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

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

TITY BOI posted:

he;lp

They won't declare on me (I'm allied with ottomans and ming), but it's going to be fairly obnoxious to crack, since the ottomans won't join any offensive war due to their 4 loans which they're apparently never going to pay off.

I tried being all tricky and demanding a province from Brandenburg hoping to declare on them in the period after the truce expiring and them re-joining the coalition but apparently that doesn't work.

Normally i'd just go expand on the other side of the world but I've only got 100 years left to conquer all of Germany, i don't think it's gonna happen unless i take the coalition head on at some point. Thoughts?

Can you just build way more troops, even if they're all infantry? If you get big enough the coalition members will inexplicably leave the coalition out of fear. That's basically how WCs work

# ? Feb 8, 2016 02:05

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# ? May 11, 2024 17:56

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

Bort Bortles posted:

Is there any way to get my vassal to forge a claim on someone that is not my rival?

IIRC setting your attitude towards the target to Hostile should do the trick.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 02:11

YoSaff: Feb 13, 2012; Everything is fine.

TITY BOI posted:

They won't declare on me (I'm allied with ottomans and ming), but it's going to be fairly obnoxious to crack, since the ottomans won't join any offensive war due to their 4 loans which they're apparently never going to pay off.

Maybe I'm missing something, but unless you're completely broke couldn't you just gift them the money to pay off their loans?

# ? Feb 8, 2016 02:16

TITY BOI: Apr 4, 2008; A REAL HUMAN BEING
AND A REAL TITY BOI

YoSaff posted:

Maybe I'm missing something, but unless you're completely broke couldn't you just gift them the money to pay off their loans?

I've tried it in the past and they end up not paying off as much as you'd think. Plus it's like 6 grand which would be a lot for me.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 02:38

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

TITY BOI posted:

I've tried it in the past and they end up not paying off as much as you'd think. Plus it's like 6 grand which would be a lot for me.

I've had the same experience. Oh hey buddy France, you need some help with those loans? Here's 3k.

Then the next month they still won't join your war because they're in debt the same amount as they were before. Dickheads.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 02:53

axeil: Feb 14, 2006

TTBF posted:

Border forts on low development land across a vast empire are going to give less warscore than any single fort in Iberia.

Also the AI looks at tier 6 forts and says "gently caress no" and just sits around and waits. If they do try to siege them down the amount of manpower they lose makes them that much easier to kill over in Europe.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 04:35

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

axeil posted:

Also the AI looks at tier 6 forts and says "gently caress no" and just sits around and waits. If they do try to siege them down the amount of manpower they lose makes them that much easier to kill over in Europe.

The AI is absolutely awful at managing its manpower. It'll regularly take 5%+ attrition on 60k stacks and not give a poo poo. That is another reason why Defensive is really drat good. Hide behind your forts and wait until he's got no manpower, lots of loans from hiring mercs, and low war enthusiasm. Easy.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 04:36

axeil: Feb 14, 2006

Node posted:

The AI is absolutely awful at managing its manpower. It'll regularly take 5%+ attrition on 60k stacks and not give a poo poo. That is another reason why Defensive is really drat good. Hide behind your forts and wait until he's got no manpower, lots of loans from hiring mercs, and low war enthusiasm. Easy.

The only annoying part being with the new fort mechanic it's very hard to completely wipe out an enemy army. In the latest war I spent forever dancing around because Spain got a 3 star god general who could stack wipe an army of ~40k with an army of only 35k. The only way to beat him was to mass all my troops and have a 3:1 advantage. Previously after beating him once I would've chased him down, killed the army and that would be that but instead the war turned into a grueling 4 year affair as the Spanish forts are now really tough to crack. I picked up Offensive and the next idea is the +20% fort siege which should be a major help. The Austrians ditching me for Spain didn't help either, but thankfully the Ottomans hate Austria enough that they came and helped out. But despite all that I won and here's where I'm at now:

South America

Complete, save for those 2 colonies I still have to build.

North America

North American Minors (those random single provinces in the sea of blue): already gone

Canada: One or two more wars? Not sure if I can get enough warscore in the next one

Cherokee: No longer allied to Spain, should be able to annex in one go when the truce burns off

Florida: One more war against Spain should do it

France/French Canada: Milan just declared war on France so I'm hoping I can grab these provinces during the war.

axeil fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Feb 8, 2016

# ? Feb 8, 2016 07:12

Arrhythmia: Jul 22, 2011

axeil posted:

Canada: One or two more wars? Not sure if I can get enough warscore in the next one

The little star on the province that tells you how much warscore the province is worth also tells you how much warscore it takes to annex the entire country if you hover over it.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 07:35

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

"Military Aid from the Portuguese" fired successfully for me this Ethiopia game - the bonuses are totally insane holy shitballs. Going to wreck so much face. I'm sad it only lasts for 10 years but that should hopefully be enough time for me to wreck Super Kilwa and push into Arabia.

Arrhythmia posted:

The little star on the province that tells you how much warscore the province is worth also tells you how much warscore it takes to annex the entire country if you hover over it.

This is awesome to know, thank you for pointing this out. Learn something new every day.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 08:24

I Am Fowl: Mar 8, 2008; nononononono

Eej posted:

Always Be Sniping Alexandria/Cairo before the Ottomans get there.

Also grab your achievement provinces and quit your game.

I recently just had great success going straight for Egypt--too much actually. I got big allies in Europe and when the Ottomans attacked me, they got crippled and shortly after, the Ottos lost most of their land west of the Bosphorus, including Constantinople. So most of the game I had to build up--not to face the Ottos so much as to face the terrifying power block in Europe. Would have taken a screenshot, but it doesn't appear to be working at the moment. Here's what happened.

The Commonwealth blobbed waaaaay the gently caress out, ate Russia. By the time I got the achievement, they had a force limit of around 300--and no ideas that boosted force limit. That's scary.

Spain, meanwhile. ate France. All they had left by 1650 or so was a bit by Caux and a few islands.

Both hated me. Spain allied with the Ottomans, making chipping away at the ottos very frustrating. Basically, you ended up having a bunch of giant superpowers halfway through the game, with the Commonwealth and Spain on either side; and me, Austria, and Hungary (which ate the Balkans) in the center.

So yeah, the real problem for me with getting Constantinople was not just that I had to break ranks with my power bloc, but that the other big powers haaaaated me. I did get lucky; Austria got into a war that kept them occupied so I could attack Hungary without breaking my alliance with them. I even lucked into a union with Austria a little later, which helped me scare off the coalition that formed.

I Am Fowl fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Feb 8, 2016

# ? Feb 8, 2016 08:37

Eej: Jun 17, 2007; HEAVYARMS

Fighting Europeans as Ethiopia is really annoying because they'll sail all the way around the Cape just to drop troops "behind" yours unless you have a big fat navy hanging around. Also PLC is always eyeballing Constantinople.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 08:47

I Am Fowl: Mar 8, 2008; nononononono

Eej posted:

Fighting Europeans as Ethiopia is really annoying because they'll sail all the way around the Cape just to drop troops "behind" yours unless you have a big fat navy hanging around. Also PLC is always eyeballing Constantinople.

This is why it's good to section off your empire with forts once you've got the money. At least one at each strait, one down by Pate and so on. That way, at least they have to break down the forts before going further. After all, I've never seen AI go around a fort with transports.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 09:51

Tahirovic: Feb 25, 2009; Fun Shoe

achievements.txt posted:

# Medium
achievement_barbarossa = {
id = 103

possible = {
NOT = { num_of_custom_nations = 1 }
normal_or_historical_nations = yes
normal_province_values = yes
ironman = yes
start_date = 1444.11.11
culture_group = maghrebi
}

happened = {
num_ships_privateering = 500
}
}

decisions effect posted:

set_capital = 225 # Cordoba
if = {
limit = {
NOT = { primary_culture = andalucian }
}
change_primary_culture = andalucian
}

Is the culture_group checked upon game creation or when I have the 500 ships privateering?

# ? Feb 8, 2016 12:17

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

On game start.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 16:39

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

axeil posted:

The only annoying part being with the new fort mechanic it's very hard to completely wipe out an enemy army. In the latest war I spent forever dancing around because Spain got a 3 star god general who could stack wipe an army of ~40k with an army of only 35k. The only way to beat him was to mass all my troops and have a 3:1 advantage. Previously after beating him once I would've chased him down, killed the army and that would be that but instead the war turned into a grueling 4 year affair as the Spanish forts are now really tough to crack.

See, isn't this a much more interesting story than "I stack-wiped the enemy army and spent the next year carpet-sieging the country?"

Thank goodness for forts.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 18:17

Cockblocktopus: Apr 18, 2009; Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun.

Forts are the best thing to happen to EU4 since Art of War increased the province count and I will ~~fight~~ hide behind a complex web of scorched top-level forts from whoever disagrees.

:colbert:

# ? Feb 8, 2016 18:38

Yashichi: Oct 22, 2010

Forts are really interesting except for the part where you can walk unimpeded between adjacent forts

# ? Feb 8, 2016 18:45

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

Yashichi posted:

Forts are really interesting except for the part where you can walk unimpeded between adjacent forts

I love forts too but they have some quirks that are still being worked out, heh.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 19:07

axeil: Feb 14, 2006

PleasingFungus posted:

See, isn't this a much more interesting story than "I stack-wiped the enemy army and spent the next year carpet-sieging the country?"

Thank goodness for forts.

Well...yes, it's just annoying as hell when the enemy has a god-general and you can only roll 3 pip weaklings. And when sieges take forever.

Yashichi posted:

Forts are really interesting except for the part where you can walk unimpeded between adjacent forts

and the part where you have to run around chasing 1k stacks that are sieging down all your non-forts in the rear while the big stacks sit on forts. they really should make it so that even captured forts do the auto-capture thing. it'd be a nice quality of life change.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 19:10

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

Bort Bortles posted:

I love forts too but they have some quirks that are still being worked out, heh.

Yeah, the ZOCs are still kinda weird. Especially how shattered enemy armies can retreat right past forts you control, but only sometimes apparently?

# ? Feb 8, 2016 19:16

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

PittTheElder posted:

Yeah, the ZOCs are still kinda weird. Especially how shattered enemy armies can retreat right past forts you control, but only sometimes apparently?

That and the occasional absurd 6+ province route you have to take to go to an adjacent province. I almost wish they would have done it so forts were cheaper and you could build actual lines of them instead of the current arrangement. But I know that would have its own can of worms that it would open up.

I also wish I could improve a fort by building a capital-level fort somewhere, that would also require upkeep but not be crazy like a normal fort, and not have ZoC.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 19:27

CharlestheHammer: Jun 26, 2011; YOU SAY MY POSTS ARE THE RAVINGS OF THE DUMBEST PERSON ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH BUT YOU YOURSELF ARE READING THEM. CURIOUS!

PittTheElder posted:

Yeah, the ZOCs are still kinda weird. Especially how shattered enemy armies can retreat right past forts you control, but only sometimes apparently?

Yeah but your armies can't, I lost so many men in southern Italy because of that.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 19:28

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

I've been spending the last week figuring out the ~~map editor~~GIMP and I'm starting to get somewhere with my fantasy continent tile project.

Cut out a chunk of the part I've gotten furthest along with, it's maybe 25% of the total land mass:

And no, the real thing is not a .png

Easy mode hint: Homeland of Lady Fortune.

The southern chunk and some of the low lands is still very much work in progress (and the rest needs a quality check or two), but now I'm starting to get a hang of this.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 20:08

distortion park: Apr 25, 2011

Pimpmust posted:

I've been spending the last week figuring out the ~~map editor~~GIMP and I'm starting to get somewhere with my fantasy continent tile project.

Cut out a chunk of the part I've gotten furthest along with, it's maybe 25% of the total land mass:

And no, the real thing is not a .png

Easy mode hint: Homeland of Lady Fortune.

The southern chunk and some of the low lands is still very much work in progress (and the rest needs a quality check or two), but now I'm starting to get a hang of this.

If I had more free time I'd totally have a go at doing this, but it looks like loads of work.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 20:26

I Am Fowl: Mar 8, 2008; nononononono

Also, I got what I feel is a good idea for an achievement from my Ethiopia run--using the abolition decision, totally eradicate the slave trade. In other words, remove every slave province from the map. No harder than Norwegian Wood, I would imagine. Maybe call it "May the Wilberforce Be With You" or something silly like that.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 21:26

Enjoy: Apr 18, 2009

Mr. Fowl posted:

Also, I got what I feel is a good idea for an achievement from my Ethiopia run--using the abolition decision, totally eradicate the slave trade. In other words, remove every slave province from the map. No harder than Norwegian Wood, I would imagine. Maybe call it "May the Wilberforce Be With You" or something silly like that.

That's pretty cool, I didn't know you could do that. Does it replace the trade good with a random one

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:02

Enjoy: Apr 18, 2009

e: a post so nice I made it twice

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:02

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

Enjoy posted:

That's pretty cool, I didn't know you could do that. Does it replace the trade good with a random one

It does. Especially nice in Africa where it can give you Ivory or Gold as the new good.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:15

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

Enjoy posted:

That's pretty cool, I didn't know you could do that. Does it replace the trade good with a random one

Yep, last I encountered it, it gives you something at random related to where the province is. It is likely Grain, Wool, or Fish I think?

edit: Pitt knows better than I.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:19

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

I wonder if you could make decent continents by zooming way in on real islands and then tweaking them a little. Geography is fractal, right?

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:23

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

Coastlines are, but elevation isn't really. The mountains are the tricky part I find.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:32

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

pointsofdata posted:

If I had more free time I'd totally have a go at doing this, but it looks like loads of work.

It's not even the fifty shades of grey phase that's the worst part (if you like pixelarting it's easier...), I dread fixing up provinces and mucking about with files for a continent worth of them.

Oh, and actually testing it out and finding all the little errors in the heightmap that you have to fix but google "heightmap" and you get some stuff you can borrow or repurpose, likewise parts of the tiles already in the game random folder (cut up, rotate, bash-together, apply own touches and adjustments etc). I get the hunch that very few issues will even be noticeable once the political map mode/terrain textures are applied over it all.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:43

Ofaloaf: Feb 15, 2013

PleasingFungus posted:

I wonder if you could make decent continents by zooming way in on real islands and then tweaking them a little. Geography is fractal, right?

tileofa1 in-game is literally just Belle Isle with a couple minor squiggles added in.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:50

distortion park: Apr 25, 2011

PleasingFungus posted:

I wonder if you could make decent continents by zooming way in on real islands and then tweaking them a little. Geography is fractal, right?

I'm not sure it would look quite right, plate tectonics and some erosion features (glaciers, rivers maybe?) seem like they should have characteristic sizes

Pimpmust posted:

It's not even the fifty shades of grey phase that's the worst part (if you like pixelarting it's easier...), I dread fixing up provinces and mucking about with files for a continent worth of them.

Oh, and actually testing it out and finding all the little errors in the heightmap that you have to fix but google "heightmap" and you get some stuff you can borrow or repurpose, likewise parts of the tiles already in the game random folder (cut up, rotate, bash-together, apply own touches and adjustments etc). I get the hunch that very few issues will even be noticeable once the political map mode/terrain textures are applied over it all.

For me it was the point where i realised i would need to make like 500 individually rgb coloured provinces and link them up in a text file which did it.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 23:05

Ofaloaf: Feb 15, 2013

pointsofdata posted:

For me it was the point where i realised i would need to make like 500 individually rgb coloured provinces and link them up in a text file which did it.

You don't need to link the land provinces, though. You only need to define water provinces. The RGB values for individual land provinces are only used if you're defining unique geographic features or modifiers, like

code:

strait = {
	from = { 8 40 0 }		# land province
	to = { 24 158 165 }		# land province
	through = { 115 207 255 }	# sea province
}

and

code:

river_estuary_modifier = { 247 69 165 }

And even then, it's just picking out what the RGB value of the land provs in question. There's no need to enter in each and every land province's RGB value at the beginning of the file.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 23:10

distortion park: Apr 25, 2011

Ofaloaf posted:

You don't need to link the land provinces, though. You only need to define water provinces. The RGB values for individual land provinces are only used if you're defining unique geographic features or modifiers, like
code:
strait = {
	from = { 8 40 0 }		# land province
	to = { 24 158 165 }		# land province
	through = { 115 207 255 }	# sea province
}
and
code:
river_estuary_modifier = { 247 69 165 }
And even then, it's just picking out what the RGB value of the land provs in question. There's no need to enter in each and every land province's RGB value at the beginning of the file.

Surely you need to name the provinces etc

# ? Feb 8, 2016 23:15

Ofaloaf: Feb 15, 2013

pointsofdata posted:

Surely you need to name the provinces etc

No, not at all! That's what the files Europa Universalis IV\map\random\RandomLakeNames.txt, RandfomLandNames.txt and RandomSeaNames.txt are for. The game will randomly assign province names for you. If you want, yeah, you can specify names for provs (either land or sea), with a line like

code:

province_names = {
	"hypotheticaland" = { 1 2 3 } # rgb value of specific province you want named
}

but that's entirely optional, and I never bothered with it.

# ? Feb 8, 2016 23:18

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

PittTheElder posted:

Coastlines are, but elevation isn't really. The mountains are the tricky part I find.

pointsofdata posted:

I'm not sure it would look quite right, plate tectonics and some erosion features (glaciers, rivers maybe?) seem like they should have characteristic sizes

Ah, plausible!

Ofaloaf posted:

tileofa1 in-game is literally just Belle Isle with a couple minor squiggles added in.

lmao

# ? Feb 9, 2016 00:04

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# ? May 11, 2024 17:56

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

Bort Bortles posted:

I love forts too but they have some quirks that are still being worked out, heh.

I swear I have witnessed the AI flat out ignoring the zone of control mechanic and it pisses me off.

# ? Feb 9, 2016 00:31

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