EU3 Modification Question

[Tamas]

My suggestion: try SRI 4.0 I linked a couple of posts ago. I have just started a Burgundy game from 1399 and the diplomatic field feels so much more logical than vanilla's.

It seems that the modders managed to script via events and hardcoded AI behavior an AI which actually takes past relations into considerations, and due to the Great Powers or "Big 7" system, the 7 leading european military powers (AI ones) recognize each other and direct their diplomatic relations based on their own situation in relation to the other 6.

[alfred russel]

My suggestion: try SRI 4.0 I linked a couple of posts ago. I have just started a Burgundy game from 1399 and the diplomatic field feels so much more logical than vanilla's.

It seems that the modders managed to script via events and hardcoded AI behavior an AI which actually takes past relations into considerations, and due to the Great Powers or "Big 7" system, the 7 leading european military powers (AI ones) recognize each other and direct their diplomatic relations based on their own situation in relation to the other 6.

While I'm not doubting that there are improvements made, I'll probably only play a few games and am in BB's camp of preferring to play vanilla rather than mods.

[Tamas]

My suggestion: try SRI 4.0 I linked a couple of posts ago. I have just started a Burgundy game from 1399 and the diplomatic field feels so much more logical than vanilla's.

It seems that the modders managed to script via events and hardcoded AI behavior an AI which actually takes past relations into considerations, and due to the Great Powers or "Big 7" system, the 7 leading european military powers (AI ones) recognize each other and direct their diplomatic relations based on their own situation in relation to the other 6.

While I'm not doubting that there are improvements made, I'll probably only play a few games and am in BB's camp of preferring to play vanilla rather than mods.

Well it is up to you but you are missing out on a lot, and perhaps you are driven by your mod-experiences with previous Paradox products. However, the reason I play SRI instead of MM, is that SRI is completely missing the straight-jacketing aspect of all the older major mods I know (for EU2 and Victoria). It "only" adds some major historical layers where they are most desperately needed, ie. the HRE and wars of religion. You can check out its manual and see the massive event chains for the religious stuff for example, which try hard to concentrate on the reasons, and not the exact happenings, of those events.

Plus there are lots of other improvements, just check the manual.

[Queequeg]

Alfred, why don't you try MMP?  It balances quite a bit out, and Russia and the Mid-East are fairly well balanced (though if you are that concerned about Mid-East/Central Asian balance, start at around 1520, when the Safavids are set up and Kazan is mostly out of the way).

[Tamas]

Alfred, why don't you try MMP?  It balances quite a bit out, and Russia and the Mid-East are fairly well balanced (though if you are that concerned about Mid-East/Central Asian balance, start at around 1520, when the Safavids are set up and Kazan is mostly out of the way).

SRI is superior, Safavids or no Safavids.

[Solmyr]

How is colonization in SRI?

[Tamas]

How is colonization in SRI?

Its been a while I played a country concerned with that (right now I plan on making burgundy into a sea power, however).

IIRC, in the previous version of the mod, around 1560 only some coastal areas were painted in the americas, mostly the north and by castile and portugal, altough not take my word for it, because its been a while.

[Tamas]

I love this game.

When starting out with Burgundy (SRI 4.0), England and France both courted me for favor. I decided to gang up against the English for my core Calais. This was the first strategic mistake. I helped France get England out of her back, and eased them into not looking eastward for the time being. So they hit Aragon and Castile hard. The latter so hard, that around 1490ish they collapsed, ressurecting Granada.

But thats not the point. Protestantism started in 1503, followed by Reformation in a few years.
By this time I was colonizing Canada. Having not many colonists per year, and seeing how Reformed religion gives 10% bonus on colony growth, I converted when one of my provinces went Reformed. Strategic mistake #2.

Its funny how my original plan was to be the Netherlands which could had been. Conversion plumetted my stability, and apart from religious revolts, Luxembourg trying to get free, I had a pretender rise in my French territories (Franche-Comte and thereabouts). And to make matters worse, I became the junior partner in a Personal Union with Gelre.

So my plan to fasten my colonization actually almost stopped it. It's 1526, and the pesky French and English have joined me in the landgrab for the NE Canada coast, while Portugal, and to a lesser extent Castile, crawled up on the NE USA territories.
Yes, colonization is a bit too fast, but I dont care much, the rest is just too awesome.

Back to religion: France has all 3 religions but they are huge so they seem to be able to handle it. Germany is dotted with various religions but most of the minors havent converted away from catholicism yet. Bohemia, usual Emperor, decided to fight the heretics (event choice which gets announced globally), so did Hungary but they got also attacked by Austria so they collapsed. England was among the first to have Reformed province(s), but managed to convert them back to catholicism. In other words, the religious mess is in full swing.

Great fun.

[alfred russel]

Started a game with Brandenburg, having reduced colonization to 1/7 speed and removed the native nations (except Inca and Aztecs).

I'm playing with the house rule that for every noncore province I own, my max stability is reduced one (I use a cheat to reduce it when it gets higher).

So far, it is a lot of fun. I'm on the edge of my seat trying to keep good relations with Poland, which could crush me at will. I've taken one province so far when rebels from Bohemia declared independance and I promptly declared war on the ally-less country and annexed it. I don't think it makes sense to have more than 2 noncore provinces at a time, with the stability limits. Diplomacy is definately the key to survival--I just have to be sure to stay cozied up to the winners. Right now only Poland is near me, but Austria, Russia, and the OE are all getting closer.

[Queequeg]

How is SRI different from MMP?  Sell me, Magyar. 

[Tamas]

How is SRI different from MMP?  Sell me, Magyar.

It has much less direct stearing of the gameplay, most notably colonization. Yes, this makes colonization a bit too fast, but MMP's "solution" basically eliminates colonization as a game feature, and makes it a tedious scripted story.

SRI already has the enchanced AI MMP's next version will have.

[Queequeg]

I very rarely play colonizing powers, anyway.  Not for me. 

[Barrister]

I very rarely play colonizing powers, anyway.  Not for me.

I love playing ahistorical colonizers myself.

I once had a great Hussite Bohemian North America empire going in EU2...


And I was starting to get bored or my Scotland game, but you guys just reminded me I'll hit the Reformation any day now...

[Tamas]

I very rarely play colonizing powers, anyway.  Not for me.

Well, forgot one more thing: there are wars in SRI

[Tamas]

I very rarely play colonizing powers, anyway.  Not for me.

I love playing ahistorical colonizers myself.

I once had a great Hussite Bohemian North America empire going in EU2...


And I was starting to get bored or my Scotland game, but you guys just reminded me I'll hit the Reformation any day now...

Sadly, after SRI I could not go back to vanilla's reformation. It can be very hit or miss.