First, this is a long post as it is a guide. So fair warning 
Playing Navarra is a lot of fun. It isn't a very popular choice, and almost everyone (everyone I've seen, and even the Wiki is all about it) plays it the "lame" way by migrating. Nothing against migrating and I love to do that, but you can migrate as any nation lol. Might as well start as Byzantium and migrate with them, since their start is far worse and harder to deal with. That is my favorite nation to migrate with
But in a way, it just turns into a migrated nation clone of another migrated nation. Plus it isn't really entirely realistic. Navarra is actually my favorite nation, or at the least in my top 5. So I wanted to actually start them out in a realistic, but I'll admit, gamey manner. And I have been making a guide for their initial start, and I didn't want my guide to be "build up, now go migrate, win the game"...since any nation can migrate so I could have done the guide as someone else if that was the case
Nope, this is actually playing a bit more realistically, kinda gamey, but I finish off by conquering a bunch of coastal France.
So, here is the initial start that I did as Navarra. You need common sense at the very least, so you can build tall (I tried this before CS and it was kinda too boring and really weak. Navarra really benefited from CS)
First things first: You'll need to restart unless very certain conditions are met. And I actually started on November 24th 1457 suggested by:
https://www.reddit.com/r/eu4/comments/3uvyon/awesome_bookmark/
It is a MUCH more random, dynamic map at this point. But, its actually MORE challenging and luck based on this bookmark than the default 1444.1.1 one as you start with an old king and no heir. These tips and what not should still help you out either way.
I also play with Extended Timelines, but it shouldn't change much from base game at the start date.
The only big change you may find is I turn off lucky nations, BUT I still did good with Navarrae when I had it on the first time around.
Ironman is ALWAYS on, I just don't get achievements. But that means no cheating
Now with that out of the way.
Navarra benefits heavily from diplomacy ideas, and in my game, I wanted to try to become the Pope so I took religious ideas as well. The starting king however doesn't get very good starting mana generation, but that is what I started with.
I also started with offensive ideas (amongst some others), so I got rid of that (pretty sure my tiny weak army doesn't need offensive ideas), replaced it with diplomacy...and then the other idea tree came from boosting admin tech enough to get a 2nd important idea group (which I went with Religion). Economic ideas are always useful, especially with such a small economy, but I skipped that one to do later down the road.
Now...
Conditions/reasons to restart (you have to restart if any of these happen):
If BOTH castille and aragon do not accept a royal marriage right at the very start of the game. This means they'd both be neutral to you at the start. Sometimes they are domineering or can be even aggressive, that is not a good start. You need marriages really quick if you start at 1457, to increase chance of getting a heir. Do note Aragon may still lose relations and turn domineering, but I noticed about half the time Aragon goes back to neutral. But the best start conditions are when both can be married with.
Also restart if they change attitudes right away and automatically decline marriage request. I had this happen a few times.
Restart if king dies before heir (mine died at 67 with no heir, another game he was only 64)
(optional) Restart if you get a heir with a weak claim (the unluckiest start to me). Really you can keep going, but I personally went for the best path to take Navarra. Having a heir with a weak claim, while not really a big deal, I wanted one with an average claim at least. Kinda a minor thing maybe since it doesn't really make THAT big of difference really, but there you go, hence optional
And restart if Aragon declares a succession war before you get an Heir. Nothing against succession wars, I had a very fun one as Scotland of all nations, but in this guide, that isn't actually very optimal and as Navarra does not help at all, nor is it fun as them (at least to me)
Pretty simple conditions, but does require restarting for the positive relations early on. The bonus of Aragon canceling royal marriage is, I'm pretty sure he gets some penalties for that, as the two games he did that, it increased his unrest in provinces and actually seemed to help bring back positive relations with him. But, I can't exactly confirm that.
Now before you unpause. Royal marriage both castile and aragon off the bat. Decrease army maintenance to minimum, but don't disband the troops.
Then let that go through, then start increasing reputation with both England and Portagul. You'll be able to royal marriage both easily (I send gold gifts to speed it up, as in 1457 need enough time/chance for the Heir, plus they make GREAT allies down the road).
The goal is to eventually get an alliance with Portagul, England and Castille. In my current game, I managed to also ally papal states (probably realistic, as a starting mission is to get 100 reputation with them).
Here you can see Castille's relations
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y1...es/navarrawithpositivecastillerelations01.jpg
And my little tiny starting province of Navarra
Be sure to keep an eye on Portagul and England every month, as you want to get a royal marriage as soon as possible with both, and then alliances which usually happen not too long after.
Also check for a diplomacy reputation diplomat, it does help quite a lot having one. I didn't start with one, but later when I had more gold, I fired the diplomats available and got one next month.
Also. During that time I boosted up my starting province (the first thing I did), and also saved admin points for my two ideas I took. In my current game, close to finishing both religious and diplomacy idea groups. I also invested a bit of mana into military tech to get new unit types, but most of my military mana goes into my province early on.
Now in both games that I did great on (the one with lucky nations on, and my current one) is getting events to adopt a heir. The one that was really great was, with lucky nations on, I adopted a heir with REALLY good mana (4 admin, 5 diplomacy and 6 military) WITH a strong claim. That heir went on to greatness!
My current game I got a heir event that made me lose papal influence and prestige, but I went for HER (probably why the Pope was angry) anyway as she had an average claim and wasn't terrible. Plus the game was going well at that point with good relations, events and alliances.
You can see here the heir I got: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y149/Vendayn/EU4 Extended Timelines/navarraheirevent01.jpg
Luckily the game didn't crash before I saved (it did after I saved), because part of the window/UI where it showed my king got really bugged out and showed every king/leader in the game. But that is why I blacked it out, it looked ugly
In almost all my games in truth, I never actually produced a child of my own to be heir. Out of 27 of 28 attempts, the only time I actually got a heir was through events. Except once...my king was 59 and actually produced a heir and then died a year later. Even with 20% chance of a heir, it seems a lot harder to get one when your king is old. Or maybe unlucky. Either way, mostly heirs came from events. I also noticed, or maybe it was luck, I never lost a heir through events when I got one.
And another screenshot. Queen of navarra Actually a nice ring to it http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y149/Vendayn/EU4 Extended Timelines/NavarraFemaleLeader01.jpg
Not bad
I also bought 2 cavalry and an infantry, not much gold income for more than that, to add to my small army you start with.
Finally after 20-22 years of setting up alliances, relations, marriages. England, Castille AND the Papal States both had 10 favors. England wouldn't join the war against france unless I promised them territory, but then they didn't want any territory and didn't care that I didn't give them any...oh well
I went to war with France, with my allies Castile, Pope and England and...Aragon joined for some reason. Portagul would not join, probably too far. However, even though in war declaration screen it showed Aragon joining France's side (probably because Aragon warned me not to go to war), but at same time, Aragon was rivaled to France. It was definitely not mistaking sides. But Aragon did in fact join my side with Castille, because he hated France so much
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y1...melines/navarrafirstwaragainstfrancewon01.jpg
I took most of the coastal provinces I could have taken more, and that last coastal province I clicked on to take, but unluckily my game lagged at same time and instead accepted demands. Oh well, it was just one province. I could also have decided to just take everything, but I really need those admin points for getting the last religious ideas, and didn't want to expand too much. You can however decide different
So there you go. The trick to Navarra, if you don't want to migrate (which seems to defeat the purpose in a way of playing that nation) is a lot of luck, restarting and also setting up crucial alliances. Castille, England being the best allies you can have. And maybe aragon later down the road, but I haven't allied with him since my relations are maxed as is and they tend to not like Castille. And the pope sure helps. No migrating needed
I'll probably still colonize, or maybe not...haven't fully decided. But thus far, the game is going actually really great. My initial goal (and I chose a mission for it) is to however become Pope. Seems fitting of Navarra, and a good goal for them. But there is a lot of other things I can do too.
Hope you find this guide of Navarra helpful Again its just the initial start of them to get going, partly to leave it open to do whatever after getting past initial hurdles. I probably won't go for a world conquest, but not every guide/game has to be that
Enjoy navarra everyone if you decide to try them
Playing Navarra is a lot of fun. It isn't a very popular choice, and almost everyone (everyone I've seen, and even the Wiki is all about it) plays it the "lame" way by migrating. Nothing against migrating and I love to do that, but you can migrate as any nation lol. Might as well start as Byzantium and migrate with them, since their start is far worse and harder to deal with. That is my favorite nation to migrate with
But in a way, it just turns into a migrated nation clone of another migrated nation. Plus it isn't really entirely realistic. Navarra is actually my favorite nation, or at the least in my top 5. So I wanted to actually start them out in a realistic, but I'll admit, gamey manner. And I have been making a guide for their initial start, and I didn't want my guide to be "build up, now go migrate, win the game"...since any nation can migrate so I could have done the guide as someone else if that was the case
Nope, this is actually playing a bit more realistically, kinda gamey, but I finish off by conquering a bunch of coastal France.
So, here is the initial start that I did as Navarra. You need common sense at the very least, so you can build tall (I tried this before CS and it was kinda too boring and really weak. Navarra really benefited from CS)
First things first: You'll need to restart unless very certain conditions are met. And I actually started on November 24th 1457 suggested by:
https://www.reddit.com/r/eu4/comments/3uvyon/awesome_bookmark/
It is a MUCH more random, dynamic map at this point. But, its actually MORE challenging and luck based on this bookmark than the default 1444.1.1 one as you start with an old king and no heir. These tips and what not should still help you out either way.
I also play with Extended Timelines, but it shouldn't change much from base game at the start date.
The only big change you may find is I turn off lucky nations, BUT I still did good with Navarrae when I had it on the first time around.
Ironman is ALWAYS on, I just don't get achievements. But that means no cheating
Now with that out of the way.
Navarra benefits heavily from diplomacy ideas, and in my game, I wanted to try to become the Pope so I took religious ideas as well. The starting king however doesn't get very good starting mana generation, but that is what I started with.
I also started with offensive ideas (amongst some others), so I got rid of that (pretty sure my tiny weak army doesn't need offensive ideas
), replaced it with diplomacy...and then the other idea tree came from boosting admin tech enough to get a 2nd important idea group (which I went with Religion). Economic ideas are always useful, especially with such a small economy, but I skipped that one to do later down the road.Now...
Conditions/reasons to restart (you have to restart if any of these happen):
If BOTH castille and aragon do not accept a royal marriage right at the very start of the game. This means they'd both be neutral to you at the start. Sometimes they are domineering or can be even aggressive, that is not a good start. You need marriages really quick if you start at 1457, to increase chance of getting a heir. Do note Aragon may still lose relations and turn domineering, but I noticed about half the time Aragon goes back to neutral. But the best start conditions are when both can be married with.
Also restart if they change attitudes right away and automatically decline marriage request. I had this happen a few times.
Restart if king dies before heir (mine died at 67 with no heir, another game he was only 64)
(optional) Restart if you get a heir with a weak claim (the unluckiest start to me). Really you can keep going, but I personally went for the best path to take Navarra. Having a heir with a weak claim, while not really a big deal, I wanted one with an average claim at least. Kinda a minor thing maybe since it doesn't really make THAT big of difference really, but there you go, hence optional
And restart if Aragon declares a succession war before you get an Heir. Nothing against succession wars, I had a very fun one as Scotland of all nations, but in this guide, that isn't actually very optimal and as Navarra does not help at all, nor is it fun as them (at least to me)
Pretty simple conditions, but does require restarting for the positive relations early on. The bonus of Aragon canceling royal marriage is, I'm pretty sure he gets some penalties for that, as the two games he did that, it increased his unrest in provinces and actually seemed to help bring back positive relations with him. But, I can't exactly confirm that.
Now before you unpause. Royal marriage both castile and aragon off the bat. Decrease army maintenance to minimum, but don't disband the troops.
Then let that go through, then start increasing reputation with both England and Portagul. You'll be able to royal marriage both easily (I send gold gifts to speed it up, as in 1457 need enough time/chance for the Heir, plus they make GREAT allies down the road).
The goal is to eventually get an alliance with Portagul, England and Castille. In my current game, I managed to also ally papal states (probably realistic, as a starting mission is to get 100 reputation with them).
Here you can see Castille's relations
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y1...es/navarrawithpositivecastillerelations01.jpg
And my little tiny starting province of Navarra
Be sure to keep an eye on Portagul and England every month, as you want to get a royal marriage as soon as possible with both, and then alliances which usually happen not too long after.
Also check for a diplomacy reputation diplomat, it does help quite a lot having one. I didn't start with one, but later when I had more gold, I fired the diplomats available and got one next month.
Also. During that time I boosted up my starting province (the first thing I did), and also saved admin points for my two ideas I took. In my current game, close to finishing both religious and diplomacy idea groups. I also invested a bit of mana into military tech to get new unit types, but most of my military mana goes into my province early on.
Now in both games that I did great on (the one with lucky nations on, and my current one) is getting events to adopt a heir. The one that was really great was, with lucky nations on, I adopted a heir with REALLY good mana (4 admin, 5 diplomacy and 6 military) WITH a strong claim. That heir went on to greatness!
My current game I got a heir event that made me lose papal influence and prestige, but I went for HER (probably why the Pope was angry) anyway as she had an average claim and wasn't terrible. Plus the game was going well at that point with good relations, events and alliances.
You can see here the heir I got: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y149/Vendayn/EU4 Extended Timelines/navarraheirevent01.jpg
Luckily the game didn't crash before I saved (it did after I saved), because part of the window/UI where it showed my king got really bugged out and showed every king/leader in the game. But that is why I blacked it out, it looked ugly
In almost all my games in truth, I never actually produced a child of my own to be heir. Out of 27 of 28 attempts, the only time I actually got a heir was through events. Except once...my king was 59 and actually produced a heir and then died a year later. Even with 20% chance of a heir, it seems a lot harder to get one when your king is old. Or maybe unlucky. Either way, mostly heirs came from events. I also noticed, or maybe it was luck, I never lost a heir through events when I got one.
And another screenshot. Queen of navarra
Actually a nice ring to it http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y149/Vendayn/EU4 Extended Timelines/NavarraFemaleLeader01.jpgNot bad
I also bought 2 cavalry and an infantry, not much gold income for more than that, to add to my small army you start with.
Finally after 20-22 years of setting up alliances, relations, marriages. England, Castille AND the Papal States both had 10 favors. England wouldn't join the war against france unless I promised them territory, but then they didn't want any territory and didn't care that I didn't give them any...oh well
I went to war with France, with my allies Castile, Pope and England and...Aragon joined for some reason. Portagul would not join, probably too far. However, even though in war declaration screen it showed Aragon joining France's side (probably because Aragon warned me not to go to war), but at same time, Aragon was rivaled to France. It was definitely not mistaking sides. But Aragon did in fact join my side with Castille, because he hated France so much
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y1...melines/navarrafirstwaragainstfrancewon01.jpg
I took most of the coastal provinces
I could have taken more, and that last coastal province I clicked on to take, but unluckily my game lagged at same time and instead accepted demands. Oh well, it was just one province. I could also have decided to just take everything, but I really need those admin points for getting the last religious ideas, and didn't want to expand too much. You can however decide different So there you go. The trick to Navarra, if you don't want to migrate (which seems to defeat the purpose in a way of playing that nation) is a lot of luck, restarting and also setting up crucial alliances. Castille, England being the best allies you can have. And maybe aragon later down the road, but I haven't allied with him since my relations are maxed as is and they tend to not like Castille. And the pope sure helps. No migrating needed
I'll probably still colonize, or maybe not...haven't fully decided. But thus far, the game is going actually really great. My initial goal (and I chose a mission for it) is to however become Pope. Seems fitting of Navarra, and a good goal for them. But there is a lot of other things I can do too.
Hope you find this guide of Navarra helpful
Again its just the initial start of them to get going, partly to leave it open to do whatever after getting past initial hurdles. I probably won't go for a world conquest, but not every guide/game has to be that Enjoy navarra everyone if you decide to try them
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