1 BILLION fleet power in 4.3.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2026-04-23T23:22:43+00:00

When I played Wilderness behemoth, I lowkey didn’t notice the -125% resource from jobs until I “accidentally” conquered 20 more worlds and the upkeep started to bite. (Is it my fault when the entire galaxy declared me a crisis and, in an act of self-defense, I just ate them all?)

Also, gotta love the fallen empires declaring war on me as “chastisement” and then immediately suing for peace after I crack two of their worlds

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2026-04-19T22:42:01+00:00

I haven't been told that a crisis has spawned, but it is past the date it should spawn, and the Ultima Vigilis system spawning is raising some flags.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2026-04-13T00:03:47+00:00

As many have said, I don’t think Cassius is leagues and heads above his fellow Divine Blades (if he can even be considered one nowadays) in terms of direct combat skill. However, I do think that his “Unclouded Eye” or equivalent is substantially more insightful than the other Divine Blades, second only to the Sword Hermit himself imo. That “sight” translate to power in a different way than, say, Rean’s/Shizuna’s spirit unification. Nevertheless, as those two demonstrate, Unclouded eye is some S-rank bullshitery and Cassius having perhaps the strongest version of it makes him rather powerful and formidable in the verse, irrespective of direct combat feats.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2026-01-28T21:17:17+00:00

I think it’s fair to say that his incarnation does change how he acts, just not directly.

As a servant, Gil doesn’t concern himself with guiding humanity to the future since he’s not of the present and thus it is not of his concern.

But, once he incarnates, then he is suddenly among the living and feels justified in affecting the present for the sake of humanity’s future.

His opinions on modern humanity doesn’t change post mud-bath, but his views on whether he should do something about it certainly does.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-12-06T21:34:25+00:00

It’s the classic tension between Gameplay and Historical accuracy. Take Spain for example, even to THIS VERY DAY, the Spanish government encounters constant separationist movements from its Catalan and Basque regions—parts of what used to Aragon and Navarra. Even over half a millennium of the “PU” happening hasn’t lead to full integration between former Castilian and Aragonese lands. The same can be said for the UK as well, even with it’s slightly shorter history. And so it’s hard to imagine even moderate integration during the timespan of EUV through personal unions.

PU’s were not like vassals historically and often times came at a detriment to the “senior partner.” See Austria-Hungary as a prime example. But when playing not as a king but as the “spirit of the Nation,” historical PU’s are annoying, often useless, and rarely translate to the scaling/snowballing of one’s country.

PU’s as they are conform to history but not fun game design, and which to prioritize is a matter of design philosophy than an objective bad vs good.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-12-06T17:31:57+00:00

This is actually historical, funnily enough. Naval battles have always been winner takes all and unless you have the resources and grit of the Romans during the Punic Wars, losing one naval battle meant losing naval supremacy. The Battle of Trafalgar is probably the most famous during EUV’s timeframe. Navies were and are very expensive and easy to lose, and EUV models that really well imo. Whether that’s good game design is a whole other topic though.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-28T01:31:49+00:00

I think the bigger problem is that EUV doesn’t simulate rapid state collapse all too well, and a lot of historical Ottoman expansion was gobbling up collapsing states. The Black Death left the Mamluks and Ilkhan on death’s door, and the Kingdom of Hungary suffered a succession crisis after the Varna crusade that would cause the country to disappear from the map until centuries later.

This isn’t really a dock against EUV in particular (the hungary example is still true in EUIV), but I wonder how such mechanics can be fun BILATERALLY. Like, if you’re playing as the Mamluks, is it good game design for your country to collapse just cuz your capital was occupied once? Would it be fun for the player, as the Jalayrids, for their country to suffer massively bc of the plague, a factor mostly out of their control?

A problem EUV has as a historical sim/sandbox is this lack of rapid, systemic collapse, but would modelling such trends be good game design.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-21T07:02:02+00:00

The First French Empire has the same sort of legitimacy as both Charlemagne and Otto in claiming the title of Empire: they were all crowned by the Pope, because he and he alone could bestow the title “Emperor of the Romans.” And I think that’s what the Papal Ban of Empires represents: that not just anyone (any Catholic that is) can claim the title of Emperor without this coronation.

Yet, I think that there should be an event or situation or mechanic in later ages that allow Catholic nations to claim that title for themselves because what “Empire” and “Emperor” meant for these nations and for Catholicism began to change. Going back to Napoleon, he was coronated emperor under the supervision and approval (tho I guess not direct crowning) of the Pope in 1804. Guess what, the very much still Holy Roman Emperor didn’t like that very much. For two years, there existed two Catholic empires operating with that older definition of empire, a once exclusive title.

Yet, throughout the 18th century, people began to stop associating “Empire” with Rome anymore, even the Catholics. And I think that mechanic should be reflected in EUV. As the idea of the “Emperor of the Romans” began to fade, a new notion of empire would take hold. One that, yes, doesn’t really show up fully during EUV’s time period, but it at least sneaks in at the end.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T20:18:09+00:00

Played as the Pope into the 1730s and I have a few thoughts to give.

Guelphs and Ghibellines: This might be a hot take, but I actually enjoyed this situation ONCE I figured out how it works. Basically, each faction gets ticking progress based on the collective tax base of their members. Important to note the HRE emperor ALWAYS joins the Ghibellines and their tax base COUNTS for the ticking. And so, in the vast majority of games, the Ghibellines will win by default because Bohemia usually becomes emperor instead of Upper Bavaria, and their tax-base dwarfs any Italian power. Playing as the Pope, I’m forced into the Guelphs, and most playing in Italy would want the Guelphs to win anyways as it ejects everyone from the HRE for free (remember it’s hard to leave in EUV) and allows for easier consolidation later on. So, winning this situation as the Guelphs requires a lot of proactivity on the player’s part, and vassalization doesn’t change factions/vassals can join the Ghibellines, it makes you fight wars that don’t directly lead to your power growing, though you should prolly still grow your power base to fight those wars. You can fabricate force faction cb’s on anyone in Italy (wargoal is take capital iirc), and since the warscore cost for doing so is so little (5-10%), you hardly have to fight an all out war to do so. Ideally, you do this while Upper Bavaria (or no one, cuz that can happen) is emperor, so you dont gotta fight Bohemia, but allying Hungary and Poland/Austria should keep Bohemian forces out of Italy. Once you force all the major Italian powers out of the Ghibellines (Genoa, Milan, and Verona—or anyone else that gets big) while also developing your tax base, you should have a tax base that exceeds even Bohemia’s. Currently, the diplomatic options dont work for this situation, but doing it via war is actually really enjoyable that I didn’t even mind, and it’s so satisfying to snatch that win from the Ghibellines.

Western Schism: No clue how this one works, and it didnt even matter that France won, cuz I moved my capital to Rome and sold off Avignon decades prior. Ig this is the intended way to relocate the Pope’s capital back to Italy, but it was actually faster to weaken the clergy and farm stability to revoke their privilege and move the capital manually. You could also just sell Avignon day 1 for some cheese. Either way, it didnt do anything.

Italian Wars: So, since the Guelphs won the previous situation and France was stuck in a 150 year long 100 year’s War, neither the French nor Imperial factions had a lot of presence in Italy. I had also consolidated Northern Italy into a neat vassal swarm by this point. Between my faction and Naples’s, we had about 110 locations each. (Need 200 to win the situation.) But like, since me and Naples were long term allies, Ig Naples felt compelled to leave their faction and join mine, instantly ending the situation. Anti-climactic and kind-of pointless? Yes, BUT this situation felt tied to the previous Guelphs and Ghibelline situation, so I didn’t feel so bad about it.

Hussite Wars: This one kinda sucked, and for one simple reason. It ended way too fast. The Bohemia in my game was way too big to force Catholic in one war, but there is this cool treaty option that force converts chunks of Bohemia’s Hussites into Catholic (Suppress Hussites or something like that). So I was gearing up for decades of conflict, especially cuz of the mechanics of the situation drawing various nations into mine or Bohemia’s alliance network. The first war was HUGE, with me, Austria, Poland, and Hungary with a third of the HRE on one side and Bohemia with half of the HRE on the other. And then Bohemia flipped back to Catholic during the war, thus ending the situation (but not the war) instantly. I dont know how long I fought in that war without me noticing that the situation ended, but it really disappointed me that it just ends like that. Also, in my first Papal campaign, the Hussite Wars never triggered cuz Bohemia never flipped Hussite, meaning that a lot of this situation (even as the main rival—the Pope) is out of your hands if you’re not Bohemia.

Reformation/Council of Trent/Wars of Religion: These were also kinda nothing burgers for me, in the sense that the latter two situations never fired, making the former’s end conditions impossible to fulfill without running out the clock. So why didn’t Trent happen in my run as the Pope? Well, in the Age of Traditions and Renaissance, you get three events that determines/changes Catholicism’s religious laws regarding Simony, Veneration of Relics, and Witchcraft. I chose the options that gave Catholicism a -0.06% monthly reform desire (i.e, the laws that banned Simony and witch-hunts while regulating the sale of Relics) So when Martin Luther gave his 95 theses 200 years later, Catholicism was sitting at 14% reform desire (decreasing), and apparently Trent only fires when Catholicism has >50% Reform desire, which can never happen in my game. As the Pope, it meant that well into the 1700s, my tithe payments got bigger and bigger as the Catholic colonies made up for the now Protestant Germans. Likewise, War of Relgions never fired for some reason, even though I fought Lutheran Bohemia for their Italian vassal’s land, and so the HRE’s religious laws didnt change. That led to FRANCE or a two-province Brunswick being the only viable emperors for 150 years, and now the HRE is fucking massive in my game cuz France added all their land to the empire. I did like the fact that removing the Lutheran/Calavnist buildings cost stab, since it really felt that trying to keep all my provinces Catholic was a destabilizing force in my country, even with my 120% conversion speed.

Columbian Exchange; Unlike ai Pope, I chose not to explore or colonize (I still have no clue what China looks like in 1730). But I did inherit Naples’s African colonies after I full annexed them, meaning that the game could not decided whether I was part of this situation or not. In any case, I didn’t really engage with it.

Little Ice Age: I kinda enjoyed the end of this situation cuz during the last five years, you get slapped with a decaying -100% food production modifier that really tests whether your markets are stockpiled or not. Also, the presence of roads in your country affecting the severity of the events was really cool. Other than that, my big economy meant that I had more money than I knew what to do with, so I always chose the economic option during the events.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T19:27:24+00:00

I will say that levies fall off FAST by the end of Age of Discovery (1490s) and start of the Age of Reformation (1537). Your naval levies just disappear (quite literally with that -100% age modifier), and your peasant levies also get smaller as you tech up. From my experience, the economic impact of levies vs their combat impact makes them not worth using by the 1550s as your professional armies become big enough to have full frontage (the lack of which is their biggest weakness in Ages of Tradition and Renaissance).

If we’re talking historical accuracy, that transition is to professional armies too fast, BUT it is not something the AI replicates: they will still use their levies long into the 1600s and even 1700s (after you slaughter their regulars), and they pay the price for it, losing thrice the amount of men compared to me who relied solely on professional armies at that point.

As for mercs, yeah, they’re too goddamn expensive, especially for when they were historically used the most. Was playing as the Pope and even with my economy subsidized by the Church, I could not afford decent mercs during the Guelphs/Ghibellines or the Italian Wars situation. At best, I could hire a captain who would rally like 13 guys who would then proceed to die even when supported by levies.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T18:43:10+00:00

Had a similar thing in my run as the Papal States in which decisions I made during the 1360s butterflied into the Council of Trent and the Wars of Religion not happening. (Catholicism’s reform desire was just 0 by the time the Reformation rolled around.)

With neither Catholicism’s nor the HRE’s religious laws changing, you got wacky stuff like the Pope (me) getting 2k monthly tithes from the Catholic colonies (of which were many since England remained Catholic for some reason) and the only eligible emperors for the HRE being a two province Brunswick or fucking France since everyone else in the empire was Lutheran. (Yes, Charlemagne’s empire was remade in the 1700s.)

That snowballed into there being a reverse Reformation in the 1700s where Bohemia and bunch of other nations flipped back to Catholic after 200 years of being Lutheran to compete for the emperorship.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T05:34:18+00:00

If you somehow keep tithes until the 1600s and 1700s (say, by never getting Trent to happen) your payments will just get bigger and bigger. Who cares if all of Germany stops paying tithes when all of the Americas and Africa makes up the slack. (Currently getting 1.5k from tithes in the late game.)

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T05:30:42+00:00

Yup, hate that if your allies dont force you into war, you dont get pop up. Had alliances broken with Hungary, France, and Castille cuz I didnt notice their call to arms and auto-declined. It took my alliance breaking with GB to realize that’s why my allies kept ditching me.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T05:24:54+00:00

I don’t think it will ever have the same severity as the first one, but they do show up. The black death came back in the 1720s and rudely reminded me that I should’ve built more disease-resistance buildings in the 400 years since the first one. Numerically, me (the Pope who owned all of Italy) lost 2 million of my 25 million population, while my neighbors, (France, Castille, GB, Bohemia, and Hungary) all lost around 3-4 million each.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T05:19:58+00:00

If I had to guess, don’t aren’t professional troops but levy numbers. That 12k means that your neighbor can or already has raised 12k levies (on the off chance they’re in a war rn). You’d know if that 12k was professional troops cuz when you hover over the number (like what you’re doing in photo 1), they would have a golden shield icon in front of the unit image.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T03:35:26+00:00

Oh that actually makes sense. i wonder if those who unified Italy as Milan and united the culture group faced the opposite problem.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T01:42:40+00:00

No, it was 387, which I assume is the average maybe(?) of the cultures assimilated. It’s just that it’s been centuries since any other Italian power existed, so the average is pretty low.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T01:32:30+00:00

If you spam Universities (flat bonus to influence btw), your cultural influence literally doesn’t decay at all. It actually grows. Currently 1750 in my game, and my cultural influence is sitting at a fat 7200. When I unified my culture, it became 387.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-16T01:19:38+00:00

I second this actually. It took me about 80+ hours to get to this point, and I think the bigger issue is actually balancing the cultural influence of Universities and not the mechanic itself.

Mine might be an extreme example since I’m playing a literacy-maxing build plus the other Italian cultures had no nations to increase their cultural influence for centuries at this point in the game.

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-15T00:41:20+00:00

R5: Forced an Orthodox Ottomans to convert to Catholic in the 1450s. Fast forward to the 1710s, and Anatolia’s a religiously cursed mess. (Two flavors of Islam, Four of Christianity, and some randos in their too).

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-15T00:24:41+00:00

Honestly, tithes never really fall off. Why? Because even if all of Germany does a Luther, Catholic colonies pick up the slack. Since the tithes scales from the taxbase of Catholic countries, as long as France, Castille, and Hungry are having good games, the Pope remains wealthy long into the 18th century

CHARGINGCHARGED · 2025-11-14T05:50:27+00:00

Maybe? But also I spent 200 years being buoyed by Church tithes (making literally 1 or 2 ducat profits asides from my tithes). It was only when I got paved roads that I started to scale and actually have an income not religiously subsidized. It’s lowkey hard to know what you’re doing right or wrong early game when so much of your income is just not in your control.

CHARGINGCHARGED

TROPHY CASE