province for the next 2 years are nasty, but there’s not much we can do.

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Now, before I recount the outcome of the rebellion, some other important news happens over the next few months.

First, during the middle of the battle, an event pops up. But I’ve never seen this event before. I’m not sure what’s causing it to trigger now, whether it is unique to Brittany (unlikely), new to this patch (maybe), or because we chose the Native Repression policy (also plausible because I usually never choose it). And I’m not even sure what the event text is referencing or talking about, except that it has something to do with Eriksfjord. Regardless, we get 50 free admin points to partially offset the cost of that Stability from earlier.

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Also, in September, the Ottomans becomes the first country to reach mil tech 7, giving them access to cannons and permanently increasing the value of copper as a Trade Good. Incidentally, the Innovativeness timer for mil tech 7 starts ticking down.

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And, finally, on December 20th, 1477 and on January 5th, 1478 our entire diplomatic situation is upended. Behold! The outcome of the Burgundian Inheritance…

We’ve not only lost our strongest ally, but France has also become significantly more powerful. The only silver lining is that our previous diplomatic work in Castille has paid off. We’re able to ally them as a replacement, but I would’ve preferred if France hadn’t grown because of this development. Austria or someone else getting Burgundy would’ve been much better for us.

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We fight our heretics in January, finally putting them down. But still…these past few months have been bad news for us. I go to France and set our attitude to friendly with them, in the hopes that the AI will reciprocate.

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100 ducats out of our 217 are spent on a new church in Bro Naoned. This will, when completed in a year, give us an extra +0.13 a month.

March sees a surprisingly small peacedeal signed between Poland and Lithuania. And in April, with 8 days left on the Innovativeness timer, I take tech 7. We now have access to cannons, as well as some extra Tactics.

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To end off this update, in May something very surprising happens. Poland inherits Brandenburg’s throne.

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Now, this is something that can only happen in very rare cases. Usually when a nation’s monarch dies, they can either fall under a Personal Union with another country (becoming a subject) or gain another nation’s dynasty. That’s what normally happens.

But if, when their monarch dies, that nation is an AI, weak enough, and if the potential overlord is strong enough, the overlord will just inherit the subject instead of creating a PU.

Poland just happened to be strong enough, Brandenburg just happened to be weak enough, and their king just happened to die at the right moment.

Austria chooses the minor of Wurzburg to replace Brandenburg as an Elector.


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Wow! What a rough year! France is a queasymaking neighbor. Hopefully they'll befriend you and not start fixing a creamy sauce to devour your corpse!

And Brandenburg!!! <heart attack> What is it with these ill-omens of Brandenburg falling in other folks' AARs?! :D

I see that option for provoking conflict with the rebels, with its +50% size modifier, and I just think to myself how much trouble I have dealing with rebels of normal size. I really feel like EU IV's rebels (well, Paradox rebels in general) are modeled to present players with the challenge your neighboring rivals should offer but don't. Argh. Gosh I hate the rebels!

Great work negotiating a difficult passage with a challenging country! You're on your way to greatness... Just a ways to go yet.

Rensslaer
 
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The Burgundian Inheritance could have gone better. Also, RIP Brandenburg.

I'm not sure about the event, but the title and the first line might be an allusion. "The eyes are not here/There are no eyes here/ (in this valley of dying stars/in this hollow valley/this broken jaw of our lost kingdoms)" is a line in TS Eliot's The Hollow Men (more famous for being the origin of "This is the way the world ends/not with a bang but a whimper"). Given that it's a church, it might just mean that there are remnants of the Viking colonies...

Aside from that digression (sorry), biting the bullet on the rebels might be something that you thank yourself for doing later if you're stuck in a war with England or, worse, France. What are your relations with England right now?
 
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That rebel provocation did get pretty messy and expensive in men, money and provincial debuffs. Were there no other better/viable alternatives? The blue blob is getting much worse. I’ll be interested to see if you can get out of their shadow.
 
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@Bullfilter I was going through my screenshots and noticed I'd provided a rebellion once. Not anything I'd ever expect myself to do, so I was shocked. I think I must have just wanted to try it out and see how it worked.

Rensslaer
 
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@Bullfilter I was going through my screenshots and noticed I'd provided a rebellion once. Not anything I'd ever expect myself to do, so I was shocked. I think I must have just wanted to try it out and see how it worked.

Rensslaer
Right - I can see how it might work, but I guess you’d want a more crushing numerical advantage handy if you let (or provoke) a rebellion to break out and provoking it increases the degree of difficulty and cost in casualties. Seems like something to be used as a last resort if the timing is critical.
 
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@Bullfilter well, I can see a use case where you don't want to keep your army maintenance at high levels for 15 months while you wait for a rebel percentage to go from 80 or 90 percent to actual rebellion. You could provoke them then lower maintenance to low level until the next rebels got concerning.

Rensslaer
 
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Well, I'm back from my vacation. I don't have enough energy to post the next chapter right now (look for it tomorrow), but I do have enough for some comment feedback.

Thanks to all of you for your readership!
Wow! What a rough year! France is a queasymaking neighbor. Hopefully they'll befriend you and not start fixing a creamy sauce to devour your corpse!
France is scary.
The Burgundian Inheritance could have gone better.
The blue blob is getting much worse. I’ll be interested to see if you can get out of their shadow.
France is big...and hungry :eek:

They've been a persistent issue up to where I've played. But we are still going, despite setbacks like this.
And Brandenburg!!! <heart attack> What is it with these ill-omens of Brandenburg falling in other folks' AARs?! :D
Also, RIP Brandenburg.
It is a strange similarity between AARs. But Brandenburg is in a bad position at the start of the game, being next to rival Bohemia. Plus the AI doesn't know how to plan for the goal of eventually forming Prussia.
I see that option for provoking conflict with the rebels, with its +50% size modifier, and I just think to myself how much trouble I have dealing with rebels of normal size. I really feel like EU IV's rebels (well, Paradox rebels in general) are modeled to present players with the challenge your neighboring rivals should offer but don't. Argh. Gosh I hate the rebels!
The rebels are there, at least partially, to annoy the player. By default, the AI gets bonuses to unrest reduction, so they rarely have to deal with it unless already suffering other issues.

This is actually the second iteration of EU4's rebel system. Before, the amount of unrest was just a percentage chance for the revolt to happen each month (it didn't have to tick up to 100). At least now it is easier to plan around.
Aside from that digression (sorry), biting the bullet on the rebels might be something that you thank yourself for doing later if you're stuck in a war with England or, worse, France.
No need to apologize for that! I was wondering what the event was talking about! :)

I think that was my thinking there, I wanted to be prepared in case either power came knocking.
That rebel provocation did get pretty messy and expensive in men, money and provincial debuffs. Were there no other better/viable alternatives?
It was expensive, but the only other option was to wait for them to tick up normally (without the increased strength). I must have felt it was worth it to get rid of the rebellion sooner instead of later.
@Bullfilter well, I can see a use case where you don't want to keep your army maintenance at high levels for 15 months while you wait for a rebel percentage to go from 80 or 90 percent to actual rebellion. You could provoke them then lower maintenance to low level until the next rebels got concerning.
That is also true. And in waiting for that rebellion to pop up, one of the rebellions in Ireland could've fired. It's all a matter of timing.
Great work negotiating a difficult passage with a challenging country! You're on your way to greatness... Just a ways to go yet.
Yep! Slow and steady.
How far does Greenland extend your colonial range and how big is the great farming breadbasket colony?
After Greenland, we'll be able to reach all of Canada's coast down to Massachusettes.

At the end of this chapter, Eriksfjord was at 201 settlers out of the necessary 1,000.
Do you play on stab0 or +1.
I only boost to +1 if I get a free stab from an event, cheaply getting us to +2. But that hasn't happened yet.
I'm not sure about the event, but the title and the first line might be an allusion. "The eyes are not here/There are no eyes here/ (in this valley of dying stars/in this hollow valley/this broken jaw of our lost kingdoms)" is a line in TS Eliot's The Hollow Men (more famous for being the origin of "This is the way the world ends/not with a bang but a whimper"). Given that it's a church, it might just mean that there are remnants of the Viking colonies...

Thanks for the explanation! I assumed it was referencing something since Paradox often likes to do that in their events, but I had no idea what this one was getting at. I'll have to look that poem up.
 
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: What is a Golden Era? (May 1478-February 1479)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: What is a Golden Era?
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(May 1478-February 1479)

Continuing on in the merry month of May, we decrease our Autonomy everywhere we can again. The heretic rebellion really hurt us, both because of its lingering effects on Arvor and us having to pay for more regiments and their reinforcements.

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Our gross income is now 9.25 but we’re losing 4.77 ducats monthly. And, unhelpfully, we get a half-priced level 2 Trade Efficiency advisor from an event in July. Despite our money troubles, I hire him to help fill out Exploration quicker.

In August, Poland, having beaten the Teutons and Lithuanians and gained the strength of Brandenburg, decides to go after the Livonian Order as well. The only good news is that a strong Poland will hopefully keep the Ottomans out of Eastern Europe. And besides, maybe we can ally the Poles someday.

In October, we ask for some manpower from the Pope and begin currying favors with Castille. We might as well get some more tangible benefits out of our alliance with them. We also get some increased unrest in Anjou from an event. The other option was lowered unrest but increased Autonomy. Considering we just decreased Autonomy across most of our lands, that would be an odd thing to choose.


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With our decreased Autonomy I take a look at our Reform Progress Growth screen. It says our average Autonomy is 28.46%, letting us gain nearly one point of growth per month. Overall, our economy is at 9.18 (it probably decreased slightly due to something temporary expiring). We’re losing 1.32 a month even with our army fully defunded. We have 36 ducats in the bank.

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Before defunding our army, I provoke another rebellion (only 10,000 this time) in Offaly. They were going to rise up anyway and I want to turn off my army to save money. So, it’s better to fight any imminent rebellions now before that happens. They are defeated that November.

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Now, we get very lucky here. The current Pope dies on the 20th, letting a Venetian grab the title. The new Pope automatically disables the Golden Bull for Institution Spread since most of Europe has the Renaissance at this point. Instead, he enacts a different Bull for Development cost and some Tolerance of Heathens. The Dev cost is what we care about here.

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If you remember from Chapter Eleven, we still have an agenda from our last diet to Develop Arvor for the Bourgeoisie. With the decreased cost thanks to the Papal Bull, this is the perfect time. I turn on the Dev cost Edict to make the cost even cheaper (remember we are trying to save as many points as possible for our Ideas) then click twice in Arvor to complete the diet agenda. Our reward is 10 loyalty with the Estate and 33.13 ducats which our economy desperately needs. Our economy also grew to 9.29 gross.

Our mil advisor helpfully dies in January. We’re 13 years ahead on the next mil tech, so we don’t replace him. Then, in February, we can buy a new Age Ability. We pick the one allowing us to fabricate claims bordering claims. It is a very nice ability and could be useful in opening up new expansion routes for us. Also, we could enact our once-per-game Golden Era right now. We need to complete at least 3 objectives to do so. We’ve so far completed:

  • Discover America
  • Embrace the Renaissance
  • Present on Two Continents
  • Humiliate a Rival
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I still hold off on doing so. But I’ll give a quick explanation on the two schools of thought about when you should proclaim your Golden Era (GE).

The first school reasons that enacting your GE as early as possible helps your nation grow stronger quicker, letting you become increasingly powerful during the early game when the GE’s bonuses and impact is most felt. This helps your nation snowball and reach the point where no AI can challenge you even if they tried, meaning the rest of the game can be played however you want without worrying about AE or other similar concerns.

The second school argues that it is better to save your GE for later in the game. In part because most AI will have already taken (and lost) their GE much earlier in the game, as we have seen with the Ottomans, Castille, and Portugal. But also, because a GE provides bonuses to Absolutism and the niche Revolutionary Zeal, mechanics that don’t unlock until later in the game.

Hopefully, those explanations made sense. Anyway, there’s one last thing we can do before I end this chapter. Just as we unlocked new privileges from the Clergy and Bourgeoisie for gaining a colonist, we can also take a new privilege from the nobility. This new ability passively makes our colonies cheaper to maintain (a must given our finances) and gives us a decision to recruit a conquistador without spending monarch points.


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our once-per-game Golden Era
Although some countries can get a second one (or extend a current one) through their mission trees.
two schools of thought about when you should proclaim your Golden Era (GE).

The first school reasons that enacting your GE as early as possible helps your nation grow stronger quicker, letting you become increasingly powerful during the early game when the GE’s bonuses and impact is most felt. This helps your nation snowball and reach the point where no AI can challenge you even if they tried, meaning the rest of the game can be played however you want without worrying about AE or other similar concerns.

The second school argues that it is better to save your GE for later in the game. In part because most AI will have already taken (and lost) their GE much earlier in the game, as we have seen with the Ottomans, Castille, and Portugal. But also, because a GE provides bonuses to Absolutism and the niche Revolutionary Zeal, mechanics that don’t unlock until later in the game.
I suppose that countries that can get second Golden Eras can follow both.
 
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@jak7139 you're providing new definitions for "shoestring budget" so it's good to see your clever tricks to get things "on sale". :D

In your experience does conflict usually occur between Muscovy and Poland? Or do they tend to cooperate against Lithuania if/when they separate from the Commonwealth? If conflict began during PU is it likely to continue after, or does it rejigger? Ideally, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and Muscovy are all arrayed against the Ottomans, but I bet that never happens.

I can see advantages to waiting for late game for Golden Age, but it depends what achievements are required in each age, and I'm not familiar with the later ones.

Rensslaer
 
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