Advice for an EUIII noob?

[Kane]

So basically forget everything I learned in Total War?

yes

 

[attackfighter]

What's advice for a Total War veteran transitioning to EU?

:patriot:

 

[IDtenT]

What's with all the England recommendations? I find Austria the best nation to learn with, especially about alliances. Nobody will try and gobble you up either.

Portugal is usually the recommended beginner nation. All you got to do is ally with Castille/Spain (or with Aragon/France if you want to gang-bang Castille/Spain), keep France away from Ibéria, suck up to England and you can happily do some colonization and imperialism overseas. That said, Portugal sucks for land warfare.

I hate water. :D I prefer to expand around the centre than far away from my capital. Typical Germanic thinking.

 

[PorkaMorka]

I remember when EU 3 first came out there were a lot of complaints about the lack of historical events. Apparently Paradox went away from historical determinism and went with a bunch of bland generic events. So it was supposedly pretty boring compared to EU2.

Did this problem go away after 4 expansions?

 

[Malakal]

I remember when EU 3 first came out there were a lot of complaints about the lack of historical events. Apparently Paradox went away from historical determinism and went with a bunch of bland generic events. So it was supposedly pretty boring compared to EU2.

Did this problem go away after 4 expansions?

They dont consider it a problem but a feature - you shape the history not relive it. Especially since after first 40 years those events didnt make any sense anyway.

To answer your question: yes, there is more to do, no, its not based on history other than general situation at the starting dates.

 

[Imperator]

I need advice for Byzantine empire, how to defeat the Ottomans?

 

[Malakal]

I need advice for Byzantine empire, how to defeat the Ottomans?

You need some luck, if Ottomans come for you first thing you are dead. If they get bogged however you have good chances, especially if hordes ram them hard.

Good strategy is conquering as much islands as possible and then building a bigger fleet than Ottoman one. Actually ruling the waves is a huge help.

Ways of winning:
-defeating OE on land - hard since you wont be able to support nearly enough troops,
-defeating OE on the sea - easier but still hard, need at least one island when Thrace falls,
-using espionage - OE has huge rebel issues, good combination of low stab and support revolt/fund patriots will bring you all your cores without work,
-befriending OE - as long as they dont have a mission on you its doable, avoid their cores, buy time

Remember: OE will inevitably get into serious fights and will surely be rammed by crusaders. Just survive until then.

One sure way to survive is moving your entire army and quickly annexing an one province minor somewhere (most commonly either Russian minor or Irish one, rarely a German since Emperor will protect it). Then coming back from "exile". Its gamey tho.

 

[Imperator]

I need advice for Byzantine empire, how to defeat the Ottomans?

You need some luck, if Ottomans come for you first thing you are dead. If they get bogged however you have good chances, especially if hordes ram them hard.

Good strategy is conquering as much islands as possible and then building a bigger fleet than Ottoman one. Actually ruling the waves is a huge help.

Ways of winning:
-defeating OE on land - hard since you wont be able to support nearly enough troops,
-defeating OE on the sea - easier but still hard, need at least one island when Thrace falls,
-using espionage - OE has huge rebel issues, good combination of low stab and support revolt/fund patriots will bring you all your cores without work,
-befriending OE - as long as they dont have a mission on you its doable, avoid their cores, buy time

Remember: OE will inevitably get into serious fights and will surely be rammed by crusaders. Just survive until then.

One sure way to survive is moving your entire army and quickly annexing an one province minor somewhere (most commonly either Russian minor or Irish one, rarely a German since Emperor will protect it). Then coming back from "exile". Its gamey tho.

Thanks.

 

[Erzherzog]

I need advice for Byzantine empire, how to defeat the Ottomans?

Malakal has a generally good advice. Taking Eprius is a must because Naples will almost always start with a mission on it, nullifying their Alliance. Put all your armies on transports ASAP, sail them to the coast and DoW right after Naples. It's gamey, but I don't care.

If either Venice or the Ottomans get stomped then you're set. Venice is better because Greece is way more favorable for you. There are a ton of OPM that you have cores on. Fund patriots there first. The lands of Greece are comparably rich. Always a good choice. Taking, and holding Trebizond is tough but potentially worthwhile. The hordes will beat you up though. The two 3 province Muslim nations in Asia Minor are great targets once you get a few provinces. When Ottomans get in a big war, fund a ton of patriots away from the fighting. With luck, you get a couple.

If you go all out and use every resource you have, your chances of success are actually surprisingly high. It's certainly not "luck" but if everything goes against you, then yes, it is impossible.

Winning as Byzantium is the most fun you can have at any rate though. It's both fun, with a great sense of accomplishment, and truly teaches you how to play the game. Play every nation as you do Byzantium and it's not even funny.

 

[XenomorphII]

Some more advice on dealing with the Ottos as the Byzzies (as of 5.2 beta with manpower changes):
-save your initial funds and push for your first NI fast, choose the -50% naval costs
-build lots of carracks they come in handy when it comes to keeping the naval powers from being dicks, for the ottos only 10 or so are needed (with your starting galleys)
-use infiltrate administration on the ottos, and try to get Hungary as an ally (sometimes they hop on day 1 other times they need some convincing)
-once the ottos have all their large armies (the vassals don't matter so much, especially if you have an ally nearby) in Asia minor declare war, and occupy Greece
-proceed to be a colossal dick and refuse to give them any peace, they will usually begin getting shanked on all sides, then their armies break (or their morale at least)
-occupy rest of them seize as much territory as possible and make peace

Once you hit that point it is easy sailing, go about gobbling up cores, then Muslim minors around you, then the Mameluks, Timmys, etc.

 

[Malakal]

The problem after annexing OE is other European powers hate you and like crusading against you. Not fun when England and Scandinavia come knocking. Maybe that changed recently but before that was another challenge.

 

[Malakal]

This thread inspired me to try out BE with the new patch. Had to restart a few times but I think I have the best start:
-build as much galleys as you can afford,
-ally Wallachia and Naples - try with Hungary but you only have one shot at the start for that,
-once you have 2/3 galleys more than OE make an admiral and declare war on them - this MUST be while they are still fighting Timurids in the east,
-block the straits and cover OE lands in Europe - if you time this correctly they wont have any forces there,
-peace out for force vassaling Bosnia and all OE territories in Europe other than Silistria,
-if OE has a smaller army that you or its army is destroyed DoW them again breaking peace, finish them off, if not you have enough lands to raise a big army and fleet and end them in a conventional way.

 

[XenomorphII]

The problem after annexing OE is other European powers hate you and like crusading against you. Not fun when England and Scandinavia come knocking. Maybe that changed recently but before that was another challenge.

They cannot crusade against Orthodox. Also that is why you should be building the cheap bigships with the national idea. It scares the big European powers (or at least makes them think twice about attacking) and with just the Muslim territories you can take you should be able to build a navy of them that is larger than anyone else except for England (and maintenance won't kill you because of the NI).

 

[Malakal]

Now how one goes on defeating the ottomans in MMU and other mods where you simply can't block the Ottoman armies though the Bosphorus?

You pray they collapse. In MMU they start as Ottoman vassals IIRC so its simply a matter of trading and waiting for the good opportunity.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Now how one goes on defeating the ottomans in MMU and other mods where you simply can't block the Ottoman armies though the Bosphorus?

You pray they collapse. In MMU they start as Ottoman vassals IIRC so its simply a matter of trading and waiting for the good opportunity.

Or observe FuriousFlamingFaggot destroying them as the Knights.

 

[Erzherzog]

Now how one goes on defeating the ottomans in MMU and other mods where you simply can't block the Ottoman armies though the Bosphorus?

I don't use the naval strategy against them. It's alllll about province defections.

But I don't know if that works for MMU. Still a lot of Greek one province minors in that one?

 

[Cassidy]

My try with Byzantium in vanilla 1399 started with an intevention against Naples to help Epirus, leading other Italian countries to dogpile on Naples, and I didn't miss the opportunity, leading Naples to become a vassal. The key to victory is speed, yes, you are outmatched but your inferiority compared to the OE will only grow exponentially the longer you take to make your glorious final stand for the Empire.

From the start, set minting to the maximum, inflation be damned, and get carrack after carrack built. Eventually, while the turks had their entire army busy against the Timurids and their fleet busy in a war on North Africa, I positioned the now way above support limit Byzantine fleet on the strait and declared the war of reconquest.

After the entire turk fleet was defeated, with the strait completely under Byzantine control making it impossible for the Turks to cross it, then I just calmly sieged all the European Ottoman provinces, and after capturing all of them successfully, it didn't take much longer for a crusade to be called against the turk.

I could settle for a smaller peace but instead I decided to go farther and complete the "retake Asia Minor coast" mission too to take advantage of this new and particularly ironic crusade, considering what happened during the 4th crusade. When the Europeans started their landings, it was a breeze and in a short time the Ottoman Empire collapsed, and even after the harsh peace treaty, constant rebellions ensured every Turk province in Europe too expensive to be demanded directly defected to the restored Byzantine Empire, and then it was one hell of a continuous conflict against Berbers and other muslims, and lots of funds to patriots to expel Venice from Greece.

 

[Bulba]

This thread revives some good memories. Everyone goes on how easy it's to learn on England or portugal, but I think it's easiest to play with ottomas - they have everything powerfull economy, bad ass army and strong fleet. Even a noob muslimise western world!

 

[Captain Shrek]

Well, choosing Scotland for my first game was a big mistake... I'm still not sure how economy works but I'm going to give Portugal a try so that I can gleefully backstab english scum!

Believe it or not, do what the governments of Europe and US do. Borrow copiously from the treasury; the inflation rate CAN NOT HURT YOU even if it gets into double digits. The only problem is unrest. keep the people happy with tapestries and you will do well on the economic front.

 

[Malakal]

As a latin nation inflation isnt really a danger unless it gets very high, like in the 40-50% range. And then you are only comparable to poor eastern nations like Lithuania, way better than India or China.

 

[Luzur]

so guize, i was thinking of replaying EUIII thats just been sitting on my HD since CKII came out, and i heard there a some new shit out, what do i need?

i got that Hier to the Throne DLC, EUIII 4.1b and Magna Mundi.