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make peace with Poland. Since peace with Poland also means peace with Lithuania, you can shop around and see which country has the best deal for peace.
You should generally wait to see what the computer is offering before deciding on whether or not to deal. While you can only demand the territories you control (or those considered part of your national provinces), the other country can offer any territories it owns. This means you might just want to sit on them for a few months to see if they will offer some territories you otherwise couldn't reach. The colonial powers will often offer a slew of colonies in exchange for their European territories back, and this can be a quick way to jumpstart your colonial empire. The only downside to this is that every colony big enough to be a city will develop Nationalism, and if a far flung colony revolts you may not be in a position to do anything about it.
Remember that the stability penalties in the game also apply to the computer.
They also suffer from war weariness and a drop in Stability should they attack your without reason, same as you will. Therefore, it's not a bad idea to maintain good relations with people you don't intend to attack immediately. Trade agreements and royal marriages are even better. That way, when the computer tries to attack you suddenly, it will increase the chance it will have to deal with revolts at home in addition to your armies.
War:
You'll do best in Europa Universalis 2 if you make your decision making process as if you were actually running a country. Because of this, there are three questions you should ask before you go to war.
1. Can I win quickly?
2. Can I win cheaply?
3. Will the gains of war be worth it?
These questions may seem obvious, but asking them has saved me from many a fruitless war. The computer is not stupid, and will attack you if a long war with another country is sapping your strength. Sometimes it can be best to take a short-term loss to avoid a long war against a superior foe.
Although shaping your domestic policy is generally something that should be left to your own preference, there are some sliders that are important. Quality should always be at maximum. This will give you the best armies the best chance of winning.
Offensive and Defensive doctrine should be kept as neutral as possible. This is because a completely offensive doctrine negatively impacts your siege rating, which makes taking towns difficult. A completely defensive doctrine robs your armies of shock value, making them useless in combat. Leaving it neutral allows you to take towns and kill armies. Land should be emphasized over Sea unless you plan on being almost exclusively a colonial power (like Portugal or England). Because taking territories and fighting armies is what this game is all about, and because sea battles can be largely avoided, Land should always have priority. Many nations can get away with never building a single ship. However, since England is so reliant on her navy due to her island nation and need to colonize, England should slightly emphasize Sea over land (same with
Portugal).
Because it can be a major hit to your reputation to militarily annex a country (no matter how big or small it is), it can be effective to wait until another country annexes those little countries, and then invade the big country. It only takes a few annexations before your reputation goes down the toilet, no matter how small the country was that you annexed. By letting the other guy take the hit in diplomacy, you can safely take the same territories without the cost. This works well in Northern and Southern Europe, where little one-territory countries are common.
Although most games of EU2 rarely adhere to history, it's a good idea to know what countries grow powerful in real life and when. Historical events often give these countries bonuses that correspond to their real life counterparts (i.e. Austria gets a historical event annex Hungary at roughly the same time as they did in the real world).
Since many of the great powers start out fractured, you can really put the hurt on them quickly by allying with their neighbors. For example, a good Ireland/Scotland alliance against England will generally retard England's rise to power, while allying with Aragon against Castile in the 1400's can really screw up Spain later in the game, especially if you can prevent their unification in the late 1400's. In one game I was playing as Austria, I allied with Savoy and Burgandy against France early on. France never recovered, and stayed broken up until the end of the game in 1819. The best part is that since you generally don't have to commit any troops yourself to the conflict, just set up the alliance.
Even if the war goes badly for your allies you won't be affected.
Winning the Game:
Believe it or not, it is quite easy to win a game of EU2 without dominating the globe. This is because of the somewhat quirky system of victory points the game uses to determine the winner. Here I've detailed some easy ways to boost your victory score.
Perhaps the easiest way to boost your victory score is to do the diplomacy missions. One mission in particular, Keep _____, gives you twenty victory points simply for keeping one of your own territories for five years. By doing this mission alone, over and over for the Grand Campaign (400 years) will give you 1600 points by the time its all over! (20ptsX 80missions=1600pts) This can give you a major boost over your rivals by itself. Other easy missions include "Royal Marriage with ______", and the somewhat harder "Vassalize _____."
Manufactories also provide easy bonus points, although these can get rather expensive. Still, manufactories provide a lot of useful bonuses in addition to victory points, including an increase in stability for that territory, a yearly bonus of gold, and they each add +5 gold towards a particular technological category.
War is a pretty easy way to grab victory points as well. Winning battles, conquering territories, and forcing a change in your enemy's state religion will net you victory points. However, wars can be risky, and can damage your credibility in the long run.
Finally, being elected the Holy Roman Emperor is a good way to gain victory points. The only problem is that you must have good relations with all the electorates and meet certain requirements to be elected HRE. Plus elections don't come at regular intervals, making them very hard to plan for. So, if you do get elected Emperor, sit back and enjoy your good fortune, but try not to make it part of your plans.
You should generally wait to see what the computer is offering before deciding on whether or not to deal. While you can only demand the territories you control (or those considered part of your national provinces), the other country can offer any territories it owns. This means you might just want to sit on them for a few months to see if they will offer some territories you otherwise couldn't reach. The colonial powers will often offer a slew of colonies in exchange for their European territories back, and this can be a quick way to jumpstart your colonial empire. The only downside to this is that every colony big enough to be a city will develop Nationalism, and if a far flung colony revolts you may not be in a position to do anything about it.
Remember that the stability penalties in the game also apply to the computer.
They also suffer from war weariness and a drop in Stability should they attack your without reason, same as you will. Therefore, it's not a bad idea to maintain good relations with people you don't intend to attack immediately. Trade agreements and royal marriages are even better. That way, when the computer tries to attack you suddenly, it will increase the chance it will have to deal with revolts at home in addition to your armies.
War:
You'll do best in Europa Universalis 2 if you make your decision making process as if you were actually running a country. Because of this, there are three questions you should ask before you go to war.
1. Can I win quickly?
2. Can I win cheaply?
3. Will the gains of war be worth it?
These questions may seem obvious, but asking them has saved me from many a fruitless war. The computer is not stupid, and will attack you if a long war with another country is sapping your strength. Sometimes it can be best to take a short-term loss to avoid a long war against a superior foe.
Although shaping your domestic policy is generally something that should be left to your own preference, there are some sliders that are important. Quality should always be at maximum. This will give you the best armies the best chance of winning.
Offensive and Defensive doctrine should be kept as neutral as possible. This is because a completely offensive doctrine negatively impacts your siege rating, which makes taking towns difficult. A completely defensive doctrine robs your armies of shock value, making them useless in combat. Leaving it neutral allows you to take towns and kill armies. Land should be emphasized over Sea unless you plan on being almost exclusively a colonial power (like Portugal or England). Because taking territories and fighting armies is what this game is all about, and because sea battles can be largely avoided, Land should always have priority. Many nations can get away with never building a single ship. However, since England is so reliant on her navy due to her island nation and need to colonize, England should slightly emphasize Sea over land (same with
Portugal).
Because it can be a major hit to your reputation to militarily annex a country (no matter how big or small it is), it can be effective to wait until another country annexes those little countries, and then invade the big country. It only takes a few annexations before your reputation goes down the toilet, no matter how small the country was that you annexed. By letting the other guy take the hit in diplomacy, you can safely take the same territories without the cost. This works well in Northern and Southern Europe, where little one-territory countries are common.
Although most games of EU2 rarely adhere to history, it's a good idea to know what countries grow powerful in real life and when. Historical events often give these countries bonuses that correspond to their real life counterparts (i.e. Austria gets a historical event annex Hungary at roughly the same time as they did in the real world).
Since many of the great powers start out fractured, you can really put the hurt on them quickly by allying with their neighbors. For example, a good Ireland/Scotland alliance against England will generally retard England's rise to power, while allying with Aragon against Castile in the 1400's can really screw up Spain later in the game, especially if you can prevent their unification in the late 1400's. In one game I was playing as Austria, I allied with Savoy and Burgandy against France early on. France never recovered, and stayed broken up until the end of the game in 1819. The best part is that since you generally don't have to commit any troops yourself to the conflict, just set up the alliance.
Even if the war goes badly for your allies you won't be affected.
Winning the Game:
Believe it or not, it is quite easy to win a game of EU2 without dominating the globe. This is because of the somewhat quirky system of victory points the game uses to determine the winner. Here I've detailed some easy ways to boost your victory score.
Perhaps the easiest way to boost your victory score is to do the diplomacy missions. One mission in particular, Keep _____, gives you twenty victory points simply for keeping one of your own territories for five years. By doing this mission alone, over and over for the Grand Campaign (400 years) will give you 1600 points by the time its all over! (20ptsX 80missions=1600pts) This can give you a major boost over your rivals by itself. Other easy missions include "Royal Marriage with ______", and the somewhat harder "Vassalize _____."
Manufactories also provide easy bonus points, although these can get rather expensive. Still, manufactories provide a lot of useful bonuses in addition to victory points, including an increase in stability for that territory, a yearly bonus of gold, and they each add +5 gold towards a particular technological category.
War is a pretty easy way to grab victory points as well. Winning battles, conquering territories, and forcing a change in your enemy's state religion will net you victory points. However, wars can be risky, and can damage your credibility in the long run.
Finally, being elected the Holy Roman Emperor is a good way to gain victory points. The only problem is that you must have good relations with all the electorates and meet certain requirements to be elected HRE. Plus elections don't come at regular intervals, making them very hard to plan for. So, if you do get elected Emperor, sit back and enjoy your good fortune, but try not to make it part of your plans.
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Other files from this game:
- Europa Universalis 2 trainer by System on 14/03/2006, 06:30
Influence money, settlers, merchants and diplomats (for v1.05) - Europa Universalis 2 cheats by System on 09/03/2006, 09:50
- Europa Universalis 2 FAQ by System on 09/03/2006, 09:50