Europa Universalis IV

The Witches Cat

Hi. Looking for a bit of help. Always wanted to get into strategy games and have purchased a fair few Paradox games, HOI 2,3,4, EU 3,4, Crusader Kings 2.
I have thrown myself into EU IV these past few days trying to learn and play it.
Also been watching YouTube tutorial videos on how to play it.

I am very very slowly beginning to pick things up about the game although I know there is still tons I have to learn.

At the moment I'm playing as Castille. I have formed alliances with other countries and improved my papal relations. My question is this. I seem to be just sitting and waiting for the little pop ups to come up at the top of the screen.
What should I be doing???
I'm sitting watching the clock tick by and no idea what to do.
I was looking for a reason to go to war today just for something to do.
Apart from the pop ups coming up and when everything is ticking over nice and peacefully, what should I be doing?????

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Sand

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi. Looking for a bit of help. Always wanted to get into strategy games and have purchased a fair few Paradox games, HOI 2,3,4, EU 3,4, Crusader Kings 2.
I have thrown myself into EU IV these past few days trying to learn and play it.
Also been watching YouTube tutorial videos on how to play it.

I am very very slowly beginning to pick things up about the game although I know there is still tons I have to learn.

At the moment I'm playing as Castille. I have formed alliances with other countries and improved my papal relations. My question is this. I seem to be just sitting and waiting for the little pop ups to come up at the top of the screen.
What should I be doing???
I'm sitting watching the clock tick by and no idea what to do.
I was looking for a reason to go to war today just for something to do.
Apart from the pop ups coming up and when everything is ticking over nice and peacefully, what should I be doing?????

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Try to stay peaceful with Aragon - there is the "Iberian Wedding" event that comes up when their king dies and a female inherits before 1500 that gives you a PU over them and Naples. I don't think it can fire if you're at war with them so dont waste AE taking their provinces that you'll get later, maybe just rival and a quick "Humiliate Rival" CB for the power projection.

Try to stay friendly/allied with France. They're a good ally, a terrible enemy. An experienced player can tackle them, but you're not, so its best you use them as a meatshield. Also marry and stay friendly with Burgundy but do not ally them. The marriage gives you a chance to inherit their lands in the Burgundian Inheritance event. But allying them could drag you into their wars with France which you do not want.

Ideas are fairly standard - you should/must take Exploration. That's the default. However colonising is slow, so I'd go Religious early if your monarch has a lot of admin points so you can have some fun too. The first idea "Deus Vult" gives you a constant CB on all non-Catholics, so you should go to town on Granada and North Africa. Even if you don't take Religious early, still go to town on North Africa. Religious just makes it simpler as you have a constant easy CB. You still want to build claims on North Africa though, to cut costs on the coring of the provinces you take.

Vassalise Navarre before someone else does it. I think you can do it from game start by making them the offer and buttering them up a bit. Annex them when the 10 years are up.

This is just me, but I'd try kill/vassalise Portugal early on as well. Send a diplomat to build claims on them. They are just a rival - they are an ally of England so will get dragged into Frances wars. If you are allied to France then you can take some of their provinces with France doing the heavy lifting. You might be able to do it solo if England and Portugal are in some other war. Then go back and take whats left in a second war. For a quiet life you don't have to do this though - Portugal is not a serious threat, you could leave them alone, let them colonise and then take their colonies later.

Always be fabricating claims on your neighbours. Watch out for AE and coalitions - most of Europe wont care about North Africa. But they will care about Portugal. You can juggle coalitions by splitting your main opponents into groups that you fight one at a time while the rest are in truces.

If ever in doubt about what to do next, fight the Ottomans. Know the Ottoman, kill the Ottoman. They are ridiculously powerful and get a series of events and powerups to make them even more so. If you don't kill them early, you'll be facing a green tide from Russia to South Africa by the mid to late game. Always watch what they are doing and try to sabotage them. Don't fight them solo, try to give them a two or three front war when they are fighting someone else.

The Witches Cat

Sand wrote: »

Try to stay peaceful with Aragon - there is the "Iberian Wedding" event that comes up when their king dies and a female inherits before 1500 that gives you a PU over them and Naples. I don't think it can fire if you're at war with them so dont waste AE taking their provinces that you'll get later, maybe just rival and a quick "Humiliate Rival" CB for the power projection.

Try to stay friendly/allied with France. They're a good ally, a terrible enemy. An experienced player can tackle them, but you're not, so its best you use them as a meatshield. Also marry and stay friendly with Burgundy but do not ally them. The marriage gives you a chance to inherit their lands in the Burgundian Inheritance event. But allying them could drag you into their wars with France which you do not want.

Ideas are fairly standard - you should/must take Exploration. That's the default. However colonising is slow, so I'd go Religious early if your monarch has a lot of admin points so you can have some fun too. The first idea "Deus Vult" gives you a constant CB on all non-Catholics, so you should go to town on Granada and North Africa. Even if you don't take Religious early, still go to town on North Africa. Religious just makes it simpler as you have a constant easy CB. You still want to build claims on North Africa though, to cut costs on the coring of the provinces you take.

Vassalise Navarre before someone else does it. I think you can do it from game start by making them the offer and buttering them up a bit. Annex them when the 10 years are up.

This is just me, but I'd try kill/vassalise Portugal early on as well. Send a diplomat to build claims on them. They are just a rival - they are an ally of England so will get dragged into Frances wars. If you are allied to France then you can take some of their provinces with France doing the heavy lifting. You might be able to do it solo if England and Portugal are in some other war. Then go back and take whats left in a second war. For a quiet life you don't have to do this though - Portugal is not a serious threat, you could leave them alone, let them colonise and then take their colonies later.

Always be fabricating claims on your neighbours. Watch out for AE and coalitions - most of Europe wont care about North Africa. But they will care about Portugal. You can juggle coalitions by splitting your main opponents into groups that you fight one at a time while the rest are in truces.

If ever in doubt about what to do next, fight the Ottomans. Know the Ottoman, kill the Ottoman. They are ridiculously powerful and get a series of events and powerups to make them even more so. If you don't kill them early, you'll be facing a green tide from Russia to South Africa by the mid to late game. Always watch what they are doing and try to sabotage them. Don't fight them solo, try to give them a two or three front war when they are fighting someone else.

Thanks for the time and effort in giving me that info. You sound like you know the game inside out. To be honest a lot of what you said went way over my head but thanks anyway. I really appreciate it. I'm hoping that as I continue to play that a lot of what you said will make sense to me.
Thanks again

Gonzovision

I was going to come here and post something, but that's great advice from Sand. Castille is definitely a good one to start with.