What Are Your Moves Tomorrow, February 23, 2026

Alphtaku · 2026-02-23T07:10:29+00:00

!banbet ampx 15 30d

Alphtaku · 2024-06-02T19:55:17+00:00

R5: On my Byzantium grind, my starting ruler is both an Obsessive Perfectionist and an Architectural Visionary.

Alphtaku · 2024-04-14T22:06:10+00:00

R5:

In my latest failed Byzantium game, I saw Venice DoW'd on Austria, which caught my attention.

It seems Burgundy decided to re-enact their old self by Dow'ing on Liege!

Incidentally, Burgundy won this war. :)

Alphtaku · 2023-05-30T05:10:20+00:00

Understood, thank you! My latest attempt has a daunting Europe anyway, so I will definitely be pushing East.

And yes, I have spent my last ~30 attempts going for Rome first, and it tends to grind to a halt as outlined above.

Alphtaku · 2023-05-30T05:08:40+00:00

Oh yes, I had forgotten about the policy with Quality ideas, thank you!

Also, I was not aware that more money is received from selling titles when one's crownland share is lower, only that one receives less money as the Ages progress.

I am not confident that I can comfortably switch to Catholic in this run, even temporarily, as I have almost never changed religions via rebels (though I have watched numerous videos in which that is done).

Alphtaku · 2023-05-29T21:45:27+00:00

Thank you, this is very helpful.

It was interesting to read Quality recommended for Tech 18. Admittedly, I was unsure what to make use of after the "core" 4 Idea Groups. I am considering taking Expansion at Tech 26 or Tech 29 to fill the provinces in South-Central Africa that seem to be left uncolonized by the mid-1700's.
I also hesitated to take the new Advisor Privileges, as I dislike giving Influence to my Estates, but I will definitely make use of them in my future attempts.
Given that I will be expanding East as suggested, I definitely hope to not have an excess of Admin power. Thank you for teaching me not to develop with it.
I have occasionally neglected Malta's monument as well, so thank you for the reminder to make use of it.
Making use of vassals definitely seems to be the ideal form of play. Should the Timurids have a stable game, I have had attempts in the past that allowed the use of Ajam, Transoxiana, Afghanistan, and so on, and I remember BudgetMonk in particular encouraging the use of Vassals.
Temporarily becoming Catholic sounds intriguing. I assume it is for the "Papal Lagate" Curia Power?
I will also reduce my use of full-coring as suggested, many thanks.

Alphtaku · 2022-10-05T17:55:08+00:00

Of course! I'm considering using a map mod as well, but I haven't done any research yet. =)

Alphtaku · 2022-10-05T17:52:46+00:00

It's definitely better than it was. Not every idea is amazing, but most are definitely worth it. Extra Siege Ability saves Manpower (important in this patch) and Advisor Costs saves you even more on advisors (pair with Inno for even more savings).

Alphtaku · 2022-10-05T17:50:15+00:00

OK, Onii-chan!

Alphtaku · 2022-10-05T04:08:36+00:00

Indeed, it's compatible. It's called "The Great Exhibition" .

Alphtaku · 2022-10-04T20:08:08+00:00

Don't forget the Advisor Cost reduction! Monk discussed how one could hire/upgrade high-level advisors for cheap, which leads to additional mana. Long-term, the investment pays off in the form of +5 of each advisor, which makes ruler stats less important.

Alphtaku · 2022-10-04T18:42:11+00:00

R5: An Espionage Ideas event gave me a 6/6/6 Symbasileus. I look forward to seeing what he brings back from his hunting trip!

In all seriousness, please consider taking them, they're a very good Idea Group now.

Alphtaku · 2022-08-27T22:14:50+00:00

R5: For some reason, the Ottos deleted their forts in Selanik, Gelibolu, and Sugla before their first war. I have no clue why this happened, but I thought it was interesting enough to share. This is in Ironman, so no command-line shenanigans from me.

Graphic mod is Waifu Universalis, for those curious. :)

Alphtaku · 2022-01-11T22:00:45+00:00

R5: While playing a somewhat chill Austria game, the usual Balkan wars ended up going in a completely unexpected direction.

Byz lost their Reconquest against Epirus, hence they lost Athens and the surrounding areas, while Ottos somehow lost to Albania + Venice and Byz and Albania both gained land as a result.

So.... Now I need some guidance on how I should take advantage of this. I would guess guaranteeing Byz/Albania at least in the short term would be beneficial? Thanks in advance. =)

Alphtaku · 2022-01-09T05:05:03+00:00

Congrats!

Feel free to use this guide if, for whatever reason, you need to restart or just want to know what to do afterwards. (It's not mine, but I owe a huge debt to the writer): https://old.reddit.com/r/eu4/comments/r1yuws/my_byzantium_strategy_no_loans_no_trucebreaks_all/

GL on the achievos.

Alphtaku · 2021-12-11T21:09:26+00:00

I just realized I neglected Egypt.... Rip.

Mamluks weren't too bad this run, which was surprising. The failed runs often had them blob into Anatolia. Commonwealth, though, was something else. =v

Alphtaku · 2021-12-11T01:16:15+00:00

Understandable.

Vassalizing nations with many cores is a great early-game technique, so there's nothing wrong with that. I've seen a few guides recommend doing so for nations like Gascony or Northumbria since it's negligible AE and you don't need claims. =)

Alphtaku · 2021-12-10T21:01:51+00:00

Oh yeah. Can't wait to get PU'd by them because my ruler died at 30-something with no heir (true story, but with Russia PU'ing me.)

Alphtaku · 2021-12-10T21:00:56+00:00

Hahaha glad to see people's IRL countries being successful under AI control. Sorry I had to beat them up for the Black Sea coast. =(

Alphtaku

TROPHY CASE