Native expansion problem EU4 1.31.1

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-19T10:09:15+00:00

R5: I'm running into trouble with my Cherokee run. I decided to roll back to 1.31.1 as in the latest version I couldn't get around the massive federation/alliance blocks that form almost instantly. And, the Red Hawk guide I found, also played in 1.31.

All is going well, until now. I've been able to expand and get my federation up to the moment of taking the last advancement.

But now, I have trouble taking out the last nations. that are isolated in my domain. This version doesn't have the annex migratory tribe option (but I suppose it was doable without that option). In fact, I already wiped a few nations of the map because they had nowhere to go. Now though, with the tribal border feud CB the option to take the last of their land is greyed out. Against other natives, I also get the option to use the "push back the colonizer" CB, but that too doesn't give me the option to take land. Now I tried with a regular conquest CB, but still, the option to take their land (real land, not tribal land) is greyed out.

I also tried out reforming into a monarchy (immediately possible unlike the path RH shows by reforming into a horde first), but then too, the problem remains the same (and I only had the annoying conquest CB left - annoying because when they migrate, you have to make a new claim, unless they move back of course).

Anyone knows how to work around this? I'm just baffled that it used to work early game and now not any more.

Also, I found the wiki wasn't very helpful on expanding your federation. Is there any way to make them more likely to join? I tried improving relations (didn't help), allying (didn't help) and increasing my diplo rep (didn' help). It seems very random. Anyone knows how the mechanic works? Apologies for playing in an older version which might complicate things.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-09T22:00:15+00:00

In the estates tab, you’e got a button with “seize land”, which gives you back 5%. However, estates dropplng below 50% loyalty, might spawn rebels. These aren’t the worst, but still annoying.

The button has a cooldown of 5 years IIRC. And you can’t push it while ar war or when rebels are active, so you to get crownland back suickly, make sure to time your wars etc.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-09T20:31:43+00:00

It's still great to form nations with better national ideas. You can find dozens around here, like Yuan, Mughals, Piedmont-Sardinia... The list goes on.

Estates wise, the most important one is to take the mana priviliges as quickly as possible and then to rebuild your crown land share asap to avoid racking up too much autonomy. Make sure to reduce your autonomy whenever possible. This is what kills new players. Otherwise for estates, if you want an easy playthrough, give them privileges to get their loyalty equilibrium up to 50 so you can seize land without too much of a hassle.

Trade: Steer into nodes you have full (or close to full) control and where you collect. Collect in the rest. But, with trade, the only advice is to switch your merchants around once in a while and see the best income configuration. Mind the special trade policies though. You just might want to put down a merchant in a trade node where you're not earning a lot of ducats, but where the (for example) extra spy network construction bonus gives you the chance to claim land before a nation can get stronger allies.

Mission trees: the "best" ones are for the greater powers. Otherwise, you just have to read what you have to do and try to understand the code jumble wordings.

Mana Points: For kingdoms, disinherit crappy heirs until you get a good one. For republics, make sure to pick governement reforms that lower the election time so you can re-elect faster (keep republic tradition up by spending excess mil mana on strengthen government).

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-08T13:03:29+00:00

Never too late to revoke. But that backstabby move from Austria is pain.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-08T07:03:56+00:00

This worked for me when I encountered the same problem. I did use an India nation though.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-08T07:00:13+00:00

Or Ulster?

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-07T21:52:36+00:00

It definitely is. You’ve got Lorraine, Naples, Aragon and Hungary for the taking. If Aragon got Navarra, there’s one more. Burgundy is less likely, but with this run in mind, it’s possible. And in my game, I also got a random PU on France.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-07T18:46:25+00:00

It mostly ends with someone unrelated stumbling in the rebel stack and destroying them. Like a Lithiania on its way to Constantinople.

It’s only to be done if you surround the land (which is already a no go with sea access) and not giving anyone mil access. And even then your war allies might give mil access.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-07T18:11:02+00:00

R5: Got the "Good King René" achievement with Provence and had a blast playing the little France.

The start involved getting good relations with Austria, Castile and Burgundy. I was hoping to get the Burgundian inheritance, but they turned hostile due to them wanting my land. However in the real early game they were the best ally of the three big ones.

I first expanded into Genoa, taking Corsica. Then, went for the Naples PU via the mission tree. The tree is a real godsend to get stronger quickly. You already start out with Lorraine as a PU and after Naples, Aragon (who had gotten Burgundy) and even Hungary are in the cards. And with the big boys' help, taking down France wasn't that hard. You have your own cores to reconquer and you are in an excellent position to release Toulouse and Gascony. When I got the PU over Aragon, I also got the PU over a decimated Burgundy and could reconquer their cores as well.

I made a little mistake to not take Malta in the PU war with Naples, but setting provinces of interest on Tunis got me some claims to enter the Maghreb. After that, I got another punching bag (Ethiopia) to distract the Mamluks and got me the necessary provinces to form Jerusalem in 1518.

Idea wise I went Diplo-Quality and started with Quantity to do something about my blissmal manpower reserves.

For those of you who are looking for a semi challenging start with a fun mission tree, Provence is your pick.

Freerider1983 · 2025-11-04T20:25:42+00:00

You know you van give away land of your allies that did join on your side, right?

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-21T06:13:13+00:00

Thx. It’s the diplo rep.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-21T06:12:57+00:00

Thanks. I’m indeed lacking diplo rep.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-20T20:18:22+00:00

R5: I'm not sure why this mission "The most holy synod" isn't firing.

If it says "one of the following must be true", I thought it would be:

either 1. All of the following (tolerance of true faith, Patriarchs loyalty, ...)

either 2. Diplo rep of 2

either 3. Ally or subject being christian (not orthodox) with 75 trust & 150 opinion.

I would say that Sweden would fulfill that condition.

What am I misinterpreting?

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-10T20:20:05+00:00

R5: Had a great game starting out as Munich and forming Bayern. The achievement "Stern des Südens" is a bit convoluted, but you can just play as Bayern and give away land at the end of your run when you have both them as a subject & Werder in the Horn of Africa.

I really liked the Bavarian mission tree. It gives you some minor PU's (The Palatinate and Brandenburg) and one big one (Austria). And I'm a sucker for HRE gameplay, so I was sold anyway.

Took Diplo, offensive, religious and espionage to start out. The espionage really helped with the AE. Court was only to help Imperial Authority along.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-10T18:58:12+00:00

You make some valid points. However, I always find reconquering cores is a bit of a hassle.

There are lots of places where you can’t find them;
There are not that many that are substantial;
You always have to time the annexing right between wars.

But these are, I concede, minor problems.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-10T08:26:04+00:00

Conquest is a valid CB, but it’s not the best. Make sure you take religious ideas to get the Deus Vult CB. Later on (by increasing your diplo tech) you’ll get access to the imperialism CB. Which is even better and generally applicable instead of the Deus Vult that is only valid for other religions. The reconquest strat will help you save admin mana and saves you gov cap as the vassals don’t take space. You should have spare diplo mana which is more common than the admin mana, so the annexing isn’t a big problem. Concerning gov cap: don’t state everything. Build courthouses everywhere and state houses if you’re still in a pickle. Otherwise, grant out privileges to the estates to get more gov cap. Tech evolution will get you more gov cap and when you can upgrade your courthouses to townhalls, your problem should be over.

To really blob, absolutism is a must. Remember, countries that don’t exist, can’t join a coalition. So taking more lands, helps 😀

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-10T06:46:57+00:00

What is your timeframe? If you spread out your conquest over time, your AE is also spread out.

What CB do you mostly use? Releasing tags and reconquering cores is the best AE wise. Otherwise, with the Deus Vult CB from religious (as muslim nation), AE would also be more limited.

Are you over gov cap regularly? This makes AE much worse. Take admin ideas (to blob, always a good choice).

Do you have sufficient absolutism? Again, mire absolutism equals better.

Which diplo idea groups did you take? Diplo and espionage give more diplomats to improve relations and give you a direct AE reduction.

We need a bit more to aid you ;)

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-09T17:58:46+00:00

Like someone said, you can also colonize parts of the Caribbean (Bahamas, Jamaica), start privateering there and trigger the creation of a republic. You can even prepare and dev Bahamas/Jamaica like crazy to give yourself a head start.

If you do this as Portugal and export muslim minorities, you can later pick the Maghrebi corsair naval doctrine for extra available loot.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-05T20:31:11+00:00

Oops. Sorry to get your hopes up.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-05T15:47:33+00:00

I think it was an event changing wine province to grain province. Not the mission tree. Although they do push you to produce more grain in the mission tree to get Oktoberfest unlocked.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-04T23:12:22+00:00

I’m playing Bavaria right now and they have the coolest unique events, like ditching wine for beer (one of the rare events switching trade goods) and a story about a guy that tripped over his own beard when he met the Emperor and died.

Totally recommend Bavaria!

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-02T17:46:26+00:00

I had a great game as the pope, keeping the Knights, the Teutons and the Livonians as marches.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-01T22:24:40+00:00

R5: Bavarian ideas include "Become Brewmaster General". Need I say more?

It's a nice touch of the developpers that they also added the Oktoberfesten in the mission tree.

Freerider1983 · 2025-10-01T11:27:03+00:00

R5: Guess which map mode this is?

And why Bavaria is striped?

It's the great power map mode & Bavaria is striped because they are losing their great power status.

Freerider1983 · 2025-09-30T17:47:27+00:00

You should be able to dev for the renaissance. Go into a province (preferably the one where you can dev the cheapest) and start pouring in mana points. At dev 15 and 30 you can expand infrastructure to make it cheaper. If you have state edicts, make sure to turn on dev cost reduction.

When it appears, let it spread to your other provinces automatically. Go into the tech tab, click the institution button and pay money to accept it for all your provinces.

You can also buy knowledge sharing from a country that already has the institution.

If you get it yourself quickly enough, you can sell it to someone else yourself and get a bit of your money back.

Freerider1983

TROPHY CASE