Jak's Game Guide: An EU4 Tutorial

[Rensslaer]

@jak7139 oh that was the other thing I was going to ask, related to @Cora Giantkiller's question.

How many merchants??

And I found the answer in your responses - I count 17. Good gosh!

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

Glad to have you caught-up @Rensslaer!

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

This game is always full of surprises and little tricks like that. It may be a lot to take in for a new player, but at the point I'm at, it's habitual.

Interesting about the movable monument.

Most of them aren't movable, since they're actual buildings, but a select few are. Part of me wonders why Paradox didn't just go all-in and let you move all of them.

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

The world of this AAR is certainly very different than our own. It might even be kind of dystopian, depending on how ruthless Brittany continues to be.

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.

At this critical stage where we're nearly ready to attack France, no. I'll try to keep Spain as our ally for as long as we can or until France is dealt with. Even then, Spain has been so loyal that I'd kind of feel bad betraying them.

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

I saw your merchant post on the next page. Yes, seventeen is quite a lot. And we could have even more if we took trade ideas or did what @mackwolfe is doing over in their Atwix AAR.

I'll need to remember to highlight our trade flow/setup in the next part.

 

[Bullfilter]

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

Ah, a bit of an Australian expression. In my understanding, undermining, from a position of proximity or even trust. A white ant = termite, so burrowing in to surreptitiously weaken and take over or get rid of. An example in personal usage, white-anting a friend by quietly trying to become intimate with their girlfriend to eventually win her over.

Looked it up it Wikipedia to see if that was the general usage and it seems it is, in a work or political sense:

“White-anting is an Australian term for the process of internal erosion of a foundation. It is often used in reference to groups such as political parties or organisations where information from group insiders is 'leaked' or used to undermine the goals of the group. The Macquarie Dictionary says the verb "to white-ant" means "to subvert or undermine from within".[citation needed]

The term is derived from the action of termites (white ants) eating the inside of wooden building foundations, often leaving no outward evidence, until the structure crumbles.”

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: State of the World Overview
|-|
(September 1717)​

So here we are, back with Brittany and with a hundred years left in the campaign.

How do we stand?

On the big three: money, manpower, and sailors we’re doing more than fine. Stability, Legitimacy, and Power Projection are all maxed out.

We’re currently at war with GB and hope to finally end them. We’d get Argentine as a free CN because of that. Sambas is too large to annex right now, but we can at least take a chunk.

​

Brittany is one of the strongest powers in Europe, alongside France, Russia, the Ottomans, Spain, and Scandinavia.

We’ve beaten Scandinavia and Russia’s navies and armies before. The Ottomans we have no quarrel with. Spain is our ally.

France is the one power we haven’t tangled with, not since the day we were forced from the mainland.

For medium-sized powers we have Savoy and Lorraine (both allied to France), Bohemia, and Poland.

​

Over in India and the Middle East, Vijayanagar and Bengal dominate. Persia is there too but has suffered defeats back when Russia and Turkey were allied.

Brittany has OPM Gujarat on the coast as a vassal. I’ve allied Vijayanagar for now to hopefully gain Gujarat’s cores via trading favors.

​

China has remained stable this game under the Ming. But Manchuria has also formed which you usually don’t see. Japan sits on their island.

We have interests in the region but no real ambition or need to expand there other than more land = good.

We could easily go over there and create more colonies. But since we don’t need to, the micro for transports is enough of a deterrent. If I see a nice opportunity though, maybe I’ll go for it. You’ve seen how fast we can grow, there’s nothing left to prove.

Or maybe I’ll change my mind once I actually get into the game again. Who knows?

​

In Malaysia and Indonesia, the war currently doesn't favor us. But now that Sunda is peaced out, as you can see in Australia, we can start pulling things back.

​

Central Africa is still divided. Kilwa holds much of the east. Brittany holds most of the south and a lot of the western coast. France and Spain have some coastal posts. Lunda is our vassal.

​

West Africa is mostly ours. Hausa is a target we would like to eat to fully plant our flag in the region.

​

North America is completely our domain minus the French lands in South Carolina, New Brunswick/Maine, and Greenland.

​

South America is Spanish except for 3 Scandinavian provinces and British (soon to be Breton) Argentina.

​

In internal affairs we have a great king, mediocre heir, and okay consort.

You may be wondering why our diplo-point gain is so small compared to admin and mil. We have a lot of vassals and future vassals we maintain relations with, as well as our allies: Vijayanagar and Spain. We also have a second diplomatic Policy (the first Policy in each category is always free).

​

The Policies we’ve taken are centered around cheaper claim fabrication, faster Spy Networks, cheaper Advisors, and other diplomatic benefits. We’re so diplomatic that we don’t have a single military Policy available (a consequence of my self-imposed challenge of not taking a military Idea Group).

​

Our economy is, as mentioned at the start, great. It grows higher all the time. Trade and production make up the two largest chunks of intake. Our expenses aren’t that bad except for our army and navy.

​

We’re fully modern in technology and 13 years ahead-of-time on the next round of innovations. The next admin tech will give a new Idea Group. I don’t know what we’ll pick.

Speaking of Idea Groups, we’ve discussed before how removing Exploration or Expansion (since we don’t really need colonists anymore) in favor of a different set might be more useful.

I’ll have to think on it.

​

Brittany’s small Mission Tree is about a third complete. We’ll need to get back to the mainland if we want to progress down the left and middle branches.

​

Our country is relatively stable and religiously homogeneous. We could take tons more land and not break a sweat!

​

Our armies consist of mostly infantry and artillery with a small amount of cavalry. We could build even more cannons if we wanted to and probably should. I don’t remember why we haven’t.

Laziness probably. It’s not like we lack for funds or men.

​

We have many, many subjects. They’re all loyal except for Morocco (fixable by increasing Trust) and d’Elbene (fixable by getting War Exhaustion to 0 and increasing Diplo Reputation by getting rid of our Overextension).

​

Our Estates are centralized under the crown. We have no trouble from them and could even revoke the Privileges for decreased advisor costs if we wanted since our economy is so great.

​

Spain is our ally and loves us, except for a few competing claims. Vijayanagar likes us too.

​

Cork, capital of our glorious nation, is the largest city in the world! Most of that Development has come from pillaging other lands (Concentrate Development).

We’ve left our mark on the British Isles certainly as most of the highest Devved land in our country comes from Britain and Ireland. Madeira and Sulu also shine through.

​

Unless you all have any questions, which I will answer both in the comments and by posting a potential part 2 to this update, I’ll resume playing the game from this point on. I don’t really have the time to resume the once-per-week update schedule, but posting will happen every few weeks hopefully.

Thanks for reading!

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

North America is completely our domain minus the French lands in South Carolina, New Brunswick/Maine, and Greenland.

South America is Spanish except for 3 Scandinavian provinces and British (soon to be Breton) Argentina.

TTL's Tordesillas...

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

What an absurdly powerful country, despite its start and early history.

Vick2 or 3 with this set up would be a century of smashing France apart and feeding it their teeth.

 

[Cora Giantkiller]

The scale of Brittany's dominance is really astonishing ngl. I'm glad for the refresher.

 

[Midnite Duke]

What a wonderful game that you have played! AI decision making looks to be little improved over the last decade. Does the AI take advantage of estates, privileges, absolutism and other additions that allow the snowball effect? Thank you for sharing this manual with us.

I am current!

 

[Bullfilter]

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

Pesky Russians! A formidable foe.

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.

At least here they’re playing ‘away from home’.

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.

Is it a strategy you tend to pursue when the opportunity presents, or is it more a talking point?

Brittany’s small Mission Tree is about a third complete. We’ll need to get back to the mainland if we want to progress down the left and middle branches.

And retrieve the homeland and honour!

That’s a huge empire now - the North American dominance with vassals/colonies is impressive. So long as they can all be kept loyal.

 

[diskoerekto]

Unless you all have any questions, which I will answer both in the comments and by posting a potential part 2 to this update, I’ll resume playing the game from this point on. I don’t really have the time to resume the once-per-week update schedule, but posting will happen every few weeks hopefully.

until quite recently when we started comfortably beating GB, it didn't look like this run would be such a strong one. now it looks like a near-wc might be on the cards. good job! don't rest until you remove france from the map though

 

[Chac1]

Thanks for the new chapter and the rundown of how Brittany stands astride the world, with even more potential ahead.

Looking forward to the end of the conflict with Great Britain, and then the inevitable quest to take back the homelands that the French stole.

Good luck with those goals.

 

[Rensslaer]

@jak7139 an excellent overview! And congratulations also on the AARLand Choice win!

It's amazing what you've done with little old Brittany! Caught up again and very much looking forward to your smashing the French in the teeth, as TBC says, for their gross error of picking on you when you were weak.

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

TTL's Tordesillas...

Indeed. Having loaded up the save again, the Pope actually isn't doing that well atm.

What an absurdly powerful country, despite its start and early history.

Vick2 or 3 with this set up would be a century of smashing France apart and feeding it their teeth.

I might just see what the converter does once this AAR is done. Every time I've done EU4->Vic2, the AI struggles hard with industry.

The scale of Brittany's dominance is really astonishing ngl. I'm glad for the refresher.

All this from a base in Ireland. It goes to show you should never give up.

What a wonderful game that you have played! AI decision making looks to be little improved over the last decade. Does the AI take advantage of estates, privileges, absolutism and other additions that allow the snowball effect? Thank you for sharing this manual with us.

The AI does use estates, absolutism, etc. But unlike a player, it does not have a long-term goal. A player knows absolutism is coming and will want to centralize their estates to take advantage of that. Absolutism doesn't exist for the AI until it unlocks.

We've seen in this game with France and the Ottomans that the AI can become really powerful, but a player on either would have all of Europe owned by now. The AI is decent at managing its country, however a player can think ahead.

I am current!

Glad to have you back @Midnite Duke! Hope you're doing well.

Pesky Russians! A formidable foe.

Not as pesky as the French. But in the game of great powers, everyone's a threat.

Is it a strategy you tend to pursue when the opportunity presents, or is it more a talking point?

If I want to offload lots of uncored land and have no other vassal to release/feed to, I'll create a client state. I usually prefer existing tags though. But the option is there.

That’s a huge empire now - the North American dominance with vassals/colonies is impressive. So long as they can all be kept loyal.

There's one major bonus we can grab to help with that. Stay tuned!

until quite recently when we started comfortably beating GB, it didn't look like this run would be such a strong one. now it looks like a near-wc might be on the cards. good job! don't rest until you remove france from the map though

Francia delenda est!

I don't have the energy or patience for a WC. But I'll still try and leave us in a good position for global dominance.

Thanks for the new chapter and the rundown of how Brittany stands astride the world, with even more potential ahead.

Looking forward to the end of the conflict with Great Britain, and then the inevitable quest to take back the homelands that the French stole.

From what I have just played and written, the war with France is coming in 2-3 chapters. Next update tomorrow!

@jak7139 an excellent overview! And congratulations also on the AARLand Choice win!

Thanks!

It's amazing what you've done with little old Brittany! Caught up again and very much looking forward to your smashing the French in the teeth, as TBC says, for their gross error of picking on you when you were weak.

France has made a mistake I'm sure they regret. But Brittany will have her revenge!

 

[jak7139]

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT: The End of Britain
|-|
(September 1717-April 1726)​

As our war with the British continues, I decide to ship over an army (25k, all inf) from South Africa. I also revoke the 3 Estate Privileges for decreased Advisor cost. As mentioned last time, our economy can handle the extra expense and the buffer to our Max Absolutism may prove useful.

(Even though we won the battle, I figured reinforcements couldn't hurt).​

France is at war in Europe again because their ally Naples attacked the HRE. We will deal with them soon enough, just have to finish this war first.

​

We pick up an Age ability which decreases Liberty Desire. All our subjects, even d’Elbene and Morocco, are now loyal.

​

I take admin tech ahead-of-time because it unlocks the next Idea Group. The Influence Idea Group focuses on subjects and diplomacy. We’re able to purchase the first slot right away, giving extra income from our vassals. And later we get a further decrease in Liberty Desire and some extra naval forcelimit.

​

After some long sieges, Sambas surrenders. They’re left with 1 province.

With their last ally defeated, GB throws in the towel. They are annexed, which also gives us their Argentinian CN for free.

​

The peace with Britain includes their mainland, portions of the Pacific such as New Caledonia, the Marshall Islands, and Midway, Sao Tome and St. Helena in Africa, the Galapagos, and a piece of Papua New Guinea.

The Galapagos specifically is surprisingly highly Developed.

One other thing we get is formerly British Argentine’s cores on Spanish La Plata. I wanted to check if we could demand those cores like we’re doing with Morocco and Vijayanagar, but Spain’s war with Blambangan is still ongoing. Since we’re allied to Spain, not La Plata, I wasn’t sure if Argentine’s cores would count. Spain needs to be at peace though for me to open the Return Core interface.

​

But now that we’re at peace, I ask Vijayanagar to return a province to Gujarat.

​

Naples and France’s act of aggression ends too. France gains Rothenburg in Central Germany. Naples gains parts of Bavaria and Switzerland. Bohemia gains some land off Poland.

Another Influence Idea is taken making it cheaper to annex subjects.

The Ottomans has annexed Venice, including the island itself!

(What are your opinions on the land highlights here? Is it easier or harder to tell what land has been taken than just using the diplomatic mapmode?).​

I begin to prepare our forces for France. The next mil tech, which we don’t have yet but certainly will by the time we declare, gives an extra +2 Combat Width, so we’ll want to start refitting our stacks to follow 40 CW guidelines.

​

There are 2 templates we could use for this: a 40-0-40 stack or a 38-2-40 stack (inf-cav-art). I go with the former and start removing all cavalry from our armies.

Cavalry is nice and all, but we want to focus our efforts on Fire damage, not Shock, this late into the game. That’s where the majority of damage now comes from. Infantry and artillery are simply better at Fire than cavalry. Horses do still excel at Shock though.

​

Take the above advice with a grain of salt. If we were playing a horde, or a nation like Poland specifically built around cavalry, then we’d still want horses in our armies.

Time marches on, and 3 years from the previous paragraphs we do pick up that next mil tech. This gives us some new units too. It takes another year after that for Spain to finally finish their war with Blambangan.

​

Our longtime ally is humiliated once again, losing 7 provinces.

​

While we certainly won’t cry about less European competition in Asia, Blambangan is now too big to vassalize peacefully. I revoke our guarantee and instead start improving with Junagarh to the west of Gujarat. They’re brought into the fold a few years later.

​

With Spain now at peace, we ask them to return Fez to Morocco. I note with disappointment none of Argentine’s cores are on the list.

​

 

[StrategyGameEnthusiast]

Our longtime ally is humiliated once again, losing 7 provinces.

With Spain now at peace, we ask them to return Fez to Morocco. I note with disappointment none of Argentine’s cores are on the list.

I'm guessing that once the cores are returned. the alliance will have run its course...

 

[Cora Giantkiller]

Greetings, Spain, my longtime ally! I was dreadfully sorry to hear of your recent loss to Balembang. Could you please hand over Fez? This will make it easier to betray you later make my beloved subject so happy. Thanks, Brittany.

 

[Rensslaer]

The Galapagos specifically is surprisingly highly Developed

The British were surely trying to emulate your successful comeback by massing in the Southern Pacific.

Great to hear you're preparing for war with France. Interesting explanation of the reasons to completely get rid of cavalry.

I've always been wedded to cavalry in Paradox games because I've used them as rapid response forces. Even in my HOI3 AAR Imperio Novo I used cavalry in place of tanks for mobility because Portugal couldn't afford tanks. But I don't think cavalry moves much faster than infantry in EU4 and because of the penalties in combat I'd almost never use them by themselves.

Great update!

Rensslaer

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thanks for another lesson. Is an army just 80K or do you have extra infantry in reserve to try to keep cannons from front line?

 

[filcat]

About the cavalry -

-record scratch-
- Mate?
- Yeah?
- ffs - don't 'yeah' me, what are you doing?
- Posting a comment.
<both filcats exchange stern looks at each other>
- Sigh. So we are lifting the self-imposed embargo on gameplays?
- Sigh. Yeah. Let's get over with it.
- Hmpfh.
- Hmph!
- Whatever mate.
- All right then.

---

So about the cavalry;

I go with the former and start removing all cavalry from our armies.

Reducing the investment on the cavalry in the late phase is a common practice, but the efficiency of the cavalry is still an important item in the list of inconclusive discussions (and the others being where to send the merchants to do what -yawn- and hey look the code bypassed the fort-zoc again -no it did not-).

Cavalry does never lose its efficiency; rather, artillery gains more importance, particularly in the mid to late phase, and that is because the tags become richer and can afford-maintain more, on top of the improved firepower. Composing the army only by infantry and artillery has become the norm, as cavalry is more expensive to maintain than an infantry; this is the only reason.

And it is only a weak reason, yet popular. In the beginning phase, whether before else after the artillery tech, the cavalry is almost mandatory to stackwipe; higher discipline, morale, general pips do not make as much effect as the cavalry - because of the shock phase of combats and flanking. Once the artillery arrives, then the stackwiping becomes easier - because of fire behind the line, but in the beginning phase, most tags cannot afford more than a couple of them; the cavalry (~0,5 ducats) is affordable compared to the artillery (~1 ducat) in maintenance, therefore 16-8 inf-cav army composition is good enough for most tags in the early to mid phases, for increasing the stackwipe-chances.

Starting with the mid phase, if the tag is struggling to afford the army maintenance, that means army composition is not but the run itself has other serious problems; disbanding the cavalry will not save much. If the tag has a comfortable to wealthy economy by that phase, then there is no significant gain by reducing the cavalry regiments, on the contrary it is advantageous to keep them, and even increase their numbers in the army unit - again, it helps for stackwiping.

The late phase - does not matter whatever is used.


Once again, it is an inconclusive discussion, yet leaving a demonstration here, in the form of a standard mongolia run.

Yeah maybe not exactly a standard run due to cav-only, but almost.

 

[Silverbow]

I never use X-0-X templates, simply because a) as filcat said, the savings are irrelevant beyond very early game; and b) I don't ever want to see artillery on the front line. X-4-X is my go-to template.