EUIII Question

[Aardvark Bellay]

O, great. Now it says that SDL2.dll is missing and I can't start up CKII. That's weird. I just saw the launcher.

The SDL2.dll file should be inside your CK2 folder.
Can you use Steam or not?
If you can, then you can use the "verify files" feature to let Steam check the game folder and redonwload the missing file(s).

What operating system have you got ? Win 7 or even XP ?

CK2 can be played without Steam.
Steam is only required once after you get DLCs to register them on your computer and obviously todownload mods from the Workshop

On Steam it says "Europa Universalis III Complete includes the original Europa Universalis III as well as the expansions In Nomine and Napoleons Ambition

Just to add to the earlier explanation, "Complete" got released after the first two expansions, but then they decided to release two more expansions,
but kept the "Complete" variant as it was, including the name, hence the potential for confusion.

The EU3 Wiki lists the releases in order top down on its homepage :
https://eu3.paradoxwikis.com/Europa_Universalis_3_Wiki

The expansions build on each other, which includes the patches, so you can't use them as you please, as in the case with DLCs for CK2.

..but I was able to recruit explorers. Unfortunately, they keep getting lost. Well, the boats do.

While i'm not sure if it's the case in your older version, but i can see the attrition of a ship in the fleet window.
See the red 4.0% in the top right ? The tooltip shows when you move your mouse over it.

 

[Davem148]

Yeah, when I played the game from 1719 as Russia, lots of North America was not "discovered". I did get access to Iceland from Denmark once I was able to discover it so I had my ship stop there. Then I was able to reach newly discovered provinces in North America and I put a settler there. So if I can reach it I'll be able to stop there. I went along the coast a bit to the Carolinas and that's where my ship was lost. Same thing with West Africa. Went along the coast and "discovered" a few provinces and parts of the ocean and then it was lost near Namibia. I got a few settlers but the natives are indeed restless so that will take awhile. It's funny. I saw the Papal States and Poland there. That cracked me up. Yeah, I used the flytes. They are okay. Just go in shorter amount of time. So that;s what I will do then. Set up ports and go along the coasts and not just go for too long at a time.

Well, for land I used conquistadors just in Siberia and then they stop when I reach another country like China or the land of the Kazakhs. Yeah, I had to go around pirates near Iceland. I had two ships docked there. One had to go north over to Greenland and it hugged the coastlines until about the Sable Island Bank and then it was lost. The other one went east did the same thing but this time went around the pirates to Africa. It's interesting. That pirate ship was closer to Norway and then it moved west to Iceland. Boo boo. O, boo. They regenerate. That normally has been a problem for me in the Caribbean. Always lots of pirates there. So I should have boats out of the docks when not at war too? Okay. A good idea. So that will stop the pirates from taken control and siphoning off of my goods. I mean having the ships out of docks before the pirates arrive so as to stop that.

Ahh, peace. When I started this current game, Poland declared war on me. Boo boo. So I made a quick peace with them. I lost a few provinces but I suspected the Ottomans were itching for a fight. Well, Kazan did. I took care of them but after getting several provinces from the Ottomans I can't get them to make peace. I put it down to 75 or 80 war score. That's not the word. I forget the word. When you have the number next to the province when you want to buy it. The value of each province. I had conquered 7 provinces and I just accepted 3 and they won't make peace. Boo boo. I don't need anymore. Grr grr.

 

[Davem148]

O, sorry. I didn't see your new message while writing my last one. You must have posted it just as I started. Yeah, I can't even load up Steam anymore. Out of date operating system. 8.1. O, okay. I'll have to figure out how to play it then at some point. Right. They build on each other. So they add years and other things in the game. Right. So it looks like I'll get the full thing at one point then. You can't pick and choose like CKII. I don't know if I have this screen for the attrition. I remember attrition being a big part in Victoria.I played that until I started on EUIII.

 

[Davem148]

No, that can't be it. I think the thing is that I clicked on the post from my email and forgot to see if there were any new ones. Oops.

 

[Davem148]

Nope. It was a new page. That's why I didn't see that message at first.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

.....Yeah, I can't even load up Steam anymore. Out of date operating system. 8.1. O, okay.

I likely would still use Win7 (or XP) if it wouldn't be for online browsing, Steam and printer drivers and such, though playing relatively recent games is the biggest reason. Microsoft is a scam. Not sure i will do the step for Win11 with my desktop computer come september.
Whatever, back on topic.

Steam can be set to offline mode, but in your case you might have to search the web for ways to make this possible.

Though i'm not sure what that would do for you, as EU3 and CK2 can be played completely without Steam on one hand,
while if you wanted to buy the two other expansions for EU3, then Steam would need to be online, which isn't possible
with Win8.1 anymore.

Regarding the SDL2.dll files for CK2, i guess i could upload the ones i got here, but i have no clue if that can help in your case.

Right. They build on each other. So they add years and other things in the game. Right. So it looks like I'll get the full thing at one point then.

The expansions come with patches. An expansion can't be added without the earlier released expansions.

GoG is likely an option here, but GoG also does downloads nowadays with a lot of games only via their own launcher, potentially resulting in similar issues as with Steam. IF you experience issues with that, you can still refund the game on GoG.

GoG links for EU3
The first two expansions in so called"Complete"

Europa Universalis III Complete

Europa Universalis III Complete includes the original Europa Universalis III as well as t

www.gog.com

The two last expansions plus sprites

Europa Universalis III: Collection Upgrade

The Upgrade to the Europa Universalis III Collection adds the following DLCs: Europa Univ

www.gog.com

 

[Kovax]

Just remember that you cannot mix Steam downloads with those of other distributors. I've successfully added GOG expansions to GamersGate base games, GamersGate expansions to base games that came on CD, and GOG expansions on Amazon base games, but Steam will not recognize any other source than itself as a valid installation. Not sure if you can add a non-Steam expansion to a Steam base game (I never tried it), but the reverse has failed for me in both cases where it was attempted. I never got a refund from Steam, in either case.

 

[Davem148]

Yeah, this all sounds confusing. Hopefully, I can get a new computer soon so I can continue with my Steam Games. Meanwhile still play EUIII with some new expansions that I get from GoG or some other place. Meanwhile, I still always have trouble making peace. Just give me a few provinces if my War Scores is 35% or so. It's just a few and I'm facing a big empire like the Ottomans. It's only up to 80 in the cost realm. I forget what it is. What the value of the province is.

 

[Kovax]

Meanwhile, I still always have trouble making peace. Just give me a few provinces if my War Scores is 35% or so. It's just a few and I'm facing a big empire like the Ottomans. It's only up to 80 in the cost realm. I forget what it is. What the value of the province is.

Most countries won't accept a demand (any demand, no matter how small) unless they reach some threshold, which can vary from as low as 15-20 war score for some uncivs to 50 or higher for some of the more advanced countries. Above that, they'll generally accept anything that's up to 10 points higher than your war score, other than complete annexation, which takes 100% war score.

An extreme example would be Venice, which in one game was unwilling to make ANY concession (even "Admit Defeat" or a token monetary payment) while I had 99% war score. I couldn't sink their fleet, which was hiding in a neutral country's port, and they wouldn't surrender until that fleet was destroyed. They kept offering me "white peace" every couple of months, until the game ended the war automatically when it timed out from lack of any combat in 5 years. In contrast, one of the native American tribes quickly agreed to give up 3 provinces, worth about 8-9 points above my roughly 15 war score. In a more typical situation, Ottomans refused to make any concessions at around 30 war score, but one occupied province later they were willing to accept any demand less than 10 points higher than my war score.

 

[Davem148]

O, good. It's just not me. Well, in my long game with Novgorod eventually I was able to dismantle the Ottoman Empire along with Cyprus. I "allowed" Cyprus to keep a couple of provinces near them on the mainland. So yeah, in this new game I was trying to maintain peace but then Kazan declared war on me and it was easy to just take their provinces what with no level of forts there. But the Ottomans are becoming a pest. I occupied like 8 or so provinces down through the Caucasus mountains and take two from the northern Black sea area but nothing. They won't give them to me. I didn't feel like going through Anatolia and I had already made peace with Crimea so I'm in a bit of bind. Now enough time has past that my truce with Poland is about to run out. I made a quick peace with them and gave them provinces. Now they are two provinces from Moscow and they look like they will strike again as soon as the truce ends. This reminds me of when I played as Novgorod and I couldn't get Palatinate to agree to anything:

I had conquered most of the provinces and occupied them but I could only get about 6 or so in a deal. I only wanted up to Vienna. I figured Burgundy would declare war again and take over more provinces. So for decades I just tried and tried for a peace treaty but most of the time they would just give me a "White Peace"". Finally, Burgundy took care of the rest of the provinces that I hadn't occupied and then just settled for a "White Peace" themselves. I couldn't even get Skane for the Swedes. But yeah with the 50 years left here. I got in various tranches the provinces north of my two in the Czech lands and then the ones to the east and then finall more more to the north which border Burgundy But yeah, only like 4 or 5 at a time. I'm really lucky the Burgundians never declared war on me. Well, after about 1600 or so. Some small skirmishes because of their vassals.

 

[TheArchMede]

The relative size of empires is important for when a country will give up. Time is also important. Occupying their capital is also important. At sufficiently overwhelming levels of power they'll conceded a WS+10 peace as soon as you've occupied a province and sent a diplomat. A bit less overwhelming and it'll take a year before they accept anything. 1 year is a key moment, time still has an effect after that but its much less important. The historic empires have stubborn AIs that make them extra unwilling to lose wars. You may need to spend a long time stabhitting them to force them into concessions if you are unwilling or unable to invade and occupy their core territory. The diplomatic AI uses force margins as a way of assessing strength. If you aren't close to your force limit, your opponent will assume you are in trouble and become more stubborn (or more predatory if its winning).

 

[Davem148]

I think I was able to capture Pfalz at one point but even then. It took a lot of time for them to accept anything. You just have to wait so many years and just restart up the war again and take more. However, in this recent war with the Ottomans, I wanted to just take a few and they wouldn't give me it. I guess I should have just gone after more provinces to raise the WS. Is Force limit related to the manpower number? I would have a very large manpower number because as Novgorod I would have a lot of provinces that were colonized in places like Siberia.

 

[Kovax]

I think I was able to capture Pfalz at one point but even then. It took a lot of time for them to accept anything. You just have to wait so many years and just restart up the war again and take more. However, in this recent war with the Ottomans, I wanted to just take a few and they wouldn't give me it. I guess I should have just gone after more provinces to raise the WS. Is Force limit related to the manpower number? I would have a very large manpower number because as Novgorod I would have a lot of provinces that were colonized in places like Siberia.

Force limit is shown in the military menu. It shows how many brigades you have and how many you can have before the cost per brigade increases (for ALL of your brigades). Going over your force limit can get expensive. Many countries lack the economic power to afford an army at or near their force limit without cutting the maintenance level to the point where the brigades are literally useless. Other countries with mostly high-value provinces can afford to match or even slightly exceed their force limits.

A country's base force limit depends on the manpower of its owned provinces, plus some base figure, as well as a smaller portion of any vassal's manpower. That base figure may then be modified by slider settings (quantity versus quality, for example), laws, and other effects (such as being head of the HRE). Counties with a large number of densely populated provinces will have high force limits.

 

[Davem148]

Okay. I'll have to look for it. I know brigades have to be reinforced. Yeah, I have to watch my budget. I think this happened one time when I was playing the game. I had 200,000 ducats or something and they had the message about funding military and it put me in the red by about 100,000 ducats. I forget the event but it did happen to me. Maintenance is key. I remember how in Victoria you were able to just automatically reinforce an unit back to what it was before a battle but it cost you. You didn't have to go to a province and look at the manpower there. Ah, yes. Quantity. That was a problem for the two last scenarios I did but if I were to pick a smaller country with a smaller population I would have to think long and hard about which one to use. Yeah, when I started out as Novgorod, I was in good shape but as I moved to the east, I may have gotten a good number of manpower from provinces but these were not high density places.