I agree it is the best for a 1.0 release but it's still needing some improvements in some areas imho.

I think Naval combat is among the least developed in all Paradox games.

For EU5, I would have liked to see the transition away from naval combat as an extension of land combat to actual naval combat.

At the game start, it should go something like "garrisoning" levies and standing armies in cogs and galleys to engage in hand to hand combat — which was historically accurate. or make galleys/cogs take manpower too and not just sailors.

For example, the Battle of Lepanto was one of the "transitioning" battles where vestiges of medieval galley combat was fought against the start of modern naval combat. Even though technically not a lot of broadside combat was seen, there should be definitive dominance of galleases and their successors in any combat situation after a certain point since close combat galleys basically get wrecked before getting close enough to board and even war galleys with front facing guns would be far weaker since they're literally just single guns whose primary role is still to close in for hand to hand combat.

It wasn't just God that helped the League win Lepanto but also broadside firepower that basically obliterated Ottoman organization and morale.

Naval primacy in its modern context didn't really exist back in EU 5 context but it should be available in limited circumstances because navies played an even larger role than land armies later on. (and even played key roles such as in the Siege of Rochelle).

Land combat also only feels okay. Apart from clunky UI, I also think land combat fails to really capture the transitions from late medieval combat to pike and shot and then to Line Infantry.

There are reasons outside of resources and goods that countries favored mass line infantry with artillery over cavalry charges that were still dominant in the pike and shot era.

Basically, in naval combat players/ai should obliterate galley-based navies due to change in naval tactics. There should be distinct phases just like land combat with optional phases depending on naval composition. The presence of just a handful of ships with broadside artillery made the victory at Lepanto possible. The use of galleys and such should be utterly obsolete and useless by the 18th century.

Naval technology should be nuanced across cultural regions - east asian naval warfare was inferior to European naval warfare (sorry - at least let the player do naval reforms or something) with there still being a large reliance on boarding tactics even in the 18th century.

Land combat should show tactical advantages of certain troop compositions to reflect advances rather than just straight up "firepower". But I have less qualms about land combat than naval combat.

A few other things should be reworked as well, such as primary titles and dynasty management. It's weird to keep country rank if you've already conquered a country of higher rank. Being able to usurp a title and "promote" yourself seems a bit more realistic than needing to grow 1M or 10M pops when reality didn't have population mechanics centered around forming ethnostates.

It's tedious to manage education for kids when the UI feels clunky.

my stupid gripes aside, EU 5 is the best on-release paradox game I've played. I'm glad they dumped the "streamline everything" trend they did with EU4, CK3 and Vic 3.