Europa Universalis IV: Buying all the DLC is just Common Sense

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feller: Jul 5, 2006

Bort Bortles posted:

I believe same culture group is auto that and is only accepted if you have a Cultural Union or that culture is above the Threshold.

PAWGChamp posted:

Tell me this is fixed too please (I'm not Germany or the HRE, Rhenish isn't even accepted)

My problem isn't that same culture group cultures are going the same penalties as always. It's that I can't see the accepted culture percentage for them. It is erroneously showing them as being in a cultural union when I'm not one.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 15:29

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# ? May 19, 2024 05:47

Sharrow: Aug 20, 2007; So... mediocre.

I don't suppose there's a way or a mod to sort things in the outliner alphabetically?

My army list in particular is v. upsetting.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 15:37

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

Oh also, nobody seems to have noticed the "you can't quite make your entire army out of mercenaries anymore" nerf incoming. 20 regiments + 30% of your forcelimit is the max before you start paying extra $$$, as I recall.

Which is still plenty to form a manpower-free front line in most cases, mind you.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 15:50

Dibujante: Jul 27, 2004

Node posted:

I just take Maritime for the +50% force limits and the awesome ability to repair in coastal zones. I've seriously never seen battles play out the way you describe, and I wish I did. It'd be awesome to see a 4/5/6 Admiral McFuckface destroy twice his numbers and have him take a huge chunk of warscore with him.

Or a 6/6/6 Admiral Yi singlehandedly turn around a losing war?

# ? Oct 27, 2015 15:51

Drakhoran: Oct 21, 2012

So, small patch out today:

quote:

- Fixed a game freeze caused by client states that were annexed under certain circumstances.
- Fixed "oldautosave" and "olderautosave" always saved to cloud as 50MB files.
- Fixed an issue where the AI would refuse to sue for peace due to conflicts between cede province and release vassal logic.
- Fixed a rare case where AI would 'dance' with its armies caused by attached units.
- Fixed an issue with settings/save game compatibility in 1.14.
- Increased base AE slightly.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 18:22

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

Heh. Actually saw the AI dancing just yesterday. It was taking 5% attrition while it was doing it too. Pretty cool they're still tweaking the AI.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 19:50

SSJ_naruto_2003: Oct 12, 2012

gently caress. I have restarted like 10 games in a row because I keep forgetting that allies don't always hop into coalition wars anymore.

Bohemia turned down my CTA... Wish me luck.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 21:32

Fuligin: Oct 27, 2010; wait what the fuck??

How do I Austria? I've never tried to play as Emperor before it looks like I'm going to lose the HRE on my first ruler. I have no idea why.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 21:57

PittTheElder: Feb 13, 2012; Yes, it's like a lava lamp.

You have to buddy up with the electors. If you mouse over the elector's arms in the HRE window, it'll tell you exactly why they're voting the way they are. Usually it's better to buddy up with the Ecclesiastical Electors, since they can't vote for themselves. The lay electors love to vote for themselves, and always split their votes when they don't.

Take Diplomatic ideas first. Ally with France if at all possible, you can turn on them later. Use France to 100% occupy Burgundy, and wait for the Burgundian Inheritance to fire, thereby giving you an insane amount of development for free.

deathbagel posted:

But there are only two to start (Trier and Mainz) so you will have to BFF someone who wants to royal marriage as well.

Three. Trier, Mainz, and Cologne.

PittTheElder fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Oct 27, 2015

# ? Oct 27, 2015 22:05

deathbagel: Jun 10, 2008

Fuligin posted:

How do I Austria? I've never tried to play as Emperor before it looks like I'm going to lose the HRE on my first ruler. I have no idea why.

You have to have the highest relations with an Elelctor for them to continue to vote for you. You need the Majority of votes to win the election. You should have at least 2, but more likely 3 electors who are your best buddies. Bohemia will most likely hate you, so don't bother with them. I like to keep the non-marriage electors as my buddies because you can bestow grace on them to raise relations above their other friends and if things go south and you have to switch allegiances you can just break truce and don't have to worry about breaking out of the marriage too (stability losses suck.) But there are only two to start (Trier and Mainz) so you will have to BFF someone who wants to royal marriage as well.

Edit: Oh yea, I always forget about Cologne. They are larger and tend to expand so I usually try not to ally them, similar to Brandenburg.

deathbagel fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Oct 27, 2015

# ? Oct 27, 2015 22:08

Acute Grill: Dec 9, 2011; Chomp

I like to grab Saxony as one of three elector pets, they can be a nice check against Bohemia and Brandenburg who are both ambitious, agressive, and unlikely to ever vote for Austria.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 22:13

Dibujante: Jul 27, 2004

You only need the plurality of those votes. If the lay electors vote for themselves you can often get the throne with only 3 (or sometimes even 2) votes.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 22:26

Acute Grill: Dec 9, 2011; Chomp

I finally decided to go Revolutionary after hundreds of hours and had a good laugh that "Spread the Revolution" as a CB is just the Imperialism CB by a different name.

I don't know if that's intentional historical commentary, but I choose to believe it is.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 23:01

Yashichi: Oct 22, 2010

A fun Austria trick is to marry Bohemia at the start and then immediately claim their throne when they get a Habsburg. You get a free PU over a decently sized elector, and there's no authority penalty attached to doing so anymore, just a -50 to other electors voting for you, and that's easily overcome.

About 10 years in you can do the same thing to Hungary when their event-spawned Habsburg comes out of regency.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 23:07

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

Yashichi posted:

A fun Austria trick is to marry Bohemia at the start and then immediately claim their throne when they get a Habsburg. You get a free PU over a decently sized elector, and there's no authority penalty attached to doing so anymore, just a -50 to other electors voting for you, and that's easily overcome.

About 10 years in you can do the same thing to Hungary when their event-spawned Habsburg comes out of regency.

I've never been able to get the Bohemia PU.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 23:09

Yashichi: Oct 22, 2010

LLSix posted:

I've never been able to get the Bohemia PU.

Did you declare war right after claiming the throne? If they spawn a Habsburg ruler they don't immediately get an heir so you can claim and immediately declare

# ? Oct 27, 2015 23:14

Absum: May 28, 2013

You get missions for both Bohemia and Hungary after 1500 so you can always get them later too.

# ? Oct 27, 2015 23:19

Gort: Aug 18, 2003; Good day what ho cup of tea

I've played Austria three times to about 1550 due to various fuckups, and I've never had the Burgundian Inheritance fire at all, let alone had it give me all of Burgundy's land.

But yeah, my current game has me with Personal Unions with both Bohemia and Hungary in 1550, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately I lost the Emperor title since I got a female ruler. Milan then promptly took the title, lost a war, and undid one of the two reforms it had taken me a century to pass in the peace deal. Fuckers.

The key to remaining Emperor seems to be to buddy up to (read: ally, royal marriage, improve relations, answer calls to arms) the small electors - you know, Cologne, Mainz, Trier, those guys. Places like Bohemia and Brandenburg will just vote for themselves over and over, but the smaller electors will vote for you as long as you treat them right, and it usually only takes two of them plus your own vote to get re-elected. Keep your Aggressive Expansion down, too, that doesn't hurt.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 00:07

Node: May 20, 2001; KICKED IN THE COOTER; Taco Defender

Doesn't the Pragmatic Sanction let you keep the emperor title as a female, as long as you meet the requirements to check it?

# ? Oct 28, 2015 00:13

Bold Robot: Jan 6, 2009; Be brave.

Node posted:

Doesn't the Pragmatic Sanction let you keep the emperor title as a female, as long as you meet the requirements to check it?

It does but iirc it comes with some penalties - like it tanks your legitimacy or gives you a relations hit with the electors or something like that. So, if you take the decision but don't have time to do any damage control you might still not get elected.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 00:45

YF-23: Feb 17, 2011; My god, it's full of cat!

Node posted:

Doesn't the Pragmatic Sanction let you keep the emperor title as a female, as long as you meet the requirements to check it?

It's an event that fires if your heir if female if I remember right. So if you get something weird like dying without an heir and getting a female ruler or getting an heiress and dying before the event can fire you can end up without the chance to pass it.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 00:51

AAAAA! Real Muenster: Jul 12, 2008; My QB is also named Bort

Anyone know if Blockade Efficiency increases the amount of development that you blockade per-ship or how much you loot via blockading, or both?

# ? Oct 28, 2015 03:47

Arzakon: Nov 24, 2002; "I hereby retire from Mafia"
Please turbo me if you catch me in a game.

Well I guess Venetian Sea is all I'll be getting on this run

Spain ate Portugal and Aragon, colonized the New World, then fell into a PU with France. Then as I'm finishing beating Super Austria back into a reasonable size Great Britain falls under a PU with them, which France challenges and easily wins. Also Sibir ate Muscovy with some help from Lithuania which is pretty awesome.

Venetian Sea ended up being easy to get with Client States. I thought I was going to have to work up 90% TP in both nodes not counting the provinces I was giving to my client states. However it fired the day after I unpaused before trade had a chance to reset. I did get it "legitimately" as well with my 400 light ships patrolling Alexandria and 50 in Constantinople, losing 2000 ducats a month to force limits. I took all of those nodes, increasing development on Alexandria/Rosetta/Cairo and one other connecting province every time I had the chance. I was still at 75% in both of those nodes with just those provinces, I could have probably done it with 150-200 lights.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 04:21

Larry Parrish: Jul 9, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Arzakon posted:

Well I guess Venetian Sea is all I'll be getting on this run

Spain ate Portugal and Aragon, colonized the New World, then fell into a PU with France. Then as I'm finishing beating Super Austria back into a reasonable size Great Britain falls under a PU with them, which France challenges and easily wins. Also Sibir ate Muscovy with some help from Lithuania which is pretty awesome.

Venetian Sea ended up being easy to get with Client States. I thought I was going to have to work up 90% TP in both nodes not counting the provinces I was giving to my client states. However it fired the day after I unpaused before trade had a chance to reset. I did get it "legitimately" as well with my 400 light ships patrolling Alexandria and 50 in Constantinople, losing 2000 ducats a month to force limits. I took all of those nodes, increasing development on Alexandria/Rosetta/Cairo and one other connecting province every time I had the chance. I was still at 75% in both of those nodes with just those provinces, I could have probably done it with 150-200 lights.

Congrats on cheating

# ? Oct 28, 2015 04:25

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

PittTheElder posted:

But the most important thing is to make sure you take Savoy's Italian provinces before France can win the hundred years war. Otherwise they'll get missions to grab Northern Italy, and want your provinces/mess up your pretty borders.

Do they not get that mission if you hold Savoy's provinces? I have always dismissed Savoy as an early target since it is dangerous to hold land that France, your primary ally, wants until you can stand up against them and without them.

Avocados posted:

How important are navies in this game? Outside of war, they seem entirely situational, like for transporting troops or protecting trade. The former isn't applicable if you're land-locked. Then during war, whenever I hop into navy battles, the outcome is always less than 1% warscore. The embargos placed on me during times of war aren't terrible either. I can still win a war at 100% blockading.

What am I missing?

You need a better navy than the other guy if you have to cross any water at all to get what you want, is what it boils down to. Usually this is not actually too hard to do, even against the strongest naval powers like Britain and Spain. Blockades are good because they speed up sieges, cause war exhaustion, and cut off trade income - all will let you win the war faster, especially against small nations. Navies aren't good at generating warscore but they serve many useful functions in wars. Outside of war, nothing can replace their transport and trade-boosting capabilities - both of which are essential for almost every nation at some point.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 04:42

Arzakon: Nov 24, 2002; "I hereby retire from Mafia"
Please turbo me if you catch me in a game.

Larry Parrish posted:

Congrats on cheating

Thanks that means a lot

# ? Oct 28, 2015 05:12

The Cheshire Cat: Jun 10, 2008; Fun Shoe

Jazerus posted:

Do they not get that mission if you hold Savoy's provinces? I have always dismissed Savoy as an early target since it is dangerous to hold land that France, your primary ally, wants until you can stand up against them and without them.

You need a better navy than the other guy if you have to cross any water at all to get what you want, is what it boils down to. Usually this is not actually too hard to do, even against the strongest naval powers like Britain and Spain. Blockades are good because they speed up sieges, cause war exhaustion, and cut off trade income - all will let you win the war faster, especially against small nations. Navies aren't good at generating warscore but they serve many useful functions in wars. Outside of war, nothing can replace their transport and trade-boosting capabilities - both of which are essential for almost every nation at some point.

One thing I noticed about navies, which can be equal parts useful and annoying, is that the enemy generally just won't engage your navy at all if it's more powerful than theirs. What this means is that just by having your ships in an area, you can totally prevent the AI from even trying to route ships through there (if you get them into position before the war starts you can even get the AI to never leave port). What this means in practice is that you can absolutely shut down their ability to move troops around by sea, and also move your own transport ships around basically unprotected.

I say it's annoying because it's kind of dumb to have this huge navy that never actually gets into a single fight because nobody ever goes near it. It feels wasted. I also find it kind of annoying that you can't destroy ships in port from the sea - instead having to siege the territory down by land and force them out. You should be able to attack ports to sink the enemy navy for warscore - maybe with some kind of "coastal defenses" penalty to represent cannons and mortars and such in the port itself.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 05:46

buglord: Jul 31, 2010; Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!; Buglord

So now that I understand the game decently enough, how important is it to buy Common Sense and Wealth on Nations (when they're on sale, of course)? It seems like all the game-changing features were put in with a free patch?

# ? Oct 28, 2015 06:09

SSJ_naruto_2003: Oct 12, 2012

Does anyone have that venice into byz guidelines post saved, it sounds interesting?

# ? Oct 28, 2015 06:17

Acute Grill: Dec 9, 2011; Chomp

Avocados posted:

So now that I understand the game decently enough, how important is it to buy Common Sense and Wealth on Nations (when they're on sale, of course)? It seems like all the game-changing features were put in with a free patch?

Actual development is pay walled in CS but those two are probably the least important to get.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 06:34

PittTheElder: Feb 13, 2012; Yes, it's like a lava lamp.

Gort posted:

I've played Austria three times to about 1550 due to various fuckups, and I've never had the Burgundian Inheritance fire at all, let alone had it give me all of Burgundy's land.

I don't know what they changed, but it seems way less common these days. A bit of a shame really.

Jazerus posted:

Do they not get that mission if you hold Savoy's provinces? I have always dismissed Savoy as an early target since it is dangerous to hold land that France, your primary ally, wants until you can stand up against them and without them.

They do not. But if you take any of Savoy's provinces after they take the mission, they will gently caress you up.

code:

annex_savoy = {
	
	type = country

	category = MIL
	ai_mission = yes
	
	target_provinces = {
		owned_by = SAV
	}
	allow = {
		normal_or_historical_nations = yes
		NOT = { has_country_modifier = french_ambition }
		tag = FRA
		is_subject = no
		has_country_flag = had_end_of_HYW_france
		NOT = { has_country_flag = annexed_savoy }
		SAV = {
			is_neighbor_of = ROOT
			NOT = { num_of_cities = ROOT }
			NOT = { alliance_with = ROOT }
		}
	}
        ...

code:

conquer_milan = {
	
	type = country

	category = MIL
	ai_mission = yes
	
	target_provinces = {
		owned_by = MLO
	}
	
	allow = {
		normal_or_historical_nations = yes
		tag = FRA
		is_subject = no
		NOT = { has_country_flag = conquered_milan }
		NOT = { has_country_modifier = italian_ambition_modifier }
		num_of_cities = 35
		MLO = {
			is_neighbor_of = ROOT
			NOT = { num_of_cities = ROOT }
			NOT = { alliance_with = ROOT }
			NOT = { vassal_of = ROOT }
			is_part_of_hre = no
		}
        }
        ...

# ? Oct 28, 2015 07:22

deathbagel: Jun 10, 2008

GreyPowerVan posted:

Does anyone have that venice into byz guidelines post saved, it sounds interesting?

Pellisworth posted:

http://imgur.com/a/HNNvv

I wouldn't say it's optimal, but it's a good overview. My main criticisms of that particular guide are 1) Humanism is totally optional and I'd say inferior to Administrative, and 2) he is REALLY optimistic about time frames. Notice the screenshots in the guide mostly crop out the date, heh. He says you should wait until ~1550 to form Byz because by then you own most of Italy. You will not own Italy by then, 1550 is a good target to conquer the provinces necessary to form Byz, culture swap, and flip to Orthodox. You'll be running on manpower fumes the whole time. The second +RT event fires between 1520 and 1560 so you'll want to wait until then anyway, just don't feel like you should also have conquered Italy by then loving lol. Venice -> Byz doesn't really take off until the late 1500s once you've formed Byz and converted most of your provinces, built up some manpower.

I like Admin over Humanist. You're going to convert everything to Orthodox with your Byzantine turbo-missionaries anyway, and you blow a lot of ADM points culture switching and conquering, plus the merc discount is extremely nice. You can check some of my earlier posts on Venice -> Byz and there was another goon or two who did slightly different idea setups.

It's very possible to punch Mamluks and then colonize, or just conquer around the Mediterranean.

-Just culture swap Greek and flip to Orthodox ASAP. All of the special events are tied to the Venice tag except for the Inquisition which requires you be Catholic. It is NOT worth holding off converting Orthodox to try and snag the tolerance and religious unity bonus.
-Your troops are fairly bad even after switching to Byz, but you'll have decent manpower as Byzantium. Mercs. Mercs mercs mercs especially early game you're wealthy but have poo poo for manpower.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 08:11

SSJ_naruto_2003: Oct 12, 2012

deathbagel posted:

thank you

edit: what was it that you wanted to get your republican tradition to so that you get the awesome +RT events. below 60? 50? 40?

SSJ_naruto_2003 fucked around with this message at 08:49 on Oct 28, 2015

# ? Oct 28, 2015 08:29

Wafflecopper: Nov 27, 2004; I am a mouth, and I must scream

The Cheshire Cat posted:

One thing I noticed about navies, which can be equal parts useful and annoying, is that the enemy generally just won't engage your navy at all if it's more powerful than theirs. What this means is that just by having your ships in an area, you can totally prevent the AI from even trying to route ships through there (if you get them into position before the war starts you can even get the AI to never leave port). What this means in practice is that you can absolutely shut down their ability to move troops around by sea, and also move your own transport ships around basically unprotected.

I say it's annoying because it's kind of dumb to have this huge navy that never actually gets into a single fight because nobody ever goes near it. It feels wasted. I also find it kind of annoying that you can't destroy ships in port from the sea - instead having to siege the territory down by land and force them out. You should be able to attack ports to sink the enemy navy for warscore - maybe with some kind of "coastal defenses" penalty to represent cannons and mortars and such in the port itself.

As someone posted earlier, the warscore from naval battles is poo poo anyway. Forcing the enemy to stay in port is as good as sinking them as far as I'm concerned. The point of a navy is to control the sea, and you control it whether you sink them or they stay in port. The end result is the same: my light ships and transport can operate with impunity and my blockades can strangle their income and drive up their war exhaustion.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 09:04

Tahirovic: Feb 25, 2009; Fun Shoe

PittTheElder posted:

I don't know what they changed, but it seems way less common these days. A bit of a shame really.

You can try to force it by fully occupying them and leaving the war open, it's not that hard and only costs a bit of dip points for the WE.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 12:28

Bold Robot: Jan 6, 2009; Be brave.

GreyPowerVan posted:

thank you

edit: what was it that you wanted to get your republican tradition to so that you get the awesome +RT events. below 60? 50? 40?

I think it's between 40 and 50, but with the Venice +RT bonuses you will almost never be down that far. I got by Ven/Byz run to about 1725 before getting bored and I think I dipped below 60 RT like once or twice, even though I often had 6/6/6 dudes for decades at a time.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 13:12

Larry Parrish: Jul 9, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Feature request: Could there be a way to waive fleet basing costs. Like if I offer them I can check a box to make it free for the recipient if they accept.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 13:28

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

The Cheshire Cat posted:

One thing I noticed about navies, which can be equal parts useful and annoying, is that the enemy generally just won't engage your navy at all if it's more powerful than theirs. What this means is that just by having your ships in an area, you can totally prevent the AI from even trying to route ships through there (if you get them into position before the war starts you can even get the AI to never leave port). What this means in practice is that you can absolutely shut down their ability to move troops around by sea, and also move your own transport ships around basically unprotected.

I say it's annoying because it's kind of dumb to have this huge navy that never actually gets into a single fight because nobody ever goes near it. It feels wasted. I also find it kind of annoying that you can't destroy ships in port from the sea - instead having to siege the territory down by land and force them out. You should be able to attack ports to sink the enemy navy for warscore - maybe with some kind of "coastal defenses" penalty to represent cannons and mortars and such in the port itself.

Navies are dumb and easily baited. If you want to take out a navy at sea, sacrifice a couple of transports in a separate stack while your main fleet sits in port next to that sea zone. As soon as the enemy navy's movement is locked in to the sea zone your transports are in, send your fleet out to reinforce.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 13:32

AAAAA! Real Muenster: Jul 12, 2008; My QB is also named Bort

Kalos posted:

Actual development is pay walled in CS but those two are probably the least important to get.

What? Common Sense is the most important to get, followed by AoW.

The Cheshire Cat posted:

One thing I noticed about navies, which can be equal parts useful and annoying, is that the enemy generally just won't engage your navy at all if it's more powerful than theirs. What this means is that just by having your ships in an area, you can totally prevent the AI from even trying to route ships through there (if you get them into position before the war starts you can even get the AI to never leave port). What this means in practice is that you can absolutely shut down their ability to move troops around by sea, and also move your own transport ships around basically unprotected.

I say it's annoying because it's kind of dumb to have this huge navy that never actually gets into a single fight because nobody ever goes near it. It feels wasted. I also find it kind of annoying that you can't destroy ships in port from the sea - instead having to siege the territory down by land and force them out. You should be able to attack ports to sink the enemy navy for warscore - maybe with some kind of "coastal defenses" penalty to represent cannons and mortars and such in the port itself.

That is dangerous advice because I have seen the AI not be afraid to sally its navy to smoosh a small extraneous fleet of mine, as if it knows I am not watching and will not move my main fleet to support the transport fleet. If you have their fleet blockaded into a port with your main fleet then yeah, go ahead and move your transports around if you dont think a different country's navy will not show up and eat it; if you do not have their main fleet blockaded I would not advise running your transports around unprotected.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 13:56

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# ? May 19, 2024 05:47

TorakFade: Oct 3, 2006; I strongly disapprove

Tried the Japan start, got my butt kicked. The emperor has no money, daimyos are assholes in constant war, if you take as much as one province during an enforce peace you get loving 10k stacks of rebels. Maybe I should just try harder.

Alternatively, what's a good start where you can beat up your neighborhood far away from Europe?

# ? Oct 28, 2015 13:57

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Europa Universalis IV: Buying all the DLC is just Common Sense

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