63 replies to this topic

[BigDaveCUFC]

I had the game a long while and never really played it, but am going to try but it's a very very steep learning curve game so wondered if anyone had played and has any tips.

have played hearts of iron for a long time, but that is more battles than build type of game even if format of both is the same.

wondering who to be also, may build an Austrian Empire or Hungarian Empire.

so if anyone played how is best to start it as newbie?

[The Minsterman]

I have played EUIII and Paradox for years, they are excellent games.

Best bet is to play one of the suggested nations at game start to get a hang of the game, thing is there are about 5 expansions now so what tips you can give for vanilla won't work on others etc.

France is a nice easy learning game.

[BigDaveCUFC]

i went Austria been playing a while.......its going ok, i took a couple of them small nations clumped about Belgium, Netherlands, Germany....mind its a minefield you have to check each to make sure you know who is allied to who, and who has a defence clause with who so you then know who else you end up fighting because you try taking a county.......so so many alliances.

started 2 colonies in South Africa, took me ages as most places revolt on Colonies and you lose them before finally got established in 2 places.

my big worry is 2 places, France want 3 of my territories in what would be Belgium now so have to keep trying to fend them off, royal marriages and gifts keeping them sweet for now.

and the Ottomans who hate me, and were not a worry, but taken lands south of me and now we border each other so that will soon be war.

mind my frustrating part is i just changed to some sort've Feudal Monarchist and while in that spell they won't allow me to declare war on anyone.

although i've already got myself rated no.1 nation so i don't need to worry about others anymore, but the Ottoman up-coming war may knacker this.

I like these types of games, just they can be slow with little happening, but tis good to burn quickly a boring evening.

[BigDaveCUFC]

Well after my wee practice game i started a proper one today at 1pm, just for a wee while i was thinking...........next thing i knew it was 8pm!!!! 7 bloody hours i'd spent on it................7 hours!! these games are a nightmare for eating up time.

and twas an utter disaster, went Castile, which is Spain before Spain of course, started off ok, got allied with France and Austria the 3 biggest powers together, took over the other areas about Spain so had the full country just about, had money coming in, built up an army of 40,000.

Then France decided to have war with a country called Ferro i think it was, in North Italy, which i liked as i could join, not cause trouble as France started it and nick all the 2 provinces before France as they were small which i did.

Then i found out long-term it was worst decision ever as they were linked to all that Pope Empire crap......and when i refused to give it back to them I found myself fighting 3 big wars Vs every single country in Europe bar England and Denmark just about.

Lost about 90,000 men in the end in the overall wars, plus another 10,000 back home down to riots, lost them 2 provinces before finally arranging peace with most countries but paying most for it so lost all my cash and due to losing 100,000 odd people in the 10 years of wars i had no one left.

So now have little money, cannot build anymore armies as no civvies free to do so, The country is hated by most of europe and Have France right on the doorstep waiting for the moment.

so that went well I as such met my 'Waterloo' In Modena!

Edited by BigDaveCUFC, 30 June 2012 - 08:58 PM.

[The Minsterman]

Try and get all the expansions Dave, they are well worth it.

Castille are a great option, I enjoy Portugal too. Trying to form Germany as a German OPM (One Province Minor) iss also incredibly fun, as it doing it to try and form Italy too.

Your biggest choice to make is where to colonise, I tend to model it on the historical expansion of countries if playing as England etc, otherwise I attack the spice markets in Asia and trying to secure a few Caribbean islands and let the others take the hit for having huge swathes in the Americas proper.

[The Minsterman]

Another term to learn is BBB, or the Big Blue Blob.

France had to be nerfed big time in the expansions because they blobbed so easily!

[BigDaveCUFC]

i got the extentions today on Steam they were cheap enough and the wee model kits of the armies.

i was doing ok, i just learnt the hard way to remember not to p*ss off the Holy Roman Empire becuse if you p*ss off the pope back then your pretty much f*cked however powerful you are because Portugal, France, Spain and Austria 4 of the most powerful back then are all lodged into it and you will either end up having 3 or even all 4 suddenly declare war on you through it.

i had started with colonies, but i started in 1399 so it literally only started to come in as i collapsed..typical luck.

have you tried that Hearts of Iron Armageddon, that is my fave, the one with made up countries all equal balance, resources and set-up who just have a world out and out war?

[Black & Gold]

I was addicted to EU III for a few months but haven't played it in a while now. It was great fun playing with Portugal and going for Africa and America. Damn, you should have started the thread when my wife and daughter went on holiday, I would have had enjoyed some lonely nights playing until 5 am like in the old days!

[BigDaveCUFC]

haha the time passing is frightening, i was only go to play on it a couple of hours and that turned into 7 hours....problem is something happens and you then have to see it through then will knock it off, but during that something else happens so you then need to see that through etc, etc and on and on and on.

[The Minsterman]

Armaggedon is good, infact most of the Paradox strategies are good games. Crusader Kings II is great, so is HOI III and Vicky II.

Personally, I let the Holy Roman Emperor get on with it and stay out of Germany myself, tend to only strike when a weak Emperor is elected or he is embroiled in a war he can feasibly lose of be bogged down in for a while whilst I ravage his provinces and increase his war exhaustion.

Once I get my PC hooked up and unpacked I will get a game going and report back here, I am delighted to know theres others who play this game, alongside Total War it is my favourite game to play.

[lovenonleague]

Im just learning HOI3 on steam. I have another one there that was free, that ive yet to play - Memoir 44. Not sure if you have heard of that.
From my understanding EU3 is more complex than HOI3, which is why i have started there.

Edited by lovenonleague, 02 July 2012 - 08:45 AM.

[BigDaveCUFC]

Hearts of Iron is just simply a mass war game.....nothing more, nothing less, you pick your country, you advance your technology, you build your armies you fight your wars which you win or lose..............simple as.

Either you go with the historical one and fight WW2, or you go with the one called Armageddon i think it is where they create a fake world with 12 superpowers all with mass resources, same size and in alliances and battle to the death.

Europa is alot more different because it's about building a country, you can play the 4-500 years and never fight once, you can set a goal of trying to create an empire or just conquer a small amount of land, or just go with the colonise aspect of the game.

it is more complicated as it's about production, trade, forging alliances, making sure you don't p*ss off half of europe and have them all declare war on you like what happened to Napoleon, it's an extremely slow build game.

Nice to have the difference though but whichever game you play expect hours to fly by

[BigDaveCUFC]

Well its been going ok, but the one thing i cannot grasp right is trade.

i send merchants they seem to just vanish and i make no money from them.

happens each time.

[Conker]

I don't usually play these game, but i got quite in to total war.

I'v downloaded the demo for this Europa thing, i have no idea what to do.... is it done in turns ie total war?

[Black & Gold]

Well its been going ok, but the one thing i cannot grasp right is trade.

i send merchants they seem to just vanish and i make no money from them.

happens each time.

In each trade centre's screen you can set the priority for sending merchants there automatically when they're available. Antwerp and Venice are good choices for high priority. The vanishing thing is because merchants from other nations can outcompete yours and take their place. If you are sending merchants automatically they will eventually get their places back, so you just set and forget really.

I started a save with Portugal a couple of days ago thanks to this thread! I have colonised pretty much every island in the Caribbean, and starting to take the NA coast now. Got a bit late to the SA party though and only got a couple of colonies there. A couple of colonies in Africa as well (including the Cape which is always good) and a couple in Asia, including one in Australia. In Europe got Corsica and Malta! Pretty random but Aragon (who were my allies) went to war with Siciliy and I joined in just so I could take the islands. In Iberia I managed to get Galicia and Gibraltar, and Granada are my vassals. Aragon are still strong which is helping with keeping Castille in check. It's around 1520, having a lot of fun really!

[BigDaveCUFC]

I don't usually play these game, but i got quite in to total war.

I'v downloaded the demo for this Europa thing, i have no idea what to do.... is it done in turns ie total war?

If total war is your thing you may find this either great or horrendous, it's not the same type of game, but can be very good if you like massive strategy games.

you may have been better to try Hearts of Iron first though as that is abit more easier to learn the format as it's just a massed war game. Total war is a half and half game, half fighting, half strategy, EU3 is an all Stratagy game, there is wars, but they just get fought automatically, you don't see it.

the game moves day by day, it isn't done by turns, you play from 1399 up to 1820 i think it is, covers 100 years war 30 years war, American War of Independance, French Revolution, and Napoleonic Wars............all depending on where you wish it to start.

but if your one for quick action you'll maybe hate it, this is very much a build a nation t your own goals game, slow, very detailed, very in depth, but if you like grand strategy you'll find it can give you hours of play.

and cheers for that B&G, i just noticed yesterday it isn't trade province by province, numerous provinces are linked to 1 big trade centre where you need to focus, think i'm wasting time splitting it all about.

[BigDaveCUFC]

haha i have pushed too far on my game again.

started france in 1399, done well, smashed Bovaria and England who were 2 of the bigger armies, locked in with spain so ok there, Aragon is gone, only austria near me power wise.

so been slowly hitting the smaller countries but me thinks it has backfired.

in space of couple of days i've just had about 13 wars started vs me and now am at war with 'ahem' the following: The Palantinate, Wurzburg, Tuscany, Denmark, Anhault, Sweden, Norway, Meissen, Poland, Brunswick, Brittany, Aarchen, Baden, Ansbach, Thuringia, Ausberg, Frankfurt, Cleves, Bavaria, Colongn, Luneberg, Lorraine, Ulm, Genoa, Mainz, Madesberg, Munster, The Hansa, Pommerania, Navarra, Fez, tripoli, and lastly Tunisia.

so i make it thats me vs 33 seperate countries..................hmmmm.

[The Minsterman]

FORZA

[BigDaveCUFC]

you must have gone down the non-fighting route to have only 32,000manpower yet own that.

haha i had another 10 countries declare war on me yesterday, including Austria, Lithuania, Naples, Milan, etc, etc

mind somehow.................somehow i have come out of it, lost a wee bit of my african empire, but gained bits of europe, took me about 3 hours straight gaming madness, just damn lucky i had 180k manpower when it began plus a mass of trade income so i could chuck about 200,000 odd troops at them all.

then played smart of trying to ignore most countries apart from the ones leading to attacks as once i finished them off could annex or negotiate a peace and remove others.

also very lucky castille isn't linked to anyone and didn't join in as they the 2nd most powerful.

turned it about, but now the entire country is in National revolt so i gone from 40 odd armies against me, but small armies to 20 full scale riots all of about 15-20,000 troops.......much tougher battle and little manpower left.

[Conker]

I don't usually play these game, but i got quite in to total war.

I'v downloaded the demo for this Europa thing, i have no idea what to do.... is it done in turns ie total war?

If total war is your thing you may find this either great or horrendous, it's not the same type of game, but can be very good if you like massive strategy games.

you may have been better to try Hearts of Iron first though as that is abit more easier to learn the format as it's just a massed war game. Total war is a half and half game, half fighting, half strategy, EU3 is an all Stratagy game, there is wars, but they just get fought automatically, you don't see it.

the game moves day by day, it isn't done by turns, you play from 1399 up to 1820 i think it is, covers 100 years war 30 years war, American War of Independance, French Revolution, and Napoleonic Wars............all depending on where you wish it to start.

but if your one for quick action you'll maybe hate it, this is very much a build a nation t your own goals game, slow, very detailed, very in depth, but if you like grand strategy you'll find it can give you hours of play.

and cheers for that B&G, i just noticed yesterday it isn't trade province by province, numerous provinces are linked to 1 big trade centre where you need to focus, think i'm wasting time splitting it all about.

I think i'll like but, but have no idea what to do!

[BigDaveCUFC]

If your wanting to try it Conker without really paying for it you can have my CD copy and manual if you wish.

i don't need either now because i bought the full package on Steam to get the updated versions so i can sent you both if wish>?

i was same, not easy to play, but afew tutorials on youtube, jut they take a while to watch.

[The Minsterman]

My manpower is just replenishing, I went on a big rush for India whilst everyone else humped the Americas, I don't own anything outside of Italy in Europe.

[BigDaveCUFC]

fair enough.

haha i've had to go back to a previous save the other was impossible, i had the entire holy empire declaring war on me and 50% of France had revolted up on me, it was just going to lead to 100-200 years of constaant war.

so i gone back a wee bit to when i destroyed Bovaria and England so neither was powerful leaving only me, Austria and Castille as mega-powers and trying a different tact.

i have decided instead of owning north Africa to make Morrocca a Vassell it'll only get me half the cash, but it means no revolts there, i can bring back the army to europe, i have then spent 10 years sending diplomats around every holy empire state i can to give away cash like fun, i have the biggest economy so i can and still have alot of cash, got alot of them now into the positives, one good thing is a gift of 13 gold seems to get +30 on the relationship so easy to turn it about, i've removed the provinces i captured from the Holy Empire to stop them wanting them back..........should ease up europe and allow my manpower to build. got Bavaria from -200 to +6- and counting as they are in charge of Holy Empire and want them not to attack en masse.

now of course at level i can get explorers and have used that to target south africa, i can expand there instead of europe say take 200 years and keep things friendly in europe, only capture the colonisation areas.

then when we get to about 1700 I'll just go hell for leather and attack the whole of europe at once............hoping by then i can have an army of 600-800,000 abit like Napoleon did.

alot to do mind to get to that......but got to be easier than endless war.

Edited by BigDaveCUFC, 10 July 2012 - 10:35 PM.

[The Minsterman]

We want screenshots to make this thread pretty

[Liverlad]

Never played this before. I suppose it's like Empire: Total War but without the battles?

I loved Total War, i actually controled a large part of Europe with the Maratha Confederacy! Might have to give this game a look.

[The Minsterman]

Well, as diplomacy works more or less in this game it is nothing like Empire

I love Total War, played it since Shoggy, and played this since EU II, if you like history strategies get it, you'll like it.

[BigDaveCUFC]

how'd you do the photo's minster i cannot use print-screen does not seem to work.

Well after my France died a death whichever scenario i went down to battling the entire world and 20 odd local riots b*ggered me up, I tried Muscanov instead.

seems easier to me, tough start because you fight the mongal hurds, but if you risk abit of financial collapse early and deal with them or find allies it seems alot easier.

not just slowly moving easy and because its just mongal groups or empty lands i need fight few wars to gain ground, don't get a bad reputation either, is afew local riots at times as they are different religion but its much easier.

Need to fight Lithuania if i want to create Russia as they hold the last 2 provinces i need, so will get tough, but i will build a while first.

mind scotland have destroyed England on my version.

Edited by BigDaveCUFC, 20 July 2012 - 01:20 PM.

[The Minsterman]

f11 does screenshots, f10 iirc makes a map of the world to show everyone's land, all ends up in a screenshots folder.

[Fionn mac Cumhaill]

Just purchased this the other day and had a quick look through the tutorials.

Starting off as Castille, as they looked the easiest from the outset, any tips or points that might help!?

[BigDaveCUFC]

Well i still new to it myself, so cannot give a mass of tips, but these would be ones i have found from my few games so far:

* Walk, don't run.................this is NOT total war, you cannot just go and conquer everything, infact it's petty much impossible to get world domination on this game. You need to look at more realistic goals and plan for them, not rush in all guns blazing, you do that and your finished before you begin.

* Expect periods of nothing.............the game is very, very strange, strange in the respect that the actual most exciting part of this game is your eventual collapse and destruction, the rise part can be very bland....still very intriguing and you've alot to do, but it can be periods of peace, building things up, trying to fend off numerous wars and just doing little in terms of conquest or wars.............If you get the massed euro wars with massive battles across the map and numerous wars everywhere it'll probably be because your in serious trouble if your doing the game well i find you've few wars bar in spells.

* Be careful who you fight with...........it's amazing how many people you can end up fighting just by declaring war on 1 country. They may only have 2 allies and it looks ok, but then one of their allies has 15 allies and suddenly your fighting 18 different countries and in deep sh*t.................that is what led to my downfall with France having done well for 100 years i ended up fighting 42 countries at once down to linked up alliances and even with 150,000 troops i was b*ggered.

* Watch out over local riots.............they can be the big downfall, caused usually either by taking over provinces who have a different religion or National up-risings because your always at war or wars last too long, or you gain too much infamy. You get infamy if you declare war on someone or if you Annex or make Vassel a country....be wary this is not pushed up too high or you will have europe after your blood and also masses of riots at home, afew countries when you declare war you can give reason to attack, it helps if you can.


For Castille, hmmm i'd say your big thing is firstly to not think about Spain...don't just go all out to make every spanish province yours as you may find it leads to your downfall, play it smart, Firstly go for the south first don't tempt going for Aragon right away as they are as powerful as you at start try and get in alliance with France, then try maybe for North Africa, it'll mean afew years of riots as you try and change the religion, but europe won't touch you.

oh and lastly be careful of the 'call to arms' requests from allies, make sure you check who you'd face first, don't be afriad to tell them to b*gger off because later down line when it comes to you asking for your allies help alot of them tell you to b*gger off..................it is very much a back-stabbing game, save it afew times because 1 tiny decision, 1 little choice can have enormous effects at times.

[Fionn mac Cumhaill]

Cheers for the tips Dave!

I sank probably around 8 hours into my first game as Castille that lasted 7 years in game time. The time just melted away, genuinely scary how engrossing this is.

I did as suggested and went after Granada, Almeria and Gibraltar which pretty much bled me dry as I had two cities under siege at once. The Morrocans weren't to happy and sent a few warships after my armada (cunningly hidden in the Med somewhere). The constant upraisings of anything from 2,000 to 8,000 men was distracting and led to solid war for several years. By now I was receiving loans of 150 gold yearly as I'd just gone through all out war on the Southern Spanish provinces. I managed to eventual gain control of the whole area and got Granada to agree to give me Almeria and Gibraltar.

How do I get Granada, there wasn't an option there to take it as well as the other two provinces? I sent in a Missionary to Almeria and Gibraltar so that hopefully they'll become Catholic after 50 years in game time.

So, after that short war, I decided that I wanted a bit of Aragon seen as they were attacking Novara to my North. Managed to get Alicante after a huge siege.... And then went on to Valencia where Portugal with 12,000 men and Aragon with 10,000 attacked simultaneously from the West and East respectively, then it was time to call it a day.... Probably need to start again as they were mullering me directly through the middle of Spain (Toledo and Badajoz), spliting the country in two.

Highly enjoyable but I think you are right, I can't just go all out right away. Really need to build and take my time....

I'm guessing that I need to level up to be able to explore and go towards Africa and The Americas? What kind of things do you put in the budgets? I was putting the money into stability in the hope I could stop the upraisings in Almeria, Gibraltar and Vicenyza (Northern Spain). Thinking I will start again and take it alot slower and build up eventually once I have the tech tree up and running. Was lots of fun taking Alicante and Almeria though!

[Fionn mac Cumhaill]

Also, I am not sure how the whole Vassal thing works, can someone explain it in simple terms please?

[BigDaveCUFC]

I was the same with the vassel thng.

From what i gather a vassel is a country you own, but left to run independantly, your benefit is you get 50% of their income tax wise.

Reasons for you pickng vassels instead of taking privinces is you get no riots to control and good for them countries who are different relegion, they become allies so you have them to help.

plus you get less infamy making vassells than annexing so you are not as hated by the rest

[The Minsterman]

Vassals are a way of inserting yourself into an area without having to directly control it and iirc it means you do not suffer the penalties to your tech levels as the more you own the more you have to pay to increase each level, this helps keep you ahead of opponents whilst retaining a loyal army of vassals to fight wars when enemies get big and it helps you not get swamped by rebellions,mellowing you to expand your territory elsewhere like colonising which is generally more fruitful.

[BigDaveCUFC]

yes i found that out with my muskanov, i'm about 4 levels behind the rest due to owning most of russia and having to develop masses of provinces, mind its rising quicker now.

i just finally changed to russia before my save, good old Lithuania collapsed in a mass of wars vs Poland, Sweden, Austria, Bohemia, etc, etc and i was able to sneak in and nick the 2 provinces i needed.


had to wait 50 years for them to be core provinces, but finally got there in end.

can raise up to 300,000 manpower now also.

[Fionn mac Cumhaill]

How long do you have to wait until you can explore new lands?!

[NatchZider2005]

Going to get this as it looks right up my street, sometimes the battles actually annoyed me on total war etc. Is it on Steam? I am downloading the demo at the moment.

[BigDaveCUFC]

To explore depends on afew things.

its all on your technologies, firstly you need the government one higher so it allows you to pick 'ideas' one of these allows you to purchase explorers and the like to explore fogged out areas.

then you need to have trade and navy higher so your range goes further and further, you'll find you can colonise africa before america and the like due to distance.


I'd put on my screenshots, but tinypic won't take them......I've built russia up fine now, built up 5 armies of 40,000 troops and decided to declare war on the empire of Persia as it led to a one-on-one war.......200,000 troops with 300,000 manpower reserve vs their 120,000 troops adding in i have now got guns and they use swords meant i took over the entire empire very quickly.

of course it is too big to annex or have as a vassell, but i was able to grab half of their empire as my own in return for peace.........it now opens the way for India and China..........which are my longer term targets when i can deal with the 20 odd years of upcoming riots and build an army of 600,000 men.


Game is on steam Natch, but it only cost a couple of quid afew days ago in their mass sales.mind its only 9.99 for the complete edition which is worth it for the napoleon expansion as that is just all out war for them liking abit of massed action.

although play demo first as game is very much like or hate............no real middle ground.

[The Minsterman]

Strictly speaking, you need to get Trade Tech level 7 and then select the correct idea to explore the new world, lets you hire explorers and off you go, though be warned you may not have the correct colonial range to colonise immediately but it doesn't mean you can't start annexing the native tribes, the Maya, Aztecs, Zapotecs etc will be very profitable.

One trick is to declare war on Granada immediately and take Gibraltar before Castile does, once you get a core it means you are in a good position to colonise some islands, then just try to get advisors who boost your colonial range.

That is if you want to rush you colonial exploits, I often do. MEans you can colonise around 1460-1470

[BigDaveCUFC]

Well finally i got Russia back under control after about 50 years of riots.................thankfully i have a massive manpower and got 17,000 per month or i'd died.

places like Moscow, well Moskov were spawining 44,000 army riots!!!!

Still i have now 370,000 manpower, an army of 260,000, took over most of central Asia as Vassels, plus Georgia, and afew others..........riots now quietened down, country getting back under control.

India my next target...........i have guns, they do not so should be a simple task, my main worry being the mass riots starting again if in prolonged war.