Europa Universalis 3

Nightmare wrote:

Were you role-playing the late unlamented Alfonso or adjusting your narrative to fit events? Either way, another excellent write up.

What I've been doing is just playing the game and taking notes on what happens. Then when I've played a chunk, I sit down and look at all of the events that occurred and try to determine a somewhat coherent story. Alfonso had stats of 3/3/3 while his father and the new king both had much higher ratings. Additionally, his legitimacy never climbed above 30, he ended up dying young, and his major accomplishment was surviving an invasion by the Songhai. All of these things added up to me writing him as a spoiled brat unwilling to listen to a 'wise' regent. If he would have lived on and been king when I played through the English invasion part, I probably would have written him as an immature prince who triumphed over the English and in the process became a great king. etc., etc.

The long drawn out war with the Songhai actually happened because after they attacked me they simply would not accept a peace settlement no matter how much I beat up on their armies, and they seemed to keep producing troops out of Terra Incognita. I believe the inability to make peace actually tied to his low diplomatic rating in the game. Similarly, the war with the Aztecs also took longer than it should have because of constant rebellions which were at least partly due to his low legitimacy.

The new king had high stats, had 100 legitimacy, and was king during the win over the English so I wrote him as a hero.

does anyone know how long it takes before you can chance fron religion after a force religion??

So far I've only seen three ways:

Missions that grant you a core for completion
Random events
Hold a province 50 years

I ginned up a war with Venice, since my ally Milan was at war with their allies. Then, when Corfu jumped in to support Venice, I simply took the whole damn island. That will get it, eventually.

The Venetians were quite understanding. The rest of their war was turning against them after Bohemia jumped in, and so they essentially sold me Corfu for 15 ducats and a fare-thee-well. I loves me some thuggery.

I'm loving your write-ups, Jasonofindy. They keep getting better!

Also, that Alfonso guy was kind of a dick.

I hate it when a rich power joins a war against me and then just starts throwing money at causing unrest.

During his first five years as king, Enrique V had successfully driven back a major English invasion from his land, freed the Irish and Scottish, vassalized Aragon, and oversaw the final conquest of the Aztecs and Zapotecs. Not only was the Iberian peninsula secured, but by this point all of Castillian Africa had been converted to Catholicism and most of the people in the realm's older acquisitions in the region could not remember a time when they were not part of Castille. Game note: I had now gained cores across many of the African provinces. With most of the conflicts between Islam and Catholicism in the African provinces over, the threat of revolt was seriously diminished.

Smoke 'em if You Got 'em (1494-1499)

After the war with England, many of the units created for the war had been disbanded to cut costs. However, the crown still had 13000 more soldiers stationed in Ireland. With the peninsula and Africa stabilized, the king needed to decide how he wanted to use these troops, or if he simply wanted to disband this army as well. Looking at his most recent maps of the new world he was pleased with how his realm was growing there. However, there were huge gaps between his colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland in the north and his Caribbean and Castillian Mayan provinces in the south.

A colonization party had recently sailed from Castille to colonize the islands of the Bahamas by sailing from the Azores to Bermuda and on to their destination. However, they had been blown past their destination and landed in a land called Muskogee ruled by a fierce tribe calling themselves the Shawnee. Game note: While I did have a failed colonization attempt on the Bahamas, I had already "discovered" the Shawnee in Muskogee. Many of the colonists did not survive the encounter, but those who did spoke of savages who smoked a strange leaf. Samples had been returned to court with the survivors, and after trying out the new luxury, the king was desperate for more. With any luck, the Shawnee would also have the same riches that were obtained from the Aztecs, Zapotecs, and Mayans. He decided he would use his troops in Ireland to conquer the Shawnee.

The fleet was dispatched to ferry his Army of Munster from Ireland to the new world. After dealing with the English, Enrique was sure that these troops would have little trouble taming the savages. Upon landing at Muskogee, the army quickly seized the province and began building a fort with little resistance from the natives. Scouts came back with news that not only had the Shawnee vowed to push the white invaders from their land, but that another tribe, the Creeks, had joined them in their fight. Leaving behind 2000 men to continue work on Muskogee's fortifications, the army pushed west into Chiaha where they were met by 13000 Shawnee. Even though outnumbered, the battle was going well for the Army of Munster. Just as it looked like the Shawnee would break, a of 8000 more Shawnee reinforcements arrived. The battle raged on with both sides taking horrendous casualties.

As the Shawnee broke before them and retreated into the forest, the initial order was to pursue and destroy them. However, scouts came into camp with news that 7000 Creek warriors had been sighted to the south in Yamasee. They appeared to be headed for the still incomplete fortifications at Muskogee. So instead of pursuing the broken Shawnee warriors, the remnants of the Army of Munster moved south into Yamasee to intercept the Creek before they could destroy the new fortifications at Muskogee. While the Creek advance was repelled, The Army of Munster was now in no condition to pursue. So they camped for the winter in Yamasee and began building fortifications there as well. By the spring, the fortifications in Muskogee and Yamasee were complete. The previous summer's campaign had taught the officers that pacification of this new land would not come quickly. Over the course of the next two years, two more large Shawnee armies were beaten, and the provinces of Chiaha, Alabama, Pensacola, and Tuskegee were all conquered.

In 1496 a peace settlement was signed with the Shawnee as the Army was depleted from fighting hordes of Shawnee and Creek and stretched thin protecting the building of fortifications in all of the new lands. Evidently, the Shawnee had previously conquered a strong-willed people known as the Cherokee. Both during and after the Shawnee war, Cherokee rebellions were rampant across both the Castillian-held provinces and neighboring Shawnee territories. From 1497-99 the Army of Munster was busy dealing with these rebellions in Castillian Shawnee. At the same time, rebellions were also rampant across Castillian Maya as those territories were slowly converted to Christianity.

"Castillian Shawnee" after the peace of 1496 and a few years of fortification.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/zIv6r.jpg)

In addition to putting down the various native rebels, Castille was busy growing its existing colonies and planting new ones. A second attempt resulted in the establishment of a successful colony in the Bahamas. Additionally, the two colonies of Guantanamo and Moron were established on the island of Cuba, and the colonies of Tortuga and Les Cayes were founded next to the existing colony of Barahonas on the island of Hispaniola.

The Creek War and the Second Shawnee Conquest(1501-1503)

With the conquered Shawnee territory secured and fortified, the king ordered the conquest to be resumed and completed. Much of Castillian Maya had been converted to Christianity over the past ten years, and the need for troops in that area to handle revolts was diminishing so half of the Army of Zapotec was transported to Castillian Shawnee to help in the conquest. Simultaneous wars of colonial conquest were then declared against the Creek and the Shawnee. The 6000 men of the Army of Zapotec marched south into Apalachee and quickly defeated the Creeks. Peace was signed within a month and fortification of Apalachee began.

Meanwhile, the Army of Munster marched north into Catawba and discovered that the Shawnee had been busy fortifying the region. Leaving infantry behind to besiege the fortifications at Catawba and Cheraw, the army marched west into the province of Cherokee to fight an army of Shawnee warriors. The Shawnee, still weak from the previous war and from dealing with Cherokee uprisings, were crushed by the Army of Munster. Two years passed as the cavalry marched from province to province defeating small forces of Shawnee while the infantry besieged Shawnee fortifications. By mid-1503, the Shawnee had been conquered and fortification of the new lands were well under way.

Castillian Shawnee after the Second Shawnee War- rebellions like this one in Alabama would continue to be a problem.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/DtIpF.jpg)

Aragon and a Civil War (1502-03)

After the defeat of the Creeks, the resumption of the conquest of Shawnee lands, and his numerous earlier accomplishments, King Enrique V was by far the most prestigious ruler in the world. He was popular with both the peasants and nobles in Castille and respected if not liked by most of the other European rulers. However, after being reduced to a mere vassal of Castille at the end of the English war, many in Aragon were resentful of their Castillian overlord. Fortunately, time and money heal most wounds. Over the past ten years, Enrique had invested money into the growth of Aragon and treated the Aragonese nobles as equals to those in Castille and the former provinces of Portugal. Seeing the wealth and status that many former Portuguese nobles had attained in the twenty years since their unification with Castille, most Aragonese nobles were pleased when Enrique announced his intentions to annex Aragon into his Castillian kingdom.

The peninsula was now completely under the Castillian banner.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/IWGOJ.jpg)

Not everyone was overjoyed. Much of the Aragonese royal family angrily fled to asylum in Milan and many of those in power in the old bureaucracy in Barcelona were bitter when their positions were assumed by Castillian nobles and officials. It didn't take long for tensions to boil over. Aragonese nobles led an army of 14000 Aragonese soldiers in an uprising in Barcelona. This wasn't a minor native revolt. These were 14000 professional soldiers including 6000 cavalry and 1000 artillery men.

King Enrique was in trouble. No Castillian troops were on the peninsula and his most battle hardened troops were occupied fighting the Shawnee in North America. Thankfully, he still had 18000 troops in Africa. 10000 were in the south along the Songhai border and 8000 were along the Libyan frontier in the east. Unfortunately, many of these troops were outdated Muslim archer units who would not likely fare well against the Aragonese Condotta infantry, cavalry, and cannon. Recruiting began around Castille for 4000 new Galloglaigh infantry while the navy collected all of the troops from Africa and gathered them in Valencia as the siege of Barcelona continued.

Even though partially outdated, the Castillian army outnumbered their Aragonese counterparts 22000 to 14000. Even with the numerical advantage, the initial battle to break the siege of Barcelona was closely fought and there were more Castillian casualties than Aragonese. Thankfully, the Aragonese forces broke first and retreated towards the safety of the mountains in Pirineo, but the Castillian general outmaneuvered them and occupied defensive positions in the mountains before the Aragonese rebels could arrive. These defensive positions made all of the difference as the Aragonese armies were reduced and eventually defeated when they attempted to retreat a second time.

The battle convinced the king of the need to modernize his army as soon as financially possible. The revolt in Aragon and those in the Americas had also convinced the king of the need to purge Native American and African troops from his ranks and replace them with modern European infantry. Game note: Since I am playing a European power all of my Latin infantry were automatically upgraded as my Land tech increased, but my armies had several units of Muslim archers and Native American spearmen that would never upgrade. As money permits I've begun disbanding them and recruiting replacement infantry.

Furs Cover His Hide (1504-1506)

With the war against the Shawnee winding down and the revolt in Aragon handled, King Enrique had a new problem. His large army and new Caribbean colonies were being paid for using war taxes. At peacetime tax levels, he would only be able to support the army by reducing their maintenance to a minimum. This was simply untenable as he needed those forces at full strength to protect the missionaries and the men constructing forts across all of the new Shawnee territories from Cherokee and Shawnee uprisings and to guard against another potential military uprising in Aragon. Thankfully, in just a few years many of his Caribbean colonies would be self-sustaining and correct the problem. In the meantime, he needed a war because he needed the war taxes, but who would his armies fight?

His troops in the Ohio territory provided him with the solution. Their reports indicated that many of the local villagers traded with a large Indian confederation in the north known as the Iroquois. They told of a powerful civilization centered around giant freshwater lakes. Of the utmost interest to the nobles funding the king's military exploits were the furs recovered from these traders and sent back to Europe as samples for the court. They were of unsurpassed quality. The decision was made. Additional conquest would be funded to conquer the Iroquois lands producing these riches.

While 8000 infantry were left in Castillian Shawnee to protect the completion of fortifications and missionaries against uprisiings, 16000 troops marched northwards to the only known Iroquois settlements in the province of Niagara. Game note: at the beginning of this war the only Iroquois province I could see was Niagara. The rest were uncovered as I fought my way across their territory. Niagara was undefended and unfortified and fell quickly to our advancing army. The army swept eastward discovering and taking Iroquois territories one by one until they reached the fortifications at Onondaga. 2000 infantry were left behind to besiege Onondaga, while the bulk of the army moved continued eastward suffering further attrition as they marched through the wilderness.

Farther east in Oneida, they faced off against 16000 Iroquois warriors. The Castillians quickly broke the Iroquois, but the Iroquois had taken relatively light casualties as they retreated westward past the Castillians. Traveling quickly through the forests they reached the 2000 men at Onondaga and defeated them before the pursuing Castillian main army could arrive. The Iroquois army then fled around Lake Ontario with the Castillian army in pursuit but losing ground as they trudged through the forests. Over the course of two years, the Iroquois evaded the Castillian army at almost every turn, but were beaten each time the Castillians could actually engage. With each passing month, more and more Iroquois territory was gobbled up. In 1506, the Castillians finally trapped the remnants of the Iroquois warriors in the province of Ottawa and destroyed them. All Iroquois lands were conquered and annexed. Peace had finally come to North America.

Map of newly won Castillian Iroquois lands
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/sUqb8.jpg)

Castillian American possessions except Greenland and Cuamana (in modern day Venezuala just south of my colonies on the islands of the Lesser Antilles)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/intbR.jpg)

Weird - I thought Castille + Aragon = Spain

Nice write-up as usual. Congratulations, you are now a tax war-monger

It's not automatic; you have to select the "Form Spanish Nation" "action". (Can't remember what those are called all of a sudden.) The prerequisite is cores on a bunch of provinces.

tanstaafl wrote:

It's not automatic; you have to select the "Form Spanish Nation" "action". (Can't remember what those are called all of a sudden.) The prerequisite is cores on a bunch of provinces.

Hmm, you do indeed learn something new every day. I never once formed Spain in all my games as Castille.

tanstaafl wrote:

It's not automatic; you have to select the "Form Spanish Nation" "action". (Can't remember what those are called all of a sudden.) The prerequisite is cores on a bunch of provinces.

This. I've had everything necessary to form Spain for quite some time except for a core in Barcelona. Now that Aragon has been annexed I need to wait the fifty years until I gain a core on it in order to form Spain.

I actually have a quick question regarding that. I am currently a Feudal Monarchy and my slider is as far towards Centralization as that form of government allows. The benefit of forming Spain is that the slider moves two more notches toward Centralization. If I form Spain while still a Feudal Monarchy will I lose that benefit or will the event override my form of government's limitation?

Sliders can go past the limits imposed by your government type but you take various negative modifiers in various places (depending on which slider is where). Various events can push your sliders too; I think in my last game half my sliders were outside of where they were "supposed" to be.

Peaceful Expansion (1506-1520)

With the conquest of the Iroquois and their rich fur trading rights as well as the growth of his Caribbean colonies, King Enrique had vastly improved the financial situation of his realm. Over the course of the next fourteen years, he embarked on an ambitious program to fortify all of his new Iroquois territories and to convert his entire realm to Catholicism. His Mayan and Aztec provinces in Central America had now been fully converted so he focused every available missionary on his new North American holdings in the new territories of Castillian Shawnee and Castillian Iroquois. Uprisings and dissatisfaction were rampant across these new lands leading to many revolts, especially from subjugated tribes known as the Cherokee and the Huron. Each one was put down by Castillian troops.

While the bulk of the military kept the peace among the subjugated tribes, a 4000 man force was created to explore new lands in the Americas, defeat any hostile native tribes encountered, and prepare new areas for colonization. Each year a new party of colonists was sent to claim another piece of America for Castille. First, Castille planted colonies in Pocumtuk, Pennacook, and Massachusetts in order to connect Mohawk and the rest of the Castillian Iroquois provinces to the Atlantic. Farther north, Beothuk and Unamkik were founded next to Castille's existing colony on Newfoundland. Next, Timucua and Seminole on the Florida peninsula were colonized to shore up Castillian Shawnee's southeastern border. Enrique wished to colonize the entire east coast of North America and unite his Shawnee and Iroquois lands. However, he could not ignore the trade wealth of the Caribbean so additional colonies were also planted in Havana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Turks islands, Antigua, Barbados, St. Martin, and Caracao.

Castillian American Colonial Map circa 1520
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/HSMSV.jpg)

In addition to his colonial expansion, Enrique's prestige among the rulers of Europe and his strong family ties with many of the existing royal lines led to other opportunities to peacefully expand his realm. In 1507, he received news that the king of Naples had died without a son. Because of his own strong marital connections to the realm, he now ascended to the throne of Naples and would rule it in a personal union with Castille. While not a large country, his Kingdom of Naples controlled all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal State and half of Sicily. Just nine year later, he also gained the crown of the tiny Kingdom of Mecklenburg on the Baltic under similar circumstances. While physically small, the kingdom was a financial center and was becoming an economic powerhouse. (Game note: With my prestige high and my royal line secure I had entered into a number of royal marriages across Europe in the 1490's and 1500's. My prestige was in the 90's thoughout this period after being maxed out at the end of The Iroquois war, so I think that is a major factor in how I randomly gained these two Personal Unions.)

European Relationships-
Green-Castille
Bright green- Castille's vassal state of Munster, and the kingdoms of Mecklenburg and Naples being held in Personal Union
Light Blue- Marriages with Denmark, Norway, France, Milan, and several others.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/fU2Xw.jpg)

King Enrique's continued devotion and drive to convert all of his lands to Catholicism was also paying off in the form of papal influence. While the costs to send and maintain so many missionaries across the globe was quite high, he always seemed to have the Pope's ear. Throughout this period, only Naples and Lithuania could compete with his Papal Influence. (Game note: The title of "Papal Controller" rotated pretty steadily between Naples, Lithuania, and Castille) Unfortunately, heretics were appearing across the continent in a movement known as the Reformation. Thankfully, the movement appeared to be weak in his own lands, and heretical beliefs had infected only a couple of his North African provinces. His priests were working towards a solution, but the religious fervor of the heretics in Ceuta was so strong that he was unsure when or even if the heretics could be completely stamped out. (Game note: The protestant provinces currently have a "fervor" modifier that actually gives me a negative chance to convert them so I haven't actually tried yet.)

Colonial Competition (1515-1520)

Throughout this peaceful period of colonization and fortification, King Enrique had naval squadrons patrolling the west African and American coastlines. The primary purpose of these squadrons was to keep the waters free of pirates and to ensure the safety of his colonial trade goods. Over the years he also found that they were handy in monitoring the empty and wild coasts for signs of expansion by other European powers. He had decided that other European countries should be prevented from colonizing Africa and the new world for as long as possible. If the circumstances were right, he was prepared to use force if necessary to keep his European rivals out of Africa and America.

With her strong naval tradition and technology, he expected England to be his primary rival in colonial endeavors. In 1515, his intuition was proven wrong. Naval reports indicated that France had started a small colony on the African coastline south of Songhai territory in a region know as Sierra Leone. An all out war against France was unthinkable. All of his spies suggested that France had twice as many soldiers on active duty as Castille. Additionally, it was likely that the bulk of her 96000 troops were on the Continent, while only 20000 Castillian soldiers were stationed in Europe and Africa. The majority of Castillian forces were in the new world keeping native revolts in check. Thankfully, open warfare wasn't the only option.

Castillian agents with trade goods were sent from Castillian Africa to Sierra Leone to incite its large native population to revolt. For a mere 10 ducats in trinkets, the natives rose up and wiped out the French settlement in Sierra Leone. Some advisers insisted that Castille should set up her own colony on Sierra Leone to preempt the French, but Enrique decided that would be unwise. His settlement would have to deal with the same hostile natives. Additionally, any Castillian settlement in Sierra Leone could incite the neighboring Songhai into war. Perhaps even more importantly, Enrique did not want to further strain relations with France.

While war with France at this point seemed unwise, the episode did convince Enrique that an eventual confrontation with France was inevitable. Research money was transferred from other areas into developing army technologies and tactics in order to close the gap with France in preparation for what seemed like an inevitable future conflict. Enrique also decided that France's growth needed to be slowed in the meantime. So he covertly called in a favor from the papacy. Pointing to the large amount of heresy reportedly popping up across France as a result of the Reformation, and the French crown's inaction in curbing its spread, he arranged to have the ruler of France excommunicated. His hope was that this would eventually lead France to be embroiled in a number of costly Continental wars with members of the Holy Roman Empire, thereby slowing her growth and giving Castille a bit of breathing room.

Unfortunately, the next news he received from Africa was even worse. Not only did his captains report a new French colony in Sierra Leone, but he had numerous reports of large English fleets carrying tens of thousands of troops and landing them just south of his southernmost African province of Trarza in the neighboring Songhai provinces of Cayor and Gabu. The French problem was easy enough to deal with. Another expedition was dispatched with trinkets for the natives, and the French colony was once again wiped off of the map. Thankfully, enterprising young men from Castille's sister kingdom of Naples eventually started their own colony on the spot ending the French problem for now.

English and French possessions on Africa
Yellow-Castille
Red- England
Royal Blue-French Sierra Leone
Blue-Green- Songhai
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/h4HjM.jpg)

The English would be a much more difficult problem. After a short war, the English had captured the two Songhai provinces of Cayor and Gabu and forced the Songhai into a peace settlement. Enrique's hated English rival now had two provinces and 20000 troops just south of Castillian Africa. Even worse, the English fleet now rivaled Castille's own main squadron in size. Castille's fleet would still be larger if all of the squadrons on pirate patrol were recalled, but not by much. Additionally, the Castillian fleet was still made up of aging carricks and cogs. His naval advisers reported that given England's lead in naval technology and the fact that we had destroyed most of her carricks in our previous confrontation, it was likely that most of England's rebuilt fleet was made up of newer, more capable caravels. It was also likely that her lost cogs had all been replaced with newer flytes.

The question on the king's mind was whether it would be best to bet on his current navy's superior size and hope to quickly deal with England's new fleet while it was still smaller, or whether to risk the English fortifying her positions in Africa and growing her fleet while Castille worked to modernize her navy. A more insecure or impatient king might have attacked immediately, but Enrique had the confidence gained from previously besting England's navy in an earlier war while he was still a young man. Instead of acting rashly, he chose to let his economic engine churn into action, secure that his powerful economy could build a new navy of caravels and flytes faster than England could expand hers. Construction of new caravels began across the Iberian peninsula. At the same time, recruitment of infantry and artillery units began all across Africa in order to build a force that could withstand an invasion by the 20000+ English troops that were now on African soil. Enrique would patiently wait for his forces to build and his chance to strike.

One More Grand Conquest (1519-1525)

While Enrique was busy dealing with European incursions in Africa, his leading general in the Americas, Alonso de Ojeda, was tiring of pacifying small, weak tribes to pave the way for new colonies. He craved the glory and fame of the other great Castillian conquistadors that had made their names by conquering the Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec, Shawnee, and Iroquois nations. Scouts had told him of another great native civilization in the south with riches that reportedly rivaled that of the Aztecs. The small Castillian navy in the Pacific had reported seeing these Inca settlements on the western coast of South America and scouting reports indicated they had large rich cities up in the Andes mountains. With fame and glory on his mind, he petitioned the king to allow him to take his 4000 conquistadors and the thousands of troops currently stationed in the now pacified Castillian Mayan provinces and to lead them on a conquest of the Incas. A dispatch arrived with the king's approval. However, the approval came with a condition. No troops could be pulled from Castille's Shawnee or Iroquois possessions and no help from the Old World would be forthcoming except for the use of several old cogs for transport.

Confident that the troops at his disposal were up to the task, Ojeda began his conquest by landing unopposed in the northwestern Incan province of Tumbes. After about a year, eight more Incan provinces had been captured, and the main force of 10000 Incans had retreated into wilderness of the Andes. Everything was going well, but he was drastically short of manpower to hold and fortify his existing conquests. Then came a messenger with a peace proposal from the Incas. They must truly be a rich civilization because they had offered Castille almost 1200 ducats and all of the provinces Ojeda currently held in exchange for peace. While he could surely press on and conquer every last Incan city, this break would give him a chance to fortify the territories he had already captured and provide the realm's treasury with a healthy boost. The peace was accepted. After the settlement, the Incans only held the territories of Cuzco, Huamanga, and Tarma. They would be easy to conquer after the other newly captured possessions were fortified. To add insult to injury, Ojeda demanded that the Incas adhere strictly to the peace they had signed. Therefore, the entire Incan army was stranded in Tarma because Ojeda would not grant them passage through Castillian lands in order for them to return home to their capital of Cuzco.

Castillian Inca during the Interwar Peace
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/x1GM1.jpg)

After five years of peace, fortification, and dealing with uprisings Ojeda was ready to finish his conquest. News from Castille indicated the Church was now offering a bounty for the conquest of the Incas so they could be converted to Christianity. (Game note: I had the mission to conquer the Incas for 1000 ducats.) Ojeda's strategy was simple. The bulk of his army would attack the Incan army currently camped in Tarma while a couple thousand infantry would besiege the lightly defended provinces of Cuzco and Huamanga. The war would be over in months, and he would be the most famous conquistador in Castille's history.

Incan conquest complete
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/BMEQ7.jpg)

The Time is Now (1525-26)

For the past five years, the shipbuilders of Castille had been busy. Twenty of the realm's planned forty caravels had been built. Four flytes also joined Castille's collection of cogs. 18000 Castillian troops had been stationed along the border with England's African provinces and more were on the way from across Africa. The king's preparations for conflict with England were not yet complete, but they were well underway when an opportunity arose. A fleet of thirty-two English ships had just been sighted dropping off 16000 more English troops in Cayor. While this would normally be of great concern, reports from the frontier indicated that England's 20000 troops already in the area had marched into the interior and were occupied fighting the Songhai. These fresh troops were reportedly also bound for the interior as the large English squadron began its return to England. Reconnaissance over the past two years indicated that the English also had a squadron of four ships patrolling in the Carribbean and three ships patrolling along the coast of the African provinces.

Even though preparations weren't complete, Enrique sensed that now was the time to strike. The presence of a thirty-two ship English fleet supporting an English landing in Africa meant that the English navy's main force was currently divided. The main Castillian fleet consisting of 24 carricks and the 20 new caravels were sent to sea and raced north towards England in front of the returning English fleet. Meanwhile, a squadron of six carricks were pulled from pirate duty along the African coast, the Azores, and Bermuda and sent to the Cape Verde islands. Another Castillian squadron of eight carricks from across the Carribean and the North American coast were ordered to converge in the waters between Florida and Cuba.

As the English invasion fleet cleared the Lusitania Sea and rounded the Iberian peninsula on its way home, war was declared, and the main Castillian fleet struck. The smaller English squadron of only 32 ships, half of them Flytes, was defeated and lost multiple ships in the process. The remnants of the invasion fleet limped home to Dogger Bank with the Castillian fleet in pursuit. In the Gulf of Mexico, the small 4 ship English squadron fought well against the larger fleet of old Castillian carricks, but also ultimately lost. The English had only lost a single ship before retreating across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, the six Castillian carricks off the Cape Verde Islands didn't fair as well. The three English caravels patrolling the African coast repelled their attack with both sides taking damage, but neither side losing a ship. However, the small English squadron did retire to port in Gabu while the Castillians docked at Cape Verde. Thanks to superior repair facilities at Cape Verde, the Castillians were back in action quickly enough to blockade Gabu and trap the still damaged English ships in port. Back up in Dogger Bank, the limping English fleet had taken to port in London along with 12 other ships of the English fleet that were already sheltering there. The Castillian fleet then settled into a blockade to hold the English fleet at home for the duration of the war. England's armies overseas would not be reinforced from the home islands.

As the battles at sea were concluding, the land war began. The kingdoms of Naples, Mecklenburg, and Munster had joined the war on Castille's side, while Switzerland, Archaea, and Holstein joined on the English side. In Africa, 20000 Castillian troops attacked the 12000 English troops which remained after fighting the Songhai to take the province of Wolof. 4000 more Castillians moved into Calor and began besieging the English fortress there. In Munster, 2000 Irish troops faced an attack on their homeland by 3000 English troops attacking from Connaught. As usual, the men of Munster bravely held their ground. Meanwhile, Mecklenburg was fighting off an attack by Holstein forces being supported by a small English squadron.

With the English navy beaten and trapped in port by the main Castillian fleet, a squadron of 10 carricks was separated from the fleet and sent to destroy the English squadron in the Baltic while a fleet of cogs and flytes was sent to ferry a 10000 man invasion force from along the French frontier in Castille to Munster. Meanwhile, 11000 Neapolitan soldiers landed in the English-held Irish province of Meath and laid seige. When the Castillian invasion force arrived in Ireland, they quickly laid siege to Connaught and Ulster. The fifth Irish province, Leinster, belonged to Denmark because of an earlier war between England and Denmark and was not involved in this war. In Africa, the English force in Wolof was defeated and pursued until they were destroyed in Gabu. Calor fell and Gabu was besieged as the Irish provinces were also falling to Castillian and Neapolitan forces.

England had been defeated again. In addition to reducing the English fleet once again, Castille gained the African provinces of Calor and Gabu, effectively shielding the Songhai from attack by other opportunistic Europeans and booting England out of Africa. This extended Castillian Africa's border all the way south to the Neapolitan colony of Sierra Leone. England was also completely pushed out of Ireland once again. Not wanting the world to see this war as a Castillian power grab, Castille forced England to release the provinces of Ulster, Meath, and Connaught as the free Irish Kingdom of Tyrone instead of taking them for herself. A free Tyrone allied with Castille should make it much more difficult in the future for England to threaten Castille's Irish vassal in Munster.

During the war with England, colonization of the American East Coast had continued. Here is the extent of Castille right after the English war and the Incan conquest were complete. (Greenland and St. Helena not shown)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/4bs9p.jpg)

England after the war (Norway peacefully inherited Scotland sometime in the twenty years since I freed them in the previous war with England)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/yc9Aq.jpg)

Nice working kicking the English down a few pegs! I love how Austria is reduced and how Norway(!) looks to be on track to form Scandinavia.

Watch out for those Frenchies, they will be coming for you soon! I can't wait to see how that plays out.

Nightmare wrote:

Watch out for those Frenchies, they will be coming for you soon! I can't wait to see how that plays out.

With the Incas conquered, and a bit over half of the Shawnee and Iroquois territories converted to Catholicism, I'm hoping that much of the unrest and rebellion in the New World will have died down by the time I have to actually face off against France. I'm hoping that this will allow me to bring a lot of those troops currently manning American forts back to Castille's forts in the Pyrenees along the border with France. I really have no desire to conquer France. I just want to keep her out of the Americas and Africa while I colonize. I'm hoping that my navy can be used to isolate and conquer any overseas provinces France manages to found while the bulk of my army simply defends the border with France. In any case, with my current economic output I think the longer I can put off a war with France the better off I'll be. On the other hand, I think periodic wars with England are going to be necessary to keep it poor enough so it can't produce a navy that I can't stop. England continues to pull farther ahead of me in the naval tech race as it is taking all I've got to keep pace with France's land tech and to deal with all of the Stability -1 random events.

Based on the in-game messages about the reformation I think that Austria had a lot of religion related internal strife and revolts that it had to militarily put down and a few of its neighbors decided to "help" by taking some of the revolting provinces for themselves.

I've played Arsenal of Democracy and Victoria II and i have to say that Europa Universalis is significantly more streamlined and the interface is alot simpler. I could play EU III for hours without torturing myself.

I enjoy the history page though it sometimes seems to skip certain large events and makes no sense sometimes.

I've still got to learn the economics of the game. I'm playing as the UK and am slowly suffering some economic set-back. As soon as i started the game i was at war and fought multiple countries over a period of only 7 in-game years though i managed to be victorious.

It was during the war times my economy boomed(Kept my provinces in mainland Europe away from France,took Ireland,Conquered Scotland while fighting their allies,beat Castille to teach them a lesson in meddling with my affairs,forced portugal to break it's ties with Castille.). Of course all this led to being known as "Dishonorable Scum" and giving every nation a reason to declare war on me BUT when it comes to military affairs,i'm quite skilled enough to make them think otherwise.

So basically without war my economy suffers terribly(but with war my infamy goes through the roof,i was at 33. I literally lost all papal influence and legitimacy. Revolts happen often too). I want to cut maintenence by slashing the size of my army from 44k but without this force i can't resist rebels(who tend to appear with 4-6) especially when they might appear in Scotland or Ireland.

So in conclusion,this game is just freaking fun and just a bit easier than some other Paradox games.

Niels wrote:

does anyone know how long it takes before you can chance fron religion after a force religion??

I don't actually know the exact answer to your question, but since no one has taken a shot, I thought I would chime in. I recently had a couple territories spontaneously convert themselves into Protestants. As part of that process the provinces in question gained several years of "religious fervor" which is a modifier that makes it harder to convert them. The duration and effect of this modifier is shown on the province info screen of the affected provinces by a green icon above the section on taxes and tariffs (near the "x" that closes the window.) When I hover over the icon, a tooltip pops up showing the offending modifier and when it expires.

Similarly, if you had provinces force converted, your affected provinces probably have this modifier icon with an expiration date. On the other hand, if your entire country was force converted (I don't know how force conversion works), you probably have one of these green icons on the administration info screen which shows your current prestige, infamy, etc. I know that green icons appear on that screen for nationwide modifiers. For instance, I currently have one reflecting additional +tax% due to passing a liquor tax.

Sorry I couldn't be more exact, but I've never experienced a "force religion" so I don't really know an exact answer, but i didn't want you to feel like no one had read your question.

This may be old news to some, but tonight while poking around my Vic2 directory I found that the save game files (and subsequently, ALL the Paradox games including EU3) or simply text files. Giant, enormous text files. 1.6 million line text files in the case of Vic2, and ~700,000 lines in the case of EU3. They basically dump each nation's stats out, one by one, as well as a few global numbers.

Example:

DNZ= { history= { government=constitutional_republic aristocracy_plutocracy=-3 centralization_decentralization=1 innovative_narrowminded=1 mercantilism_freetrade=-3 offensive_defensive=0 land_naval=-1 quality_quantity=-1 serfdom_freesubjects=-3 primary_culture=prussian religion=catholic technology_group=western capital=43 1492.1.1= { land_tech=11 naval_tech=11 trade_tech=13 production_tech=11 government_tech=11 } } flags= { } variables= { } capital=43 national_focus=43 last_focus_move="1.1.1" primary_culture=prussian religion=catholic technology_group=western unit_type=western technology= { land_tech={11 1505.288} naval_tech={11 1505.288} trade_tech={13 554.730} production_tech={11 1505.288} government_tech={11 1505.288} } last_election="1492.1.1" auto_send_merchants=yes prestige=0.000 stability=1.000 stability_investment=0.000 treasury=50.000 current_income=0.000 estimated_monthly_income=0.001 inflation=0.012 last_bankrupt="1.1.1" wartax="1.1.1" war_exhaustion=0.000 land_maintenance=1.000 naval_maintenance=1.000 colonial_maintenance=1.000 missionary_maintenance=1.000 army_tradition=0.000 navy_tradition=0.000 cultural_tradition=0.200

This goes on and on, including relations with every other country on the map, which means every country's entry contains values referencing every other country, written over and over and over...

I'm not sure why I'm so surprised. I guess I was expecting something more... obfuscated? Elegant? In any case, editing in-game numbers (ie, cheating) appears to be a trivial matter, if one feels so compelled. Again, apologies if this is old news but that was my discovery for the evening.

Vic2 uses a very similar version of the file format than EU3, with little differences of course but they have a ton of similarities. There's a community-developed EU3 to Vic2 converter that uses this to allow you to take your nation from the end of EU3 into Vic2. The problem with it is that they have to guess on a lot of values (esp. with regard to POPs and production) and the Vic2 game starts out unbalanced, making the game not so fun. I even started making one before I realized that it was starting to look an awful lot like work and less like actual fun.

But, yeah, the open file format allows for a pretty robust mod community - hell, a some of Paradox's releases started as mods (Magma Mundi (EU3 mod), Old Vic (Vic2 mod - yeah its graphically oriented, but whatever), Darkest Hour (for HOI2)). There are tons of mods on the Paradox forums for a lot of their games, if you want a harder/more realistic/graphically improved game.

Jubilation & Sadness (1526-27)

With the final conquest of the Incas and the most recent defeat of England, King Enrique was more popular than ever, both at home and abroad. Enrique had been king for almost forty years. His reign had began with a successful war with the English. Sadly, his reign would now end just after another war with England had been successfully concluded. During his reign, Castille built a vast empire in the New World. He had presided over the conquest of the Aztecs, Zapotecs, Shawnee, Creek, Iroquois, and Incas and over colonization of the Caribbean and North America on a massive scale. In the old world, he had expanded his realm through marriage, creating personal unions with Mecklenburg and Naples. He also oversaw the peaceful vassalization of Munster as well as the not so peaceful vassalization of the remnants of Aragon and their eventual peaceful annexation into the realm. He had also freed Scotland and Tyrone from the hated English and thwarted both English and French attempts to establish footholds in Africa.

Thankfully, when he died in mid-1526, he left the kingdom in the able hands of his 30 year old son, King Carlos I. Both Mecklenburg and Naples formally recognized Carlos as the rightful heir to their thrones, and their personal unions with Castille continued. Carlos quickly proved to be just as able as his father. One of his first acts was to appeal to the Lord of Munster to formally join the kingdom of Castille. The people of Munster had become so accustomed to working side by side with Castillian soldiers over the years that there was little opposition, and Munster was integrated into the kingdom in early 1527. (Game note: Munster converted from vassal to province through diplomatic annexation)

Pilgrims, Colonial Expansion, and the Emerald Isle (1527-1533)

Throughout the next several years colonization of the North American east coast and the remaining islands of the Caribbean continued unabated. The last islands of the Antilles were finally settled. and Castillian Iroquois and Castillian Shawnee were officially joined into Castillian North America as colonies were planted along the coast continuously from Pennacook in the north all the way to the tip of Florida in the south. Castillian colonies across the new world grew steadily with settlers from across Castille.

The East Coast Unified and all the Carribean Islands Colonized
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/d6tIe.jpg)

While most settlers came to the new world for economic opportunity, a few were religious pilgrims looking to escape the Church's dominance in the rest of Castille. Large groups of new Protestant settlers settled in Massachusetts in 1529, in neighboring Mahican in 1530, and in the South American colony of Cartagena in 1532. (Game note: These were Reformation related random events where each of these colonies gained 400 colonists but became Protestant.) While the crown welcomed the economic benefits of the rapid growth of these colonies, Carlos also knew that their anti-Catholic fervor could cause problems in the future. Showing his father's patience, he decided to let the fire of their fervor burn low before attempting to reconvert them back to the true faith.

Protestant Pilgrims in Mahican and Massachusetts
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/rof4D.jpg)

Evidently his tolerance did not go unnoticed. The young Irish state of Tyrone which his father had created when he liberated Ulster, Connaught, and Meath from the English was currently one of the few officially Protestant states in Europe. Perhaps because of Carlo's tolerance of their Protestant brethren, in 1532 they were willing to voluntarily become Castille's vassal despite their religious differences. (Game note: In reality, the official religion of Tyrone seemed to flip-flop regularly between Catholic and Protestant for a few years during this time, and I was able vassalize them when our religions matched.)

Another new development also occurred in Ireland in the early 1530s. Denmark had held Leinster as a province for around twenty years. Now as part of a peace settlement with Norway, Denmark released them as an independant state. Castillian envoys were sent from Munster and Tyrone to convince the newly independent Irishmen that close ties to Castille would be in their best interest. After a few months of financial support and negotiation, the Kingdom of Leinster officially allied with Castille. The entire Emerald Isle was now aligned with Castille in one fashion or another.

The Inevitable French Showdown (1530-36)

While growing up, King Carlos had witnessed the growing rivalry between Castille and her Continental neighbor, the powerful Empire of France. He was present for many of the conversations between his father and advisers as they pondered how to deal with France's growing military dominance. He was also one of the few Castillians who knew of his father's covert involvement in the sabotage of two French attempts to colonize Sierra Leone on the African coast. His father's French policy had been one of patience. However, the intervening years had shown Carlos that given time the French would continue to pull farther and farther ahead of Castille in the art of war. Castille had recently developed Tercio infantry, and his spies told Carlos that France was currently still using comparable troops and tactics. Carlos decided that he must strike before France developed any further advancements.

Once he decided to act, Carlos acted as decisively as his father. Spies were paid to incite rebellions in neighboring French provinces while Castille's ample treasury was opened wide and new improved fortifications were commisioned all along the French border. (Game note: Level 2 Forts constructed in Gascogne, Labourd, Girona and Pireneo to join the ones I had previously constructed in Rousillon and Navarra) Across the peninsula, new units of Tercio infantry and artillery units fielding cast iron cannons were recruited and provisioned. By 1533, Castille had almost 60000 men camped along the French frontier including 26000 in Navarro, 24000 in Rousillon and 8000 in Girona. While normally the Castillian people would disapprove of an offensive war against another European power, the emperor of France's excommunication and aggressive expansion in Europe had turned him into a sort of bogeyman across Europe, hated by all and feared by many. So the people were actually a bit relieved when their young king announced he planned to rid Europe of the French threat. (Game note: Excommunication Casus Belli.)

Castillian funded revolts in France a few years before the war
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/VQJio.jpg)

When war was declared, it quickly became evident how the rest of Europe felt about the French emperor. As expected, Mecklenburg, Naples, Tyrone, and Leinster all joined in the war as allies against the French. However, once the initial battles of the war were engaged, Brittany, Burgandy, Genoa, Norway, and many smaller European kingdoms all declared their own separate wars against France. It likely did not hurt that those initial battles went as planned for the Castillians. The small 8000 man force in Girona quickly moved to besiege the lightly protected mountainous province of Bearn while the large Castillian armies simply waited to spring their trap. Gascogne and Labourd had been left open with only the defenders of their new forts to protect them, and the French took the bait. They foolishly marched 28000 men into Gascogne in an attempt to take the "unprotected" province. While the French suffered attrition due to lack of supply and threw men to die against the walls of the commanding new fortress, the 26000 men of the Army of Navarra rumbled forward fully supplied and ready to reduce the French army.

Simultaneously, the French were moving 20000 men through Toulouse. Initial reports indicated that they appeared to be planning to relieve Bearn, so the general in Rousillon divided his army. 16000 men were sent into Baern to reinforce the 8000 already beseiging the province while the other 8000 were sent into France to besiege Languedoc. The battle in Gascogne went well, as the large arriving Army of Navarra drove into the French army like a hammer. Most of the French were caught between the Army of Navarra and the fortress of Gascogne. Many were slaughtered, but 6000 broken men managed to escape into the vinyards and then retreat into Perigord. Things were going just as well in Bearn. Just as the arriving French army engaged the 8000 Castillian besiegers, they were attacked in the flank by the 16000 men of the Castillian relief force from Rousillon. The French were quickly routed, and 5000 men attempted to flee into Navarra. While the siege of Bearn continued, the relief force pursued and destroyed the Frenchmen in the mountains of Navarra.
While forces from Tyrone, Mecklenburg and Leinster landed piecemeal in northern French provinces and ultimately only made minor contributions to the overall war effort, Castille's Neapolitan allies savaged France's three provincial possessions in Greece, taking all three of the provinces including Athens. The Neapolitan navy also assisted the Castillians in blockading every French port. As Bearn and Languedoc fell to the Castillians, the French attempted to stop the invasion with one more 20000 man army in Auvergne, but they were met by the combined forces of the remnants of the Army of Navarra and the 8000 men men from Rousillon who had taken Languedoc. Ultimately, the French would be sent running again.

Then, in 1535, word came via messenger that the french emperor had died in battle against the armies of Burgandy and Brittany in northern France. France was thrown into chaos and large revolts sprang up in multiple provinces. (Game note: I don't actually know what happened to the French king except that he somehow died as I received a message that the Excommunication Casus Belli against him was lost at almost the exact same time that France's stability changed and rebel partisans popped up everywhere.) With the French ruler dead and many of the French armies defeated, Carlos decided to make peace and bring his soldiers home instead of attempting to fight the tens of thousands of French rebels that were popping up across the countryside. In no position to bargain, France was pillaged in the peace settlements. The kingdoms of Guyenne, Armanac, Toulouse, Berry, and Nevers were all released and given their indepedence. France also renounced all claims she still held to the Castillian province of Gascogne. France was divided, severely weakened, and not in any shape to colonize the New World or threaten the Castillian border anytime soon. The many newly freed kingdoms would also serve as a buffer between French lands Castille. In short, the war had been a huge success for Castille and her allies, but Carlos would soon discover it had come at a cost.

France Before and After the Castillian-Franco War
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Bd7O3.jpg)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/iLUL3.jpg)

The English in Africa (1535-39)

While Castille and most of Europe were embroiled in the massive Castillian-Franco War, England had been busy. Having once again built a respectable navy, she had embarked in colonial wars against the African nations of Benin and Kongo. Successfully defeating both, England took their coastal African possessions forming two groupings of English provinces along the west African coast. The provinces of Benin, Bonny, and Calabar lay along the Bay of Nigeria in central Africa while the province of Loango was located further south near the tribal lands of Kongo. Carlos looked at his maps and shook his head. This simply would not do. He aimed to continue his father's colonial policy for as long as possible. The Americas and Africa were simply off limits to other European powers. Unfortunately, his European neighbors would likely not look so kindly on this policy or any outright offensive wars to support it. So Carlos looked at his maps and determined how best to antagonize England and raise tensions enough to justify a war in Africa.

First, he sent a small force to remove the natives from the small island of Fernando Po, and then he colonized it. While the island itself was nothing special, the fact that it lay directly in the Gulf of Nigeria opposite the English provinces of Benin, Bonny, and Calabar could not go unnoticed by the English. A Castillian squadron stationed on the island could effectively cut off the English provinces from supply by the home islands. Next, he sent his small colonization force to Luanda, an area of the African coast just south of the English settlement at Loango and founded a new Castillian colony. As expected, tensions between the English and the new Castillian settlements in Africa grew quickly with both the Castillian and English settlers calling for war.

English (red) possessions in Africa (my colonial settlers are enroute and some of the English provinces are still Terra Incognita)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/5yM1l.jpg)

In late 1537, with war no doubt coming soon, Carlos made his military preparations. A squadron of eight carricks composed of ships pulled from pirate patrol in the Americas was formed and based in Cuba. Likewise, six carricks were pulled from along the African coast, formed into a squadron, and based in St. Helena. Meanwhile, the main Castillian fleet including 20 carricks, 29 caravels, 10 cogs, and 6 flytes ferried 16000 veterans of the Castillian-Franco war to central Africa. 3000 infantry were unloaded to protect the new colony of Luanda while the remainder were landed in the untamed wilds of Cameroon. As they quickly dispatched the 7000 native warriors there, the fleet sailed to Dogger Bank to assure the English fleet was safely in port. Once the Castillian fleet was in place, war was declared against England in order to protect the new African colonies.

Our Carribean squadron attacked and defeated the five English ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico, sinking three, while our African squadron sailed from St. Helena and attacked the three English caravels patrolling the Gulf of Nigeria. The English were defeated there as well, but not sunk. Instead, the three English ships retreated and took refuge in the port at Bonny. Our African squadron then blockaded the gulf coast of Nigeria. On land the war was also underway. The 3000 troops based in Luanda marched north into Loango unopposed and quickly besieged the existing English settlement. Having pacified the natives in Cameroon, the main Castillian invasion force marched into Calabar and met little resistance. Leaving a couple thousand infantry to besiege the province, the invasion force continued into Bonny where it quickly routed a 3000 man English army. The cavalry gave chase into Benin and defeated the remnants of the English army in Africa. Benin was unfortified and fell immediately, but the sieges of the other English provinces all lasted almost a year. When Bonny finally fell in 1439, the English squadron that was sheltering there fled into the Gulf and was sunk by Castille's African squadron. That turned out to be the last battle of the war. In exchange for peace, England forfeited all of her African possessions to Castille and paid 200 ducats. Castille now held a string of provinces and colonies along the central West African coast including Benin, Bonny, Calabar, Cameroon (colonized during the war), Loango, Luando, and the Island of Fernando Po. Carlos immediately began plans to colonize Gabon in order to unite the other provinces.

New Castillan Coastline After the War
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/rNSIw.jpg)

Castillian Possessions in Africa
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/5PClI.jpg)

I really need a good way to deal with inflation. Any suggestions beyond advisors and running a negative budget?

Robear wrote:

I really need a good way to deal with inflation. Any suggestions beyond advisors and running a negative budget?

You probably already know this, but check out the National Bank. It is one of the choices in the slots you gain by researching Govt. Tech. (I don't remember what they are called. ) It has helped me significantly with the task of keeping everything paid for while still sticking at 0% inflation.

EDIT:

On another note, I'm now in 1570ish, and think I may need to stop playing my current game for technical reasons. The game is now crawling on my machine as Castille. I can no longer scroll around the world while time is rolling forward on my crappy machine. It is better when I pause and scroll around, but now there is a lag when pausing and unpausing, and when multiple screens pop up there is now occasionally significant lag on my button presses. So much so that I occasionally "overclick" and inadvertently answer multiple dialog boxes at once.

I've got national bank, it was my first advance. I'm still up to nearly 8% after several persistent wars.

Not sure about the performance issues...?

What kind of PC do you have that you run into performance issues with EU3? Is that common?

Hockosi wrote:

What kind of PC do you have that you run into performance issues with EU3? Is that common?

I doubt it is common among PC gamers, but I mostly play console games. I'm playing on a two year old laptop running Windows 7 with 4 GB of shared RAM, an integrated Intel graphics chip, and a 2.2 GHz Intel dual core processor (T4400). I doubt you'd have any issues on an actual gaming machine.

Upgrade your graphics chip and I bet you'll be fine. Also, wasn't there some to peg the game to a single core?

Robear wrote:

Upgrade your graphics chip and I bet you'll be fine. Also, wasn't there some to peg the game to a single core?

It is a $300 toshiba laptop. As far as I know there is no way to upgrade the graphics without simply buying a new, much more expensive machine. I like EU3, but that is not a feasible solution at this time. I have an older desktop that I could likely upgrade on the cheap to play the game, but that honestly doesn't help me much as the laptop's mobility is THE big factor adding to my ability to actually play the game. I would estimate that 90% of my time in EU3 has been while outside in the backyard while my kids play. EU3 is a great parent's game as you can simply get up and walk away at any time (which happens a lot when outside with the kids), and the game pauses itself whenever something important happens.

Oh, sorry, I thought it was a desktop.

I looked around the Paradox forums (was there looking for something else, remembered your problem and would hate to not see how Castille turns out ) and learned a couple of interesting things:

- EU3 uses the GPU for a lot of things besides just driving the graphics. It has always seemed odd to me that such a relatively simple looking game seemed to need an incommensurate amount of video processing. Now I understand why.
- Not much you can really do, sadly, except turn off as much eye candy as you can to ease the load on the GPU. And there really isn't much eye candy to turn off. The best I could find was to turn off trees and visual "flavor" items and simplify the water display. These can be done by editing the settings.txt file in the directory where EU3 is installed. Look for the following entries (the file is really short, at least mine is):

renderTrees
onmap
simpleWater

and set renderTrees=no and onmap=no and simpleWater=yes

You could also mess with the counter_distance setting in the same part of the file; try making that value smaller so it switches from 3D units to 2D flags earlier when you zoom out.

That seems to be about it, at least that I could find. As the game gets more complicated (which is another way of saying "as time in the game goes by"), it seems like more and more calculations are done in the GPU, so I am not sure how much, if any, these settings changes may help.

Which is too bad, because I have enjoyed your AARs.

Robear wrote:

I really need a good way to deal with inflation. Any suggestions beyond advisors and running a negative budget?

Nope. There's supposedly events that will lower your inflation, but I've never seen them myself. Building a tax assessor in provinces will lower inflation by .05%, but its a unique and costs 1000 ducats and is pretty late-game tech.

Stop printing money to pay for things you can't afford! Are you playing as the US or something?

lol I kept a standing army for too long in fear of invasion. I finally manned up, and with National Bank and an advisor, and the newly emasculated Army my inflation is dropping, slowly but surely. I'm running at 5 for a while, at least until I get a CB on Aragon or Portugal, to try to get it back down before going to war again.