New DLC announced called "Common Sense". Drops June 9. Looks awesome, will easily become one of the must have DLCs along with Art of War

Just in case anyone is interested Humble store is having a smoking deal on Paradox games right now and for the next two days it looks like.

This collection includes the following games:

• Hearts of Iron 3
• Crusader Kings 2
• Europa Universalis IV
• Victoria II

It doesn't have any DLC but it's a great way to dip your toes into this genre. I think it pretty much rounds out the best Paradox has to offer right now. All for $20

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/paradoxgrandstrategycollection_storefront

Ok, so I downloaded this last night. Game seems pretty fun, but as stated, its a lot to figure out. If anyone can help me out, please add me on steam. My user is spitfi83. I don't have tons of free time, but should be available Memorial Day weekend to play some.

What do people like artists, theologians, Traders, etc offer? I sometimes see the names etc but can't find what value they specifically offer.

Also, any tips on land warfare? It seems like too much of the time I see my forces lose to smaller forces, even when both are of the same tech group, similar morale, and both have generals. I'm talking about losing when its 10K men to 5K. I've also seen losses when I had 40K Ottomans to 10K Austrians. Would western tech make that much of a difference early in the game?

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What do people like artists, theologians, Traders, etc offer? I sometimes see the names etc but can't find what value they specifically offer.

Also, any tips on land warfare? It seems like too much of the time I see my forces lose to smaller forces, even when both are of the same tech group, similar morale, and both have generals. I'm talking about losing when its 10K men to 5K. I've also seen losses when I had 40K Ottomans to 10K Austrians. Would western tech make that much of a difference early in the game?

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#1 - these are advisors. You hire them on the monarch screen (they will cost a small sum down, and a continued sum monthly). You can have 1 admin, 1 diplo, and 1 military advisor at a time. They offer unique benefits. Traders offer a 10% bonus to trade efficiency. I want to say that artists reduce costs of increasing stability by 10%. Commandants increase military discipline by 5%. So you obviously want to pick the advisors who best fit your needs.

In addition, advisors also will grant you monarch points each month (the stuff you spend to level up your tech/pay for ideas/raise stability). When looking to hire an administrative advisor, for instance, you'll see that each option has a +1, +2, or +3 next to their name. Hiring a +3 artist, for instance, would grant you 3 additional admin points each month in addition to your base gain due to your monarch's stats. It would also be fairly expensive (+3 advisors are going to run around 15 gold/month, plus ~300 as an investment to start).

#2 - land warfare is contingent on a number of factors. Who are you fighting? Some countries (like Brandenburg and France) have a number of annoying national ideas that make their troops very difficult to fight.

Something people often don't recognize is that terrain penalties are a big deal. Attrition is an army-killer, and you don't want to cross major rivers or mountain ranges to attack an enemy army because that will take anywhere from a -1 to a -4 effect on your rolls for each combat phase.

Not all generals are created equal. A general with 5 pips for shock and no other pips will likely still be a 1* general, but he will be of far more value than a general with 1 pip for manuever and 2 pips for shock.

Make sure you are up to date with tech. A difference of one level in tech hurts but usually isn't too bad. A difference of two levels or more can be devastating.

From the last bit, re: Austria vs Ottobots, I'm guessing you likely aren't taking into account terrain penalties, because fighting in the Balkans is a *****.

They are advisors. You have an advisor slot relating to each type of monarch point (administrative, diplomacy, military).

Each type of advisor has a bonus associated with it (ex: Artists reduce stability cost, Theologians reduce national unrest, Traders increase trade efficiency)

You spend gold to hire an advisor (like a signing bonus) and then pay him a gold per month salary as well. There are level 1, 2, and 3 advisors and it costs more to have a level 3 than a level 1 and the level three has a bigger bonus than a level 1.

Advisors also let you manage your monarch points if you need to earn more in a category or to compensate for a poor king. If your king is only level 1 military it means he's only adding 1 military point per month, but you can hire a level 3 Master Recruiter or something and get an extra 3 military points per month in addition to his bonus which will be 30% national manpower modifier.

You hire these guys in the Government tab (crown) on the lower left side when you click on your nation shield at the upper left.

I knew about Advisors and had been using them. I hadn't put together until now that the updates on so and so being available was simply saying that the pool of candidates had a new addition. Makes sense.

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Just in case anyone is interested Humble store is having a smoking deal on Paradox games right now and for the next two days it looks like.

This collection includes the following games:

• Hearts of Iron 3
• Crusader Kings 2
• Europa Universalis IV
• Victoria II

It doesn't have any DLC but it's a great way to dip your toes into this genre. I think it pretty much rounds out the best Paradox has to offer right now. All for $20

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/paradoxgrandstrategycollection_storefront

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now it is the humble bundle.

all of that stuff plus more and the conquest of paradise DLC for EU IV for $15 or more.

Humble Paradox Bundle

Crusader Kings II + a crapton of DLC is in the humblebundle store for 23.99 for the next couple hrs. save a crap ton of cash!

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/crusaderkings2collection_storefront

ttt


Major Eu4 DLC dropped today. "Common Sense"

Even if you don't get the DLC (looks to be an awesome upgrade, akin to Art of War in terms of importance), the free update's changes are going to radically affect the way you play the game.

The way that "Development" works now, you basically need the new DLC.

You will reach a dead end in eu4 if your goal is to loltakeovertheworld. I started as Bavaria and formed Germany and took basically all of Europe and North Africa but every surviving country formed a coalition against me so war became too difficult between the coalitions and putting down all the revolts in my massive empire. Fun game though

Can someone give me a brief synopsis of how the hell the fort system works? I kinda get how provinces are now protected by a neighboring fort and how you need to siege the main fort. But how do the blocking mechanics work? Can they only block Armies of a certain size?

I was Holland in an independence war against Burgandy with France as my ally, and I pinned smallish army to follow a French stack and they left me in the dust and I was stuck besieging a fort and couldn't go any direction (but the French army had no problem leaving) until a Burgundian army came and kicked my ass.

So I wasn't sure either (despite the ridiculous number of hours I've played this since the update) so I did some digging, and it actually makes a lot of sense. The French were able to walk right past explicitly because you were sieging the fort.

The small portion from a dev diary explains this:

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What is most important to know though, is that forts now have a Zone of Control. First of all, they will automatically take control of any adjacent province that does not have any forts that is adjacent and hostile to them. If two fortress compete over the same province, then the one with highest fort-level wins and in case of a tie, control goes to the owner of the province. Secondly, you can not walk past a fortress and its zone of control, as you have to siege down the blocking fort first.

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Because you are sieging the fort, that garrison is prevented from stopping the French movement past it.

Ha. OK.

I've been playing EU4 for a few weeks now with just the basic version. Steam has all of the DLC on sale right now (minus the common sense expansion), just wondering what was worth picking up. Saw Art of War mentioned, and I'll probably get that as it's currently only 4.99. What about El Dorado (for 7.49) or the earlier expansions (all under $5)?

AoW is a must buy.
Wealth of nations adds quite a fair bit to trade
Res Publica is good if you play republics
Conquest of paradise is pretty pointless (random new world sucks)

i listed those in order of priority.

Common Sense is fantastic but not on sale. I highly recommend it though. I haven't played El Dorado and can't speak to that.

The other dlc is just songs and unit packs and stuff. Not really worth the money but you can usually get them for pennies in a bundle.

Kampfers, I have tried to find you on Steam to try for a multiplayer game. Also tried to message you on here but am unable to do so. Would like to try some multiplayer in a week or two if you are available. My Steam account is spitfi83.

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Kampfers, I have tried to find you on Steam to try for a multiplayer game. Also tried to message you on here but am unable to do so. Would like to try some multiplayer in a week or two if you are available. My Steam account is spitfi83.

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Yeah I'm not a premium user so I can't get PMs. I'll look you up later on steam.

Been trying CKII since i got a bunch of DLC on the cheap, but with the steam sale picked up Art of War, Res Publica, and Wealth of Nations for EUIV.

CKII is fun, but it looks like EUIV is more war focused, whereas CK is about the intrigue and other junk. Does not having Common Sense make it pointless in terms of development?

picked up eu4 this morning on steam for $9.99. installing now. will mess with tonight when i get home.

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Does not having Common Sense make it pointless in terms of development?

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Yes.

If we get a multiplayer game going this week, you can experience the common sense DLC because you're allowed to use whatever DLC the host has (presuming I host, of course).

If anyone else wants to play, go ahead and let me know your steam name. We can have virtually as many players as we want, I doubt we have enough to push the player limit.

Spullig, when do you have time to start the game? We should probably set aside a time period to play weekly in order to simplify it.

I probably wont have time, but how exactly does multiplayer work as far as the time/game speed?

im on a pretty shoddy internet connection plus a weird time zone so im probably out. I did find a mod that gives you more building plots so i'll try and truck along with that.

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I probably wont have time, but how exactly does multiplayer work as far as the time/game speed?

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Everyone plays at the same game speed. Anyone can pause the game. It then can't be unpaused for 30 seconds.

I am basically in the field supporting training until the 30th. I believe that either the 1st or 2nd I will have some time in the evening to play. Does that time work for you?

Yeah, those days are fine. Anyone else want to plan on trying out multiplayer? Be cool to have 4-5 people on.

ttt

any takers on multiplayer today?

I'm out running errands for a bit. What time do you want to start?

I'm free to start whenever. Just playing world of warships atm

Another patch coming soon.

Cossacks expansion is now out.

Anyone up for a multiplayer campaign?