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What does EUII allow for in the way of playing against Napoleon? And for that matter, the War of 1812?

Yes! Can we play the War of 1812? Britian must be properly chastized and Canada brought under the Star Spangled Banner!

The game runs from January 1, 1419 to December 31, 1820. You do get to fight Napolean if you are in the proper area of the world at the right time, but revolutionary France is difficult to beat because they get so many leaders.

1460 and colonies have been established in Oceania at Jarkarta and Sundra after stealing maps from Makrassar (sp). I subdued the Chagatai by simply running around and taking their unfortified provinces while seiging the three major ones on my border. The Timurids tried to help but, as they were still under the effects of Destruction of the Timurid Empire event, they were forced to leave. I vassalized them, forced military access, and took all their money (125). My next target is (finally!) Indochina unless the Manchu start getting rowdy.

Grr! Damn this game! The used copy I bought has no manual, so I have no frickin' clue what I'm doing(Yeah, I did the tutorials).

Well, I got my ass kicked as America, was forced to accept horrible peace terms, annexed the Iroquis, Cherokee, and Creek, but was still at -73 VP.

As Spain, I kicked all the Muslims out of Iberia, annexed Granada and forced the Moroccans to give me Gibraltar(shades of my M:TW campaign!), but I'm running on a shoestring budget.

I'm not sure I fully grasp the economy. For example, Toledo produces 91 gold in taxes, but I only get 30% of it because of cultural differences + religous differences. Yet, even if this added to all of my other province's income, my total tax revenue is around 23 gold a month! After expenses, that leaves me between 1-2.5 gold a month in the treasury, which is far too little to do anything with.

Help!

And there are no assassins! I am gravely dissapointed.

www.europa-universalis.com has a nice forum and links to FAQs stickied at the top.

Is your income slider all the way to the left? It should be or you'll start running up hidious inflation, which affects the cost of virtually everything. Try to live off of your yearly income. And the tax income you make from each province doesn't exactly translate into cash when you factor in costs...I'm not entirely sure how it works. I'm sure Pablo will come and explain it all much better than I could so I'll stop here.

Meanwhile, in my game, it's 1475 and I'm colonizing Oceania like crazy. I've given up on conquering my neighbors until I build up a solid income So far Java, the southernmost tip of Sunda, one territory on the island where Malaccasar is, and a few islands are mine. Java is completely built up into cities and one province owned by Bali, then Brunei, defected to me. I make exactly 275 ducats a year now. I do plan to do some conquering in Indochina (I would in Manchu territory but it's so worthless!) eventually after my colonies are well established. Tangu most likely.

HemlockGrey wrote:Grr! Damn this game! The used copy I bought has no manual, so I have no frickin' clue what I'm doing(Yeah, I did the tutorials).

Well, I got my ass kicked as America, was forced to accept horrible peace terms, annexed the Iroquis, Cherokee, and Creek, but was still at -73 VP.

As Spain, I kicked all the Muslims out of Iberia, annexed Granada and forced the Moroccans to give me Gibraltar(shades of my M:TW campaign!), but I'm running on a shoestring budget.

WAIT. When you get Columbus, micromanage him carefully and make sure he gets to the indies and explores the coasts without dying. Then, you colonize your ass off and watch the gold roll in. Spain becomes a juggernaut in the 16th century, if properly managed.

I'm not sure I fully grasp the economy. For example, Toledo produces 91 gold in taxes, but I only get 30% of it because of cultural differences + religous differences. Yet, even if this added to all of my other province's income, my total tax revenue is around 23 gold a month! After expenses, that leaves me between 1-2.5 gold a month in the treasury, which is far too little to do anything with.

Here's what you should usually do as any nation, and it goes equally for Spain until you sieze the new world:
Move your funding slider so that your treasury gets nothing, to minimize inflation from that source. Then, every January 1, you get your poll taxes. Use that to promote officials, build armies, and fund conversion efforts. For trade, I'm crappy, so I just set the AI to do it for me. This provides a good occasional tax flow, especially as you move up the trade levels.

As Spain, once you take the New World, you'll actually have too much income, and you'll experience runaway inflation. In my opinion, the easiest campaign for a starting player to run is the Turks, because they are simply the strongest faction in the game until the colonization of the Americas.

And don't conquer Portugal, because that will invalidate the Treaty of Torsedillas, which allows you to take colonies of Catholic countries without declaring war (in the New World only). The event will happen around 1500.

StarshipTitanic wrote:www.europa-universalis.com has a nice forum and links to FAQs stickied at the top.

Is your income slider all the way to the left? It should be or you'll start running up hidious inflation, which affects the cost of virtually everything. Try to live off of your yearly income. And the tax income you make from each province doesn't exactly translate into cash when you factor in costs...I'm not entirely sure how it works. I'm sure Pablo will come and explain it all much better than I could so I'll stop here.

I don't entirely know how it works. But I have a bit of understanding. The province view displays income in an ideal world. But this figure drops with your stability, as inflation rises, and (depending on your DP sliders--a narrowminded nation suffers less of a penalty) the differences in culture and religion. Suffice it to say, you want provinces with the Iberic Culture and Catholic Religion. If you've got the cash, you should try and convert anything inside your territory, as a major priority.

Meanwhile, in my game, it's 1475 and I'm colonizing Oceania like crazy. I've given up on conquering my neighbors until I build up a solid income So far Java, the southernmost tip of Sunda, one territory on the island where Malaccasar is, and a few islands are mine. Java is completely built up into cities and one province owned by Bali, then Brunei, defected to me. I make exactly 275 ducats a year now. I do plan to do some conquering in Indochina (I would in Manchu territory but it's so worthless!) eventually after my colonies are well established. Tangu most likely.

Ah, I forgot inflation affects that too. There's an event that changes all of southern Iberia to Catholic and Iberian (or at least Iberian), so make sure you own it.

Were you going to say something to the last part?

Reading the FAQs...another quick question.

Is it ever more worthwhile to pick vassalization over annexation?

HemlockGrey wrote:Reading the FAQs...another quick question.

Is it ever more worthwhile to pick vassalization over annexation?

As you play, all aggressive actions drive up a Badboy rating. Forced annexation makes a HUGE rating, forced vassalization a small one.

EDIT: When your BB rating get's too big, countries become more likely to declare war on you. At a high enough rating, every country with a border to you and many without will try and destroy you.

StarshipTitanic wrote:Ah, I forgot inflation affects that too. There's an event that changes all of southern Iberia to Catholic and Iberian (or at least Iberian), so make sure you own it.

Depends on how brutal you're willing to be... and I was going to say something about your summary, but I decided not to. Nothing to say, but good job.

As you play, all aggressive actions drive up a Badboy rating. Forced annexation makes a HUGE rating, forced vassalization a small one.

I would assume peaceful annexation doesn't rack up a BB rating? BB ratings go down after time, right?

HemlockGrey wrote:I would assume peaceful annexation

It does, just not as rapidly.

doesn't rack up a BB rating? BB ratings go down after time, right?

Yes, over a LONG time. I'm usually too impatient, so I end up with a "very bad reputation" (the edge of not being attacked at random) through the whole game.

Grr. Tried playing through as Spain but went bankrupt. Then tried as China but got my ass kicked by KOREA! KOREA!

BTW, where the hell are the 'Knights'? They started jumping half my provinces midway through the Spainish game.

HemlockGrey wrote:Grr. Tried playing through as Spain but went bankrupt. Then tried as China but got my ass kicked by KOREA! KOREA!

BTW, where the hell are the 'Knights'? They started jumping half my provinces midway through the Spainish game.

The Knights Hospitaller, or the Knights of Saint John. They're a highly expansionist mediterranean group. If you get jump or have provinces stolen from you in the middle of a war in the Meditterranean, it's either them, Aragon, or Venice.

I'm telling you, try playing as Turkey and take the historical route. It's a good guidebook for how to play the game.

I'm telling you, try playing as Turkey and take the historical route. It's a good guidebook for how to play the game.

Tried. Went bankrupt. How do I the 'historical route'?

HemlockGrey wrote:

I'm telling you, try playing as Turkey and take the historical route. It's a good guidebook for how to play the game.

Tried. Went bankrupt. How do I the 'historical route'?

I think your cash problem might be that you're spending too much. How much in the way of troops are you producing? You don't need too many in this game. A few good hints: Never declare war until you have money saved up, plus a significant advantage in some way (ie, more troops, better technology, better stability). With the enemies you're fighting, you won't have trouble finding these advantages.

For the Ottoman Historical route--First, you smash the little Turkish republics in your immediate area. Then you destroy the Byzantines. Then you expand back to the east.

When you beat the mamelukes there's a nice event that let's you become Kalipha, at the end; also, if the mamelukes offer you Sinai for peace, don't sneer, it's a desert province that lets you cut their levantine coast from the rest of their nation. After that, go back to Europe, making sure to severely cripple Hungary, Austria, Venice, and anyone else who so much as looks at you.

Remember that between each of these campaigns, there's a pause time of several years. Don't try to do to much too fast. Once you've got the southern Balkans and all of Asia-Minor, you'll be a minor economic powerhouse. Then, when you sieze the Levant and Egypt, you'll become a very serious money player. The trick with the Ottomans is proper management of your armies and religious tolerance sliders. When I played a Normal campaign with the Turks, I don't think I built more than 20,000 troops in the entire fifteenth century, even though I was so far ahead of history that Mehmet II no longer had the Balkans or Mamelukes to conquer--all he could do was decimate Hungary and Austria.

Well, I vassalized Trebizond and Candar, and annexed Sivas, but I couldn't go any further because Byzantium and Serbia attacked me. I've signed treaties with both of them; Serbia gave me Kosovo and several hundred gold.

Byzantium was attacked by the Papal States and ceded Albania, Hellas, and Morea to them, much to my dismay. I DID annex Thrace, and I've moved the capital and honored the trade agreements. Ragusa is gearing up for war, so I'm going to crush and vassalize them, and then march east and finish my conquest of Asia Minor.

HemlockGrey wrote:Well, I vassalized Trebizond and Candar, and annexed Sivas, but I couldn't go any further because Byzantium and Serbia attacked me. I've signed treaties with both of them; Serbia gave me Kosovo and several hundred gold.

Good so far, but I have to say that its better in the early going to annex first. The Turks are bar none the strongest players in the game for the first 200 years, and as long as your reputation stays above "scum of the Earth" nobody will have the balls to challenge you.

What I like to do as Turkey is start with a quick knockout on Teke (the second largest Turkish group) because they start with -3 stability. Leave them with one province and come back in five years. Then I sieze the one-province groups as fast as possible, and then my number one target is Byzantium. After I take Thrace, there's a brief cool-off period to let the money stack up, and then you start dismembering Mamelukes. This can take a long time (upwards of 20 years) but it's worth it. From there, you're home free.

Byzantium was attacked by the Papal States and ceded Albania, Hellas, and Morea to them,

Wow, they were doing rather better in your game than I've ever seen them do before.

much to my dismay. I DID annex Thrace, and I've moved the capital and honored the trade agreements. Ragusa is gearing up for war, so I'm going to crush and vassalize them, and then march east and finish my conquest of Asia Minor.

ALERT! You made a big mistake, you might as well reload to just before you siezed Thrace. Honoring the agreements nets you an immediate gold bonus, but dishonoring them gives you a Center of Trade in Thrace. This severely debilitates the Venetian money-machine (bad for them is good for you) and is a better long-term investment.

As for vassalizing: If you've got forced annexation on, go with that first. As I said, nobody can hurt you in the early game. It's best to rack up the BB points while everyone is weak, and let them cool off as your relative power declines.

A market fluctuation gave me a CoT in Thrace three or four years into the game.

The Mamelukes attacked so I was forced to fight them. I took Aleppo, Syria,and Lebanon and then signed an agreement with Aragon, not realizing they were in a military alliance with the Mamelukes, so instead of netting several provinces it returned to Status Quo. I've reloaded and am preparing to relaunch my attack.

EDIT:

Actually, I've reloaded to right before my campaign against Ragusa. I'm going in to annex them now.

When I choose to annex them, they reject it. ???

Wow, you got extremely lucky!

And they can't refuse annexations...or do you mean 100% defeated? Aparently if they're in an alliance you can't annex them.

Now THIS is bizarre...I crushed the Mamelukes, took over all of their provinces, annexed their partner Tunisia, and have a 100% rating against them. But annexation is not an option.

Hmm...