Jak's Game Guide: An EU4 Tutorial

[HistoryDude]

It looks like ATL's Italian Wars have begun. Will the Ottomans directly annex territory in Italy, allowing them to threaten the heart of Christendom?

The Treaty of Tordesillas event looks nice. I assume that this means you don't intend to adopt Protestantism later? On the other hand, it favored Portugal in the Caribbean, so it isn't great.

What happens if a nation gets the Treaty of Tordesillas modifier and converts to Protestantism later? Do they just lose the modifier?

It seems like the Pope is building a small empire of his own in Italy...

 

[jak7139]

Presumably this means the Pope is about to die.

We'll see. Given what the Pope will do in the future, I'll just say that any anger towards him is justified.

Why stop at three?

We can do two. And three's a breeze. Why stop at four? Let's do one more. If we reach five, we'll start to jive

Did you experiment with sending Caribbean to Chesapeake to Gulf St. Lawrence to Bordeaux instead of Caribbean to Bordeaux? (Paradox Law #7b states that more confusion is better.)

I did, but it wasn't worth it at this stage. It might be later though.

Is the end goal to move our home trade zone from Bordeaux to the English Channel?

That is a very long-term goal, yes. I've no concrete plans on how to do that except for fighting England.

What are approx. modern-day locations of Mahican and Powhatan?

Mahican is in modern-day Massachusetts. Powhatan is in North Carolina.

Are both core-able or do we not care since it is a colonial nation problem?

They'll both go to d'Elbene so overextension from uncored provinces isn't an issue. But they are both corable by either land (Mahican) or sea (Powhatan).

Who are our enemies/rivals? Thanks

Scotland, Portugal, and England have all rivaled us. France hates us as well, but we are too insignificant when compared to them for them to rival us.

I'm glad you have stood up to Portrugal, they should learn their place.

They'll learn to fear Breton steel!

Hey jak, just wanted to let you know I've nominated you for WritAAR of the week.

Thank you very much for the shout-out!

Are they in the same colonial region as the cn we have?

Powhatan and Mahican, yes. Osheaga is in colonial Canada.

If it takes 10 provinces for the extra merchant you gotta do this

We'll see how it works out. There were pros and cons when doing this. And this choice has had a cascading effect on the rest of the game up to where I've played.

For sure Canada this time

All of them are in Canada. And I'm sure the peacedeals here won't be surprising.

It looks like ATL's Italian Wars have begun. Will the Ottomans directly annex territory in Italy, allowing them to threaten the heart of Christendom?

I've seen the Ottoman AI go that route before. But Naples is allied to France, so they look strong enough to fend off a potential invasion

The Treaty of Tordesillas event looks nice. I assume that this means you don't intend to adopt Protestantism later? On the other hand, it favored Portugal in the Caribbean, so it isn't great.

It's not great for our prospects in the Caribbean, but it does keep other Catholics off our backs in Canada and Eastern America.

I've decided to stay Catholic this run, both because of the treaty and because of our specific Breton ideas giving some Catholic bonuses.

Eventually, I think this AAR needs a second season. There are many things I want to showcase but haven't had a chance to this game.

What happens if a nation gets the Treaty of Tordesillas modifier and converts to Protestantism later? Do they just lose the modifier?

The treaty becomes void, so another Catholic can take the slot.

It seems like the Pope is building a small empire of his own in Italy...

He is indeed. It's good that our ally is so strong.

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: The Death of a Legend, Tariffs, Studying Technology
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(November 1503-September 1507)​

Our war against Innui is going fine, so what’s one more war on top of it? This time, we’re going after the largest of the tribes this side of the Mississippi, the Iroquois, and their allies, Attigneenongnahac and Arendaronon. We cobelligerent both of Iroquois’ allies here because we want to lessen the penalties from taking land off of secondary participants, and because 2 of the 3 extra participants, Ottawa and Cree, wouldn’t even join (they’re already at war with us).

​

I decide to wait a few extra months before declaring our new war because we still haven’t picked our new infantry unit. Whenever you change your unit type, all those units will be set to 0 morale to represent the training and reorganization of your new forces.

Since we’re at war, even with our advantages in Tactics and tech, I don’t want to risk any unnecessary battles with Innui. But that war is basically won, their armies are dead, and we just need to siege. It’s the perfect time to upgrade our units. Now, what are our choices?

We’re currently using the Galloglaigh Infantry with its 1 offensive Shock pip and 2 offensive Morale pips (see Chapter 9 for the explanation on pips). For the outline below, the first number is the offensive value, the second is defensive. Our 3 new choices are:

• Condotta Infantry: Fire 0-0. Shock 2-1. Morale 1-1.
• Landsknecht Infantry: Fire 0-0. Shock 1-1. Morale 1-2.
• Reformed Galloglaigh Infantry: Fire 0-0. Shock 2-0. Morale 2-1.

An argument could be made for either the Condotta or the Reformed Galloglaigh. The Landsknecht, with its minimal damage output compared to the others, doesn’t seem useful for our purposes. I choose the Reformed Galloglaigh. Do you think that was the correct decision? Would you have chosen the Condotta instead? Do you think there’s a case for the Landsknecht? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

​

We put our new units to the test in a battle against Ottawa while sieging Algonquin’s capital. We’ve also declared on the Iroquois and their allies by this point. The entire Northeast has been set ablaze.

​

As our wars continue, Naples annexes Lucca and takes Nice from Savoy in September. With how aggressive the Neapolitans our being, perhaps Italian unification will happen 300 years early.

In October, we receive an event that, should things go well, we will receive throughout the entire campaign.

If you have a CN as a subject, every so often, an event will pop up asking you if you want to increase tariffs on them. If you say yes, the specified CN will, of course, pay you more and get increased Liberty Desire. If you say no, you get 10 points (a 33% chance per type).

​

Now, you’d think it’d be worth having your subjects pay more money to you. But tariffs are an odd case. The tariffs you receive pale in comparison to the trade and gold income, if your CN has gold mines, you get. And later in the game when your CNs become increasingly disloyal, you’ll have to either decrease tariffs or deal with revolts.

For this event, it is always better to just say no. We’ll make tons of money off our colonies, but tariffs aren’t the answer.

We also have another event asking us to increase the Development by 1 in Ulster. We get the choice between tax, production, or manpower. Because Ulster produces Grain, which gives bonuses to the province’s forcelimit, I choose the manpower to further boost it.

By January 1505, both our wars are in their final stages. Unfortunately, Arthur de Beaumetz, our new explorer, won’t live to see it. He didn’t do much. He explored a bit of Africa and South America before sending his ships to protect trade in the Caribbean. He truly wasn’t able to accomplish much of note.

​

Castille embraces Colonialism in March. And we sign our first peace in April with Ottawa. The next peace is in May 1506 with Algonquin, then Cree and Innui in June. And, in September, we peace out Arendaronon. All these countries are annexed, but their provinces are in Canada so aren’t transferred to d’Elbene.

With all these peacedeals, I feel safe enough to send Sklaer out on an expedition to explore. You can explore, both with ships and with armies, manually or automatically. But with armies, using the automatic method means there is a chance to find El Dorado or the Fountain of Youth.

Unfortunately, after only a few months on the trail, Sklaer is killed in a random event. He’d fought up and down the East Coast and faced many battles, but in the end, he died to the whims of RNG. He was 17 when we hired him in 1488. And now it is 1506. He died at 35. It’s a shame that his legend ended so anticlimactically.

​

I hire a replacement Conquistador using mil points instead of the Estate decision. Venec de Saint-Houlon is just as skilled as Sklaer at combat, but he also has a siege pip. Hopefully, he lives long.

​

We pick up another advancement in Expansion ideas. This gives us another diplomat and reduced Liberty Desire for non-European subjects. We also get extra Missionary Strength and Papal Influence from our Breton Ideas.

​

By March, Colonialism has spread throughout enough of our provinces that we can embrace it for 53.02 gold. We adopt it. We can only sell it to 2 nations at this point, both our own subjects, but something is better than nothing. We’ll receive 0.41 a month for the next while from d’Elbene.

I also remember to turn off all the Institution Spread Edicts we have active to save money.

With the tech cost penalty from not having Colonialism gone, we also take diplo tech 9. This gives us some new ships, more Colonial Range, and the ability to Study Technology.

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Studying Technology is a very useful ability. If you have a Spy Network in a nation ahead of you in technology, the higher your network, the higher your tech discount. This discount only applies to techs that the nation you’re spying on has unlocked but you haven’t.

My preferred strategy with this is to look at what technologies other nations have unlocked on page 7 of the Ledger, look at the top 10 or so most advanced nations, then check how fast a hypothetical Spy Network would build in the Diplomacy screen. The faster the network grows, the better. And the faster rate also means the target nation has less chance to expose the Network, deleting your progress.

In April, we annex Attignawantan. And in June, the Pope proclaims that Columbia is Castille’s domain with a Treaty of Tordesillas. I try to annex Attigneenongnahac in one of our peace deals, but the game says I can’t reach it. So, I settle for money, reps, and Trade Power instead. Shortly thereafter, they are invaded by Huron. In September we sign our final peacdeal with Iroquois, taking the eastern half of their country. We’ll be back for the rest later.

​

• Ottawa: AMT. 31.9 ducats (25.19 to us).
• Algonquin: AMT.
• Cree: AMT. 19.6 ducats (16.22 to us).
• Innui: AMT. 35 ducats (28.97).
• Arendaronon: annexed. 35 ducats (30.16).
• Attignawantan: annexed. 50 ducats (43).
• Attigneenongnahac: war reps. Transferred Trade Power. 40 ducats (34.47).
• Iroquois: 6 provinces (all to d’Elbene). War reps. 220 ducats (189.61).

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

Hopefully the new conquistador will have better luck than his predecessor.

 

[Killcrazy13]

Thanks for the updatw. What are you thinking off as the follow up for this AAR? What parts of the game do you think are not being touched on in this AAR?

I can see why Exploration is needed for the new world, what about the old? Is it needed for Africa as a European power? Or will Expansion get you there (albeit slightly slower)?

 

[Midnite Duke]

I live new infantry unit. It sounds most Celtic. Also prefer offense to defense while fighting Americans. Thanks

 

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on your victories over the native nations (especially the Iroquois)!

Will the Canadian lands eventually become a separate colonial nation?

Refusing to make the CNs pay tariffs is probably a good thing...

 

[filcat]

All right.

Time for trivial details. But there are too many, so jumping around.

First; the trade.

You can collect in other nodes besides your home node, but that reduces your Trade Power (the amount of a node you control when compared to everyone else in the node) by 50%. But depending on the value of the node and your priorities in other nodes, this could still be very lucrative.

The player is going for a coloniser run.
In a coloniser run, it is never, and heavy emphasis on never, lucrative to collect anywhere other than the home node.

It may get marginally lucrative for any other type of run, yet it is still not advantageous, not preferable, not recommended.

Spoiler: trade

A coloniser tag will have access to multiple nodes more than the other tags, and it will have higher global trade modifier due to explo-exp sets, meaning it will benefit from nodes without having any provincial trade modifier: so a slice from the pie without having any provinces at that node. Other tags can increase the number of merchants with trade-set, and any tag can conquer to form trade company to increase the trade range, yet the colonisers can still have higher trade income, especially as the player.

• And the same coloniser tag will enjoy greater trade flow, as the colonised provinces (so, provincial trade modifier) will increase the trade value of their nodes by increasing the local goods produced.
• And (yes, on top of these) the coloniser overlord tag will have even more trade modifier percentage, by 5% global trade power for each colonial subject, on top of the 50% trade power from them. Yes, that is how a tag from Europe can direct the trade from Canton node in China.

Now. When a tag collects from any node other than the home, it not only cuts the trade power by a multiplicative 50% at that node,
BUT for the coloniser tag,
it will also cost the 5% global trade modifiers from the colonial subjects. The total loss will be severe. This has been the case until 1.30 emperor version, so no idea if it applies to the newer versions.

Whether a coloniser or not, a tag will benefit cumulative 10% trade power at the home node for each merchant steering the trade; this is also lost when collecting from any other node.

• If the node is upstream of the home node, it will naturally reduce the income at the home node when collecting there, needless to say, as the accumulated steering bonus that the flow streams through each node until reaching the home node is lost.
• If collecting from another node that is streaming to an unrelated node, then that may give marginal increase to the trade income, but it still is not worth it when the run advances, and all tags choose from either the explo-exp sets else the trade-set, and the trade nodes get richer, and etc.

Then why is there a collect trade function of the merchants?
All right. Fair question.

Again, and an example: if a tag has home node as Siberia, and conquers the Cape region in South Africa, extra collecting from Cape node may be lucrative, again, emphasis on may, and the gain will be marginal. The actual problem in this example is: Why is that tag bothering to conquer Cape? What is the goal in that allegedly glorious strategy? etc. such sardonic questions will remain unanswered, other than painting-the-map. Whatever.

The problem is, the code will run as such. Code-ottos will conquer poland-tag. NO trade value, as trade from there cannot be steered to Constantinople. Code-castile and code-portugal will colonise North America and Canada regions. NIL trade value, as trade from there cannot be steered to Sevilla. Code-england will conquer Gibraltar and Mediterranean islands, as it has even missions thus incentive to do so. NOUGHT trade value, as those nodes do not flow into the Channel node. Etc. Eh. Whatever.

---

Second; Treaty of Tordesillas.

Our relations with Portugal will suffer. But since they’ll want our Caribbean land forever if we do this, they don’t matter. The real issue is the Pope. But if I keep a diplomat on him to keep his relations high, we might be fine.

Careful. Code colonisers will always and in any case be hostile to other colonisers, whether allied or not (wants your subject's provinces), whether violated the treaty or not when both are of catholic denomination. But we might be fine by keeping a diplomat will not be enough with the papal-tag; each colony will give -50 relations with the papal-tag as well as with the coloniser rival tag, capped at -200, and -1 yearly decay. So four more colonies and for two hundred (200) years they will be furious, and the papal-tag will immediately excommunicate, no matter which tag is the curia controller. A lot of indulgence will have to be bought for the papal-tag, if you want to keep the coloniser run as catholic; going for reformation will not nullify previously incurred penalties on the relations, but will cut further damage, by making it irrelevant, or rather, it ceases the need to care for the papal-tag's opinion. Though, joining the reformation does bring its own problems, naturally.

Spoiler: Fun trivia

Suppose the tag joins reformation and converts, but colonises the region with catholic denomination (either colonising as catholic before converting else expelling catholic minorities after converting) - so colonial subject spawns as catholic:

The treaty of tordesillas will still be effective and the papal-tag will grant the colonial region to that reformist tag (protestant, reformist, anglican, hussite). Oh yeah, that is how anglican code-england receives colonist bonus from the papal-tag.

---

Third, and the last, promise; "died too soon without able to accomplish much of note"

By January 1505, both our wars are in their final stages. Unfortunately, Arthur de Beaumetz, our new explorer, won’t live to see it. He didn’t do much. He explored a bit of Africa and South America before sending his ships to protect trade in the Caribbean. He truly wasn’t able to accomplish much of note.

Yeah, this one is the most trivial to touch upon, lol.

It does not matter when generals or admirals fight over hundred battles, sail through all seas, else do nothing but drilling armies, protecting trade until the day comes for them; the flavour text of the code will be such cruel as long as that general or that admiral has not gained a leader trait.

Edit: Corrected grammatical mistakes.

 

[diskoerekto]

This time, we’re going after the largest of the tribes this side of the Mississippi, the Iroquois, and their allies, Attigneenongnahac and Arendaronon.

I like this 5 province core cn runs, I hope they sre big enough to encompass 2 cn regions.

An argument could be made for either the Condotta or the Reformed Galloglaigh. The Landsknecht, with its minimal damage output compared to the others, doesn’t seem useful for our purposes. I choose the Reformed Galloglaigh. Do you think that was the correct decision? Would you have chosen the Condotta instead? Do you think there’s a case for the Landsknecht? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I don't know about the eu4 engine, but in previous games I always see morale as either prolonging losing battles, or winning battles in wars that you'll eventually lose. I'll always prefer a quick defeat instead. That is, unless, we have a kind of a human wave strategy and we want to translate the maximum amount of our manpower into damage towards enemy. So in this specific case I'd definitely go with Condotta.

• Ottawa: AMT. 31.9 ducats (25.19 to us).
• Algonquin: AMT.
• Cree: AMT. 19.6 ducats (16.22 to us).
• Innui: AMT. 35 ducats (28.97).
• Arendaronon: annexed. 35 ducats (30.16).
• Attignawantan: annexed. 50 ducats (43).
• Attigneenongnahac: war reps. Transferred Trade Power. 40 ducats (34.47).
• Iroquois: 6 provinces (all to d’Elbene). War reps. 220 ducats (189.61).

How many of those are corable?

 

[Rensslaer]

@jak7139 I've been very distracted lately but I've been catching up on this. It looks like I'm still an update behind.

The previous two updates were very good! Your colonial challenge to Portugal will pay off I bet. Nice work consolidating on the mainland of North America.

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

Hopefully the new conquistador will have better luck than his predecessor.

Agreed. I've started to zoom out the scope of this AAR as Brittany expands. So every general/advisor death won't be mentioned going forward unless it's important. Ruler deaths will still be mentioned.

Thanks for the updatw. What are you thinking off as the follow up for this AAR? What parts of the game do you think are not being touched on in this AAR?

We haven't interacted much with the HRE for one. Same with the Reformation or coalitions. And of course, different religions have different mechanics tied to them. Also unique nations like hordes or migratory tribes.

Since Hesse was a popular choice in the initial voting, I'm thinking of playing them.

Probably the second season will be less detailed than this AAR since most of the basics are being covered here. More just a general overview/strategies.

I can see why Exploration is needed for the new world, what about the old? Is it needed for Africa as a European power? Or will Expansion get you there (albeit slightly slower)?

Expansion doesn't give you an explorer to uncover provinces, so you'd still need it for that. But once you discover the provinces, you can just go with Expansion. Although Expansion gives you less range, so it might take a while.

I live new infantry unit. It sounds most Celtic. Also prefer offense to defense while fighting Americans. Thanks

The Celtic angle didn't occur to me. But is nice for RP.

I always prefer doing more damage to taking less.

Congrats on your victories over the native nations (especially the Iroquois)!

Will the Canadian lands eventually become a separate colonial nation?

Refusing to make the CNs pay tariffs is probably a good thing...

We just need enough Canadian provinces to spawn a CN, but yes, that will happen.

In my experience, it's difficult even as a strong England/France/Spain to keep CNs loyal with high tariffs. It's too much of a hassle. Our money will come from elsewhere.

In a coloniser run, it is never, and heavy emphasis on never, lucrative to collect anywhere other than the home node.

It may get marginally lucrative for any other type of run, yet it is still not advantageous, not preferable, not recommended.

Agreed. You ideally never want to collect anywhere other than your home node. But, in this case, we had nowhere else really to send the merchant. So collecting in the North Sea was the best option. I did eventually move it from the North Sea to Chesapeake Bay in chapter 23 (though you may not have read that far yet).

Careful. Code colonisers will always and in any case be hostile to other colonisers, whether allied or not (wants your subject's provinces)

It was a risk. But I thought it was worth it. I know how it turned out and what this choice has affected, but we haven't reached that point with these updates yet. I'd never tried violating the treaty before, so was unaware of just how severe it was. But I wanted to try something new (which, you could argue, is a terrible idea for a tutorial. But I did it anyway).

It does not matter when generals or admirals fight over hundred battles, sail through all seas, else do nothing but drilling armies, protecting trade until the day comes for them; the flavour text of the code will be such cruel as long as that general or that admiral has not gained a leader trait.

I know that. That mention was just a roundabout way of saying he hadn't gained any traits during his tenure.

I like this 5 province core cn runs, I hope they sre big enough to encompass 2 cn regions.

Iroquois is all in the East Coast region. But a few of their allies were in the Canada region.

I don't know about the eu4 engine, but in previous games I always see morale as either prolonging losing battles, or winning battles in wars that you'll eventually lose. I'll always prefer a quick defeat instead. That is, unless, we have a kind of a human wave strategy and we want to translate the maximum amount of our manpower into damage towards enemy. So in this specific case I'd definitely go with Condotta.

I've always seen morale as keeping your army in the fight longer (win or lose) so you can wear the enemy down. As long as you have more manpower and an economy to support it, you can win any war. With Brittany's small size, we need more troops, not better ones.

Morale pips on your units are specifically about damaging the enemies' morale faster and negating morale damage done to you, not about increasing your own units' morale. For that, you want to focus on the nationwide morale stat.

How many of those are corable?

Innui and Cree are corable (both in Canada) since they're coastal. Everything else is inland. Ottawa, Algonquin, Arendaronon, and Attignawantan are all also Canadian provinces. Mostly around the Great Lakes.

We took two provinces Iroquois had in Canada which are both corable. The rest went to d'Elbene which they can core through a small land connection. Two screenshots to help visualize things (only showing gains from this chapter):

Before:

Blue: Corable, Canada Region
Green: Corable, East Coast Region
Red: Not Corable, Canada

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After:

​

@jak7139 I've been very distracted lately but I've been catching up on this. It looks like I'm still an update behind.

No worries. Read at your own pace and comment whenever you feel like.

The previous two updates were very good! Your colonial challenge to Portugal will pay off I bet. Nice work consolidating on the mainland of North America.

Thanks!

We'll see how this plays out over the next several chapters. As I've hinted at, our decision has major, century-defining consequences for our playthrough.

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Buildings & Trade Companies
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(September 1507-April 1508)​

With the spoils gained from our wars, we’re able to repay the last of our loans. We’re finally debt free! Then, in October, we achieve another milestone. Brittany has grown enough to be recognized as a Great Power! GP status gives us a permanent boost to our Power Projection based on our rank. It also unlocks some new diplomatic options that we’ll take advantage of later.

​

We spend 73 of our diplo points to reduce our War Exhaustion by 2 since we’re 11 years ahead on tech. Less War Exhaustion makes it cheaper to core our provinces, and I want to save as many points as possible to finish Expansion and still integrate our conquests.

​

It’s also time to seize and sell our Crownland again and summon the diet. We end up at 22% Crownland with 400 ducats in the treasury. Of the 3 options presented by the Estates today, we go with the Bourgeoisie’s proposal to colonize New York.

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I also make the call to annex Kildare. They’ve been a loyal vassal and have served us well. But owning the land directly and freeing up a relation-slot is more valuable at this stage. And, as it will turn out over the next few decades, this was the correct decision. Any guesses why that might be?

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I end up spending some of our Papal Influence to grab the extra taxes and decreased construction cost privilege we’ve taken before. Then, I spend 92 of our gold on a new church in Arvor. Once completed, it will earn us +0.15 a month. Another 92 is spent on a dockyard in Penn-ar-Bed for a mission. And we also construct a marketplace in Bro Naoned to increase our Trade Power.

​

Building slots, especially early in the game, are precious. Later on, with discounts to Development and increased mana generation, we’ll have an easier time deciding what to build. But I’ll tell you what I prioritize:

• Workshops (production) & Temples (tax): income is, obviously, very important. And the more money you make, the more you can build. It spirals very quickly. Production is better throughout the game, tax is good early game. Anything that makes over 0.10 a month, I build/keep.
  
  • If you hover over a province with a building in the Macrobuilder, it will tell you how much the building makes each month. Right-clicking while in the Macrobuilder deletes buildings.
• Marketplaces (Trade Power): I only ever build these on Trade Centers/Estuaries, or provinces that have specific modifiers to their Trade Power. They really aren’t worth the slot anywhere else, except maybe on Trade Company provinces if you’re having trouble establishing the 51% control needed for a Merchant.
• Barracks (manpower): extra manpower is always nice. Increased manpower cap also increases the recovery rate. Anything 500 or above is good. If you really have nothing else to build even the 100-level ones are worth it.
• Shipyards (naval forcelimit): more ships, more trade, more control of the seas. These buildings also make it so your ships repair faster in the tiles they’re built on, helping you wear down enemies’ navies in close wars. They also make ships build faster.
• Manufactories: very expensive, but absolutely worth the cost once you can afford them. Will easily make back the money you invest into them, especially for high-value trade goods. The specialized manufactories also provide extra bonuses if you construct them on specific trade goods.
  
  • Soldier’s Households (manpower): build them on every grain, livestock, fish, or wine province you can. Along with barracks, you’ll never have to worry about manpower again.
  • Furnaces: build on every coal province you have once unlocked. Free money.
  • State Houses: helps with governing capacity. Build it on any paper, gems, or glass provinces. Nowhere else unless you want/need to.
• Courthouses (governing capacity): doesn’t take a slot so can be built anywhere. Will help if you find yourself running out of governing capacity.
• Universities (Dev cost): doesn’t take a slot. Gives the province it is built in -20% Dev cost. Build it everywhere you can, prioritizing provinces with no slots left. Then Dev those, now cheaper, provinces to unlock new slots.
• Regimental Camps & Docks: more land forcelimit and more sailors are nice to have. But not as important as the other buildings for most of your needs. But build them once you start unlocking more slots or have nothing else to build.

Using 80 of our remaining 125 ducats, I unlock a Naval Doctrine for our country. The cost increases relative to the size of our navy, so before we start building more ships, we should pick one. I choose Merchant Navy, making our trade-ships more effective. Then I build two more Barques for our trade fleet in Bordeaux.

​

In December, England is proclaimed by the Pope to be the rightful ruler of Brazil. At least this will keep the Castilians and Portuguese from expanding there. It may even be a thorn in their side.

​

Our colony in Jamaica is almost finished (970 settlers), so I recall our colonist early to start the journey to our next outpost. The New World is nice, but it’s not the only frontier we need to settle. The Ivory Coast trade node is another key to our long-term expansion. Castille has already claimed the province of Gold Coast to the east, so we set up shop next door in Cape Coast. I immediately assign the province to a Trade Company.

Here’s a quick rundown on TCs:

• Each TC has a region it belongs to (the same mapmode as the colonial regions for our CNs). Unlike the regions in the New World or Australia, a new subject won’t be spawned. Instead, the Subjects screen will show your TC’s control in that region. Having over 51% control will give us an extra Merchant.
• TC provinces give you less tax, manpower, and sailors, and are capped at 90% autonomy, but they give a significant boost to your Trade Power, production income, and naval forcelimit (so you usually want to assign TCs to Trade Centers/Estuaries).
• TCs cost more governing capacity than a normal province, but that’s offset by the fact that TCs can only exist in Territories, which cost less GC anyway, as well as any courthouses you build in the province.
• TCs also have access to special, but expensive, buildings. These buildings can partially negate the penalties to tax, manpower, etc.
• TCs are harder, if not impossible, to convert to your religion. But they do not contribute to religious/cultural unrest or religious unity.
• All TC provinces in a region boost the goods produced of all non-TC provinces in that region. So, you want to assign enough provinces to the TC to get a Merchant, but not so many that you lose out on the goods produced.

I realize not much happened in this update. But these explanations about TCs and buildings had to come eventually. And understanding the specifics of TCs is key to building a global empire. There will be plenty of action coming in these next couple of chapters, I promise you that.

See you then and thanks for your comments and readership!

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

I also make the call to annex Kildare. They’ve been a loyal vassal and have served us well. But owning the land directly and freeing up a relation-slot is more valuable at this stage. And, as it will turn out over the next few decades, this was the correct decision. Any guesses why that might be?

You're going to end up at war with England?

 

[SunnyGuy23]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Buildings & Trade Companies
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(September 1507-April 1508)​

With the spoils gained from our wars, we’re able to repay the last of our loans. We’re finally debt free! Then, in October, we achieve another milestone. Brittany has grown enough to be recognized as a Great Power! GP status gives us a permanent boost to our Power Projection based on our rank. It also unlocks some new diplomatic options that we’ll take advantage of later.

View attachment 1188493​

We spend 73 of our diplo points to reduce our War Exhaustion by 2 since we’re 11 years ahead on tech. Less War Exhaustion makes it cheaper to core our provinces, and I want to save as many points as possible to finish Expansion and still integrate our conquests.

View attachment 1188496​

It’s also time to seize and sell our Crownland again and summon the diet. We end up at 22% Crownland with 400 ducats in the treasury. Of the 3 options presented by the Estates today, we go with the Bourgeoisie’s proposal to colonize New York.

View attachment 1188499​

I also make the call to annex Kildare. They’ve been a loyal vassal and have served us well. But owning the land directly and freeing up a relation-slot is more valuable at this stage. And, as it will turn out over the next few decades, this was the correct decision. Any guesses why that might be?

View attachment 1188500​

I end up spending some of our Papal Influence to grab the extra taxes and decreased construction cost privilege we’ve taken before. Then, I spend 92 of our gold on a new church in Arvor. Once completed, it will earn us +0.15 a month. Another 92 is spent on a dockyard in Penn-ar-Bed for a mission. And we also construct a marketplace in Bro Naoned to increase our Trade Power.

View attachment 1188502​

Building slots, especially early in the game, are precious. Later on, with discounts to Development and increased mana generation, we’ll have an easier time deciding what to build. But I’ll tell you what I prioritize:

• Workshops (production) & Temples (tax): income is, obviously, very important. And the more money you make, the more you can build. It spirals very quickly. Production is better throughout the game, tax is good early game. Anything that makes over 0.10 a month, I build/keep.
  
  • If you hover over a province with a building in the Macrobuilder, it will tell you how much the building makes each month. Right-clicking while in the Macrobuilder deletes buildings.
• Marketplaces (Trade Power): I only ever build these on Trade Centers/Estuaries, or provinces that have specific modifiers to their Trade Power. They really aren’t worth the slot anywhere else, except maybe on Trade Company provinces if you’re having trouble establishing the 51% control needed for a Merchant.
• Barracks (manpower): extra manpower is always nice. Increased manpower cap also increases the recovery rate. Anything 500 or above is good. If you really have nothing else to build even the 100-level ones are worth it.
• Shipyards (naval forcelimit): more ships, more trade, more control of the seas. These buildings also make it so your ships repair faster in the tiles they’re built on, helping you wear down enemies’ navies in close wars. They also make ships build faster.
• Manufactories: very expensive, but absolutely worth the cost once you can afford them. Will easily make back the money you invest into them, especially for high-value trade goods. The specialized manufactories also provide extra bonuses if you construct them on specific trade goods.
  
  • Soldier’s Households (manpower): build them on every grain, livestock, fish, or wine province you can. Along with barracks, you’ll never have to worry about manpower again.
  • Furnaces: build on every coal province you have once unlocked. Free money.
  • State Houses: helps with governing capacity. Build it on any paper, gems, or glass provinces. Nowhere else unless you want/need to.
• Courthouses (governing capacity): doesn’t take a slot so can be built anywhere. Will help if you find yourself running out of governing capacity.
• Universities (Dev cost): doesn’t take a slot. Gives the province it is built in -20% Dev cost. Build it everywhere you can, prioritizing provinces with no slots left. Then Dev those, now cheaper, provinces to unlock new slots.
• Regimental Camps & Docks: more land forcelimit and more sailors are nice to have. But not as important as the other buildings for most of your needs. But build them once you start unlocking more slots or have nothing else to build.

Using 80 of our remaining 125 ducats, I unlock a Naval Doctrine for our country. The cost increases relative to the size of our navy, so before we start building more ships, we should pick one. I choose Merchant Navy, making our trade-ships more effective. Then I build two more Barques for our trade fleet in Bordeaux.

View attachment 1188503​

In December, England is proclaimed by the Pope to be the rightful ruler of Brazil. At least this will keep the Castilians and Portuguese from expanding there. It may even be a thorn in their side.

View attachment 1188504​

Our colony in Jamaica is almost finished (970 settlers), so I recall our colonist early to start the journey to our next outpost. The New World is nice, but it’s not the only frontier we need to settle. The Ivory Coast trade node is another key to our long-term expansion. Castille has already claimed the province of Gold Coast to the east, so we set up shop next door in Cape Coast. I immediately assign the province to a Trade Company.

View attachment 1188505
View attachment 1188506​

Here’s a quick rundown on TCs:

• Each TC has a region it belongs to (the same mapmode as the colonial regions for our CNs). Unlike the regions in the New World or Australia, a new subject won’t be spawned. Instead, the Subjects screen will show your TC’s control in that region. Having over 51% control will give us an extra Merchant.
• TC provinces give you less tax, manpower, and sailors, and are capped at 90% autonomy, but they give a significant boost to your Trade Power, production income, and naval forcelimit (so you usually want to assign TCs to Trade Centers/Estuaries).
• TCs cost more governing capacity than a normal province, but that’s offset by the fact that TCs can only exist in Territories, which cost less GC anyway, as well as any courthouses you build in the province.
• TCs also have access to special, but expensive, buildings. These buildings can partially negate the penalties to tax, manpower, etc.
• TCs are harder, if not impossible, to convert to your religion. But they do not contribute to religious/cultural unrest or religious unity.
• All TC provinces in a region boost the goods produced of all non-TC provinces in that region. So, you want to assign enough provinces to the TC to get a Merchant, but not so many that you lose out on the goods produced.

View attachment 1188509​

I realize not much happened in this update. But these explanations about TCs and buildings had to come eventually. And understanding the specifics of TCs is key to building a global empire. There will be plenty of action coming in these next couple of chapters, I promise you that.
I’ve been following this guide for a while, and it’s definitely helped me improve my EU4 game. But one thing I found tricky was keeping track of all the different mechanics when starting out. If you're like me and need a bit of extra guidance with complex topics, you might also want to check out resources that simplify things further. Something like 99papers.com could come in handy when you need help organizing notes or writing out strategies more clearly, especially when you're juggling multiple campaigns. It's always a good idea to streamline the learning process wherever possible!
See you then and thanks for your comments and readership!

Cool!

 

[Midnite Duke]

Trade Companies: Can they only be built on your non home continent? Should colony be built and converted to religion before assigning? Thanks

 

[Steckie]

I also make the call to annex Kildare. They’ve been a loyal vassal and have served us well. But owning the land directly and freeing up a relation-slot is more valuable at this stage. And, as it will turn out over the next few decades, this was the correct decision. Any guesses why that might be?

You get a new vassal somewhere in either the British Isles or the Lowlands or you get a personal union somewhere.

Castille has already claimed the province of Gold Coast to the east, so we set up shop next door in Cape Coast. I immediately assign the province to a Trade Company.

I usually convert before assigning to a Trade Company, am I doing something unnecessary here?
Because assigning to a Trade Company does have a conversion penalty so it's harder to do afterwards.

 

[Rensslaer]

Awesome tutorial these last couple of posts @jak7139! I need to take notes or refer back here for when I play a colonizing power

Also great work making it from fringe power to great power in 60 years!

Rensslaer

P.s. Fringe power to great power doesn't quite capture it. You were on the schedule for dismantling by France, but now you're a great power.

 

[HistoryDude]

I appreciate the explanations!

Will Kildare's old territory get attacked soon?

 

[jak7139]

You're going to end up at war with England?

You get a new vassal somewhere in either the British Isles or the Lowlands or you get a personal union somewhere.

Will Kildare's old territory get attacked soon?

Of these three guesses, @StrategyGameEnthusiast is the closest. But it's also not 100% correct.

Cool!

Much thanks and welcome!

Trade Companies: Can they only be built on your non home continent?

Yes (the game calls these regions subcontinents). So since we are in Western Europe, we can only create TCs in other subcontinents. But we could also move our capital to change that. A screenshot of the subcontinent boundaries:

Should colony be built and converted to religion before assigning? Thanks

I usually convert before assigning to a Trade Company, am I doing something unnecessary here?
Because assigning to a Trade Company does have a conversion penalty so it's harder to do afterwards.

A TC doesn't give any religious unity or religious unrest penalties, so you don't need to convert before assigning. But you certainly can if you want.

Awesome tutorial these last couple of posts @jak7139! I need to take notes or refer back here for when I play a colonizing power

I felt something click when writing these last few updates. Glad that it's so helpful!

Also great work making it from fringe power to great power in 60 years!

Rensslaer

P.s. Fringe power to great power doesn't quite capture it. You were on the schedule for dismantling by France, but now you're a great power.

Becoming a GP is a great sign of our progress. I wouldn't say we're ready to tackle France yet though

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Oh Canada…Can You Hold This?
|-|
(April 1508-January 1514)

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Jamaica finishes and Bro Raozhon gains a Cardinal. Then, the relatively short reign of Francois II comes to an end. I was really hoping he’d live as long as his father.

​

Duke Henri’s first act is to purchase a new Splendor perk. This one gives us increased cav-to-inf ratio (see Chapter 13). This isn’t a huge boost because of our lack of cav. But if we were playing someone like Poland, then it’d be nice. Still, better than nothing.

​

A revolt of 4,000 natives rises up in Cape Coast and our small garrison isn’t enough to stop them. While we’re able to retreat west into some uncolonized land, our colony is destroyed when the province is sieged. The rebels disperse and we resend our colonist to try again. I also send our transports over with an extra infantry to help.

​

To help with our finances a bit, I offer Knowledge Sharing to Kildare before we annex them. We might as well steal the last of their money before it disappears into the void. Our economy in July 1509 sits at 17.93 ducats in total with a 4.27 surplus. And that’s while paying for our army and some Corruption caused by our overextension.

Guane has also nearly finished. So, in September, I send that colonist to Long Island to complete the diet we received in the last chapter.

​

A couple days later, we get a 5/4/4 heir from an event. Our prince is once again named Francois. I’m starting to sense a pattern. Duke Henri also decides to marry the woman in the event, Gwenvred. I’m sure that went down well with the Church.

​

I also remember to scornfully insult England. This brings our Power Projection above the magic number 50, earning us an extra point per month in each category. England, as a side note, isn’t doing very well right now. They’ve been dealing with a large Particularist rebellion for the past couple years now. At least this keeps them distracted, weak, and off the backs of either us or Scotland. I’d consider deccing on them, but their allies would still be a lot to handle: Austria, Portugal, Sweden, and East Frisia.

​

In April, we receive the once-per-game event that all European countries get: The Last Jousting Tournament. The bonuses are so good that there’s no reason you should ever decline it.

​

1511 comes around and I do some more Development clicks. I bring Bro Wened up from a 9 Development backwater to a 20 Dev metropolis. It is now tied for the largest city in our nation. Our other largest province is Arvor which we had Developed previously (Chapter 19). Both of them look like this:

• Bro Wened: 1/3/5 -> 1/9/10
• 621 diplo -> 360
• 983 mil -> 763
• Arvor: 5/6/9

Kildare submits to the inevitable in June. We gain some Prestige and a penalty to our Diplomatic Reputation for the next 10 years. Usually when annexing a subject, I like to take a privilege from the Nobility that negates the hit. But I forgot this time.

​

One month later, our Canadian CN spawns. We make it Self-Governing to hopefully fill out the region faster. And the Duke, perhaps to compensate for his average stats, names it after himself: Henrika.

Our new subject already has the 10 provinces needed for an extra Merchant. I send this one to Ohio to Transfer into Chesapeake Bay.

​

With Henrika up and running, I end our war against Huron. We were prevented before because of our lack of range. But our subject isn’t limited by that. We take their 3 provinces in OTL Toronto and 102.30 gold (we get 57.24). Huron is left with their lands in Michigan. We’ll be back later.

​

We take the next slot in Expansion, giving us an extra colonist and more Settler Chance. We start a new colony in Aruba (Caribbean Trade Center) to celebrate. Once it finishes, we’ll have the 5 provinces necessary for a CN (Havanna, Guane, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Aruba). Time will tell if we choose to go all in for the Merchant bonus.

​

We also get a random event that partially negates the Diplo Rep penalty from earlier. And I bring us up to our forcelimit of 21 by training 3 more regiments: 2 infantry and our first artillery piece. Our economy can afford the increased military size, but I spend some more gold on a Workshop in Bro Wened that will make us 0.15 (treasury is at 64 after queuing).

​

I hire an admin advisor, a Theologian, to help with our point generation. He lets us enact a decision for more Missionary Strength at the cost of some Institution Spread. Before the year’s end, we get an event from the Bourgeoisie to add 1 Base Tax in 4 of our provinces at the cost of some money and influence. I accept their offer, but we take out a loan because of it. We ask the Pope for some money to help out (61 ducats), which immediately goes towards a Marketplace in Penn-ar-Bed.

​

By April 1512, we have a force of 10,000 (9-0-1) and our transports assembled in Guane. What are they doing there, you ask? Well, we’re not slowing down our conquests that’s for sure. The jungles of Mexico and the Yucatan have been calling to us for a while now. Our settlers and soldiers in Cuba have heard tales of gold. Lots of gold.

Meet the nation of Cocomes and their allies, Itza and Kaqchikel. Our army is certainly going to become acquainted with them over these next few years.

​

As that war happens in the background, our restarted colony in Cape Coast gains some Dyes as its Trade Good. Another Mayan nation, Chactemal, also enters their own war against Cocomes after we beat their army. And Bro Wened, being the rich and prosperous city that it is, gains a Cardinal in January 1513.

In August, Cocomes cedes their entire country to Xiu and Chactemal. This doesn’t end our war, we’re now just left fighting Itza and Kaqchikel. Our Trader advisor has also died, so we replace him with a half-priced level 2 we got from an event. Our economy is exactly 1 ducat in the positive.

Our new Conquistador, Venec, doesn’t last long. The humid jungles of Central America are a different beast to the East Coast of Sklaer's campaigns. I hire a replacement with terrible stats. No one has yet lived up to Sklaer’s legend.

​

Before I end it here, I’ll show you a neat trick for if you have subjects. When you occupy an enemy province with a fort, you have to pay for it. But what if you’re having money troubles? You can mothball the fort, but if the enemy counterattacks or sneaks behind you, they might just undo all your progress.

​

However, if you have a subject, you can let them handle the occupation and the fort. The fort stays maintained, and you don’t have to pay a dime! As an extra bonus, if that subject is acting disloyal, the extra debt they accrue from having to pay for every single enemy fort is a great way to weaken them. And if you pay off their debt later, they’ll become more loyal.

Then, once you’re ready to peace out, you can bring whatever forts you transferred back under your control (if there was one you were planning on taking). You can also transfer occupations to your allies, but they won’t give occupation back to you once you’ve given it away. So, tread lightly.

​

Henrika very kindly is going to pay for the enemies’ forts until we end our war. How generous of them. They will do this regardless of debt, deficit, inflation, or any other metric. As long as the war goes on, unless they go bankrupt, they’ll pay for them.