Is EU3 fun yet?

[DGuller]

I also read on Paradox that funding patriots will give the provinces to you.  I've tried it, and Lombardian patriots already handed me two provinces.  It would be a hoot if they eventually made their way to Rome, and given that to Ottomans as well. 

[Viking]

Kaiser Henry VI Hamilton von London has already de-blobified Austria, Hesse, Saxony, Brandenburg, Bavaria, Mainz, The Hansa, Utrecht and Bohemia over the last 30 years with his "Imperial Liberation" casus belli releasing all minors and moved on to the religious unity casus belli when the germans finally got the message that men of the west (Welsh Archers, Scottish Pikes, French Knights, Irish Thugs and English Generals) would come and smite their army and divide up their land should they try to aquire some land without paying for it.

[DGuller]

Yes, Rome has finally fulfilled its dream of voluntarily joining the Ottoman Empire.  The Papacy has moved to Iceland.

[Kleves]

WAD.

[DGuller]

And now I'm bored.  Now I'm the big green blob, owning a huge chunk of Europe, most of it converted to the proper religion, and really nothing will stop me.  I wish EU games had some kind of mechanism to keep you interested when you're crushing the game.

[Tamas]

Yeah in my limited experience now (3 GC games) Burgundy is the Blob on the Continent.

But they have a very central location.

In my France game, I was very worried about them. Not only they blobified, they were HRE members so Bohemia would help them out.

But I gradually grew to other directions, and amassad several armies waiting for the perfect moment, and that came when someone had them excommunicated. After I managed to hunt down their armies and started capturing provinces, all the neigboring minors joined in and when we were finished, Burgundy was down to 3 isolated provinces. It was quite dramatic.

[Solmyr]

Yes, Rome has finally fulfilled its dream of voluntarily joining the Ottoman Empire.  The Papacy has moved to Iceland.

Iceland seems to be the hub of Europe in EU3. Not only the Pope often gets its provinces if they rebel and defect, trade centers also constantly pop up in Reykjavik.

[Solmyr]

And now I'm bored.  Now I'm the big green blob, owning a huge chunk of Europe, most of it converted to the proper religion, and really nothing will stop me.  I wish EU games had some kind of mechanism to keep you interested when you're crushing the game.

You could reduce the reputation limit like Magna Mundi does, to bring badboy wars sooner and to slow the pace of conquest.

[Neil]

Why is the map still so horribly ugly?

3D.  It's the wave of the future. 

You know, it's kind of funny how vulnerable bad developers are to this sort of thing, and how doggedly they can hold onto an idea.

[Sahib]

War of the Roses? War of Castilian succession? Granted in the former there wasn't a lot of international interference (IIRC) but still, those conflicts saw some part of the nobility oppose the reigning monarch. This is already simulated via events in the game, why would France be special and also have actual vassals?

Btw, in my games it's usually Burgundy blobbing, after it crushes France.

None of other countries had such powerful and unified feudal holdings as these in France.

[Razgovory]

Yes, Rome has finally fulfilled its dream of voluntarily joining the Ottoman Empire.  The Papacy has moved to Iceland.

I think that happened in reality.  Wasn't that part of that Russian guy's New history that your dad liked?  Fomenko or something.

[Viking]

Yes, Rome has finally fulfilled its dream of voluntarily joining the Ottoman Empire.  The Papacy has moved to Iceland.

Iceland seems to be the hub of Europe in EU3. Not only the Pope often gets its provinces if they rebel and defect, trade centers also constantly pop up in Reykjavik.

Me and Johan are tight like that.....   

[DGuller]

Yes, Rome has finally fulfilled its dream of voluntarily joining the Ottoman Empire.  The Papacy has moved to Iceland.

I think that happened in reality.  Wasn't that part of that Russian guy's New history that your dad liked?  Fomenko or something.

[Martinus]

Hey guys, I have a question. I started playing EU3 again recently (got the Mac version) and while I enjoy the game as I did back on PC, I start running into the same problem - i.e. I can't seem to get a hang of it.

I mean, I either seem to expend too fast and run into reputation/prestige issues, or I start to wait for an opportunity (like a claim or an event or a war of succession) and end up sitting on my hands for 50 years. I know the answer is somewhere in between but where exactly? Could people who know this game well offer some rules of thumb on how they approach their expansion, especially in early game? For the record I usually like playing a German inland budding power, such as Austria or Brandenburg (I dislike colonization). So what should I do? Sit on the sidelines like an opportunist and pick up whoever is weak or should I have a plan and implement it? Becoming HRE seems like an obvious goal - but once you get elected, you end up in all these wars while France or Brandenburg or Denmark swallow HRE minors so it is pretty frustrating as well.

[Barrister]

That's always an issue with EU - there can be long stretches with little to do.  HTTT has actually helped with more to do during peacetime (and colonization is also a fun peaceful time-waster), but yeah, that's going to happen.

Try to reach a balance between an overall plan, and taking advantage of opportunities when you see them.  And in EU3 it's even easier than ever to watch your BB (or infamy) and make sure it never gets too high.