Jak's Game Guide: An EU4 Tutorial

[Cora Giantkiller]

Hell yeah.

Also, I take from your initial discussion that AE was not a huge concern for you.

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

Britain just got crushed, but how are France still stronger than Brittany?

 

[Rensslaer]

Awesome!

Very nice use of your navy.

I love that you enriched your ally Scotland, but not too much, and you're set up to enrich a different Welsh vassal next round.

Taking South Africa seems important to me. What other bases do the British still have en route to the East Indies? Is it likely - I think it is - that by removing an important waypoint you've made it more difficult for Great Britain to compete in Asia any longer?

Rensslaer

 

[Bullfilter]

Before we get to the meat of this chapter, I want to talk a bit about the wargoal we used to declare on England and wargoals in general.

Good explanation, I kinda understood that but really need to be more familiar with the game to fully appreciate it

Peace comes that December, just in time for Christmas! All in all, the war lasted 2 years and less than 6 months.

Relatively short, comfortable, comprehensive and with good gains …

A very good war, I’d say.

… and so say we all!

 

[diskoerekto]

Depending on the wargoal you use, provinces may or may not cost diplo points to demand. This is what the game calls Unjustified Demands.

By using conquest as our CB, all provinces we have claims on, not just Sutherland, don’t suffer that extra diplo point cost.

The same principle would be true if we were using reconquest instead. If that were the case, all cores would cost no diplo to demand.

But vassals and subjects also factor in here, since they are their own nations with their own diplomats, Spy Networks, and claims/cores.

As Scotland’s overlord, we benefit from their claims if those provinces actually go to Scotland in the peacedeal. We can’t use Scotland’s claim on Sutherland and take it for ourselves, for example. That would still count as “unjustified.” But if Scotland takes it, then it is “justified.”

We also don’t have that many claims on GB itself. As you can see from the declaration of war screen, we only claim 6 provinces (Carmarthen, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, and Somerset). However, Scotland has many more claims than us.

By using Scotland’s claim, we get no Unjustified Demands for claimed provinces we take and claimed provinces Scotland takes. Whereas if we just used our own claims, only we would benefit.

Here’s a weird quirk though: If we had a third subject and were using their claims, then we would benefit, and they would benefit, but Scotland would not benefit. Scotland’s claims would be “unjustified.” Whoever’s claim you use as the primary matters.

The reconquest CB oddly doesn’t work like this. Anyone who has a core receives the benefits of no Unjustified Demands. Us, our vassals, even uninvolved third parties.

So, with conquest you and optionally a vassal of yours can get all combined claimed provinces with diminished diplo point cost. With reconquest you and all people who have cores there can get all combined cored provinces with zero point cost. The decision is made by counting how many claimed versus cored provinces there are.

Peace comes that December, just in time for Christmas! All in all, the war lasted 2 years and less than 6 months.

clean work!

A province in Wales (Carmarthen) to release them as a vassal.

so you can feed them their cores/claims and later peacefully annex?

 

[Killcrazy13]

I have a question about claims and AE. Does having a claim lower the AE when taking a province in the peace negotiations if you used a conquest cb? And if yes, does a cb like holy war (-25% ae) stack on top of the reduced ae for claimed territories?

 

[jak7139]

Hell yeah.

Awesome!

Relatively short, comfortable, comprehensive and with good gains …
… and so say we all!

clean work!

After so much build up...I was surprised how easy this war was. A testament to our preparations. But the Brits do still have some fight in them, never fear.

Also, I take from your initial discussion that AE was not a huge concern for you.

It was not. I have an explanation coming because of your comment here about why in more detail. For now I'll say that GB is Anglican religion, so non-Anglicans care much less about them losing land. They're also an isolated island at the edge of a continent. No one besides us has much proximity.

Britain just got crushed, but how are France still stronger than Brittany?

They have 300k troops and about 100 more income. Plus I feel if we called Spain into war they would be more of a hinderance than an asset. But we keep growing and growing. Someday.

Very nice use of your navy.

Thanks! It was very fun hunting the Royal Navy down.

I love that you enriched your ally Scotland, but not too much, and you're set up to enrich a different Welsh vassal next round.

Feeding the Scots too much means they'll be more expensive to annex. I don't want to give them everything. But some stuff they can hold for us on loan.

Taking South Africa seems important to me. What other bases do the British still have en route to the East Indies? Is it likely - I think it is - that by removing an important waypoint you've made it more difficult for Great Britain to compete in Asia any longer?

We're unfortunately too late in the game for it to matter much. Naval and supply ranges increase with tech. But South Africa is now one less front to worry about. The Brits also have part of Australia, and I think some Pacific islands as friendly ports.

Good explanation, I kinda understood that but really need to be more familiar with the game to fully appreciate it

I figured it would go over most peoples heads without in-game experience as well. But glad that you got something out of it.

So, with conquest you and optionally a vassal of yours can get all combined claimed provinces with diminished diplo point cost. With reconquest you and all people who have cores there can get all combined cored provinces with zero point cost. The decision is made by counting how many claimed versus cored provinces there are.

Yes! Exactly! Very succinct.

I was just writing some future chapters today, so this explanation has a brief appendix coming. But the underlying logic here remains the same.

so you can feed them their cores/claims and later peacefully annex?

Yes.

I have a question about claims and AE. Does having a claim lower the AE when taking a province in the peace negotiations if you used a conquest cb? And if yes, does a cb like holy war (-25% ae) stack on top of the reduced ae for claimed territories?

It does not. Claims cost the base AE amount. One of the reasons vassal cores are so useful is the reconquest CB, which gives less AE.

You can only choose one CB, so you'd have to pick either Holy War or Reconquest. Returning cores inherently gives less AE though, so I think it would stack if you played it right.

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER FIFTY: Harsh Treatment & The Blasted Battle of Skagerrak
|-|
(December 1629-September 1633)​

In triumph, we start the annexation of Fulo. I purchase the Papal bonus to help speed and cheapen the process. And I grab the increased taxes and decreased construction cost perk, plus the one for less inflation, interest, and Corruption.

​

Al Esperans a Anne has no truce with Portuguese Mexico, so I tell them to attack. Now that our British war is done, we can handle it if Portugal intervenes.

I also tell Henrika to declare a 1v1 on Vinland with the same reasoning.

And EAB is told to 1v1 Caraibas.

We aren’t slowing down.

With Pepikokia almost finished, we colonize another province to cut d’Elbene off from Colonial Louisiana: Espeminkia. Another colony is set up at Baxoje to prevent Henrika from doing the same.

(CNs can colonize outside of their assigned region as long as they have a land border. We obviously don't want d'Elbene and Henrika to consolidate even more power by weakening the more loyal Nevez Breizh).​

5 months into 1630, Denmark does intervene. Not a huge deal.

​

At least EAB’s war goes off without a hitch. Caraibas is left with only 1 province: St. Thomas. We’ve secured our control over the Caribbean. Most of the money flows towards us and away from Spain and Portugal. The Spanish colonies in Venezuela unfortunately mean some money escapes.

(St. Thomas is the island just east of Puerto Rico. If you look closely, you can see the crown icon which designates Caraibas' capital).​

Speaking of Spain and Portugal, as part of Spain’s most recent war against GB, they take some land from Portugal in a separate peace. This includes 4 provinces in the Mexico region, not enough for a CN.

Unfortunate.

Spain might soon crave our Mexican land and break our alliance.

​

Our navy under Goulaine has crossed the Oresund and landed an army in Gotland. It’s a nice base and some warscore, even as our CNs win the war in the Americas handily.

​

We have enough Reform Progress for the next Government Reform, but the one I want is locked behind completing Infrastructure ideas. We’ll wait for that then.

Bornholm is occupied after Gotland.

Our fleet scores a victory against Norway in the Helgoland Bight. Our navy is invincible! Goulaine is unstoppable!

​

A native over in Australia attacks Terre Australe because they have no troops after their losses in the British war. We intervene of course.

​

I try and land on Lolland, but the Danes have amassed a large force to stop us. Back to the boats we go.

(I only tried landing with a portion, since I didn't want to risk losing all our men. Our retreating army is there, buried under the icons of our navy and the Danish army).​

We’ll continue our war in the Baltic momentarily. But first, missions!

We haven’t completed any missions in a while. With some annoying rebels about to fire, now is the perfect time to complete one which gives us decreased Harsh Treatment Cost.

​

Harsh Treatment is an option you can use when looking at a rebellion. It lowers the progress of the revolt by 30% at the cost of military points. The mil points cost is determined by the size of the rebellion.

Since we’re in the Age of Absolutism, Harsh Treatment also gives some Absolutism every time we use it. In fact, there’s an Age Ability that further cheapens the cost. We’d ideally want to pick this up before using Harsh Treatment, but for now content ourselves with the mission-provided discount.

​

We also pick up Infrastructure’s fourth slot. The movement speed is, of course, helpful. And the cheaper cost to upgrade Trade Centers will be useful whenever we conquer one. Every time a Trade Center changes hands, through conquest, vassal annexation, selling a province, etc. the Trade Center is downgraded a level.

​

Back to the Baltic we go.

I split the fleet up to allow some ships to repair after our failed landing at Lolland. Our transports are also busy ferrying our forces between Bornholm and Gotland because of attrition, since neither island by itself has enough supply limit.

This was a mistake.

If the eagle-eyed among you read the Historybook segments a few chapters ago and wondered what the Battle of Skagerrak was, well wonder no longer.

Feeling overconfident because of our easy victories over enemy navies, Goulaine attacks the main Danish fleet.

Our admirals have equal combat stats, we have more heavies, and the Danish have a lot of transports which are easy pickings.

But the Danes have galleys. I underestimated the galleys.

​

I begin to worry if I’ve just sent our brave sailors to an early grave. But despite the unexpected closeness of the fight, we look to be winning.

That is until a sniper’s musketball takes Admiral Goulaine.

Poor Goulaine. He was young, burned bright, yet flew to close to the Sun.

You can see our morale in the battle. We had outlasted the enemy. But without a leader, our navy crumbles. I get out of there quick as I can.

(Without an admiral, we suffer the penalties from not having a leader, and Goulaine's stats no longer counteract the enemy admiral's stats. We could've won this otherwise, I believe).
​

We lost a lot. But at least our flagship is safe. Our treasury is spent on 5 new heavies as replacements.

(It says the Danes captured 13 ships. But I think the number only shows as positive on the battle screen if the captured boats make up for those sunk, like here for light ships. We still sunk more heavies, galleys, cogs than whatever the Danes captured as replacements).
​

But the naval advantage is no longer ours, for this war at least. The Danes land in Bornholm. Our army there is stackwiped.

​

We’re left with our transports and army in Gotland. That army should be safe because Denmark only has 36 transports against our army of 39k, combined with the offensive penalties they’ll get for attempting a landing.

This momentary weakness of course means Portugal intervenes against Al Esperans a Anne.

Of course.

I’m surprised Portugal did this considering they haven’t recovered at all after Spain thrashed them.

We’re just that popular.

​

The Spain-GB war has actually just ended. Spain won and took all of British Brazil and most of British Argentina.

Also, here’s El Dorado for those of you wondering where it ended up being. England discovered it all the way back in Chapter 27 if you remember, though we had no vision over the area at that time.

​

To focus on Portugal and to get our army and fleet out of Gotland safely, we peace out with Denmark.

We take Arguin (northwest Africa) from Norway. And most of Canada is seized from Denmark and Norway. Henrika has grown in strength.

​

The first moves in the Portugal war are to occupy their holdings in South Africa and Kongo.

​

Fulo’s annexation is finished in the meantime. Our income is now greater than Great Britain. We also have enough Development to proclaim ourselves an empire. We were already pretty imperial, but today it’s official.

​

Emperor of Brittany has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

​

And we’ve reached the end of another part. We continue to grow even as we suffer defeats and distractions. What will we take from Portugal this time, you think?

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

This momentary weakness of course means Portugal intervenes against Al Esperans a Anne.

Of course.

I’m surprised Portugal did this considering they haven’t recovered at all after Spain thrashed them.

We’re just that popular.

Portugal wants to lose more land, yay!

 

[Cora Giantkiller]

The more I watch Brittany make large scale colonial acquisitions, the more I begin to wonder if they are the bad guys. (This is my emotional arc with most paradox games, admittedly.)

 

[son of liberty]

The more I watch Brittany make large scale colonial acquisitions, the more I begin to wonder if they are the bad guys. (This is my emotional arc with most paradox games, admittedly.)

They are winning do they must be evil? How do you feel about actual history then?

Except for communism, I make no value judgements about any games. Blame my upbringing if you must, but I find communism so distasteful that I hate even pretending to be such in games. Is it something like that; what you feel?

 

[Cora Giantkiller]

What I mean is, in a narrative sense, the protagonists that I find the most personally sympathetic are the underdogs, who are vulnerable in a host of ways and have the odds stacked against them. If you take that same protagonist and watch them increase in power until suddenly they're the most powerful person in town, then it's a lot harder to find them sympathetic in a narrative sense when they get into fights with much weaker enemies around them IMO.

How I feel about power in actual history is quite a bit more complicated than that! But that's way off topic for an AAR thread.

 

[Rensslaer]

Wow! What an up and down update.

I was unaware that capturing a CoT degrades it. Will have to remember that.

Your colonies have begun to metastasize. That's great!

You may recall Brandenburg underestimating galleys, once upon a time. Learned a lesson and was careful thereafter. And I happen to know that those Danes installed buzzsaws on their galleys. They've used them in my game against the Swedes and the French (who both underestimated them).

Tragic loss in the Baltic, twice. First the Navy then the army. You shall rebuild and recoup.

Great job on becoming an empire!

Rensslaer

 

[Killcrazy13]

Since this chapter is heavily naval-focused, I wanted to ask about upgrading your fleet. I noticed you waited till you hit the tech level before buying new ships. What about the existing outdated ones? Do you eat the cost or is it more efficient to buy new ones (if you have the sailors for it)?

 

[Rensslaer]

Since this chapter is heavily naval-focused, I wanted to ask about upgrading your fleet. I noticed you waited till you hit the tech level before buying new ships. What about the existing outdated ones? Do you eat the cost or is it more efficient to buy new ones (if you have the sailors for it)?

And if I'm reading the stats and costs correctly it appears to me that upgrading a ship costs literally as much as building a new one. That's crazy!

Or am I missing something?

Would love to hear your answer...

Renss

 

[Cromwell]

That war restoring Scotland as a power and taking south Africa really was something, I have put so many hours into EU4 and am not even one tenth of the player you are.

 

[diskoerekto]

Al Esperans a Anne has no truce with Portuguese Mexico, so I tell them to attack. Now that our British war is done, we can handle it if Portugal intervenes.

I also tell Henrika to declare a 1v1 on Vinland with the same reasoning.

And EAB is told to 1v1 Caraibas.

full court press

And we’ve reached the end of another part. We continue to grow even as we suffer defeats and distractions. What will we take from Portugal this time, you think?

a bit overcockiness caused some headaches. Portugal loses a lot in Americas starting with the only remaining province in the Caribbean?

 

[Hootieleece]

When will the Reclamation of "Old Brittany" begin?

That is the question most readers want an answer for in our hearts and minds.

 

[Chac1]

Congrats to you @jak7139 on realizing your imperial ambitions.

Apologies though that outside the forum issues have taken me away the past few weeks and I am sooooooo far behind on my usual reading. I may have to adjust my schedule altogether as I am also behind on my writing.

So I managed to get through several chapters in this reading session. Much congratulations all around on your last several wars. Your naval might has truly been impressive.

Another 3 heavies and 21 lights are sent to the Locker.

Well played and well written. These latest chapters have extra swagger and this is an example of that punchy writing style at its best.

But the Danes have galleys. I underestimated the galleys.

Well, of course, I was torn during this war. Glad you ended up winning, but also glad the Danes gave you an unexpected hard time. Never underestimate the Danes!

That is until a sniper’s musketball takes Admiral Goulaine.

Poor Goulaine. He was young, burned bright, yet flew to close to the Sun.

And I happen to know that those Danes installed buzzsaws on their galleys. They've used them in my game against the Swedes and the French (who both underestimated them).

Sad to see your great admiral meet his heroic end, but again, be careful when dealing with the Danes. (Indeed, he flew too close to the sun.) You still came out ahead, even with those losses. Now, Brittany is bestride the globe and only France is stronger.

 

[jak7139]

Portugal wants to lose more land, yay!

Indeed. We're at the point where most of our rivals, bar France, aren't a threat. If Portugal wants to do this, I won't stop them.

The more I watch Brittany make large scale colonial acquisitions, the more I begin to wonder if they are the bad guys. (This is my emotional arc with most paradox games, admittedly.)

They are winning do they must be evil? How do you feel about actual history then?

Except for communism, I make no value judgements about any games. Blame my upbringing if you must, but I find communism so distasteful that I hate even pretending to be such in games. Is it something like that; what you feel?

What I mean is, in a narrative sense, the protagonists that I find the most personally sympathetic are the underdogs, who are vulnerable in a host of ways and have the odds stacked against them. If you take that same protagonist and watch them increase in power until suddenly they're the most powerful person in town, then it's a lot harder to find them sympathetic in a narrative sense when they get into fights with much weaker enemies around them IMO.

How I feel about power in actual history is quite a bit more complicated than that! But that's way off topic for an AAR thread.

I usually don't put judgments on my actions in-game. Games are games, for fun, not real life. However I do sometimes have trouble getting into some of the more insidious mechanics and their implications (CK, for example).

Brittany is definitely the villain, but we're also the protagonist. Whether our revenge against GB, Portugal, and eventually France is justified in any way, I leave to the reader. We were the underdogs once, but that time is passed.

Wow! What an up and down update.

I was unaware that capturing a CoT degrades it. Will have to remember that.

And I don't think the game mentions it anywhere either.

Your colonies have begun to metastasize. That's great!

I actually find it annoying when my CNs grow outside of their assigned region. But there's unfortunately no way to tell them to stop.

Although having them take care of the American theaters of wars independently is a great benefit.

You may recall Brandenburg underestimating galleys, once upon a time. Learned a lesson and was careful thereafter. And I happen to know that those Danes installed buzzsaws on their galleys. They've used them in my game against the Swedes and the French (who both underestimated them).

Tragic loss in the Baltic, twice. First the Navy then the army. You shall rebuild and recoup.

We will indeed.

Great job on becoming an empire!

Emperor Jean appreciates your loyalty.

Since this chapter is heavily naval-focused, I wanted to ask about upgrading your fleet. I noticed you waited till you hit the tech level before buying new ships. What about the existing outdated ones? Do you eat the cost or is it more efficient to buy new ones (if you have the sailors for it)?

And if I'm reading the stats and costs correctly it appears to me that upgrading a ship costs literally as much as building a new one. That's crazy!

Or am I missing something?

Would love to hear your answer...

Upgrading does cost the same amount of money as building a new ship. But upgrading has its uses, you don't use sailors for one.

In building new ships, I'd have to wait, merge them together, and sail them back to wherever the fleet was before. Upgrading my existing fleet takes less micro and is faster than waiting the year or so for a new ship to come online.

We could sell the old ships to other countries, then build new ones to recoup some of the money. But I needed our existing fleet where it was at that moment.

If you can handle the wait/micro, buying new ones and deleting/selling the old is better.

That war restoring Scotland as a power and taking south Africa really was something, I have put so many hours into EU4 and am not even one tenth of the player you are.

Well...thanks!

I'm sure you're not that bad at the game. It just takes patience and practice. Hope you've learnt a few things from this AAR as you've read.

full court press

a bit overcockiness caused some headaches. Portugal loses a lot in Americas starting with the only remaining province in the Caribbean?

You're understanding our goals exactly.

When will the Reclamation of "Old Brittany" begin?

That is a question I don't know the answer to, as I haven't played that far yet. I've even paused my playing to let this AAR catch up a bit.

The short answer is "sometime after GB is destroyed."

Whenever we do reach the point where my gameplay stops, I'll be sure to ask everyone if they want to see a France war ASAP or not.

Congrats to you @jak7139 on realizing your imperial ambitions.

It's a nice milestone.

Apologies though that outside the forum issues have taken me away the past few weeks and I am sooooooo far behind on my usual reading. I may have to adjust my schedule altogether as I am also behind on my writing.

Glad you're back. Hopefully RL wasn't too stressful.

Well played and well written. These latest chapters have extra swagger and this is an example of that punchy writing style at its best.

Thanks!

Well, of course, I was torn during this war. Glad you ended up winning, but also glad the Danes gave you an unexpected hard time. Never underestimate the Danes!

I will be interested to see how your Danes fare when they get a proper navy going. They are sure to be quite the threat.

Sad to see your great admiral meet his heroic end, but again, be careful when dealing with the Danes. (Indeed, he flew too close to the sun.) You still came out ahead, even with those losses. Now, Brittany is bestride the globe and only France is stronger.

France is our last great obstacle. Once they're defeated, what will drive Brittany forward?