EU4 1.35 The Three Mountains -- Two POWERFUL Openings

In this video, we'll get do two alternative openings for the Three Mountains Achievement in EU4 -- both very powerful.
This is one of EU4’s hardest achievements but it doesn’t have to be un-fun! :)

[@connorshorts1406]

This is honestly one of the best eu4 videos I have seen. I respect the effort put into both explaining and playing out different strategies. Im sure that took a lot of time and work

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you so much 👍

[@ivanefi972]

Best Channel for EU Content!

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks so much 🙏

[@villus9384]

I was just thinking about starting a play through, and here you are with a perfectly timed video! Your videos are always well thought out and very thorough, and I loved the personal connection in the intro. Great video as always!

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks, I appreciate it :)

[@ryanmerkel5020]

I hope you have success with your channel dog. typically eu4 youtubers are required to be infinitely more obnoxious and less informative to get huge

[@StrategySphere]

I appreciate that! :)

[@zezinhodoposto2102]

Really straightforward and efficient guide, thank you so much! Please keep these guides coming!

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you - I appreciate!

[@qudruplem8570]

You make it seem so easy! Very fun to video to watch. Could you do a little segment on estate mechanics anytime soon? I would love some insight from mr sphere himself

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you! And yep, will add this to my list.

[@leifkjnny5424]

Also, humble suggestion for those following the Japan Emperor of China strategy: Instead of going Shinto -> Confucian, you can stay Animist until you take the Mandate and then convert to Hinduism by decision (you just have to own a Hindu province somewhere). Yes, Confucian is very cool but as Hindu you can get another -20% CCR on top of the EoC bonuses, which is incredibly useful for a world conquest.

[@StrategySphere]

100% agreed. Hindu would be awesome for this run.

[@CitizenKane09]

Why is that specifially for the Japan path? Wouldnt it also be possible for Manchu -> Qing?

[@leifkjnny5424]

@@CitizenKane09 No; forming Qing automatically converts you to Confucianism. You COULD convert to Hinduism later by conquering a lot of India and getting some rebels, but it'd be a bit of a pain.

[@kunknown2340]

What ccr and eoc?

[@Invercagil]

@@kunknown2340 Coring Cost Reduction: how much admin you need to spend to make a core. EoC is Emperor of China :)

[@BorusinskiTomasz]

i give third way : Hindu Korean Ryuku for 65% CCR and 80% AE reduction. CCR= admin 25%, hindu deity 10%, monument 10%, korean hermit goverment 10 %, 5% policies (court +admin) and 5% govemnt reform. For AE: national idea 25 , espinoge 25 , hermit kongdom 10 , prestige 10 , monument 10

[@StrategySphere]

Oh, I love this! Sounds really efficient, not going to lie. Thanks for suggesting. You could probably pick up the Mandate of Heaven on the way, giving you another 20% CCR.

[@Wright1331]

25:28 Once you lower the autonomy, you then lose the -100% chance of rebellions because of recent rebellion.... so you go back into the same situation you had before. Also great video, cant believe i watch for almost an hour and enjoyed all of it.

[@StrategySphere]

Ah, I see what you mean. Yep, those rebels do pop back up eventually, but I guess at that stage I no longer cared....

[@AR0ACE]

It appears like you cant accept rebel demands to turn shinto; i believe its because the religion group is different? Not really sure, but the accept button is greyed out, and breaking to rebels does not chnage religion. Maybe they need to occupy the capital

[@StrategySphere]

I was able to become Shinto because I was animist. You can just click a button or accept rebel demands, at least on the patch I played. Both work(ed).

[@emileliseuse1602]

I recently discovered your channel and it's honestly very good, I have a bit under 2000 hour in the game and I never did any WC but now I really want a try

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you :) and best of luck with the world conquest!

[@henrikfrandsen6029]

Thank you. This is top tier EU4 content. I hope for much more. An idea for a video. Make the strongest army possible in terms if special unit types, you mentioned having banners and samurais at the same time, together with high discipline, combat ability and morale. Everybody loves a good stackwipe festival.

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks a lot! And I love your idea, let me see what I can come up with for one of the upcoming videos.

[@amagacelestial444]

I would love to watch castille or Russia with the new patch 😊

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! I have Russia done: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIemo5-srraSic0 And 🇪🇸 I will add to my list.

[@Soy_Sauce_Supreme]

Whats the mod called to get the undiscovered parts of the map to look like that?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s “theatrum orbis terrarum” from here: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1867433999

[@elworro_michlalych]

+++ Actually amazing staff is Enforce peace to avoid No CB wars. I use it very often, especially in HRE to make calm some brave neighbors.

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you, and I agree - it’s a really under-used mechanic. I started using it after France and Ottomans did it to me :)

[@DnaKGames]

ha, I tried this and as soon as Ashikaga declared on me they brought in over 80k troops to mings roughly 50k. Ming got their asses kicked by the vassal swarm.

[@StrategySphere]

Haha yep, that can happen. I found you’ve got to help Ming siege the first forts in Japan, then they pour in tens of thousands and roll all over the country.

[@hereticalgames3695]

I did all of this without Ming of becoming Japan. I waited and colonized southward. Built an economic base with the spice trade then took on all of Japan (some Daimyos were independent). That swarm was hell to manage but steam rolled everything. By 1600 I was halfway into India and 80% done with China nothing left in East or Central Asia. If you release before you core you don’t have to core. Or worry about rebels just take provinces very strategically and let them go as you move forward. Make sure you have no equals release smaller nations first.

[@StrategySphere]

This sounds like a great campaign. Makes me want to try the approach :)

[@АндрейКарнаухов-ь2й]

Разве не нужно оставаться Рюкю дял ачивки?

[@StrategySphere]

Нужно, если иметь субъекты типа вассалов или колониальных стран. Если сменить таг, то нужно остаться единственной страной в мире. Но так интереснее :)

[@belcross4481]

Did the same steps for samurai strategy but ottomans decided to take colonial ideas and colonize right next to me and now they formed coalition lol plus they took mamuluks as eyalet , they never do that...

[@StrategySphere]

Ahh yes, that does happen now. In my current Provence game the Ottos colonized the Spice Islands and conquered from Morocco to Kiev to India. They get incredibly weak after about 1650s though. It’s almost anticlimactic fighting them, they collapse before your troops arrive.

[@paulcheung2006]

Has anyone been successful in patch 1.37? For some reason, Ashikaga isn't attacking me even though Ming has a mandate over 50.

[@StrategySphere]

@@paulcheung2006 this used to be the case in some previous patches, and indeed in the patch on which I got my Three Mountains. I no-CB attacked some Jurchen tribes, grew my base on the continent, and when I had a large army I attacked Japan. By that time Ashikaga annexed most of his vassals and his army was smaller than the combined armies of all daimyos.

[@paulcheung2006]

@@StrategySphere Thanks for the reply!!! Are you planning to make video for EU4 1.37 ?

[@paulmeahan3667]

I honestly think you are producing the best EU4 videos on YT at the moment. I will watch anything you choose to do next! Hell...I would watch long-form campaigns where you just do this stuff (though I recognize that's a very different form of video).

[@StrategySphere]

Wow, thanks! Really appreciate your support.

[@sayakp2571]

Do you think changing to High American would bring any benefits to these Ryukyu runs? I just did so in 1530 and I'm considering conquering China like you did in this video, but I feel like I've wasted a lot of years just to get the Aztecs MT. Also considering staying Ryukyu and making use of the Sunset Colonies.

[@StrategySphere]

High American is quite a bit better than the Chinese tech, but personally I wouldn’t spend the getting it. It may make sense staying Ryukyu…

[@sayakp2571]

I ended up choosing Japan and had no idea their MT was so strong. However, the missions I get from the Aztecs interfere and cause bugs with the Japanese MT, preventing me from completing the 5% power cost reduction mission. My army quality is making all wars go really fast, though. Haha

[@magnusinkheart4096]

Hi, great video. I started doing the Manchu into Qing strategy but Ashikga refuses to declare war on me. By allying Jianzhou I managed to get 6 provinces in the north of Korea (I have 10 provinces in Japan from enforce peace) It's 1470. What would you recommend I do from this point given I'm still to weak to take on Ashikaga?

[@StrategySphere]

This happened to me in one game, when I eventually got the Three Mountains achievement. I grew very strong on the Asia mainland, and when I had more troops than Ashikaga I took them out. By that time they had annexed their subjects and so became much weaker.

[@magnusinkheart4096]

@@StrategySphere Okay, thanks for the advice!

[@YakubianApe17]

Been waiting on this, love your style of videos

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you - and more to come :)

[@Dahiasz]

I have tried to get this achievement a couple of time over the years and have always failed. Maybe me getting recommended this video is a sign to give it another shot :D Love the channel from what I have seen so far, immediate sub!

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you, I appreciate! This achievement isn’t that hard as long as you set yourself up well. Then after 1600, it’s just a normal world conquest.

[@TheOliwierr]

Jeezzz... Why did you convert to japaaaaannn. Ryukyu is so... three mountanian 😆 Good run. I didn't understand enforce peace mechanic

[@TheOliwierr]

Oh, and Poland crushed Russia so stronggg

[@StrategySphere]

Japan is just so much fun. Ryukyu hasn’t been updated in ages, it feels so … empty.

[@StrategySphere]

Poland does very well in many games these times.

[@kubikrubik2215]

Looks like Ruyku with samurai gov is the easiest one :) The only problem is ideas and missions and a lot of vassals which can blow up your PC =)

[@StrategySphere]

Yep, a Ryukyu shogunate with a vassal swarm would be super valid. There are a couple of watchouts, though: the vassals will fight each other if they have a common border, and may grow very strong; and coalitions will be more likely to form as the enemies don’t correctly access your combined strength. But you’ll be rich and will have a lot of soldiers in the swarm to dominate everyone.

[@jamiewillis3905]

​@StrategySphere how do you get claims from the vassal swarm? It's the only thing that's stopped me from trying it.

[@StrategySphere]

If I recall correctly, you can’t use your Daimyo’s claims for your own conquest. This could be the third limitation of the Shogun strategy. You would need to take Religious ideas for example, and make sure you have a border with your next target. Later on, you’ll get the imperialism CB of course.

[@kamilmajewski8148]

Your content is amazingly great. Didn't see such 'new' channel for a while. Subbed, liked, ringed,

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you so much - I appreciate!

[@k.a.2253]

So if its not a secret your originally from Switzerland or just live there?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! Not a secret, have been living in🇨🇭for 15 years but lived in several countries before that… always in Eurasia - the UK, Japan, Russia, Cambodia, Lithuania…

[@TheFraps1]

Declining Ohori Tsuruhime and the onna-musha in favor of some prestige, legitimacy and diplo mana makes me want to cry :(

[@StrategySphere]

Ahh sorry, I didn’t read the event too well! Will accept them next time 👍

[@TheFraps1]

@@StrategySphere I primarily like it from a roleplay and historical perspective. Tsuruhime's irl story is really cool, and I also like the ability to recruit female generals. Unsure what's actually better though for a world conquest from a meta perspective: - free 4/6/4/2 genera and -0.5% yearly army tradition decay or - 20 prestige, 10 legitimacy, +1 ruler diplo/+100 diplo power

[@StrategySphere]

I 100% agree on the role-playing aspect of it. As for what’s better, my humble opinion is that any long-term buff would be preferable, and army tradition is valuable. So I should have gone with the onna-musha choice. Will do so in my Japan run.

[@wachtwoord5796]

@@StrategySphere true but in a world conquest at dome point AT is permanently at 100. Which one is better is probably situational.

[@StrategySphere]

Fair. Makes sense to me.

[@bronzedisease]

Ryukku has a sad modern history. They were devastated in ww2. I guess Russia in a way pretty close to ryukku I just never really thought about. We always think saint Petersburg and Moscow.

[@StrategySphere]

Yes, the history was bloody. A series of occupations, wars, lots of dead. The people there are very resilient. And you’re right, Russia shares the Pacific with Okinawa :)

[@ivanhandjiiski3172]

It doest count the achivment this way, I've just finished wc with Qing and nothing happened

[@StrategySphere]

They may have changed it in the latest patches. Are you the only nation remaining - no subjects, no colonial nations?

[@ivanhandjiiski3172]

Actually, I've completely missed the part with no colonies. I still have time to core them and will see. Thank you!

[@balintvarga8523]

My strategy was the depopulate the whole world exploit leaving only Okinawa. hah.

[@StrategySphere]

Great idea 😂 I’m going to try it some time!

[@ThePedrodude]

What is the depopulate the world exploit?

[@Antonin1738]

Ive done Ryuku colonial thing before, jumping from islands to california then mexico xD

[@StrategySphere]

Ahh that sounds like a fun approach :)

[@oilydoubloonz6001]

absolutely love the videos. keep it up!

[@StrategySphere]

Glad you like them, and thank you 🙏

[@asdsda7958]

Hi Strategy, Thank you very much for the video, I am trying to get Three Mountains with Manchu & Quing approach - I am at 1624 year with 4.8k dev, almost all India taken and just put foot on Mameluks to start conquering Africa.

[@StrategySphere]

This look s VERY solid for 1624, you seem to be on track! I’d target 8-10K development by 1700, but you may be able to exceed that.

[@seanlouisoliveros414]

Hope you figured out the devastation mapmode which makes finding devastation pretty easy

[@Ecarlator]

Yoooooo that's a great guide. Finally TTM doesn't seem so unachieavable. I have a question tho, how would you do if you wanted to go for a One Faith in the same time ? What would you be adapting to your strategy ? Wouldn't it be better to stay Shinto, or even go Muslim at some point ?

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks, glad you liked it! For One Faith, I personally wouldn’t stay Shinto. I’d probably go Muslim (can propagate via merchants), Catholic (also good to get PUs), or Hindu for some nice bonuses and monuments.

[@matan2840]

Love the great content-- keep it coming!!

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks a ton!

[@andreiagaldoni1509]

what mod are you using that changes the map?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum from the Steam Workshop. It’s old but still works.

[@oliveryounger8307]

What is the graphics mod here, it looks fantastic

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s “theatrum orbis terrarum” from the Steam workshop.

[@willywilly269]

what modpack are you using for graphics? :)

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s “theatrum orbis terrarum” from the Steam Workshop.

[@willywilly269]

@@StrategySphere thank you sm

[@ayy_lmao47]

I've yet to achieve WC myself, hope to get it someday with the help of your guides. By the way, do you use any other mods apart from the one that changes your map?

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks, and good luck. As for the mods - no, I only use the map one.

[@flurgelfornurgle9374]

Great video, Not sure if im alone here or if shogun 2 is burned into my head but each time you said shogun I had to add "Military ruler of all japan"

[@StrategySphere]

Haha yep, I love that game and played it a lot with my friends even back in the Shogun 1 days :)

[@NishiAAAddiction]

I didn't know you could change tags for this achievement O_O Awesome video btw !!

[@StrategySphere]

Hi, yep - in this case though, you’ll have to do a “true one tag” ie no other nations remaining.

[@sysek5099]

Did you used the same audio when talking about attacking korea again? in both openings, what is it on purpoese?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! Sorry, could you please clarify what you mean - the same sentences, or the same music? At any rate, it was probably accidental :)

[@nikolaskoualis3080]

which mods are you running for the visuals? ty

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s “theatrum orbis terrarum” from the Steam Workshop.

[@nikolaskoualis3080]

@@StrategySphere thank you very much! keep up the great work

[@bananamrs]

40:46 (проблемы с поиском провки с высоким devastation) - есть одноименный режим карты, во вкладке экономических. Мне еще из нестандартных нравятся Military Access, Piracy и Truce, часто помогают не мучиться)

[@StrategySphere]

Согласен, и даже использовал devastation map mode, но эти острова такие мелкие что не заметил. Пиратский режим реально выручал, когда я играл за Готланд :)

[@h.michael304]

Post more content 😢

[@StrategySphere]

Will do - working on a world conquest as we speak 👍

[@Ratlegion]

Love your work, my friend. One day, I hope to spend a bit more time playing these challenging nations.

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you, and enjoy it when you do!

[@mijagaming4241]

can you do a guide to florence into egypt for the prince of arabia achivment

[@StrategySphere]

Sure, will happily add it to my list!

[@mijagaming4241]

@@StrategySphere thank you, by the way all of your videos are great. Keep it up

[@Veloxyll]

Do you not inherit any outside Japanese islands Daimyos to not make the swarm a valid strategy? Or do you just not want to rely on the AI. My first WC as HRE Austria was a lot easier in the mid game due to the power of the swarm

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! Personally, I don’t like the Daimyo swarm. They’re unruly, keep fighting each other and the AI nations perceive you weaker and form more coalitions because you’re not unified. I did a few HRE world conquests, and the dynamics are slightly different. But even there, I prefer go for a unified HRE with no swarm. They’re reasonably useful in the nearby conquests like Poland, Russia or even Ottomans, but rather useless in the remote areas. Also, the swarm frequently would run away from a powerful unified opponent, like a massive Ottoman or over-powered late game Korea… The swarm of smaller subjects could be helpful for province coring and conversion though.

[@KitiHey]

Yay

[@StrategySphere]

🙏👍

[@Traff92]

Amazing content, out of curiosity what idea groups would you finish the game with?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! Towards the late game, I would drop exploration. Eventually, my ideas would likely be: - Humanist - Administrative - Offensive - (possibly) Quantity - Diplomatic - Influence - (possibly) Expansion

[@AlekShul]

Не знаю. Но ощущение что Alex из славянской страны.

[@StrategySphere]

Так и есть! :)

[@AlekShul]

@@StrategySphere ну я угадал) Если ты всё таки русскоязычный. Как насчёт субтитров на русском?

[@StrategySphere]

О субтитрах я тут задумался на днях, ищу варианты, как можно автоматизировать. Не хотелось бы добавлять 3-4 дня работы к каждому видео…

[@saveriov.p.7725]

How exactly does moving the capital to the americas work? How is it done, and why? There isnt much clear info out there

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It enables you to directly own the colonial territories (the Americas and ANZ). To move, your capital should be the last stated territory on its continent. So it could work if you first get a single province in Africa, move your capital there, and then to a colonial region. I demonstrate it in my Aztec Sunrise video, after becoming Manchu moves my capital to Northern China. I then move it to Africa and back to Mexico.

[@evahnulahm]

Very interesting, I have been thinking of starting this achievement run. Any thoughts on the pirate route vs these two?

[@StrategySphere]

I would love to do a pirate run. My Gotland 🏴‍☠️ world conquest was the most fun of all, but it wasn’t easy. You get rich much faster and you get a great CB… but as a Mandate holder you get a similar CB but a much more powerful economic and manpower base. Just a matter of preference…

[@kretson]

Damn bro, thank's for this. I've gone the Manchu strategy (although without Mongol culture) and managed 3100 dev and 340 income by 1600. This gonna be gut

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks, and that’s impressive!!!

[@kretson]

@@StrategySphere update: one tag WC by 1780 ;)

[@StrategySphere]

@@kretson that’s awesome - congrats :)

[@CarlosFerreira-rh8zj]

hey did you give up YT? do you make twitch streams?

[@StrategySphere]

Hey, I stopped YT for now as I found a rather busy job :) slowly doing a Byz world conquest, may eventually publish a vid. Never did Twitch streams though!

[@CarlosFerreira-rh8zj]

Ho ok no worries! as long as everything is ok with your life that is all that matters!

[@StrategySphere]

@@CarlosFerreira-rh8zj thanks, yep doing good! Exciting times

[@AR0ACE]

I found out if you take the province of Ise, you will get an event to turn shinto with no loss of stab!

[@StrategySphere]

Yep, this would also make great sense.

[@jimmyspuds5341]

Great guide! Just wondering what the reason for switching mongolian is before forming Qing? Is it to enact Steppe Nomad? Also are you switching to Mongolian culture only or also tag switch to Mongolia? Thanks!

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! This allows combining 2 mission trees - the Mongolian and Manchu / Qing ones. It’s a culture switch to Mongolian, form Qing, culture-switch back to Manchu.

[@jimmyspuds5341]

@@StrategySphere Thanks! I've tried this strategy today and managed to get the first war with Hosokawa complete. However, when I attempt to bait Ashikaga into attacking me, they never do when I enforce peace? I've tried this multiple times and also tried multiple enforce peaces one after another and still no war! Do you have any guidance for this step?

[@StrategySphere]

@@jimmyspuds5341 it’s really unpredictable. When I did my Three Mountains, they didn’t attack me and I no-CBed into the Jurchens to keep expanding, then returned and attacked Ashikaga when I grew strong. In this patch, I did two test runs and they attacked me both times. Once when I enforced peace on their subject (this version went into the video), and once when I got two rebellions at once. Maybe delete your army? They could consider you weak and attack. Then just hire mercs in Okinawa to siege Kyoto.

[@rippy56]

Hi SS, I love your content. Found your channel out about a week or so ago and it's honestly incredible. I wanted to ask something, at around 25 minutes you say you can lower autonomy since you fought the rebels but from my experience lowering autonomy resets the -100 modifier after the month tick. Thats why I try to lower aut. before the rebels pop up if I can help it. Have I got it wrong? Maybe I'm remembering sth wrong here. Thanks and keep up the great work.

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks for your support! :) Hmm, I’ve just checked the autonomy behaviour. I increased the autonomy and waited for the month tick - the values didn’t reset. The -100 recent uprising modifier remained in place. Maybe it works differently under different conditions - I’m not sure… will try to study this in the future! :)

[@rippy56]

​@@StrategySphere Hey Alex, I know this is a late response but I just recently found the time. Playing a fast little Holland game and I had to check this mechanic again. I took all Flanders lands during my independence war, waited for the cores to finish and after stating the provinces I provoked the revolt. Lowering the autonomy does indeed reset the unrest back to negative values, removing the "recent rebellion -100" buff. I'm still surprised to hear you couldn't replicate the results. It's not that important, just wanted some closure to this exchange. :) Take care and looking forward to your next video.

[@StrategySphere]

@@rippy56 thank you for testing this out - I’ll give it another look in my next campaign. I definitely want to be precise with the info I share. I appreciate your taking the effort to test and share!

[@albaniaalban]

Great video as always! I'll be trying to do this to finally get my first WC (I lose patience around the 1700s because it becomes a slog). A quick question though; would it be possible to use the same strategy while forming Yuan instead of Qing? I have all the Qing - but not the Yuan - achievements.

[@StrategySphere]

Hi and yes, absolutely. Yuan has awesome ideas and would be a great strategy. Someone posted a video or Reddit on getting the TTT as Yuan, I think.

[@albaniaalban]

@@StrategySphere Update: While it absolutely works, you're stuck with the generic mission tree if just going Ryukyu-> Yuan. A bit too bland for me - I'll go with Qing instead!

[@StrategySphere]

Ahh really? Didn’t know this. Good luck with the Qing run, it should be fun :)

[@Dante-mr3rz]

Shitno has weak conversation power? Even with all the monuments?

[@StrategySphere]

Comparatively speaking, yes. Quite weak and very few missionaries.

[@Dante-mr3rz]

@@StrategySphere I mean just from monuments you get 5 missionary strength (plus 2 against heretics) and 3 missionaries. That with one of the levels of isolation plus religious gives you 6 of them.

[@StrategySphere]

This makes sense. For my personal style, Confucian fits better as it voids the need for religious conversion and adds great bonuses from harmonizing. Apart from role play, I wouldn’t see why I’d stay Shinto, but that’s just me. (In real life, I don’t mind Shinto at all - got married per Shinto ritual! 🇯🇵)

[@Dante-mr3rz]

@@StrategySphere Glad to hear that.😄 Of course, all depends on general conquest or one faith. The former prefers humanist plus confucian and for the latter shinto is the best from easter religions. You basically get religious cb against the rest of the world plus static bonus for your army (I would put vajrayana above if not for the slider). Personally for one faith the easiest options are catholic or sunni. Especially the latter due to merchants.

[@timtrio9862]

I love this channel and your content is amazing. I plan on playing japan and try a WC , what would you choose stay Shintu or go Confucianism? I am still doubting tho weather Korea is more fun than Japan.

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! Both Japan and Korea would be awesome for a WC. My personal (slight) preference would be for Korea as it just carries you on, it’s super powerful. I’d stay Confucian as Korea, but maybe would go Christian as Japan to have a chance at PU’ing the Europeans.

[@timtrio9862]

​@@StrategySpherei played to many christian faiths so far so i would wanna try something different. I am gonna have one more look at your chosen one campaign. I am a bit afraid of lacking ccr or admin efficiency as both korea and japan tho

[@StrategySphere]

Ah, this makes sense. Then I would personally switch to Confucian and not stay Shinto, just for the harmonisation bonuses and less revolts. I agree re: CCR and admin efficiency, but these countries are so strong that a WC would still be possible.

[@jorgovan-ni9kz]

Can you please put a video guide for Muscovy/Russia? I have been playing Eu4 for like a year or two now, and i prefer playing Muscovy just because of it's potential, but i always fail from not being either good with technology levels or having no manpower or having too many loans to invest into my country, so it's always bad... Can you please put a guide? I hope you read this:D Cheers from a 25 year old Serbian

[@StrategySphere]

Hi and thanks so much. Greetings to Serbia :) I actually did a Muscovy to Russia world conquest here, would that work? kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIemo5-srraSic0

[@jorgovan-ni9kz]

@@StrategySphere i found the video. I was thinking of the regular expansion but if you are too busy with other schedule it will work 😎😃

[@StrategySphere]

Ahh I see. I’ve been mostly recording world conquest setups for now :) Will consider doing something more standard in the future!

[@jorgovan-ni9kz]

@@StrategySphere ah great, then it's settled 🤟

[@spencerss4908]

Can you list your mods in the description of your videos?

[@StrategySphere]

Yep, will do - I only use “theatrum orbis terrarum” for better graphics.

[@spencerss4908]

@@StrategySphere Thanks for the info:) Also thanks for letting me about this mod; It makes the game look great

[@StrategySphere]

@@spencerss4908 haha good luck! Once you get the flow of it, world conquests are quite fun.

[@qMiko]

Гайд устарел? Не даёт качнуть отношения с японскими странами до 100, кап 90, т.к. -10 из-за другой религии

[@StrategySphere]

Этот кап вроде всегда был. Можно дать подарок, военный доступ, нанять советника который улучшает отношения, и так далее. Я таким образом играл много раз.

[@hphm6461]

Why does your map look fantastic? is it because of the mod or how did you do it?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! Yep, it’s the “theatrum orbis terrarum” map mode: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1867433999

[@YellowCyanXY]

May I ask what map mod you are using?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It's "eu4 theatrum orbis terrarum" from the Steam workshop.

[@YellowCyanXY]

@@StrategySphere Thanks! :D

[@alessander4smoke32]

Great video as always Alex, really enjoyed it

[@StrategySphere]

Glad to hear it! Thanks a lot 👍

[@Eccelons1]

This is the 2nd Video i watched. Great contend and i really like the way you comment throughout the video. I did my Ryukyu back before Absolutism and managed it in 1819 with like 500% overextension. Started by no cb on india to use the hidden capital strategy. Maybe i should revisit it with the new Japan...

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks for watching! Actually the India hidden capital strategy is super valid, I should’ve mentioned it. It should work well being the Shogun and creating a lot of daimyo vassals in India and snowballing from there.

[@wachtwoord5796]

What is the India hidden capital strat?

[@StrategySphere]

You simply utilise the fact that India hasn’t discovered your capital yet. If they can’t see your capital, they can’t form a coalition against you. So you can go ham conquering, and by the time they see your capital it’s too late for them.

[@wachtwoord5796]

@@StrategySphere ah I knew this, just not by name 👍

[@GezenTavukkkk]

hello whats the map mod it looks great

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s “theatrum orbis terrarum” from the Steam workshop.

[@GezenTavukkkk]

@@StrategySphere do you know any mod for fps issue eu4? Even though my pc is great, eu4 lags as hell with each update. Its unplayable after 1.30s

[@StrategySphere]

@@GezenTavukkkk sorry, I don’t. My PC isn’t that great, but all seems to run okay. Maybe you could try some mods which reduce visual details?

[@garri3123]

Amazing content:) What is the name of your graphics map mod?)

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you! It’s “theatrum orbis terrarum” from here: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1867433999

[@garri3123]

@@StrategySphere thx)

[@dothedouglas1405]

What is the visual mod?

[@StrategySphere]

Hi! It’s this one: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1867433999

[@pierrecbrt3504]

The editing is cool! Well done

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you 👍

[@MonCompteTubulaire]

Awesome content I'd love a video for the Tibet route too

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you - will try that approach at some point.

[@dumed]

Nice content!

[@StrategySphere]

Glad you think so!

[@gatomu9908]

Man called me poor at opening 😭

[@barbatosjaegar6838]

Can you do any countries that can form Malaya

[@StrategySphere]

Sure, will add them into my list. Now doing France 🇫🇷 on an earlier viewer request.

[@kazuin6294]

awesome video and super informative! I'm wondering what map mod you're using? It looks really clean!

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you :) the map more is “theatrum orbis terrarum” steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1867433999

[@fredericcortat9060]

Thanks for this video !! Your thourough and systematic explanations of the different options available and the reasoning behind the decisions you take make this video a fantastic guide to open as Okinawa. I greatly appreciate your systematic and analytic style, thanks for this guide !! The "enforce peace" strategy is absolutely brilliant, thanks for the demonstration !! Personally I am a big fan of the nations in the Philippines in EU4 and currently testing various opening strategies for Cebu, for the Philippine Tiger achievement. I recently came up with an opening strategy that consists in a no-CB on Korchin in december 1444, to create an early vassal in India and have the opportunity to rotate wars and spread the AE through time during the campain, but today I suddenly wondered if there would be a way to get involved in Japan and have northern expansion as part of the campain as well. In that case, it seems to me that becoming shogun should be a central part of that campain. As Cebu, at the cost of 2 stab levels (no CB) it is possible to vasalise Korchin before 1446 and then use those guys claims on their neighbours to take Vijayanagar by speed and feed Korchin most of the minors on the southern Indian west coast before 1450, creating a very early foothold in India (the best part of this strategy is that the powerful Indian nations neighbouring Korchin will not know where we are before ~1500, therefore in practice there are no consequences for the AE that comes with the no-CB war declaration since those nations cannot declare on Cebu; it's crazy !!!!). Taking then either the expansion or the exploration idea group (because of the 2 stabs hit due to no-CB early on, admin points will be scarce and exploration is probably the better choice), in principle one could have a +20% colonial range advisor as soon as the 1st colonist is unlocked (1st idea with expansion, 2nd idea with exploration). This means that, without colonizing Taiwan or even the northern part of the Philippines, Cebu could in principle core provinces in the southern part of Japan as early as ~1557. That happens to be the year you got involved in Japanese politics yourself in your video. Not sure if 2 diplomates will be enough to improve with enough Daimyos so as to have the "enforce peace" option that you explain so well in your video, future testing will have to show if it works or not. At any rate, the core idea then would be to move the capital to one of the provinces conquered in Japan, and develop the renaissance there, so as to be able to shift to a Japanese culture and become eligible for the independent Daimyo governement. Then somehow (??) put together 30k troops, provoque the Shogun and take over. I think it would be pretty swell to have a campain with Cebu that expands in all directions, instead of the standard Phillipines - Malay - Bengal - India that is implicitly required by the Philippine Tiger achievement. What I wonder is if you know if an independent Daimyo can have subject of their own? Is it possible to combine my Korchin opening with a play for the shogunate 10 years later, i.e. starting the Cebu campain by vasalising Korchin, and then become an independent Daimyo in Japan while keeping Korchin as a subject? The EU4 wiki doesn't say anything on that matter. If it is possible, I think it would make for some pretty exciting adventures !!

[@StrategySphere]

Hi and thanks for such a detailed comment! I believe the strategy to attack into India while they can’t see your capital is awesome. Attacking into Japan will be difficult, I’m afraid. Unless you have a strong alliance network or are a tributary to Ming, the Japanese Shogun will likely attack you almost immediately as soon as you get some land in Japan. You may be able to avoid this if you get the Japanese provinces away from Ashikaga, not sure. I would suggest having an army as large as the one of the combined Japan or larger, before enforcing peace on any Daimyo… Best of luck, your strategies seem great fun :)

[@fredericcortat9060]

Hi again, and thanks for the feedback! I actually spent quite some time this afternoon trying to find out if one loses vassals upon becoming an independent daimyo. After many failed attempts in ironman (it is really tricky to get 100 opinion with the right country at the right moment), I lost patience and set up a test situation using the console commands. And the answer is that one can become an independent daimyo and keep one's vassals :) I vassalised Kochin, then artificially colonised the northern province in Taiwan to have corring range in Japan and artificially bumped Amato's opinion of me so as to be able to intervene in their defence against Hosokawa. Took Setsu, moved the capital there, developed to have enough dev to culture shift, and once we had enough governement reform it was possible to become an independent daimyo, without loosing Kochin! All that using the "enforce peace" strategy that you showed in your video. Thanks a lot !!! Two things were however clear from that test: 1) Ming felt provoked that I "colonized" the northern province in Taiwan and declared within 3 months. So Taiwan doesn't seem to be a viable path to get corring range in a real game. Ryukyu being a Ming tributary, it seems it all comes down to unlocking exploration idea 3 asap, before Hosokawa manages to become too strong. 2) That "fake test game" has been running for quite a while now (~1465), and Ashikaga has still not declared. Despite me rivaling him, scornfully insulting him, and taking even more land around Kyoto using the "enforce peace" trick. I start to wonder how to get him to react. I played a significant amount of campains as Date back in the days, and on past patches insulting the shogun was a sure method to trigger him into declaring war (the player loses stab if he declares war on the shogun, so it's better to provoque the shogun into declaring). I wonder if this behaviour has been changed in more recent game patches? At any rate it seems that the best solution from Cebu is to go for Shimazu and proceed from there. I'll have to try find the right tempo and make it happen "for real" in a ironman game now... Thanks a lot for the video and all the detailed explanations. This video is gold !! Cheers!

[@StrategySphere]

@@fredericcortat9060 this is super interesting and insightful, thank you for sharing both your observations and conclusions! Ming collapses quite consistently in this patch, so it could be possible to grow elsewhere first, then go Taiwan and continue from there after they collapse. Interesting re: the Shogun unwilling to declare, this has really varied from patch to patch…

[@fredericcortat9060]

​@@StrategySphere Since you are interested, I can share my latest "discovery": the distance between Pangasinan in the Philippines and Setsu is 160, exactly the upper limit for corring range on tech 3 !! Therefore, annexing Pangasinan would allow Cebu to core Setsu without worrying about unlocking any ideas that increase the coring range. Sadly, the distance between Pangasinan and Owari (the best province for institution development in Japan in my opinion) is... 162 :( No game known to man AND beast knows how to troll the player quite like EU4... Now Pangasinan starts as a Ming tributary and will remain so until Ming collapses. Besides, because of their different religion (theravada?), Pangasinan does not get easily involved with its neighbours. They are a bit like the North Korea of the 1400's: hermetic. My standard strategy to conquere them with Cebu is to ally them very early on, and diplo-vasalise them later on, once Ming is gone and we have grown enough for them to accept (say 1525-1550). That is obviously not going to work here since they need to be annexed asap in order to have coring range to Japan. The conclusion is that , to avoid dealing with Ming, Pangasinan must ally one of the other Philippine nations, so it can be annexed as a collateral war participant. Most likely candidate is Madyas. For that to happen, it is necessary that Pangasinan and Madyas both rival Tondo at the beginning, then they are likely to ally each other. Another strategy to take them down directly is for Cebu to become a Ming tributary. It feels kind of dirty, a bit like selling one's soul to the devil, but it is worth a thought since Ming would be useful to fight Ashikaga later on. Dirty yet intriguing idea... At any rate I had my first attempt "for real" on ironman, and restarted once in order to have Tondo rivaling both Madyas and Pangasinan. Then the usual special operation in India with Kochin as opening, business as usual. Meanwhile Pangasinan and Madyas did indeed ally each other, so war declaration on Madyas around 1452 once the dust was settled in India, annexing Pangasinan and humiliate Madyas for the age objective. By 1455, apart from a rather high war exhaustion, everything was going peachy, the campain was going pretty much perfectly. And then it started. Winter came. A dark age fell upon us. This game has a very unique way to frustrate the player. In the period 1455-1470, the gave throw at me: - king died before turning 40 years old already - I had to discard no less than 3 heirs (!!!). The "best" was 0-3-4, the first one was 1-0-2 (!!!!) and the middle brother was something intermediate - in a period when admin mana is super important (2 stabs because of no CB in India initially + plans to move the capital later on), not only did the kings early death cost a stab (I suppose I should be happy it was not during a war?), but I had 2 comets and 2 other events costing 1 stab each. Including the self-inflicted 2 initial stabs, that's a grand total of 700 admin just to keep stab-neutral in the first 25 years of the game !!!! - in a period when you need to improve opinion with some of the daimyos in Japan, a king with the silver tongue trait (+20% relation improvement) would be quite optimal. Of course, of all possible traits the game gave me... a naive enthusiast (-20% relation improvement). Because why not, right? - then I displayed a remarkable lack of judgement when it came to decide with which daimyos to improve in Japan. With only 2 diplomates, a naive enthusiast as a king and no economy to afford a relation advisor (need to spare money to send gifts, to manage to improve opinion above 100 since we start at -10 and cannot reach more than 90 otherwise), improving opinion goes super slow and it is therefore crucial to improve with the right daimyos. Well, that did not go well at all, I was super bad at this and years passed without me being able to intervene in any war because of lack of opinion with the correct daimyos. - when I finally managed to have something like 50-60 opinion with everybody in south Japan (~1470), so as to quickly improve to 100 to manage to intervene in case of a war, then everybody calmed down in south Japan, there was no more fighting and Ashikaga was simply anexing daimyo after daimyo. The only hostilities were between daimyos in the north of Japan, outside of my coring range. That's when I quit the game, about 1h ago. I do not think that this first "hot run" was anywhere "luck-neutral". I mean, it is clear that bad events dominates the game in the Philippines and "luck neutrality" is never a thing there, but all these -1 stab events, the 3 mongo children in a row and the naive enthusiast trait as icing on the cake, that was just too much. Besides, I need to find a system to improve with the right daimyo instead of wasting my diplomates time at random. I'll have a new attempt from fesh tomorrow. Thanks for the support and the tips !! Much appreciated !!! BTW, do you have any recommendation/method to decide with which daimyo to improve? Is there a system/method to identify Hosokawa's next target a bit in advance?

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks for sharing - I know that wasn’t a smooth game but it was a lot of fun to read 👍 Also learned quite a bit about how some game elements work. To your question - I don’t believe there’s a way to know that in advance. I did the same thing as you, carpet-improve with everyone in the Southern Japan to a certain level, then get to >100 with the nation that actually got into a war. It’s easier with Okinawa because it’s right next there.

[@Times_Ticking]

Excellent video and guide. Well done!

[@StrategySphere]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Times_Ticking]

@@StrategySphere there is a devastation map mode, which helps figure out the source

[@lord6617]

For the early chinese period where you are dealing with lots of devastation, if your economy could bear it you could build some forts.

[@StrategySphere]

This is a very sensible idea - my devastation was killing the mandate for a long time!

[@Smittenz1]

I have learned a lot from your videos. Though i did not manage a world conquest on my Teutons game, i did get my desired achievements and had a blast doing so. I will admit I did not push too hard for the word conquest.

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks - as long as we’re having fun we’re doing well, I believe! :)

[@worldboxvn8214]

FINALLY,You do know what your fan want, don't you

[@Bgriffin2414]

There is a map filter that lets you see if any provinces have devastation

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks - need to study it a bit more :) but that Okinawa province is so tiny…

[@2009worstyearever]

Oh another banger.

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you :)

[@zehh172]

very nice video!

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks a lot!

[@magoochito]

konu always gets absorbed by the time relations reach 100

[@StrategySphere]

Yeah, the game is unpredictable. I usually improve with 3-4 potential targets and go for whatever works.

[@safakatan853]

it was a great video thx a lot

[@StrategySphere]

Glad you liked it!

[@coveragecoverage9306]

❤❤❤

[@StrategySphere]

🙏👍

[@fillehh9328]

Amazing video! 👍👌

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you! 👍

[@amagacelestial444]

Amazing content keep it going

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks a ton, will do 👍

[@carltonleboss]

I love your channel.

[@StrategySphere]

Thank you 👍

[@rokasleave6703]

Great video

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks much!

[@BruhManJones]

Great video!

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks much!

[@felipediasmarquesalmeida4205]

Great video

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks! 👍

[@Palman97]

Thank you!

[@StrategySphere]

You bet! 👍

[@hafarasama]

Nice

[@StrategySphere]

Thanks :)