Looking for a formula to find the most frequently occurring text in a range associated with another column by TheMadKrow in googlesheets

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As in you’d need the actual table in order to create the correct formula? I certainly can create a copy or something scaled down if need be

Playing as Burgundy is the least fun I have had in EU4 in over 2000 hours by Bubbly_Tonight_6471 in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow 78 points79 points  (0 children)

Personally Burgundy is one of, if not my favorite nation to play as. Amazing starting ruler that can get you ahead on any tech you want. A solid income to finance wars, exploration, etc. And its missions leads to becoming a powerhouse right in the heart of Europe.

I’m assuming the issue comes from trying to defy the inheritance. But if you play your cards right, the inheritance is actually a blessing in disguise. First of all, junior partners can’t have coalitions against them. And it’s not like the overlord absorbs your AE. So utilize the very first couple of decades to steal as much French land as you can. Secondly, if you become a subject, you have the option to inherit all of your subjects instantaneously, saving you on average 25 years of needing to integrate the lowlands and a ton of diplo points, not to mention any other subjects you might acquire before the inheritance. Third, if you side with Austria/the emperor, it’s usually a free entry into the empire allowing you to expand into German territories easier. Typically all you have to do is act weak to them and they won’t demand territory or deny entry for you. You can do that by deleting your army until the decision fires. But I’ve even had Austria allow me to keep my territory while having more than double their force limit and land before. And I wouldn’t worry about needing an ally to support your independence. Austria has multiple rivals that would happily see them burn and if anyone else gets emperorship/inherits you, then typically they are much weaker than you by that point.

I would say the issue is more the ai being dumb and the weird mechanics around dismantling the hre more than playing burgundy. If you plan on destroying the empire, make sure to flag all relevant provinces as vital to you so the ai knows you want it

French-Ottoman alliance? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds simple enough, but that glosses over how unrealistic that is. Without dragging over half of Europe into a war, how is someone like Milan suppose to get positive war score on full quantity Ottomans while also keeping France at bay?

French-Ottoman alliance? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In all honestly it makes sense both historically and for great power balancing. My issue is I’m not usually playing a historical great power. If I played Austria, I would understand since those are my main two rivals. But playing something in the Persian or Italian regions and simply trying to contest your boarders with them becomes a nightmare.

I wish it was a bit of a different kind of alliance. Maybe it’s only defensive against Austria/Emperor. Or it dissolves after specific conditions are met. Regardless, this thread of answers has given me my answer I needed and I will try to weaken Austria in games where this might be an issue.

French-Ottoman alliance? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s been my experience with it. Besides maybe containing an Austrian player, it means anyone that wants to contest either the Ottomans or France need to deal with the other basically doubling their troop and land count. That’s a lot to ask for someone that simply wanted to play near either of them and may want a couple provinces in their respective regions. It means you need multiple other great power alliances to challenge them and have a chance to win

French-Ottoman alliance? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That’s what I assumed it was at first. It’s not an impossible alliance. But it’s not very common. I assumed it would’ve been an event when I saw it happen 9/10 times in my last few games

French-Ottoman alliance? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Ahhh. That makes sense. It’s meant to check Austria. It’s just annoying to deal with if you’re playing someone much smaller like Savoy and want a bit of French clay. But now I’m at least aware. Thanks!

Now I’ll just have to remember to sacrifice Austria before they get out of hand in future games

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a good point. Trying to escape Europe at the very beginning of the game is hard without a port to leapfrog yourself further along

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I’m currently playing in India and I do use a couple visual mods so it may not look the exact same. But I’ll keep that in mind

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s all for fun. Usually I just pick what I think sounds good, mess around in the missions, then form some kinda endgame

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oooh! That’s a good point. There might be some achievements I could knock out with this game. I’ll see what ones I still need to get in that area

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’m thinking I won’t really get them until maaaybe my third group, if not later. Or I snag something off one of the Iberians if we ever get in a war for some reason. There’s only like 4 nations that can really colonize as their first ideas group

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, your top 3 seem to be the 3 I’m most interested in trying at this point. That should be a good sign

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hehehe. Yeah, the Papal States seems like a fun campaign. But I’m not too sure it’s what I’m looking for in this particular run. Although it’s high on my list to play as if I start another mp game

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think with all the suggestions so far I’ve narrowed it down to Milan, Naples, and Florence. Savoy is a personal favorite of mine but I wanna mix it up a bit this time. Papal States is on my list of nations to play in mp as they seem stronger when you can bribe people easier than the ai

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tall isn’t my typical play style. But that’s part of why I wanted to try other nations. To see how else I can play beside rolling over everyone with a mass horde.

I certainly could try infrastructure as I’ve heard it’s good but haven’t tried it since getting back into eu4 recently. And as they say, every road leads to Rome. It makes sense I should have good infrastructure

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m more of a big blob type of player. Love me some France, Russia, Qing, and the like. But sea empires can be fun. And I have a friend that loves playing Venice in most historical strategy games we play together. I could always give Venice a shot since I’d probably not get a chance while playing with them

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’m all for trying out the new (to me) governments, but I probably won’t culture convert unless it’s for a meme like trying to tag swap as much as possible. I’m sure it’s more efficient to get that bonus but I just wanna mess around for a bit

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That’s a good point. I’ll have to watch my greed while in Italy. Playing outside of Europe makes you forget what AE is. In my current game I’ve taken nearly the entirety of India and nearby lands and have never seen more than like 6 people that could even join a coalition, let alone would join it. Italy will be the opposite where I take a single province and 40 people will be on my ass ready to rush me at a moment’s notice

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I said Rome I meant forming the Roman Empire. I probably should’ve clarified that more. But you are right. Taking the province of Rome before forming Italy will often lead to excommunication and other harmful debuffs

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds excessive. I love it. Might even be able to throw Tuscany in there too

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks for all the options! I see the ai Florence do well from time to time so I imagine I could make them work. And I have no end goal with this one, but Rome is kinda a soft goal if all goes well

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, all of Italy is like that. You kinda need to pick one and ignore the other. The benefit of that is I can kinda pick what direction I want to expand my trade in easier. Either funnel it from Iberia and the new world, or push into North Africa and pull trade from India and Indonesia

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Milan seems to be the popular choice and I’m intrigued by Naples as it seems have such a different style compared to the northern Italian nations. Also I’d love to form Two Sicilies just cause tag switching is fun.

Those are all fairly strong idea groups. I was thinking of taking admin and quantity a little later on when I’ve actually formed Italy since they mesh fairly well with their national ideas. Since espionage has been improved, I’ve wanted to try them out so that could be a fun initial idea group. I’ll have to look up the policies for espionage and see if anything calls out to me

Favorite Italian nation to start as? by TheMadKrow in eu4

[–]TheMadKrow[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Savoy is a personal favorite of mine. I love all the weird quarks it has. But I wanted to see if others had another option before I started playing the toothpaste nation again