Jak's Game Guide: An EU4 Tutorial

[Bullfilter]

On Ch 53:

The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

I too always find this quote amusing. It’s the kind of ‘virtuous circle’ of which Sir Humphrey Appleby would approve!

Bohemia defeats Austria, forcing their conversion to Protestant.

WOW. The HRE is even more of a basket case here than in OTL. And with Poland crowding out the basket.

But this causes an interesting wrinkle.

Brittany is a Great Power. Spain is a Great Power. GB is a Great Power.

When a Great Power is at peace, they can choose to intervene in GP-on-GP wars as long as it’s on the side with fewer GPs.

France has entered the war.

Ah hah! Interesting to know of this balance of power dynamic. While the face value numbers on each side clearly favour the Brittany alliance, if much is vested in colonies then the actual ground situation in the main theatre (Europe) may be closer?

The first naval battle goes poorly, as the British have French help.

<does theatrical double-take> Surely at least 200 years too early for such headlines!

No end-battle screen unfortunately. But you can see the remaining number of men

A bit of a bloodbath. Interesting to see how the war goes (I have not skipped ahead yet so am leaving this comment as is).

 

[Chac1]

So much war in the last chapter I am breathless from reading.

I think I missed the part where Scandinavia allied itself to Russia, but nevertheless you fought on ably in two different theaters spanning the globe. Brittany is definitely the top world power now and dismantling the British.

Given this outcome, it can't be too long before they return to retake the homelands.

 

[Cora Giantkiller]

The dismantling of Great Britain is going very well indeed.

 

[Bullfilter]

On Ch 54:

​

Some really big manpower losses in those battles, whether victory or defeat (this being the worst). In this case, maybe not all Breton but … what was the cause(s) of the high casualty ratios?

All of Australia, all of Scotland, all of Wales. All ours.

A grand sweep of new lands.

We've entered that point in EU4 where no one can really challenge us. We're top dog, we know it, and can do whatever we wish.

Including other (more distant) behemoths such as the Ottos and Russia?

 

[diskoerekto]

Before we’re able to complete their vassalization though, we get called in to defend them against…Russia!

why did this strange war break? is Russia colonizing SE Asia?

Back to our war, we occupy the Russian’s Philippines outpost first. They also have some land in Papua New Guinea which will be our next target.

they indeed are. well, good, some colonial territory to get for the peace deal. In any game, Russia delenda est (except the norse Russia @Bullfilter runs in his epic AAR!)

In the meantime, Scandinavia crosses from Orkney into Inverness. I completely forgot they had land there.

so we'll get those too in the settlement eventually

Client States are sort of a new subject type.

Previously we’ve either force vassalized, diplo-vassalized, or released nations as subjects. But Client States let us create entirely new nations out of thin air. And we can create an infinite amount of them, assuming we want to go over the relations-limit.

how does pros and cons of different kinds of vassal states (vassals, client states, eyalets of Ottomans, other special types if any) compare against each other?

Brunei chooses that moment to make peace.

oh I assumed we'd become the war leader when we joined

The war goes the same as last time. We lose, lose, lose, lose and take horrendous casualties until the British run out of manpower, then we win.

this is why I value morale pips less than direct pips. I didn't do the math, but for example in this situation you'd bleed them of their manpower faster and with losing less manpower if you lacked morale but had more attack/defense pips

Most of GB is annexed.

this is awesome

 

[Bullfilter]

Russia delenda est (except the norse Russia @Bullfilter runs in his epic AAR!)

Hear hear!

 

[Rensslaer]

For all intents and purposes you've become France's cross-Channel rival and displaced the British empire! I look forward to how that plays out.

Great job against Russia! So when you captured their flagship and looked at your fleet it showed that ship with a Russian flag. I've captured plenty of ships but have never seen such a flag to show where they came from. Is that because it's the flagship? A new feature? Curious if you know.

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

Since it's Easter tomorrow, I might not have time for comment feedback. So figured I'd do it today.

Thanks for the comments everyone! And Happy Easter for those who celebrate it!

It's good that Brittany is at the stage where they can afford to throw lots of men into the meatgrinder and wait for the enemy to run out of men. Hopefully Brittany doesn't find a rival that can match their manpower numbers.

I think only the Ottomans can match us for manpower at this stage, I'll have to check the save. This is why I've focused on mil development, barracks, and soldiers' households so much.

On the catch up trail, hope you don’t mind a few retro comments/questions
On Ch 52:

Not at all!

Their star is definitely waning now. Even if in an intuitive sense taking down Britain in order to eventually defeat France seems a bit contra. But I get the position building aspect and disabling a rival colonial power. The establishment of Great Brittany proceeds!

I do get what your saying, you'd think having GB as an ally against France would be better. And if we had other places in Europe to expand to, I'd agree. But the land can be used better by Brittany.

Did that very large AE figure into the assessment of costs? Are there any coalition threats to Brittany now?

The AE is large, yes. But since GB is the only Anglican nation (and isolated on their island) most nations don't care. Really the only ones that do care are those we've been fighting: GB, France, and Portugal.

I too always find this quote amusing. It’s the kind of ‘virtuous circle’ of which Sir Humphrey Appleby would approve!

Had to look him up. Government administration is in many ways quite cyclical.

Ah hah! Interesting to know of this balance of power dynamic. While the face value numbers on each side clearly favour the Brittany alliance, if much is vested in colonies then the actual ground situation in the main theatre (Europe) may be closer?

Yes, though keep in mind France has to find a way to get men onto Britain. And they have the Spanish to deal with directly as a distraction.

<does theatrical double-take> Surely at least 200 years too early for such headlines!

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

So much war in the last chapter I am breathless from reading.

I hope it is not too much. We've reached that stage in EU4 where we can expand pretty much with impunity.

I think I missed the part where Scandinavia allied itself to Russia, but nevertheless you fought on ably in two different theaters spanning the globe. Brittany is definitely the top world power now and dismantling the British.

Looking back through my screenshots, the alliance was not there in 1662. But it is there in 1665. So it is a sem0recent addition.

Given this outcome, it can't be too long before they return to retake the homelands.

The dismantling of Great Britain is going very well indeed.

The return is coming ever closer.

On Ch 54:
Some really big manpower losses in those battles, whether victory or defeat (this being the worst). In this case, maybe not all Breton but … what was the cause(s) of the high casualty ratios?

I know you haven't gotten to Chapter 55 yet, but I did include a screenshot of our army quality there. Reposted below:

So Brittany's quality (especially discipline) is not the best when compared to most others. We have refrained from taking a military idea group even though we probably should (if you remember I wanted to showcase how you can still win in singleplayer without one).

And for that particular battle you're showing there are two reasons I think we lost it. One, the screenshot shows us on the receiving end of a 9-1 roll in the fire phase (late game, fire does the most damage). Two, we ran out of frontline for our artillery.

I also can't remember, but we might not have had a general for the first parts of the fight until Wales showed up. You never want to fight an even, pitched battle without a leader. I think my attention was elsewhere for a few seconds and GB surprised me.

A grand sweep of new lands.
Including other (more distant) behemoths such as the Ottos and Russia?

Regarding Russia, read on!

For the Ottomans we could probably fight them too. They might even be easier than France. But they're so far away that we don't compete with each other anywhere, unlike GB, France, and our other foes.

why did this strange war break? is Russia colonizing SE Asia?

They have a few colonies in SE Asia. So Russia does have interest in the region.

how does pros and cons of different kinds of vassal states (vassals, client states, eyalets of Ottomans, other special types if any) compare against each other?

This probably deseres a longer in-chapter explanation at some point. But for now I'll say this:

Vassals: gives taxes and forcelimit to overlord. Can be annexed.

Marches: like a vassal. More loyal. Has special defensive/military bonuses for itself. Can't be annexed (but can be turned into a vassal again) and doesn't give taxes.

Client States: a vassal that the player has artificially created, not a releasable or existing TAG. Can be annexed.

Eyelets: special Ottoman-exclusive subject. Gives tons of manpower to overlord but doesn't join wars.

oh I assumed we'd become the war leader when we joined

Yes. This isn't Victoria 2.

this is why I value morale pips less than direct pips. I didn't do the math, but for example in this situation you'd bleed them of their manpower faster and with losing less manpower if you lacked morale but had more attack/defense pips

I like the damage pips too. The main problem is our discipline.

this is awesome

Glad you enjoyed!

For all intents and purposes you've become France's cross-Channel rival and displaced the British empire! I look forward to how that plays out.

We will see how that plays out very, very soon over the next few weeks.

Great job against Russia! So when you captured their flagship and looked at your fleet it showed that ship with a Russian flag. I've captured plenty of ships but have never seen such a flag to show where they came from. Is that because it's the flagship? A new feature? Curious if you know.

The flag is just to indicate the flagship.

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX: The Many Wars of Spain
|-|
(February 1697-September 1717)​

In the middle of our African war, Spain calls us in for a venture against Blambangan. I have no forces in position to prevent them from annexing their foe, unlike our previous trick with Sulu.

​

The Enlightenment Institution spawns as well, signaling that in 120 months the Age of Absolutism will end.

​

We take the latest round of tech. Then I decide to white peace Songhai.

​

Morrocco is giving me a bit of trouble, so I want to just focus our main enemy down. Songhai can wait.

We annex Morocco and Fez and leave Spain’s war so we can rerelease Morocco as a loyal subject with no memory of past transgressions.

​

Guess what? Morocco has cores on Spain. Also guess what? We can have allies give us vassals’ cores by spending Favors. Time to start currying with Spain!

Later, we annex Songhai and the OPMs of Mossi and Mali which broke away from them.

Hausa is the last independent West African.

(The red stars were gained from Hausa by end-of-chapter, as you'll soon see).​

I’ve stated all our English provinces so we can accept them as an equal culture and get the most benefit from the land. We needed to demote Moluccan though because we didn’t have a spare accepted culture slot.

I wonder how we can get more slots?

​

Having English as accepted also means we can use the Tower of London and Stonehenge monuments. The bonuses for these wonders aren’t huge, but don’t hurt.

​

Speaking of wonders, Henrika owns one.

If it was upgraded, our CN would get the benefits. But this wonder is unique in that it is small enough to be moved. Not many wonders are, so I thought I’d point it out. The bonuses we’ll get from owning this monument are, again, not huge but nice to have.

​

We start annexing Pahang and Kelantan. And we take the next Government Reform.

​

It’s time to attack Portugal for the last time.

Before we conclude that war though, some more news:

Spain actually loses to Blambangan. Transports have never been the AI’s strong suit. They lose 2 colonies, and release Sardinia and Vanua Levu.

​

That doesn’t deter our ally though. They attack Hausa not even a year afterward.

I occupy the 1 province Spain can take via their border with Hausa and wait.

When Spain signs peace, they get nothing except money. Kong gets their 2 cores.

​

Poland is also now the HREmperor and looks set to keep it for a long time.

​

The peace with Portugal comes.

We annex them. All of them. Colony, mainland, island.

​

We take 6 provinces from Portuguese Alaska to give to our existing Alaskan CN. They now have 10 provinces for a merchant (I took an extra province for nicer borders).

By annexing Portugal, we receive Portuguese Alaska as a separate subject for free. They also have 10 provinces.

​

One merchant is sent to the Philippines. The other is sent to Australia.

If you’re wondering about Spain’s opinion of us. They don’t care:

​

They call us into another war, this time against Pasai.

​

We attack the British again. This will be our last war with them.

​

We hear rumors of Revolution in the Ottomans. Emperor Francois thinks it’s nothing to worry about. Revolutionaries and kings have always been the best of friends.

I’ll discuss the Revolution and its effects another time.

​

Bone is vassalized. Spain pays cash to Pasai in return for peace.

​

I change Henrika to a Crown Colony to decrease their Liberty Desire.

Spain attacks Blambangan again. We were allied to the defender to try and vassalize them. I choose to keep our alliance with Spain and leave Blambangan to their fate.

​

Sunda and France are white-peaced.

We embrace the Enlightenment and get coal in some of our provinces. We build Furnaces in them.

​

And now we’re all caught up.

1717 is here and Brittany stands triumphant and at war.

Spoiler: We've caught up to gameplay

Author’s Note: Well, we’ve finally done it! We’re finally current with gameplay! Hopefully the rapid pace of coverage these last couple updates wasn’t too much.

Future chapters will probably take a bit longer now that I have no backlog. But, on the bright side, I can now answer any questions you all may have more effectively and showcase how things currently stand in the game.

So the once-per-week update schedule is over for now.

If you have any questions or regions of interest, I’d love to do an overview chapter so we can reorient ourselves going into the last century of the campaign.

Thank you all very much for reading! See you whenever I see you next.

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

If you’re wondering about Spain’s opinion of us. They don’t care:

They may start caring if you forget to keep improving relations/they desire more of your provinces...

 

[Cora Giantkiller]

How many subjects do you have now?

 

[diskoerekto]

Guess what? Morocco has cores on Spain. Also guess what? We can have allies give us vassals’ cores by spending Favors. Time to start currying with Spain!

I assume this excludes their (allies) own cores, right?

I wonder how we can get more slots?

wasn't there a monument of a pile of stones in far north of Canada that does that?

If it was upgraded, our CN would get the benefits. But this wonder is unique in that it is small enough to be moved. Not many wonders are, so I thought I’d point it out. The bonuses we’ll get from owning this monument are, again, not huge but nice to have.

I was right

Spain actually loses to Blambangan. Transports have never been the AI’s strong suit. They lose 2 colonies, and release Sardinia and Vanua Levu.

LOL

I occupy the 1 province Spain can take via their border with Hausa and wait.

When Spain signs peace, they get nothing except money. Kong gets their 2 cores.

ROFLMAO this has been the episode of blocking of Spain from every avenue

We annex them. All of them. Colony, mainland, island.

another one of the mighty have fallen

 

[Chac1]

Thanks for the latest chapter. Now, it seems Spain is keeping you in the war business and you are profiting more than your ally.

We embrace the Enlightenment and get coal in some of our provinces. We build Furnaces in them.

Looks like the Industrial Revolution is about to begin... about 40 years early. You are outpacing OTL UK, which already had an amazing story in how that all began.

Thank you all very much for reading! See you whenever I see you next.

Just to confirm: this is not the end of this AAR, but just an announcement that it is slowing its pace, yes?

 

[jak7139]

Just to confirm: this is not the end of this AAR, but just an announcement that it is slowing its pace, yes?

Yes. We still have a hundred or so years of game to cover. But I've run out of played backlog, necessitating a slower pace.

 

[Bullfilter]

On Ch 55: (I’m getting there, bear with me! But there’s always a lot to think and ask questions about …)

We could’ve gone over the free Policy limit and kept both active, but I want to catch up in admin tech.

Do you generally try to stay under the policy limit, or is it often/sometimes/never really desirable to exceed it on a cost-benefit basis?

Imperialism gives us a CB on every nation across the globe. For nations within our culture group, we also have access to the Nationalism CB, a buffed version of Imperialism.

Nice little explanation of the relationship between the two.

Unfortunately, since a nation can only benefit from one flagship, we don’t receive whatever buffs the Russians gave the Piotr. It is just a nice cosmetic trophy.

Interesting - makes sense in one way, not in another.

Here’s a look at the current GPs

Wow, you really are out there in front. But still without your ancestral homeland. That itch must be getting very hard not to scratch! Anticip……ation?

Brittany would never stoop to such lows!

The war goes the same as last time. We lose, lose, lose, lose and take horrendous casualties until the British run out of manpower, then we win.

Breton, the human wave proponent? How the wheel has turned.

Most of GB is annexed.

Handsome reward …

This was a bloody war. But we won. In the end that’s all that matters.

… though at enormous cost (on both sides).

I know you haven't gotten to Chapter 55 yet, but I did include a screenshot of our army quality there.

Right. Of the factors, is discipline the most telling in combat in relation to casualty ratios? That is, say high morale but low discipline equals potentially even higher casualties (even if more battles are won)?

So Brittany's quality (especially discipline) is not the best when compared to most others.

 

[Bullfilter]

On Ch 56:

The Enlightenment Institution spawns as well, signaling that in 120 months the Age of Absolutism will end.

So will your extreme absolutism fare worse in the Enlightenment? Let alone in the Age of Revolution? Is it something you embrace and continue with or seek to now moderate?

We can have allies give us vassals’ cores by spending Favors. Time to start currying with Spain!

That sounds complicated. This game has so many angles …

I’ve stated all our English provinces so we can accept them as an equal culture and get the most benefit from the land.

I’ve kind of asked this before I think, but other than the original cost of accepting a culture, are there any longer term problems in doing so? How about the alternative of trying to pursue a monocultural approach? That is, converting as with religion.

I’ll discuss the Revolution and its effects another time.

Looking forward to it.

Spain pays cash to Pasai in return for peace.

They are not very good at this, are they? Even without you white anting them!

1717 is here and Brittany stands triumphant and at war.

Triumphant - except for owning most of the world except for Brittany!

Well, we’ve finally done it! We’re finally current with gameplay!

Good time for me to have caught up as well. Looking forward to the next phase.

 

[jak7139]

To All:

I'm going on a short vacation starting tomorrow and should be back Monday. So I'll be AFK and away from the forum. But I have a moment for comment feedback now, so might as well.

Thank you everyone for your continued readership and comments as this AAR enters a new phase. I can't believe it's been over a year since this was started. How time flies!

They may start caring if you forget to keep improving relations/they desire more of your provinces...

True. We'll need to keep a close eye on them.

How many subjects do you have now?

We have nine vassals, two allies, and one potential vassal we're currently schmoozing. There are also our nine CNs which don't take up a slot.

Spoiler

Liberty Desire is mostly fine except we're suffering from some overextension (lowering our diplomatic reputation) and war exhaustion.

I assume this excludes their (allies) own cores, right?

It's been a while since I've had to use this feature, but I actually don't think it excludes allied cores. Assuming Morocco had enough cores on Spain, we could carve our ally up for free essentially.

ROFLMAO this has been the episode of blocking of Spain from every avenue

Indeed it has!

another one of the mighty have fallen

Just France and GB left (and Spain too, but they're more our lackey).

Thanks for the latest chapter. Now, it seems Spain is keeping you in the war business and you are profiting more than your ally.

The Spanish AI trusts us completely, to their detriment.

Do you generally try to stay under the policy limit, or is it often/sometimes/never really desirable to exceed it on a cost-benefit basis?

It depends on two things:

Do we have an excess of points/mana generation?

Is the policy something we need right now, or is it situational like for winning a war or annexing a vassal?

So sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Right. Of the factors, is discipline the most telling in combat in relation to casualty ratios? That is, say high morale but low discipline equals potentially even higher casualties (even if more battles are won)?

So, the three main stats for combat are:

Morale: our staying power in combat. How long our men stay in the fight.

Tactics: lowers the damage we take in comparison to the enemy's Tactics stat (this is why our native wars in North America were so easy).

Discipline: damage dealt, basically. Also slightly affects Tactics.

You've got it right that higher morale with lower discipline usually means higher casualties. That's part of the problem Brittany is facing. But our stats compared to everybody are poor.

Generally, early game you want higher Morale. Late game you want higher Discipline.

Spoiler

So will your extreme absolutism fare worse in the Enlightenment? Let alone in the Age of Revolution? Is it something you embrace and continue with or seek to now moderate?

Except for RP, there is basically no downside for not having the highest Absolutism possible. Going forward, we'll really only get higher unrest. But if our country is already inherently stable, like here, then it really isn't an issue.

That sounds complicated. This game has so many angles …

This is really just another favor-sink. So just like how we've been spending favors for money, manpower, etc. we're now doing so to retrieve Morocco's cores. It's in the same favor interface/section.

I’ve kind of asked this before I think, but other than the original cost of accepting a culture, are there any longer term problems in doing so? How about the alternative of trying to pursue a monocultural approach? That is, converting as with religion.

Unfortunately, EU4's culture system doesn't really have any depth beyond that.

Accepting a culture just means it is functionally our primary culture. And it is much cheaper to accept than culture convert.

People do like to do one-culture challenge runs though, which I won't be covering here. Such games require different strategies than the norm.

They are not very good at this, are they? Even without you white anting them!

They are a Paradox AI, what else is new?

The global empires like Spain, GB, etc. really can't manage their navies and transports all that well.

Good time for me to have caught up as well. Looking forward to the next phase.

Another reason for the slowed pace was to allow readers such as yourself to catch up. Glad to have you current again!

 

[jak7139]

Okay, so the next chapter is still a few weeks away as real-life has gotten busy. But while I start preparing it, it will be an overview of Brittany and the world before we head into the last hundred years of the game.

With that in mind, if there are any particular areas, countries, stats you would want me to highlight in that update, let me know.

 

[Rensslaer]

Neat trick with Spain and Morocco! I had no idea.

Interesting about the movable monument.

You've annexed, essentially, both Portugal and Britain! Nice work! Changes the typical great power game alot.

It's late in the game. You still have France to take your lands back from and take down a notch. I'm assuming there's no circumstance where you would want to risk losing Spain as an ally, it at least not going to war with her.

I'm sure there's more I meant to comment on but that's what I remember now.

Rensslaer

 

[Rensslaer]

They are not very good at this, are they? Even without you white anting them!

Triumphant - except for owning most of the world except for Brittany!

Oohoo! Good taunt score on that one!

@Bullfilter I have never heard the white ant saying before. What does this mean?

Rensslaer