Europa Universalis IV announced

[Caliga]

I've got an Ottoman campaign going and I like the estates system.  Hard to keep the Beys happy without letting them get too powerful.  I also really like the Threaten War mechanic. Used it to get Kaffa from Genoa and Konya from Karaman.  Just got done dismantling the White Sheep Turks and then the Sultan died, and his heir was an infant, who died two years later, so I'm in a long ass Regency period.  Oh well... I still get to have some fun stomping on Syrian and Iraqi rebels.

Regency period just ended in my game.  I actually ended up doing a lot of fighting during the Regency anyway, since besides the rebels the Krim Khan decided to try to Conquer the Golden Horde and called me into that war.  We crushed the horde and the Khanate expanded all over southern Russia, as far north as Tambov and Voronezh, and then Muscovy invaded so I got to fight some epic battles against the Russians.  I was winning them, but it was bleeding my reserves white and I wanted those men for when the Regency ended, so I withdrew via a white peace and let the Khan get stomped.

(I seem to recall that this may have happened in real life, actually... a brief period of massive expansion of Crimea followed by a defeat at the hands of Russia.)

Anyway, great stuff.  With the regency over I immediately squashed Bohtan and completed the conquest of all of Iraq save Basra, and am about to jump on the Mamluks and hopefully finish them off.  Mehmet died before I was able to get it done the first time around.

[crazy canuck]

Playing as France, the Burgundian king died early on while valiantly fighting, and winning a war against England.  And so in one go I acquired the Burgundian holdings that rightly belong to France and I was able to immediately declare war on an exhausted and war weary England to take back our sacred lands from the English dogs.  Provence also for some strange reason had no allies and so I was able to soon after force vassalize them.  I have to take things easy for a while because some of my neighbours are a bit put out at our quick successes.  But thankfully I have the West Indies and Canada in range and I am embarking on a policy of all out colonization of the New World.  It seems only Portugal understands the virtue of colonization but they are thankfully only interested in Brazil at the moment.

My best friend atm is Castille.  Eventually there will be some friction between us as they start colonizing but by then I think I will have the main trade ports under French control.

Great game so far.

[Josephus]

The new call ally to wars system. So I ask my ally, Nogai,  to join me, Russia, in a war against Astrakahan. Since they didn't owe me favours I promised them land. But for the whole war they never took territory, and though I took four provinces there didn't seem to be an option to give it to them as part of the peace deal. So I didn't. Now they hate me.

[Eddie Teach]

It's ok, they were going to hate you anyway because they're heathens and because the Rodina needs to expand.

Do you have the Cossacks DLC? I've never seen the promise land option. I can either get people to join for future favors or I can't even call them.

[Liep]

The new call ally to wars system. So I ask my ally, Nogai,  to join me, Russia, in a war against Astrakahan. Since they didn't owe me favours I promised them land. But for the whole war they never took territory, and though I took four provinces there didn't seem to be an option to give it to them as part of the peace deal. So I didn't. Now they hate me.

You can transfer control over occupied territory in the province view, then you can grant them that land in the peace deal.

[Caliga]

The new call ally to wars system. So I ask my ally, Nogai,  to join me, Russia, in a war against Astrakahan. Since they didn't owe me favours I promised them land. But for the whole war they never took territory, and though I took four provinces there didn't seem to be an option to give it to them as part of the peace deal. So I didn't. Now they hate me.

You can transfer control over occupied territory in the province view, then you can grant them that land in the peace deal.

Did that with Crimea once as the Ottomans.

[Caliga]

As the Turks my European frontier has been stable and peaceful for decades, and I've got the Mamluks reduced to a remnant state in the middle Nile valley.  I've started building a Red Sea Fleet and after I take Basra and begin expending into the Gulf region, I may try to convert to a colonial power and maybe aim for Australia or Indonesia or something.  Anyone done something like this with the Turks before in a recent iteration of EU4?  Is it even possible, really?

[Eddie Teach]

I'm sure it is, but I'm too busy conquering Europe and Asia to worry about colonies. 

[Caliga]

I'm sure it is, but I'm too busy conquering Europe and Asia to worry about colonies. 

Playing as the Turks I've never had the desire to try to conquer all of Europe.  I'm cool with stopping at the Danube, really, aside from taking Romania as those guys really need to be oppressed.

[Monoriu]

I love playing as Portugal in EU.  I like the colonisation and trading aspects, but I am also in the game of European wars.  After countless Portugal EU games, my conclusion is that the best time to take care of Castile is Day 1, or if I am in a regency, the first day that I can declare war. 

I always ally with Aragon.  The big if is if I can ally with France.  Prior to the Cossacks expansion I could do that, and France, Aragon and me ganging up on Castile was a cake walk.  But in my latest Portugal game after installing Cossacks, France now considers Aragon a rival.  And it is much more difficult to get allies to participate in offensive wars. 

[Eddie Teach]

I assume you break off your alliance with England?

[Monoriu]

I assume you break off your alliance with England?

Yes, that's usually one of my first steps.  In my games, Castile usually ally with England, so I go to war with England all the time.  That suits me fine, because England is also an early coloniser, and I need to annex them as well.  They are on an island, so fighting them is relatively easy without interference from others.  Biggest problem with fighting England is that I need a big battle fleet and an even bigger transport fleet to land an army that can survive the English army's counterattack.  The English home army is usually at least 30k strong, so I need 25-30 transports to get my first wave on shore or they are wiped out. 

[Eddie Teach]

Or you can ally with Scotland and land troops before going to war. 

[Norgy]

How I managed to screw up as Austria is impressive.
By 1520, the usually big blob is, well, just a small boil.
The Bohemian king is alive and well and runs the HRE.

[Monoriu]

Or you can ally with Scotland and land troops before going to war. 

I knew you'd say that 

I do ally with Scotland.  If England attacks them, I get the opening that I need.  But as I said, it is now difficult to get allies to join offensive wars.  There is another issue: military access seems a bit bugged.  My armies can't start sieges if I use access to land troops in Scotland.  Dunno if it is a bug or feature.  In any case, playing as Portugal means a global empire, with random rebels popping up across continents.  Huge amounts of transports are needed anyway.