Don't you have to be at war to do that?

The core thing was related to being at war but I still don't understand what it was.

More questions from that thread:

How does he get the tech from Cyprus?

he surrendered to them and in the peace terms he offered to convert himself to a republic and they accepted.

Aha, thanks.

How my game is looking (havent played much lately).


Im about to annex my vassal at the bottom right of burgundy (one province, Provence).

In a PU with portugal, my king is their's. Savoy is in turn in a personal union with portugal. Which is a pretty sick deal for me lol.

At +200 with my super long term ally Denmark, they have a beastly navy.

Endgame goal is to finish off Spain, from the top to bottom. They are already protestants from a war I did like 150 years ago. I guess we couldve been buddies and taken over the HRE, but alas...

Poland used to be HUGE, theyre just about to blow up from everywhere, I wouldnt be surprised if my permanent sow discontent+sabotage relations isnt helping . Ukraine, Mazovia, Georgia, Smolensk all used to be a part of Poland. My faithful ally Denmark is also starting to trickle down and take over the north of the HRE, with my help of course . You can see Alsace is pretty big, you could say they were one of the few lucky nations that I never fought and their growth shows the result .

All in all, its been a really fun and addictive game.

Couple of questions/comments:

As Castille, I was in a war with Aragon, trying to grab Navarra (which they had annexed). I ended up acquiring that province, plus Barcelona, and two others that set my over-extension at 96%. Next thing I know about half my provinces are in full fledged rebellion and the Granadian nationals are making a play as well. WTF? Should I have just tried to take a few provinces, convert them to cores during peace time then try another war with Aragon (assuming proper CB) to grab a few more? Just seems way more drawn out.

Also, all the peasants were pissed about taxes but how do I lower/raise them? I saw the raise war taxes button but haven't ran into a way to better manipulate taxes.

Basically, I've just been growing an army, attacking **** and then rebuilding my army during truce time, rinse, repeat. I know there's more to the game but that's all I've really done so far.

This game is a ton of fun tho.

One of the effects of overextension is a rise in risk of revolt. You basically just have to live with it. You don't get to raise or lower taxes, I think it's just a default revolt reason (plus peasant uprising I think?)

yeah taking more than 2-3 provinces is almost always a losing play AFAIK.

You could take one or two and then release some of their nations as independant. Will make your next war easier and/or you could also get that happy new nation to ally with you and even become a vassal/annex if they have the same religion.

Never tried myself, just thought of it now: There is an Option "Create Vassal" in the diplomacy screen, couldn't one try to take more provinces (say 10 or so), keep a manageable amount (3-4) and release the rest immediately as vassal? Wouldn't need to schmooze them up again ...

hadnt thought of that

You can only create vassals of provinces that would form a state of their own, so it's a bit more limited than that

In the specific example you could also vassalize Navarra and sell the provinces to them, assuming culture and money are alright with Navarra.

Good idea.

As Sweden, is it worth it to just go to war immediately to break the union (well, after six months), or should I wait a while? I've got to this in four years in my current game but am not sure if it was actually worth it.

Tensions along the border Polish border


Tensions increase and border troops grow on both sides. Superpower Poland warns Russia to not start any wars, attempting to prevent Russian annexation of Livonia or expansion eastward.


After 25 years of being warned by Poland, all Russian attempts to negotiate are rebuffed. Peaceful Russia was left with no choice. All efforts were focused on acquiring the strongest military tech in the world, resulting in a new unit type, offensive eastern infantry. An alliance with AI Bohemia was formed, which would open a 2nd front with their 18k troops. Following Commonwealth's invasion of contested Livonian order, Russia declared war, crushing border forces with superior troops. Despite advantages in manpower and army size, Poland has no answer for the new Russian infantry. The war continues, with several small and medium Russian victories over the outmatched Polish troops. The major battle between the two main armies appears imminent.


World, 1544:

Really hope Venice isn't human or else wtf is he doing expanding into the ****ing Balkans

Naples having a good game, France gonna France, let me guess dj formed Netherlands for old times' sake meaning ragequit incoming?

Theres no one in italy and the Austrian player failure cascaded to rebels, lost like 1/2 his land to revolts and wound up leaving because Austria was so ****ed I guess? Idk. So theres a massive hole in central Europe, hopefully we can get a replacement austria/bohemia/whatever to get it balanced.

Was just a massive colonial war with spain/england/portugal vs dutch which dutch won, not sure what the peace deal was but England was invaded during their conversion to protestant which led to the country being fully occupied by and broken by catholic rebels, leading to independent ireland, svotland, and wales. GG

O and Mamluks are westernized and Ottomans have been ravaged 2x now by peasant war event.

Seems odd to have humans in both Ottomans + Mamluks but nobody in Bohemia or Italy.

Nicho Void was supposed to take Italy but never showed up. Venice, Bavaria, or return to Austria remain options in the center, but all are becoming increasingly worse options. French invasion of Naples for claims I got via event is currently underway, so Italy will be a rough spot to live in.

Of course I did. New trade mechanics make Netherlands even more fun IMO. No backstab from France this time since I am using Bordeaux the primarily trade node for NW trade, so Netherlands and France actually have solid reasons to not kill each other this time. So no ragequitting.

If anybody does want to join in I will make edits to whatever country you pick. You won't be a major power, but it'll probably still be fun.

a quick excerpt from my AAR detailing the Dutch-Spanish Colonization War. If anybody spots a parallel between the events leading up to this war, and the war I ragequitted on last game, you're not alone. The exact same colonial war occured, only this time France was neutral and Austria had collapsed, the result being no 5v1 and a very fun pvp war for everybody involved, except maybe the English.



After the conclusion of the war the Dutch court settled back into the comfortable pattern of peace, until dutch patrols found a spanish colony in the province of Pamlico, situated between the two new dutch colonies that had been started nearby.

This was, in the view of the Dutch Court, a very unfriendly act. Phillipe IV convened his war council, and after much discussion two important facts were agreed upon; that England and Spain aimed to completely exclude the Netherlands from North American trade, and that a colonial war between the Netherlands and the "Triple Alliance" of Spain, Portugal, and England was inevitable.

Efforts began to immediately expand the size of the Dutch fleet. 13 Carracks were sent to reinforce the West Indies Squadron, while 16 additional carracks were planned for a new Channel Squadron that would operate in Europe in defense of Dutch Trade routes. Eventually it was agreed upon that if war was inevitable, it was best to strike now while England was in disarray dealing with large religious uprisings and the Netherlands likely held the advantage in ships for after the buildup. The 12,000 strong Dutch detachment boarded their transports and were positioned in the province of Muskogee, 2 provinces away from Seminole, the current port of the Spanish West Indies fleet. The initial plan was to march south, defeat the detachment of some 13,000 spanish troops, siege Seminole, thus forcing the Spanish fleet out where it could be engaged by the Dutch West Indies Squadron (numbering 16 carracks, 1 barque, and 15 cogs) where it could be defeated and hopefully destroyed. However, as with most plans, this one did not survive contact with the enemy. In early 1536, the Dutch Ambasador in Spain formally announced the declaration of war, the Spanish Monarch replied "We're ready for the Dutch", and the war was on.

The Dutch-Spanish Colonial War: The Carribean Campaign

The Dutch army in Muskogee quickly marched south under the command of Phillipe IV and engaged the spanish force of 7 regiments of infantry and 4 latin cav with 12,000 Dutch Landsknechten infantry. It was assumed that Dutch forces would prevail, given that the Dutch nearly equaled the Spanish force in numbers, but had a greater number of superior infantry. Assumptions were proven wrong as the spanish defenders gallantly rallied and threw the Dutch assault back with nearly Dutch 4,500 troops dead. The remaining Dutch forces hastily retreated north into Timucua, barely ahead of the spanish army, and organized a defence. After another savage battle, both sides still weary and bloodied from the 1st Battle of Seminole, the Spanish force was repelled at the cost of 2,200 Dutch troops, while spanish forces only took 1,400 casualties.

Dutch Defense at Timucua



Despite the victory, the Dutch army had taken nearly >50% casualties and needed to reinforce before any more campaigns could be waged, particularly as the Spanish had taken far fewer losses. So following their victory in Timucua, Dutch forces retreated back into Muskogee. Additional levies were raised in Cuba as the newly reinforced Spanish Army marched into Muskogee, nearly catching the Dutch army that retreated into Santee, and began to siege the province.

Curiously, despite keeping a close watch on the Carribean, no additional Triple Alliance (TA for short) naval forces had been spotted in the new world, even though the war had been ongoing for almost 7 months. The Dutch West-Indies Squadron still reigned supreme in the new world, which allowed an additional 4,000 Dutch troops to be landed in Santee to reinforce the 12,000 already there. With the army up to full strength and having a significant numerical advantage, Phillipe marched into Muskogee looking to redeem himself for his earlier failure.

Spanish troops were quickly routed in the battle of Muskogee, and their defense of Seminole crushed by Dutch pikes. The remaining remnants of the Spanish army surrendered in the 2nd Battle of Timucua soon after.

Spanish Retreat following the Battle of Muskogee


The Second Battle of Seminole


Spanish Surrender at Timucua



With the defeat of the Spanish forces, and continued absence of any significant TA naval force (the Spanish West-Indies fleet having escaped the trap) there was nothing to prevent widespread dutch sieging of provinces, eventually resulting in Dutch occupation of all of Spain's colonies in the new world. Unfortunately, the lack of TA naval force would not last.


The Invasion of England

With the Triple Alliance still refusing to take any peace deal, the Dutch Admiralty looked for further ways to exert pressure on the Alliance, and they concluded the best way to do so was to take advantage of the current Dutch control of the channel and launch an invasion of England. 8 new flutes were commissioned and an eventual 16,000 men landed in Norfolk. The remaining 8,000 men of the invasion force were disembarking when disaster struck. A massive combined English/Portuguese/Spanish navy appeared off the channel and engaged both the Channel Squadron and the Bordeaux trade fleet simultaneously. The 100 strong ship fleet easily swept aside both the Dutch Squadrons, and sank the 8 flutes before the 8,000 men could arrive in Norfolk. An English army backed up by thousands of Alliance troops then marched on Norfolk, routing the Dutch army and eventually destroying it in Lincoln. In the span of a month, the Dutch control of the English Channel had been swept aside, the trade fleets of both Lubeck and Bordeaux forced to port, 24,000 Dutch troops lost, and the coast of holland was under permanent blockade. If the situation was not reversed, Dutch defeat was inevitable.

The West indies squadron was called back to Holland and ordered to take a route that would not be spotted by English eyes. Meanwhile 16 additional carracks were ordered built in the Netherlands, but with an estimated 2 years build-time would not be arriving soon, and 20 new regiments were raised to replace the losses of the recent invasion.

Luckily for the Dutch, French neutrality prevented any kind of land-assault on the Netherlands herself, as any TA troops would be caught on the beaches by Dutch defenders. And so the war ground on, with little changing on either side. The spanish fleet departed for realms unknown, the English and Portuguese navies continued their blockade off of the coast of holland, and Dutch shipwrights furiously built new dutch Carracks. In late 1540, nearly 4 years since the outbreak of the war, Dutch ships ventured forth to break the English/Portuguese blockade. With the new Carracks and the arrival of the West Indies fleet, the blockade was broken and control of the channel returned to the Dutch after many months. Seizing on the opportunity, Dutch transports quickly began landing troops in Norfolk. An eventual 46,000 troops were landed and took the province of Norfolk, forcing England's Navy out into the waiting arms of the Dutch Grand Fleet. Portuguese and Spanish ships arrived to assist, and the Battle of Dogger Bank began with nearly 240 combatants involved. Simultaneously, 46,000 Dutch troops advanced on the 37,000 strong defenders of London. The stage was set for the climactic battles of the war.

Unfortunately, while the Dutch had more carracks in total than the Triple Alliance fleet, the TA simply had more ships, and the Dutch fleet was forced to withdrawal with heavy damage (however only 1 ship, a barque, was actually lost). But the damage to the Triple Alliance was done. The 46,000 Dutch troops that had landed in England, including 14,000 veterans of the Caribbean Campaign, crushed the TA army in the Battle of London.

Dutch Victory in London



With over half their army killed, and their morale shattered, the remaining Alliance troops had no chance and quickly surrendered to pursuing Dutch forces. While the Netherlands had lost the Naval battle, the fall of London had won the war.

Soon after the Alliance came to the peace table. The province of Pamlico and the island of St. Martin were ceded to the Netherlands by Spain, no demands were made of England (who was facing massive rebellion) or Portugal. With peace secured, attempts were made to help England against her rebels, but despite some early rebel defeats England collapsed and Ireland, Scotland, and Wales declared independance. With nothing left to do on the English Isle, the victorious Dutch army began to be ferried home.

40k infantry wafflecrushes mixed force of infantry/cav? wat?

Did you take out like 40 loans to finance all these carracks or just have infinite money?

I took out several loans during the course of the war, nearly 1k gold actually. Losing my trade routes really put the hurt on my economy.

Thankfully due to Dutch traditions (+100% naval forcelimit) the Netherlands can field an absurd number of ships. I think my forcelimit was around 120 or so during the war.

Also keep in mind that cav is latin knights, so it's **** currently. We all had military tech 12 at that point, latin knights is not going to win against tercio infantry

Any effective tactics for diplomatically combating the HRE emperor?

Austria just enacted the reform that gives them +25% tax and all members -5% tax. I guess I can declare war on them and get a 100% WS to force them to roll it back, but I'm curious what kind of stuff I can do in the future (if anything) to keep them from acquiring imperial power to begin with. As Venice, of course, I cannot compete with them to become emperor.

this may be evident to everyone else, but it wasn't to me, so i'll mention it.
so eu3 never used mercenaries, or at least very rarely in an emergency. Since the manpower regeneration change, i'm finding mercenaries quite a bit more useful. Especially if you have a good income, and are in an expansion phase, but keep getting held up by lack of manpower.

this is just in theory, but you could use spy actions to reduce relations between electors and the emperor. Might be able to do some alliances that position electors as enemies of the emperor also.