Jak's Game Guide: An EU4 Tutorial

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

but it depends what achievements are required in each age, and I'm not familiar with the later ones.

According to the Wiki, the objectives are as follows:

Age of Discovery: Discover America (self-explanatory), Developed Nation (As a country not in Europe, Asia or Africa, have 100 development), Control Centers of Trade (Own and control 5 core provinces with level 2 or higher centers of trade), A Large City (own and control a core province with at least 30 development), Embrace Renaissance (self-explanatory, except you need it in all state provinces as well), Hold Three Thrones (Have 2 PUs as a Christian nation), Feudal Society (As a non-Christian nation, have 5 vassals), Present on Two Continents (self-explanatory) and Humiliate Rival (self-explanatory)

Age of Reformation: Join the Reformation (self-explanatory, but includes Hussite), Humanist or Religious (complete one of the two idea groups), Convert Provinces (10, conversions during the Age of Discovery count), Create a Colonial Empire (5 colonial nations as vassals), Converted another Nation (Any way, doing it in the Age of Discovery counts), Asian Trade (Gain the trade bonus in Silk, Spices, Chinaware or Cloves) and Unify Culture (Own, or have a subject own, all provinces of your culture group)

Age of Absolutism: Three Trade Companies (self-explanatory), Multiple Universities (own and control at least 5), Potential for a Large Army (Reach a force limit of at least 200 regiments), Absolutism (At least 90), Emperor of China (have at least 50 mandate), Multicultural Nation (At least 5 different promoted cultures), Win Religious War (Don't have to lead the league, just be part of the winning side)

Age of Revolutions: Parliament (Have a government with a Parliament), Emperor (Have either Empire rank, Emperor of HRE or Emperor of China), Powerful Subject (Have a subject with at least 250 development), High Discipline (at least 125%), Large Capital (at least 50 development), Great Leader (3-star general or admiral) and Control Institutions (Own and control at least 2 origins of institutions).

 

[HistoryDude]

I liked the information here. Are you following the second school then?

Have any AI taken their Golden Era in this game yet?

 

[jak7139]

Although some countries can get a second one (or extend a current one) through their mission trees.

I suppose that countries that can get second Golden Eras can follow both.

Yes, some countries can. But I didn't mention it here because it is such a rare occurrence. Most countries still only get one.

And thank you for answering @Rensslaer 's question.

@jak7139 you're providing new definitions for "shoestring budget" so it's good to see your clever tricks to get things "on sale".

Most small nations have to play this way, otherwise their debt will spiral quickly. And our economy is growing steadily.

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.

If Poland takes the union, then there is definitely conflict between them. When Poland doesn't take the union, Poland and Lithuania are usually allies against Russia. Since Muscovy is always fighting a 2v1, they are always at a disadvantage (and they have worse tech and economy than their western neighbors). And they lose 9 times out of 10. But this game is one of the rare times I've seen Russia do well.

As you said, Russia, Poland, and the rest would all ideally ally against the Ottomans, but the AI doesn't play that way. Usually, the Ottomans will expand into whatever scraps of Russia the PLC has left untouched. Then the Turks will turn west.

I liked the information here. Are you following the second school then?

Have any AI taken their Golden Era in this game yet?

I usually follow the second school, but sometimes I'll take my GE early. In this case, I thought it was a better idea to save it for a crucial moment.

The Ottomans, Castille, and Portugal have all taken it. And probably some countries in Asia that we can't see as well as some HRE nations.

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Castille’s on the Board
|-|
(February 1479-December 1482)​

Another day, another play session, and another look at our economy before we unpause (9.22 gross. Losing 3.59 a month with 47 in the bank). When we finally do start playing, we’re hit almost immediately with an event.

​

As your Explorers and Conquistadors go out into the world, random flavor events will pop up from time-to-time. Yet they all boil down to a simple choice between 2 options:

The Top Option: Be kind to the natives, losing monarch power or money and making revolts in the colony less likely.

The Bottom Option: Be evil, gaining Prestige, points, or money and making native revolts more likely.

Now, I don’t think it’s a huge secret what most players (including myself) choose here. If you’ve ever experienced EU4’s colonization mechanic, then you know that native revolts are not a threat, and that money, points, and Prestige are all very useful (especially early in the game). The only time you should ever choose the top option on one of these events is for RP.

Note: I am not talking about the flavor events for your colonies here, just the events regarding expeditions. The events regarding colonies are much more varied and have different effects.

We’re able to take Admin tech 7 in May, giving us another slot for an Idea Group (plus the ahead-of-time bonuses to our production and Corruption reduction for the next 13 years).

​

What do we pick? Nothing for now.

In September, I notice the Cape Verde has finally been claimed by Castille. I look around. Everywhere else is still clear.

​

We can seize land and summon another diet in October. I decide not to sell any land back because I’d like to build up a surplus of Crownland, and I believe our economy can handle it. If we’re close to taking out a loan, then I’ll reconsider. Our objective this time is given by the Clergy. They want us to build a Church in Anjou (+0.13 a month if we build it).

​

By seizing land, our share is up to 19.983%. If we were at 20%, we’d lose some penalties to our tax and autonomy. Seeing how we’re 13 years ahead on military tech, I turn on the dev-cost edict in Brittany and click 3 times in Bro Roazhon (the cheapest province). It is now at 3/4/8 development for a total of 15. The penalty to our Autonomy is gone and the tax penalty is lessened.

​

We take some money from the Pope when we can, and in July of 1480 our Greenland colony is large enough (400 settlers) to be assigned a Trade Good. We get Fur. Fur is a decently rich good, but not as good as the potential Ivory we might’ve gotten. At least Fur is better than Fish. We also take the next part of Exploration, making our colonies grow by an extra 10 people per year.

A quick update on the Idea picks and tech of our 4 main rivals (we’re at 7/5/7 with 4 slots filled in Exploration and have not picked our second group yet):

• England: Exploration (3 slots filled). Expansion (0). 7/5/7.
• France: Administrative (7). Quantity (0). 7/5/7.
• Portugal: Exploration (4). Expansion (1). 7/5/6.
• Castille: Exploration (4). 6/5/6. (Castille will more than likely pick Expansion).

Our Treasurer dies in August and, seeing how we just took tech and are 13 years ahead on it, I don’t replace him.

A month later, we get an event for being the first European to discover Fur in the New World, permanently increasing the price of the good (2.00 -> 2.70). And then Castille defeats Morocco, taking 7 provinces including the Portuguese ones. I hope this causes some tension in their alliance. The TO also ceases to exist as Poland separate peaces them.

1851 arrives, and peace along with it. Poland ends their war with the Livonian Order, taking the southern portion of the country.

​

Our army has been fighting rebellions this whole time and I’ve neglected to mention it. The only reason I’m bringing it up now is…

I forget how old Erwan was when we hired him, but we had him 37 years. That’s quite good considering his dangerous profession. We’ll need a new general soon to lead our armies against our foes, but for now we wait and mourn the loss of Erwan de Machecoul.

With Erwan’s death, Duke Francois feels the weight of his age upon him. He’s 67 years old. Our heir, also named Francois, has just come of age. By becoming 15, Prince Francois has gained his first trait. In this case, it’s a very good one!

​

October comes again. This time, Bohemia decides to finish off the remnants of Hungary. But their CB isn’t for conquest. Apparently, Hungary was a junior partner of the Czechs at some point and I missed it. Whenever a union breaks via Pretender Rebels, the overlord always gets a free CB to regain the lost throne.

We continue playing. And, funnily enough, the next moment of interest is also in October. This time in 1482. We institute an extra tax against Kildare to help our treasury. They may hate us for it, but as long as they don’t become disloyal, it doesn’t matter.

​

One month later, the Bohemian-Hungarian war ends with the expected result. We also have enough Papal Influence to pick another bonus. I go with the Tax one again to help our economy. Then I spend another 5 points to get a chance at becoming Pope when the current one dies. Let’s see if we’re lucky (8.70% chance, but that will decrease as other AIs continue to spend on it).

Our nation is at peace and our economy is on shaky ground. But we’re managing alright. See you all next time!

 

[Hootieleece]

Playing well if slowly. Interested in you getting Castille in an alliance to help hold off France.

The other way to do it.....as I am in my Switzerland save. Declare yourself threatened and improve relations to help reduce the chance of France annexing "Old Brittany".

 

[Midnite Duke]

Economy 9.22 gross. Gross is both measure of economy and opinion of economy. France taking Quantity like they need more super-soldiers. Will you double down on exploration/expansion or take a military idea? Can the economy support two colonies? Thanks

 

[Rensslaer]

Hmm... Greenland could have been mastadons -- then you'd get fur AND ivory.

You provoked a thought... Do small European powers such as yourself ever ally with the native cultures in the Americas against rival colonial powers? Would that ever be a wise thing to do, or is it likely to lead to bad outcomes for the small European power? I'm assuming it's a bad idea because it would bring you into conflict with countries that are more powerful than you. But just curious what you think.

Rensslaer

 

[Bullfilter]

More interesting game management strategies on display, useful examples. If left unchecked, is there anything to prevent continued Ottoman expansion in Europe, or later game mechanics that act to limit the Great Blobs of the world?

 

[HistoryDude]

Poor Portugal.

How long will it take for your settlers in Greenland to grow restless and go to North America to create more colonies?

 

[jak7139]

Playing well if slowly. Interested in you getting Castille in an alliance to help hold off France.

That's the plan. Castille should be a good ally for us.

The other way to do it.....as I am in my Switzerland save. Declare yourself threatened and improve relations to help reduce the chance of France annexing "Old Brittany".

That's also a good way to prevent threats. But if the AI is hungry enough for your land, then it doesn't work. I think I tried that in this game, but France wasn't ver cooperative. I did have a diplomat improving with them most of the time though.

Economy 9.22 gross. Gross is both measure of economy and opinion of economy.

Well, at least we haven't taken out any loans for a while. And our economy will start to grow rapidly once we get some colonies.

France taking Quantity like they need more super-soldiers.

Right!? The Big Blue Blob is a scary beast.

Will you double down on exploration/expansion or take a military idea? Can the economy support two colonies? Thanks

Our second slot is still empty right now, but I did eventually pick Expansion. That will probably be shown in next week's update.

We can't support two colonies right now, but once we pick up more colonists, I try that.

Hmm... Greenland could have been mastadons -- then you'd get fur AND ivory.

I'm sure some Breton philosophers have thought about mastodons, much like Thomas Jefferson.

You provoked a thought... Do small European powers such as yourself ever ally with the native cultures in the Americas against rival colonial powers?

Not really. It's more of a liability than an asset. Their lack of tech is the main issue.

Would that ever be a wise thing to do, or is it likely to lead to bad outcomes for the small European power? I'm assuming it's a bad idea because it would bring you into conflict with countries that are more powerful than you. But just curious what you think.

You're correct. It would just isolate us from our own European allies were someone to declare on our native ally.

However, I sometimes ally smaller nations. But that's only because once we're big enough, lots of small nations will become willing vassals. So the alliance is just a temporary stop on the road to subjugation.

More interesting game management strategies on display, useful examples. If left unchecked, is there anything to prevent continued Ottoman expansion in Europe, or later game mechanics that act to limit the Great Blobs of the world?

The Ottomans have a decadence mechanic that was added in one of the recent patches. I haven't tested it out much, but it's supposed to hurt them in the late game. For everyone else, there's really no limit on how much you can expand.

EU4, at its core, encourages blobbing. And many subsequent mechanics and DLC have only made this easier to do. There are few ways to play tall in vanilla, but some mods try to fix this.

Poor Portugal.

Portugal is a potential rival and Castille is our ally, but it was funny seeing Castille take Portuguese land from Morocco for themselves.

How long will it take for your settlers in Greenland to grow restless and go to North America to create more colonies?

Not long! We'll be starting a new colony in this next update!

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER NINETEEN: New Ruler, New Faces, New Horizons
|-|
(December 1482-June 1493)​

In March, I decide to hire a new general using our Estate decision because of a looming rebellion. Erwan is replaced by Paol Kalbean de Cardelan. Paol has less pips than Erwan, and he doesn’t have a siege pip, but he does have +3 Shock. So, he’s good for combat, but not much else.

Later, in the Fall, Morocco ends their rivalry with us. Tunis also breaks their alliance with them.

Continuing on, we pick up the next part of Exploration. This new perk gives bonuses to our Trade Companies, making them cheaper to govern and invest in. We don’t have any yet. But we will have lots in the future.

​

Finally, on November 1st, 1485, our colony in Eriksfjord finishes! Its Development also increases by 1 in each category due to the Age of Discovery bonus we picked back in Chapter 13.

I check page 12 of the Ledger to see where we can reach next, and I also notice Portugal on the island of Bermuda.

After thinking on it, I decide to send our colonist to Massachusett (renamed automatically to Baye Blanche). It’s a highly developed province (5/4/2), a Trade Center, and will give us range down the East Coast and to the Caribbean once done.

​

At the beginning of the next year, the remnants of Tlemcen (which had just lost a war to Tunis), is declared on by Castille. That war ends a few months later with Castille growing stronger. I also assign both of our Diplomats to start spying in North America. One goes to Wampanoag, the other goes to Penobscot.

​

In August, we grab a new Age Ability (see Chapter 13). This time I pick the one for decreased AE impact from taking provinces. This will make it harder for other nations to form a Coalition against us, something about to become very useful. Although we’ve been at peace for the past couple of decades, we’re about to expand again against some new targets.

I also turn Eriksfjord into a State and full-core it, both because we’re up-to-date with tech, but also because Greenland won’t be taken away from us when any of our colonial subjects form (this also applies to Bermuda and the Falklands).

​

Portugal also tries to attack Morocco again. Maybe this time they’ll have better luck.

Helpfully, as we begin to branch out, we get an event for faster colony growth for the next 10 years.

Then, just as our nation is about to enter a new era, Duke Francois takes his last breath. Long live Duke Francois II (and hopefully we spend a long time with his 4/6/5 stats)! Of course, we immediately boost our Stability back up to 0.

​

With this change in rulers, I check out the History Screen in the bottom right. This tells you all the things your ruler did over their reign, kind of like CK2’s chronicle but less detailed.

​

We next pick up in December 1487. Our new duke gets an heir and a bride! Prince Henri is perfectly average. I could disinherit him, but since our Prestige is low, I decide to keep him. It’s not like we’re struggling with tech.

Also, at some point, Eriksfjord was renamed to Vittreville. Vonig de Vittre is the name of our colonist, and I thought it was fitting to name it after him.

Francois decides to mark the birth of his son and the New Year with some good old-fashioned conquest. Our claim against Wampanoag is ready, our army is in place, and although we’re heavily outnumbered, we have the advantage of Tactics and Tech.

​

We move north onto Wampanoag’s capital. Then, a rebellion fires back home in Ireland. I hire a second general, using points this time since the decision is still on cooldown. The new guy, Loic, is terrible, but all we need him to do is fight rebels (armies without generals are more likely to lose battles).

France takes their Golden Era in March, and we also continue to finish Exploration. Only one slot left! Picking this second-to-last slot also gives us decreased unrest from our Breton Ideas.

​

After 166 days, Wampanoag’s capital falls. Why did it fall so quickly? One, we had a small Spy Network built up in them. Two, the difference in Tactics between our countries. We fight better and we siege better too.

With our high amount of mil points, I hire our first Conquistador to explore some of the lands around us. Sklaer is much better than Loic. We assign him to the 4,000-stack that was sieging. Then, they head through the terra incognita to the next enemy province.

​

Along the way, we meet the enemy in battle! We’re initially outnumbered, but our other army sitting nearby reinforces. We win the day and Sklaer gets a new trait. I’d also like to point out this battle screen before we move on.

This is why you should never fall behind in a Tactics tech. The natives had a better general and more men, but our Tactics-score prevented us from taking that much damage. However, our advantage won’t last forever. Now that we border some natives, they’ll get discounts to tech, and soon more Europeans will arrive. We need to go hard and fast for the foreseeable future. This opportunity won’t be presented again.

Loic (Paol has been reassigned to Europe) and Sklaer both move to the north and arrive in September. They each begin sieging a province. In December, Paol dies. He couldn’t live up to Erwan. The Irish rebellion is still ongoing as both sides stare at each other. Loic had fought one battle over there, but lost, hence why I reassigned Paol (the better general) to go deal with it. For now, nothing happens.

​

One province (Maliseet) falls in February after 177 days. The next one though (Abenaki) takes 463 days, falling in November 1489. I think we must’ve suffered some disease outbreaks, meaning we didn’t have enough troops to siege.

Our armies move out again. Sklaer moves south to deal with a native uprising. Loic moves north to start another siege. Sklaer then moves down to Lenape’s province to siege it. It’s July 1490.

Wampanoag assembles a small force to try and take back their capital. But now we see another effect of our Tactics. Not only is it faster for us to siege. It’s also slower for them to siege. Lenape falls in October after 207 days. Sklaer moves north again.

​

By the time he gets there, the entire enemy army has converged on Wampanoag’s siege. Despite our tech superiority, I don’t think we can take 16,000 on 4,000. We’ll wait for Luic’s force to finish in Stadacona.

In the meantime, we finally finish Exploration. We can now fabricate claims on any province in Colonial Regions (the Americas and Australia/New Zealand). Our diplomats have already been hard at work while this war has been happening. We want a claim on anything that borders Baye Blanche. But now we’re not even restricted by adjacency (annoyingly, the OPM natives will migrate around to different provinces, invalidating your claims. It’s just something to keep in mind).

​

In the end, after moving all of Loic’s force down to Sklaer (except for 1 unit to maintain the siege), I attack. And here’s another battle screen to hammer home how important Tactics is.

Unfortunately, while the battle was going on, I missed being able to take Innovativeness from the next mil tech. We’re one year ahead on admin and mil, but only the military one would’ve given us an Innovativeness bonus. Since we are near the cap on mil points, I would’ve liked to take the tech. But I switch gears to Develop our provinces instead, again sorting by the cheapest province in the Macrobuider and turning on the Edict where applicable.

The cheapest province this time is Arvor.

• Development: 13 (3/6/4) -> 20 (5/6/9)
• Points: 803 -> 734 (Admin). 980 -> 781 (Mil)

In July, Stadacona falls after 576 days. We have 100% warscore and it’s time to start peacing out. Let’s go one-by-one from September 1491 to June 1492 (it takes a while for our diplomats to cross the Atlantic):

• Stadacona: War reps, Transfer Trade Power, 35 ducats.
• Abenaki: Annex Migratory Tribe (AMT. A special peace option that prevents the tribe from moving somewhere else once their province is lost. It costs 100% warscore).
• Maliseet: AMT
• Wampanoag: AMT. 35 ducats (I think because they were the warleader, the cost to annex them was cheaper, allowing us to also take money).

Finally, to end this long update. I’ll quickly go over what happened while we were signing all those treaties:

October 1491:

• Morocco loses Ifni, Tangiers, and 10.8 gold to Portugal. They’re also forced to release Fez and Marrakesh.
• I notice a Castilian colony in Orinoco Delta (Venezuela) and a Portuguese colony in St. Martin (Caribbean).

November 1491:

• We get an event to get 300 settlers in Baye Blanche for 25 diplo points. We take it, immediately finishing the colony. Our next colony is started in Penakuk to the northwest of Baye Blanche. We did this to be able to core the Maliseet and Abenaki provinces once the colony finishes.

December 1491:

• Most of the army except for 3,000 to guard our colonies was shipped back to Ireland. December is when we finally attack. Loic’s force overwhelms the Irish rebels. He gains an excellent trait despite his lackluster stats.

​

January 1492:

• We take the next admin (governing capacity and a new building) and mil tech (more inf fire and cav shock, plus a new building).
• Our tech increase gives us a decision to increase our Missionary Strength but make Institutions more expensive to embrace. We enact it.

March 1492:

• Castille declares on the tribe of Arawak next to Orinoco Delta.

April 1492:

• We begin coring what provinces we can (Maliseet and Abenaki). We have no connection to Lenape. And I forgot to start coring Wampanoag once we annexed it, though this is fixed a few months later.
• Most of the army was shipped back to North America, with a small contingent (4 units) left in Ireland.

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

Also, at some point, Eriksfjord was renamed to Vittreville. Vonig de Vittre is the name of our colonist, and I thought it was fitting to name it after him.

Honestly I think that having an option to name colonies after colonists automatically (if there isn't already a colony named after them) is a good idea.

 

[Bullfilter]

Thanks for the latest EU4 lesson!

France takes their Golden Era in March

Because they need a bit of a boost

Liked this graphic - a bit of work went into that. What did you do it with?

You really did highlight the tactics advantage effectively. What are the best ‘mouse overs’ to look at when quantifying the degree of the advantage, both before and during a war?

 

[Hootieleece]

That's also a good way to prevent threats. But if the AI is hungry enough for your land, then it doesn't work. I think I tried that in this game, but France wasn't ver cooperative. I did have a diplomat improving with them most of the time though.

I was able to get it to within 10 points of them allying me again, but I think that was because of the level of trust I was able to build up while I was allied at the beginning of the save. They do have a mission (claims) for all of my provinces but haven't bothered to invade me yet. I am currently +50 relations, and I keep a diplomat parked in their capital in vain hope of re-allying. It is 1615 in the save but nobody big wants to ally us even though we are a medium sized power with a decent army (42k).

It is almost like our Army Size is an impediment.

 

[jak7139]

Liked this graphic - a bit of work went into that. What did you do it with?

A quick reply to this question.

This was done mostly with the program Paint.net . It's a free art and image editing tool like Photoshop, GIMP, or MS Paint. The main advantage it has over MS Paint is that it has layers, but any program would probably work.

Also a step-by-step of what I did in case anyone's curious:

Spoiler: Step-by-step

1. First, I took a screenshot of whatever I wanted to map. In this case:

2. Then, I went into MS Paint to crop the image using the box selection tool. I took out the outliner, minimap, and some of the ocean. I left a large space to the west of my main focus for the legend to go.
3. I loaded the new image into PDN and traced over the coasts, borders, rivers, etc. Then I colored in what nations I wanted to show (was initially going to show Mahican and Iroquois as well, but the map would've been too busy).
4. PDN also has an arrow/pathing tool which is how I got the different army routes.

5. I created the text-boxes, legend, and title by exporting the PDN file into PowerPoint since I find their text-boxes easier to work with. I also added the lines pointing to each event's location. In hindsight, I should've also filled the background of the boxes in with rectangles to make them in front of the arrows and terrain.

6. Took the PPT version of the image and brought it back into PDN. This was to create the different legend symbols.
7. Broght the final image back into PPT to save it as a jpeg and sort it chronologically with all the other screenshots from the chapter.

Note: This entire process probably could've been done in one program. And I think PDN has all the tools you would need to do it. I just find jumping between different programs like this to be easier. If I had more experience I probably would've added terrain and found better placements for the boxes and lines to not overlap. But I think, for something I don't do that often, this turned out pretty good.

 

[Killcrazy13]

A quick reply to this question.

This was done mostly with the program Paint.net . It's a free art and image editing tool like Photoshop, GIMP, or MS Paint. The main advantage it has over MS Paint is that it has layers, but any program would probably work.

Also a step-by-step of what I did in case anyone's curious:

Spoiler: Step-by-step

1. First, I took a screenshot of whatever I wanted to map. In this case:

View attachment 1172259
2. Then, I went into MS Paint to crop the image using the box selection tool. I took out the outliner, minimap, and some of the ocean. I left a large space to the west of my main focus for the legend to go.
3. I loaded the new image into PDN and traced over the coasts, borders, rivers, etc. Then I colored in what nations I wanted to show (was initially going to show Mahican and Iroquois as well, but the map would've been too busy).
4. PDN also has an arrow/pathing tool which is how I got the different army routes.
View attachment 1172272
5. I created the text-boxes, legend, and title by exporting the PDN file into PowerPoint since I find their text-boxes easier to work with. I also added the lines pointing to each event's location. In hindsight, I should've also filled the background of the boxes in with rectangles to make them in front of the arrows and terrain.
View attachment 1172273
6. Took the PPT version of the image and brought it back into PDN. This was to create the different legend symbols.
7. Broght the final image back into PPT to save it as a jpeg and sort it chronologically with all the other screenshots from the chapter.

Note: This entire process probably could've been done in one program. And I think PDN has all the tools you would need to do it. I just find jumping between different programs like this to be easier. If I had more experience I probably would've added terrain and found better placements for the boxes and lines to not overlap. But I think, for something I don't do that often, this turned out pretty good.

Thanks for the guide. I've always struggled to create a good map and they are invaluable in enriching an AAR.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Is Lenape on water (Delaware Bay) and can it be cored by water? Is next colony going to be placed with the goal of coring Lenape? Thanks

 

[Rensslaer]

Great work against the Wampanoag and their allies! Brittany has made quite a name for itself in the Americas already. I gather you've gotten a jump on the other colonial powers, and so you're not jostling with the majors yet. You mention only a handful of other nations' colonies. Great work there too. This is certainly a path plotted toward greatness. France will someday cower.

So you probably don't know for sure, since much of it is in fog of war, but do you have a sense of how many European colonies already exist in North America? Like maybe from notices of war declarations, or somesuch?

Is there anywhere in the Ledger that shows tactics comparisons? Or maybe it's in the country page stats, and I just am not that familiar with all the stats shown.

Rensslaer

 

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on defeating some native nations.

How long will it take for your first colonial subject to form? What will you (or the game) name that colony?

 

[jak7139]

Honestly I think that having an option to name colonies after colonists automatically (if there isn't already a colony named after them) is a good idea.

That would be a good QoL feature. It provides a nice bit of RP and connection to your campaign.

Thanks for the latest EU4 lesson!

You're very welcome!

Because they need a bit of a boost

I know right?

Liked this graphic - a bit of work went into that. What did you do it with?

Thanks for the guide. I've always struggled to create a good map and they are invaluable in enriching an AAR.

I'm glad people liked the map so much. I might at some point post a step-by-step in the SolAARium, so others can reference it.

It is almost like our Army Size is an impediment.

Being a medium-sized country means you're in a weird position. You've grown enough to have captured the AI's attention and become rivals for territory. But you're also still small enough that they don't fear/respect you. There should be some small/medium countries that want to befriend you and protect you as you grow. The trick is to have patience and find easy expansion opportunities without angering the larger powers.

Is Lenape on water (Delaware Bay) and can it be cored by water? Is next colony going to be placed with the goal of coring Lenape? Thanks

Lenape isn't connected to the coast which is why we can't core it. The next colony won't be sent near there because of other factors. We have other places we need to grab before Portugal or Castille steal them.

France will someday cower.

That's the hope.

So you probably don't know for sure, since much of it is in fog of war, but do you have a sense of how many European colonies already exist in North America? Like maybe from notices of war declarations, or somesuch?

In continental North America, it's just us right now. Even if the interior of NA is FoW, the other Europeans won't be able to reach there without colonizing something on the coast first. We can see the whole eastern coast from Canada down to Argentina.

The Caribbean has many Portuguese colonies as you'll see in this coming update.

South America is mostly empty still. There's a small Castillian colony as discussed at the end of the last chapter. And, in this update, England will plant their flag too.

You really did highlight the tactics advantage effectively. What are the best ‘mouse overs’ to look at when quantifying the degree of the advantage, both before and during a war?

Is there anywhere in the Ledger that shows tactics comparisons? Or maybe it's in the country page stats, and I just am not that familiar with all the stats shown.

Before declaring war, I like to look at a few pages in the Ledger.

There's no specific page to highlight the differences in Tactics, but there is a page to see what tech level everyone is at (page 7). So, you can use that to extrapolate if they have the latest Tactics (it doesn't list the Tactics directly, so you'd have to look at your own tech screen or on the wiki to remember which techs provide it, then see what tech each of your enemies have).

There are also pages 20-24 (army/navy sizes and quality), page 30 (shows the income of every country), and page 4 (shows a nation's score). If you're a GP, you can see any country's debt through the diplomatic interaction "take on foreign debt." But if you're not a GP, checking that nation's admin score generation will give you the number of loans they have, but not the total debt (everyone suffers -0.02 admin score rating for each unpaid loan).

How long will it take for your first colonial subject to form? What will you (or the game) name that colony?

It won't be in this chapter, it's in next week's update. I've already named it after one of our rulers/generals. Any guesses? If anyone has any suggestions for naming it or its provinces once we've caught up to gameplay, let me know.