I have purchased EU2

[Velociryx]

My suggestion: Make a loan. Yeah, it's tough to get started. My sense of it is that the AI automatically rejects your offer the first X times you try, but eventually, they'll accept, and once they do, you can begin increasing the size of the loan. (I start with 1d at 1% for 12 months).

I'd not recommend going over a 100d loan unless you're swimming in cash though.

Best case scenario: They pay the principle amount back when it's due, and in the meantime, you made a bit of extra pocket money.

Worst case scenario: They renig on the principle portion, and you gain a 12 month CB.

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Another easy way to get a CB is to join whatever alliance they're in (this assumes that they're not the alliance leader, since you've got to be on at least passingly good terms with the leader to gain entry).

Simply join the alliance of the member country you wish to fight, and promptly declare war against anyone you have a CB against.

Call your allies.

The nation that hates you will, of course, fail to support your war, and you can INSTANTLY DoW them too!

Obviously, the danger here is to watch out that you don't bite off more than you can chew. If you're worried about that, then make your initial declaration against someone with scant chance of actually reaching you (white peace in 36 months).

Good point here: If you've held back a diplomat specifically for this purpose, then you can DoW your true enemy on the same day he breaks with the alliance. At that point, he's all alone.... (tho he may get an ally by forming his own alliance, but that's a risk you'll just have to live with)

-=Vel=-

[Kuciwalker]

Specifically, I've been eying Portugal. I think I can take them

[Odin]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Specifically, I've been eying Portugal. I think I can take them

Don't. in the 1500's an event will pop up letting you annex them. Why take them now when you can wait and let then colonize Brazil and parts of Africa for you?

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Specifically, I've been eying Portugal. I think I can take them

You will need to take the Azores as well as the mainland provinces for 100% victory and they have a better navy than you. Also the AI "knows" when you are trying to land troops and will interfere by attacking your ships.

Anyway, as Odin says, you get them as vassals by event later and can annex them.

Don't eliminate Portugal too early otherwise you won't get the Treaty of Tordesillas which helps you keep other catholic countries out of the Caribbean and South America.

[Kuciwalker]

You will need to take the Azores as well as the mainland provinces for 100% victory and they have a better navy than you. Also the AI "knows" when you are trying to land troops and will interfere by attacking your ships.

Couldn't I just sit on the mainland provinces and wait for them to go bankrupt, or vassalize them?

Anyway, as Odin says, you get them as vassals by event later and can annex them.

Don't eliminate Portugal too early otherwise you won't get the Treaty of Tordesillas which helps you keep other catholic countries out of the Caribbean and South America.

Ah, thanks.

[Kuciwalker]

It's kinda scary... I have an army specifically for wiping out natives. Genocide

[Kuciwalker]

For some reason, most of the time I can't send missionaries anywhere - I have them, and I've clicked the missionary button, and I click the province, but it doesn't actually select the province (when I move the cursor off the province, it leaves that province's screen), and the send button never appears. I have been able to send them to two provinces in the Americas, but that's it.

[Velociryx]

Most of Spain's provinces are devoutly Catholic, and they'll not switch to some other religion over time (in fact, there are events that switch most, if not all of your moorish provinces TO Catholicism, without intervention on your part). Odds are good that the reason you can't send Missionaries is that the religion of the province you are attempting to send to is the same as your state religion, and thus, the provinces are not in need of conversion.

-=Vel=-

[Kuciwalker]

No, these are pagan provinces in the new world. They have the pagan icon (and I own them).

[General Ludd]

I think missionaries can only be sent to provinces you you control (not independant pagans), could that be the problem?

[Odin]

Kuci, I'm gussing you are talking about pagan trade posts. They will become your state religion once you set up a colony there, you can't convert them now.

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
For some reason, most of the time I can't send missionaries anywhere - I have them, and I've clicked the missionary button, and I click the province, but it doesn't actually select the province (when I move the cursor off the province, it leaves that province's screen), and the send button never appears. I have been able to send them to two provinces in the Americas, but that's it.

Money?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by General Ludd
I think missionaries can only be sent to provinces you you control (not independant pagans), could that be the problem?

No. It's actually territory I've annexed from conquered native Americans. 1000+ population.

[Micha]

Then it ought to be a money problem. Compare the cost it displays to your treasury. Another possible reason can be that there´s any construction going on in the province (bailiff promotion, fortification buildup), as conversion and construction rule each other out.