I hope it is november i'm doing an exam in November and i'd enjoy wasting my free time on stellaris!
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Paradox Grand Strategy |OT| Conquering the World one DLC at a time
- Thread starter Uzzy
- Start date
I hope it is november i'm doing an exam in November and i'd enjoy wasting my free time on stellaris!
I'm actually wondering if the ecumenopolis is going to be part of it too. The thing with that and the slave market is that Wiz has been very coy about showing them off, even when it make sense, and I wonder if that's because they don't want to show off this cool new stuff in detail and then later tell everyone it's not free. All we know about them is that they exist.
I'm placing my bet on February for Le Guin. It feels like Paradox's DLC-cycle has been getting longer this year following the big backlash against their DLC Policy earlier this year. Also note that EU4 and CK2 expansions used to be released in-sync, but not this time with Dharma.
I'm betting on October or November for Holy Fury, and December for Man The Guns.
I mean, Utopia was announced fairly far-out from its release date and Le Guin's expansion hasn't been announced yet sooooo...
I'm betting on October or November for Holy Fury, and December for Man The Guns.
I mean, Utopia was announced fairly far-out from its release date and Le Guin's expansion hasn't been announced yet sooooo...
Please don't jinx us... DLC has to be still this year!!
I don't belive your well justified and logical predictions!! the DLC will out soon!
Pretty please? I *need* it
Utopia and Apocalypse were announced like 2 and 1 month ahead of their respective releases, so I could see this still making this year. Wouldn't be surprised at like an October announcement to launch in time for the holidays. But if they need longer then I'm more than patient. It's not like the game isn't fun right now.
I wouldn't expect a species/ship pack right now. Paradox have said they tend to do those when the artists haven't got much on their plate. There's still a lot of placeholder art in the dev diaries so they're probably still hard at work on the Le Guin stuff.
The big problem facing Paradox is simply that Grand Strategy isn't Niche anymore. You can see it in the rapid ascent in presentation-quality of their games. Less than a Decade ago, Paradox games looked like Newgrounds flash games and had interfaces to match, now Imperator looks like the Crysis of Strategy-Games.
And when you're no longer Niche, you face Competition. (See: The Battle Royale genre)
In this case, Sega. They have a large handful of studios that could pump out games directly competing with Paradox's, and if Paradox pushes too hard with rapidfire DLCs that don't have a good enough Price/Content ratio in the court of public-opinion (See: Third Rome) they'll be creating an opening for Sega to swoop in and steal a section of their audience. Hence, Paradox is pumping the brakes a little bit and giving their expansions a little bit more meat than they were in the IPO-era circa 2016/17 that drew backlash.
On a less controversial note, got this done a few days ago.
Now I don't know what to do.
Wait, what is Sega making that competes with Paradox's grand strategy catalog? 'Cause if it's Creative Assembly's stuff, Total War is a very different thing.
You're being too realistic and it hurts.
I said could not are.
Creative Assembly certainly has the pedigree at least.
I also don't think Stellaris has been plagued with the DLC complaints so far, really. It's the game that I think they've handled the best, being too generous if anything with the free patches. The only system I thought they messed up was later retrofitted into being a base game thing.
I do wonder what Stellaris' future will looks like once all the systems are retrofitted into this more grand strategy-esque format. I think it'll open up a lot of room for really cool new expansion content that diverges it more, merging the 4X and grand strategy elements into something more cohensive where it can really become its own thing.
Like, every single change the new game director has made has been a great improvement. Stellaris just keeps looking better, and it's impressive to me because I already thought Stellaris 1.0 was fantastic.
Like, every single change the new game director has made has been a great improvement. Stellaris just keeps looking better, and it's impressive to me because I already thought Stellaris 1.0 was fantastic.
Creative Assembly seem to be taking a few cues from Paradox in terms of DLC, if anything. Warhammer, in particular, does not have big expansions but rather small but frequent content packs that add new lords, units, scenarios.
But they've also been criticised for not being able to balance the amount of content coming out for all their current games. Paradox seem to be at least a bit better at it, though I'm not sure how their respective team sizes match up.
Pretty much every major overhaul Wiz has justified as 'making it easier for the dev team and modders to build on for future content'. He was promoted to game director not long after release and was surprisingly frustrated by some of the design decisions. That's why he's spent the better part of the last 2 years either heavily tweaking or outright replacing whole systems. I've never really seen that done before, but when your whole business model is built on supporting games for many years with paid content, it's in your interest to make building on systems a smooth process.
But they've also been criticised for not being able to balance the amount of content coming out for all their current games. Paradox seem to be at least a bit better at it, though I'm not sure how their respective team sizes match up.
Pretty much every major overhaul Wiz has justified as 'making it easier for the dev team and modders to build on for future content'. He was promoted to game director not long after release and was surprisingly frustrated by some of the design decisions. That's why he's spent the better part of the last 2 years either heavily tweaking or outright replacing whole systems. I've never really seen that done before, but when your whole business model is built on supporting games for many years with paid content, it's in your interest to make building on systems a smooth process.
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YES! WE NEED MORE OVERLORDS!!!
(darth vader) NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Now that i work I really enjoy all these strategy games I want more content for the games i enjoy. I'm sad that DLC isn't comming as fast as i'm playing the games :PThe big problem facing Paradox is simply that Grand Strategy isn't Niche anymore. You can see it in the rapid ascent in presentation-quality of their games. Less than a Decade ago, Paradox games looked like Newgrounds flash games and had interfaces to match, now Imperator looks like the Crysis of Strategy-Games.
And when you're no longer Niche, you face Competition. (See: The Battle Royale genre)
In this case, Sega. They have a large handful of studios that could pump out games directly competing with Paradox's, and if Paradox pushes too hard with rapidfire DLCs that don't have a good enough Price/Content ratio in the court of public-opinion (See: Third Rome) they'll be creating an opening for Sega to swoop in and steal a section of their audience. Hence, Paradox is pumping the brakes a little bit and giving their expansions a little bit more meat than they were in the IPO-era circa 2016/17 that drew backlash.
On a less controversial note, got this done a few days ago.
Now I don't know what to do.
I think CA has significantly bigger teams, they just make games that take a ton more work. I remember a presentation that a Paradox dev made at GDC 2017 where she mentioned that CK2 only had one programmer on the project at the time, and it's not like they've taken a break from DLC for that franchise.
You don't have to take it as gospel. I'm just parroting their line back from when the Humanoid Pack was announced. If I remember correctly, it was revealed when a major pack was in development and people on the forums and Twitter were asking why the manpower wasn't being directed towards that. Wiz said that all the art work for the major pack had been done, and their only other options were to have the artists sit there and do nothing for several months, or lay them off. I don't expect that much has changed there.
It also made me think about how Paradox's monetary scheme (and indeed all GaaS) worked from an employee's perspective. I imagine the near constant roll out of paid content over years allows them to guarantee quite a bit of job security, in an industry famed for being pretty bad for it.
It is also important to notice that CA main game is the battle simulator, the "4x" component of the game is just a supplement for it (although some stuff such as family trees do help).
Grand strategy continues to be niche, it just happens to be that the niche is bigger nowadays than when games where glorified sheet tables. Ever since EU3, they have improved the first experience of the user to make it so that people that are interested on the games do not go back crying in less than an hour. The breakout hit of the rpg x grand strategy in CK2 with more focus on the emergent storytelling also helped, with it being easier to develop your stories (for instance, EU4 being easier to roleplay than the more railroded EU3 or HOI4 vs HOI3).
Grand strategy continues to be niche, it just happens to be that the niche is bigger nowadays than when games where glorified sheet tables. Ever since EU3, they have improved the first experience of the user to make it so that people that are interested on the games do not go back crying in less than an hour. The breakout hit of the rpg x grand strategy in CK2 with more focus on the emergent storytelling also helped, with it being easier to develop your stories (for instance, EU4 being easier to roleplay than the more railroded EU3 or HOI4 vs HOI3).
Stellaris dev diary on trade:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ary-127-trade-value-and-trade-routes.1121266/
Trade value is a resource with no initial use, mostly produced by all pops (more with higher living standards) but can also be found naturally (Wiz likens it to precious gemstones, or luxury resources that have little to no practical use).
Starbases automatically collect trade value from the system they're in, and can be upgraded to collect from systems an increasing number of jumps away. You then draw a trade route from the starbase to the capital system to transfer this trade value, where it appears to be turned into energy credits. Each starbase can maintain one outgoing trade route, and can transfer trade value to other starbases too. But trade value must reach the capital to be made useful.
Piracy crops up along trade routes, especially those carrying high trade value. This reduces the trade value reaching its destination, though there will always be a minimum that is guaranteed to make it. The more underprotected systems a route passes through, the more trade value is lost.
Starbases can only protect the systems they're in, but hanger bays can be built to protect adjacent systems as well. Fleets can also be assigned to patrol between starbases to protect trade.
This means it might be useful to direct trade from outlying systems to more developed and protected starbases initially, rather than sending all of it straight to your capital and having too many routes to adequately protect.
Wiz replies from the forum:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ary-127-trade-value-and-trade-routes.1121266/
Trade value is a resource with no initial use, mostly produced by all pops (more with higher living standards) but can also be found naturally (Wiz likens it to precious gemstones, or luxury resources that have little to no practical use).
Starbases automatically collect trade value from the system they're in, and can be upgraded to collect from systems an increasing number of jumps away. You then draw a trade route from the starbase to the capital system to transfer this trade value, where it appears to be turned into energy credits. Each starbase can maintain one outgoing trade route, and can transfer trade value to other starbases too. But trade value must reach the capital to be made useful.
Piracy crops up along trade routes, especially those carrying high trade value. This reduces the trade value reaching its destination, though there will always be a minimum that is guaranteed to make it. The more underprotected systems a route passes through, the more trade value is lost.
Starbases can only protect the systems they're in, but hanger bays can be built to protect adjacent systems as well. Fleets can also be assigned to patrol between starbases to protect trade.
This means it might be useful to direct trade from outlying systems to more developed and protected starbases initially, rather than sending all of it straight to your capital and having too many routes to adequately protect.
Wiz replies from the forum:
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https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ditems/avatars//dev/m/stellaris_dev_swarm.png
So, uh... Wiz's portrait... is totally foreshadowing the Zerg Species Pack, isn't it. (If it's been this way for months or years, just let me believe this. GIVE ME THIS.)
The trade changes are so phenomenal though. I always thought they'd save that for an expansion. There's just so much potential gameplay waiting there, since it's the cornerstone of any traditional empire. Which in turn gives room to flip the script for the more exotic empires, adding even more potential. It will ripple out into how an empire grows, and how empires interact with each other, leading to new and exciting galaxy compositions.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble (again), but it's always been this. It's actually the portrait for the Prethoryn Scourge.
You should play end game stellaris more.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ditems/avatars//dev/m/stellaris_dev_swarm.png
So, uh... Wiz's portrait... is totally foreshadowing the Zerg Species Pack, isn't it. (If it's been this way for months or years, just let me believe this. GIVE ME THIS.)
The trade changes are so phenomenal though. I always thought they'd save that for an expansion. There's just so much potential gameplay waiting there, since it's the cornerstone of any traditional empire. Which in turn gives room to flip the script for the more exotic empires, adding even more potential. It will ripple out into how an empire grows, and how empires interact with each other, leading to new and exciting galaxy compositions.
Great update. This is the first time I've actually taken ill with the "I can't play the game again until this expansion launches" sickness.
It's also interesting that so much stuff is still undecided or being actively interated on so much. I wonder if Paradox is starting to release information earlier into this expansion cycle than in the past.
It's also interesting that so much stuff is still undecided or being actively interated on so much. I wonder if Paradox is starting to release information earlier into this expansion cycle than in the past.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ary-102-about-that-one-dead-religion.1121372/
They're adding the Hellenic religion to CK2, but it will be very difficult to convert and be successful as a Hellenic ruler. There will be a game option to turn this off if you think converting to Hellenism is too immersion breaking.
The blog post is a pretty funny read btw.
They're adding the Hellenic religion to CK2, but it will be very difficult to convert and be successful as a Hellenic ruler. There will be a game option to turn this off if you think converting to Hellenism is too immersion breaking.
The blog post is a pretty funny read btw.
Including the hellenic religion makes me think this could be the final big CK2 DLC. I think one more had been rumored, but this is the last big forum thing that had yet to be addressed. I guess it would give me a reason to restore the empire again, just for laughs.
After I finish my current game of Beyond Earth I'm going to start my first ever game of EU4, now that the Poland patch has dropped. I think I'm gonna play as Hisn Kayfa, which is probably a huge mistake for a first time player, but according to the wiki they're the only major nation with Kurdish culture, and I'm adamant on playing that because of my heritage. The other nations with Kurdish culture are vassals, which are no doubt even worst picks for a first timer (Bitlis, Ardalan, Soran). But I think failure is a good teacher, so bring on the Ottomans I say (I'll probably try and ally them actually lol). Other playthroughs I have planned:
Japan - become Shogun, obviously. Team up with China and Korea and attack Europe (revenge!)
Mongolia - how far can I pillage the world before someone stops me?
North American nation/tribe - colonize Europe (more revenge!!)
England - because that's where I live and it looks fun
African nation - colonize Europe (even more revenge!!!)
Japan - become Shogun, obviously. Team up with China and Korea and attack Europe (revenge!)
Mongolia - how far can I pillage the world before someone stops me?
North American nation/tribe - colonize Europe (more revenge!!)
England - because that's where I live and it looks fun
African nation - colonize Europe (even more revenge!!!)
Out of all those, I would recommend to start with Japan and England due to difficulty (native and Africa) and uniqueness of the method (Mongolia).
Japan itself is one of the best places to start because you only really need to care about japan until the unification and you really learn a lot about alliances and stopping coalitions. Also once it is finished (which could take 150 years if you take it slow), you have a nice base to expand into america or go west against china. The main issue is that the trade nodes are not made for japan so you wont rake all the moneys.
England is pretty sheltered once you lose the french territories as long as you have a nice navy. England also has two ways of playing: continental (fucking france during their early war) or traditional (just lsoe that territory and focus on owning all the islands and then going around the world). Your natural trade node is much easier to use.
Being and island lets you focus on a much smaller enemy in the beginning and protects you a lot.
For a game with Hisn Kayfa, it seems it is a one province country so try to ally a big power in the region ASAP and use it to gobble up power. It is going to be hard and I would recommend other islamic countries (mameluks or ottos are nice or heck, some of the timmurid states are interesting) although I understand the reasons why you chose it.
As fun as Hisn Kayfa can be, I really wouldn't recommend them for a first time player. You need to have a real grip on the mechanics to stand a chance with a smaller nation in that region, as all the Ottomans need to do is look your way and it's GG.
England, Castile, Portugal and Japan are good for first time players. You can play a more relaxed game, colonise and generally fight wars of your choosing. You'll have lots of money from trade too, so the economy won't be much of a concern. They also get lots of flavourful events for a nice historical game.
England, Castile, Portugal and Japan are good for first time players. You can play a more relaxed game, colonise and generally fight wars of your choosing. You'll have lots of money from trade too, so the economy won't be much of a concern. They also get lots of flavourful events for a nice historical game.
Thanks for the feedback guys, island nations like England and Japan do seem very appealing.... for my 2nd playthrough.
Place your bets everyone, what year will cognizant make it to as Hisn Kayfa? Closest answer will win a gif of an Arrested Development character looking wistfully at nothing saying "I've made a huge mistake..."
EDIT: I'll be playing on normal, Ironman mode.
Place your bets everyone, what year will cognizant make it to as Hisn Kayfa? Closest answer will win a gif of an Arrested Development character looking wistfully at nothing saying "I've made a huge mistake..."
EDIT: I'll be playing on normal, Ironman mode.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...evelopment-diary-9th-of-october-2018.1122972/
The amazing:
Asturias releasable tag
The good:
Galicia and most of Castile is Ok
The islands are great
The what:
Some of the aragon borders look wonky as fuck
I would have added some extra regions in the interior of Spain to increase the density
Portugal needs more regions to have a better "tall" play (clearly not for me to steal!)
I would have hoped for more changes in Northern Africa
The DAFAQ:
The Asturias kingdom borders. They make no sense at all.
The amazing:
Asturias releasable tag
The good:
Galicia and most of Castile is Ok
The islands are great
The what:
Some of the aragon borders look wonky as fuck
I would have added some extra regions in the interior of Spain to increase the density
Portugal needs more regions to have a better "tall" play (clearly not for me to steal!)
I would have hoped for more changes in Northern Africa
The DAFAQ:
The Asturias kingdom borders. They make no sense at all.
After about 30 hours of playing, I feel like I finally have a solid handle on Crusader Kings II. It certainly took a lot of time and failure, but it was pretty fun all the same. And it feels like I'm still just seeing the tip of the iceberg. But it feels nice to not be completely over my head for once.
So what's the deal with Paradox's dogma of MOAR PROVINCES lately?
Like what's the net benefit or reasoning behind this approach lately? I mean especially since I see some actual Spaniards that say that the new provinces and borders for the Iberia Update don't even make sense.
Especially since Poland fucked up my perfect Prussian borders and states (/shakesfist)
Like what's the net benefit or reasoning behind this approach lately? I mean especially since I see some actual Spaniards that say that the new provinces and borders for the Iberia Update don't even make sense.
Especially since Poland fucked up my perfect Prussian borders and states (/shakesfist)
More provinces are a way of buffing a region even if the total development is the same (more building slots and cheaper improvement), it also helps improve the movility of armies (with more space) and help improve the reality of what the world was. EU4 has some really nasty non changed borders and they have been adding provinces in ALL patches.
The issue in this case is that some provinces look weird (lleida isnt there) and some have bad names (castilla la vieja is the name for the whole region of upper castile, not for a small state)
I'm reading the official forum's dev diary thread and it seems the devs are actively taking on feedback from (rude raging fanboy) users, so expect some changes when the update releases.
Does anyone know when it'll drop by the way? I was about to start a game but might delay and play something else until it drops.
EH! The mistakes they made are pretty big in some cases so it makes sense people call them out (that asturias kingdom still makes me WTF). They have been quite nice (and I really hope Portugal gets more love as otherwise it will be even more food for Morocco / Spain).
I guess it will be in 2 months or so taking into account that it is a flavour dlc.
Oh yeah, I think I was just thinking of one user in particular who went way past the line in my opinion, just straight up insulting the devs, calling them lazy and to be fired from their jobs (and his posts had majority likes too). But to the mods credit they didn't instantly ban him or anything and will be making amendments to the update as a result, so I'm sure the provinces won't look as crazy to historians.
Hmm, 2 months eh...guess I can start a game after all. My first game ever, and as Hisn Kayfa will probably be short anyway lol...
Yeah, they have been quite nice. I was just surprised by some of the mistakes they made in the provinces, which would have been easily fixed if they had googled it (or heck WHAT IS THAT ASTURIAS KINGDOM?!?! [I know it was created for balance as releasable but still makes no sense])
Oh come the FUCK on
So, I pour a shitton of resources and diplomatic-capital as the TO in a war to break Poland's PU over Lithuania to prevent the PLC from becoming A Thing, and get a long ass 20-year truce-timer as a result...
And within six months: Lithuanian Succession War between Muscovy and Poland.
Thou Art Fucking'th With Me. Whoever wins, I lose. Especially since I prioritized breaking that PU over taking territory.
So, I pour a shitton of resources and diplomatic-capital as the TO in a war to break Poland's PU over Lithuania to prevent the PLC from becoming A Thing, and get a long ass 20-year truce-timer as a result...
And within six months: Lithuanian Succession War between Muscovy and Poland.
Thou Art Fucking'th With Me. Whoever wins, I lose. Especially since I prioritized breaking that PU over taking territory.
Alrighty, I'm 7 hours into my first game of EU4 and have reached 11 November 1445. Playing normal iron man mode, slowest speed and I've made every pop up pause the game, taking it nice and slow. Recap:
I'm Hisn Kayfa, which was naturally a terrible choice because I feel like I'm playing on Brutal Difficulty. I'm not even making 1 ducat a month. Naturally I mothballed my single fort, and lowered army maintenance. I barely have any expenses at all really. I put some points into my single province to get out of the red financially. I've completed a few missions, like reaching my force limit. I have a quaint 6k army just chilling out with low morale.
The Ottomans and Mamluks don't really have time for me. The Ottomans smile and nod at my diplomat's jokes, but they have a lot on their minds these days, too much to take me seriously. I have at least allied with a minor nation Dulkadir, who I have married royally too. I believe they are allied with the Ottomans, so hopefully I can drag them both to my defence once my large neighbour Aq Qoyunlu decides to pounce on me. They have an 8k army licking their lips in anticipation. Qara Qoyunlu to my right don't like me either, but are busy with their own affairs. Sometimes being a gnat on the world stage has its advantages.
But I've decided to set my monarch focus to military +2, and am racing to accrue enough points to raise my military tech before Aq Qoyunlu declare war on me. I hope to put up a fight before the end comes. I can afford no advisors to placate me during these dark days, my missionary keeps me company as we play chess in the courtyard. Considering our single province is united in our religious faith, he has time on his hands. Our merchants fumble about the continent trying to make sense of the mechanics of trade. I've even joined a trade league with Genoa, though I don't expect them to sail thousands of miles to my rescue.
I have another diplomat up north, improving relations with Imeriti, a nation that are more fond of me than my neighbours. With two alliances, I could have enough manpower to beat back my hungry enemy. The Imeriti are infidels, but I am a pragmatic sheikh. I will do whatever it takes to survive, and to see Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty rise from the ashes.
Last night my concubine woke me from vivid dreams. She claims I've been receiving commands from either God or a devil, and that I murmured strange words in my sleep. Words like "cognizant", "paradox" and "achievement" and "upcoming patch".
I had her flogged and banished from the realm.
I'm Hisn Kayfa, which was naturally a terrible choice because I feel like I'm playing on Brutal Difficulty. I'm not even making 1 ducat a month. Naturally I mothballed my single fort, and lowered army maintenance. I barely have any expenses at all really. I put some points into my single province to get out of the red financially. I've completed a few missions, like reaching my force limit. I have a quaint 6k army just chilling out with low morale.
The Ottomans and Mamluks don't really have time for me. The Ottomans smile and nod at my diplomat's jokes, but they have a lot on their minds these days, too much to take me seriously. I have at least allied with a minor nation Dulkadir, who I have married royally too. I believe they are allied with the Ottomans, so hopefully I can drag them both to my defence once my large neighbour Aq Qoyunlu decides to pounce on me. They have an 8k army licking their lips in anticipation. Qara Qoyunlu to my right don't like me either, but are busy with their own affairs. Sometimes being a gnat on the world stage has its advantages.
But I've decided to set my monarch focus to military +2, and am racing to accrue enough points to raise my military tech before Aq Qoyunlu declare war on me. I hope to put up a fight before the end comes. I can afford no advisors to placate me during these dark days, my missionary keeps me company as we play chess in the courtyard. Considering our single province is united in our religious faith, he has time on his hands. Our merchants fumble about the continent trying to make sense of the mechanics of trade. I've even joined a trade league with Genoa, though I don't expect them to sail thousands of miles to my rescue.
I have another diplomat up north, improving relations with Imeriti, a nation that are more fond of me than my neighbours. With two alliances, I could have enough manpower to beat back my hungry enemy. The Imeriti are infidels, but I am a pragmatic sheikh. I will do whatever it takes to survive, and to see Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty rise from the ashes.
Last night my concubine woke me from vivid dreams. She claims I've been receiving commands from either God or a devil, and that I murmured strange words in my sleep. Words like "cognizant", "paradox" and "achievement" and "upcoming patch".
I had her flogged and banished from the realm.
So I'm reading the latest Stellaris dev diary and, man, it's like the Stellaris devs know they're writing for me specifically:
I love the way Paradox does these weekly dev diaries.
Edit: And since I'm here, Crusader Kings 2: Holy Fury is releasing November 13th, 2018.
November is when all the strategy game expansion are dropping. It's bananas.
Hot pink for hot truths. They tease that new technologies will be revealed in next week's, too.
I love the way Paradox does these weekly dev diaries.
Edit: And since I'm here, Crusader Kings 2: Holy Fury is releasing November 13th, 2018.
November is when all the strategy game expansion are dropping. It's bananas.
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I lasted until 1453. Had a boring game as a OPM. My rival neighbour was dealing with rebellions, so I decided it was the right time to declare war. But I forgot to raise army maintenance/morale first. Despite having a higher military tech than my enemy, they got wiped out.
Japan next!
Do you watch the CK2 videos on their official Youtube channel with Stacy and Dan? They're a funny pair who barely accomplish anything during their streams. Good times!
I lasted until 1453. Had a boring game as a OPM. My rival neighbour was dealing with rebellions, so I decided it was the right time to declare war. But I forgot to raise army maintenance/morale first. Despite having a higher military tech than my enemy, they got wiped out.
Japan next!
1453 is no time! That's reroll territory right there!
What game speed are you playing the game on? Since it shouldn't take you long at all to get to 1453 at speed 5.
I was alternating between speed 1 and 2, just taking it very slow and methodical, studying every menu, every statistic and wrapping my head around game concepts. That little 'build' menu to the left that also shows available diplomacy options is so handy, I can't imagine what it was like playing the game before it got patched in! There are so many subtle options that are easily missed. The 'invite scholar' option in the religious tab. Exploiting development to get some quick cash. I randomly clicked on my province as it was under siege and saw a 'sortie' button that I would never even noticed had I not been so inquisitive. So overall it was an educational playthrough, despite the lack of action.
I think I'm gonna pick Tokugawa and try and unite Japan next. I imagine they're probably a OPM again, but unlike Hisn Kayfa I'll be surrounded by relatively equal strength neighbours so it'll be more lively than my last playthrough.
Failure is the best teacher!
Haha well in EU4 there is certainly a lot to learn but it sounds like your getting the basics :)
When you feel good and comfortable, I'd generally recommend speed 5 in peace time and speed 3 in war time!