Hello, I was hoping to get an answer here about forming Italy as Naples.
I have been playing EU4 for some 400 hours six years ago with Prussia and Austria. When I heard about the new patch, that is goint I remembered the game and decided to start a new game. I wantend to roleplay Naples -> Italy as a kind of "alternate history"-scenario. The reason behind this is that Naples was somehow about to unify "Italy" (or however it would have been called at that time) under Ladislao I. around 1400-1420 by taking most of what is representend as "Papal States" in the game. If Naples hadn't come under a PU with Aragon after Ladislao's death, it might have had a somewhat realistic chance to unify Italy.
So, my roleplaying idea was that Naples breaks free from Aragon under the rule of some former friend or advisor of Ladislao and tries to take up his endeavour. And then, I wanted to see, what happens after forming Italy. Well, I started two times and always ran into the same problem around 1530/40. The beginning usually goes very smoothe: break free from aragon; get a foothold in Northern Italy; wait for some years for the AE to tick down. Maybe take a province or two in North Africa and the Balkans (but not too much to become unrealistic; after all, I don't want to blob, but roleplay).
Around 1500/1510 I have two or three of the provinces required to form Italy ... and then I am stopped due to the insame AE of the Italien provinces. After taking, e.g. Mantova or Genoa, I already have to wait for some 20 or 30 years for the AE to settle down. After that, taking just one province in Italy already triggers a massive coalition, usually of all Italian states, all South German minors, plus Austira and/or France (whoever I didn't ally can't ally both, because they always rival each other).
In my last game, taking Florence triggered such a coalition, in another game taking Genoa. The reason is obviously, that in 1530/40, dev is already so high in many Italian provinces that taking one province generates enough AE to trigger such a coalition. Obviously, I could go on until mid or late 1600 by taking one province every 25-30 years, but I find that extremely boring (and, from a historical point of view, unrealistic).
When I played EU4 some years ago, I usually took Influence as my first or second idea group because of the -20% AE and because I loved playing around with vassals. But now with 1.28 the AE reduction is in espionage and everybody recommends to take diplo instead of espionage, in order to deal with AE via BROT. However, this seems not to work well in Italy. Even with diplo ideas, It took me 25 years to get down to zero AE just from taking Florence. Am I doing something wrong?
Maybe, I was a bit unlucky, because I didn't get an improve relations advisor during that time. Also, I do not want to take Humanist Ideas for the other improve relations idea plus the policy, because Naples must of course be roleplayed as a staunchly catholic country with religious ideas.
Or is EU4 simply not suited for this kind of roleplaying? At the moment, I am so frustrated that I am about to delete the game and never lokk at it again.
I have been playing EU4 for some 400 hours six years ago with Prussia and Austria. When I heard about the new patch, that is goint I remembered the game and decided to start a new game. I wantend to roleplay Naples -> Italy as a kind of "alternate history"-scenario. The reason behind this is that Naples was somehow about to unify "Italy" (or however it would have been called at that time) under Ladislao I. around 1400-1420 by taking most of what is representend as "Papal States" in the game. If Naples hadn't come under a PU with Aragon after Ladislao's death, it might have had a somewhat realistic chance to unify Italy.
So, my roleplaying idea was that Naples breaks free from Aragon under the rule of some former friend or advisor of Ladislao and tries to take up his endeavour. And then, I wanted to see, what happens after forming Italy. Well, I started two times and always ran into the same problem around 1530/40. The beginning usually goes very smoothe: break free from aragon; get a foothold in Northern Italy; wait for some years for the AE to tick down. Maybe take a province or two in North Africa and the Balkans (but not too much to become unrealistic; after all, I don't want to blob, but roleplay).
Around 1500/1510 I have two or three of the provinces required to form Italy ... and then I am stopped due to the insame AE of the Italien provinces. After taking, e.g. Mantova or Genoa, I already have to wait for some 20 or 30 years for the AE to settle down. After that, taking just one province in Italy already triggers a massive coalition, usually of all Italian states, all South German minors, plus Austira and/or France (whoever I didn't ally can't ally both, because they always rival each other).
In my last game, taking Florence triggered such a coalition, in another game taking Genoa. The reason is obviously, that in 1530/40, dev is already so high in many Italian provinces that taking one province generates enough AE to trigger such a coalition. Obviously, I could go on until mid or late 1600 by taking one province every 25-30 years, but I find that extremely boring (and, from a historical point of view, unrealistic).
When I played EU4 some years ago, I usually took Influence as my first or second idea group because of the -20% AE and because I loved playing around with vassals. But now with 1.28 the AE reduction is in espionage and everybody recommends to take diplo instead of espionage, in order to deal with AE via BROT. However, this seems not to work well in Italy. Even with diplo ideas, It took me 25 years to get down to zero AE just from taking Florence. Am I doing something wrong?
Maybe, I was a bit unlucky, because I didn't get an improve relations advisor during that time. Also, I do not want to take Humanist Ideas for the other improve relations idea plus the policy, because Naples must of course be roleplayed as a staunchly catholic country with religious ideas.
Or is EU4 simply not suited for this kind of roleplaying? At the moment, I am so frustrated that I am about to delete the game and never lokk at it again.
