EU 1 Thread

[One Horse Town]

So, i finally got the bug with EU I at the 3rd time of asking.

June 1513, as Portugal. No fancy screen captures, i'm afraid.

Victory Points 2nd, behind Spain. I have 300 VP, Spain has 399. Argg!!!

I have colonies in Brazil, Canada, and have a city in Tableland - South Africa. I have discovered Hudson Bay, the Incas, and the Great Lakes. Sadly the Spanish have colonies in South America before me, but still...

I have a royal marriage with the Hanseatic League (with a view towards Spain fiddling with the low counties shortly) and hope to make them my vassals shortly.

3rd time of asking and i have the bug. Updates shortly!

Edit: 1000 too many VPs!

[One Horse Town]

All my explorers bar Alberquerque (sp?) have passed away, so he's going up the east coast of Africa with a conquistador - need to get a military alliance going with Hyderabad, so i'm looking to make contact there and explore what i can on the way. My city in Tableland, SA is a nice staging point for his explorations. In other news, i have sadly wiped the Huron from the face of the map, but have a couple of nice provinces going by the great lakes, trading in naval supplies. I have upped my diplomatic ties with the Papal States and they are now my friends (about +90 odd, i think). I have ignored the previously calamitous mission to annex Morrocco and i am reaping the rewards at the moment - although i have a -19 VP penalty coming for ignoring it. I had a nice surprise when i suddenly had Deflation! This set my inflation to -22%. I was hoping that meant i had years and years of big spending to look forward to, Sadly it only stayed at that level for 1 year and then started again at 0%. I'm currently at 6% Inflation, but i've just invented late renaissance infrastructure, so i'm saving up to promote my governor which gives a -1% to inflation rates. Costs over 100 gold though, so i'll have a couple of years of inaction in order to afford it.

I ignored Spains request to form a military alliance - which was lucky as they started a war with the Palitinate shortly afterwards. I don't have the resources to do more militarily than protect my own borders at present, although i have a kick-arse navy. Spanked a pesky Scottish fleet that was bothering my capital city. Lost 1 ship and sank 7 of theirs - helped that my leader was the Lord Admiral of the Navy.

Researching early baroque which is about 2 years away - dunno what is does, but it is within reach. I'm about 8 years away from Navy 5, which is galleons - looking forward to that.

Future plans: Vassalise and hopefully annex the Hanseatic League. Military alliance with Hyderabad. Get a colony going on the way to India, then use that as a further staging point to explore further east to China and the Phillipines. Build a refinary (600 gold!) in Oporto, which is a wine growing province. Set up more trading posts in South America to trade in sugar and tobbacco.

[JongWK]

I see that refineries are expensive in every EU game. They start at over 1k gold in EU3...

[One Horse Town]

How depressing! I just played about 50 years and had my PC crash on me...I think i saved the game once - around 1522, 30 years lost! argg...I had just colonised China and was looking to monopolise the spice trade. Damn it!! On the verge of vassalising Venice too!

Also, Spain sucks.

[One Horse Town]

So, i finally decided to replay what i had lost and boy was the result different...

In the lost game, i was lucky - got loads of good random events. In this play through, it was the reverse, and of course no PC crash to save me.

Anyway, it is the year of our Lord 1584. I have 798 VPs, still in second place behind the behemoth that is Spain (who has about 1100 VPs). But i'm over 200 points ahead of Turkey in place 3.

Where to begin. I have a nice mini nation in Brazil now - 2 decent colonies and 4 more trading posts. Together they are much bigger than my nation and have a satisfying border on the map. My expansion eastward has been thwarted at every turn. In fact i've only made it as far as Madagascar, bar a couple of trading posts in China. I've got a couple of spice trading posts on the east side of Africa. The best bang for my buck so far though, has come from colonising Canada. Nice trading posts and i sent a single colonist to an island offshore which grew by itself into a city within 30 years! Saved me loads of money there.

I made 1 good decision, made 2 bad ones, had one unlucky war and loads of unlucky events.

The good: Colonising Canada. Cheap and giving me a lot of money.

Unlucky war: Really wierd. I was going to take over Zanzibar for its strategic position for exploration east. Sent 3/4 of my navy there (about 30 ships), with 14k troops, led by a conquistador. The landing went smoothly and i started the siege. Then my navy was wiped out to the ship by a force equal in size! I had no resupply, my land forces weren't large enough to take the city, but as they were led by a conquistador, they didn't suffer any attrition. A huge mexican standoff for about 10 years. In the end Oman (who own Zanzibar) offered me a white peace and i took it. I took a loan to partly rebuild my navy. Managed to pay it off within 10 years.

The bad: Starting a colony in Mogadishu. Becuase of the failed war, i looked for another staging point. I chose here. I successfully colonised it, unfortunately it has population growth of -3% and only about 75% chance of success on each colonise attempt. I've sunk large amounts of money for no gain here.

bad no 2: Trying to make Savoy my vassals. It is a mission and i was on goods terms anyhow. I have sunk about 500 gold into it and they won't budge. Probably because all of my kings since about 1525 have been crap at everything. Pity, poor Portugal!

General shitty random events:

Built a refinary - it burnt down 5 years later.

My clergy rebelled - -1 stability.

Loss of trade - 1/2 my investments lost in a single swipe.

The military alliance i joined to vassalise Savoy included France. They insisted i join their war against Spain. I take out a new loan to build myself up for the attempt. France call it off before it starts and i'm stuck with the loan repayments.

No Deflation this game - my Inflation is currently 33%. Not good and stopping me from improving my infrastructure.

I haven't had any new explorers or conquistadors for about 40 years. I finally got a General for my land forces, but i have nothing to use him on.



So, to sum up - i'm still pretty well placed, but due to unlucky events and a couple of bad decisions, i 'm going to be suffering for the forseeable future.

[One Horse Town]

1646.

I think i've done well in the latest installment, the computer disagrees with me though. I've dropped to 3rd in VPs - due to several factors, some outside my control.

Finally explored all of India. Have a nice 4 province mini-nation there now.

Had 2 wars with the behemoth that is Spain. The first was very quick and ended in a stalemate. The 2nd embroiled all of central Europe. I'm glad that i was on the edges and Spain had bigger things to worry about than me. I took 2 of her provinces and smacked a couple of the weedy 5k armies that were the only forces Spain didn't have deployed in central Europe (thanks France!). So i offered peace and the little graffic told me that i had won the war and demanding either 500 gold or a province should be accepted by Spain. Spain accepted neither. I should have held my nerve and taken another province, but i was worried that her full might would fall against me, so i bottled it. I demanded 250 gold in tribute and Spain accepted the deal...except i never got paid a penny. Does tribute go straight into investment? If not, i got shafted by some glitch. No extra territory, no extra money.

Anyway. I've managed to lower my inflation by 8%, with another 2 to come. It's only running at 58% at the moment!  Need to find ways of lowering that more if i want to start building some more manufactories. Only got the 1 refinary at the moment. At least now Inflation is only going up by about 1% every 5 years, instead of 1% every 3 - due to Trade & Infrastructure level 6.

[One Horse Town]

1691. 2/3rds of the way through. Just in case anyone is reading.

India, the spice islands and now finally China! have prompted a new trade centre in one of my colony cities in India and it's flooding my coffers with money. I can get about 25 gold a month with .2% Inflation a year, which isn't too shabby. China is scary...

Still, i've dropped to 4th in VPs, despite this. probably because i've ignored nearly all the missions that have demanded wars with nations stronger than myself. Had 1 war with France, Sweden and the Netherlands. It took place entirely in the colonies of America and i was sadly not able to protect myself very well. Lost 4 trading posts in Canada, 1 in Brazil and ended up having to give 1 tradin post  province to the Netherlands for peace. France just sort of ignored me and Sweden sent a couple of landing parties into my home provinces! Cheeky buggers. I slaughtered them and they lost interest. France, i sent a diplomat to with a personal gift and they too gave in. Those crazy dutch held out for Delaware though, so i gave it to them and rebuilt my other trading posts again. No harm done.

Pirates are a pain in the arse.

As i'm learning this as i go, i'm quite happy with my progress so far. I've dropped from 2nd to 4th in VPs and will probably drop a few more places before the end. But i'd be pretty happy with a top 8 for my first go.

[One Horse Town]

Finally finshed my first 300 year campaign as Portugal. Finished in 4th place with 2029 VPs, about 200 behind Turkey in 3rd and 300 ahead of China in 5th. For the last 50 years or so, i was very rich and able to build manufacturies in all of my cities, build 3 shipyards and 2 conscription centres.

I decided to put my newfound wealth to use and declared war on Morrocco. I floooded their provinces with about 80 thousand men and 100 cannons. Slaughtered their armies and broke their cities. Received 1 province in the peace settlement. Ended the game with 9 new cities built from trading posts or colonies and god knows how many trading posts - must have been 30 or 40. Now i know what i'm doing, next time i'll settle places earlier in the game and hopefully that'll improve my position before the end-game starts.

Finishing rankings -

Spain
France
Turkey
Portugal
China
Austria
Poland-Lithuania
Japan
Russia

[One Horse Town]

My second bash as Portugal. Got to 1552. Colonised places quicker. Got to India already and Cambodia too. More colonies, more quickly this time around. No great difference in my position so far, but hopefully i've laid the ground better this time around. 683 VPs, behind Spain, on 860, and a 100 ahead of France, in third. I've improved my game, but unfortunately, so has everyone else so far. I've already got more colonies in South America than i had at the finish last time, although India is proving a tougher nut this time around, with far more aggressive natives, in larger numbers - maybe it's because i've got there sooner than before; unless the native strength is randomised in each game.

[Dr Rotwang!]

¿Qué es "EU 1"?

EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out -- "Europa Universalis".