You guys get a bug with your traders randomly changing where they transfer power? Whenever I noticed a big drop in income I go to the trade mapmode and voila, sending all my trade to a rivals node.

can't core if out of range i think, specifically prevents this

nope

but ive had a bug 2 times now when improving relations with Hungary they ask me to go to war for them because we're allied. We're not. in any way.

I dont lose any prestige tho, but i get the two massive -90 relations for breaking an alliance...

that pic is the sadness i love birds poor robin ;<

It is done.

France is now annexed to the mighty burgundy.



In the meantime, foolish and rumoured first world powerhouse spain tried to pick a fight with valorous burgundy.

The result?

well, let's say the spaniards are left Protesting.

Wtf it just gave me a National Decision to form french nation! LOL

Side by side wiht Form Dutch nation, thats hilarious to me.

how weird would it be if i just suddenly become France by my own will, didnt know it could work like that in the game if there was no link between the storytelling of your country.

I've had a similar bug where I was allied to Castille but couldn't win the ally with Castille quest. Then later on they declared war on me as we didn't have an alliance, so I had to quit.

Portugal is a soft landing, France or Castille for some extended war tutorial for a bit more challenge. Do missions, wheee.

VENICE: Part Two

(Part One)

Our mission to wipe Ragusa from the map goes swimmingly; they have no allies, a weak army, and their lone province falls to a siege within a year.



Next up, we receive a mission to take a province that Venice starts with in the 1492 demo, and which I remember has a very nice 7 or 8 base tax:





After accepting, we mouse over Cyprus to see what their diplomatic situation is and see that they're guaranteed by the Mamluks. For those who aren't familiar with this mechanic - countries can guarantee the independence of smaller countries, and that will give them an automatic CB if anyone attacks the guaranteed country. So, if I attack Cyprus, the Mamluks are almost guaranteed to join on their side. EU3 also had a mechanic called Spheres of Influence, which went even farther than a guarantee - anyone having any relations, like offering an alliance, with a country you add to your sphere (which costs prestige) gives you a CB on them. I haven't seen those yet in EU4 but I think I saw a Sphere of Influence mapmode so I assume that means they're still around?

So, anyway, yeah, Mamluks.



Our navies are pretty close in power but their galleys swing the advantage to their side. I need to bulk up my navy a bit before taking them on; I can be patient.

In the meantime, I encounter that trade bug Roger was talking about earlier:



That's annoying. This is my merchant in Alexandria, forwarding to Constantinople for some reason instead of Venice. I can maybe see how the AI could do this, because Constantinople does forward to Ragusa which forwards to Venice, but it's still stupid and wrong and a bug and costing me money.

One of the benefits of being Venice is that they start out with a bossmode ruler:



The way Republics work is that every election (4 yrs?), you can elect a new leader that's either 4/1/1, 1/4/1, or 1/1/4....or you can re-elect the same leader, who gains 1/1/1 on top of his previous stats. Which in this guy's case, happens to be 4/4/4. The downside is that you lose 10 Republican Tradition (the Republic version of Legitimacy) each time you re-elect someone:



In this screenshot, I have 80% Republican Tradition (lost 10 from re-electing, probably lost another 10 from an event), and being 20% off the maximum translates to a 40% hike in stability cost. Yikes.



Following a war with Serbia in which I helped out my trusty ally, they ditch me immediately. Well a pox on you *******s.

I notice the Ottomans take Kaffa, which I had happened to see earlier was their mission. I look to see what their new mission is:



rut roh. This will create tension in the future.

When I mentioned being patient earlier, I meant it; I've been slowly building up economy through buildings and getting a jump on some admin tech (4 for ideas, 5 for constable/temple tax buildings) and diplo tech (trade efficiency), as well as getting my first couple merchant ideas. In 1467, my vassals complete their integration:



and within the next couple years, I decide it's finally time to strike Cyprus. To my dismay, I see that they are now a vassal of the Mamluks, but then I realize that they were always gonna join the war anyway so it isn't much of a difference. I prepare a few galleys and carracks (as mentioned in part 1, my plan to dominate the seas):



and then move out with my navy, including a small sieging force for Cyprus. I plan to fight 0 land battles in this war except for killing the garrison on Cyprus, as my navy will keep anyone from touching me, so that should be all I need.

On April 11, 1469, my attack is ready:



I have my navy, easily with enough carracks and galleys to handle the Mamluks, in the same province as their trade fleet so I can strike quickly and decisively to erase it and take an early lead after the declaration of war.

Next time: the war for Cyprus!

Trade bug is known issue on pdox forums, posters there think trigger is winning a war or getting hit with -tradition events as a Republic, so I guess try to remember to check your trade nodes and make sure everything's ok after those happen.

I'd love to have faster speed option. There is so much waiting for no reason when you are not in any wars, especially if you play some non-EU country.

What does this mean?

Do you guys recommend hiring advisors at the beginning? Is it worth it? Seems like a lot of cash when I'm trying to get things going. Also, anyone played with Sweden? Advice? Thanks

Your relations with other countries are "capped" at 4. Every relation past 4 gives you -1 to your Diplo MP. Pretty much everything involving diplomat causes a diplomatic relationship for as long as the act is going on (alliances, vassals, royal marriages etc.)


I always try to have 3x lvl 1's. Just turn off your army and navy maintenance to save some money.

thanks! the way you guys talk about this game has me super excited about it.

So started a Poland game. Not bad country to play. Did mess some stuff up regarding rebels overextension etc.

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Played Castille, but made some bad decisions due to not knowing a lot of the game mechanics. Decided to restart after playing for. 150 years.
Chose to play England and barely won the Hundred Years War and got a public union out of it. In the 1540s I have an integrated Great Britain that rules both islands and my continents possessions are locked between Burgundy and Castille who are in alliance. Burgundy is also allied to Avignon and Brittany, the only smaller French states that are left. As I don't want to fight a war on two fronts, I just shipped 20 regiments to my five colonies around Manhattan and intend to take some provinces from the Hurons and vassal our the rest. Is there any way to check how strong there military is?

France is too strong. Esp with Lucky Nations benefits. Oh god.

In the interest of not cluttering up this thread too much more, I'll be continuing my AAR on the Paradox forums and only posting much smaller updates here. Gonna take a while to convert over since pdox doesn't work with steam screenshots, so next updates won't be til later (I was playing til 4ish in the morning)

You can find tons of basic info about all countries in the Ledger. It's in the bottom right, one of the buttons under the mini map. I think pressing 'L' brings it up as a shortcut, too. The Armies tab will show how big countries current armies and manpower reserves are right now.

I had lucky nations turned on by mistake, still annexed them.

/BRAG

ps: im convinced the trick is to release their nations, then theyll slowly fade out the more chunks you take out of them and start annexing provinces. Also, be allied with portugal and spain. Or britain

Yeah I've chipped away at them a bit. I was hoping to deal a death blow and force them to convert to Protestant, then sit back and watch as the rebels burned their country to the ground, but it's impossible to gain enough ground this late in the game, the peaces I can get are for around 30 war score, which is only a few provs at a time.

It's ok, there's still 200+ years to deal with them :O

Depends on your plan. I went 1/1/0 advisors because I plan to colonise. You are spending money on it and you need a specific plan for what you're spending your money on in these kinds of games.

I've fought as England a few times and it seems that the best plan is to lose the hundred years war. I had a game where I took most of France, but to actually core the provinces and hold on to them is too much to handle. I think the best plan is to fight France to a standstill where you can hold three of the five (ideally keeping the trade node, and lose Calais), then if you want to go land, go for an easier route into France.

Random note on ironman mode - it's awesome. In EU3 I would have declared war on Cyprus in 1446 and if I lost the naval battle, I would have just reloaded and then waited. In ironman, I feel motivated to plan everything out carefully until my success is assured. Makes me feel way more invested in the game.