what are the best all-round ideas?

[jareer]

i usualy go for exploration then expansion because i love making colonies but what are the best general ones. i also go for religion sometimes

[Exarch_Alpha]

Administrative, Offensive are must haves for everybody, the rest is all situational. I do have a tendency to go Quality and Innovative too, if it´s a colonial country then Exploration.

If it isn´t, Diplomacy if I want to go for PUs with inheritances (with all the diplo rep boosters you can inherit decent size countries up to 10 provinces) or Influence if I want to go for vassals and big PUs. Both have their pros and cons and overall I think Diplomacy is superior because of its policies and events.

[Carl Johnson BR (real)]

Adding to the other guy above me. I also like to go with Exploration and Expansion. However, with France, I'll usually go with defensive/offensive and quantity (lol tity) or maybe quality.
If I'm having trouble keeping up with my army, and not making money, I'll usually go with economic or quantity. At times if it's a filler period (1651-1698) I'll usually go for those.

However, I highly recommend just reading the ideas

[equinox1911]

There is no best per se, it depends on the country you play and what you want to achive.
There are good ones in each category but most are ok to pick in certain situations.

The classics are:
Humanitst (no rebels)
Religious (Best erly game CB, no dip cost for land)
Good contenders for first group:
Innovative (tech cost) and Administrative (-25% coring)

Diplo(HRE starts), Influence (PU or vassalisation games) or Trade (money)

Defensive (best mil group bc 15% moral after 800 spent points)
Offensive or Quanitiy (depends on needs of MP and the money, bigger countries go for Quantity over Offensive, also their power curve differes, Quantity starts with two amazing ideas)

[Exarch_Alpha]

Humanist is crap. Rebels are early game problem, which Humanism won´t help. By the time the reductions finally kick in you can handle internal problems.

[equinox1911]

Sure since rebels have become much more predictable and thus manageable Humanist has gone from godpick to just good, i still see mad value in it though.
If you pick it first it saves around 2k mana on ideas plus it gets rid of the need to raise autonomy and provides 30% AE reduction (+20 with diplo policy). The policies with defensive and quantity are also pretty good.

It's not the no bainer pick it was once but it still makes for a very stable realm which leaves you to focus your armies/mp/money elsewhere.

[neofutur]

I very often start with economic / quantity or economic/ quality.

the first ideas of a group are important, cause you need some you can use early

[Free Luigi M.]

Defensive as first Mil pick. Then Quality.
Innovative as first Adm pick. Then Economic.
Trade as Dip pick if you are in multiplayer. Singleplayer or co-op Influence and Diplomatic.

[Vladimiś]

I would say that Plutocratic is best all-arounder since you get good mix of seemingly random ideas

[Tynos5]

I usually start with Quality in the military tree if i have to much mil power cause its more easy to get morale from a nations ideas or other aspects like prestige, but i really love the bonus discipline and the other stats, especially when u play with some ships 2 (i usually only play harbour nations).
If u have 2 much admin power i prefer humanist, i know some know how to handle rebels but i prefer them over other admin ideas because i have a use for everything they give, not only a nice -25% core creation fe, especially because i prefer to switch to protestant asap and the humanist ideas makes this much more easier to handle.
Diplo is usually my 3rd tree 2 go for and i use the diplopoints for boosting development etc, but when i come to the point and only take influence because europe is the only region i`m playing and there are many other nations u have to take care of, these ideas help u deal with enemies, friends and subjects. I have to admit i never take any other ideas than influence because not only do i hate colonizing, but i also think the other ideas are bs. just my opinion. diplomatic is pretty similar to influence and also a viable option but i prefer influence.

[wakey wakey]

The most useful idea group is relgious by far.(outside europe) It's the only way left as a non horde to blob rapidly.(seems like it will get a heavy nerf soon)

It's so mandatory for many nations that it clearly shows how broken useless the claim/cb system atm is. Afterwards it's the same 4 idea groups for mp everytime for every build.. All hail the holy 4. -.- Ahhh and don't forget to pick def in early until the second idea and abbondon it later on.

For sp religious and quanitity are the most valuable ones by far. Quantity kinda makes colation non existant because the ai just watches your manpower/force limit/tech combined to the possible coaltion.

If your forcelimit/manpower is high enough there won't be any coaltion even with 4853939 ae towards the whole world.

[Frank]

Originally posted by wakey wakey:

The most useful idea group is relgious by far.(outside europe.

Afterwards it's the same 4 idea groups for mp everytime for every build.. All hail the holy 4. -.- .

What are the holy 4 ?

[Imas]

I personally really love Influence as first if I'm playing in Europe or anywhere else surrounded by lots of small countrys (As long as I don't go for early colonizition). One extra relation, more vassal money, cheaper diplo-annexing... and the finisher is just plain neat to save even more diplo-points if you like to solve your issues with your neighbours forcefully. :-)
I also came to REALLY appreciate picking up Economic early, especially if I have a gold mine (2nd or 3rd idea is inflation reduction). Gives me money in a phase of the game where it is actually rare. It also lets you start developing your land cheaper pretty early if you need to.

[Dustpuppy]

Economic, Administrative, Religious, Influence, Quantity, Offensive, Exploration

Usually pick either econ or admin as idea one, Religious is idea 3 almost always. Idea 2 is either quantity, offensive or exploration.

Never had a reason to pick anything other than those. I used to take Innovative when it was -2 tradition decay. Very late game sometimes grab innovative, but my games don't usually go that long.

If you're not playing on VH then diplomatic can speed up conquests instead of influence. However, on VH you can get coalitioned even with 600k+ troops if you start to push on china/ottoblob at the same time.

For custom nations, pick the high american tech group at start and you've won the game. 0 point cost in europe and it's like +6 pips on your infantry prior to tech 18.

[jareer]

thanks guys for the input!

[Hartassen]

There are no "best ideas" it depends on your national ideas and your goals. administrative, innovative and economic are all around good and don't cater to any specific tactics. Same goes for espionage and diplomatic, influence is also a good idea group to pick up even if you don't plan on vassals since it has bonus prestige, less aggressive expansion impact and bonus diplomatic reputation/relations. As for military it depends on your needs, defensive is always good no matter what but offensive/quantity are great as well. Basically if you need manpower you pick quantity, if not go for defensive and later on offensive.

Stay away from quality unless you're building a very specific military such as brandenburg/prussia 50% infantry combat ability with lots of bonus discipline etc the bonuses you get from it are meant to be coupled with other bonuses and if you don't have any of those national ideas/policies it's not a great group to invest in.