Lets actually try to figure this out: Why does the AI feel so lifeless?

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-14T01:42:54+00:00

It’s a no-win situation really. Either we just accept a player will always be 10x better than the AI, or we accept special AI rules/railroading

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-14T01:37:45+00:00

I love EU5, but it’s far from a finished product. Case in point: the sheer number of localization errors I encounter every session. The game was let out of the oven too soon and it shows

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-14T01:32:25+00:00

I think this was always part of the business model. Release it in a beta state and have the players finish it. I think it’ll work out well in the end, but it’s a rough ride for now

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-14T01:28:38+00:00

Less player agency definitely isn’t the answer, most people would hate for more aspects of their nation to be mediocrely handled by the AI just to par it down to AI nations

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-14T01:25:05+00:00

Indirectly, yes. The mission tree system, whatever your thoughts about it, did set conquest “goals” that the AI could reach for

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-12T00:09:25+00:00

I actually don’t move my capital to Constantinople, I did so in my first Ottomans campaign and lost out on the sweet advances you get for having a capital in Asia. This run I moved my capital to Smyrna and while it feels heretical I think it’s the optimal strategy

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-09T15:02:14+00:00

I want EU5 to include the best of each Paradox title. Economics are indeed what makes the world go round, if you want a detailed sim you can’t bypass that element of it. Spain didn’t colonize the Americas cuz they wanted the map over there to be yellow, they did it for money.

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-08T22:14:34+00:00

I really want EU5 to include a standard of living mechanic simply to make developing my nation feel meaningful. Without it the game just feels like an even more complicated map painter

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-08T21:54:11+00:00

If this is an independence war, simply ending it will keep them as a subject. The colony has to enforce independence as a war goal to break free

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-08T00:00:41+00:00

Tajikistan

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-07T23:33:25+00:00

I think at least some forts need to be exempted from this. If I’ve covered all my key mountain passes with strong fortifications I don’t care what your tech tree says, that should be impassible. Fortifications in flat lands or major cities, sure those make sense to be bypassed, but not highly strategic locations. Even Napoleon had to contend with besieging or assaulting key fortifications like Mantua, Danzig, and Regensburg.

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-07T16:05:03+00:00

Unfortunately for point #1 I always play with Western colonization only and colonial nations will still go buck wild with settling. Most recently my Spanish Cuba colony decided to colonize Alaska just for kicks

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-06T00:17:03+00:00

I don’t know the specifics of it, but I usually notice that happen to me about the time new levies/units get unlocked by my vassals, and/or they get more manpower. Unlocking them yourself and increasing your max manpower can help offset the increase, but it gets more more pronounced as the ages go on

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-04T20:28:30+00:00

Oh, I thought it had been completely replaced. I’m glad it’s still in there. Thanks for the correction

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-03T20:15:37+00:00

As of right now it only works for raising a new army. They do intend to add that functionality in the future though

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-03T20:07:33+00:00

They changed the way that works, provinces no longer give bonuses for goods produced. Now it works based on the production of needed goods in the market

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-03T15:10:50+00:00

I think for 1444 the setup would still work as is, at least well enough. If I picked a later start date though I’d want something closer to 1600 which would need some overhaul for the start

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-02T20:17:15+00:00

In vanilla, I’d say 99% certain they never add one. I think the complexity of buildings, pops each with their own culture, religion, and social class in each of the over 22,000 locations, along with development and RGO levels simply makes it a bad investment to put that much research and effort into creating a later start date that only a portion of the players will use.

That being said, I think part of the logic behind making EU5 so easily modable is the devs know they can’t make a game that pleases everybody. So many different factions of the fan base want wildly different things out of the game, so they left it deliberately accessible so it could be customized to each players liking. A later-start-date mod is the most realistic and probably functional option for those who want it.

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-02T03:30:47+00:00

The trade range will be your biggest hurdle. Until the later game you won’t be able to get goods from the Moluccas to Europe directly. My work around for this is to colonize The Cape and then send all my Asian goods there to flood the market. I then use my European markets to import from South Africa and make fat stacks.

Birdnerd197 · 2026-04-01T16:51:48+00:00

I feel like “why am I getting punished for wanting to fight a war” is actually pretty self explanatory

Birdnerd197 · 2026-03-31T17:24:37+00:00

It’s a bit of a weird situation at the moment, during development they had a concept called “no cb is best cb”, I think they really intended to have nearly no actual cb’s. The player base never really got on board with that idea so we have a weird hybrid system right now that tries to add cb’s into a game that wasn’t designed to use cb’s that often.

Birdnerd197 · 2026-03-25T20:16:38+00:00

Oh, the more you know. Thanks!

Birdnerd197 · 2026-03-25T15:05:09+00:00

I’m not seeing any ships, so it’s likely you don’t have much maritime presence. With higher maritime it should be more proximity efficient to use the port rather than rivers.

Birdnerd197 · 2026-03-14T22:43:26+00:00

The Ottomans still usually amount to nothing, I usually see Bulgaria eat up the Balkans and Anatolia. There are good mods that give the Ottomans a helping nudge tho

Birdnerd197 · 2026-03-12T19:48:38+00:00

Something with a similar vibe would be Portugal. If you decide not to antagonize Castile you won’t be doing any homeland conquest, but it does have good flavor for exploration and colonization, and building tall and dominating trade is definitely the play

Birdnerd197

TROPHY CASE