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

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

I wish all advisers were beneficial. The tax collector, natural scientist (production efficiency,) and trader only take money away from you. All they are right now are advisers that mitigate their salary.

# ? Feb 5, 2016 21:19

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# ? May 10, 2024 09:19

Baron Porkface: Jan 22, 2007

Node posted:

I wish all advisers were beneficial. The tax collector, natural scientist (production efficiency,) and trader only take money away from you.

Huh?

# ? Feb 5, 2016 21:33

PleasingFungus: Oct 10, 2012; idiot asshole bitch who should fuck off

Node posted:

I wish all advisers were beneficial. The tax collector, natural scientist (production efficiency,) and trader only take money away from you. All they are right now are advisers that mitigate their salary.

For most advisors, the most important thing they do is give you more monarch points. This is important!

# ? Feb 5, 2016 21:34

YoSaff: Feb 13, 2012; Everything is fine.

So I've been trying to get One Night In Paris. First game I allied Castile and declared a war on France more-or-less instantly, France and their allies exploited the fact that we were attacking from two different directions and destroyed us.

So I started a new game, this time waiting to get Castile AND Austria in, as well as expanding my own lands in Normandy and Ireland. Declared war with about 40k difference between our troops and theirs, and brought my troops down to be closer to Castile.

What ended up happening was Austria sending most of their army off to Ferrara to siege while France made one doomstack with every single troop in their entire coalition and stomped me and Castille, then went back for Austria and stomped them too.

(guys I am starting to think that France is a tiny bit strong)

# ? Feb 5, 2016 21:50

dublish: Oct 31, 2011

Ugh, my For Odin/Ideas Guy/First Come First Serve run just fell apart in 1750. Colonizing wasn't a big deal, I even got rid of Exploration for another military idea group around 1700. But Castile is allied with Poland, Poland has Russia in a PU, and Russia owns a lot of Sweden. Even when I get into a war with another colonizer, Poland will DoW and drag Castile in as well. I really needed to pay more attention to the diplomatic game.

# ? Feb 5, 2016 22:10

shallowj: Dec 18, 2006

i really wish there was a +siege ability advisor.

also - how exactly does manpower, recovery, and reinforcing work? The wiki seems to be out of date, talking about "manpower efficiency" which I don't think is a thing. The Manpower +modifier raises your total manpower, correct? And it takes a flat ten years to fill up completely, no matter what?

I get confused by "manpower recovery" vs "reinforce speed". Manpower recovery - is this how quickly you replenish your manpower pool, or how quickly a regiments refills with troops? Or is that what reinforce speed controls? Or is reinforce speed how quickly a regiment regains morale?

# ? Feb 5, 2016 22:28

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

Pellisworth posted:

I really enjoy the +10% Stability Cost, +10% Naval Morale and +1 yearly Prestige advisers, too.

But yeah tariffs are a really weak form of income and totally not worth the tradeoff of increasing Liberty Desire in your colonies.

That's a -, and I think that Artists might have a few good events associated with them. They are also a decent opener if you can get one since you'll be wanting to increase your stab from 0 to +1, so that's another 10 ADM you gain from them.

shallowj posted:

i really wish there was a +siege ability advisor.

also - how exactly does manpower, recovery, and reinforcing work? The wiki seems to be out of date, talking about "manpower efficiency" which I don't think is a thing. The Manpower +modifier raises your total manpower, correct? And it takes a flat ten years to fill up completely, no matter what?

I get confused by "manpower recovery" vs "reinforce speed". Manpower recovery - is this how quickly you replenish your manpower pool, or how quickly a regiments refills with troops? Or is that what reinforce speed controls? Or is reinforce speed how quickly a regiment regains morale?

Reinforce speed is how quickly your manpower pool empties into your depleted regiments. Manpower recovery speed is a straight up modifier on how quickly your manpower pool refills. Couple of things to bear in mind:
a) Regiments reinforce at different speeds based on your army maintenance and the province they are in (they'll reinforce the fastest in your provinces and the slowest in enemy provinces; control of the province also has an effect I believe, and I think neutral territory is as good as your own territory for reinforcing; they will not reinforce during retreats).
b) Base manpower gain is based off your maximum manpower. Without manpower recovery modifiers your pool will regain enough manpower to go from 0 to maximum in 10 years, provided it's not also being used elsewhere (such as reinforcing). This also means that modifiers that change your base manpower also change your manpower regain rate, so increasing your base manpower is pretty much always superior to increasing your manpower regain speed. +20% Manpower modifier means your maximum is 20% higher than before, and because of that you also regain 20% more manpower per month than before; +20% manpower recovery speed gives only the second of the two bonii.
c) Regiments taking attrition might not look like they're taking casualties, but that is because manpower is automatically used to reinforce them. They are still taking damage which contributes to your war exhaustion if at war, and if they're taking more casualties than your manpower replenishment rate they'll start to drain your manpower.

# ? Feb 5, 2016 22:42

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

Baron Porkface posted:

Huh?

The tax collector gives you a 10% increase to your taxes. However, the increase to your tax income is always less than his salary. You end up losing money. The same is true for the other two I mentioned.

You gain monarch points which is the obvious benefit, but you'd think an adviser designed to make you money would actually do it.

YF-23 posted:

Reinforce speed is how quickly your manpower pool empties into your depleted regiments. Manpower recovery speed is a straight up modifier on how quickly your manpower pool refills. Couple of things to bear in mind:
a) Regiments reinforce at different speeds based on your army maintenance and the province they are in (they'll reinforce the fastest in your provinces and the slowest in enemy provinces; control of the province also has an effect I believe, and I think neutral territory is as good as your own territory for reinforcing; they will not reinforce during retreats).
b) Base manpower gain is based off your maximum manpower. Without manpower recovery modifiers your pool will regain enough manpower to go from 0 to maximum in 10 years, provided it's not also being used elsewhere (such as reinforcing). This also means that modifiers that change your base manpower also change your manpower regain rate, so increasing your base manpower is pretty much always superior to increasing your manpower regain speed. +20% Manpower modifier means your maximum is 20% higher than before, and because of that you also regain 20% more manpower per month than before; +20% manpower recovery speed gives only the second of the two bonuses.
c) Regiments taking attrition might not look like they're taking casualties, but that is because manpower is automatically used to reinforce them. They are still taking damage which contributes to your war exhaustion if at war, and if they're taking more casualties than your manpower replenishment rate they'll start to drain your manpower.

I didn't appreciate the Reinforce Speed adviser at first but he's actually really good.

# ? Feb 5, 2016 22:56

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

Node posted:

The tax collector gives you a 10% increase to your taxes. However, the increase to your tax income is always less than his salary. You end up losing money. The same is true for the other two I mentioned.

You gain monarch points which is the obvious benefit, but you'd think an adviser designed to make you money would actually do it.

I didn't appreciate the Reinforce Speed adviser at first but he's actually really good.

On the other hand, literally-free monarch points would be nuts.

# ? Feb 5, 2016 22:59

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

Node posted:

The tax collector gives you a 10% increase to your taxes. However, the increase to your tax income is always less than his salary. You end up losing money. The same is true for the other two I mentioned.

You gain monarch points which is the obvious benefit, but you'd think an adviser designed to make you money would actually do it.

I didn't appreciate the Reinforce Speed adviser at first but he's actually really good.

The tax/production/etc advisors are not meant to pay for themselves. You can have a different advisor in their place, and you'll be making less money. They give a real increase in your monthly income, unless for some reason you cannot afford to run with an administrative advisor at all. But if you work from a baseline of having 3 advisors and your choice is to pick an income advisor or another kind of advisor, in one case you'll be making a ducat less or whatever than in the other.

# ? Feb 5, 2016 23:04

JeffersonClay: Jun 17, 2003; by R. Guyovich

Node posted:

The tax collector gives you a 10% increase to your taxes. However, the increase to your tax income is always less than his salary. You end up losing money. The same is true for the other two I mentioned.

You gain monarch points which is the obvious benefit, but you'd think an adviser designed to make you money would actually do it.

You'll make money if your empire is big enough and/or you hire the level 1 or 2 advisor.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 00:47

Another Person: Oct 21, 2010

Node posted:

I wish all advisers were beneficial. The tax collector, natural scientist (production efficiency,) and trader only take money away from you. All they are right now are advisers that mitigate their salary.

The trader, if you play a trade game, will absolutely be cheaper than the boost he gives in some cases. You can get insane amounts of money from trade.

Also, the benefit of those advisers isn't that they make you extra money on top of the monarch points. It is that they almost entirely pay for themselves when you are big enough. They are some of the best advisers because they are super affordable. They are basically an adviser that pays for themselves a bit.

Also the right advisers in combination can give some amazing events, like the mercantilism one.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 01:17

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

Yeah the event for having a trader and economist is awesome as long as you can afford the stability. Isn't it +10 mercantilism?

I still hire the 'useless' +money advisors because they are cheaper to run than other advisors that I don't need at the moment like the theologian or inquisitor.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 01:38

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

YoSaff posted:

So I've been trying to get One Night In Paris. First game I allied Castile and declared a war on France more-or-less instantly, France and their allies exploited the fact that we were attacking from two different directions and destroyed us.

So I started a new game, this time waiting to get Castile AND Austria in, as well as expanding my own lands in Normandy and Ireland. Declared war with about 40k difference between our troops and theirs, and brought my troops down to be closer to Castile.

What ended up happening was Austria sending most of their army off to Ferrara to siege while France made one doomstack with every single troop in their entire coalition and stomped me and Castille, then went back for Austria and stomped them too.

(guys I am starting to think that France is a tiny bit strong)

When a big power masses a huge doomstack together like that, you really do have to push all your troops into a similar doomstack. Go attach yourself to Castile's army, try and get France to attack you in the mountains. But you're right in that the AI is very unreliable at executing the doomstack strategy.

It's also insanely stupid that it works so well; armies are way too huge in the game right off the bat, and it should be impossible for one alliance to mass something approaching 100k troops in Europe before the like the 18th century.

shallowj posted:

i really wish there was a +siege ability advisor

Node posted:

I didn't appreciate the Reinforce Speed adviser at first but he's actually really good.

Super good. Seems dumb at first (why yes, I would like to deplete my manpower faster), but reinforce speed goes a long way in peer level wars.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 01:45

Arrath: Apr 14, 2011

Another Person posted:

Also the right advisers in combination can give some amazing events, like the mercantilism one.

I did not know this. Time to do some research.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 01:48

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

The best is when you get the Comet +1 stability event, with the Natural Scientist I think.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 02:27

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

I just lost a war to the Ottomans in my Ethiopia game: lost my Med connection and a whole bunch of other land. I am still intact but about 1/5 the power of the Ottomans and have no help:

What would be the best advice for me going forward to try to build up my strength? I have a colony next to an Aragonese colony in Brazil. I also have a colony in Indonesia so I can start fabricating claims out there. I just started on Economic ideas so my Inflation doesnt get out of control and I can afford more boats and soldiers.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 02:58

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

The Commonwealth looks strong, even if you can't ally them you should keep them friendly as much as you can. If they won't ally you, you might want to consider de-rivaling the Ottomans, though it's also likely they won't be too active against you. You should also look into other European allies even if they can't help in a war; they might deter the Ottomans from declaring one in the first place. You should kill Mutapa and expand into west Africa to build up a stronger powerbase. Try to always maintain a reserve of manpower just in case.

The Ottomans having Hejaz is kind of a huge pain in the rear end for you since they can move into your rear guard and you can't effectively expand into Arabia. If you fight another war and win breaking that vassalage should be a priority. Defensively you can bleed the Ottomans dry in a hellwar most likely, but your main problem is that even if you do that, they can always still out-merc you; unless you get that Mutapa gold, and maybe even then. You're in a tough spot, but you can pull through, esp. if the Commonwealth gets off its rear end.

e; But yeah, it really should be noted, going for Egypt in the first two hundred years of an Ethiopia game is a huge loving mistake unless the Ottomans got dunked on super early.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 03:09

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

Am I remembering incorrectly, or did higher level advisers in EU3 give you stronger bonuses than their lower level counterparts?

Its probably a good thing they're all the same as it is in EU4, that would just let the strong and rich get stronger and richer.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 03:12

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

Node posted:

Am I remembering incorrectly, or did higher level advisers in EU3 give you stronger bonuses than their lower level counterparts?

Its probably a good thing they're all the same as it is in EU4, that would just let the strong and rich get stronger and richer.

They do, because in EU3 they only give you their bonus and nothing else.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 03:16

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

YF-23 posted:

The Commonwealth looks strong, even if you can't ally them you should keep them friendly as much as you can. If they won't ally you, you might want to consider de-rivaling the Ottomans, though it's also likely they won't be too active against you. You should also look into other European allies even if they can't help in a war; they might deter the Ottomans from declaring one in the first place. You should kill Mutapa and expand into west Africa to build up a stronger powerbase. Try to always maintain a reserve of manpower just in case.

The Ottomans having Hejaz is kind of a huge pain in the rear end for you since they can move into your rear guard and you can't effectively expand into Arabia. If you fight another war and win breaking that vassalage should be a priority. Defensively you can bleed the Ottomans dry in a hellwar most likely, but your main problem is that even if you do that, they can always still out-merc you; unless you get that Mutapa gold, and maybe even then. You're in a tough spot, but you can pull through, esp. if the Commonwealth gets off its rear end.

e; But yeah, it really should be noted, going for Egypt in the first two hundred years of an Ethiopia game is a huge loving mistake unless the Ottomans got dunked on super early.

Duly noted. I should have been more cautious, but this is why I am learning and asking questions. My next goal is to nuke Mutapa and then work on getting to West Africa. And probably trying to start taking over Indonesia in my spare time.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 06:28

Arrath: Apr 14, 2011

Holy poo poo I, as England, surprise fell into a succession war for France against Savoy in 1498. And, uh, won because they'd been in the middle of curb stomping Burgundy but were badly depleted by it. I was full up on manpower after an extended recovery period following an ill advised and fated adventure into Brittany (well, Provence)

Now to see if I have any chance at all of holding this together for 50 years.

And every time I scroll out too far I get terrified by the gigantic Muscovy, Otto and so on blobs.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 06:40

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

You're going to get megarich with the trade node there once you absorb France. Prestige doesn't even matter anymore for holding up PUs, I think? You'll be fine. Assign provinces as vital interest and your subject may forge a claim on it if you feel like expanding by proxy.

You probably want to get Influence so integrating France isn't a nightmare.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 06:45

Arrath: Apr 14, 2011

Node posted:

You're going to get megarich with the trade node there once you absorb France. Prestige doesn't even matter anymore for holding up PUs, I think? You'll be fine. Assign provinces as vital interest and your subject may forge a claim on it if you feel like expanding by proxy.

You probably want to get Influence so integrating France isn't a nightmare.

I would but I don't have Cossacks. Instead I gave France some areas in North Africa that I took from separate-peacing out of a war Portagul called me in on against Morocco. Go my Colonial minions! :v:

I have no idea if that helps their opinion of me but maybe they'll work on expanding there more.

Oh and it's a good thing I'll be making bank by then, I'm rolling 3 loans deep right now trying to hold it together and colonize to bring further income. I'm riding the razors edge, snowball or implode?

Arrath fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Feb 6, 2016

# ? Feb 6, 2016 07:26

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

NSC

Never Stop Colonizing

# ? Feb 6, 2016 08:05

PleasingFungus: Oct 10, 2012; idiot asshole bitch who should fuck off

Node posted:

Prestige doesn't even matter anymore for holding up PUs, I think?

Negative prestige now causes massive Liberty Desire, so you want to make sure to keep your prestige positive when you have dangerous subjects.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 08:14

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

PleasingFungus posted:

Negative prestige now causes massive Liberty Desire, so you want to make sure to keep your prestige positive when you have dangerous subjects.

Ahh. I haven't played a monarchy since they introduced that mechanic. In that case, make sure you have the Papal Blessing that gives you ticking prestige at all times then. I'd definitely consider France a dangerous subject.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 08:24

Prop Wash: Jun 12, 2010

YF-23 posted:

The Commonwealth looks strong, even if you can't ally them you should keep them friendly as much as you can. If they won't ally you, you might want to consider de-rivaling the Ottomans, though it's also likely they won't be too active against you. You should also look into other European allies even if they can't help in a war; they might deter the Ottomans from declaring one in the first place. You should kill Mutapa and expand into west Africa to build up a stronger powerbase. Try to always maintain a reserve of manpower just in case.

The Ottomans having Hejaz is kind of a huge pain in the rear end for you since they can move into your rear guard and you can't effectively expand into Arabia. If you fight another war and win breaking that vassalage should be a priority. Defensively you can bleed the Ottomans dry in a hellwar most likely, but your main problem is that even if you do that, they can always still out-merc you; unless you get that Mutapa gold, and maybe even then. You're in a tough spot, but you can pull through, esp. if the Commonwealth gets off its rear end.

e; But yeah, it really should be noted, going for Egypt in the first two hundred years of an Ethiopia game is a huge loving mistake unless the Ottomans got dunked on super early.

Totes. The best Ethiopia game I played happened when I went south instead of north. Get your hands on Mutapan gold and encounter westerners early and you'll be fine. The victory conditions are Ottoman land, sure, but at worst you're looking at two wars, depending on how developed Constantinople is. Don't plan for a series of major hellwars against the Ottomans, just snipe the provinces you need and then you win. All the better if they've just been fighting a European power.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 08:53

RabidWeasel: Aug 4, 2007; Cultures thrive on their myths and legends...and snuggles!

Arrath posted:

I did not know this. Time to do some research.

http://www.eu4wiki.com/Mercantilism_events

There's a reason why I almost always keep a trader and a master of mint on the books if I can. Looks like they nerfed the +200 adm/dip event to only fire once per game per country though.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 09:11

PleasingFungus: Oct 10, 2012; idiot asshole bitch who should fuck off

Some fun borders from my current game, circa 1700.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 09:15

GSD: May 10, 2014; by Nyc_Tattoo

PleasingFungus posted:

Some fun borders from my current game, circa 1700.

I am so proud of you, Miao. So, so proud.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 10:32

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

Please don't post gore and other profane images on this forum.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 10:47

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

Arrath posted:

I would but I don't have Cossacks. Instead I gave France some areas in North Africa that I took from separate-peacing out of a war Portagul called me in on against Morocco. Go my Colonial minions! I have no idea if that helps their opinion of me but maybe they'll work on expanding there more.

Oh and it's a good thing I'll be making bank by then, I'm rolling 3 loans deep right now trying to hold it together and colonize to bring further income. I'm riding the razors edge, snowball or implode?

What are you spending that money on? If you're trying to run way more colonies than you have colonists, just cut back on that.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 10:57

Another Person: Oct 21, 2010

I remember there is an event which causes a province under occupation to just secede from their owner to whoever is occupying them at war. I had it fire once. What is that event called and what causes it?

# ? Feb 6, 2016 11:34

Allyn: Sep 4, 2007; I love Charlie from Busted!

Another Person posted:

I remember there is an event which causes a province under occupation to just secede from their owner to whoever is occupying them at war. I had it fire once. What is that event called and what causes it?

It can only happen to hordes. See here for the full list of reqs.

Also with the garrison = 1000 I imagine it can only fire in provinces with forts now which is pretty :pwn:

, though it may just be that the wiki's out of date

e: Just checked and that is up-to-date. Do provinces without forts have any kind of garrison? I forget

Allyn fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Feb 6, 2016

# ? Feb 6, 2016 11:37

Another Person: Oct 21, 2010

Allyn posted:

It can only happen to hordes. See here for the full list of reqs.

Also with the garrison = 1000 I imagine it can only fire in provinces with forts now which is pretty , though it may just be that the wiki's out of date

e: Just checked and that is up-to-date. Do provinces without forts have any kind of garrison? I forget

Oh, weird. I swear I had that fire as someone like Poland against Hungary once. Odd. Maybe the event has changed since the bazillion years ago when it happened for me last.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 11:47

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

Prop Wash posted:

Totes. The best Ethiopia game I played happened when I went south instead of north. Get your hands on Mutapan gold and encounter westerners early and you'll be fine. The victory conditions are Ottoman land, sure, but at worst you're looking at two wars, depending on how developed Constantinople is. Don't plan for a series of major hellwars against the Ottomans, just snipe the provinces you need and then you win. All the better if they've just been fighting a European power.

It can take longer than two wars, you will usually want a land connection to help with revolts, but you know what, even then you can do it in like 80 game years. Ethiopia games with strong Ottos should be 250 years of prepping up, 100 years of doing achievement cleanup.

fake edit: In my last war with the Ottomans I did snipe Constantinople but I'd made sure I had two armies in position to get exiled so they could move on to it.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 11:51

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

Another Person posted:

Oh, weird. I swear I had that fire as someone like Poland against Hungary once. Odd. Maybe the event has changed since the bazillion years ago when it happened for me last.

Did you play EU3? That was something that could happen very rarely in that game, but never in EU4 to my knowledge.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 13:04

pdxjohan: Sep 9, 2011; Paradox dev dude.

Gort posted:

Maybe he should also give settler growth or tarriffs or colonist chance or something as well.

It's a bit like spy offense guy.

Spy offense guy will be awesome in 1.16.

Wiz will tell you why on thursday.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 14:15

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# ? May 10, 2024 09:19

Star: Jul 15, 2005; Guerilla war struggle is a new entertainment.; Fallen Rib

Star posted:

Perm is a really annoying start. I've devoured both Muscovy and Novgorod and yet no one powerful wants to ally me. I am constantly afraid of Lithuania, Sweden or Uzbek.

Finally over the hump, so I have a huge army and allied with France and the Ottomans (very needed as Austria inherited Burgundy and then PU'd Lithuania), but I don't think I'll have time to complete the Perm achievement. It's just such a large amount of land that you have to conquer, especially in NA. I got all of Russia, most of Scandinavia except Denmark's islands, all of Siberia except 2 provinces held by Korea (allied with Ming, of course) - so that will probably be doable, but the Canadian regions are held by France and Scotland (who is allied to France). So we'll see how it goes. Definitely a fun but challenging achievement though.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 14:24

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

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