Gametips
I logged into Cafe World earlier and removed my Seafood Paella that I had been cooking. In the middle of the process I managed to gain a level which put me at 66. As usual, the box popped up stating that I had leveled but it contained an extra section to the right of the box.
Quite a few points below, but I hope someone has the time and interest to answer them, as I’d really like to find out more. Here goes:
A) My game as England:
Any comments on the following?
A1 Played on hardest level, with “normal” AI aggression. Does this seem reasonable? Is it harder with higher aggression?
A2 Did rather well, ended up owning vast majority of the world, thousands of VPs and hundreds of BBs, annexed all minors - should it be this easy?
A3 Tactics - straight at Scotland (annexed after 2nd war); allied to France (therefore no worries about Calais); able to capture many Dutch and N France provinces from Spain during the many wars between France and Spain that I was happy to take a part in; colonised N America asap;
A4 Oddities - Prince Rupert appears simultaneously on Land and Sea, which seems odd; managed to blockade Parma when not at war; a 15,000 (allied) Swedish army marched around my N America for no apparent reason, upsetting the natives; many nations send an offensive army on campaign when their own capital is beseiged (sometimes a legitimate tactic, but not always); the Swedes and Dutch refused every time (at least half a dozen attempts each) to be vassalised, no matter how powerful I was, and Hungary would not be politically annexed - what should I have done?
A5 Gameplay - I make free use of the “Pause” for thinking time - is this considered a form of cheating? Free Online and Downloadable virtual villagers 4: the tree of life game.
B) Crashes:
Any fixes?
(note: I have installed Patch 1.09 - or at least I think I succeeded)
B1 Several times during a peace negotiation
B2 When clicking on “History” when Norwich and Walker appointed ministers
B3 On every attempt to save (manual and auto) the War of Independence scenario
B4 On some choices of country at the start of several scenarios
C) Misc Queries:
Any answers?
C1 EU province talks about “Privateers”. I’m aware of the historical meaning - how do they fit into the game?
C2 What measure of “Wealth” does the Wealth chart show?
C3 Monarchs have Fire/Shock/Siege values - what for?
C4 I read mention of the “IGC”, some alternative game - what is it, should I play it, how do I get it?
C5 I read mention of diplomatic realtions with yourself - what do these affect, and how you change them?
C6 Forgive my history - why isn’t Rome part of the Holy Roman Empire?
C7 Does the AI ever send gifts to improve relations with you or other AI? Do gifts add to the receiver’s treasury?
C8 The manual talks about ending a Vassalisation only through war - I had a vassal declare war on me and remain a vassal
C9 Are the scenarios worth playing? I found Civ 2 scenarios brief novelties but they hadn’t the same depth as the full game - how does EU compare?
C10 Are manufactories worthwhile? They seem very expensive.
C11 When does annexation lead to Nationalism or not? Is it linked to whether it’s political or military? Are certain states predefined as Nationalistic? There seems to be an East/West split of Nationalism/non-Nationalism.
C12 I read mention of the use of rebellions killing off you population below 5000, allowing missionaries to convert the province’s religion. However, I’ve found little effect on populations. In fact, you would have thought that killing 20,000 rebellious armies would have a very significant impact on population (and reduce the risk of future rebellions) - I guess they must run away rather than die?
D) Annoying features (or lack of features):
Any thoughts?
D1 Nothing on History page (I understand this was never implemented)
D2 VPs per Monarch for chart are not saved properly in a save game, so the chart shows various random numbers (including negatives)
D3 AI seems to suffer huge attrition (eg, half way through my game Turkey had already lost 1.3m infantry, 650 ships and 275k cavalry, from a standing army of a fraction of the number)
D4 Offers of peace to me don’t metion whether the offerer is a “Leader of Alliance”, so you can accidentally make a single instead of multiple peace, and make fewer gains
D5 Max technology (12 trade & infrastructure, 60 land, 50 navy) - why? I ended up perpetually fighting inflation at the end of my game, as I had no option but to take the cash.
D6 A captured province under siege from original owner shows no info on status of siege, so you don’t know whether to rush to it’s aid or not
D7 Some countries only produce cavalry (Japan, some states in india, Azteca)
D8 Nothing reminds you when the 30 year Nationalism revolt risk ends
D9 The finale is a bit of a let down - couldn’t we have something special after 300 years of campaigning?
D10 Weights of troops in ships rounded up separately for Inf, Cav, Art, so 1 + 1 + 1 = 3000, which seems silly
D11 The music is absolutely beautiful, but irritating after being repeated every 5 minutes - could a few more tunes not have been written?
D12 A maximum of 6 stars achieved during a war (seven if all provinces captured) makes it very difficult to obtain 3 provinces from the loser. This itself is an annoying iritation. Another is that a very substantial victory and occupation of homeland and capital can still fail to achieve the 3 province win - how much must you walk over a country to dictate terms to them? Will countries offer more provinces to the victor after a while or do they remain intransigent? Play Free Games Online - virtual villagers 4: the tree of life.
A1 AI Aggression: In my experience it makes for a more military-oriented game, more wars, more annexations (fewer but larger states in the game).
A2 Too easy?: A competent human player playing a major nation will be able to score very highly. For a challenge, get in a multi-player game or try playing a minor nation.
A4 Leaders: Some historic leaders appear as both generals and kings or admirals and generals. This is a “feature” of the game, they can even die separately…
A4 Swe Army: AI will send out armies to explore and fight natives, clearing way for colonisation plans that may never happen (especially if you have entire coastline).
A4 Capitals: AI is weak at defending it’s own capitals. You can win most wars by ignoring enemy armies and going straight for the capital.
A4 Annex/vassal: There’s lots of factors at play, suggest you search the forum for threads or check out the FAQs.
A5 Pause: Use pause freely in singleplay but remember if you are going to play against humans you will need to be able to play without pausing.
B1-4 Crashes: I’ve only experienced three crashes in over six months of playing the game with various patches, on two different PC’s with three different OS’s (currently v1.09 on W2000). One of those crashes was when clicking on the History button for a random event. Generally, I think the game is stable but if you see something recurring then make a bug report to Paradox.
C1 Privateers: Not sure about your reference here, AFAIK privateers are not represented in EU1 but will be a feature in EU2.
C4 IGC: Personal preference if you want to try it out. Lots of people love it, I haven’t played it myself as the original GC still holds my interest.
C5 Relation with self: Improve them by taking indemities in peace settlement. Some think this affects risk of civil war. Let me know if you experiment with it and find out
C7 Gifts: IIRC the AI does not send gifts to human players since there’s no effect (ie human players don’t base their decisions on their relations value the way the AI does).
C10 Manufactories: Depending on inflation etc, you’ll get your investment back in maybe 40-60 years. In a 300-year game, that leaves plenty of room for profit. They also benefit province growth, stability, research etc. Yes, they’re worth it.
C11 Nationalism: IIRC it’s based on what’s considered as a core province for another nation. When you take a province that’s “core” for your own nation, the populace is happy. If it’s “core” for another nation, there’ll be nationalistic revolts. If it’s not core for any nation, then again the populace is happy.
C12 Populations: The population level you see when you look at a province is for the city. Rebellions will arise from the entire province population (not tracked in the game but probably 20-100 times the city pop). In order to reduce city pop, let rebels besiege and take it and then take it back.
D1 History page: Never implemented, bu it’s in EU2, apparently.
D3 AI Attrition: AI is a bit weak on attrition, tends to concentrate forces a lot. It’s good (cause you can’t defeat AI forces piecemeal) but bad (cause they starve to death). From an AI design point of view, I don’t think this is easily fixed.
D4 Peace offers: Yes, very irritating when you don’t know. Same thing goes for AI requests to trade maps which doesn’t tell you the provinces known info you get when you’re offering. Also, the AI will ask 1/month sometimes - irritating.
D5 Max technology: So is the problem with the inflation model or your success Considering your position, inflation was probably not such a big deal…
D7 Cavalry only countries: Some countries have vastly cheaper inf or cav or can’t even build certain units (I don’t think England can build galleys). So I think this is by design.
D8 Nationalism: There’s no popup option for it, but you can see it in the Province View for the province if you hover over revolt risk.
D12 Dictating terms: The game is weighted towards smaller territorial gains and taking indemnities for peace. This is based on how warfare was conducted during the time period so it’s a conscious design choice.
