An EU2 Newbie, at last!

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Nikolai

In latest patch(or one of the early betas), a new rule came into play. Any CB province gives you 25% of max income without a bailiff, 100% with. Non-CB provinces gives 0% without, 75% with. It's worth it. Get all provinces upgraded as soon as you can is my tip.

Must be the betas, because I play the mac version. We don't get the betas, just the offical rleases. Still at 1.08 for us.

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by dojoboy


Must be the betas, because I play the mac version. We don't get the betas, just the offical rleases. Still at 1.08 for us.

Oops, I stand corrected.

From the 1.08 readme:

- Census taxes revised. A core province gives 25% base, while a non-core gives 0% base. Then a tax collector adds 75% and each step of centralisation gives 2.5%. This is all capped at 100%.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Nikolai

Did you check the support limit?

You mean my total support limit, or the limit of the province im invading? Im pretty sure im under the total support limit, and i thought the province limit only mattered if i didnt have a line of supply home, which Im pretty sure i did have. There should be SOME attrition even if I am supplied, correct? Im also not sure of the terrain in the two Granadan provinces - theres some color code for the main map I think?

[ravagon]

Originally posted by lord of the mark

You mean my total support limit, or the limit of the province im invading? Im pretty sure im under the total support limit, and i thought the province limit only mattered if i didnt have a line of supply home, which Im pretty sure i did have. There should be SOME attrition even if I am supplied, correct? Im also not sure of the terrain in the two Granadan provinces - theres some color code for the main map I think?

He means the support limit of the province you're sieging. It does matter how many people you have in the siege but the attrition you take will be higher if you're out of supply (the limit shows up as a red number) than if you're in supply (limit is yellow).
If you are below the support limit you won't take attrition at all unless it snows (unlikely in Grenada) so use the 'siege' option after you click on your army to split some of your force away and get them out of that province.
Of course if you have continuous attacks on your siege force it might be worthwhile to maintain it at its present level as long as its not too far over.

[lord of the mark]

After a couple of sieges, and putting down a rebellion in Castille and chasing aroud after Granada armies a couple of times, I made peace, accepting the prov of Gibraltar, and 25 ducats.

I think maybe I settled for to easy a peace - i need to go check on the Paradox site what the peace screen info means.

I guess I can go to war again, once ive got my troops sorted out, since i have permanent CB on them.

EU2 is VERY dangerous I think. Could endanger health, marriage, etc. They should put a warning label on it.

[Dinner]

If you make peace then you want to keep the peace for five years or else you pick up a bunch of bad boy points. Get enough of those and everyone in the world will go to war with you so you want to avoid BB if at all possible. For a first war Gibraltor plus 25D isn't so bad. Other people would have tried to destroy their army and milk every last ducat from them so they wouldn't be able to rebuild so easily but you got him down to one provience and that is the important part.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Nikolai

You'll get an event, changing religion and culture when you expel the Moors in the late 1400s.

the Spanish Inquisition - ooh Yuchh. I'll have to go wash my hands after that one. But then they did warn that this was a game about a time of darkness - Inquisition and destruction of natives show in this game, but not the Slave Trade, IIUC?

It WOULD be nice however, if someone, say the Ottomans, got a boost in the years after 1492 to represent the contributions of the exiles. Oh, and the Netherlands, too.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oerdin
If you make peace then you want to keep the peace for five years or else you pick up a bunch of bad boy points. Get enough of those and everyone in the world will go to war with you so you want to avoid BB if at all possible. For a first war Gibraltor plus 25D isn't so bad. Other people would have tried to destroy their army and milk every last ducat from them so they wouldn't be able to rebuild so easily but you got him down to one provience and that is the important part.

Ok, now i can spend the next five years working on research, infrastructure, and stability, I guess.

Is it worth sending colonists to build up the Canary Islands?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


the Spanish Inquisition - ooh Yuchh. I'll have to go wash my hands after that one. But then they did warn that this was a game about a time of darkness - Inquisition and destruction of natives show in this game, but not the Slave Trade, IIUC?

It WOULD be nice however, if someone, say the Ottomans, got a boost in the years after 1492 to represent the contributions of the exiles. Oh, and the Netherlands, too.

Slaves are a very valuable resource in the game. Certain proviences produce slaves and make a lot of money for the owner. Also, Morroco and Algeria get big boosts to their population if Spain goes with the inquisition. It is modeled very well in my opinion.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Ok, now i can spend the next five years working on research, infrastructure, and stability, I guess.

Is it worth sending colonists to build up the Canary Islands?

You must use colonists or you lose them. Once six colonists is reached you don't increase your amount until you use them so always try to send them some where if you can afford it. I like to build up the canary islands or north west Africa until I get explorers like Don Cristobal to open up the new world. Once that happens it is all about grabbing as much of the new world as you can before someone else takes it. Make sure you force annex all the natives you discover because you can conquor them in one war (instead of several like the Europeans) plus if you convert them they not only change to your religion but also change to your culture.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Slaves are a very valuable resource in the game. Certain proviences produce slaves and make a lot of money for the owner. Also, Morroco and Algeria get big boosts to their population if Spain goes with the inquisition. It is modeled very well in my opinion.

Historically the big pop boosts were to North Africa, IIUC, so theyve got that right - thats where most of the expelled muslims went. I was also thinking, parochial as ive been accused of being, of another group expelled at the same time, thats too small to matter in terms of population, but which contributed economically to the Netherlands, and both economically and even administratively to the Ottoman state.

[lord of the mark]

I think i get the point about stability now. Its good to be AT +3, but not worth it to invest to get there, since you often get events that raise stability, and if youre already at +3 theyre wasted. Better to invest to plus 2, take the increases from a stab raising event, or build up again after a stab lowering event. And use the extra funds on research.


Alvaro de Luna is interesting, playing as Castille. Having him has got me trying to maneuver into a war with Navarra, so as not to waste a good general. Although its difficult, guarantees for Aragon, warnings to Nav, insults, dont do much to lower relations with Nav. And now Nav is vassal to England, raising risks. I tried to get bourbonais into my alliance (theyre independnent of France, and one of few powers not already in an alliance) but they wont join - so Portugal is my only ally. I just got the civil war event, and went with support Alvaro, since I already had a good sized army in place and well located to deal with the rebels. I didnt no the historical background and was interested to learn it. Now Im hoping Juans improved abilities will help in a war, and that things wont go to hell if I launch an unprovoked war on Navarra.

[Dinner]

You'll just take a BB hit and a stability hit (-2 I believe) which isn't to bad. Try to build up relations with Aragon since if they're happy with you then you will get an event bringing them into your alliance and then annexing them.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oerdin
You'll just take a BB hit and a stability hit (-2 I believe) which isn't to bad. Try to build up relations with Aragon since if they're happy with you then you will get an event bringing them into your alliance and then annexing them.

i took a -3 hit - 2 for no CB, and -1 cause Navarra is Catholic, IIRC. Took me from 3 to 0.

Made a mistake - when I DOWed Nav, i got a popup asking me if i wanted Portugal in - i said no, figuring if or when England came in, I would get another chance to call on Port - but England comes in automatically and i dont seem to have the ability to call on Port again. So im on my own against both, but English armies in Gascony/Poitou are small, and my fleets are watching the seas.

Sent a large army under Alvaro into Navarra, a smaller army in Bearn. Won in Navarra, lost in Bearn. Navarrese army from Navarra ran into Cantabria, where i had neglected to post backup forces. Theyre encountering my own army retreating from Bearn - my army from Navarra is heading into Cantabria (minus a covering force in Navarra) after brushing aside the small english force coming down through Bearn. Ive made a new force of 3000 in Galicia which is coming into Cantabria, and am building new forces.

I hope to be able to force vassal Nav at the end - annexation would raise my BB points more than i want - Im not sure I will be able to manage a peace that justifies the cost of the war.

[Dinner]

Vassalization should be good enough since in 30 years you can diplo-annex at half the BB cost. If you had waited until 1492 when Spain forms then you'd have got a shield on Nav and a perminent CB but this way isn't bad since you have a homogenous kingdom (all same ethnicity & religion) so your stabilty returns cheaply. If you play the Byzantines or Ottomans then you rule over a polyglot of people and religions so stability hits take forever to recover.

It might even be better not to bring in Portugal since it lowers your relations with them plus they may take a provence you need thus preventing a 100% victory.