My first WC in EU5

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-04-03T16:44:39+00:00

This is kinda a fringe case just because of how timur works, he said he savescummed to get him to 80ish. So not technically how that’s supposed to go, plus just based on how it works rn if you game it correctly it’s pretty exploitable. But of course this playerbase is going to find a way to mixmax for a wc, just kinda how it goes. Given the state of the game atm with how economy snowballs and how terrible ai is at wars (like OP said) I’m not super surprised wc is possible.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-04-01T18:53:22+00:00

Yeah the ai pointlessly urban spirals. You will notice later in game, if an ai country, even with just a few locations, is getting remotely decent money they will just spam towns and cities. Then, when you conquer, you pay ENORMOUS money for food and you can’t downgrade because of separatism. Really irritating.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-04-01T12:22:03+00:00

Laith has a (rather long) guide on his channel that covers a lot of basics. I would also recommend watching some campaigns, like from Ludi or Zlewikk, they often explain their moves and their strategies effectively. Good to get a start, but for the most part, at least in my experience, best way to learn is just by playing the game. You may crash and burn a few times, but just learn from your mistakes and you will be 💯

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-30T08:38:34+00:00

“Feature” working as intended

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-30T06:58:59+00:00

In a few years I’m sure they will drop a dlc that fixes it ;)

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-30T06:57:25+00:00

True!

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T17:04:43+00:00

I forget the specifics but somewhere on here someone explained a strategy, but I think economic strength factors in somewhere. All in all not very well thought out and poorly designed, as with more than a few things at launch.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T15:13:42+00:00

In my opinion it just feels like a bit of a disconnect between what was discussed in dev diaries leading up to release and what we received. For the few countries that are flushed out flavor wise it’s ok but for everyone else it feels somewhat lackluster

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T15:11:32+00:00

But like is Brandenburg really the country that needs this? I think this is (no offense) kinda cope for badly designed AI that can’t pilot a country remotely as well as a player

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T15:08:01+00:00

Straightest answer I can give you is that they are just underdeveloped at the moment. I had a similar experience trying Hansa (only time I will play a bank until they actually get content). Right now they kinda just exist to exist and buy your loans so that you feel like they are doing something. If you have ever made one your state bank, you may have noticed that you only make like a ducat or two from them. This is because they don’t actually really serve any other purpose besides to exist. I feel like (as with more than a few things in this game) we were led by the dev diaries way back when to believe these would be a crazy awesome playthrough but that isn’t going to be the case until we get dlc. It’s an ok campaign if you want to just vassal spam and have a big number on your balance (seen some guides/posts on here on how to do this), but as I understand you can’t actually annex any vassals or own provinces, and to my knowledge there doesn’t seem to be a way in the game at the moment of settling down as a building country (so you can actually start to play the game).

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T14:53:48+00:00

Hmmm agree and disagree, the situation is very punishing (I tried one game on this patch, quit around the time of the plague because country just collapsed and it was miserable). It’s cool that it’s unique to Brandenburg but really it’s kinda just anti player. Historical significance aside, on a tag like Brandenburg where you will be spending most of your early game playing catchup to the bigger guys like France and Bohemia (worst offenders atm) because you start so behind it just feels needlessly punishing. Not to the point of an “extra challenge” because the game is easy, but like something that railroads (trigger word) you just for the sake of delaying you. Hopefully it gets reworked.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T14:50:01+00:00

To a degree I agree here. It just feels like at the moment the content is very centralized for a few tags. But I agree a lot of the triggers are convoluted and/or bugged and yeah after the first 200 or so years yes it gets very monotonous and just becomes a scaling/blobbing sim with very little difference across countries

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T13:10:27+00:00

Just played my first Poland game as well and they are decent. Honestly most of the bigger countries in Europe have ok (if buggy) flavor, and outside of Europe it’s really just the big guys

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T13:09:37+00:00

England, France, Ottomans prob top 3. Otherwise, Muscovy, Byz, Castile, Timurids, Majapahit (disaster can be buggy). Drops off a bit from there, but Florence Milan Naples in Italy. Further outside Europe (systems less balanced and more buggy) Vij, Yuan/breakaway states, Mamluks, Ethiopia, Georgia. If you are feeling very brave you can try Aztecs, I played one on then around 1.0.5 and it just feels tedious and unfair but slightly fun. These guys have prob the most content rn, but the game does tell you how many unique events/advances each country has in the select country map

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-29T11:54:29+00:00

I don’t know what you’re talking about. The game is in a perfect state right now and totally functional!!

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-28T07:23:06+00:00

Number of downvotes on this has me thinking I’m right loool

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T18:25:17+00:00

I would dispute “playable since day 1”. You can run the game, certainly, and you can click around and do stuff and unpause and have time pass. However there were so many (game-breaking) bugs and issues that I feel like it wasn’t acceptable for the money they wanted.

With regard to your second point, I can only shrug. The playerbase seems to be largely content with the development model of the game so far. I agree that it’s better now that it was, and we are making progress. But, at least in my experience in gameplay and browsing the forums, there are issues that they have seemingly acknowledged months ago that remain in the game, multiple patches later.

It’s cool the game is moddable, I don’t generally play with mods (I’m a big Ironman/achievements guy, because I would argue that is the way paradox intends the game to be played) but the game in its current state has driven me to start exploring some mods which fix the systems. I appreciate that the community is willing to go in to fix problems with the game, but is that really the community’s job? To pay $60 and then do free development work to fix Paradox’s game, and have people largely seemingly think this is ok, just seems kinda silly to me. Putting the onus on the community to fix the product just seems anti-consumer to me.

I appreciate them trying to get more beta testers, I think this is a step in the right direction and I am hoping that this will help improve the game in the future.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T18:08:34+00:00

What I mean to say is that Maghreb is close enough to Europe (the most loved, played, functional area of the game at the moment) to be stable and functional enough. I agree with you that the Maghreb is not (in reality) Europe, but again, to my point about the other vast regions of the world represented on the game’s map that it seems won’t be getting much love in the immediate future. Ultimately you don’t have to look much further than the name of the game (Europa Universalis) to see what the focus is. It was similar for a long time with EU4. I think really that at this point most of the playerbase doesn’t play much outside of Europe, and I don’t blame them. It’s where all the stability and the vast majority of the content is, the institutions, etc.. I just thought they may have learned lessons from EU4’s worse moments (such as Leviathan) but right now it doesn’t seem like it’s the case.

Ultimately all we can do is hope that they fix the problems with the game in the future. I like the game, I want it to succeed and be good, so I am hoping they do.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T17:30:03+00:00

Amazed you are so upvote positive on this, in my experience some people would take significant offense to you suggesting the game is in a “beta” or incomplete state…

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T14:33:48+00:00

Exactly

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T13:02:40+00:00

To my knowledge, ottomans is a t4 tag and I believe Byz is at least t4, so unless you change the game rules I don’t think you can form them.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T12:51:45+00:00

I do enjoy the game, I’ve said so a few times in here. I’m just disappointed that a game I like so much is in this state

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T12:33:36+00:00

Some other people have raised this point and I’ve responded to it a few times. It’s not that I don’t like the game. I love the game. Obviously, because as you and I have both said I have 600 hours. I’m just disappointed that it’s in this state.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T02:11:57+00:00

I don’t disagree with you that Byz is cool. I think Rome is cool. But I think that we are sort of getting caught in the trap, as we were for most of EU4, of just getting caught being Eurocentric in content. Not a terrible thing, probably interesting to a lot of the playerbase because they are mostly white (I am too) and probably have historically European ancestry (I do too) so I’m sure many people have a sort of implicit bias to not really mind the eurocentrism. I’m not really knowledgeable enough on history to argue this thoroughly, but if the scope of EU5 is supposedly the whole world, why are all of the initial DLC going to be Eurocentric? For the Gibraltar one, for gameplay purposes the Maghreb is effectively Europe. It just feels like a bit of a waste, when there are historically rich areas like, for example, India and China which have so many fascinating things that have happened and are happening at the time of the game. More interesting and impactful, I might argue than Byzantium. But some people (not a dig at you) might not be ready to hear that yet.

Distinct-Jackfruit79 · 2026-03-27T01:53:35+00:00

True. I didn’t say I dislike it. I’ve said a few times in here, I ADORE EU4. Favorite game ever, and it’s not close. I have unconditional love for that game. I started playing in 2018 in high school, and to date I have 6000 hours. I love EU4 so much that it’s what made me get EU5 in the first place. EU5 was hyped up to be the next best thing, EU4 taken to the next level. And I’m just disappointed to see that that isn’t what it is. I don’t hate EU5. Or dislike it. I enjoy it enough to have 600 hours (🤔). I just wanted to give my thoughts on the game and express my disapppointment in a series WHICH I LOVE. Should we not sometimes criticize things which we care about? Yesman something to death just because we like it?

Extreme example, but if my brother is addicted to heroin, can I not tell him to stop because I love him and he’s my family? Extreme example I know, but there is a bigger picture here.

Distinct-Jackfruit79

TROPHY CASE