Europa Universalis IV announced

[Habbaku]

There's certainly plenty of examples of kingdoms favoring certain segments of the economy and specific regions over others, for all sorts of reasons.

[DGuller]

It feels too much like terraforming to me.  I definitely want a mechanic that will make provinces richer over the long haul if they're part of a country that manages its economic development well, but it doesn't happen overnight by edict.

[Josephus]

Yes, exactly. If one doesn't have something nice to say, probably best not to engage with the public. Seems a bit unprofessional to speak with one's customers that way, even (perhaps particularly) when they deserve a sock in the mouth.

Self-awareness isn't the strongest attribute of the Paradox folks since Patrick (I think that was the name of the one community friendly guy Paradox had years ago).

Patric, with a c. Yes, he was pretty cool. Johan was OK up until around the time Patric left,then he got an ego.

[crazy canuck]

Yes, exactly. If one doesn't have something nice to say, probably best not to engage with the public. Seems a bit unprofessional to speak with one's customers that way, even (perhaps particularly) when they deserve a sock in the mouth.

Self-awareness isn't the strongest attribute of the Paradox folks since Patrick (I think that was the name of the one community friendly guy Paradox had years ago).

Patric, with a c. Yes, he was pretty cool. Johan was OK up until around the time Patric left,then he got an ego.

Ah right you are - Patric.   Your memory is better than mine.

[Syt]

Yeah, Patric was a great and mellow guy (and so was Henrik, one of the designers who left shortly after).

When Johan had his "God of thunder and rock&roll" title, Patric had "God of soft rain and folk."

[Norgy]

Why not?   I'm not saying you are wrong, but it seems like a centrally-planned economy should be able to do something like that.... not that all nation states of that era had such economies, by any means.

Yes, I get the general idea. Especially under absolutism. However, I like the more event-based approach. Also, I don't understand the Parliamentary government in England.. 
I've had three runs at it now:
1) Austria - the archduke dies three years in with no legal heir, the imperial crown passes to Saxony, the HRE goes ablobbing. Byzantium still exists and kicks ass in 1510.
2) England - ass kicked by France within a decade.  Their alliance with Castille made short work of my Austian-English alliance.
3) Denmark - early prestige loss led to Norway and Sweden declaring independence when Christopher III died, and only a long and costly restoration war brought them back into the fold. It's 1522, Denmark has a foothold along the Baltic coast and Norway and Sweden still are in the restored Union of Kalmar. Debts are slowly being paid off. Sweden's liberty desire is worrisome.

The Burgundian inheritance never goes right, and it looks to me like the Vlaams Blok have designed the Lowlands setup.
Apart from that, I find the game perfectly challenging and rewarding. The new fort system seems to work. You don't see armies roaming around willy-nilly anymore.

[Drakken]

My only problem with the game right now is the rebels. If an AI country enters in a disaster its fucked, as manpower recover so slowly that wars follow, than disasters, and the country breaks down because it's downright impossible to build troops against the rebels spawning 10-20k armies without manpower (except Mercenaries, but they cost a lot and thus you soon enter bankrupcy).

In my current Portugal game (Portugal is now hard as hell) Castile has all but broken down between Aragon and Morocco. I grabbed Galicia. but I've entered into Internal Conflicts disaster.

[DGuller]

My only problem with the game right now is the rebels. If an AI country enters in a disaster its fucked, as manpower recover so slowly that wars follow, than disasters, and the country breaks down because it's downright impossible to build troops against the rebels spawning 10-20k armies without manpower (except Mercenaries, but they cost a lot and thus you soon enter bankrupcy).

In my current Portugal game (Portugal is now hard as hell) Castile has all but broken down between Aragon and Morocco. I grabbed Galicia. but I've entered into Internal Conflicts disaster.

I tried Portugal as well.  Unfortunately for me, all the wrong countries got crippled.  Austria got crippled pretty much out of the gate, going through a cycle of constant bankruptcies, with Styria eventually controlling most of its territory.  And, as usual, inheriting Burgundy was a curse in disguise, as it could not hold on to it at all. 

The surprising part was that this time it wasn't France benefiting from the Austrian inheritance, but Holland/Netherlands, which is actually quite a scary force now.  France for whatever reason never got going either.  Unluckily for me, Spain has suffered no such bad luck, and even PU'd me at one point.  I managed to wrestle myself free from it, but really, with no one to counter them, and with GB and Netherlands as their allies, my game as Portugal is over.

[Josquius]

So, who has been playing lately with this new patch and the different fort system?
Does it work in practice?

Also has France eternally being as successful as Napoleonic France been fixed?

[Liep]

I've begun to like the fort and building system. It feels like a more powerful choice and if a country falls it falls fast.

[garbon]

I don't know when they added it (I didn't play much from when Art of War came out till now) but the ability to click on an army stack, click on an overseas province and then have game automate sending ships over to transport troops, as well as divide army stack into smaller transportable groups is awesome.

[Josquius]

I don't know when they added it (I didn't play much from when Art of War came out till now) but the ability to click on an army stack, click on an overseas province and then have game automate sending ships over to transport troops, as well as divide army stack into smaller transportable groups is awesome.

That sounds lovely.
Playing taxi is a horrible horrible part of so many strategy games.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I don't know when they added it (I didn't play much from when Art of War came out till now) but the ability to click on an army stack, click on an overseas province and then have game automate sending ships over to transport troops, as well as divide army stack into smaller transportable groups is awesome.

iirc it was an Art of War thing

[Caliga]

Yup.

[Josephus]

I don't know when they added it (I didn't play much from when Art of War came out till now) but the ability to click on an army stack, click on an overseas province and then have game automate sending ships over to transport troops, as well as divide army stack into smaller transportable groups is awesome.

How do you divide armies into smaller transportable groups...or does it do it automatically also?