EU4: A Pre-War Checklist

Some things to get squared away.
I screwed up on the audio for this one. I recommend turning it down because the distortion is pretty bad. Contemplating re-uploading it.
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[@TheCAMPER1996]

checklist: are you playing as the ottomans? - yes = attack

[@borjapautasso5553]

-no = play as the ottomans

[@marazali1816]

why do people think ottomans are so op, i don't get it. they can get a massive army but they don't get that much of a land combat bonus from their national ideas or anything, only +%5 discipline and a little cavalry combat ability.

[@kingof_prussia]

They get many events for better military early, start with a 5/5/6 and have very easy expansion opportunities in countries like Byzantium, Karaman, Candar, Qara, Mamluks, etc.

[@alexcaswell2]

On top of which, before they got nerfed they had -33% core creation cost, the best reduction in the game, could spread their AE across two different religious groups while almost everyone else was restricted to one, had extremely high development that allowed them to function at the same high level as other European nations, they get nations to eat the Mameluks, sunni religious group (which is very good, being pious gives them half of France's morale boost) and +3 tolerance of Heathens, to remove revolts. DDRJake, now one of the game devs and recognized by many as the best player of EU4, has called the Ottomans the most powerful country in the game for a reason.

[@MichaelSellsMT]

And that is what a good explanation looks like well done.

[@Hanekin]

No, you want to expand in the way that your borders still look nice.

[@madijeis4320]

Also attack and fragment every nation that dares to insult His Holyness the Border by having enclaves and other heretical things.

[@paxromana1841]

True Truth

[@garlicxlr]

Sweden especially!

[@Elenrai]

Dw, I always kill sweden. Its like religion, but more important.

[@user-dl1bs6lm1g]

Sure

[@cjohnson3836]

"where do you want to expand?" Everywhere that isn't my color

[@paxromana1841]

c johnson True thing

[@explosiongames11]

Everywhere that has nice boarders and has lots of room for your name to be big

[@Hoferman]

you forgot to mention, "is this going to make my name look big enough"

[@taintedtaylor2586]

Hoferman Am i going to end Bordergore?

[@nickc4063]

Talks about pre war checklist. picks a country that starts in a regency

[@ARKOVZ]

You forgot to make sure Ulm isn't allied to your target.

[@haressae5859]

ARKOVZ that was the 2nd thing on the checklist

[@quinnginbey3254]

@@haressae5859 it really deserves it's own place on the list, with Ulm being as strong as it is.

[@viktorkemeny31]

Checklist: Can I win?: Yes - War Maybe -War No - Kill neighbours first

[@markhenley3097]

No - War.

[@TheAndrew1987]

" i cant show you the war screen cause i'm hungary" then why'd you pick hungary, its like one of the few countries that starts with a regency,just pick literally anyone else

[@cengiztaner4754]

Andrew Harper this. if you want to play hungary anyway just play as another country and edit it when talking about declare war

[@matthewmcneany]

These videos would by a lot better if he used even a basic script. They are fascinatingly instructive on how not to approach a creative project, don't get me wrong I like them but objectively an awful lot of these analysis videos are badly made. I'm not trying to be mean but darkfireslide needs to write a script for his videos - it would vastly improve the flow and in particular make sure that the image on the screen relates to the point he's trying to make.

[@KnownNiche1999]

Are you ULM? -yes = fullannex Europe

[@Melkom1]

Another thing to check is if the enemy has any mothballed forts near the border. If you can start besieging those forts within the first month of the war, you'll ignore the fort and get it for free.It can give a massive advantage at the start of a war.

[@Hallanrauta]

malcolm forsberg True, but if an AI country mothballs their forts, it is seriously stripped of cash anyway and you've probably marked them as a possible target already.

[@hawkv150]

Sometimes not - Korea seems to always mothball their only border fort at the start of the game (in 1.20 at least) Useful for Manchu early conquest

[@Melkom1]

Hallanrauta Mostly, yes. But it's still smart to target those forts first and not waste time in taking them

[@James-th2oo]

That's only the case for early game, it seems. By late game, every state is powerful enough that they don't leave their forts on mothball. I can personally say that Byzantium always leaves their fort in southern Greece on mothball, so you can make the war go a lot faster by having a stack ready to take it.

[@Henchgirls]

Oooh, that mic isn't doing too well, much distortion.

[@darkfireslide]

vlhfan Yeah, it may be time to get a new one. e.e

[@sulphurous2656]

Still better than my headset mic, it literally blows the ears out of anyone

[@MrSzyzy86]

Do a Live stream while You play EU4 and we can pitch in for a better mic for You :-) Or a Patreon.

[@MrSzyzy86]

Oh, btw - no need for re-upload. It's oke.

[@eiriksj983]

It doesn't bother me. I get used to that stuff.

[@wesseldevries3]

Another thing to check up on: aggressive expansion relations malus with your neighbours, and the consequential chance of someone powerful starting a coalition on you. Two OPMs in a coalition against you might not be so scary, but just you wait and see how much you'll quiver when France or the rest of the HRE OPMs join them.

[@redhunter8731]

Entire HRE in a coalition against you lol. Seen it happen. People in multiplayer going "oh it's only AI"....that is the best way to "backstab" an ally in multiplayer. Give them enough provinces that it triggers a massive coalition than alliance break before the war can be declared on them.

[@jainabraina]

When your truce cycle finally breaks and you get into a coalition with literally every nation that you know of that isn't allied to you or one of your allies. (It then breaks when you threaten war a single nation and the relative power drops a little bit)

[@James-th2oo]

I'm pretty sure declaring a war doesn't cause Aggressive expanison. You can declare as many wars as you want (but you'll get too many wars related events, like the "Sword is stronger than the book" event), but as long as you don't take provinces you won't ever see a coalition.

[@GAndreC]

You kind of have to keep the truce cycle going by declaring more wars. As long as you have a cb new wars will not increase aggressive expansion. There comes a point were you might need to do a war out of 3 just to beat up a possible coalition. Once you remove the nearby first rate powers go after the secondary once you are big enough a war with the whole HRE is not an issue the only countries that matter are the big countries that might join that coalition and make it big enough to trigger or if able declare war on someone allied to a member of the coalition and set them as cobelligerent this will call in the whole coalition you can use that to stock up you coffers if you are stronk enough since you can peaceout each member of the coalition individually. Or you can eat the whole HRE in like 3-5 wars but expect your diplopoints to drop and all of Europe joining a coalition against you. Generally speaking if you control 3 regions you should be able to beat up the HRE with little help and by the time you control 5 or more you need no help. If anything checking truce timers with your rivals is as if not more important than AE half the time

[@GAndreC]

Truce timers, Type of CBs, Aggressive Expansion (Enemy's Religion Culture Group and Geographic location) , OverExtension, Corruption, Economy/Government type (Hordes need war to avoid social/economic collapse and get that early expansion going), Relative military Tech LVs, Military points (better used raising war taxes than killing rebels if close to overflowing and not trying to tech up just yet). And regarding coalitions remember you need 3 or more countries without a truce and over 50 AE towards you for it to form the whole world can hate you but if there are not at least 3 countries able to join the coalition will not form

[@aceofacez10]

Hey man these EU4 videos are really helpful thanks

[@DensetsuVII]

Separate version for 'should I join-ally's war' checklist?

[@arcanegianterinokripperino9945]

do you have forts at the enemies borders that are full ? if the answer is yes, accept, if not, turn it on for a month, go in...

[@redhunter8731]

Also have to look at your manpower, money, political situation, what you are facing, your issues (or not) with rebels, and if you are currently fighting in any other wars. So, yes that could be an entire video.

[@Randomluigi64]

Densetsu VII bro literally join and don’t do anything 10/10 ign

[@Hilja1suus]

check what vassals you can release

[@paxromana1841]

True men conquer the world without vassals

[@miteonmybed]

@@paxromana1841 true, but vassal swarm strategy is fun

[@richardbraakman7469]

About the question of "do I want to expand in that direction", another factor is the trade network. Expanding in your home node, or in an upstream node, means the trade income from those provinces will flow to you. Expanding in a downstream node is much less useful unless you can end up dominating it.

[@jeffvella9765]

Pretty much a good check list I would have added: -to check mothballed forts and wars of opportunity that are in your interest. Also sometimes declaring a war to avoid being declared upon by coalitions or even to choose your own war goal rather then your allies do is important. Eg: you would want to take Constantinople as Venice before the ottomans do even if it gets you in trouble with the ottomans earlier on since the player can effectively stop the ottomans from becoming unstoppable later on. So it is important to know the future enemies and how are you going to stop them from killing you later on. - another thing before declaring war is how would that effect the rest of the counties, is attacking someone going to make him a easy target for your future enemies. Should you wait for them to be not in a position to attack him before you do your attack. Should you consider taking territory in a way to stop the expansion of others. Eg: I was not interested in mamlucks territories but when playing Venice i attacked the mamlucks just to stop the ottomans from being able to make claims on the mamlucks by getting all their bordering territories with the ottomans.

[@jeezi3620]

Hey man, thank you so much for the tips, I was losing battles with number advantages with no idea as to why, and I took your advice and defeated my rival in Italy almost instantly!

[@eduardofreitas8336]

Yeah this game is very different than other strategy games, as a begginer, you see: 10% boost to morale and tatics and usually think: "Ahh that must be a minor thing" NOPE SON

[@stefanking98]

Don't worry about reuploading, we need the new episode of the Atutthaya Let's Play!

[@danielhalachev4714]

Me: follows pre-war check list for 11 minutes Also me: loses the war in 2 minutes

[@sik3xploit]

Know where you want to expand and why.. Because they are smaller and easy to devour.

[@MrSzyzy86]

You're better prepared with every upload, keep it up! :-) Maybe too basic info for me in this one, but Your "Best Idea Groups" is being played with every campaign I'm playing :-)

[@babyshaker90210]

You should do a video with the best causes for war and the different outcomes. Like recore vs a fabricated claim, etc.

[@Yarradras]

Speaking of saving up some admin points, also save up some diplo points. They might be useful to take provinces without claims or other peace deal options outside the war goal (such as break alliances, release vassals etc). I think provinces without a claim have higher coring costs though, but sometimes it's worth it, especially if it's a good province and only becoming adjacent to your land as soon as you take another province (for example the war goal). Or maybe the enemy has a strong ally that you could avoid fighting this time because he was busy elsewhere. So better take that province with diplo points than wait 10 years and maybe have to fight a stronger alliance.

[@thearcheduck8746]

Another thing to consider: Aggressive expansion, you NEED to be sure you dont get a coalition after you win a war... if you risk a coalition, do not expand unless it is necessary..... especially when fighting the hre.

[@wickedAberration]

Romanian is part of the Carpathian culture group, it's main weakness is that Wallachia blocks the way with it's 50% HCC, and Moldavia is protected by Poland.

[@strixay8256]

I would add there looking at the provinces your potential enemy has. for example if he has a lot of forts, mountain provinces, rivers etc. It's good to know where you can attack enemy forces and which provinces you should occupy and wait for him to attack.

[@manueljosechaves4512]

It's important to check military leaders too.

[@eannane8712]

I didnt know you could check what ideas they have taken (for military ideas for example) thanks for that.

[@TheMRJewfro]

Very useful video. Many blobs thank you

[@SabaqnoGaara]

Thing to also keep in mind is your spying network value, as get increased siege bonus aganist this country which lowers the time of sieging cities which lowers your warexhaustion, you lose less manpower and save gold.

[@waahmed7830]

War what is it good for......absolutely nothing...except blobing

[@MrTooawesomeforaname]

empire is the name of the game .

[@hakusansaku8800]

War is fun. Especially a war you declared without thinking, lasting for 15 years and bringing you to the brink of destruction :)

[@iSchneeball]

Please do a video on how to know what idea group should be your first one. When religious can be better than administrative, or defensive etc. I find it hard to know with even 300 hours of gametime!

[@gressorialNanites]

I wish I saw this video six hours ago. I'm a seasoned EU4 player, but I still sometimes not check my admin points before declaring war. Long story short, I sat for 30 years with 96% overextension. (Though with Kanem Bornu, so... no complaints) Great video, regardless of the sound quality.

[@Powerx7]

I'm really enjoying your channel. I found it last week when I was looking for an idea of what nations to play since I'm new. All of your videos, even your top ten, have a lot of valuable information and been very helpful. Question for you though, I'm playing as Florence and the HRE formed a coalition against me (I won), but then after the truces expired they formed another. How do I make the coalition go away?

[@zr0w3n-16]

Richard Neal get rid of AE, improve relations and time

[@lord6617]

#x be sure to set claims/vital interest via diplomacy before accepting the call to war of an ally, you can't claim land your ally wants if you've accepted a call to war.

[@jaqq333]

i usually just end up not expanding and just sitting on a massive army while only getting into defensive wars and alliance/coalition wars unless it completes a mission

[@SirTweaksalot92]

Make sure you have about 100 military points to raise war taxes and replace a general at least once. Later in the game when cannons are unlocked a spare 50 mil points to barrage a particularly time consuming fort can help but i wouldn't suggest wasting it on every fort. Just the one you think will most help your war effort to take.

[@josemiguelsaldana3033]

Castles are something yo take care of, theyll stop your advance so yours their.

[@eladdavid3549]

wallachia and moldavia have the same culture group of Hungary

[@eladdavid3549]

for some reason

[@Hallanrauta]

elad david There are other rather interesting culture groups in the game too, like Albanian culture belonging to South Slavic cultures. Try telling that to Albanians, or South Slavs for that matter...

[@Hallanrauta]

elad david There are other rather interesting culture groups in the game too, like Albanian culture belonging to South Slavic cultures. Try telling that to Albanians, or South Slavs for that matter...

[@paultato8485]

Game balance. To make Hungary suck a little less. Same with Manchu being in Chinese group and Arabs and Turks being in Levantine group. If a nation can only expand into wrong culture (and even wrong religion land) then it is a pain in the arse.

[@KaiserFranzGaming]

Thank you for a nice video :) I am a Total War fan (well, was before they tore Warhammer and sold it separately in DLCs and announced Warhammer 2) and I found EU4 to be very hard to understand. The graphic user interface is very confusing for new players and I have spent about 10 hours of playing to understand the basics of the game. Your videos helped me to understand some mechanics or showed me where to find what I need. Now I managed to become emperor of HRE as the Great Britain (with cheats though ^^). Manpower, diplo points, admin points, stability and overextension are still my main issues.

[@darthcheesecake3392]

You should remember the most important thing though! Always expand in aesthetically pleasing fashion!

[@paultato8485]

*stares at Bohemia and Austria*

[@paultato8485]

*Blobhemia

[@KnownNiche1999]

Corruption is such a headache mechanic

[@Chris-pn7dl]

Where you want to expand and why, my reasoning is usually trade dominance and getting more clay.

[@andriuhesas]

before going to some serious war i would always look at my rivals and enemies cuz when i am in war they always attack me

[@cs0345]

Best to just focus your resources and strategy against them, I guess.

[@HaitiSpaceAgency]

Is there a way to check what military access the belligerants have? I've been fucked by them sneaking about going through borders i wasnt expecting because they werent involved. I always check alliances and who is improving relations and assume those will allow access butbits not 100%

[@1981KJan]

Check, whether you have full army-financing some days before the war. I went to opening fights so often with bad moral because of this. :-)

[@rbarnes4076]

Excellent vid. i'm less noobish than I was 11 minutes ago :)

[@loek1455]

i have a problem in this game. if i start a war, the allies join. which is logical and i am able to beat the alliance. but sometimes the allies of the country i attack also call in their allies, although they are not allowed to (when you hover over the name of the allies there stands something like "cant call allies into war" unlike for example the emperor of the hre). pls help. im always getting stomped :(

[@BigBulacha]

why when you click a province it opens the terrain? Your province overview seems more complex than mine

[@ethanwmonster9075]

when you choose humiliate rival cb instead of conquest cb

[@kafilkafish2152]

Always seem to forget my light ships🤔.

[@eduardofreitas8336]

HEY veterans, anyone knows this? If im sieging a frech fort, and the french attacks me, is it me or the enemy that becomes the attacker of the battle?

[@samuellubell4557]

You, there is a common strategy of relieving a siege in Mts. Or across a river to make it harder for the attackers

[@huginnmuninn2155]

check, where is my navy?

[@jahjah7940]

CASIOUS BELLI

[@hectorsauvage7511]

Checklist 11. Don't fall for the BS and re-mortgage your home to buy countless unmitigated 'mixed' DLC after DLC to line some other bugger's pockets. o7

[@beratsen6308]

How to win war with military tech 3 Form russia

[@handlesrtwitterdontbelivethem]

i need mods to research i cant be ahead

[@edh9999]

Maybe a bit more advanced for the purpose of this video, but look at the terrain modifiers before going into actual battle. Attacking an enemy that is behind a river in mountainous terrain can be suicidal, for instance.

[@eduardofreitas8336]

How do I know if the enemy is actually "behind" a river? Or it's just a case of there being a river in the province? Also, something I still hasnt figured: If im sieging a fort, and someone attacks me, is it me or the other wich becomes the attacker of the battle?

[@djzanis5220]

What difficulty is the game best played on?

[@darkfireslide]

DJ Žanis Honestly in the entire time I've played I've never changed the difficulty above Normal. This is because the AI doesn't really cheat and neither do you so it's a completely fair experience. But if you play larger nations, then playing on a higher difficulty will probably be more fun.

[@binli2075]

1000 likes!

[@SteveIsHavingMC]

what about gathering your troops at the borders of the country you want to invade?

[@makaramuss]

Bosnia allways worth to expand for 1 simple reason Ragusa may attack him to backstab this is so much important! because if this happen you can make bosnia vassal and join battle aganist ragusa as warledear on defend side wich means ottoman doesnt help gj you just gained a center of trade for free! I ALLWAYS attack bosnia for this reason so I can trick ragusa to fight with me! Hell I love this strategy... once I allied ainu when japan attacked him when I was ming. took capital of japan to ask hell of land close to my borders... I had to because I was unable to claim because of korea between us :D did seperate peace and broke alliance instantly XD

[@tudorpopescu619]

Well yeah, you mention money and mercenaries across the video, but you never mention looking in the ledger at the income of the country you want to declare on. That's really important you know. If they earn more, they can swarm you with mercenaries.

[@calebsilvergleid9797]

Did anyone notice that Poland allied Byzantium? ON IT'S OWN?

[@calebsilvergleid9797]

Oh my bad that's Serbia I'm dumb.

[@darkfireslide]

I thought it was Poland, too. I got really excited for a moment.

[@Daves4590]

I know no one cares but I'm early. There

[@Daves4590]

Благодарю

[@jcb1832]

what is wrong with your mic ?

[@cerisierdelaforet1515]

you forget agressive expansion.... :/ if austria have a 49 agressive expansion relation malus against you when you plan in the HRE.... ☠️

[@johnm1765]

Fix your Mic.... i cant conquer to this!

[@TheMysticStrider]

Well,you can win a war with 0 army maintenece,right?

[@eduardofreitas8336]

Of course! Just take that money and make more troops. None of the time it works all the time.

[@malnutritionboy]

i did this as ottomans declared war on tuscany which now has half of italy and hungary joined as expected and i have 115000 troops as ottomans vs them with total of 50000 but i have vast amount of lands and a recent war made rebellion imminent so i only had 70000 troops against their total and i called in poland which has all its vassals with mine total of 200000 troops but we have around 150000 ready against them but after that we declared war on them in 1612 and i had more troops than hungary. same 3 star general and more moral discipline but i was attacking their fort so their is some attrition with hills but they win every fucking time but when i declared war on muscovy i had 16000 vs their 30000 and i still won and i had 80000 vs their 40000 and they lost all while i only lost 3000. wtf dude why is it so hard can someone tell me?

[@malnutritionboy]

my navy is op as fuck vs them but when i vs spains navy and army i instantly die

[@sheharyarhusham5908]

hi

[@armageddon3315]

Eh, this is fairly common sense. Only the noobiest of noobs will learn something. Now when are you going to tell us how to not get screwed by Ming when we want to play in Asia? Or better yet, is there any hope if we play as Byzantium when the Ottomans ally the PLC?

[@darkfireslide]

For the former, only Manchu is still really difficult. Japan gets crazy good ideas and has great land to develop and then take on Ming once they lose the mandate, while Indochina can expand to India and eventually overcome. As for the latter, just restart.

[@armageddon3315]

A bit late of a response, but I've never seen Ming collapse since MoH. Indochina expanding into india doesn't mean it will be strong enough to conquer Ming. Look at Sui King's Ceylon playthrough. Even after owning all of India, Ming still had I think 200 more force limit and they still had more force limit after the 2nd war. They also had like 200 Mercs and never went bankrupt.

[@SabaqnoGaara]

Play Bharat, conquer the world

[@zlepotec6899]

Would I be considered a noob? I have 20 hours and know quite a bit about the game

[@drench1580]

do 200 more hours then you're no longer a noob

[@slavkrastev8514]

Or 2000.

[@Badpak.]

What is this noob level instruction. I like watching your clips for the depth, this explains nothing new.

[@SuperRamy13]

Badpak not everyone is as good as you.

[@ClnlBogey]

Badpak I am actually interested in another persons view. I learned most of this the hard way or through watching other youtubers.

[@cjohnson3836]

He literally says this is a newbie friendly video 12 seconds in. What manner of stupid are you?

[@Badpak.]

Haha you are right man, i guess i commented after watching the video and feeling unsatisfied not realising he actually mentioned the fact.

[@timlenzke872]

if you play france and see that castile, portugal and england had all problems with rebels and are allied at 1455....so go attack 70k vs. 35k and i won😂😂

[@Moorbote]

That mic is just awful 😞

[@h2doctorwildcat933]

Tale the mic out of your mouth