EU4 1.35 Idea Groups TIER LIST (SHOCKING)

In today's Chewbert video we will be taking a look at the idea groups you can take in Europa Universalis IV (EU4) and ranking them from best to worst in a tier list. This list includes new idea groups introduced alongside Domination in the 1.35 patch.
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0:00 Introduction
0:40 Religious Ideas
1:12 Humanist Ideas
1:30 Economic Ideas
2:00 Infrastructure Ideas
2:26 Administrative Ideas
2:46 Innovative Ideas
3:32 Expansion Ideas
4:02 Exploration Ideas
4:24 Court Ideas
4:48 Diplomatic Ideas
5:14 Influence Ideas
5:42 Maritime Ideas
6:12 Trade Ideas
6:37 Espionage Ideas
7:22 Aristocratic Ideas
8:05 Divine Ideas
8:26 Horde Ideas
8:51 Indigenous Ideas
8:58 Plutocratic Ideas
9:22 Mercenary Ideas
9:51 Quality Ideas
10:31 Quantity Ideas
11:14 Naval Ideas
11:48 Defensive Ideas
12:16 Offensive Ideas
12:53 Discussion
#EU4 #IdeaGroups

[@Chewbert]

What is your top 3-4 idea groups and why?

[@Amibingus]

1 innovative 2 diplomatic 3 trade 4 religious Honorary picks: espionage offensive plutocraftic aristocratic

[@guywholovemaps1591]

I have never played EU4, so I have no idea

[@sweetpurple8812]

Indigenous is the GOAT

[@dimo9463]

Great List! A very unpopular combo I like using as a opener is actually Trade+Economic+Quality. This gives you 3 great polices that in total give you +25 Trade Eff, 10 Prod Eff and 5% Discipline. Although i agree Economic is not a good idea group the bonus that gives you +1 Developments from building Manufactories is quite good and can be combined with States Houses and Expand Infrastructure to get it multiple times on the same Province. It's a surprisingly good combination to play Tall. I do of course later in the game Replace Trade+Eco with Influence/Diplo+Admin, because you reach a point where money is just not an issue anymore. But in the Early game where money can be a limiting resource they are really useful Idea Groups.

[@hoyinching9313]

In Eu4: Religious, admin, influence, quantity (because I need to expand) Reality: Humanist, Innovative, diplomatic, philosopher (plutocracy, divine and Aristocracy) Because they are good

[@mortimersmithsr2522]

Can you make an Idea Group tier list for the AI? For all of us observers

[@ovuvuevuevueenyetuenwuevue9325]

Lol do you actually spend 5 hours observing the damn game?

[@gracjanszmyt1442]

Yes ​@@ovuvuevuevueenyetuenwuevue9325

[@Brantman19]

I choose idea groups based off of the situation and what I’m aiming for. I’m more situational and going for achievements. I’m generally going to choose something similar to Inno, Economic, Quality/Quant/Offensive as my openers unless I’m an early colonizer. At some point in every game, I’ll have Trade though because its generally worth it to get that money that way. I’m not aiming for world conquests though so Playmaker’s ideas might work for him but I think his focus is narrower in regards to good vs bad ideas as his situation requires more “wider” focus than reaching different targets. I do know that he has tried Inno as Brandenburg though I don’t know his result thus far. Lol

[@amarrhardin]

Generally agree with your ranking as you have a similar playstyle to me. Loved the discussion - very civil and definitely could see both points of view. It very much comes down to playstyle and personal preferences.

[@MahsaKaerra]

One thing I like to do sometimes is take the 'very situational' idea groups, and the ones that pair up well together (like naval / maritime) and create a custom nation to dial that effect up to 11. My current one, with a points modifier mod, is; "This is not the greatest infantry in the world, no. This is just a tribute!"

[@ryanbartlett1148]

Love the video. I’m an out of the loop ex vet EU4 player and I wanted a run down of what’s relevant now due to patch changes and the new idea groups. The discussion element was really nice too because it made it very obvious what play style and strategy went with each tier list. My style being more your style of snowball with mana and dev.

[@vojtik135]

S++ Espionage, Aristocratic #Poland But seriously, Espionage is the most underrated idea group. I am glad to see it get the recognition here.

[@KirbyRL]

Espio is definitely favored by a lot of single player people but in terms of publicity it has been hanging around A on tier lists rarely on B, it even has decent usage in mp for reasons like you said, Poland OP cav in vanilla

[@jarvee9407]

It's not that good, there are way better ideas to chose from.

[@nevets2371]

Espionage, Aristocratic and Religious is a fantastic start for muscovy, especially if you choose the bonus instead of permanent claims at the beginning of the game, you can claim every province for a cost of 8 to your spy network with no increasing cost.😅

[@jarvee9407]

@@nevets2371 then why take religious?

[@nevets2371]

​@@jarvee9407claims reduce the warscore cost and coring cost of provinces in addition to giving a casus belli. Making you able to expand faster and safer. Religious mainly for the role play, I believe there's a good reason for it as well, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.

[@Critguards]

Enjoying the logic and how you @chewbert examine the benefits of both changes and new ideas groups. Certainly agree with many, such as Innovative ideas early on, though the contrary to a couple, such as development, I do see the counter points (despite being a play style deference). These kind of videos say a ton about someone's play style from game to game, but also how someone would focus fire in life more times than not. I personally enjoy these videos and would love to see a 4 or 5 person play through with either RP elements or just a for fun play through. Keep it up!

[@Brewmaster13]

Anytime I see these discussions on tier lists I think it is better to group the assessments into different groups: 1) WC/Blob, 2) Single Player/Casual/Roleplaying, 3) MP. I see merits from both lists here but each one are approaching the topic from two different end goals. In a WC/Blob game, Religious, Diplo, Admin, Humanist are S tier. In a SP/Casual game or MP game, I would rank all 3 at lower levels (B tier or lower for almost all of those cases). In a SP/Casual game, then other idea groups have higher priority. A recent example of changes in idea groups is Byzantium. Pre 1.36, I would argue that Religious is mandatory. With the changes to their national ideas and mission tree I have favored swapping in an earlier Admin (super cheap coring with perm claims, CCR in National Ideas and Admin Ideas for a total of -75%, not too mention an additional Prenoria) or Infrastructure group instead for a tall game play. The region you play in also can play a big factor in idea selection. As Chewy pointed out, Religious in the HRE is basically useless until the reformation spawns. At that point it still may or may not be useful to you. Whereas as Orthodox, Coptic, Shia, or another minority religion surrounded by heathens/heretics early game, Religious is soooo useful for growth, and stability. Another example could be if I'm playing in Persia, Trade ideas can be really useful as a 2nd or 3rd pick (SP, MP or blobbing) to rake in tons of $$$ and deny players further downstream the riches of the silk road. On some recent games I have been messing around with Court ideas to find ways to use them. I have found some success with nations like France, Poland, or Sweden as some of the policies when paired with Admin, Offensive, Quality, Infrastructure (even Defensive) are quite nice. The fact that Chewy and Playmaker put Indigenous ideas as D tier I find hilarious as they are probably the strongest all rounder military idea group (-20% province warscore cost, 10% morale, -10% idea cost, 15% manpower, 25% reform progress and +1 attrition). for pretty much any of my 3 play styles and have some very solid policies to boot. Martime is another funny one as it can be (arguably better) substitute for Exploration for Castile, Portugal, or England in a SP game. Is it ideal? Not necessarily, but it can be fun and a nice way to mix up the game. Lastly, one thing that is less of an impact that was not touched upon but still can play a part in the decision making are the events for each of the idea groups. As an example Religious has amazing events, whereas Innovative is bad to meh at best. My top 4 idea groups for playstyles above would be (in no particular order): Espionage, Quality, Innovative, Infrastructure. I find most youtubers tend to focus on the blobbing/min-max which in my opinion gets very boring, especially in the mid to late game. Finding any replay of a game where the timeline reaches 1550-1600 is rare and for any replay or guide to push into the age of revolutions is almost unicorn level of rareness. At the end of the day, you pick what you like/need and just enjoy the game you are playing.

[@cfrederich2]

I know this is really old now, but Habibi just did a tier list update that breaks it up into three separate tier lists just like you were suggesting. Was pretty interesting.

[@user-vp4uk2is3k]

Thank you for your video. I can not only learn the best EU4 ideas in 1.35, but also practice my English listening through your clear speaking. Your pronunciation is one of the best and most friendly for foreigners in EU4 videos. You speak fast but each word sounds very clear, which helps a lot in my Eu4 and English learning. Thank you very much. 🙂

[@Chewbert]

It’s my pleasure, friend! Thank you for the kind words! I hope you continue to learn EU4 and English as well :)

[@shinomourikenji]

I very much agree with most of your tier list. My only nitpick is espionage is S tier, when combined with innovative, and offensive, you get super fast siege ticks, extra diplomats with your policies. I find it really hard to talk myself out of opening with those three every game. Then for my fourth idea it comes to situational choice but it falls to diplomatic, influence, or admin a lot of the time based on need. From there it’s wide open. I basically always open with those three unless I’m in a very specific situation that calls for something else just because the amount of synergy they have with each other. Siege ability, advisor cost, extra diplomats, I love using the extra reasons to subjugate to peacefully pick up small countries around my border or countries that have a lot of reconquer able cores.

[@jamesrucker4641]

Espionage is underrated because spy networks are underrated. Tech cost reduction, siege ability, aggressive expansion, are the passive bonuses for a big spy network. Not to mention all the things you can actively do with them (make claims, steal maps, hurt an enemy's trade, lift fog of war).

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

It's only useful in hre or extreme cav CA for hordes. Tech cost reduction only happens if ur behind in tech which you shouldn't

[@nevets2371]

For exploration, it got shafted pretty hard after domination, because you can just take expansion as your first group and gan give one of the estates, i forget which, I think its the burghers, a privilege to allow a descision to recruit an explorer. When I took it I would usually get rid of it once there wasn't any more land to settle and now you don't even need to take it in the first place.

[@jthornburg12]

I agree pretty strongly with your list. I like admin a little more, but it’s fair to say it’s somewhat situational. I had written off espionage a long time ago, but took a hard look at it a few days ago. It didn’t fit my current game, but I was really surprised by how much it had been buffed and I would definitely use it in a future game.

[@EbonySaints]

Yeah, Espionage has gone from useless (pre-Dharma), to "mandatory" because of state limits and corruption (Dharma to Emperor), to mostly useless (Emperor to Origins), to situationally good (Origins to LotN), to borderline mandatory with a lot of AI nations taking it, as well as the focus on sieging. The thing is though is that Espionage always had a good idea or two for a while. No amount of buffing is going to make the average non-pirate/non-RP SP guy pick Naval or Maritime and those have been buffed to no tomorrow.

[@nevets2371]

Use it in a muscovy game

[@MYPSYAI]

Use espionage with inno and offensive and you will get massive seige speed and broken advisor cost, you can run +5 advisors as soon as you get inno espionage finished

[@ThomasDiesch]

Playing in Europe espionage is my number 1 pick every game just for the -20 ae impact getting around coalitions is so good. Pack that with good things for eco with the advisor cost coruption root out and some insane combines like with eco for aditional advisor cost and coruption root out with the policy your printing money by taking coruption instead of loans and get nearly half cost advisors

[@guywholovemaps1591]

It’s always a good day when you upload

[@salmoneso392]

I think court ideas have some value playing with the mandate of heaven as it gives you mandate and estate things that help with the missions

[@krisvandyck9738]

I am learning so much from your videos, it's crazy

[@Chewbert]

Happy to hear that!

[@user-yo3je7vh5h]

offtop question: will you update all monuments in one province mods?

[@thoralexandermichelsen6592]

I take inno + offensive first almost every single time just for the siege ability stuff, because it makes everything so insanely much easier, then almost always diplo after.

[@redornament3248]

If you mix Espionage Ideas with Horde Ideas you get a policy which gives you a nice buff for cav combat & width if I remember clearly. It helps with whenever I try stacking as much cav combat as possible😎

[@edim108]

+10% Combat Ability and +50% Flanking. Flanking in EU4 is funky, but it basically means your single unit deals damage to multiple units of the enemy, so overall you do more damage. It doesn't just affect the cavalry but all units, including artillery, so your arty does more overall damage thanks to it too.

[@Alorand]

​@@edim108I think that you are wrong. You can hover over each unit to see whom they are attacking, and I have only ever seen Cav attacking more than one unit.

[@MMOSimca]

​@@Alorand Artillery hit 3 units at a time with their attacks assuming equal combat width (and filled out). I don't think that counts as flanking, though; it's just how artillery attack.

[@Spartan113100]

The biggest thing for me with administrative idea is that the -25% core cost, also is +25% coring speed. This is super strong as a nation that expands fast, or any nation taking expensive provinces, getting rid of the overextension quickly. That alone is strong, and the you have some mediocre bonus but still useful sometimes. Administrative is S in 70% of games and A in the remaining IMO.

[@leneldraws7887]

IMO I feel like expansion ideas are highly underrated. That ten percent autonomy reduction alone makes them worth the group to me.

[@luker.6967]

Very true

[@obiwankenobi4252]

7:45 there is also the Innovative-Offensive policy which gives guaranteed +1 Siege Pip for Generals and +10% Siege Ability, and that’s on top of +20% Siege Ability from plain Offensive ideas

[@gothia1715]

If you also take policies into account, Influence and Admin get a big bonus. Because together they re amazing for expanding by both annexing land and using Vassals and PUs. The Policy gives you another -15% diplo annexation cost on top of Influences -25%. If you stack that with the priviledge for nobles, the papal blessing, national ideas like Austrias and mission bonuses like from Provence, Spain, Sardinia-Piemont or Bohemia you ll absorb your Vassals and PUs in no time. Provence into Sardinia-Piemont into Austria for example can really go wild here.

[@nicholasilluzzi1087]

Innovative is my favorite! No one idea is dominant, but every single one is a solid QOL improvement. Plus it opens up some great policies, especially Innovative-Offensive

[@sasi5841]

9:00 the sunset invasion mission that all new world nations have allows you to change your tech group to high american. In the early to mid game, that tech group is extremely op. It is more that double the power of the anatolian tech group. Watch the video by *the student* on the topic

[@fabian4809]

Damn, I play so muh Anbennar, I forgot Tolerance Ideas are actually Humanist

[@queckmeck]

My alltime favorite is and always was quality. Good infantry, good artillery, 10%discipline with economic and even on its own its perfect for my very aggressive and battle focused playstyle. And like i said economic is just as nice because of the discipline in combination with quality and also my love to make my country rich. Those two ideas always result in me having an economy not able to be rivaled by my friends with whom i play veeeeeeery often.

[@TheTrueSeraph]

Love the list! Based Inno in S tier, waiting to see the Zlewikk reaction lol Would probably bump Admin up to A tier too. The gov cap is nice (seeing as I'm always over gov cap), but the CCR reducing the coring time means you can take land so aggresively Indigenous ideas easy S tier, I get it's only on native tribes, but the idea set itself + the policies are nuts Otherwise generally agree with your list, enjoyed the discussion afterwards too - interesting to see the difference in perspectives and playstyles

[@Chewbert]

Cheers Rory! Yeah hindsight admin deserves A. I’m hoping to spark some good conversation with other creators with this one :)

[@69thbeegee]

Most important modifier in the game CCR for reduction in coreing time rather than cost and saving mana

[@josephiroth89]

7:43 There is another way for any nation to get a guaranteed siege pip, the Innovative-Offensive policy. This can make your sieges go very quickly, especially if your national ideas give you leader siege as well.

[@andreyhenriquethomas9554]

So, Oda, Ino-aristo-ofensive-defensive (for the manuver guarantee) staks the maximum you can guarantee os pips for a general being 2-2-1-3 (pretty good)

[@cyrusol]

19:30 I agree with you here. I would go further and say that people generally underestimate construction cost reductions. Stacking those, since they stack additively, massively improves a building's ROI, making it sometimes worthwhile to take additional loans just to build building and still have more money (for more military) down the road.

[@sebastiencapelle3268]

You have ideas that bring you bonuses (inno, trade, ...), that are nice, and ideas that enable you to do more things (colonist for ex). Those are the best for me. If you aim for a fast conquest, THE slowing down factor is AE (except for some few countries like hordes). So diplo + humanist brings you the best plateform to bring down AE (> -4 / year with advisor). Combined with the other benefits (diplos, war cost, break mariages, and NO rebels), this gives a wonderful combo. The only case when I wouldn’t go for it, is when I want to go colonial. Expansion then (using the estate decision to spawn explorers), or Explo + expansion for a pure colonial game.

[@LemonsInTheShade]

I’m a very inexperienced player, but I found AE to be my limiting factor too. The way I see it is if you stack AE reduction with improve relations you get a multiplicative effect since each point of AE is worth more development.

[@addickland5656]

What would you suggest for the first 2-3 ideas for my two most often played nations, Ottomans and France (no becoming emperor, Vienna Delenda Est!). Am currently just before 1500 as the Otto's and man am I loving the influence + quality combo: +50% income from vassals/eyalids equals ALL OF THE MONEYS! I can fight wars on 5 fronts and reinforce half a hundred jannisary regiments fighting non-stop battles and STILL make over a hundred ducats a month PROFIT! Thank you hungary, tunis, morocco and Venice for funding the proper succesors of Rome, even if you all have at least -100 opinion of me. :)

[@harz632]

Maybe that's just a personal thing but a few years ago when everyone was memeing on aristocratic ideas I had the feeling that itnwas really underrated, and I still think it is. Amazing for cavalry focused nations but also really good in the early game too, the cheaper cav allows you to get a better ratio in your army and going 10/6 vs 12/4 might be the difference between a win and a loss, especially with tthe cav combat bonus and the cav early ge strength. It definitely falls off towards the late unless youre hardcore into cav but there are surprisngly many nations out there that can use it well. Siam, Scandinavia, PLC, Mameluckes, Mugal, Arabia, Persia, nearly all ex hordes and some european indian nations. Plus anyone with the cossac estate.

[@tino85011]

This is perfect timing! I'm finally doing an Ironman run with Munster (Ireland) and doing well. Took Quantity and Influence ideas but wasn't sure what to take. I'm really not good at this game but I'm dominating the British isles and managed to win against France so really pleased with myself.

[@martinvokurka6153]

Qual Eco is my fav build for small nations, mby even Qual inno

[@tino85011]

@@martinvokurka6153 thanks. Appreciate the advice!

[@lukasnemet582]

expansion also gives minimum autonomy in territories which is also essential for blobbing making your territories 2x as effective, even if you are not planning on colonization with your blob, this idea alone gives you massive boost to your economy and manpower,and extra merchant and global trade power is also a nice economic bonus, and if you dont plan tocolonize you can still leave colonists in your stated provinces to boost your development, and the policies are solid and best one is with expansion-trade which gives not only 20% trade steering (best money making modifier together with goods produced) but also trade efficiency, expansion (unless im playing tall) is always a pick for me and definetly S tier

[@lukasnemet582]

one thing i also have to add is that autonomy also affects your force limit modifier, so depending on your amount of territories you can get solid portion of manpower as from quantity and comparable (if not bigger) force limit as from quantity while also giving you economy bonuses so you can field a large army

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Yup really good for trade companies

[@mastercrash0683]

7:47 if you get the policy from offensive and innovative you get a guaranteed siege on all generals plus something else. Inno, offensive, and infrastructure all have very good policies so that adds to how good they are

[@Times_Ticking]

Artillery Barrage is behind a paywall (Mandate of Heaven), which makes siege ability far, far more important. The idea groups are quite different without various DLCs.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Siege ability is also super important for wc runs anyway too

[@sharadowasdr]

I'm planning a Britain game, I want to take defensive because I don't want to conquer a lot of land in Europe, but have France as a massive buffer against any possible continental rival. Add to this, I'd take offensive, and quality. I don't want to bother with naval ideas as Britain because their navy is good enough as is. Is this a good set of military ideas for Britain ?

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

No, as defensive is only useful if the enemy is in your land. By the way ur making that, if this happens ur doomed. Only go defensive for these 3 nations: Ming (must take cuz forts are ridiculously cheap and ming can stack fort defense very easily+ it lowers the devastation that kills mandate) Russia (Just take a look in their history)

[@humbugswangkerton9972]

Aristocratic can be a strong A tier group if you have inno-aristic early on. -5 dev, +15% manpower, more diplomats, cheaper claims (-10 Core cost), extra seige pip early on + nobility equilibrium (lower maintenance, and reinforce costs)...and a nice 20% prod efficiency policy to supercharge your economy.

[@vc6094]

quantity is also a diplomatic pick since AI think your forcelimit is important. meaning coalitions will form less vs you and they will like you more for having more men

[@pierreproudhon9008]

O, innovative. The battle of the Arumbans and the Lambdans.

[@NikodemHild]

can any experienced player label each idea group and what stage of the game youd usually take them?

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Inno: First 3, trash after that. Admin: 10 years before you are ready to start blobbing Any mil idea not talked about: To match other AIs army quality. Offensive: First military idea group if you are going for a wide game. Infra: if ur going tall game, 3-5 idea because u need to expand a little in the early game usually, like Holland for example. Naval, quantity and maritime: Never Trade: 4-8 idea Economic: When the policies ur going for are worth it, but it has been nerfed to the ground so it's not that good anymore. Merc: Must take for Switzerland as first mil idea, if ur not it then idk Humanist: Second admin idea if you aren't going for one faith and just took admin. Religious: Good for any small religion, and obligatory for one faith. Expansion: Colonial nations. Exploration: Colonial nations that don't have the colonial range. Espionage: HRE Based from these you should know the order

[@NikodemHild]

@@gamgamesplayer4506 7 months late but thanks, cheers

[@HarlequinHonor]

The only other way to get a guaranteed siege pip outside of Aristo ideas, that I know of, is to have Oda National Ideas. Their ideas are so flipping strong for conquests!

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

If ur not doing cav i don't really recommend them as the siege ability from offensive is better and it also gives discipline.

[@jsnldn]

is innovative still worth it as the 2nd pick? i like to pick the military one first like offensive because you sometimes you need to move fast in order to secure yourself in the game.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

First 3 inno is good. After that, never ever.

[@user-qz5hj6ex3t]

absolute victory against opponent!

[@sasi5841]

4:00 Colonization is really fun if you play as the the ulimate colonial nation (russia)

[@sealking1775]

In my humble opinion i believe that divine should in low A-tier and Religious in S-tier.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Religious as a big religion like sunni is usually way worse than with a small religion. So it isn't consistent enough to be S

[@javadhedayat4808]

I think indigenous ideas are actually pretty good and they also have some of the best policies in the game. And I think natives are really fun. Also quantity for me is still an S tier. In SP you really don't need super soliders to win wars. All you need is manpower. For me quantity is the only idea I always peak. Rest of them depends on the nation I'm playing. Diplomatic is also an S tier for me and maybe offensive.

[@Zackary1005]

Inno, espionnage and offensive is insane as Brandenburg/Prussia. You can beat Russia on your own even before the age of absolutism lol with 3 stars generals in the like early-mid 1500s. Also it gives you so much siege ability +a guaranteed siege pip to your generals, you’re just melting forts. I do lvl 4-5 forts in 60 to 100 days, which is insane.

[@adamconner9302]

I would say that right now the idea groups are more balanced than ever before and as a result there are far more possibilities that are viable than in earlier iterations of the game

[@Al-Basha_]

Infrastructure ideas is a must for evrey nation and should be your 2nd or 3rd idea it fits wide and tall and it has 10 dev cost reduction and helps getting prosperity the rest is situational

[@Chewbert]

I’ve never taken it once since it came out 😏

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Infra on wide game is a complete waste, especially as early as u said. I really hope these points you made are for multiplayer, because for single player they're a blunder as big as not taking the +1 mana previleges

[@PA_Sword]

Indigenous itself isn't bad for the native playstyle. Getting free tribal dev translates well into your own development. It also has some very very strong policies. Coupled with doing the sunset invasion mission giving access to the High American tech group is also, very good.

[@elichekable]

Byzantium runs i always go quality economic (so that the gold mine in kosovo doesn't deplete and +5 dicipline policy) then diplo and religious

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Bad idea choices. You should go offensive first (to match Ottoman discipline and already prepare for a wide game, then religious (unless you culture convert to Turkish, then u can postpone it). After that u should be in a good position to blob, so ofc you do admin and Diplo.

[@antonioussykas4140]

I think you may wanna look at those S-tier trade ideas and think to yourself "Why tf would I ever need bonus merchants when I get those for free with trade companies?" Trade steering is very weak. +15 trade power on merchants is weak. None of it is really strong or changing trade significantly, and the 2 merchant slots are just waste since they allowed TCs everywhere. Trade isn't just weak, it's one of the worst idea groups in the game. I get the idea of making more money, but it's not actually making you more money. The bonuses sound better and more significant then they are in practice.

[@Chewbert]

Lol

[@azpont7275]

Admin and Diplo go so well hand-in-hand, both should be in S. Doesn’t matter who you play as, most likely you gonna conquer land. Diplo lets you take more, and not upset the AI (+2 diplomats lets you improve with whoever you need with) and admin lets you core cheaper AND faster. Not to mention admin tech is really important, it gives Admin Eff. and dev cost reductions, so falling behind on it is bad.

[@RomaEternaVictrix]

Innovative, just the 1° or 2° best idea group, not only its bonuses, but its strong mixed bonuses with otheres good Ideas. Innovative allows you +1 free policies; 15% infantry quallity; +10% siege and +1 siege and +15 trade efficiency in the military block, in diplomatic you can get 10% trade efficiency. Basically if you dont get Innovatio you will lose power in late game, even if you pick the idea group in middle game is worth

[@foxy_bl1784]

I like trade later to get eco hegemony asap. Diplo first for sure though

[@NicholasVeselskiy]

Economic is better than court and especially maritime. Martime is so situational and many of the bonuses verge on useless in most playthroughs. The Interest reduction from econ along with the goods produced and production efficiency can help boost your income in the midgame by way more than maritime ever could. Plus the tax as a first idea early on can be very strong. (Many other useful but not crazy good ideas in economic) point is that almost all the economic ideas are usefull in every game (maybe not always crazy useful), whereas most maritime ideas are useless in most games.

[@torgomaghanyan7633]

You don't mention the policies, religious has one of the best of all, also, no one plays till late 1600 max till 1650-60. Which means Deus vult is a must (if you are not a horde or confucian). For quantity it gives you manpower! You don't have that thing in abundancy in EU4 now, like it was pre leviathan. Also , it gives you opportunity to not waste you government reforms and state privileges on mp ,ones. Defensive is now op if you stack it. and after 1,35 you can stack it in absolute insane numbers like over 200, which mean you can win wars without single battle. Aristo is crap, no every one of junk of all trades like court ideas are trash, because they give you everything but in a small quantities. Which is useless. Because it steals valuable idea slot position.

[@joutubecko]

Well in most of my playthroughs I always end up with those 4 idea groups: Humanist, Diplomatic, Quality and Offensive. Usually I want to start with Inno, but I tend to be low on admin mana early, so in the end I end up with those 4

[@hailtothechi]

You make up for it super quickly with the advisor cost reduction & innovativeness that you get

[@mangyminotaur30]

> sees Offensive in D tier at the start *justifying claim with malicious intent*

[@burakahmettr8193]

if we talk for singleplayer, now admin-inf-quality combo is best pick. not for army quality but for diplmatic annex cost stacking. if you are catholic espionage is crazy good with papacy. i used in my montferrat run and i wasnt sad about dropping quality for it.

[@ThE6CoN4TRaSt]

Focusing on the mana cost savings from core cost reduction in admin is a mistake. The true benefit is it lets you core 25 percent faster, which lets you cycle wars of conquest more quickly. Admin efficiency reduces coring cost too, but not coring time. Top 3 idea groups for me are 1. Admin 2. Influence 3. Diplomatic

[@Chewbert]

Yeah but that’s a playstyle choice. If you think the average player values admin for core creation time you’re very much mistaken. It is a super nice part of it, I agree, but super wide blob play isn’t how most people play the game

[@BigBossJ]

Nice list

[@andrewbrian7659]

If you take innovative but not court, you are missing out. 25% longer monarch life expectancy and no stab loss on death are huge. That's preventing disasters and saving you so much admin mana, which I always struggle with. As someone who prefers full privileges to absoluteism, the +1 possible privileges also buffs the nation. Rushing gov reforms also is super useful in most cases, albeit, you do end up at the end with a glut of reform progress.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Court is a waste, never take it. Also what you just said can be solved with stab cost modifier instead. Stabbing up is one of the things u least spend mana, unlike coring provinces for example.

[@impo997]

based tierlist I play inno -> quality -> trade/admin/offensive (always all 3 but the order depends on what I need the most) literally 100% of the time on every single nation

[@grobarBijeljina]

Please make Trade guide, like explain its modifiers in comon sense way, not only unload 1234 facts about it.

[@Mattis06]

Admin definitely number 1 for me cause covernment capacity is always a issue for me and i still dont have wealth of nations and dharma for trading companies so usually i allways pick it first

[@spatrk6634]

i never rush admin idea first. i want admin points more

[@Mattis06]

@@spatrk6634 if am a small nation with other nations around me 3 show strengths and the advisor event allows me to get enough admin

[@nicbahtin4774]

I'm actually surprised by the innovative idea group i guess ill try next playthrough

[@frontenlaufer1977]

0:30 and after the hurting come a PU and then he behave XD

[@papiezpolak8166]

yeah inno s tier i agree although i never found diplo that usefull

[@OppiusBrutus]

Mercenary is the best military idea group in the game and benefits anyone that takes it. Especially when they also take Innovative (which they should because that also benefits everyone) because they synergize very well. Before even getting into the mercenary aspect of it, which is incredibly broken, Mercenary gives: Military Tech Cost -10%, Military Advisor cost -25% Innovative gives: All tech cost -10%, all advisor cost -20% The policy for combining them gives: Military tech cost -10%, Military advisor cost -33% For a combined: Military tech cost -30%, Military advisor cost -78% Add to this Aristocratic Counselors Nobility Privilege for another Military Advisor cost -15% and you're almost capped (which is 95%) with 93% cost reduction This brings a level 5 military advisor's base cost of 25 ducats down to roughly 4 per month very early in the game. This plus -30% mil tech cost and you will be hitting develop manpower quite a lot, which is great for your nation as it increases land and navy force limits, manpower and trade power. Being ahead on military tech is also the best way to dominate engagements. But now for the actual mercenary part of it: I'll use the example of my current nation, Hamburg (which I'm playing tall.) I have a force limit of 74 (it's this high because of vassal force limit modifier), and a maximum manpower of 26650. Instead of having all normal troops, I have 28,000 normal regiments, consisting of mostly cannons. On top of this I have hired every mercenary army available to me, 10 different companies. Many of these companies also have generals, which do not contribute to my leader limit. Notably, two of them are 3 star generals, and four of them have 2 or 3 siege. This is incredibly useful in carpet sieging, and these generals are reliably better than the ones you spawn at 50 or lower tradition. Each company has its own manpower pool. The combined amount of all my mercenary companies is an additional 132,600 manpower, plus my own gives me just under 160,000 manpower total. In my case this is like a modifier that says +500% manpower, which is absurd and unlike any other bonus in the game. I have had long protracted wars where my personal manpower is actually higher by the end of the war despite constant sieges and battles. With -25% mercenary cost they are relatively cheap to hire, roughly half to 3/4ths as expensive as normal troops. (You pay a little extra for stacks that have generals, but you save military points) With -25% mercenary maintenance some of my stacks literally cost half as much as a normal unit to maintain - or the same as it costs a normal unit with maintenance off. The idea group enables drilling of mercs, and since you can't reduce mercenary maintenance, if you aren't using them for battle you may as well especially if they have their own general. So from this they improve their own combat prowess, give constant progress on professionalism which also increases ability of all your armies, and gives you random chances to improve the drilling generals (and unlike normal drilling, these guys don't seem to die in the camp. But if they do they're replaced at no cost to you anyway.) Your professionalism will quickly cap, especially since hiring mercs doesn't reduce it thanks to the idea group and you'll never need to slacken standards for more manpower since your manpower is fixed thanks to the idea group. On top of the above totally broken mechanics, your mercenaries, which are probably half of your army if you're playing this way, get +5% discipline, 30% boost to manpower, and all of your troops get +10% infantry combat ability (most of your mercenaries will be infantry) Now let's say you're fighting somewhere far away, maybe your colonies or your enemy has an ally halfway across the world. Maybe you only run a few cogs because many like to ignore navy. No problem, send your small force, take a single non fort province quickly, and thanks to the idea group you can recruit as many mercs as you need wherever you land and have a massive army in a matter of months. And on top of that, like with innovative, mercenary has some of the best policies in the game that are very relevant to many of your S and A tier groups: Merc+Trade gives +33% ship trade power(!) and -10% light ship cost Merc+Diplomatic gives an extra 2 diplomatic relations for extra allies or vassals Merc+Religious gives 10% morale and 2% missionary strength, insane Merc+Influence gives 50% vassal force limit contribution and allows you to create client states which you normally can't do until dip tech 23

[@cyrusol]

Even if you only conquer like 1/4th of the world you save more total mana with Admin than with Innovative. Considering that in any somewhat blobby game you always, always set the focus on admin mana "only" saving admin mana and not the other both types is not a good reasoning against Admin. I understand that not everyone likes conquest but Admin still belongs at least into A and Inno also at most into A.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Admin is the best idea group for wide games and inno is the best idea group when u can't blob early on and don't waste a lot into admin, like starting in HRE. Both are S tier unless on MP

[@kotblini_]

This tier list is freakishly based. Innovative and infrastructure are always underrated, glad they're represented here. Maritime and espionage are situational, not useless! People are too willing to throw these ideas into F tier.

[@TheMelnTeam]

This is brutal advice for sp play. It depends on player goals though. For normal expansion focused games, highly rating miltary ideas is a meme, admin saves way more mana than inno, and stuff like infra is almost impossible to justify. If you do take a military group, merc is strong, but the micro is awful.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Offensive is a must take for sp runs as this siege ability is all you need to end wars fast. Inno is still good because if you start in the hre or any position u can't blob in the first 50 years u can go inno and it will not only save you mana but do a lot of stuff that would take a while to talk about. But generally, if you start with a nation with over 100 dev or no threats early on, then u should go admin or diplo first unless you are in Oceania or things like that.

[@ryleyreishus1089]

That admin take was hot. Best idea set in the game. Good policies. Ridiculous admin saving. Gov cap.

[@konplayz]

Shocking

[@leviathan574]

Eco-quality is still useful.

[@PigWizard1983]

I know it’s not very good, but like 90% of the time I pick innovative first, cause have a tech advantage early game is really good. But, it starts to become not as good in the 1510, so I usually change it out for something else.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

It is good when u can't blob early, because else admin is better and by the time u get inno it is already trash.

[@ruibarros9292]

About your tier...mercenaris lets you use the mercenaries without losing army tradition, that for me os very powerfull, you can make war more agressively, and you can use your manpower for others things, like projects,

[@SylveonSimp]

And drill Mercenarys which are on full support anyways so drilling doesnt make it more expensive.

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

But if u play well in sp most of the time you will end wars before you run out of manpower. That makes merc ideas kinda meh. Must take for Switzerland tho

[@mike25500]

I'm playing Milan hard Ironman and religious idea maybe could be ok at later part of the game so I would say it's medium

[@mike25500]

And playing as Milan the most important is diplomacy for improving relations faster

[@arifyilmaz3970]

gov cap is not an issue unless you play to wc ı was germany and had all german culture plus poland bohemia and france even with %50 reduction state houses and courthouses make it up

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

Ur not blobbing fast enough bro. Get better wide gameplay, as even roman empire runs suffer from gov cap

[@RhombonianKnight]

Chewy: "I'm a taller player." 🤣 Lol, Chewy, you might be taller height-wise, but I wouldn't say you really play tall. 😂

[@Chewbert]

Haha I think it’s a little subjective but I’d say I’m MORE tall than wide

[@Theplaymaker57]

Chewy gives off those 5"10 vibes, no way he's taller 😂

[@Chewbert]

@@Theplaymaker57 I’m 6 foot even

[@Theplaymaker57]

@@Chewbert I'm 6"3, Certainly the taller player 🤣

[@gothia1715]

Overall i agree with that list, except for one thing. Trade Ideas are never S Tier for me since we have Trade Companies. With all the great Ideas we got in Diplo i always find myself looking at Trade and think "Nope. I go with the good ones and scale my trade with Trade Companies." Niche roleplay pick these days. Id say C.

[@JC-vb7mc]

Innovative, Espionage, Court, Administrative

[@swag_cs2]

There are some minor gripes but yes, it is situational. Mil ideas maybe less and I’d say quantity is an A but actually not bad list.

[@Zackary1005]

Hell yeah

[@JB-bb1bh]

I generally agree. I usually mod Having 12 idea groups. Game isn't eaiser with 12 its actually harder due to tougher AI and having to use mana more efficiently. 🤣

[@fabianeweil192]

That is a very controversial list

[@funfungerman8401]

wait innovativnes is a hot take?! lol i play since 2 years (very sporadicaly but still) and i ALWAYS pick inno if i can, be it bohemia, mamluks, england, korea etc if you can afford to pick it as first or second idea its absolutely worth in every scenario because you need to tech/idea up either way (playing tall or wide)

[@gamgamesplayer4506]

The problem is when you desperately need ccr reduction. Inno is awesome but admin is the best administrative idea, simple as that.

[@raggedclawstarcraft6562]

8:53 - me playing as aztec as my very first nation: 🗿 They don't have that idea btw. And I bet never had.

[@TWSummary]

If you're not playing optimally and playing for RP. Then how are you ranking ideas? As an RP, there can be no ranking. I can play as knights and convert to Judaism and raid the world. In this RP, Maritime and Naval would be S tier. I mean no disrespect. Just curious. I like your videos. But I don't see how an RP style playthrough which is just for fun can have an idea tier list. But I agree with you. I too RP a lot and not interested in WC all the time. I prefer getting insane modifiers.

[@Shaduc]

nice

[@sasi5841]

Lets say you are playing as hungary/poland/moscovy/byz/other christian tags and you need to beat an enemy like the ottomans or mamluks. Youre confident that you can beat them 1v1 but they are allied to one of your christian allies or a powerful contry like france/venice respectively, then deus vult will be extremely useful because you can declare on your enemy and break their alliance at the same time.

[@ishatmypants]

how can you place Divine Ideas for B??! 5% dev cost, -10% fire damage, -10% morale damage AND if you get religious, you get a 10% morale of armies policy! And if you take Quantity or merce ideas + religious you get additional 10% Quite OP for late game

[@ishatmypants]

it's straight up A tier, if not S

[@Chewbert]

Because you have to be a theocracy for it

[@ishatmypants]

@@Chewbert cmon, just roll into theocracy for 5 seconds, and reroll back to whatever government form you were before. just -6 stability and you get a robot army.

[@Dr3dinn]

I quite enjoyed this video thanks. For me offense, trade and inno are the only S tier. I miss econom ideas and defense is off after the late defbuffs.

[@Toivoa22HD]

(Shocking)

[@MYPSYAI]

Inno is totally broken if you build your government to stack bonuses like advisor and tech cost. Every game I play inno I am swimming in mana, taking techs before ai even can, always get a miltech advantage on every war, I always slap the shit out of this game on inno.

[@johnmanole4779]

Why dont you try Moldova and Wallachia? 😂 let's see how well you do