This is a re-post from another forum, but maybe there are a few EU IV fans here, or maybe some guys are wondering about the game. EU IV is excellent, my favorite Grand Strategy game. Just a quick glimpse in to what is really a very long game.

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The Tuscany>Italy game is complete. Tuscany is a fantastic nation to play. There are so many options for expansion, you're essentially the epicenter of Europe and North Africa, and you're surrounded by potential foes of every kind. Tuscany gets a technological headstart with an amazing King and superb national ideas.



Here is Mighty Tuscany two years in to the game as we plot our opening moves. The early stages featured many relatively small localized wars among all of the Italian one and two province minors (known in EU IV speak as OPMs and TPMs) Being a TPM gave me a bit of an advantage over several smaller neighbors and I worked on vassalizing as many as I could, with a view to controlling Northern Italy and the Papal States. Booting the Pope out of Italy was fun and eventually we united Italy and turned our attention to the north and west. It would have been easier to go east and take on the Byzantines, Ottomans, Mamlukes and the like, but I wanted to marginalize the HRE and especially those dirty dogs Austria, who definitely act as though they are too big for their britches, as the saying goes where I'm from. At the same time I didn't want to lose the perks of being in the HRE myself, so it was a heavy dose of the military/diplomatic tightrope that is so cool about this game.

Likewise I wanted to dominate the western Mediterranean. France would be an early ally and mid to end game enemy. And so it should be. I couldn't afford to let Austria or France become too powerful, and after they split Burgandy in the Inheritance they were both scary prospects indeed. Iberia became my main target, but it would be difficult to invade by sea, so I needed to work my way west overland, and expand through the Alps, and then again down through the Pyrenees.

To the east I found a long-time great ally in Hungary and they essentially acted as my early warning system against Ottomans. In the 17th century Hungary and Italy went to war with the increasingly powerful Ottomans. Ottomans kick ass in every game I play, and they were again, and as they looked to expand into my main man Hungary we were ready. It was a truly epic war with massive battles on land and at sea. But we prevailed and as I didn't want to expand to the east I really stuck it to the Ottomans in the peace negotiations by bringing Byzantium back from the dead. I forced Ottomans to release all of the Byzantine territory and they were reborn. Hahahah, what could infuriate a Turk more? Cool #%&*$#. And that gave me another ally/buffer/damage soaker to the east. One of my proudest EU IV achievements I must say lol.

But the Byzantines are of course not so bright and a century later they forsake me as their main protector of existence and broke our alliance and were again swallowed whole by the Ottomans. Served the bastards right if you ask me. They came crawling late, but I didn't care and left them to their fate. No room for sentimentality when you are King.



Here an action shot lol from the middle of the game. We are attempting to seal off France from the Mediterranean, which had been a long term goal of mine. Once that was done France became far less influential in Italian affairs. Aragon is also taking a beating from the Castilian-Italian death machine. Aragon are like a reptile that just grows a new tail when you chop it off. Aragon is a mortal enemy of Tuscany in this game. They start the game in a Personal Union with Naples, which is the strongest of the Italian minors. Together they present a serious challenge to small nations like Tuscany, and if Aragon succeeds in inheriting Naples through their PU they would be very difficult to overcome. It took a devious web of tenuous allegiances for us to keep them at bay, but eventually they existed no more.



This is the state of affairs in Europe with 6 months left in the game. It wasn't easy always fighting France, the HRE and booting Portugal, Castile and Aragon from Iberia, but you cannot underestimate a determined Tuscan. Near the end I made a push to capture Constantinople just to stick it to the Ottomans one last time, but didn't quite make it, though if you look closely you can see our bridgehead to the west of the City. I wish it were easy to change your nation's map color, as there were too many green nations that survived in the area. I was disappointed to become that shade when forming Italy. But overall a very enjoyable playthrough. I felt like it was equal parts diplomacy, militarism and economics, though I know that's true of many nations you can play. The potential exists early on to be wiped out, but if you play it right you can emerge as a powerful Italian force. Good stuff.

Great read! I finally purchased this gem and hoping to manage this huge game. Always wanted to play EU games but also always felt overwhelmed by them. Thankfully there are lot's of nice tutoriolas on YT so this should be a big help. Again, very nice AAR!

Thanks. It's a great game. I was a long time Total War player, but I got to the point where I was enjoying the subterfuge, diplomacy and politics more than war, but TW is a bit light really in those areas in my opinion, so I had a look about for some alternatives. I tried Crusader Kings and really liked it and became hooked on Paradox games. EU IV is my kind of game. It is huge in scope and quite deep no doubt, but that's to be expected from a Grand Strategy game isn't it? I tell people that essentially everything you need to know to play is in the tool tips.

I've now played games as Aragon, Portugal, Brunei, France, Tuscany and am currently playing as Ottomans. There are so many choices and so many paths you could take. I like how the mechanics are so intricately interwoven, where for example War Exhaustion might affect reinforcement rate, stability costs, revolt risk, shipbuilding and on and on. It's deep, but I find it amazingly accessible.

If you can get past the early 'what the hell am I supposed to do' phase, there is a great game awaiting you.

Nice write up, impressive that you got all the way through to 1820 I rarely make it past 1700. Once I get too powerful there's no fun, I like to start small and struggle

Yeah I can understand, but I stay motivated to see the games through to the end. I played all of the nations mentioned in my last post through to conclusion aside from Ottomans which I'm playing now.

There's no doubt the early stages are most compelling, but I stay interested throughout. There's always another war to fight, infidel to convert, trade node to dominate or unfortunate minnow to vassalize.