Portugal to learn colonization. Ottomans or France to learn warfare and combat.

Ottomans are generally recommended for a 1st play through,

Originally posted by red1:

Portugal to learn colonization. Ottomans or France to learn warfare and combat.

Originally posted by grognardgary:

Ottomans are generally recommended for a 1st play through,

Good to know. Ottomans seem to be a popular newb-friendly choice. Any other noob-friendly recs for starting nations you have? Or are Portugal, France and the Ottomans the absolute best choices to start out with if you want to learn either colonization or warfare/combat?

Definitely the Ottomans. I discuss some of the reasons why in my beginner guide, which I'm copying below:


EU4 is a game that is both complex and deep. You won’t be able to master it quickly. It will take hundreds of hours of experience before you actually get good at it. And that’s fine! Make mistakes! Watch them wreck you! Lose! But learn from the process. It’s a fun experience.

Also, note that I strongly recommend you play the Ottomans for your first campaign. They aren’t the game’s most powerful nation, but they are the easiest to learn with. They have a simple start and are most forgiving of the mistakes a new player is going to make. They have no dangerous immediate neighbors, the ability to almost ignore religion, a strong ruler, a solid economy and military, and many options.

Before you even unpause the game, you should customize your message settings. Pretty much every message in the game is customizable, and many of them should be set to "Pop up and pause." Army reaches destination? Pop up and pause. Fleet reaches destination? Pop up and pause. Battle begins? Pop up and pause. Battle ends? Pop up and pause. Siege ends? Pop up and pause. War starts anywhere? Pop up and pause. Etc. etc. etc. Letting the game sail on while your military sits without orders will cost you wars, and being ignorant of what’s going on around you will cost you the game.

Another thing to do before you unpause is to decide on what your goal is for the campaign you’re about to start. Are you trying to get a specific ironman achievement? Do you want to learn about colonization? Unify the Holy Roman Empire? Show Europeans that Japan can beat them at their own game? Having a goal will provide focus to your game.

Your most important resource is your monarch points. You get these from your ruler’s stats, from your advisors, from estate privileges, and from power projection. These are complex topics that I won’t describe in detail here, but some high points are appropriate.

First, note that monarch points come in three categories, Admin, Diplo, and Military. All three categories of points buy technological advancement and ideas, and all three also have additional uses. Admin is used to establish control of newly conquered land—to “core it” in game parlance. Diplo is used to peacefully integrate vassals and to hire naval leaders. And Military is used to hire army leaders. There are other functions, too, but those are most important.

Getting as many monarch points as you can is crucial. Advisors provide between +1 and +5 to their category every month. Small, poor nations can’t afford any. Strong starting nations like the Ottomans can hire +1’s immediately and soon grow to +3’s. And global powerhouses can afford +5 in all categories.

Estate privileges can provide an additional +1 to each category. Estates represent the great internal power blocs of your realm—the church, the nobles, the merchants, and so on. Estate privileges and crownland are also not a simple topic and I won’t go into great detail here. As a beginner, focus on keeping your crownland above 30% to avoid penalties, and increase that value by “seizing crownland” whenever you can. Be careful with the privileges you grant. In addition to the ones that boost monarch power, focus on those that increase estate loyalty at least as much as estate influence. The most important single privilege is probably “Supremacy over the Crown,” which is usually but not always a nobility privilege. It boosts all estates’ loyalty equilibrium by 10% at the cost of allowing them to call periodic diets (legislative sessions). These diets will force you to choose between three missions to keep your estates happy—but many of these missions are great and provide useful bonuses.

Speaking of missions, each nation has a mission tree that can guide your playthrough. You don’t have to follow it if you don’t want to, but the rewards for doing so are powerful. I recommend looking at it frequently as your game position changes to see if an available mission is near completion. Then you can focus your efforts on it.

The most important thing you can do on a strategic level is create a good alliance web. If you and your allies are stronger than your potential enemies, those enemies will be too afraid to attack you. If you’re weaker, you’re going to be a target. Pick your allies carefully, with an eye towards future expansion. Tunis makes a good ally for the Ottomans, for example. They have a powerful fleet, a decent army, and a helpful geographic position. They aren’t an early target of yours, but they’re close enough to help you against nations that you’ll fight soon (like the Mamluks). Also, note that alliances will shift during the course of the game. Today’s ally is tomorrow’s conquest target.

Speaking of conquest, warfare is a complex topic. But some general tips will be helpful. Battle results are determined by the following factors:

--Relative tech levels. Even a difference of one point can have a huge impact. Make sure you are the one in the lead. The key to this is to avoid early military idea groups. I never take one before 6th and I often skip them altogether. Spend your military points on a tech lead + hiring many generals (some of which will be great) + the army professionalism hiring generals provides. That combo is stronger than any single military group.
--The terrain you fight on. Always attack in plains. Always try to defend in hills, mountains, or forests. Don't cross rivers to attack. Make your enemies cross one to attack you.
--Generals. But not just any general will do. Siege pips are wonderful against forts but do nothing in a battle. Fire pips are almost useless until infantry develop good fire values and cannons advance a few levels. Shock pips are critical in the early game. Etc.
--Combat width and army composition. You want a front row of infantry + cavalry equal to your combat width. For most nations, a small number of cavalry (2 to 6, depending on combat width) is optimal. Your rear row should be exclusively artillery. At tech 7, when artillery first unlocks, you only care about the siege bonus they provide, but by the time you reach military tech 13+, you want a complete row if you can afford it.
--Sending in a second army to reinforce the first in large battles after significant damage has been done to your side.
--Making sure your troops are fully funded in wartime and have time to reach max morale.
--Drilling. The AI loves to drill, and the bonuses it provides are powerful. Once you can afford it, drill your armies in peacetime.
--Advisor and ruler bonuses
--National and military idea groups--but note that you can do VERY well in combat without either of these.

Once you really learn how combat works, you will go entire campaigns without losing a single battle.

Finally, I want to mention idea groups. As you move through the tech tree, you will unlock a series of eight idea groups. The groups you pick will play a big role in defining your playthrough. As the Ottomans, in order, I recommend Diplo/Admin/Influence as the first three that you choose. I call those groups “The Big Three” because they’re so useful. The reasons why won’t make much sense to you yet, but trust me, you can’t go wrong with them. Humanism makes a good 4th pick for the Ottomans. After that, it gets more complicated, but Expansion and Trade should be on your radar (if your game gets that far).

I hope this is of use. Feel free to ask specific questions on these forums as you learn the game. And remember the point I made at the beginning: EU4 is complex, and you’re going to be bad at it for a long time. Enjoy the learning process.

i dont think many people will agree with me here but i think Kilwa is a good and fun nation for a beginner

Originally posted by Mink:

i dont think many people will agree with me here but i think Kilwa is a good and fun nation for a beginner

Kilwa is the power house of the region, but once the Europeans arrive you have problems unless you already know what you are doing.
Going that route: Vijayanagar. You can become really strong, the problem is once the Europeans knock (or Persia, or Ottomans, depending on how the game "flows") usually Europeans are easier to beat at India, because they just get a province and they have to travel half the map, unlike Kilwa becuase Europeans will -probably- colonize southafrica, so they will have a proper foothold on the zone.
And to add an interesting point for Vijayanagar, India works, in terms of AE and alliances-net, somehow like HRE, so an interesting place to learn -through brute froce- what means being too greedy XD

Originally posted by Dante_Deepdarkness:

Originally posted by Mink:

i dont think many people will agree with me here but i think Kilwa is a good and fun nation for a beginner

Kilwa is the power house of the region, but once the Europeans arrive you have problems unless you already know what you are doing.
Going that route: Vijayanagar. You can become really strong, the problem is once the Europeans knock (or Persia, or Ottomans, depending on how the game "flows") usually Europeans are easier to beat at India, because they just get a province and they have to travel half the map, unlike Kilwa becuase Europeans will -probably- colonize southafrica, so they will have a proper foothold on the zone.
And to add an interesting point for Vijayanagar, India works, in terms of AE and alliances-net, somehow like HRE, so an interesting place to learn -through brute froce- what means being too greedy XD

fair i agree

一、奥斯曼
易玩性★★★★★
趣味性★★★★★
推荐度★★★★★
强大的军事实力、优越的地理位置，配合开局时的超级神君穆罕穆德二世，使其成为一个游戏中不可忽视的存在。奥斯曼是推荐新人入坑的首选国家，无论是扩张的方向选择，还是贸易路线的打通，都是很具备代表性的，唯一的缺点是不属于基督教国家，体验不到例如教廷、联统等基督教特有的机制，但不妨碍其成为给新人推荐的第一个国家，当之无愧的三个五星。
优点：军事实力强悍、机制独特、扩张迅速
缺点：后期灾难需认真对待、机制普适性低
个人策略：开局争取结盟法兰西、波兰、波西米亚三个国家，其余就是不断扩张。

二、法兰西
易玩性★★★★☆
趣味性★★★★★
推荐度★★★★★
如果为西欧寻找一个唯一的主角，那么法兰西无疑能够担得起这个角色。法兰西面临的挑战主要是曼恩事件的处理（也可以先行主动宣战英格兰，但新人可能难以同时对抗英葡联军，坐等英格兰宣战打防御战争也可以）、神罗的处理（成为神罗皇帝或解散神罗两条路线均可，各具特色）、与卡斯蒂利亚（西班牙）和教宗关系的处理、后期革命的处理等等。如果说奥斯曼是怎么玩都爽的话，法兰西就是一个你需要不断进行策略选择的国家，初看起来没有奥斯曼那么无敌，但是细玩下来会觉得颇有韵味。
优点：军事实力强悍、机制丰富、代入感强
缺点：处理神圣罗马帝国需要谨慎、操作不当易出包围网
个人策略：开局争取结盟卡斯蒂利亚、后面争取结盟奥斯曼，若新人不熟悉游戏则不主动宣战英格兰，等其曼恩事件来宣（不过也可能不宣，主动宣战英格兰是收益更高的，但风险也更大），争取选择与教宗结盟的路线，神圣罗马帝国看个人兴趣。

三、奥地利
易玩性★★★☆
趣味性★★★★
推荐度★★★★☆
神圣罗马帝国是EU4中不可忽视的一个机制，而开局即作为皇帝、又有较高的可能一直连任皇帝的奥地利，无疑是体验神圣罗马帝国机制最适合的国家。奥地利与其历史宿敌奥斯曼、法兰西的区别之处在于，其国家理念与策略偏重于外交（而后两者都有强大的军事实力，因此奥地利的玩法也更偏重于外交而非军事，即使军事也更注重于联统战争。）
优点：体验独特、机制丰富
缺点：军事实力稍逊（相较于其历史宿敌而言）、热衷与扩张与战争的玩家可能稍觉节奏缓慢。

Here are some gameplay ideas about the Byzantine Empire,for reference only.

Economy:

• Prepare money for breaking the deadlock(choose from loans,selling royal domains,devaluing currency,class missions,selling ships,etc.).

• Build 2 large ships and 3 galleys.

Diplomacy:

• Conduct counter-espionage against the Ottomans.

• Observe Venice's attitude;if neutral,build relations(they might be useful later),otherwise,ignore them.

• Keep a diplomat ready for selling ships or declaring war.

Politics:

• Grant privileges to nobles to expand conscription(if necessary,take one that adds military points).

• Focus on military affairs and get a military advisor ready to learn 4th-level military technology first.

Military:

• Recruit troops to the maximum and transport the army to Morea to prepare for an attack on Epirus.

• Close all forts.

Originally posted by K9ofChaos:

Good to know. Ottomans seem to be a popular newb-friendly choice. Any other noob-friendly recs for starting nations you have? Or are Portugal, France and the Ottomans the absolute best choices to start out with if you want to learn either colonization or warfare/combat?

You'll get to understand the strengths of other nations if you do some first games as a major nation, then I recommend that you try out a smaller nation that doesn't have a massive threat for a neigbhour. Any HRE minor, especially Brandenburg will get you to understand the HRE mechanics and weight of diplomacy, Sweden is also fun as you have to win an independence war and stabilize your very poor economy. Keep in mind that these are much more challenging than the Ottomans or Portugal, but will help you understand the game mechanics through trial and error.

England is a good pick and almost impossible to fail with, they have some early challenges with the war of the roses disaster and the surrender of Maine event, but worst case scenario is that you have to give up your lands in France but then you can just go the historical colonial route and sit back on your safe island and get crazy rich.

Ottomans can be a colonial power, but the game is hard wired for them to expand via conquest.

Similarly, Portugal has unique bonuses and a favorable mission tree for colonization and exploration. The most powerful early bonus is starting with an Explorer and being able to build a flagship with a huge exploration bonus as soon as your navy is large enough.

My first nation when I got the game was Muscovy. Not the best start, but very fun.

Adding to the usual Portugal/Ottomons I think Korea is really cool for learning development and making use of space. Teaches you mechanics like terrain, defensive wars and making use of government interactions and advisors.

Very easy, play it on 5 speed so you don't get bored.

Cool little thing is you get too pick your heirs like the ottomons, as well as starting with a fantastic ruler.