Tips for learning how to play?

[Illusion17]

So I know how to play Hoi 4, Vic 2, and CK 3 very well, but have never learned how to play Eu 4 due to how daunting it seems. Despite the gameplay loop itself not seeming to be that complicated, the sheer quantity of dlc and expansions, a decent number of which I own, just makes the whole thing seem so confusing. Does anyone have any tips on how to get the ropes? I'm not above learning to play by just throwing myself in blind and learning from my mistakes, but I prefer to avoid doing that if possible.

[Marquoz]

Do the tutorial--it's dated but still useful to learn some basic menu concepts. Then pick the Ottomans for your first real playthrough. They're not the game's strongest starting nation--though the Ottomans are strong--but they're comparatively simple. They have no dangerous neighbors, a great economy, an excellent monarch and military, and can expand safely in multiple directions before running into major challenges. They're the easiest way to learn about warfare, diplomacy, and expansion. After an Ottoman game, then try a colonizer like Castile to learn another major system.

[AC Denton]

EU4 is probably their easiest title honestly, it's where I recommend everyone starts.
I recommend learning the game as either Castile or Ashikaga.

Castile: Colonise the Americas and fight small wars against natives. Merge with Aragon and you're nigh unstoppable in Europe.

Ashikaga: You're the Shogun. All your Daimyo are weaker than you and loyal to you. You can quickly learn diplomacy and fight small wars. You're also isolated to Ming nor Korea or anyone will bother you. You can also choose to colonise Oceania and North America easily.

[Medicles]

Originally posted by AC Denton:

EU4 is probably their easiest title honestly, it's where I recommend everyone starts.

That i have to disagree with. CK3 is in my opinion the best game for newcomers in this kind of genre. Expansion is incredibly easy and even the roleplay aspect of the dynasties is rather negligible.

Just push some buttons to gain gold, prestige and piety and use those to build an army and pay for CB. Battles can be won by just having a bigger army than the enemy and you can chain wars after wars because AE is non-existent. Give the land to your vassals so they have to manage it. The vassals even fight wars on their own and expand for you (which i hate). You can also spread your religion super easily because you can force it on everyone who has a high positive relation to you (which is easy to achieve with "money for relations" skill) and they even convert their land to that religion.

Its super simple gameplay compared to EU4.

[bri]

Originally posted by Medicles:

Originally posted by AC Denton:

EU4 is probably their easiest title honestly, it's where I recommend everyone starts.

That i have to disagree with. CK3 is in my opinion the best game for newcomers in this kind of genre. Expansion is incredibly easy and even the roleplay aspect of the dynasties is rather negligible.

Just push some buttons to gain gold, prestige and piety and use those to build an army and pay for CB. Battles can be won by just having a bigger army than the enemy and you can chain wars after wars because AE is non-existent. Give the land to your vassals so they have to manage it. The vassals even fight wars on their own and expand for you (which i hate). You can also spread your religion super easily because you can force it on everyone who has a high positive relation to you (which is easy to achieve with "money for relations" skill) and they even convert their land to that religion.

Its super simple gameplay compared to EU4.

Have to agree, difficulty was a major victim of the changes from CK 2 to 3. You didn't even mention the magical teleporting troops and walking on water...

[Machiavelli]

Suprisingly, eu4 is more challenging than ck3 atleast..

[Malvastor]

Originally posted by My Lord of Fellington:

Suprisingly, eu4 is more challenging than ck3 atleast..

I personally find it more challenging than CK2 or Stellaris as well.

[bri]

Originally posted by Malvastor:

Originally posted by My Lord of Fellington:

Suprisingly, eu4 is more challenging than ck3 atleast..

I personally find it more challenging than CK2 or Stellaris as well.

vs. CK 2 is a lot about who you are playing in each of the two. I generally don't play post 1.9 Stellaris so can't really say about the current version but 1.9 with some decent mods was actually not terrible for difficulty.

[Radene]

Originally posted by Medicles:

Originally posted by AC Denton:

EU4 is probably their easiest title honestly, it's where I recommend everyone starts.

That i have to disagree with. CK3 is in my opinion the best game for newcomers in this kind of genre. Expansion is incredibly easy and even the roleplay aspect of the dynasties is rather negligible.

Guess it's off my wishlist, then. The RP was the entire point, if I wanted to play a map-painting game, I'd play something else...

[Medicles]

Originally posted by Radene:

Originally posted by Medicles:

That i have to disagree with. CK3 is in my opinion the best game for newcomers in this kind of genre. Expansion is incredibly easy and even the roleplay aspect of the dynasties is rather negligible.

Guess it's off my wishlist, then. The RP was the entire point, if I wanted to play a map-painting game, I'd play something else...

Hmm. I mean, you can still focus on the roleplay aspect, there isnt a need for map painting. But if you would go map painting, then yeah, its too simple. Let me say it like this, its by far not a bad game, i dont regret having bought it. But i regret having played it like EU4.

[Oblomov]

Originally posted by Radene:

Originally posted by Medicles:

That i have to disagree with. CK3 is in my opinion the best game for newcomers in this kind of genre. Expansion is incredibly easy and even the roleplay aspect of the dynasties is rather negligible.

Guess it's off my wishlist, then. The RP was the entire point, if I wanted to play a map-painting game, I'd play something else...

Map painting is THE RP :). Check out some YouTube videos by SocialStreamers, Ludi et Historia, The Red Hawk, and Chewyshoot. It's not that bad.

[Radene]

Originally posted by Oblomov:

Originally posted by Radene:

Guess it's off my wishlist, then. The RP was the entire point, if I wanted to play a map-painting game, I'd play something else...

Map painting is THE RP :). Check out some YouTube videos by SocialStreamers, Ludi et Historia, The Red Hawk, and Chewyshoot. It's not that bad.

Nah, not my style, in the end. And, I don't do YT or any other sort of streamers, I'm a bit of a caveman in that regard :)

[Illusion17]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but once you actually learn Vic II, I think it has the easiest gameplay loop out of all of them. It may be the hardest to learn, but even with flavor mods, the strategies are easy and repetitive once you learn and understand them. Ck III's random factor is the only thing keeping it above Vic in my mind though. Even experienced players can be challenged if they get truly rng screwed.