1761

I actually think the fact that countries are already built up is a big part of why people I know find the paradox hard to learn. They are used to build things from scratch, as most games operate. The fact that they have to learn how their chosen country currently operates is a big part of the learning curve, once you get past the UI. Most games are linear in their progression but Paradox games are completely different in that you can determines your starting level. While that means you can choose how powerful you are it also means you have varying levels of circumstances to learn.

1762

While you start with a functioning nation, you can still built huge world spanning empires. Starting in 1444 is both the hardest and easiest way to play EU4. It gives you the most time to grow but there are also less strong nations in 1444 to choose from. And the strong nations available in 1444 are more balanced even with all the minor powers. There is also a good deal of specialization depending how you want to play and what geographical location or political situation you are in. Starting later limits your choices quite a bit and does not allow players to grow nearly as strong.

I think the most fun way to learn (but not necessarily the best) is to play multiplayer with some friends who know the game. They can ally with you and give you advice via voice communications or you can also play the same nation simultaneously. I have quite a few good memories teaching people to play EU4. Many mistakes were made… :-)

1763

I do wonder if part of this unfriendliness to the more average(?) gamer is that there are not the same visual reward cues of, say, the Civilization series. In Civ V especially the map is gorgeous and cities visually evolve, develop and advance in technology. Winning in EU4 visually is being a bigger blob and having more badass spreadsheet stats. Not quite the same experience for the average gamer.

1764

They need to learn to relax. You can play you first game of CK2/EU4 by choosing a random country, unpausing, and just pressing whatever button sounds the most amusing on any popups. After a while some other country might declare war or something, but if you’re playing in tutorial mode the game tells you how to raise and army and get cracking. And unless you’re a one province minor you can’t actually “die” in a single go.

1765

That’s the thing, people are so conditioned from other strategy games that any setback puts you on the inexorable path towards defeat. That if you’re not growing you’ve already lost. EU4 and Paradox games in general are quite different in that regard. If you are France you can easily survive 4-5 wars where you get completely wiped and still have means of recovery. A human player optimizing their war gains will have a hard time making you cease to exist in that time, let alone an AI. If you can wrap your head around the idea that setbacks are no big deal, that one province countries can become a major player, then you have conquered one of the biggest hurdles to Paradox games, the hurdle that isn’t really there but in your head.

1766

Thanks guys, I’ve actually been trying this very approach to learn EUIV in the past two days. I did the tutorials (which were excellent, I thought) and am now playing as Castille. Is VERY hard to unpause and just sit there. I feel like I’m failing – I need to be doing something! Its a hard feeling to get over, but relaxing and not giving a fuck is now my mantra.

I do think EUIV is much more newb friendly that EUIII in one key respect. I bought EUIII several years ago, spent a good while learning the interface, watching video, doing the tutorials (which, IIRC, were just explanations of the interface) and reading a fan-made guide. Then I finally hit unpause and my screen filled with a large number of cascading messages that sent me running into the corner of the room. I never returned. The smaller message icons in the upper left EUIV are far less intimidating to a newb than the screen-centered, larger messages in EUIII. They’re a gentler way of prodding the player.

1767

The 1.9 patch is live. It’s mostly bugfixing and some balance changes, but here’s the new stuff:

  • Trade fleets in the same node and on the same mission from the same country will now automatically merge. If either fleet is set to go home at war the merged fleet will also have this setting.
  • You can now play as released vassals in Ironman.
  • Implemented new system for Disasters, and moved the Peasants War, Internal Conflicts, Religious Turmoil, Counts Feud, War of the Roses, Liberalism & Revolution event chain to be disasters.
  • Added in 20 new achievements.
  • Added National Ideas for Sukhothai, Khmer, Shan States, Canada, Quebec, Mexico, Transylvania, Zaporozhye & Chinese States.
  • Added sets of dynamic historical events (DHEs) for Kilwa, Orissa & Kanem Bornu.
  • Expanded the dynamic historical events (DHEs) for Hungary, Ming, Austria, Poland, Venice & Netherlands.
  • Added a large set of flavor events for Steppe Nomads.
  • East Asian culture group renamed to Chinese, Han now divided into a number of smaller cultures.
  • Added Chinese Revolter nations based on new cultural division.
  • Added events for the creation of Sokoto.
  • Added Fulani Jihad Events.
1768

The trade fleets thing is very nice - I hate microing new additions to the tradefleet. I’m going to start another game as Portugal now the patch is live, because I’ve yet to play a random New World map.

1769

If you ever wanted to play Ironman on easy mode (player bonuses on) with lucky nations off now is your chance. Just watch the first 4 mins of this or so:

1770

You always want your trade ships on a node to be grouped together, and yes it was fiddly to send you new ships to where the current fleet was. Stop the fleet, integrate the new ships, and give it the mission again. But it was such a small, incidental part of the game I fully expected it just to be like that forever. I’m amazed they added this.

1771

The great thing about streams is you can watch some guy dicking about with menus for hours.

In CK2 you can seemingly start ironman in easy by simply setting it in the menu system. Can’t you do that in EU4?

1772

Of course you can, but you can’t disable lucky nations in an iron man game. The video is about exploiting some stuff that apparently isn’t properly reset when you start a new game. So you can essentially start a game with disabled lucky nations, abandon it and then start a new game on ironman and it’ll retain the setting from the previous game. Or something.
That’s how I understood it anyway.

Whether it actually works or is more of an UI issue isn’t entirely clear to me, as DDRJake ultimately fails to get the achievement he was hunting for.

In other words, I belive the game with the retained settings wasn’t ACTUALLY a iron-man game after all?

rezaf

1773

My takeaway is that he’s crap at the game ;) (also, I would assume the ironman on/off and lucky nation bonuses would be the same on the gui as in the save, especially after loading, so he probably was playing with that cheat).

1774

So with sales ending soon, what are the recommended DLC packs for this game?

1775

I’m probably not the person to ask, I’ve got all but the most recent cosmetic and Art of War, but Conquest of Paradise is an absolute must.

I’d also reccomend most of the other major DLC. They add nice features, but none quite as much as CoP or Art of War. As for the cosmetic stuff for $.50 I find it nice enough. Pick a few for areas you plan to play, perhaps get the national monuments (they look nice on map and make major areas more unique). None of the unit skins are needed, but I like them. Especially some of the more unique models, such as the Muslim, Indian, and native American unit ones.

1776

I was getting Conquest of Paradise confused with Sunset Invasion. CoP looks good. Sunset Invasion for CK II is the one I’d avoid (if I actually played CK II).

1777

Which is precisely why I view it as the most essential, it is probably the biggest shakeup mechanically you get from the DLC on sale. Plus the randomized new world adds a sense of exploration to the colonial game that is lacking. I find it adds a lot to the thematic elements of the time, even if the randomized new world isn’t as detailed as traditional map.

1778

Conquest of Paradise, Wealth of Nations, and Art of War are the major content expansions. CoP is probably my least favorite of those (in terms of the DLC-specific content, all the changes that went into the game along with it as a free patch were awesome), although the Support Independence mechanic is nice. If you have any desire to play nations in the Americas it’s a must.

Res Publica is cheap and I’d highly recommend it if you’re interested in Republics, the Dutch specifically, or just trade in general. The addition of National Focus and Trade Posts are worth the (very modest) asking price, especially if it’s on sale.

1779

It seems I have the minority opinion here, I’m ok with that.

Really though the major expansions all do add good stuff and are well worth it.

1780

That’s my take on it as well. I’ve bought them all, haven’t regretted any of the purchases.