EU IV....Why?

[PanzersEast]

From what I'm seeing and reading, this is a complete overhaul to what EU3 is.  Reading your comments is making think about getting this sooner than later, especially since none of you are talking about any major bugs.

Nefaro, from your last screen shot, it looks like if you can keep the British Navy from gaining control, you may be able to keep most of her armies locked up in England.  That should make it easier to win the war.

It feels like an overhaul to me..... one thing is for sure, you have to watch yourself as the events can turn things around based on your decisions.  CK2 was my favorite Paradox game followed by HOI3... but this one may take the top spot.


PE

[jomni]

From what I'm seeing and reading, this is a complete overhaul to what EU3 is.  Reading your comments is making think about getting this sooner than later, especially since none of you are talking about any major bugs.

Nefaro, from your last screen shot, it looks like if you can keep the British Navy from gaining control, you may be able to keep most of her armies locked up in England.  That should make it easier to win the war.

Major bugs? Didn't they say there are crashing and memory leaks? So far I have only encountered 1 crash.

[Nefaro]

From what I'm seeing and reading, this is a complete overhaul to what EU3 is.  Reading your comments is making think about getting this sooner than later, especially since none of you are talking about any major bugs.

Nefaro, from your last screen shot, it looks like if you can keep the British Navy from gaining control, you may be able to keep most of her armies locked up in England.  That should make it easier to win the war.

My warships were outdated and the British fleet had me outnumbered and outgunned until just recently. 

In that big war, Castile and Portugal quickly joined Britain's side against my alliance.  So I ended up having to fight Britain, Hansa, and Livonians practically by myself.  Fortunately I was ready for them as I had bolstered my army up a bit before the fight.  Didn't have time to build more Line ships, though, before the window for my sneak attack would close.  Hansa and Britain had already been in a war for awhile so they were already pretty war weary.  So my fleet still had to hide in port.  I had forgotten about one of my trade patrol fleets and they wiped out all six light warships in it, but I had planned on building newer ones after the war anyway. 

Things turned out okay.  France beat the snot out of Castile and Portugal down south.  Britain tried landing an army at Holstein but I was close enough to destroy it in short order.  They tried sending another through the Frisian (Dutch) coast and the territories they had captured there, while still in that war.  That second attack got a bit hairy because I didn't see it coming (the army came out of the fog of war) AND it teamed up with the whole army of the Hanse.  If I hadn't concentrated my whole army in that area before hostilities, those two would've had their way for quite some time.  I was impressed with how, after it's first failure, the AI's second try was from a different direction and used allied armies moving in unison!  After beating that one, the Brits obviously had to do some new recruiting and these smaller armies were sent into the Baltic where they landed and started cap'ing Polish territory.  While doing so, it also parked it's Navy off the shore and sent out a few of their light warships to try and sucker me into attacking them while they blockaded some of my ports. 

It also capped part of (my) Iceland.  Hopefully next time around, my fleet can go toe-to-toe, although I've not really had a need to go on the offensive overseas that much.  I just unlocked the tech for a building that expands my naval forcelimits, if a naval arms race ever starts.

The war ended because I split my big armies up and took quite a few Hansa provinces, including the one in the war goal.  Between that, and many battles won, I got Hamburg ceded to me and Britain paid me 160 Ducats for their meddling.  ;D

I can't explain it too well, but EU4 is just wayy more interesting to play than #3 was.  It helps that the AI behavior has improved in a few places, too.  Not infallible but still a big improvement.

[Nefaro]

Major bugs? Didn't they say there are crashing and memory leaks? So far I have only encountered 1 crash.

I've not crashed once, and have had the game running for at least four hours at a time.  That doesn't help anyone with such an issue, of course.

The weird stuttering I experienced the first time I started a game eventually ended after a couple in-game years and hasn't come back.  *shrug*  I'm sure it never left for some people, but others have also said it came & went.  Odd.   The memory leak mention was just speculation on my part.. it's actually ran pretty good for long periods  so that probably wasn't the cause after all.

[jomni]

I'm about to uninstall EU3 and put EU4 in my favorites in Steam. :D
I'm pretty convinced it's THE EU version to play.

[mikeck]

From what I'm seeing and reading, this is a complete overhaul to what EU3 is.  Reading your comments is making think about getting this sooner than later, especially since none of you are talking about any major bugs.

Nefaro, from your last screen shot, it looks like if you can keep the British Navy from gaining control, you may be able to keep most of her armies locked up in England.  That should make it easier to win the war.

Major bugs? Didn't they say there are crashing and memory leaks? So far I have only encountered 1 crash.

I have only played a little but have not had any problems. I think with any game now you are going to have some people that have issue...and of course, others who want to find issues. At any rate, I am glad to see Paradox turn it around...this, CK2 and Warlock have been pretty solid and polished. I am hopeful for the HOI Cold War game coming out

[Slick Wilhelm]

It sounds like there's a lot to do and keep track of in the EU games. How did you guys start out? Is there a set pattern of how you play, or do you just go with the flow? I bought EU3 Chronicles when it was on sale for cheap, but now you guys are starting to get me interested in EU4.

I'm just a little worried that it is difficult to get into.

[Kushan]

It sounds like there's a lot to do and keep track of in the EU games. How did you guys start out? Is there a set pattern of how you play, or do you just go with the flow? I bought EU3 Chronicles when it was on sale for cheap, but now you guys are starting to get me interested in EU4.

I'm just a little worried that it is difficult to get into.

Easiest thing I found to get into them is to just un-pause and let things happen. Go with the flow. Remember you really are just playing in a giant sandbox. None of the Paradox games are about "winning" like most strategy games. The thing to keep in mind in any of the paradox titles is that you are going to experience set backs. How harsh they are going to be will vary game to game. EU4 can be pretty harsh on the random events.

[PanzersEast]

It sounds like there's a lot to do and keep track of in the EU games. How did you guys start out? Is there a set pattern of how you play, or do you just go with the flow? I bought EU3 Chronicles when it was on sale for cheap, but now you guys are starting to get me interested in EU4.

I'm just a little worried that it is difficult to get into.

Easiest thing I found to get into them is to just un-pause and let things happen. Go with the flow. Remember you really are just playing in a giant sandbox. None of the Paradox games are about "winning" like most strategy games. The thing to keep in mind in any of the paradox titles is that you are going to experience set backs. How harsh they are going to be will vary game to game. EU4 can be pretty harsh on the random events.

This is exactly how to play EUIV.... don't get too caught up into the numbers.. that can really take the fun out of it.  Just like CK2, let the story unfold and one bad decision is not an end game.... just a set back.

PE

[Nefaro]

You definitely have to accept such setbacks over the course of a game. 

But I wouldn't necessarily recommend just playing blindly, and not paying attention to the numbers.  Fortunately everything has a tooltip pop-up with exact numbers and a small description of what you're looking at.  There is also a handy 'Tips' helper window just above the minimap that allows you to click the '?' button and then click on any other button in the interface to bring up further in-game help info on how the mechanics related to said button works.  You definitely don't need to constantly worry about all the little numbers, but you will want to learn what effect they have as you play.

Most of all, I recommend playing the Tutorials if you're not familiar with these games.  They should get you off and running with the basics.  Once you know those, you can definitely just start playing and trying stuff out.  One great thing about these games is that there are many different options on who to start as so if you screw up really bad, it's not all that painful to start over fresh.  In EU4, the Idea system has been organized so that you kinda customize your nation's strengths as you go, too, so there's always room for fresh experimentation.

[jomni]

It sounds like there's a lot to do and keep track of in the EU games. How did you guys start out? Is there a set pattern of how you play, or do you just go with the flow? I bought EU3 Chronicles when it was on sale for cheap, but now you guys are starting to get me interested in EU4.

I'm just a little worried that it is difficult to get into.

Play small countries first to learn the mechanics.  Only problem is that the big boys will come bully you.  By that time, you can end your game and start another.

[PanzersEast]

I am not saying the numbers are not important... they are (probably look at them more than most), but don't let them put you off of playing.  I would suggest playing Portugal as your first country.  Just keep buttering up to Castile with a royal marriage and influence them.


PE

[bbmike]

It sounds like there's a lot to do and keep track of in the EU games. How did you guys start out? Is there a set pattern of how you play, or do you just go with the flow? I bought EU3 Chronicles when it was on sale for cheap, but now you guys are starting to get me interested in EU4.

I'm just a little worried that it is difficult to get into.

I'm still learning. Watch as many Let's Plays on Youtube as you can. Then just jump in and play. It takes a while but it will eventually 'click'. That's how I learned Victoria 2.  8)

[mikeck]

Remember that you are not going to "break" the game. Don't be afraid to press buttons and experiment to see what happens.

[Nefaro]

I had started to panic.  My fourth Idea was a long way off when knowledge of other nations' exploration discoveries started pouring in.  I had to save up nearly all my Administration MPs for hitting tech Admin Tech Level 14 and unlocking my fourth Idea slot.  The only way to get a Colonist, if you didn't start with any, is to unlock the Exploration Idea line.  So I had to make a beeline and kick off my colonization of the new world while the going was still good.

After making it, I had barely enough Colonization Range to make it to a couple provinces on the Greenland coast and a couple close to the mouth of the Hudson.  Fortunately my unification with Norway had given me Iceland along with other islands including the Orkneys (Those were the start of England's hostility towards me.. they really want those despite not having a core there).  So Iceland pushed my basic non-upgraded colonization range out there.  After my first purchase in the Exploration idea line, I had a Colonist!  Now to put them to work.

My first was up near the Hudson.  I needed to get it and pay for Core on it so I'd have a base to colonize further south.  I then tried colonizing Manhattan but the natives killed my infant colony (the butchers!).  So I went with nearby Narragansett which has a tad less hostile natives.  While that was going, I recruited a Conquistador to lead a small army to north america so as to wipe uppity natives out of my future colonies.  I'm looking at you, Manhattan!  >:(  My goal is to vie for North America and attempt to dominate the Cheasapeake and Hudson Bays' trade nodes since they both have trade paths leading back to the North Sea, which I'm utterly dominating over Britain. 

Initially going with Diplomacy, Trade, and Economics has been quite good to me, although I could probably have passed on Diplomacy since my hostile expansion in Europe has tapered off lately.  There are large amounts of ducats rolling in so building improvements are steadily progressing.  I've been slow at warring since it tends to hurt trade income and that's my bread & butter right now.  The only issue I currently have is that I'm getting behind in 'Diplomacy' Tech since I spent so much raising my Exploration ideas up a few levels, in order to get faster colonization bonuses.  Playing catch-up there has caused it to get a bit behind the curve, and Diplo Tech mostly corresponds to Naval and Trade advancements, buildings, and bonuses.  It also doesn't help that my current regent's Diplo rating is the lowest she has but my next has a 4 so hopefully I can catch back up.

Russia formed and despite being very hateful with me, they've not dared attack.  Having the BBB (France) covering your back is quite a deterrent even despite my own power.  Haven't had anything from England either.  I kept them busy for awhile by forcing them to release part of Ireland, in the peace agreement after our last war long ago.  They spent some time building back up their navy and taking that back.  Buahahah!  It also looks like that set back their exploration, too!  France has some nice trade goods on the South American coast.  I'm talking tobacco, furs, suger, and GOLD.  The bastards.  All I've found in NA is ... fish.  >:(

Enough with the yammering.. here's a big view of the current situation.  I'm really impressed about how the AI nations have progressed by this point.  It actually looks quite reasonable!  If it were EU3 at this point.. omahgawd crazy blobs.