Help Anyone play Europa Universalis...?

Rulke

Can't get enough of FH
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I bought it in the steam sale and I'm in over my head.

I guess my main question is - what do I do? From what ive seen so far, War is a pointless and frustrating task, but peace is dull and nothing happens. Just gotta sit and wait a decade to level up government or something.
 

SilverHood

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Which version have you got expansion pack wise?

EU3 is a rather dull game... what you really want to play is the mod Magna Mundi, which was so good that Paradox is letting them release it as a standalone game

You need heir to the throne for this one:
Magna Mundi Ultimate 1.26 - Download Here!
 

Rulke

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I got both the addons, that and divine wind I think
 

Helme

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What you'll do depends highly on what country you play. I'd set a few personal goals before you begin playing, things like uniting Germany or becoming a colonial empire are decent ambitions. After that the game gets a lot more focused because you know where you are going. War is only really boring when you do massive build-ups over decades and then utterly crush a defenseless enemy. Live a little, some roleplay will make the game a lot more interesting.

As for actual gameplay advice, I'd seriously suggest picking a strong country with plenty of opportunities your first time around. England is a really solid option, so is Castille and Portugal, France used to be great but after patches they've been divided up and usually end up crushed by Burgundy. Still any of them are solid options. I'd stay away from tribal leaderships in the start, though they can be entertaining when you get a grasp of the mechanics.

Also, avoid mercenaries unless you absolutely have to. They don't reinforce and costs shitloads to maintain.

edit: I'd personally avoid Magna Mundi until you've got a real grasp of how these games work. It's a royal pain in the ass even for an experienced player and it moves very slowly. Heir to the Throne and Divine Wind are fine(though DW breaks Manchu).
 

Rulke

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I tried a game as england, went something like this:

Had a mission/casus belli against france so attacked them. Spent about 2 years and occupied all their provinces (100% war score) but couldnt get an annexation peace treaty - only got them to give up 3 (of 10 or so total) provinces. Burgandy attacked me and castille joined them. I was going to win easy but I made peace with Castille .... which automatically made peace with burgandy.

Gave up on War, made a few royal marriages and alliances etc. Put all my money into researching government - 5 years later it levels up and I get churches. Wondered what else to do...
 

Mabs

J Peasemould Gruntfuttock
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you cannot annex large countries

sue for peace, with X and Y zone taken. wait a few years, repeat
 

Rulke

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I guess my 200 hours in Shogun 2 has turned me into a warmonger :(
 

Mabs

J Peasemould Gruntfuttock
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its designed to be very hard to take over the world, if you start expanding you will get major aggro
 

Helme

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Yeah, if your infamy goes above the limit other countries become really fed up with you. Eventually you'll find yourself fighting half the world - which can be fun if you've got enough buildup but early on it's suicide.

As for annexation, I believe the DW rules are that you can only annex a country if it has 3 provinces or less. If they are a pagan nation you can just take the province one by one as you capture them without needing to go into treaty screen. Before that you get to take as much as your warscore allows, depending on who you are fighting this can be anywhere from a dozen provinces at 1-2 score each to 60-70 score provinces(very common in Europe).

Your war ended after you made peace with Castille: they were the leaders of the alliance, if you sue for peace with them all other countries in the war are bound as well. So what you'll do is that you sue for peace separately - in your case, you sue for peace with France and then Castille.

Warmongering works just fine btw, it just requires some experience on how to game the rules and it also requires that you shift your focus after every conquest while the peace treaty runs out. For England you'd shift between continental wars and bashing Scotland/Ireland. Also look up alliances between different enemies(fastest way imho is to just 'declare war' on them to see who will join in, then cancel). This way you can continue bashing on an enemy by forcing them into a war with an ally you don't have a treaty with. Want to beat up on France? Go after one of their vassals, either they'll dishonour their allegiance to them, and you'll get a free annex or they'll honour it and you're back in a war against them.
 

Rulke

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Yeah I'm getting the hang of it a bit now, started a new game as England and I've taken ireland and scotland (though I failed a mission to vassalise scotland since I annexed it)

Will probably settle down a bit and let my infamy drop off for a while.

Questions:
Do advisors/generals level up? If not how do I get higher level advisors?
Which Advisors are generally best to use?
What does the Fire/shock etc stats on generals do?
Which sliders are best to aim for? (centralisation etc?)
Any particular tech order? I did goverment for the new idea and then trade, with a bit on the side for stability to keep it ticking up. Any of the great ideas 'must haves' ?
 

Helme

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Advisors do not level up, neither does generals. For advisors either rely on them randomly being generated at the start of every month or so, or use your culture rating(cant remember exact name) to buy new ones, the more rating you have the more stars they'll get. For generals(and admirals) it's the same thing, higher military/naval rating = more stars.

The best advisors really depends on what you currently need but my favourites are the -inflation ones and land/government technology. The inflation one is especially good since it allows you to mint which gives you a bit more money to throw around. Trade %/compete chance are decent as well if you rely on trade - which is common for small countries. Discipline is also really, really good.

Fire/shock just increases the diceroll number, making you more deadly/lower their morale faster.

Centralisation is a solid choice, same with moving away from serfdom and innovation - though again, it all depends on what you're playing. Quality/Quantity I prefer quality, I'm a huge fan of high discipline since it allows your troops to just kill massive amounts of numbers and fight until the very bitter end.

For tech just spread it out equally, if you get something good on the next level(ie new military unit) then adjust the sliders to rush it, since you'll have a huge advantage against your enemies if you've got better units than they do.
 

Rulke

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Ok next question, what buildings are worth building?

Like, should i build marketplaces in all my provinces? churches?
 

Helme

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I generally skip churches until I'm rolling in cash around 1600-1700, market places are really good - probably the best building of them all. Workshops are also really nice, build them in all regions you can though in the beginning you might want to focus on the most productive one's to get the most out of it.

Military buildings are decent, but only put them in a few specific provinces and recruit from there. Don't need them all over the place really.
 

Rulke

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Getting quite into it now, new annoyance though - joining an allies war and conquering 90% of their provinces, only to have the ally sue for peace and take 1 province thereby automatically returning all mine :(

Made a beeline for colonisation, getting sick of 75% success rates failing 90% of the time though!
 

SilverHood

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Getting quite into it now, new annoyance though - joining an allies war and conquering 90% of their provinces, only to have the ally sue for peace and take 1 province thereby automatically returning all mine :(

Made a beeline for colonisation, getting sick of 75% success rates failing 90% of the time though!

If your allies declare war, and you want to join, declare war separately. You then get your allies involved too,plus you get to dictate peace agreements.
 

Rulke

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Yeah I figured, I'm proper addicted to this game now :/
 

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