First Time Playing, NO Idea What To Do Or Whats Going On

[Sir Winston Churchill]

So I started my first game in EU3, and because I'm superstitious like that I ended up playing Munster in 1399 because it was the first faction I accidentally clicked on.

Well I'm still lost as ever on wtf to do. I formed an alliance right off with Cleves and Liege, and Cleves ended up being elected the HRE. Then I guess they went to war with Burgundy, and yet I was never called it or anything even though apparently Liege was in on it too so I sat back and watched as Cleves got their asses kicked. Meanwhile I personally want Westfalen from Cologne as well as... whatever that 1 region port country that's to the top left of Munster is. But right now I only have three units of Latin Infantry and one unit of Latin Cavalry.

I've kept my economy pretty nice, and have a merchant in Antwerpen and two in Lubeck. I have that at least down I think. On the other hand I want to join the Hellenistic League (I probably butchered that word) and my "Mercantilism vs. Free Trade" is -3. It says the only requirement is that it be at least -1. Am I missing something?

Oh and Cleves appears occupied, not annexed, but occupied by Baden, the ally of Burgundy who waltzed in while they were away and gave them a beating. So honestly... I have no idea where I'm at right now, what I should do, or... yeah.

Any advice from you experienced EU guys out there?

[General Brittanicus]

Firstly if Hellenistic is supposed to be Hanseatic then yes you butchered it .

Its been a while since i've played eu3, but if i remember correctly declaring war on any of your fellow h.r.e members will result in the emperor jumping on you. If i play as one of those small german states i try and get elected as the emperor as soon as i can or try and find some nearby weak nation who isn't allied with a major nation in order to try and increase my manpower so i can field more armies.

Also if cleves is just occupied it probably means the war isn't over yet, so no terms have been agreed to.

[empr guy]

My first tip would be to stop playing as a german minor and do something easy like england france or spain. I've played for a while and I still am pretty bad with small nations, although thats probably because I'm fairly bad at using diplomacy. In HttT I found russian nations could be good but they really ed up hordes in DW so I wouldn't suggest that either.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

But it always made sense to be to start out with a small nation so it's easier to micromanage rather than start off with someone like England with no idea what you're doing, only to see your massive empire unravel because you didn't do x and x during y and now because of that you've f'd up.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

But it always made sense to be to start out with a small nation so it's easier to micromanage rather than start off with someone like England with no idea what you're doing, only to see your massive empire unravel because you didn't do x and x during y and now because of that you've f'd up.

Micromanaging isn't bad in this, imo, only If my empire stretch from Europe to Americas/Asia even then it isn't too bad, except with me I need to add garrison on each continent encase those goddamn annoying rebel upraise&Add one ship to "X" number province to avoid pirate.

You could start off as a small nation....However it's difficult depend on which, but sometime you really need a army to hold against the big boy and Diplomacy will not always work .

Try playing England: They are on a island, so most A.I can't touch you. Nice number of province for cash and army.

Hell, you could isolate yourself, I did before....quite boring, although good for peoples who are just beginning/ or doesn't want action.

[Musthavename]

my "Mercantilism vs. Free Trade" is -3. It says the only requirement is that it be at least -1. Am I missing something?

The sliders work by having numbers on the left side being negative, the right side being positive. Having -3 means you're 3 Mercantalism. What it means to be at least -1 is to have either 1 Mercantalism, be neutral, or be Free Trade. That's why you're ineligible.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

The sliders work by having numbers on the left side being negative, the right side being positive. Having -3 means you're 3 Mercantalism. What it means to be at least -1 is to have either 1 Mercantalism, be neutral, or be Free Trade. That's why you're ineligible.

Ah ha, I see. Sometimes it's very confusing. =/

[Blaze86420]

Try an easier country like Portugal, England, or Castile.

[empr guy]

But it always made sense to be to start out with a small nation so it's easier to micromanage rather than start off with someone like England with no idea what you're doing, only to see your massive empire unravel because you didn't do x and x during y and now because of that you've f'd up.

If you start at 1399 then I don't know what your 'microing', you can't build buildings, so there isn't anything that you can do on a province bases that I know of. Also france and england start off smallish but in a good position, spain is a bit bigger but also in a nice position. Portugal is virtually untouchable if you get a good alliance with castile.

Try an easier country like Portugal, England, or Castile.

The annoying thing I find with portugal is the lack of manpower though, and I'm pretty sure African troops at the start are better then the european ones

[Blaze86420]

If you play your cards right, you'll never need much manpower with Portugal, all you'll be fighting is backwards tribals.

[empr guy]

I was too impatient to wait that long , although those damn castilians ended up gaining most of the african lands beacuse while I was defeating armies they would siege regions, because if I didn't they would split into 1 regiment armies and the africans would get a huge warscore. I'm not quite sure if the AI was being very clever or just really stupid lol

[Akar]

I wish the AI knew how to scorch earth and spam Calvary. If the AI Morocco did that they could crush the player easily.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

So I started a new game as Castille and ended up in a war with Granada. Only issue I have is that ever regiment I make is a completely different... "brigade"? Like instead of just one clicking a stack, I have to click every single regiment to get them all to go to one place.

How can I merge all those regiments into one "brigade"?

Also, once all provinces have been occupied by me, I have a warscore of 100%, what is needed in order to qualify for the "annex" option? Whole part of the Reconquista is to kick the Muslim's out of Spain, not just take two provinces from them.

[Blaze86420]

So I started a new game as Castille and ended up in a war with Granada. Only issue I have is that ever regiment I make is a completely different... "brigade"? Like instead of just one clicking a stack, I have to click every single regiment to get them all to go to one place.

How can I merge all those regiments into one "brigade"?

Also, once all provinces have been occupied by me, I have a warscore of 100%, what is needed in order to qualify for the "annex" option? Whole part of the Reconquista is to kick the Muslim's out of Spain, not just take two provinces from them.

Unless you have Divine Wind you can never annex a country with more than one province. You can only take enough to leave them with one. So Gibraltar and Murcia only or w/e.

[SLN445]

If your units are in the same province, you should be able to drag select them and merge into one group.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Thank you. Now, why is it even though I've occupied all three of Granada's provinces, I am unable to fully annex them? Their armies are in shambles, all their provinces have been occupied by me, what possible reason is there that I cannot just annex them? Every time I just tell them to give me the two provinces, I'm told it is better than what they would expect.

For Christ's sake what do I have to do to annex them!?!?

[SLN445]

Thank you. Now, why is it even though I've occupied all three of Granada's provinces, I am unable to fully annex them? Their armies are in shambles, all their provinces have been occupied by me, what possible reason is there that I cannot just annex them? Every time I just tell them to give me the two provinces, I'm told it is better than what they would expect.

For Christ's sake what do I have to do to annex them!?!?

You can only annex a country (excluding tribal nations i think) if they only have 1 province, though i dont have divind wind so im not sure if they changed it.

Edit: got sniped

[empr guy]

hmm, do they have any of your provinces occupied? If not, then just crush their army and then turn down war taxes and everything. Then if they don't want any kind of peace war exhaustion will destroy them so they would never be able to recover.

also if you offer something that is better then they expect it lowers their stability, I think there is a bug in devine wind though, I was playing as france and I killed all of englands soldiers, I had no navy though so I couldn't invade. for some reason they wouldn't make peace for their mainland provinces, even though I had three times as much warscore as needed, and they lowered their own stability to negative three. They wouldn't even give me all three(!) of their provinces after I started revolts in ireland and the scottish invaded. And they had no army.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

\ I think there is a bug in devine wind though, I was playing as france and I killed all of englands soldiers, I had no navy though so I couldn't invade. for some reason they wouldn't make peace for their mainland provinces, even though I had three times as much warscore as needed, and they lowered their own stability to negative three. They wouldn't even give me all three(!) of their provinces after I started revolts in ireland and the scottish invaded. And they had no army.

IIRC It to prevent player exploiting the A.I so they made them more stubborn/ Or they STILL think can beat since you.\

This happened to me when I play smaller nation, or nation that are not manpower house.
When I fought France I destroy their army, had like 20 WS, will not negotiate.
When I made their WE sky high, they still won't coop.

When I capture the whole of lower France.....still nothing.

When rebel took over the Normandy area and other northern part....They offer a white peace.... that you asses destroy my country making it like the Peninsular War.

So, I was like it, attack their capital, then....I was able to make my demand.

It seem, if that if you can do the fallowing things:1. Kill their army;2. Make their WE skyrocket; 3:Capture their capital.
They will most of time fold to your demand....Unless, a bigger ally are still on their side/ etc

[empr guy]

That kind of makes sence, but it was just so wierd that england, with no army, no allies (I white peaced them since i wanted to focus on england exclusivly because they originally had a good army. The war went on so long they were actually able to let the truce expire, rejoin, launch another attack, and then realize why they had white peaced me before lol) revolts in ireland, the scottish invading, and me having like 50 warscore, but yet they wanted to give me nothing but a white peace. They even lowered their stability by 6...

I guess it was because I wasn't threatening their home provinces, but still.