Europa Universalis III

[Beskar]

The big blue blob is evil.

It is funny though how France has so many vassals/smalls states around in, just to stop it from growing too strong.

Though, I remember this big Franco-Austrian war when Austria was the HRE Emperor and some how half the Italian states got involved, so France and Austria where fighting over these Italian states lands big in a big bloodbath.

[A Very Super Market]

The big blue blob is evil.

It is funny though how France has so many vassals/smalls states around in, just to stop it from growing too strong.

Though, I remember this big Franco-Austrian war when Austria was the HRE Emperor and some how half the Italian states got involved, so France and Austria where fighting over these Italian states lands big in a big bloodbath.

That sounds a lot like..... many of France's wars. Fought with Austria on foreign ground...

[TinCow]

But you lose some Prestige.......I recall guaranteeing everyone around me as England....it made all my prestige which was 25 or so....to -5 when I choose not to....I didn't want to face Castille and France since I didn't have enough tech to blockade yet.

I only did it to make relations go up....not to fight a war I knew I would lose.

That's why you declare war on your own, THEN you click the Accept button on the Guarantee war declaration. That war won't occur separately because you're already at war with the target nation, and since you accepted you don't take the prestige loss.

[Beskar]

That's why you declare war on your own, THEN you click the Accept button on the Guarantee war declaration. That war won't occur separately because you're already at war with the target nation, and since you accepted you don't take the prestige loss.

I will have to remember that for next time then. .

Thanks TinCow!

On another note, when do you fancy doing one of those succession AAR's ? Or you waiting for that mod to come out first?

[White_eyes:D]

Good Advice from TinCow

I need to admit.....I never let the Big Blue Blob grow...as England, I usually use Scorch earth tactics for those Doomstacks they send at you right away.

It's better to use that and blockading ports to make there WE grow and have Rebels tear it apart....then just pick up the pieces.

You could also rush a province with ships in it and quickly storm it(Make sure you have enough men of course) and the ships well pop out and be wiped out by your navy which should be there and better then France's which well make there WE go way up.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Question about scorching the land - can you only do it in your own provinces? I've never seen the option not greyed out when I bothered to look for it.

[al Roumi]

Question about scorching the land - can you only do it in your own provinces? I've never seen the option not greyed out when I bothered to look for it.

You can only do it in a province you control, I think that might extend to one you have captured (with a successful siege/assault) from the enemy.

AFAIK there is a small button at the bottom of the army tab -when you have one sellected.

I've not actually used it.

[Beskar]

I only used it when I was playing as Kingdom of Jerusalem and because of a big war in the close proximity, I sponsered some very successful rebels. However, not sure how the modifier works, but some rebellions were quite large and took a big area of land. As I didn't have the resources or the ability to maintain that size (especially with the need to convert, etc), I sorched earth a bunch of the provinces and sold them cheap to my neighbours.

(which ends up ruining those areas for them, so it doesn't backfire on me)

[TinCow]

On another note, when do you fancy doing one of those succession AAR's ? Or you waiting for that mod to come out first?

The MM port to HttT is scheduled for release in February, so I'll probably pick up the expansion towards the end of the month. I'll be happy to join any succession game at that time. Of course, you are always free to start one with some other people right now if you want, no need to wait for me.

[TinCow]

Scorched Earth is extremely, extremely useful when fighting a much larger enemy. If I expect such an attack from a large power, I put single regiments of cavalry in every province along my border with that enemy. As soon as a declaration of war occurs, those regiments all scorch earth in their provinces and then immediately retreat back towards the main stacks. The enemy will then besiege the scorched provinces and will take HUGE losses from attrition, usually in the 10%/month region. When attrition has made the enemy megastack weak, I then attack with a major assault of my own to kick them out of the province. Then immediately retreat out of that province, or you'll take the attrition hit as well. Rinse and repeat until their armies have been trashed, then switch to the offensive.

[al Roumi]

Scorched Earth is extremely, extremely useful when fighting a much larger enemy. If I expect such an attack from a large power, I put single regiments of cavalry in every province along my border with that enemy. As soon as a declaration of war occurs, those regiments all scorch earth in their provinces and then immediately retreat back towards the main stacks. The enemy will then besiege the scorched provinces and will take HUGE losses from attrition, usually in the 10%/month region. When attrition has made the enemy megastack weak, I then attack with a major assault of my own to kick them out of the province. Then immediately retreat out of that province, or you'll take the attrition hit as well. Rinse and repeat until their armies have been trashed, then switch to the offensive.

What is the economic hit you take from scorching your provinces? How long does it last? I assume it implies a fair whack of both economic loss and revolt risk?

Edit: I could ask this on the EU3 forum but faced with the consumate knowledge of Orgahs I don't think I need to :D

[TinCow]

What is the economic hit you take from scorching your provinces? How long does it last? I assume it implies a fair whack of both economic loss and revolt risk?

Edit: I could ask this on the EU3 forum but faced with the consumate knowledge of Orgahs I don't think I need to :D

I don't remember off the top of my head, but IIRC it's essential a large chunk of that province's tax income plus -10% population growth. I don't recall any increase in RR. I don't know the exact duration without checking in-game, but its definitely less than a year. I'd guess maybe 8-12 months. During most wars where I want to use scorched earth, I often have to re-scorch a province because it's recovered before I want it to.

As a large nation, you won't even notice the impact of scorching 2-3 provinces. The smaller you are, obviously, the greater the effects. Keep in mind though that this tactic is specifically to help you handle enemy doomstacks, the kind that France, Russia, Austria, the Ottomans, etc. tend to throw around like so much confetti. If you've got a 10k army and are facing multiple 15-20k stacks, it's almost certainly worth it to scorch. When fighting a larger enemy, attrition should be your first weapon.

I actively let enemies siege provinces even when I can relieve them if they're taking decent attrition. I'll regularly let a siege get to 75 or 88% just to let them lose more men without it hurting my manpower pool. Unless I am significantly more powerful than my enemy, I fight all my wars defensively first, draining their manpower and raising their war exhaustion. Once the enemy is worn down, then I counterattack with lots of small armies sieging many provinces at once, with 1 or 2 larger stacks to hunt down any attempts to rebuild their forces.

For this reason, I also pretty much always move my sliders into defensive. I find that a LOT more useful than offensive for the way I play.

[Beskar]

Anyone fancy a Heir to the Throne, Kingdom of Jerusalem succession game? I can randomly set up the province in a saved game.

[Meneldil]

Well, I can't say I find the whole new area of influence thingy really great. It makes the game ridiculously tedious for small nations, and doesn't change anything for big ones.

The instant war declaration should have been replaced by a casus belli, or a relation hit. Areas of influence keep causing world wars around me, which is fun at first, but annoying after a few hours.

The new heir system is also quite disappointing. If you're playing a powerful nation, you will rarely hear about it. If you're playing some weak state, your country is going to collapse everytime your leader dies.

I guess the new gameplay features would be cool if they didn't made the domination of lucky nations even more obvious.

[White_eyes:D]

I must admit....HttT really makes everyone go nuts on wars....If the HRE at the time didn't pass that "reform" that reduces diplomats...I think they would have went to war endlessly.

My game from 1399-1445 as Naples (A crash happened and I lost some progress)
Notes
-HRE limited Diplomats for everyone who was a member.....somehow Austria grew quite big after a war with the Swiss and a few other minors.

-They lost it all in a war against Holland......the shock of that was a little unsettlling.

-The BBB has really the pooch on this game....they lost most of there Vassals in a war against England.

-Castille and England are really kicking some tail, until Castille fought me in a war over Sicily.

-Despite this loss they bounced back and now are ready to form Spain.

-I have most of Italy but getting Venice Annexed is hard.(Unless it counts as a cut off province?)

-I am had so many nations try and claim my throne it is not even funny....

[Beskar]

Currently in my game, Ming is in Saudia Arabia and off the East Border of Muscowy. That is how large they have grown.

[A Very Super Market]

Based on most Paradox releases, of anything, it should be cleared up sometime. I remember HoI3 when came out, featuring Italians conquering France, the Soviets and British amassing all their units on their one province border in the himalayas, and Japan getting pushed out of Korea and China.

[Beskar]

Based on most Paradox releases, of anything, it should be cleared up sometime. I remember HoI3 when came out, featuring Italians conquering France, the Soviets and British amassing all their units on their one province border in the himalayas, and Japan getting pushed out of Korea and China.

You didn't see the game where I solo'd the Axis (except for Japan) as Yugoslavia.

[al Roumi]

Well, I can't say I find the whole new area of influence thingy really great. It makes the game ridiculously tedious for small nations, and doesn't change anything for big ones.

The instant war declaration should have been replaced by a casus belli, or a relation hit. Areas of influence keep causing world wars around me, which is fun at first, but annoying after a few hours.

Yeah it's not a feature I've really made much use of either. I'm not clear what the benefits are of having someone in your sphere - another route to war? Does it even improve relations with the nation in your sphere?

The new heir system is also quite disappointing. If you're playing a powerful nation, you will rarely hear about it. If you're playing some weak state, your country is going to collapse everytime your leader dies.

I guess the new gameplay features would be cool if they didn't made the domination of lucky nations even more obvious.

I disagree on this point, small countries have to be more resourcefull in maintaining their prestige and legitimacy than larger nations (who should be better at defending themselves). If you keep your prestige high, it makes it much harder for someone to claim your throne.

Personaly I never player with lucky nations on.

[The Wizard]

I have not experienced any massive wars occur due to the sphere of influence feature. Playing as England, 1399 scenario, it's 1493 now IIRC.

Accidentally kept lucky on, and trust me, France, while initially looking fragile and Burgundy looking a lot stronger than before, is not, I repeat not all that weak. It's been an entertaining game, though, I'll give it that, despite getting annoyed in wars by France's lucky exploits. At the moment I have restored the Angevin empire and never really lost a war against the French. However, as I write this they're tearing apart Milan, which has a similar-sized army and MP, better tech, and most of Northern Italy The worst thing is, I'm under a regency, and I'll have to wait 6 more years before I can intervene and weaken them again...

I need to admit.....I never let the Big Blue Blob grow...as England, I usually use Scorch earth tactics for those Doomstacks they send at you right away.

It's better to use that and blockading ports to make there WE grow and have Rebels tear it apart....then just pick up the pieces.

Doesn't work against France, especially not with Lucky on. No matter how many rebel doomstacks (>12k) are running around and how small (<5k) the French army is, and how high their WE, I have not been able to make them break. Not in IN, not in HTTT. And they still get their bloody uber kings and generals, their impossible tech development, as well as ridiculous dice rolls. But it does make for a challenging game, I'll tell you that.

[White_eyes:D]

Doesn't work against France, especially not with Lucky on. No matter how many rebel doomstacks (>12k) are running around and how small (<5k) the French army is, and how high their WE, I have not been able to make them break. Not in IN, not in HTTT. And they still get their bloody uber kings and generals, their impossible tech development, as well as ridiculous dice rolls. But it does make for a challenging game, I'll tell you that.

It really helps when "The opportunistic A.I." senses when France is weak.....after I took out there Doom stack, Aragon and a few others joined in and wiped out the "weakened France"....(It's what helped me towards the end) You can also have your Calvary run around and kill any 1000 man regiments that they try to combine into another "Doom stack".

There was only a few times France ever had the better of me.....like the time I was Ireland and forgot to buy a navy to keep there transports back(ouch)<---Worst defeat in EU3:NA history

Doesn't matter if it's a "Lucky nation"...the A.I. well dogpile you if they sense most of your forces are lost

France had only vassals as allies, so they didn't help much. My gains were little but I kept on Re-declaring war by looking for anyone France guaranteed(As England, you should have the largest Navy so any other Nation won't really matter as long as you can white peace out easily.)

[Meneldil]

I have not experienced any massive wars occur due to the sphere of influence feature. Playing as England, 1399 scenario, it's 1493 now IIRC.

Accidentally kept lucky on, and trust me, France, while initially looking fragile and Burgundy looking a lot stronger than before, is not, I repeat not all that weak. It's been an entertaining game, though, I'll give it that, despite getting annoyed in wars by France's lucky exploits. At the moment I have restored the Angevin empire and never really lost a war against the French. However, as I write this they're tearing apart Milan, which has a similar-sized army and MP, better tech, and most of Northern Italy The worst thing is, I'm under a regency, and I'll have to wait 6 more years before I can intervene and weaken them again...



Doesn't work against France, especially not with Lucky on. No matter how many rebel doomstacks (>12k) are running around and how small (<5k) the French army is, and how high their WE, I have not been able to make them break. Not in IN, not in HTTT. And they still get their bloody uber kings and generals, their impossible tech development, as well as ridiculous dice rolls. But it does make for a challenging game, I'll tell you that.

Heh, I played my first game as the Timurids (lost badly), and saw France getting dismembered by Burgundy and England. I thought of well, maybe the big blue blob ain't that annoying anymore, let's give it a try.
So I start a game with Burgundy. France immediatly starts insulting me. At some point, England (allied with Aragon and Milan) DoW France, so here I join, with my own allies (Brittany and Bohemia). No matter what I did, I couldn't won the war. Despite being outnumbered by at least 2 to 1, France's doomstacks just appear to be invincible. Even lame exploit (such as cavalry only stacks) aren't enough to weaken France significately.
I managed to annex two of France's vassals, but France promptly kicked the English out of Aquitaine and also annexed one vassal, so despite my efforts, it has one more province than before the war

[White_eyes:D]

France is not invincible...(I thought that for a while as well)

But if you read some AAR's on Paradox Interactive. It's not hard to take it out, I seen bigger achievements....Like the AAR "The Audacity of Hope?".

A guy almost toke over the world just using the Iroquois...didn't have enough Diplomats but he just about did it.

[The Wizard]

You got lucky, then. Usually, yes, the AI joins in when it senses France is weak. However, even though they usually win the war, they never force a proper peace on les bleux. It's usually just releasing a nation or two, one province, or even a WP. It's ridiculous. And with a bit of bad luck, the moment you exit your war is when the AI nations face France alone, and it ain't pretty.

I've read that AAR. Try reading "Mantua Redux" to get a good idea of why France is so hard to beat, even if you do everything right.

Heh, I played my first game as the Timurids (lost badly), and saw France getting dismembered by Burgundy and England. I thought of well, maybe the big blue blob ain't that annoying anymore, let's give it a try.
So I start a game with Burgundy. France immediatly starts insulting me. At some point, England (allied with Aragon and Milan) DoW France, so here I join, with my own allies (Brittany and Bohemia). No matter what I did, I couldn't won the war. Despite being outnumbered by at least 2 to 1, France's doomstacks just appear to be invincible. Even lame exploit (such as cavalry only stacks) aren't enough to weaken France significately.
I managed to annex two of France's vassals, but France promptly kicked the English out of Aquitaine and also annexed one vassal, so despite my efforts, it has one more province than before the war

Cavalry only stacks are a bad idea in HTTT. Mix your stacks up with lots of infantry, and for heaven's sake get a good general. I get the impression generals have become even more important. I try and avoid those 6-shock French uber generals as much as possible, and if I can't do that, I try and concentrate my forces into my own huge doomstack to outnumber theirs and beat them that way.

[naut]

So. I'm thinking of getting EUIII. Should I and why?

[al Roumi]

So. I'm thinking of getting EUIII. Should I and why?

The easy bit: Yes, providing you like grand strategy, with a strong historical setting and are not fussed about graphics of the kind which ETW battles deliver or micro battle tactics. This is a game about strategy on the macro level (mostly) politicaly, dimplomaticaly, culturaly, economicaly and militarily.

For me, EU3 is what i would have liked the campaign map/game in MTW, MTW2 and ETW to have been. It features a map of the whole world (minus some "innaccessible" regions like the Sahara, Australian interior, Antarctica) with god knows how many regions. You can play a game starting in 1399 up to 1821, with any country on the map. In contrast to TW games, there are no fudge factor "rebel" factions, every state is at least grounded in historical accuracy (some less, some more so).

You can choose to play the game as a colonising nation, spreading your influence around the globe on the decks of a powerful navy, emulate Ghengis Khan or resurrect the Roman empire from either the Holy (ish) one or the Byzantine.

Don't expect a quick action fix though, games are long and the learning curve is steep. The game features some tutorials and a massive manual but neither are as helpfull as the people on the Paradox EU3 forum.

[naut]

We'll I have most Paradox games. Which I probably should have mentioned, so I'm not wholly ignorant. But, is it basically a more polished EUII? Is it better than say AGCEEP for EUII?

Don't expect a quick action fix though, games are long and the learning curve is steep. The game features some tutorials and a massive manual but neither are as helpfull as the people on the Paradox EU3 forum.

I'm not too worried, it can't be steeper than Vicky. Which I'm proud to say I've gotten reasonably good at.

[al Roumi]

lol well EU3 is the only paradox developed game I have! Others here are fans of the other games, incl Vicky, so they may be better placed to compare them.

I've not even played EUII so...

EUIII is reputedly much easier than vicky to manage, you should get all the add-ons for EUIII though, it's much better for it.

[frogbeastegg]

I have started to look at the bigger mods now their HTTT versions are in production.

Anyone tried the MEIOU mod? Looks like EUIII bigger, better, prettier and all-round smarter.

I have to admit that I'm now thoroughly put off the Magna Mundi Mod. I can't stand the attitude I've observed from Ubik to the extent where I do not want to touch his work.

[seireikhaan]

EUIII is fairly fun, I think. Not quite as engrossing as Vicky, not as complex. The economic model is far too simplified, imo, but the political simulation is pretty decent. For its price now, probably 30 bucks for the whole shabang, I think its probably worth it for grand strategy folks.

Skipping back to the France topic:


This is France blobbing:





And stunningly enough, this is the blob after the world's most massive dog-pile: