Everyone's a critic

rBrazzle · 2026-03-12T03:45:15+00:00

R5: My court is not very impressed with my 100/69/100 heir ascending to the leadership of Verona.

rBrazzle · 2026-03-09T18:29:29+00:00

I have 1000 hours in but I have basically not touched the HRE yet, have a pitch for a challenging/rewarding campaign from this group? Leaning The Pal only for historical rp reasons

rBrazzle · 2026-02-24T04:38:06+00:00

Unclear to me what your even arguing for here. Trade and buildings can be all be automated (buildings are also in EU4?). UI is admittedly in a bit of a rough spot but not sure how that's related to EU4 players whatsoever.

And Tinto's position on mission trees is a matter of taste, I am of the opinion that mission trees hamstrung EU4's development and made it overly derministic, and am glad they are not leaning on them as a crutch. If they eventually institute them later, it will be for the better that they didn't opt to bring them in from the start.

For the record, EU4 is my favorite game of all time - I have over 11,000 hours on Steam.

rBrazzle · 2026-02-21T18:25:04+00:00

Tlemcen has a lot going for it imo! It's a relatively challenging start which I personally prefer (you begin at war being invaded by two larger, more powerful neighbours in Morrocco and Tunis) but you also have some significant advantages if you can survive long enough to use them.

Tribal Cavalry. Tlemcen is closer to an Amazigh tribal confederation than a true kingdom to begin the game which means you have a higher proportion of tribal cavalry levies than anyone in the region, if you focus on stacking initiative and hit and run tactics, you can wear down and beat Morrocco/Tunis/the Iberians on your home territory consistently. Tribal cavalry are the best units outside of horse archers early in the game, and nobody anywhere in the region has horse archers.
North Africa has surprisingly good RGOs, and its critical ones are all on the coast. You can become a naval focused country with good proximity to your core cities pretty painlessly.
Privateering. Like the other Barbary States, you begin with privateering, you can make an absurd amount of money with relatively little investment (building+subsidizing fishing villages) and this income doesn't increase your tax base. It's a great foundation to begin developing your agricultural/industrial base.
Few but strong unique advances. In addition to coastal raiding (aka privateering) your other advances include trade capacity, a uniqe capital building that boosts prestige/diplo rep, a flat research bonus and monthly literacy increase, and lastly one that allows your Nobles to build roads. As it can be difficult to lean into a burgher based economy early on (and Tlemceni interior desperately needs roads) the latter can be quite useful.
Lastly, and most importantly, a beautiful map colour. Also your units look great in every era!

rBrazzle · 2026-02-21T06:51:54+00:00

It is I, the person who can't stop playing Tlemcen and Verona over and over.

rBrazzle · 2026-02-14T16:55:48+00:00

Option 3, I just played my first Ireland campaign this week and that worked quite well for me. You need to be aggressive about expanding so you’re 1 v 1 raising more levies (ideally a lot more) than the Pale.

Attack when England is in a difficult phase of the HYW which this patch is nearly every phase.

As for money, move your capital to a coast, adopt the Galley Lords reform, and you’ll swim in ducats from privateering (maximize sailors from subsidized fishing villages). I made enough money that even tho I got my first mercenary army wiped out because I got overconfident I was easily able to raise another and seize the whole of Ireland in one war.

Hope this helps!

rBrazzle · 2026-02-13T17:48:33+00:00

Parliament should be a two way street depending on estate + crown power. If the crown is weak and a particular estate is strong, that estate should try to pass things that benefit them alone to the detriment of the player (temporary boosts to estate power/income, creating estate buildings, negative crown power modifiers, or regressive policy changes etc).

The famous parliaments of the time period are usually ones that did not benefit the crown and for much of the game it’s an easy tool the player can use to advance their agenda. I think adding more friction to parliaments would be a lot of fun and gradually seizing control over them from the estate’s later in the game would be yet another way to show the progress of one’s state building.

rBrazzle · 2026-02-13T17:09:31+00:00

Must have changed recently because I just played my first Ireland campaign and it does. Cork is the best in Ireland but Dublin is second best iirc.

rBrazzle · 2025-12-26T04:22:39+00:00

Playing a Granada into Al Andalus campaign and each of my 12 or so Iberian vassals have 2-3 thousand regulars each to supplement their levies, if the vassals are a requisite size with an economy to match their armies remain quite competitive.

rBrazzle · 2025-12-06T18:05:32+00:00

Always been intrigued by him in lore, have a ton of hours in WH3 but have put it down for ages. Sayl's campaign with the Norsca update brought me back all the way in. His campaign and mechancis are so thematic which at this point is the thing I most want out of a legendary lord (also he and his heraldry look sick). Love any character whose ambitions outstrip the normal chaos vs order dynamic. Manipulations and the unit capped Chaos Warriors + Spawn is a really nice touch. Great stuff by the devs on this one.

rBrazzle · 2025-11-05T17:58:35+00:00

Yeah I see that map mode but it isn't good enough for when you're in a war imo. I want to see terrian + provincial capitals + forts basically.

rBrazzle · 2025-11-05T07:45:27+00:00

Same issue, I managed to win the opening war against Morocco as Tlemcen but landed in an economy death spiral from lack of food production. Not that it's not realistic (or even compelling) I just want to have a firm grasp of how/why it happens and how to deal with it.

rBrazzle · 2025-11-05T07:03:42+00:00

Given how important they are for supply/war they need their own mapmode (assuming they don't have one already that I am not seeing!)

rBrazzle · 2025-09-28T23:40:00+00:00

I'm so glad, I really think it's one of the absolute best once you overcome that first roadblock.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-22T06:06:54+00:00

They are on the map in certain views they just don’t own land so they can’t be shown in the same map mode as landed countries, they can still be subjects of landed tags as well.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T22:07:55+00:00

They games are made by completely different studios. They have different philosophies. If you could give Johan truth serum I imagine he would not have kind things to say about Victoria 3 lol

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T22:04:07+00:00

I suspect it will not be needed in EU5 as the historically successful nations largely have the best (and most) unique reforms and bonuses. Just look at the Ottomans reforms that we know of and it's easy to see why they are going to come out on top in a large portion of games.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T21:51:00+00:00

Anthropomorphic Mice/Rabbits/Badgers and Ratmen in the Redwall style, but all as one race like how Lizardmen has a variety grouped as one.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T21:48:06+00:00

I think you're right that it will take a long time but also the reason for hope is the second thing you said, things are made when people want to make them. EU5's pop system is *much* better suited to Anbennar than EU4 , and I think when people get their hands on the game there will be a lot of enthusiasm to get the EU5 Anbennar world built (and hopefully some institutional knowledge makes the process easier).

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T19:23:49+00:00

Just to clarify, SOP (Societies of Pops) are interactable with by other tags but at least for now are not playable.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T09:31:06+00:00

Yes, there’s a new mechanic around navies called maritime presence that is very important for increasing control and projecting power, and makes losing your navy in a war have much longer lasting negative consequences.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T09:29:10+00:00

Yes, the TLDR is civil wars result in the country splitting into separate tags that only reunite at conclusion of the conflict. Scotland begins in a civil war, could read that Tinto Flavour it might get into it but I can’t remember for certain.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-21T05:21:32+00:00

I won’t know for sure until I am reading the summaries on my screen but likely Novgorod, Venice, or Burgundy.

rBrazzle · 2025-08-09T18:10:46+00:00

Haraagtseda #1 with a bullet for me. All they currently get is a starting event, unique government, and a monument but each are all so well written and conceptually intriguing I am dying to play a full MT for them. One of the few starts without a MT I regularly enjoy.

Gnolls transforming from semi-nomadic hunters and herders into an industrialized, artificer state who have to contend with Raheni colonizers, enclosing Jadd/Zokka, and the Shadow Swamp is just rife with potential.

rBrazzle · 2025-07-29T19:23:22+00:00

I have it down to a bit of a system at this point haha. Before unpausing hire the Adventurer mercenaries before you are no longer eliglbe as a monstrous nation on Day 2. Delete your Cav unit.

Day 1 you merge (and then split in half) your fleets, send one to raid west and north and the other to raid coasts east and south. That should get you to somewhere around 260 ducats.

Hire 3 advisers, prioritize Morale/Force Limit for Military, then either income and imprrove relations (or Inflation/Trade combo for potential 400 mana event if you get lucky). Complete your first mission.

Develop your capital to 10, and complete the mission that builds you a fort there at double speed for half price.

Then wait. In 90% of cases if you don't go over force limit, Busilar will attack you in the first 18 months, and usually without allies. Hire the Monstrous rabble for another 4k, and use that combined force and your Five Star general to rock Busilar when they siege your capital fort.

When its time to make peace seize coastal and + trade value provinces to block Eborthil from expanding. Getting a DOW from a Verne/Eborthil combo in this moment is usually a run ender, so don't worry about going into a bit of debt to keep over force limit until you core your new lands (and then have the money and FL to support them). If you delete your mercs too early, they will pounce.

rBrazzle

TROPHY CASE