Some things I've learned

[MikeV]

It seems that the global map topology, and the descriptions on the strat map, are a bit misleading about the naval "teleport" zones (those rectangular trampoline thingies at the edges of the map).

They are not single-edge connections, but all hyper-linked together in some (undocumented) way. That is, it does not matter which teleport you use, you can sail your fleet to any other theater or trade zone from it. About the only effect it has is which box the fleet occupies when it arrives.

So, sail towards the one that's closest to your originating port. It can save 1-3 turns.

[MikeV]

The Europe and India theaters are linked by Persia -- for example, if you start in India and scroll the strat map north-west, through the Persian regions, you can continue on into Europe (the reverse is also true). The mini-map changes its theater display, at some point.

This makes the Persian regions strategically interesting, by virtue of being the only 2-theater land location. It suggests overland trade routes to/from India, for example.

[Rothe]

Wealth bonuses are better than what they seem to be.

If you upgrade the infrastructure of a single road (roads) and get +4 wealth per turn, that means that you will add 4 to your income each turn. This is cumulative!

If you add 4 income on turn 1, it means that by 10 turns, you will have made 220 only on the road income, not a whole lot. But...
If at 20 turns, it is 840.
30 turns, it is 1860.
40 turns, it is 3280.
50 turns, it is 5100.

If you plan for a "long haul campaign", be sure to get wealth bonuses, especially global ones from enlightenment.
They make a lot of money in the long term (multiply the numbers above by region.. Upgrading roads is good for campaign speed of troops, but the wealth will still be useful in the long run even on small islands.

My math is a bit rusty, but it should work like this:

Cumulative profit per region = W*(N+1)*N/2

W = wealth per turn of the upgrade (roads are something like 4).
N = number of turns from gaining the wealth bonus.

Plugging in 10 years for basic evaluation (20 turns) is going to get you a profit of W*210.

[Obadiah]

You can research different techs in different schools? I just acquired my 2nd school, and looked to try to do this, but it showed that it was researching the same thing as my home university. How do you get it to research a different tech?

[Slaists]

You can research different techs in different schools? I just acquired my 2nd school, and looked to try to do this, but it showed that it was researching the same thing as my home university. How do you get it to research a different tech?

Just go to that town (the new university you just built/conquered); double click it and once in the research menu click on something other idea in the tree.

[loony]

I thoght I was going to get a naval invasion yesterday.
I have the italian states and 2 armies defending them (one in Milan the other one in Rome).
Suddenly, i see massive spanish troop buildup in naples, they move to my border.
Then I see 2 fleets WITH ARMIES IN THEM approaching northwestern part of italy

Ok so I get all recruiting frenzy and fort building crazy... "The AI must have been fixed and now I am going to get it!".... but then the fleets stop near the shore, the land armies never attack.

The armies in the fleets are rotting there for 3 years now... how disgusting is that?

[Feanaro]

The Europe and India theaters are linked by Persia -- for example, if you start in India and scroll the strat map north-west, through the Persian regions, you can continue on into Europe (the reverse is also true). The mini-map changes its theater display, at some point.

This makes the Persian regions strategically interesting, by virtue of being the only 2-theater land location. It suggests overland trade routes to/from India, for example.

You can't transport goods overland to Europe via Persia. At least, not all the way. I found this out in my Maratha campaign. I got a trade agreement with the Ottomans. However, the Russians were blockading the port in Constantinople. This cut off my trade route. The goods would go via land to the province NEXT to Constantinople, they have to be transported overseas to Constantinople.

[MikeV]

This post:

There are some regions that are never able to build more than the palace line. In those regions the military governors allow you to build more troops and have two builds for units per turn. It is better than never being able to build more than a single militia per turn, though it has a slight negative impact on economics and region suppression.

Was a revelation. I had been expecting more build slots as population increased, but that never happened. So, I did some studying.

As it turns out, the main.pack/campaign_map_settlements table hard-codes the limits. A settlement will never grow more build slots. This has changed my approach to developing regions:

• Those with only 1 or 2 slots (the former only occur in the Americas) get the Military Governor line and fortifications
• Those with 5 or 6 slots (the latter have the Admiralty line) get the regular Governor, plus the barracks and armory upgrades

[MikeV]

This post notes an important bug:

You have to move the stack off the trading spot first. The trade route income isn't properly updated when you just add the ship to the stack.

No point in spamming all those trade fleets, if you don't get the income from them ...

[Daveybaby]

This thread is full of wonderful things. Methinks it should be stickied since we dont have an FAQ thread yet.