Best beginner nations?

[OttoVonBismarck'97]

Hello! So i got this game last week, but I haven't gotten around to putting much time into it due to the launch of the Cossacks expansion for EU4.

I was wondering, besides Rome, what are some easy nations to play as? I want to play a campaign so I can get a bearing on how the game works although I already understand most of the concepts, but as you all know, Rome has been done to death.

So what factions would be an easy and fun time?

 

[NoodleNaught]

Epirus is a interesting start. Been a while since I played, but if I remember correctly they start at war with Rome and receive a event giving them a nice big army at the start. Makes for a exciting early game, and your a monarchy so you can mostly focus on the war.

Otherwise looking across the little Greek states, pretty much anything in mainland Greece is relatively easy to start, manage and learn the basics with. They also have plenty of room to expand, and a variety of options to do so.

 

[Lofman]

Egypt is strong and easy. There is also the Seleucids, they have a rough start, but have great potential, and Egypt (the only real threat) does tend to leave them alone. And we have Carthage, slightly weaker then Rome but an interesting option.

And if you don't feel like playing a major power, Macedonia (if you can deal with Tylis), Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom are all interesting options.

 

[NoodleNaught]

Massila (The Southern Gaul Greek State) is also a good pick if you want to understand barbarian mechanics, colonization, civilization, etc... They maybe shouldn't be who you launch up for the very first time though.

If your ever looking for experimentation with barbarian stuff. The Picts (Scotland) are a relatively laid back choice.

Egypt is strong and easy. There is also the Seleucids, they have a rough start, but have great potential, and Egypt (the only real threat) does tend to leave them alone. And we have Carthage, slightly weaker then Rome but an interesting option.

And if you don't feel like playing a major power, Macedonia (if you can deal with Tylis), Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom are all interesting options.

Bosporan Kingdom is probably the easiest out of the 3 (Tylis, Pontus, Bosporan) listed at the end.

I forgot about the two big chaps in the East. Egypt and Seleucid's get right into the big scale strategy quick and decisively.

 

[OttoVonBismarck'97]

I tried playing as the seleucids and egypt, but if i play one, i get my butt kicked by the other, it's kinda tough dealing with all those big armies and holding off such a tough opponent. I went with macedon and that worked alright when I wasn't making hasty and foolish moves.

I'll try Epirus and Carthage next

 

[trolllolol]

Carthage is cool, but make sure the first thing you do is attack egypt and take cyernaica from them. it gives you access to iron and thus heavy infantry. also if you play as greeks use sparta or macedonia for their access to iron. heavy infantry really helps swing the tide of battle to your favor. Personally when i played i never thought rome was that easy to play as cuz goddamn barbarians made watching my border like a full time job and the barbarians seem to prefer to invade rome. i cant tell you how many times i was a neighbor of rome and watched a barbarian army build up to like mythic porportions i shit myself raise an army, send it to the front, and then they just walk right past me and fuck up rome lolol.
Pontus is cool i made them as big as the eastern roman empire once. what you should do with them is either lose a small war to rome or the seleucids pay them tribute until they want to be your ally then once they are your ally stop paying them tribute so you can declare war on your smaller neighbors and bully them around. if you dont have rome or the seleucids as an ally the seleucids will declare war on you all the time and fuck you up and rome will too but much later in the game.