Europa Universalis V confirmed

[Norgy]

There have been three smaller patches after 1.2.

What I have noticed:
Disease is a constant, keeping you from quick population growth. The Black Death hits hard. As it should.

Whether or not to open a new market is a decision that the player needs to make quite early, as for a wider country, market access is an issue.

Economic growth is slow. Very slow.

Some old metas do not hold up. Vassal swarm is right out, especially the "just make them into fiefdoms and make them change culture and religion" one, which I suppose is good, but it really stunts any growth.

Naples is a monster and conquers Italy before colonising the Americas.

Spain never forms.

Russia hardly consolidates. That is because Poland-Lithuania does not happen. Poland usually ends up in a Hungarian union when the Luxembourgs die out.

There are hundreds of microstates in the HRE even by the mid 1600s.

I have tried France, England, Byzantium and Milano. All frustrating and fun, and extremely hard to make an economic surplus with.
Yes, even Milano.

[Josephus]

So returning to the game, first game with new patch. Trying Portugal to get a field for colonization, but my god, I'm 30 years in and am losing money like crazy. My minting is maxed out and running a 25 per cent and counting inflation, all my expenses are minimized, and each month I stay in the red.

[The Minsky Moment]

Economic growth is slow. Very slow.

I hope that sticks in future patches; economic growth in that period was extremely low by current standards.

[crazy canuck]

So returning to the game, first game with new patch. Trying Portugal to get a field for colonization, but my god, I'm 30 years in and am losing money like crazy. My minting is maxed out and running a 25 per cent and counting inflation, all my expenses are minimized, and each month I stay in the red.

Portugal has a very difficult start.

[Norgy]

Economic growth is slow. Very slow.

I hope that sticks in future patches; economic growth in that period was extremely low by current standards.

I think they will nerf pop growth furthermore too. What is strange about pop promotion, is that only peasants can promote. A burgher is always a burgher.

Josephus, I can't offer much helpful advice, except this: The supply chain. Which buildings need the raw materials that you have, and can enough peasants promote? Building any sort of control in the first era is not going to happen, as you can't afford a fleet for naval presence or roads to any big extent. There is also the question of locations' market access. Can they sell their stuff at your market?

I am thinking that maybe very small states may be easier to learn the game with.

[Josephus]

God damnit, this game is frustrating. I want to learn how to play it well, cause I want to enjoy it; but I don't know, especially since the last patch, I can't seem to make money.
I was playing Portugal, but I gave that up.

I switched to Castille and I was doing alright. Making OK money at first and managed to complete the Reconquista. I even prided myself on making money and not minting anything at all. But then I had the Castillian Succession Crisis or whatever they call it, and frankly, I never recovered.

I won the civil war. But in the process I had 8-9 loans. Only way to make money now was to mint the maximum. (although I don't have enough gold, it seems, so that's another issue). I paid off the loans (hoorah). But I was still in the red, losing money each month, despite my minting being at a max. My inflation by the late 1300s is about 80 per cent. I destroyed half my forts. Minimized my army/fort/navy maintanance. And hoorah, I'm making 12 ducats a month. I lower my minting slightly so I'm making around 6 ducats a month.

Then next month I'm making 2 ducats a month. Then -1 ducat, then -5 ducats a month.

Back to maxing my minting.

still losing money. And oh look, forced to take a loan.

It's a nasty loop I can't get out of.

Also, in previous games I was able to ask for money from my friends, but did it get harder to do now? I need to have 25 favours but when trying to curry favours it counts both favours owed and favours given together, and if they total 25 I can't curry any more favours...yet I need 25 to ask for money.

So yeah.

I even went to Amazon and found a Strategy Guide to EUV. HOping at the very least it would help me with making money. Turns out I lost money on that too...lol....it was a guide to EUIV with the title changed to EUV. MOre fool me.

[crazy canuck]

Yikes, I wonder if you are constructing too many buildings, that upkeep cost can really creep up on you.  Also are you making sure to increase your crown authority?

[Josephus]

Yikes, I wonder if you are constructing too many buildings, that upkeep cost can really creep up on you.  Also are you making sure to increase your crown authority?

I think it might be a building thing. My crown authority is shit, but that's mostly because of concessions I had to make during the civil war.

[Norgy]

Where's your capital in Castille?

I see most "experts" quickly move to Toledo to get an easier time with control.

On a general level, strong estates build a lot. And it's not always useful and draws labourers off from the RGOs, making my normal market village-build a level of RGO and a level of something that makes a small profit in rural locations less palpable.

A standing army drains your coffers quickly. Constantly checking how much you spend on buildings in the economy tab is good. So is adjusting diplo spending and stab spending. While 90 stability is nice, it is not vital.

Which estates contribute taxes? Probably the nobility, but still not much.

However, one aspect of the economy that is under-communicated by the game is market access in your provinces and locations. Even if you have a nice trade good, it sometimes doesn't reach your market because of low market access, usually down to one of three factors: distance (build a road), control and geography. Iberia's mountains contribute to this, and the locations along the rivers and coastline should be a priority. I've learned this the hard way as Norway, thinking that development followed a historical trajectory and focused on building up eastern Norway's agriculture. Does not help when the pops only grow along the coast.

Having a fleet patrolling the seas along the north shore and around Seville should help a bit with control and proximity, albeit marginally before the 1400s.

Castille has lots of wool production. Channelling this into spinning guilds, then cloth guilds, should yield a surplus for trade. Trade income really has saved my big behind in most games. The buildings, navy and army suck my coffers dry.

[garbon]

This is sounding a lot like MEIOU and Taxes.

[Norgy]

It is, really.