Breaking EU4 With Merc ONLY Switzerland

[@Quarbit]

I won't be responding to comments until I get home on saturday evening! Any other really good mercenary countries you'd recommend?

[@freddekl1102]

Mercenary discipline is broken rn, it's well known reported bug, it does something but there are bugs in calculations Denmark is probably also the best choice for mercs anyway as you get +10% Merc disc from missions

[@matthewhannigan1916]

Lot Dekkang from the Anbennar mod. They get unique gov reforms, a unique mission tree and an entire estate revolving around mercs. I've gotten up to -87.5% merc maintenance with them, so force limit and manpower is just a number. *also a pu cb against the Command*

[@Leo.V]

Hungary is one that i also found fun with mercenaries as you do have some manpower issues. The black army is also one of the best mercenary groups with the Hajduks as they actually have a fair number of cannons, they also get a unique tiet 3 gov reform for mercenaries via event, and get a bonus for them via missions. Also s bit of larp.

[@JohnPGarrett]

Livonian Mercenary State (its obtained through the Livonian Government Event Chain)

[@Schwizinberg]

Livonian Merc state!

[@samwill7259]

For a Swiss Mercenary, payday is just walking up to the HR desk and getting slid a single bar of pure gold.

[@HazmanFTW]

Ah the good old days where mercs was just 1k troops you could hire

[@atarothe7456]

for the army professionalism, the t1 government reform offers it. that looked insane, although it's sad you don't get real possibilities for big mercenary armies

[@malgtuzi5020]

The reason you got Knights separatists in Savoy is because they are primary culture Occitan, the primary culture in those two provinces, while Savoy is Piedmontese. Normally the game makes the rebels of the primary tag of the culture (Provence) but I guess it chose Knights Hospitaller this time.

[@janknoblich4129]

I think that is a known bug but i am uncertain

[@nevets2371]

​@@janknoblich4129 I don't think it's necessarily a bug

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

​aint toulouse primary culture occitan?

[@nevets2371]

@@GwainSagaFanChannel the game usually defaults to the primary nation for a certain culture, which for Occitan is Provence, but If the primary nation doesn't have a core on the rebellious province then it can spawn rebels for another nation which has the culture as its primary, the knights are an occitan primary culture nation, and I believe have priority over toulouse. It's why you can get Ilkhanate rebels spawn in Altaic culture provinces.

[@draxxilion5957]

Hey don't forget but regular discipline stacks on top of mercenary discipline, so mercenaries can end up with like 50% discipline without temporary modifiers.

[@Osariik]

Haven't done one of these in a while but here we are, Margaret: a (not very) brief summary of the geology of Switzerland. Unfortunately in my opinion, but probably fortunately from the perspective of Swiss people, Switzerland does not have any active volcanoes. Despite this, in 2025 I'm going to a volcanology conference which is typically held in volcanic regions but which will be held in Geneva in that year. Go figure. There are three main geographic/geological divisions of Switzerland: the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura Mountains. The Alps are formed by the tectonic collision between Africa and Europe, which began 100 million years ago and continues today and is the reason why there's volcanoes in Italy in Greece. Due to this continental collision, the Mediterranean actually almost completely dried up about 6 million years ago, as tectonic forces closed the opening to the Atlantic and evaporation in the Mediterranean Basin was greater than inflow from rivers (which is still true today, so there is a net inflow from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean is saltier than the oceans). This dry period was called the Messinian Salinity Crisis and, depending on who you ask, either ended violently over a short period with a massive catastrophic failure of the opening called the Zanclean Flood or ended gradually over a long time. Personally, I think the Zanclean Flood theory is way cooler, but also evidence points towards a more gradual refilling. Anyways, back to Switzerland. That tectonic collision that formed the Alps, which is still ongoing, raised Switzerland up. As recently as 16 million years ago much of Switzerland was below sea level-many of the rocks that make up Switzerland are marine in origin-so it's been uplifted fairly dramatically. This uplifting, as well as horizontal compression, caused the Alps to form as rocks folded and faulted. The Jura Mountains on the other side of the Swiss Plateau from the Alps also formed as part of the same tectonic process as created the Alps, with rocks buckling and folding and being forced up to form the mountains there. The reason why the Swiss Plateau-a relatively low and flat area between the mountains to the northwest and southeast-didn't form mountains like the rest of Switzerland is because there were already structural weaknesses in the Alps and Jura Mountains, so further deformation was focused there (if there's a weak spot generally it will continue to break and bend repeatedly rather than a new spot deforming, like when you break a bone and it becomes more susceptible to breaking later). Also, fun fact: the Jura Mountains are what the Jurassic period is named after!

[@duskshard2446]

I always love these

[@Osariik]

@@duskshard2446 Thank you! I love making them (it gives me a chance to talk about rocks and often learn something new) and it's really nice to hear that people like them =D

[@vandarkholme8548]

Merc meta is so OP nowadays

[@mattcvlh]

Any nation can dominate lategame with mercs only. Very OP indeed. If you put economic hegemon into it, at least 150% discipline.

[@steppebro]

Such lovely vases and flowers in your pfp

[@aggeloszaxaroulis3334]

​@@mattcvlhtoo bad mecheneries suck late game because they got no cannons

[@kyuumann500]

​@@aggeloszaxaroulis3334can't you recruit cannons yourself though?

[@MrSaywutnow]

It is kinda counterbalanced by their lack of artillery. But a country like Switzerland could easily maintain manpower stacks of cannons on top of their mercs.

[@TheManWithTheFlan]

Merc ideas' coolest feature IMO is being able to unlock client states centuries early with Influence ideas.

[@flinteastwood2964]

Hovering over Gov't mechanic for their tier one reform "why isn't it taking my professionalism?" meanwhile the tool-tip "Government Mechanic: Merc Companies do not cost professionalism" XD

[@ZurrarAacain9481]

There's something about saying "your country is stinky" casually and nonchalantly that cracks me up Truly scornful

[@JohnPGarrett]

Merc Games are really fun! I had a lot of fun with Aragon Peasants Republic + Merc Ideas because Aragon has a custom reform for Military that gives three VERY good Merc Companies. *HOWEVER* , Mercenaries are NOT as powerful as it appears, unfortunately on the current patch (and basically since merc discipline modifiers were added) Mercenary Discipline doesn't apply defensively properly. This leads to Mercs taking a ton more casualties and morale loss during battles, making them MUCH weaker than units with normal discipline modifiers. This unfortunately makes Merc Ideas very niche as they cannot actually buff your units that much.

[@Nickel2ion]

8:00 it's literally right there lmao

[@StevieJunior]

It's amazing you did this run right after I just finished my own Switzerland merc game. Honestly it was one of the best games I have ever had in EU4. I am absolutely amazed how Mercenaries can stack such great bonuses. By the end of the game I had 200k manpower merc stacks that I could just summon and stomp my foes with, it was an absolute blast.

[@nathcotting1155]

As a swiss in a normal fight i lose but if someone pay me one ducat and a half ducat pro months The Rock is weak for me.

[@DavidLodgeclassof]

I had already done a Switzerlake run, so I tried out merc ideas with Hungary, making the two black armies the centre of combat. Not nearly as broken as Switzerland, but still pretty dang strong (and Hungary's company's have proper composition).

[@Rosencreutzzz]

I managed to eat a whole thin crust pizza in the first 3 minutes and 9 seconds of this video

[@Quarbit]

I would say impressive, but it *is* thin crust

[@brxnni]

Alpine state enjoyers having the time of their life watching this video rn

[@VivBrodock]

so called "Free Companies" when Swiss vaults begin opening:

[@thelittleagustus.2292]

Man just made the largest most dangerous army in europe through the power of swiss banking

[@kaiserhhaie841]

I'm just imagining Swiss Mercenaries Goose Stepping towards Prussians, and the Prussians completely losing their shit and running away in fear xD 140% sounds insane, I wanna see that!

[@adrielvenne985]

That strat was AMAZINGLY BONKERS!!

[@tonydewitt9394]

Switzerlake is my second favourite achievement in the game so I'd love to see you do it!

[@browningcm]

Continue this campaign!!!!

[@PSIRockOmega]

Gotta meme around and get John Calvin as your president or whatever

[@classiclife7204]

Everyone, we need to stop talking about Mercenary Ideas. When the devs realize how absurdly OP that set its, it's Nerf City. Btw, I say this knowing there's a glitch with the Merc Infantry Discipline that they're supposed to be fixing. Even so: Merc Ideas S Tier, other (best) MIL ideas at B in comparison. Oh, and you don't have to be Switzerland to enjoy the benefits, either.

[@RhombonianKnight]

Switzerlake OP

[@rimanpele]

19:12 prices get crazy with inflation, they discount much more than what the game tell you (because the way it evaluates is cringe)

[@akselmc01]

Yess! More Switzerland!!

[@Supermash13]

right now there a bug with mercenary discipline. It is acting like combat ability and not discipline meaning a 10% mecs discipline is inferior to 10% flat discipline. The dev are correcting this or changing the gameplay i don't know

[@iambrando8342]

I never use merc companies, is there a limit to how many can you employ at any given time? Depending on how far you play this campaign, you should try to hire every merc company in the game

[@kevinwesterlund732]

there are events which pop down an extra 10-15 companies

[@fuadlabib703]

This is how Carthage felt before rome

[@tessfairfield6435]

Part 2 let’s gooo

[@abrvalg321]

7:03 mercs by default cost 250% of regular unit cost. So you'd think it's a 60% discount to make them better. But actually 150%((

[@Quarbit]

in 1444, 8 maintained infantry costs roughly 1.76 ducats of maintenance (at base cost) at that time stamp, I was spending about 1.47 ducats to maintain 8 mercenary infantry (maintenance cost also increases with tech, especially for mercs) also the swiss guards are more expensive than regular mercs it seems like the mercs were indeed cheaper than regular units edit: wait if you were talking about hire cost, then maybe. in the video I was talking about the maintenance though

[@abrvalg321]

@@Quarbit do you remember when they changed it? Maybe with new merc companies.

[@Quarbit]

probably in 1.30, yeah

[@Schwizinberg]

You remember promising to speedform Roman empire? As your 50k goal? Weeeell?

[@Quarbit]

it's 22 hours of footage. it's gonna take some time to edit

[@Schwizinberg]

The fact that you have IT recorded is enough for me to know 😎

[@OddlySpecificGaming]

Sounds like a fun time to do switzerlake!

[@hurskal1239]

Please continue this

[@electricVGC]

Not every game is as good as Vic 3 IG I think Denmark also has a mercenary path?

[@Majora1988]

Swiss with merc ideas are absolutely broken. If you haven't done Switzerlake now is the time.

[@nathanhancock1433]

Obligated to say that you can just get an event to vassalize the three leagues with an event (Swiss have a fair few events early game)

[@chungus816]

I kinda liked the old mercenary system a bit more, much more viable late game

[@thatponybro6940]

this is absolutely disgusting, reminds me of a meme vid i saw once where a dude made a Tengri horde Poland that had like, almost 70% cav combat ability and full cav armies

[@DaBigWilliG1995]

If there’s a second part you should try to get as much discipline as possible as a side goal

[@proage5139]

SORTITION Brooooooo sortition is the no-brainer! It regularly gives you 15+ monarch point rulers with no effort and no reason to lose your republican tradition.

[@derAlphabet]

i hope you'll do the second video :)

[@luka.pilasanovic]

u better make part 2!!

[@metaclownfish5921]

I'd love a follow up

[@allenellisdewitt]

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@rami8896]

Their missions do kinda suck but you can still form a nation with better missions, and you have a lot of options of nations to form. But since you are going for Switzerlake then yeah you cant really form anything

[@selcukavc9813]

if you mean you cant form to get the achievement that would be wrong i got the achievement after forming swabia iirc

[@rami8896]

@@selcukavc9813 oh you can? that would be a fun achievement then

[@selcukavc9813]

@@rami8896 like i said iirc getting it after forming swabia and forming another nation might hide it from achievements section in game

[@rimanpele]

0:15 you didnt mention the no consuming professionalism from the start

[@that1dud274]

He probably didn't pay any attention to it since it wasn't highlighted

[@rimanpele]

@@that1dud274 yes, he said a lot about it after like "why i dont lose professionalism?"

[@chrisporter9397]

when Switzerlake?

[@ahmettarikcam]

Which level of difficulty is this run?

[@Quarbit]

all of my videos are on normal unless explicitly stated

[@amilavxilmen5632]

Pikemenpilled

[@annersch1090]

2,7k likes - when is vid 2 coming? ;)

[@Quarbit]

this is why I really need to add "within the first month" because this reached the goal an entire update later (the save is no longer compatible)

[@jeffreyoverton3414]

Part 2!!!!

[@garretaustin9338]

switser lake pls

[@OddlySpecificGaming]

Do mercs drill at full morale maintenance wtf?

[@paulhorbenko9560]

No they don't

[@balkanmontero]

QUARBIT IS A VTUBER??? Very pog

[@raftecbed9631]

WAIT NO YOU ARE A VTUBER NOW NAH MANNNNNNNN

[@raftecbed9631]

COME ON QUARBIT

[@AGrumpyPanda]

Getting PP from declaring war on a stronger power doesn't quite check out, the rest of the world would probably be like "Why are you doing that you idiot?" but winning the war and taking land off them should because then people go "Oh wow you actually did it?"

[@WealthyJester98]

You can just improve and ally with the three leagues and you'll get them for free

[@MinhNguyen-oc9gq]

Nah it takes too long to do that. Just kill them

[@Quarbit]

10 year mtth 🤢

[@pko6596]

the twink moira uploads again thank you 🙏🙏🙏

[@manooxi327]

Ok, don't know if just down bad tonight! But the avatar and the commentary is getting me a bit 🥵🥵🥵

[@Madokaexe]

Sanest quarbit enjoyer

[@Quarbit]

😳

[@Aleph3575]

8:00 I love that you are literally hovering over the "Hiring Merc Companies doesn't cost professionalism" tooltip in the gov reform lol. Yeah I mean, literally the only thing that keeps Merc Ideas from being a top tier idea group is that Mercs in general fucking suck. The Idea Group has to be amazing in order for them to even be ok, nevermind good, on top of still being uber situational and somewhat contingent on a nation already have a mercenary theme to stack with. Like they're good with Byz (though you definitely still want other stuff first), and most of the Italian states have Merc stuff in their ideas too. And obviously, as this video shows, they're busted with Switzerland.

[@giffard3082]

💋 *promo sm*

[@DaBigWilliG1995]

If there’s a second part you should try to get as much discipline as possible as a side goal