Best country and start date for starters?

[Chainsmoking_Stan]

Im kinda of a noob (yes I admit it) and always end up being destroyed ex Ottomans in 1444 start date picked war with genoa failed miserably at navy and lost a good amount of trade power. Then I fought on land and ended up fighting a coalition of Poland, Moldavia, Wallchia and Hungary. I was winning at first but then my army was annhilated and my lands were pushed back to Greece. Not sure where to go from now.

pls help ;_;

[Noel]

The ottomans are easy if you don't attack anyone other than byzantuim, serbia and bosnia in europe and just expand through asia and africa

[Chainsmoking_Stan]

thanks maybe i shoulda went the other way instead of trying to destroy byzantium almost immediatly

[Kepos]

My advice would be to choose a country you have connection to. Then you'll try to master the upcoming issues with more personal interest. Don't expect to get master of the world within 2 weeks, EU4 is a very long-term strategy game. Up's and downs are normal, let your decissions be driven by your 100-year-plan. From that point of view, EVERY nation is good, but they do have very different goals. As for a yet established major power, it may be to rule the world, or to crush one or all rivals...as for a minor nation it could be to found alliance with it's little neighbours and crack up bullying large neighbour. It's just your own imagination where you locate your goals...and then you try to reach them. :-)

[Noel]

Originally posted by freyjabj:

thanks maybe i shoulda went the other way instead of trying to destroy byzantium almost immediatly

Nah taking byz is the easiest start for ottos, just don't do much more in europe. You can also take their ally serbia, but not more than those two.

[Ed]

Probably the easiest and most productive starts for new players are:

- England (you are on an island, start out with a massive navy, and have military superiority over the Scots).

-France. They are arguably the most powerful nation to play as due to their insane ideas and events. It is easy enough to stay powerful, yet France has enough bad events happen that allows you to learn how to manage your empire properly.

-Castille. They are pretty powerful, and you can get your ropes around exploration and colonization.

-Vijayanangar. That is the yellow kingdom on the southern tip of India. They are a good start if you want to be one of those "emerging" powers. They got pretty good national ideas, start out with a good army and very small kingdoms to vassalize, and are situated in the south of India, so you only need to worry about what is north of you.

-One of the three Manchu tribes. Jiangou, Haixi, or Yeren. Like Vijayanangar, they are a "go from small to big" kind of faction. The beginning is a little tricky (get an ally immediately), but after you conquer the various tribes around you, got got special decisions that allow you to easily conquer all of China to form the Qing dynasty.

-Cusco, though maybe with El Dorado DLC turned off due to Native mechanics. You start out relatively strong, and you just conquer all the kingdoms of the Andes. You form the Inca, and then just wait for a Western power to swooce right in to start westernizing. On Easy difficulty, the Western powers should not be heavily inclined to attack you, giving you time to friend Britain or France (Spain and Portugal will always hate you), and you can become very powerful due to you basically owning a huge portion of the world's gold.

-Venice is also good, if you don't mind being picked on a little.

[Dux]

Portugal - nobody declares war on you and the only strong power that could possibly want your lands is an "historical friend" in the game (which goes against historical facts, but doesn't matter they made it so to keep the game balanced).
You're basically free to ally Spain and other medium powers around you and smash Morocco and Tlemcen to little pieces. It's also the #1 colonizing country so that'll teach how colonizing works, plus you can always bully the primitives which should help you learn the ropes.

[menghao]

Portugal is nice. Beginners can play it in a more isolated manner, hiding behind Castile and colonizing like it's going out of fashion. Idea groups: 1. Exploration, 2. Expansion. Remember to attack and loot the native tribes so they don't have to worry about their treasuries anymore, you can use it better anyway with the Portuguese national idea giving cheaper building costs.

Slightly more advanced players will find it easy to turn on and eat Castile. France is a very useful ally in this operation. After that you're already close to being the top power in the world.

France is of course the first choice for a beginner. I suggest taking Humanist ideas if you don't have a better plan, it saves a lot of hassle in managing an expanding country. You should pick several military idea groups when it feels possible: Offensive, Aristocratic, Quality, Quantity. Pick any of those to begin with and try to get as many as possible of them in without ever running behind in military technology. Try to ally Austria and/or Castile, not declaring them as rival unless they rival you first. Fun fact as France: You can fabricate a claim in Brittany starting on day 1 and declare on them as soon as it finishes, then full annex. And no one cares!

Brandenburg and Sweden are fun to play since they get strong military buffs in their national ideas. Combine with Offensive and Quality ideas and their troops become hilarious death machines. Both of them have a starting position that's not quite as easy as those mentioned above, Sweden being the easier of them. Start improving relations with everyone around you and once you have England, Scotland, Livonians, Teutons, Pomerania, Novgorod, etc. anyone and everyone you can get to support independence, it becomes easy surfing from there on. As Brandenburg you need to understand and be able to work around the coalition mechanic and have a plan to conquer key provinces without drawing the ire of the Empire. They're pretty weak in the early game, especially for a powerhouse nation. I'd say they're a medium difficulty nation because of this, but they become way overpowered in the later stages of the game by the time they are a Protestant Prussia.

I've only ever tried the 1444 start so I'm not familiar with the later start dates.

[Overparduffer]

Also pretty new to the game. Japan seems pretty easy to me. Initially you just try to diplo annex all your vassals and form Japan. Once done with that there is plenty of uncolonized territory to grab to the south. You can move onto mainland Asia when opportunities present themselves.

[Onion]

Originally posted by Overparduffer:

Also pretty new to the game. Japan seems pretty easy to me. Initially you just try to diplo annex all your vassals and form Japan. Once done with that there is plenty of uncolonized territory to grab to the south. You can move onto mainland Asia when opportunities present themselves.

I recommend to play Daimyo, when playing Japan. Its way faster and more rewarding.

[Noel]

Originally posted by Overparduffer:

Also pretty new to the game. Japan seems pretty easy to me. Initially you just try to diplo annex all your vassals and form Japan. Once done with that there is plenty of uncolonized territory to grab to the south. You can move onto mainland Asia when opportunities present themselves.

It's really not that easy

[Ed]

I would seriously recommend AGAINST playing as Japan. The Sengoku Jidai is way too much activity acting very quickly yet over a long period of time. The Daimyo's have to manage entangled alliances and tiny armies, while the Shogunate needs to manage a poor economy and independence-desire.

Hell, Korea is easier to start as.