questions/help for a beginner

[eXistenZ2]

So after having this in my library for ages, I finally want to give this a proper go. Ive played a lot of CK2 (although not that much recently), and strategy games are my favourite,although mostly turnbased (Civ, EL, ES2, TW). In those games I have the habbit of reloading/restarting if something bad happens, out of the knowledge that early mistakes/misfortunes early on have big consequences. I'm trying to break that habbit (and Ironman will help for that, I really like achievement hunting). But I'm feeling a bit lost here (started as portugal, all dlc). I got the basic mechanics down, but I feel I miss a lot of trics/hidden mechanics. For example, I just recently learned about vassal feeding with Fez

-So I red/watched the occasional guide, but are there any recommandations on guides that arent outdated?

-I know a big part is to let the AI to clean up your dirty work/combat. I'm a buit lost with the trust/promise of land mechanic. I called catille in a war against Morocco, but they didnt want any of the land they occupied hence the broken promise. How do you know which provinces they want, and how do you best manipulate this system?

-Castille helped me out with the war against Morocco, but whenI fought the african nation on the west coast (Ju-something), I lost terrible, despite being two tech levels ahead and they only having about 3k more troops. War was always my weak point, but any advice on how to gauge combat and war in advance?

-Is it normal that the early game feels kind of slow at the start? Part of that is also my own fault, as I pause a lot. At what stage does the game really gets rolling?

-Any general advice for portugal

I'm sorry if this is a bit vague, I'm kind of in a gaming rut and I really want something to click/sink my teethin, and this has a lot of promise, but it's hard to continue knowing you are doing a lot of things wrong/missing and not 100% sure why

 

[stoffel the waffle]

-i don't know any guide but personaly i like to watch arumba on youtube.
-When you go to the diplomacy screen of other nations you have 3 tabs. the normal dip tab, the opinion tab and the last tab. In the last tab you can see wich land Castille wants.(right click to switch nation, left click to set a province to vital intrest to your nation)
-terrain is a huge factor. you roll every fase of battle a dice from 0 to 9. terrain can provide a negative 1 to 3 to the dice roll.
-yes. 1500 to 1600(personaly)
-colonise and be friends with the pope

 

[JaxElite]

Coming from ck2 the game can feel very slow early on. But there is a good reason for that, countries are absurdly stable. Unlike in CK you will rarely ever, if ever lose territory and are usually outpacing any AI anyway after a few wars. Since EU4 main weakness is a lack of domestic policy you hardly have anything to do aside from conquest.

For learning some tricks and how to set up countries i would recommend Zlewikk's ruined campaign series on youtube where he fixes "broken" user sent saves. His level of gameplay is high enough to make the videos educational but low enough for a beginner to keep track

 

[eXistenZ2]

Coming from ck2 the game can feel very slow early on. But there is a good reason for that, countries are absurdly stable. Unlike in CK you will rarely ever, if ever lose territory and are usually outpacing any AI anyway after a few wars. Since EU4 main weakness is a lack of domestic policy you hardly have anything to do aside from conquest.

For learning some tricks and how to set up countries i would recommend Zlewikk's ruined campaign series on youtube where he fixes "broken" user sent saves. His level of gameplay is high enough to make the videos educational but low enough for a beginner to keep track

thanks for the replies. couldnt play much last week(s) so couldn't reply to the thread. It definitly feels slowish if you are not one of the great powers and don't have decent income (I haven't build any buildings yet), but I assume it will ramp up, I'm now in 1520. Good suggestion for the playlist, I'll add it.


As for my current game, I'm mostly strugging with rebellions. Conquered a bit of africa, added what I could to a trade company, but unrest remains high despite raising autonomy, and I'm afraid if I take any more land, it will get worse.
Likewise, both portuguese brazil and carribean are ticking towards revolts (from religious rebels), and when a group of granadian seperatists revolted in castille, they occupied my part of granada with a 30k stack (i have gibraltar and malaga). What I don't understand is why they didn't take any attirition, as the suply limit is 22....

-Still having issues of winning battles decisivly. I win, but lose only 1000 less troops despite numbers advantage

-I can't get castille to join any of my wars anymore, especially morocco. They are not interested in the land, but should I be able to use favors?

 

[eu4life]

You can also view favors in the last tab of the diplomacy screen, and after 10 they are likely to join wars against countries they dislike or are close to them.

To get a good idea of your opponent before a war, there is an army quality section in the ledger that can tell you your moraleand your opponents’. As you get later in game, professionalism and discipline are also important to monitor. The next tab in the ledger can tell you their overall manpower and number of regiments as well. A good tip is to hover over things as it generally explains a good amount about them. For example, hover over the red x if an ally won’t join your war and it will tell you how close they are/why they won’t.
Terrain is important, and crossing rivers is an often overlooked negative modifier. When they crossed swords appear to show an upcoming battle, hover over to see who will be the attacker and any negative modifiers you might get. Use generals in battles. Shock is the most important early PIP, and maneuver can help you avoid negative modifiers like river crossing if your general is higher than theirs. Army tradition, which you can view in the military tab, is what determines how good your generals can be.
The best tip I got early on was to try to lure enemies to one of your forts in a mountain territory. You will be the defender in those battles and forts are a -2 modifier. Sometimes you can block their retreat because forts will block their movements in some directions.
If they are a small nation or you occupy all of their land, follow their army after you win a battle. If you can re-engage with them while they have low morale, you can completely stack wipe their armies.
Hope this helps

 

[Mannock]

I'm definetely no expert but I've played quite a bit with Portugal over the years, and personally I always stay clear of North Africa. I just don't find the provinces (and the conflicts) there compelling enough.

I tend to ally Castille to have a big brother who covers my back so I can go full banas on colonization. Target one is always to snag all the provinces in the Carribbean trade node and then colonizing my way to South East Asia via Ivory coast and the Cape. The ducats you amass via all that trade you get going then makes you have options to do different stuff (either continue colonizing or start getting involved in European affairs).