Hey y'all,
I'm obsessed with Brunei (only in EU4, not in real life lol), been playing it for years through the various patches.
There are a whole number of reasons for why it's an awesome country to start:
- It's one of the strongest powers in the region at game start
- 4-4-2 Ruler ain't bad compared to the neighbors
- Wealthy region (spices, gems, cloves, etc) means you can easily turn Malacca into the wealthiest trade node in the game
- Tons of nearby coastal provinces to conquer = gigantic navy to dominate all that trade with
- Big navy + boosts to navy from national ideas + capital on an island = it's basically impossible to defeat you in a war since you can always fight off landing parties
- One of the easternmost feudal states at game start and the easternmost Sunni one = you're close enough to North America and advanced enough in tech to be a contender to spawn colonialism in 1500
- Tons of islands around you to colonize (especially Micronesia with Nan Madoll to get an early +10 global settler increase)
- Missions that give you vassals and tons of claims in early game
My favorite thing to do is to turn Brunei into the "Asian Britain" - an island colonial superpower with an unstoppable navy. I'm usually able to beat the europeans to colonies pretty much everywhere except Cuba and Brazil, where I compete with them well enough given that I can afford way more colonies than they can.
Game start:
By the 1550s you should have 6+ colonial nations, insane income, the Malay archipelago under your control, and the beginnings of a conflict with Ayyuthaya. Make sure to always be at force limit to deter Europeans from attacking you over colonies and conquer as much as you can in North America and Africa to boost your colonial holdings there. I like to then aim for North Africa and eventually Spain to get Granada with its liberty desire bonus.
Hope this helps folks!
I'm obsessed with Brunei (only in EU4, not in real life lol), been playing it for years through the various patches.
There are a whole number of reasons for why it's an awesome country to start:
- It's one of the strongest powers in the region at game start
- 4-4-2 Ruler ain't bad compared to the neighbors
- Wealthy region (spices, gems, cloves, etc) means you can easily turn Malacca into the wealthiest trade node in the game
- Tons of nearby coastal provinces to conquer = gigantic navy to dominate all that trade with
- Big navy + boosts to navy from national ideas + capital on an island = it's basically impossible to defeat you in a war since you can always fight off landing parties
- One of the easternmost feudal states at game start and the easternmost Sunni one = you're close enough to North America and advanced enough in tech to be a contender to spawn colonialism in 1500
- Tons of islands around you to colonize (especially Micronesia with Nan Madoll to get an early +10 global settler increase)
- Missions that give you vassals and tons of claims in early game
My favorite thing to do is to turn Brunei into the "Asian Britain" - an island colonial superpower with an unstoppable navy. I'm usually able to beat the europeans to colonies pretty much everywhere except Cuba and Brazil, where I compete with them well enough given that I can afford way more colonies than they can.
Game start:
- Estates: seize crownlands, take all +1 MP privileges, reduced advisor costs from all 3, tropical dev boost from merchants, 2 resident scholar pivileges from the ulama
- Invite a Hanafi scholar
- Take a loan from the merchants
- Build to max forcelimit (MUST have 4 total cavalry), bring troops to Sambas border
- Rival Sambas and anyone else, preferably Berau and/or other Borneo powers (Kutai + Banjar)
- Build to max naval forcelimit (galleys over light ships at this point)
- Hire +1 advisors for all powers
- Prioritize money-making, save up as much as you can (don't pay back merchants)
- Build spy network in Berau and Sambas, third diplomat goes to improve relations with Sulu
- Move merchant from Canton to Malacca - no idea why there isn't a merchant in Malacca already
- Fabricate 2 claims on Sambas & Berau, vassalize Sulu via mission, guarantee and send diplomat over to Maynilla to improve relations
- Recruit free company, invade Sambas (make sure to ambush their navy) - you'll have the forcelimit for it once you vassalize Maynilla during the war
- They'll almost certainly be allied with another Borneo power, so stackwipe them ASAP (hence the 4 cavalry), leave the mercs to siege, go deal with the other enemy
- Conquer Sambas, conquer and release the other enemy as vassal
- If Sambas is allied with Sunda or Majapahit, don't try a naval invasion - you don't have the transports for it
- Do not core Sambas and do not spend any admin or diplo points until you're at lvl 5 admin tech
- Once you vassalize Maynilla, you'll get claims on South Luzon. One of them will likely be allied with Ternate or Tidore. Invade them & vassalize, but annex & core the spice island province.
- Take exploration idea set as soon as you can, set national focus to diplo, start exploring east of yourself
- Give colonization privileges to ulema and merchants
- Switch resident scholar to Maliki, find the cheapest Borneo province to develop, decrease dev cost via edict, spend your admin & mil mana until you get renaissance
- Colonize eastward: Palau -> Micronesia -> Wake -> Midway -> Alaska
- Midway -> Alaska is impossible without diplo tech 7, so don't waste diplo points until you get there
- In the meantime, take over Borneo & the Philippines. Vassalize and feed to max diplo relations - the vassalization mission will give you an insane 20-year boost to vassal income, which you can use to boost your colonization at the critical moment
- You should have the finances to run an extra colony - good time to grab spice islands, uncolonized Borneo provinces, Australia, or start running West to cut off the Europeans from island hopping to you
- Once exploration ideas are done, time to switch focus to admin and to rush expansion ideas, taking the exploration-expansion policy as soon as you can
By the 1550s you should have 6+ colonial nations, insane income, the Malay archipelago under your control, and the beginnings of a conflict with Ayyuthaya. Make sure to always be at force limit to deter Europeans from attacking you over colonies and conquer as much as you can in North America and Africa to boost your colonial holdings there. I like to then aim for North Africa and eventually Spain to get Granada with its liberty desire bonus.
Hope this helps folks!
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