Beginner tips for playing Europa Universalis III

[Antissa]

Hi everyone, I bought a digital copy of Europa Universalis III and Hearts of Iron 2 Complete on STEAM two months ago, but I've never managed to grasp certain gameplay concepts and elements.

I'm planning to spend more time playing Europa Universalis III first before trying Hearts of Iron II, and have already completed some tutorial missions.

However, I'm still not sure what to do in the game. Does anyone have any good suggestions/tips/advice?

Thanks!

P.S. I'm sure that if I bought a hard copy, I'd understand the games better from the manual : P Unfortunately, I couldn't find any copies here in Canada.

[Sevasti]

In no particular order, some of the basics:

• There should be a manual in:
  C:\...\Steam\steamapps\common\europa universalis\
  
  
• Hopefully you have noticed that you have two separate kind of incomes, monthly and annual. Don't go to great lengths to try to get positive income on a monthly basis as this will most likely drive up your inflation (really bad). As long as you go plus at the end of the year you can consider it a good year. Be aware though that you won't always be that lucky.
  
  
• Be aware of your prestige. Keep up the diplomacy and never move too hasty to your goals. Repercussions in Universalis are far more severe than in Total War series. For example, if you lack a Casus Belli when declaring a war towards a nation, your stability will plunge (not good at all). There are several ways to get what you want in different situations. If you want a war but have no legitimate reason to declare it yourself then use spies to fabricate claims, or insult the nation in question or see if they're allied with a nation that you could declare war on with no severe penalties.
  
  
• Keep up the tech. As long as you don't go bankrupt make sure that you invest in techs, you don't want to fall behind in the tech race.
  
  
• While in peace, lower the upkeep for your army and navy. Lots of money to save there.
  
  
• When being invaded, find out if the enemy suffers from attrition. If this is the case then you can take your time and wait until his army has been reduced in size before attacking.
  
  
• Make alliances but be careful when deciding, it's not always that fun to be dragged into a war because your ally is a warmonger.
  
  
• Trade if you don't have a good basis for production. Produce if you have nothing to trade. Preferably both if you have good enough regions for both.
  
  
• Invest wisely in your advisors. Just because one of them serves your overall purpose does not mean he is non-expandable for someone who can help you with a present problem.
  
  
• Be prepared to lose some wars, there's no escaping it. Focus on revenge when the time is right.

Small tip: When setting the economic sliders you can right click on any slider. This will lock them at the fixed position so you don't have to pause and recheck your financial screen all the time.

Big tip: Read the manual when there's something you're wondering about. I won't pretend, I haven't read it all myself. I'll finish it one day, I promise! But seriously, read it whenever you need some clarification of something.

[ivan_the_terrible]

A tip about sliders:

When you have less than +3 stability (and are thus investing towards stability), and reach +3, your treasury (minting slider) may jump up on it's own, even if it's fixed.

So check your treasury slider every time you reach +3 stability.

[Ishoss]

Don't go to war too much. Check your reputation, you can find it the same place you see who rules the country, the country's flag, what religion it is etc. It should say something along the lines of "We have a bad reputation" and so on. Hover over it and it will give you some numbers. You don't want the first number to be higher than the other. 39/30 = BAD, 10/30 = GOOD. If you're above the number every nation has a cassus belli on you.

[Antissa]

Thanks for the tips/advice ; )

[Hounf of Culan]

Don't expand too fast. If you go into the game with the TW attitude of blitzing countries whenever possible you are going to find late-game success a lot more difficult as bigger countries have slower research rates, you'll probably have more rebellions, and you will probably have a very hard time managing finances. Build a strong foundation before you go out to conquer the world, and always try and have lots of money.

[ivan_the_terrible]

Yes, not to mention the BB.

[hellheaven1987]

Don't expand too fast. If you go into the game with the TW attitude of blitzing countries whenever possible you are going to find late-game success a lot more difficult as bigger countries have slower research rates, you'll probably have more rebellions, and you will probably have a very hard time managing finances. Build a strong foundation before you go out to conquer the world, and always try and have lots of money.

Not really, the problem is that big countries should not mint - minting only kills your research rate.

There are not many tips except playing a big country for your first few runs. Manual is not necessary (I never read manual once for my EU gaming history) but would be helpful, if not confusing sometimes.

[Kamos]

Well I've started playing my second game in EU3 (the first was cut short by a trojan), I'm playing as England and I've beaten up and made Scotland my vassal. The only problem is I'm also locked in a War with France and Burgundy who, thanks to Portugal, have a 16% warscore advantage against me and I kind of don't know how to fix the situation. They have twice the amount of troops I have, they can't cross the channel but it's still rather problematic.

Also how does this tech stuff work exactly?

[Hounf of Culan]

At some level or another I'm pretty sure all the different techs unlock a new building which have a variety of effects, like making a production province more profitable, increasing manpower from that province, decreasing revolt risk, increasing taxation efficiency, etc and all these things are very important. The tech tree is also very similar to the tech tree in ETW in some ways, unlocking new infantry, cavalry, artillery and ships which will give you a decisive edge in battle. Last but not least gov't tech unlocks new national idea slots which offer the player a way to significantly impact the overall strategy for their country. A country like Prussia should probably focus on land oriented national ideas to juice up their manpower, discipline and unit cost reduction abilities and some banking NIs. Whereas someone like Portugal or Castille should probably focus on a combination of colonization and trade NIs to manage their farflung colonial empires. You can change them if you wish but you take a huge stability hit for doing so. Personally I found it helpful to just start a game as say Portugal or Prussia in 1700 and just look at the 12 or so NIs they already have to get an understanding of what makes a continental behemoth like Prussia different from colonial Portugal. It can also be really fun to make someone like Prussia a colonizer or make Portugal have the worlds premier army.

[Kamos]

I'm surprised at how easy a war is to end in this game, I got used to HoI2 where it was basically permanent. France, Burgundy, Portugal, Castille all off my back with the loss of only one province. From there I've been able to take two provinces (Connacht/Leinster other two have been diplo vassal) in Ireland and soon I'm going to kidney punch Brittany and perhaps Savoy.

I made quite a few enemies so early in the game... I'm guessing that's really bad?

[ivan_the_terrible]

As long as you maintain naval supremacy, your home should be safe, and you'll win a few naval engagements to contribute to your war score. If they occupy your overseas terriotories, just hold out until the leader of the alliance agrees to a white peace, or pay them some money.

[Dr. Croccer]

What's the deal with minting and the treasury? And how can I increase my income?

I've just started a grand campaign with England, any suggestions and help? I'm thinking of vassalising Scotland, then attacking Armanac and take parts of France.

[hellheaven1987]

What's the deal with minting and the treasury? And how can I increase my income?

Minting would increase inflation, which in term increase all price for anything. There are yearly and monthy income, minting means you do not put all monthly income into research.

For increasing income, there are a few ways:

1. Build improvement for your provinces.

2. Get new province by whatever way.

3. Fight a war, then bully your opponent for some money.

I've just started a grand campaign with England, any suggestions and help? I'm thinking of vassalising Scotland, then attacking Armanac and take parts of France.

I don't even bother to vassal Scotland; the thing is, Scotland AI is setting to start war against England using whatever mean reasons. Fine, that gives me a legal reason to annex it by two wars and create Great Britain earlier.

After that England should either be a colonial power (slow but very powerful in late game) or bad boy (extremely messy, but you can gain alot in term). France is extremely powerful in early game so don't even try to mess it up until you are powerful enough in mid or late game, which French Empire generally is broken at that time.

[Dr. Croccer]

Okay, so vassaling Scotland isn't much use and neither is trying to invade France. Considering that my tech levels dont allow new buildings, expansion in Ireland seems a starting point.

[Kamos]

Eh I got vassal Scotland as a mission, I'll just diplo annex them in a few years just like I am the rest of Ireland.

[Dr. Croccer]

Okay, so vassaling Scotland isn't much use and neither is trying to invade France. Considering that my tech levels dont allow new buildings, expansion in Ireland seems a starting point.

Problem is, all Irish states are allied with Britanny. Whatever, I'll risk it.

[Kamos]

Brittany is very weak they won't even have enough troops to match your manpower level much less what you field. Just make sure you stop them from dropping off troops in Ireland as that will make your job a pain in the ass.

[hellheaven1987]

Eh I got vassal Scotland as a mission, I'll just diplo annex them in a few years just like I am the rest of Ireland.

Diplo-annex Scotland:

Pro:1. Less Badboy point (really not matter if you only annex one country).

Con:1. Longer time for unification - longer time to get Great Britain.
2. No guarantee Scotland would agree annex using diplomate.
3. Formation of Great Britain gives you core on Scotland and Ireland = a lot more money.
4. Since Scotland is programmed to attack you, there is no risk of losing stability.

Overall, annex Scotland in two wars is far better than diplo-annex, both in short and long term.

Also, for Great Britain I highly recommand using aggressive colonization - means you simply send all colonist to occupy as many as land possible at beginning instead focus on a few colonial provinces.

[Dr. Croccer]

Brittany is very weak they won't even have enough troops to match your manpower level much less what you field. Just make sure you stop them from dropping off troops in Ireland as that will make your job a pain in the ass.

Well I DOW'd Tyrone, and I invaded their province with a 7.000 mixed army against thei 1.000 inf, needless to say, I won and besieged their fort. I then attacked the Breton 5.000 army with my 8.000 army in the province which bordered my French ones and defeated them. After besieging those provinces for a while, everything seemed to go swimmingly.

Then the French DOW'ed me. I stopped playing when I saw that and their 10.000 or so army positioned next to my province.



Okay, new plan. I'll diplomatically harass Scotland into attacking me, and then annex them in two wars.