EU4 community, list your most underrated countries to play as

[Vezrim]

We have all played enough of Prussia, Spain, France and Austria, even Ottomans or Mamluks in the Middle East. I feel as most of the time I'm always playing the most general countries in Europe and Asia, and so, it can get boring sometimes to play.

Here I ask the community to list what they feel are underrated countries. Whether it's a country in Europe, Africa or Asia. I think this will not only help me, but also other players who are looking to expand out of the general countries and start to play more interesting but not often mentioned countries that could result in a potentially great game.

Hopefully this will result in a good post where players whether old or new, could come here and check out some countries to play that they haven't played before. Thank you!

[Server Jester]

I just got done with a Naples game recently and they are very powerful, yet people seem to only want to play as Milan or Florence when they want to do an Italian game
If you can get an independence war against Aragon and take Sicily back, youre already set to become a dominant power in Italy
Hell, if Tunis didnt ally Ottomans yet you can attack them right after and take a huge amount of land from them (I fed it to Tripoli which I released)
Two Sicilies also has pretty good ideas (not as good as Italian but still pretty good)
Naples also gets perma claims and perma modifiers in their mission tree too

[vdarkcharlie]

Savoy. Had an anti-France alliance of Great Britain, Spain, Austria, Papal State, and one other country that I can't recall. Got the Trustworthy achievement because of it.

[M82]

Ansbach is a great nation to play. It also has its own mission tree and can reform into Franconia ! Its starting position is safe due to being in the HRE but Ansbach is a pretty weak minor at the start. Playing Ansbach requires careful military preparation and a decent amount of luck, but makes for a great game once you unite Franconia.

Wolgast is also great if you want a country that has high replayability. Playing Wolgast allows you to go Pirate Republic, Pomerania or even Prussia iirc. Wolgast isn't as fun as Ansbach because you'll find yourself having to play the waiting game a lot due to the powerful countries that border you, but once you become a regional power it's a lot more satisfying.

[Kapika96]

Mewar in India for me. Had a game as them recently and they're a lot of fun. They have their own mission tree (with an achievement for finishing it no less), a formable to aim for in Rajputana, crazy good ideas and you can fully take advantage of all the Indian features such as the unique estates and rajput units. If you want to play a Prussia like country that isn't Prussia (and isn't in Europe) then you should play Mewar!

[Kapika96]

Originally posted by Manatee-Nyan! ♥ Lamppost:

Perfect nation since you'll have a bunch of excess mil power due to not needing mil dev

What on earth do you do with it all then? I mean, no nation "needs" mil dev and you should only really use your excess monarch points on devving in the first place, so if you're not doing that with them... what do you do?

Actually, excess mil points kind of annoy me generally. They're the least useful ones so it's easier to get an excess of them than the others, but military development is also the least important so just devving up your provinces with them isn't that useful either.

[Medicles]

Originally posted by Manatee-Nyan! ♥ Lamppost:

I've been having a lot of fun with Switzerland, turns out Mercenary only works really well for them. Perfect nation since you'll have a bunch of excess mil power due to not needing mil dev or generals allowing you to stay very far ahead of time in mil tech and can keep reelcting by strengthening government.

Excess military points is standard with like every nation.

[Server Jester]

Originally posted by Kapika96:

Originally posted by Manatee-Nyan! ♥ Lamppost:

Perfect nation since you'll have a bunch of excess mil power due to not needing mil dev

Actually, excess mil points kind of annoy me generally. They're the least useful ones so it's easier to get an excess of them than the others, but military development is also the least important so just devving up your provinces with them isn't that useful either.

Maybe it would be good to just spam Generals with excess mil points to get quick professionalism and the chance for a god-tier general?

[Server Jester]

I have a feeling Rassids are also underrated as they seem to be overshadowed by Najd despite Rassids also having really good Mil Ideas
They can also form Yemen so you can go for Protect the Secret
You could also then form Mamluks and go for Levant Turnabout then immediately form Arabia to get Arabian Coffee which you should get the next month since you should own a ton of coffee provinces from getting Protect the Secret

[Coffee]

Hawaii

[Kapika96]

Originally posted by PunishedMuskovy:

I have a feeling Rassids are also underrated as they seem to be overshadowed by Najd despite Rassids also having really good Mil Ideas
They can also form Yemen so you can go for Protect the Secret
You could also then form Mamluks and go for Levant Turnabout then immediately form Arabia to get Arabian Coffee which you should get the next month since you should own a ton of coffee provinces from getting Protect the Secret

You need to start as the Mamluks for Levant Turnabout so you wouldn't be able to get that.

Looked up the Rassids ideas though and they do look very good indeed. Might have to give them a go sometime soon!

[Server Jester]

Originally posted by Kapika96:

Originally posted by PunishedMuskovy:

I have a feeling Rassids are also underrated as they seem to be overshadowed by Najd despite Rassids also having really good Mil Ideas
They can also form Yemen so you can go for Protect the Secret
You could also then form Mamluks and go for Levant Turnabout then immediately form Arabia to get Arabian Coffee which you should get the next month since you should own a ton of coffee provinces from getting Protect the Secret

You need to start as the Mamluks for Levant Turnabout so you wouldn't be able to get that.

Looked up the Rassids ideas though and they do look very good indeed. Might have to give them a go sometime soon!

Wiki says you just need to be Mamluks to do Levant Turnabout so I guess you can form Mamluks and get Levant Turnabout

[Tulduil Iphukiir]

Originally posted by PunishedMuskovy:

Wiki says you just need to be Mamluks to do Levant Turnabout so I guess you can form Mamluks and get Levant Turnabout

The Wiki has "Is Mamluks" in the Starting Conditions column and the game code reads

achievement_levant_turnabout = {
         [...]
	possible = {
		[...]
		tag = MAM
	}
	[...]
	happened = {
		army_professionalism = 1
		NOT = { exists = TUR }
		owns_core_province = 149 #Edirne
		owns_core_province = 151 #Constantinople 
		owns_core_province = 317 #Hudavendigar
		owns_core_province = 326 #Ankara
	}

with the "tag=MAM" in the possible block which defines the starting conditions.

If forming Mamluks would be enough for the achievement "tag=MAM" would be in the happened block instead.

[Server Jester]

Originally posted by Tulduil Iphukiir:

Originally posted by PunishedMuskovy:

Wiki says you just need to be Mamluks to do Levant Turnabout so I guess you can form Mamluks and get Levant Turnabout

The Wiki has "Is Mamluks" in the Starting Conditions column and the game code reads

achievement_levant_turnabout = {
         [...]
	possible = {
		[...]
		tag = MAM
	}
	[...]
	happened = {
		army_professionalism = 1
		NOT = { exists = TUR }
		owns_core_province = 149 #Edirne
		owns_core_province = 151 #Constantinople 
		owns_core_province = 317 #Hudavendigar
		owns_core_province = 326 #Ankara
	}

with the "tag=MAM" in the possible block which defines the starting conditions.

If forming Mamluks would be enough for the achievement "tag=MAM" would be in the happened block instead.

No, what im saying is you dont have to START as Mamluks to get Levant Turnabout
You can form Mamluks then meet those conditions and get the achievement
So Levant Turnabout should be possible starting as Rassids and then forming Mamluks and meeting those requirements of 100% professionalism, Ottomans being gone, and owning those provinces as cores

[Server Jester]

Another nation id say is underrated is Aq Qoyunlu
Most people only play AQ for Rise of the White Sheep but they actually have pretty good ideas
Plus you can choose to either form Persia or Rum and you are in a good position to swap to Orthodoxy or Copticism if you choose to (keep in mind if you choose to go Christian and form Rum, you wont get the Ottoman government)

[Tulduil Iphukiir]

Originally posted by PunishedMuskovy:

Originally posted by Tulduil Iphukiir:

The Wiki has "Is Mamluks" in the Starting Conditions column and the game code reads

achievement_levant_turnabout = {
         [...]
	possible = {
		[...]
		tag = MAM
	}
	[...]
	happened = {
		army_professionalism = 1
		NOT = { exists = TUR }
		owns_core_province = 149 #Edirne
		owns_core_province = 151 #Constantinople 
		owns_core_province = 317 #Hudavendigar
		owns_core_province = 326 #Ankara
	}

with the "tag=MAM" in the possible block which defines the starting conditions.

If forming Mamluks would be enough for the achievement "tag=MAM" would be in the happened block instead.

No, what im saying is you dont have to START as Mamluks to get Levant Turnabout
You can form Mamluks then meet those conditions and get the achievement
So Levant Turnabout should be possible starting as Rassids and then forming Mamluks and meeting those requirements of 100% professionalism, Ottomans being gone, and owning those provinces as cores

As I said: Conditions within the "possible block" must be fulfilled at game start to be eligible for an achievement.
For Levant Turnabout you must start as Mamluks.


If forming Mamluks (and starting as another nation) would be enough the code would read

achievement_levant_turnabout = {
         [...]
	possible = {
		[...]
	}
	[...]
	happened = {
                tag = MAM
		army_professionalism = 1
		NOT = { exists = TUR }
		owns_core_province = 149 #Edirne
		owns_core_province = 151 #Constantinople 
		owns_core_province = 317 #Hudavendigar
		owns_core_province = 326 #Ankara
	}

with the tag=MAM in the "happened block".