Best way to learn the game?

[RileyRose]

So after... whatever's going on with EU4 I decided I'd try and spend some time on this. I've heard the recent release has done wonders but learning a paradox game is always intimidating. Are there any particularly good tutorials to understand how the game works?

 

[Torugu]

You can look at Lambert's guide here:

Also, if you're thinking of starting as Rome: Rome has a nasty habit of hiding the game's complexity. It's so strong that it allows you to ignore half of the game's mechanics, while tricking you into believing that you're doing well.

So may suggestion is to either a) start with any country other than Rome, or b) start with Rome to learn the basics, but give it at least a second game before you form your opinion on Imperator.


Finally, feel free to ask here if you have any questions. People on this forum are generally very eager to help new players out.

 

[Ducky251]

Agree with YouTube tutorials, but only watch ones that have been posted within the last 2 months.

If Rome doesn’t take your fancy, I’d actually recommend trying Bactria (they’re in the Afghanistan/Pakistan/Tajikistan area) as a good ‘new player friendly nation’ for several reasons:
You have a large and stable economy (a lot of resources to trade out and a good population - if you integrate Sogdian straight away about 90% of your population is integrated in only 3 cultures)
Your army is fairly large, much bigger than any nation who borders you (except for Maurya, but they focus on India for the first 150 years)
As a vassal of the Seleucids, you cannot have civil wars which avoids that issue (vassals cannot explode!) and can easily break away when you decide (there is only one place they can attack from, and it takes them years to show up)
You have greek and Persian military traditions from the start, giving access to four trees instead of the usual two.
You have a surprising number of cities, your technology rate at the start is surprisingly good and you start with a wonder that gives +5% unitegrated culture group happiness.

also they’re quite fun to try to reform the Hellenistic empire from the opposite end with horses rather than from Greece with infantry!

 

[Flixbube]

i recommend yt tutorials&guides, but be careful to only watch post -2.0 stuff, there were some radical changes so pre2.0 guides arent that accurate anymore. for learning the game i recommend rome if you want an easy first run, rome and egypt are probably the most fail-safe. or you do it like me and keep playing athens until you failed 50 times but finally understand the game

 

[The_Sound_Of_Violence]

As usual for this type of game, I'd recommend starting with a not too large nation, so every decision you make has its consequences more clearly felt; this forces you to get a clear understanding of each mechanics to play efficiently.
Save and reload as often as needed to compare the effects of different decisions.

Rome's neighbours have a hard time, I wouldn't recommend them to learn the game.

You can also have a look at the wiki.

 

[Larz1695]

I just play the game. 4Head I also read the wiki to see if there's anything new I missed. That combined with Youtube videos.

 

[olivenkranz]

Egypt, Carthage and Rome are rather easy. I dont recommend a tribe as a first playthrough.
A tip thats especially useful aginst larger neighbours: you can steal provinces. You have to go to the governor and the "Entice Governor" Interaction will do it. The prerequisites are described there. Loyalty below 40, Province loyalty below 50, adjacent (not sure about sea and inhabitable tiles) and a friend of your ruler.

 

[Wenla]

Starting to play.

 

[Ffc]

Just play

I always felt like videos or external content are only good to learn advanced and precise information that you would struggle to figure out yourself

To learn how culture or religion works, just play and click on the culture / religion UI and read for 5 minutes

 

[Lord Lambert]

You can look at Lambert's guide here:

I really need to get back to working on that... damn thing causing me so much stress :/

 

[Jiben]

Honestly? Just play alot. Play different countries. Rome is a good start but i can also recomend Egypt.

 

[Ducky251]

As said, avoid tribes like the plague (of Justinian ) - they make some nations nigh on impossible at the start...

I would still recommend Bactria (I mean I recommended Georgia as a started nation on CKII so my choices are...the roads less travelled...) but I would possibly add Kush (modern day Sudan):
Large economy
Good population
Their geography is one river - you can block it with a fort or two and just defend
People to the east are weak (Somalia/Ethiopia and Arabia)
Probably slightly harder than Bactria, but Egypt are easier to deal with than the Maurya.

Another option would be Capaddocia:
Protected by Antigonids, buuut an event means you get put under Armenia and thus not steamrolled by other diadochi.
Decent economy
Decent army
‘Major’ nations to avoid if new-ish:
Epirus - missions haven’t been changed and so are nearly impossible, also they have nowhere near enough manpower to achieve objectives (mission 1 - attack macedon...)
Athens/Sparta/any small greek city - a Diadochi or defensive pact will end you
Etruria - much harder since Rome got a +2.5% levy buff...
Syracuse - if you can take Sicily very quickly...but their bonuses are for mercenaries which you cannot afford early on...
Antigonids - if you can survive first war, you will be ok (hint - attack macedon as soon as you get claims, take Corinth and end the war. The other diadochi never pile on you and make it much easier as they never ally with each other)
Seleucids - too much culture mashing and many rebellions if not careful
Massalia - good god no, no

In summary - Bactria or Rome, if you want a diadochi try macedon

Good luck!!

 

[MagisterMundi]

Bactria is good, but I personally recommend Aksum or one of the southern Arabian kingdoms; both have plenty of solid trade goods and people to trade with, and both also have fairly easy neighbors to conquer. The Arabian kingdoms have a fairly easy formable nation that'll give you a nice permanent boost, and Aksum has the potential to contend with Egypt if you conquer Kush and Blemmyia. Or, if you prefer, you can expand eastward instead (as Aksum) or westward into Aksum (as an Arabian kingdom). Enough challenge to be interesting, but also room to learn and grow without having to worry about getting eaten by a major power early on.

 

[Phili]

When you look at the military tech tree, don't assume those extra techs at the side are for the civil tech tree.
I played for a year before it occurred to me to actually look at them and discover there's more than one military tech tree.