Europa Universalis IV

[Greyblades]

That was hardly neccissary to mention.

[Beskar]

Colonial State system is something I have always wanted in EU4 and I think in many ways, it is great.

It micromanages and runs your oversea provinces without having to shift your focus from home. You can even name the new colonial states what you like, so you could name the Thirteen Colonies "New Tiaexz".

However, it has a lot of downsides. You cannot chose which territories go into a state, as such, I lost Bermuda to the Thirteen Colonies even though I wanted to keep it as a Naval port to the America's. If you conquer, lets say.. the Aztecs, all that territory, all unconverted, all uncored, goes into a vassal state which just springs up a lot of rebels and you do not have any direct control in building or converting or coring it.

[Ferret]

Yeah, there were some nice ideas for the colonial systems but I do feel it takes away a bit too much control. I'm not really a fan of the colonial zones either, I thought if I had enough provinces together then they would all form a colonial state, but it turns out states won't cross over the borders between colonial zones. This means I had a province in what was considered Canada and a province in what was considered the Carribean still under my control, either side of the Thirteen Colonies. I would have preferred it all as part of the same state really.

Having said all that I haven't really been able to focus on it as much as I'd have liked so I still don't feel particularly familiar with what's changed. I somehow inherited Castille (as Britain) right after I formed the Church of England. Given that Castille was entirely catholic I have just been fighting off wave after wave of rebels ever since. Had Portugal or France attacked it would have been nothing short of a disaster.

I would certainly be interested in joining that multiplayer game. Greyblades is welcome to England, I quite fancy giving one of the HRE states a go. Given that I'm pretty rubbish at the game I wouldn't want to take on a major power.

[Beskar]

Currently in a game at the moment, but feel free to pop a Steam friend invite, and see what we could arrange, Ferret!

(Same as .Org name)

[CountArach]

Has anyone had any experience with the random map generator part of the new expansion? It seems, from posts on the official forum, that it is still a bit buggy and leads to some oversized provinces etc.

[naut]

I dislike the new colonial state system. It feels forced. And annoyingly, the main reason I make colonies is for trade forwarding purposes. But, if a colonial state is formed (at size five continuous colonies) regardless. Then it completely negates that for very little benefit. Therefore. Do not colonise more than 4 adjacent in each region, keep trade forwarding? Or better yet, only colonise Africa and Asia. Trade forward with impunity.

[Beskar]

I dislike the new colonial state system. It feels forced. And annoyingly, the main reason I make colonies is for trade forwarding purposes. But, if a colonial state is formed (at size five continuous colonies) regardless. Then it completely negates that for very little benefit. Therefore. Do not colonise more than 4 adjacent in each region, keep trade forwarding? Or better yet, only colonise Africa and Asia. Trade forward with impunity.

I admittedly like it, but it needs quite alot of work. It should become optional and you should have some more control over which provinces will join it. It takes a lot of the micromanagement and hassle out of the colonies and I wish it could be implemented in Africa/Asia and over areas.

Not quite sure what the issue with trade is though. I seem to have the majority of Trade returning back to Europe.

[naut]

Not quite sure what the issue with trade is though. I seem to have the majority of Trade returning back to Europe.

The colony gains all the province trade power. Leaving me with only boats to gain power, but nowhere to dock them if they need repairs. The colonial state gains all the power and collects from trade, fine that will increase their income. But, the amount they are willing to give me in tariffs is minuscule and does not make up for the loss of trade power and income.

Does anyone know if it is possible to decrease a colony's liberation desire?

From testing liberation desire rises slowly until it is level with or just above the tariff level (which can only be increased), and is then modified by the relative army strength. Although that's a best guess, I wish they'd listed the modifiers!

[Chaotix]

Do colonies not give you automatic fleet-basing rights? If not, they should.

[rickinator9]

I had the greatest comeback in the MP session with @Ferret and @Tiaexz. I am playing the Golden Horde with them playing Austria and Sweden respectively. I allied Uzbek in the very start and they quickly got into a war with Nogai. While I was starting to attack Nogai Crimea DoWed me. I could hold off Crimea, but they brought Ottomans into the war, so that was basically unwinnable. I held out for a few more years but my armies got trashed. When I only had around 5000 men left with 1000 manpower, Kazan decided to attack me. They had 18000 men. They brought Qara Koyunlu in as well(the blob in Azerbaijan and Iraq). So by now, I was attacked by all my neighbours except Muscovy.

I decided I needed to get Ottomans out of the war. I had to give up one province and some gold to peace both Crimea and Ottomans out. Nogai also made peace with Uzbeks at this time. However, my army of 10000 had to battle the combined 30000 of the Kazani alliance. My army ended up being annihilated. Here I was with 28000 enemies rampaging through my country without any army or manpower to fight them off. Qara Koyunlu wanted a white peace for some reason. This was nice, but I still had to deal with 13000 Kazanis. I only had Astrakhan as a free province by now, with others being occupied or besieged by Kazan.

Kazan had divided their troops in 3 stacks: 2000 men in the south, 9000 men in the north along with 2000 in the upper north province. I had around 1000 manpower and only one province to recruit from. I still had some gold though, so I bought some mercenaries. I soon had 4000 infantry and I attacked the southern stack. All 2000 were soon dead and I divided my small army to besiege 2 occupied province and kept recruiting mercenaries. I eventually had 6000 mercenary infantry and 3000 regular cavalry. I drove the Kazanis out everywhere but 3 provinces in the north. The decisive battle was at Voronezh: Kazan lost 6000 of their 11000 men and I only lost 2000. I went on to free my lands and occupy theirs. I took Samara in the peace treaty: A gold province that would provide money for my armies.

Now I am rolling over the Kazanis as well as Crimea and Nogai.

Lessons learned: Mercenaries are live savers and you should have some in your armies to preserve manpower.

[Greyblades]

Dang, i'm sorry I missed it last night.
@Chaotix They do for me. I like having my little colonial states, they're like little minions with thier own armies and ships, they're never afraid to send thier men to help me in wars.
Has anyone had a new world generate with only 3 provinces in a trade group?

[Beskar]

The colony gains all the province trade power. Leaving me with only boats to gain power, but nowhere to dock them if they need repairs. The colonial state gains all the power and collects from trade, fine that will increase their income. But, the amount they are willing to give me in tariffs is minuscule and does not make up for the loss of trade power and income.

Okay, this is not what I am experiencing. 50% of the Trade-power is used to encourage trade moving. As such, in this save I am looking at, I apparently only have 13 trade power in this node, my colonial state has 95 and turns of value 2.35 is moving on, 1.69 is being retained. So whilst you are not seeing trade-power as such, the benefit is actually there in the sums.

As for the ships, I have not had this issue at all, they all scout the area and do not take any attrition from the path and they repair in the colonial states.

Do colonies not give you automatic fleet-basing rights? If not, they should.

They do. Colonial-states are all but owned by you directly. In practise, you cannot recruit or do any buildings, but you can do everything else pretty much and are counted for colonial/trade ranges, etc.

[TinCow]

Lessons learned: Mercenaries are live savers and you should have some in your armies to preserve manpower.

Absolutely. Mercenaries are key to fighting a war and dealing with significant unrest/rebellions when your manpower is low. I use them frequently to bail me out of tight situations.

[Beskar]

I still have a lot of hangover from EU3 where Mercenaries were like the unwashed plague of crudness. But I still read/hear about the Mercenary powerhouse armies which blitzkrieg Europe from time to time in EU4 though and sometimes resort to them when desperate and want to flush excess cash into the toilet.

[Kekvit Irae]

Hopping on to post my latest achievements.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Cherokee never forget- nor forgive- any slight, no matter how small. We. Will. Remember. There will be No Trail of Tears here.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Surviving as the Byzantines impossible? Pfft.


An additional note, I only play on Ironman.

[Secura]

Wow, I'm in awe of your Cherokee British Isles, @Kekvit Irae! Was that through personal union or outright conquest?

I've been enjoying Conquest of Paradise so far, tried a few games as Native American nations but I tend to get steamrolled once Britain or France get to me. I've lasted long enough to reform my government from Native Council, but haven't been able to cope with the combination of westernising (darn nasty events!) and very powerful, wealthy neighbours...

Can the AI-controlled colonial powers turn me into a colonial subject (as I can when the boot is on the other foot?) or do they conquer me outright? I've tended to quit once all my hard work is undone by 2000 British infantry!

[Beskar]

I've tended to quit once all my hard work is undone by 2000 British infantry!

That is rather extreme... you should be able to beat that many with pure numbers. You should be colonising and expanding your own influence and subjugating your numbers into your federation. Once the West comes, the manpower you can field alone usually defeats their efforts. Then you go through the Westernisation, with the possibility of converting Christian then you simply steamroll the continent and the inept Colonial States if they manage to form into any real size.

[Kekvit Irae]

Wow, I'm in awe of your Cherokee British Isles, @Kekvit Irae! Was that through personal union or outright conquest?

The Byzantine one, Russia was from an extremely lucky PU, the rest from pure force. I never even planned on the PU, I just got a popup saying I became the war leader against France. I checked, and sure enough Russia was my new pet. Because of their many, many wars with Austria, France couldn't get military access. The war was then just a wait until I could white peace. I DID have a PU with France later in the game, with an outright chance to inherit Aragon, but then Napoleon showed up and said "NOPE" and turned the country into Rev. France and breaking the PU. I hate Napoleon.

The Cherokee one was ALL conquest. Right now, I own the entirety of the British Isles, and completely annexed Great Britain. Every five years on the dot I went to war with GB. I learned from my Brazil game that if an American nation needs to succeed, Naval ideas are an absolute MUST. With the best navy in the world, I was able to put down the Brits easily. Though, not too easily, as I made a fatal mistake in the second war against them. The first war was to claim their colony on MY land. Not a problem, never had the Brits do anything about it. Then the second war was to get some land in Ireland so I could expand into Europe. The mistake I made was that I slow-sieged the Irish provinces instead of assaulting them outright, causing my navy to take massive attrition. The next dumb thing I did was moving my badly-damaged fleet to engage the British transports that were undocking from Ireland. My fleet of 50+ Heavy Ships were so badly damaged that I had to retreat them, and the AI decided that the best route for them to take was through several open seas. My entire fleet was lost to attrition, the Brits were carpeting my lands, and my main army was stuck on Ireland. I had to white peace.

I came back in five years, and learned from my mistakes. It was that one stupid war that made me decide to completely and utterly destroy the British Empire.

EDIT:

I've been enjoying Conquest of Paradise so far, tried a few games as Native American nations but I tend to get steamrolled once Britain or France get to me. I've lasted long enough to reform my government from Native Council, but haven't been able to cope with the combination of westernising (darn nasty events!) and very powerful, wealthy neighbours...

Can the AI-controlled colonial powers turn me into a colonial subject (as I can when the boot is on the other foot?) or do they conquer me outright? I've tended to quit once all my hard work is undone by 2000 British infantry!

Mostly they just want your land. One trick is to get Exploration ideas the moment you reform your government, take Quest for the New World, send some poor sap in a barque over to explore Europe, and then rival France. All the big colonizers absolutely hate France (who doesn't?), so you'll easily get an alliance with one of your bigger neighbors. Just remember that until you finish Westernization, everyone will have cause to gang up on you. If you see your ally break their alliance, that's a sign they are gearing up for a war. Surviving is hit-or-miss, so don't expect miracles to happen. I did, however, get through Westernization without getting attacked, but that's because the other powers were too busy in Europe.

EDIT 2: Here is what my North America looks like. Until you reform your government, vassalization and diploannexation is vital for survival. With your super cheap stability cost, taking the -2 stability hit for having no CB is not a problem.

[Beskar]

75% off EU4 DLC

[Kekvit Irae]

75% off EU4 DLC

Sadly, most EU4 DLC are garbage.

American Dream stuff only happens in/after 1776. Even if you start in 1444, create a colonial nation, release/play as, then form the USA, you still have to wait until 1776 for any of the events to happen, if they ever happen (due to MTTH). Not only this, but a formed USA never gets the 1776 USA national ideas.

Call to Arms DLC is just sprites.

Pre-order DLC does have the Purple Phoenix, which helps quite a bit if you are going for a Basileus run. With the changes in 1.4, it's now even harder to survive as the Byzantines.

Digital Extreme DLC has the Stars and Crescent, which allows you to convert to Shia and/or Unify Islam. Not all that fantastic.

The big deal of the lot, however, is that the base game is 75% off. You're looking at 10 USD for many hours of sweet, sweet map painting.

[rvg]

How detailed is combat in EU4 compared to CK2?

[Kekvit Irae]

How detailed is combat in EU4 compared to CK2?

EU4 combat is far more in-depth than CK2. In CK2, battles are just throwing men en-masse into the fray and waiting for the Skirmish phase to change to Melee phase and then finally (for good or bad) the Pursuit phase. Each unit has an attack and defense stat, and each army has morale.

In EU4, you have two ranks of units per side, with a combat width base on your technology. While the variety of units is smaller (infantry, cavalry, artillery), the individual units all are different based on your technology. Infantry and cavalry can only attack from the front rank, while artillery can attack from the back rank (and protect units directly in front of them with half their own defense stat). Each unit has attack and defense rating, just like CK2. During battle, infantry will attack units that are either directly in front of them, or one space to the side (flanking). Cavalry is the same, but they will attack up to two spaces to the side if they aren't already engaged with an enemy in front of them. Combat rotates every several days between the Fire phase and the Shock phase, until one side breaks and runs or is utterly destroyed.

I guess the better way to describe it would be to link to the wiki.
http://www.eu4wiki.com/Land_warfare

[Beskar]

New Expansion: Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations

Wealth of Nations will bring several new features to the game, focusing on trade, including the ability to secretly provoke trade conflicts, hire pirates to steal goods from your competitors, establish the East India Company and create a bustling trade capital for your nation. With several new possible ways to direct the wealth of the world into an empire’s coffers, Wealth of Nations will serve the needs of every gamer’s inner plutocrat.

Cold hard cash is king, may the richest empire win. Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations will be given the (trade) stamp of approval for download from digital portals in Q2 2014.

The expansion will feature:

The Invisible Hand of the Market: You can act covertly to instigate trade conflicts among the competition, stifling income and leaving yourself atop the economic heap.
Seize the Seas: Hiring privateers can damage enemy shipments and cripple their trade, but risks retaliation in the form of open warfare if you are caught.
Capitalize: Empires can designate a specific port as their trade capital, separate from their national capital, and strengthen local trade routes through the use of inland trade nodes.
Monopolize and Mobilize: Form an East India Company and reach faraway trade partners with an unstoppable shipping concern.
Read more here:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/eu...lth-of-nations

[TinCow]

Very disappointed in that expansion/DLC concept. Trade just isn't that interesting in EU4, and an entire expansion dedicated to it seems like a waste of effort to me. I'd far prefer to see them spend their time adding greater depth to the various parts of the world that aren't much fun to play in.

[Kekvit Irae]

I'd far prefer to see them spend their time adding greater depth to the various parts of the world that aren't much fun to play in.

Like fixing vassal feeding.

[Beskar]

I vassal fed before it was cool *shows a picture of EU3*

But the issue was more the fact you could easily annex the vassal in EU4 which made vassal-feeding a gamey option. It kind of runs the RP elements, especially with some personalities now totally rejecting taking provinces. For example, I might want a puppet netherlands but I do not want to outright own them, I should be able to have that.

[Kekvit Irae]

I vassal fed before it was cool *shows a picture of EU3*

But the issue was more the fact you could easily annex the vassal in EU4 which made vassal-feeding a gamey option. It kind of runs the RP elements, especially with some personalities now totally rejecting taking provinces. For example, I might want a puppet netherlands but I do not want to outright own them, I should be able to have that.

Many changes in EU4 seems gamey. For example, cores now taking around 2-3 years, some admin points, and a single mouse click. In EU3, cores took fifty years. Vassal feeding in EU3 wasn't really viable because of the randomness of annexation. EU4 1.4's changes to feeding makes a WC impossible now. Sometimes, I just want to throw caution into the wind and conquer the entire world.

[Kekvit Irae]

Really when compared to CK2, any grand strategy game is going to feel a bit weak. Especially in EU4's case, for obvious reasons.

Magyars in 867 beg to differ.

[Kekvit Irae]

What I meant was there are just so many options in CK2... Eu4 may never be quite as varied. I haven't played either since before Sons of Abraham was announced though...

You're not missing much. All SoA gives is the ability to play as the Jews, some new holy orders, and more religious events including the Demon Child event chain. Not exactly worth 10 bucks.

[rvg]

You're not missing much. All SoA gives is the ability to play as the Jews, some new holy orders, and more religious events including the Demon Child event chain. Not exactly worth 10 bucks.

There's also new Papacy mechanics, new heresy mechanics, the Joan of Arc event chain, Romeo&Juliet event chain and probably more stuff that I'm yet to encounter.