EU4 Guide: Essential Administrative Idea Groups

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In this video guide we will cover all 6 of the Administrative ideas in EU4 (Europa Universalis), exploring the benefits and setbacks of each group, along with their synergies and corresponding policies that they unlock. Stay tuned for the DIplomatic and Military Ideas guide later this month.
This is the Patreon Poll winning video of January!
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The music used in this video are "For Honour and Glory", "Discover New Land", "Piper Lead your Clansmen" and "Eire" from the EU4 OST.
All music is owned and copyrighted under their respective owners. Europa Universalis IV is a grand strategy games published by Paradox Interactive. All rights reserved.
tags:
#europauniversalis4, #eu4, #eu4guide

[@AlzaboHD]

The first video of the essential idea group guide series is here! This video was the winner of the January Patreon poll. Do you agree with the list? See you on the next video!

[@emperoruniversalis9773]

Could you please do a video about imperium universalis 2.0.3.???I think a lot of players would love playing this mod

[@notenoughpaper]

-10% tech cost is really good for ming or any other nation with the mandate of heaven

[@vuza752]

Institution spread is massive for large nations, and the middle east early

[@tbt0380]

You should probably make a new version of these guides, Innovative is now even more powerful because it stacks with the estate interactions for cheaper advisors, and Administrative is now even more top tier than it was before just because of the governing capacity buff.

[@ivatio]

Innovative + quality = +20% infantry combat ability

[@rborecki222]

I can't believe this was overlooked.

[@triplesharigan]

aristocratic + espionage = +20% cavalry combat ability for those who wonder

[@raptorz8917]

Prussia: *heavy breathing*

[@AdvancedNoob40]

humanity + offensive the best idea is

[@Otori6386]

I did this strat with Milan, one of the few countries with both idea and tech cost reduction, add on republic drowning you in monarch points I got 100 innovativeness by ~1500. They also have +10% infantry combat which on top of inno+qual gives you a total +40% which just melts everything.

[@Horus4387]

You forgot to mention the events for innovative that do things like give you stability, monarch points, and tech cost reduction events that stack with one another that last for 50 years, along with already existing bonuses like the - 10% tech cost you get from the idea alone.

[@t4r4g0n7]

especially when combined with (eg) prussian Events, which reduce idea/tech Costs by an insane amount until your ruler dies

[@AlzaboHD]

Innovative has insane events but it's a hard sell when you're up against idea groups like Administrative / Economic / Humanist. Thank you for watching.

[@warmonster12345]

AlzaboHD Honestly I think you’re undervaluing innovativeness. That additional 50% racks up incredibly quickly. Taking any tech early gives you +3 innovation which you should do for military tech almost every time you don’t need generals/aren’t doing a mil idea set.

[@Lutheine]

I find innovative currently really strong, almost everything in the tree is useful + great events + great policies.

[@MrBogdan998]

For some odd reason I've also began using innovative in almost every game and, to be honest, pretty muck enjoy it. Great policy picks (Swedish inf comb ab plus innov and quality iirc gave me +50% inf comb ability which, for some reason, destroyed every army i came across.. in fact, I abbandoned that campaign just because i got bored at curbstomping everyone)

[@thepunisher4356]

I might be a bit weird but I really love the -10% idea cost you get with humanism. It’s so damn satisfying paying 360 monarch points compared to 400. It might not seem like a lot but in the long run it’s easily my favorite modifier in the game.

[@Quintaner]

It definitely can feel good as you’re playing the game, but if you’re doing the math out and planning games (which can really be necessary to get some of the harder achievements), then you realize that, without removing idea groups, the most that finisher can save you is 1,960 monarch points if you grab it first and rush through it before getting any other ideas, and you’ll have spent 2,800 admin points (which are the most valuable of the three) to get there. And keep in mind that you almost never get an administrative idea group first (if you do, it’s admin just for the first two ideas), so those savings aren’t ever going to actually be that high. The savings are nice, but only because they’re attached to one of the best idea groups in the game anyway

[@hetzerviii984]

Innovative is my favorite, the ideas are excellent and with quality you get +20% infantry combat ability

[@ankurgaikwad7252]

Yes, Innovative and Offensive is also powerful with siege ability and leader siege

[@jacklander9584]

Worth mentioning that Improved Relations doesn't just improve how quickly your diplomats improve relations, it effects the rate at which relationship modifiers change too. +30% improved relations makes your AE tick down 30% faster too, which makes humanism even more awesome in places like Europe or India where AE is an issue. I also think you're underselling -tech cost. Over the course of the game it's going to refund you a significant chunk of the amount of MP you sunk into the idea group to begin with. Innovative basically pays you back half or more of its price over the course of a long campaign in addition to giving you about the same amount of extra Dip and Mil on top of that. Innovative also likes to throw even more -tech cost, free MP and discounted advisers at you via its pulse events too. The benefits end up compounding themselves too because faster all around tech means more chances at getting innovativeness, which you get 50% more of. The numbers are all small on their own but you really end up with a lot more MP to throw around over the course of the game.

[@AlzaboHD]

You make a solid argument. The only qualm I have with innovative is that it's an expensive investment early on, when other idea groups like Humanism / Economic / Administrative offer tremendous value from the get go. I do use innovative occasionally, especially when playing outside of Europe, and I definitely feel that this is where the idea group shines the most. Thank you for watching!

[@sirjmo]

Innovative is usually one of my first 3 ideas as it snowballs, hard. By reducing tech cost you get a high chance of being the first nation to do a tech and gain innovativeness reducing all monarch power costs, that ontop of the insanely powerfull quality+innovative policy, makes it a no brainer for me where it ranks. Whilst it starts small it pays itself multiple times if you dont have terrible rng with rulers. That is if you got the dlc for innovativeness, then again being on/ahead tech is important specially for military.

[@Vincrand]

Humanist/religious is essential for keeping the peace within your borderds, admin ideas saves a lot more admin power than innovative. In order to pick innovative I either have to pick one of those later on, while they are stronger, or I have to pick innovative later on and in that case it won't be worth it anymore. In most of my games I end up with 2 admin ideas, 2 diplo and 4 military.

[@PyroManZII]

Through numerous calculations and running several campaigns I have come to the calculation that if you take Innovative as your first idea group and aim to increase your innovativeness where possible, you will save about 30,000 to 40,000 Monarch Points over the course of the game, which means basically a bonus 33% Monarch Points to what you would on average earn over the course of a game, along with the other nice bonuses and policies it comes with. If you find yourself not aiming for innovativeness as much though it will typically only save you 15,000 to 25,000 Monarch Points over the course of the game (which is still quite a lot). As you say though it has two main disadvantages; there are admin idea groups that are more powerful in the short term, and taking an admin idea group as your first idea group is already a big risk as it will slow down you getting your second idea group which is quite big in the early game. In my opinion though taking Innovative, Quality, and then Trade, will set you up to be a gigantic powerhouse by 1550 without even needing to have more than 150 development in a way that is comparable to taking Admin, Influence, and Humanist and going for the conquering play-style.

[@MrThaes]

I'm personally a huge fan of Economic. Got more money to spend, I like developing my provinces if I'm ahead in tech, and the passive inflation reduction let's you pick the 50 monarch point option in those certain events with practically no downside.

[@smcasas9367]

Innovative with Quality gives +20% infantry combat ability and with offensive +1 to leader siege and 10% siege ability, with influence you get cheaper advisors and less aggressive epxansion (both 10%). Innovative is the best at winning wars and doing a lot of them.

[@user-il6li4jf3y]

Innovative and Quality are both must picks for multiplayer for the policies alone. This is obviously a SP guide.

[@Quintaner]

I only play single player for the most part, and from my experience, innovative is definitely worth it with influence/quality/offensive, particularly if you can grab innovative second or third to get that tech cost reduction going. The only issue with it is then I can’t take admin/humanist/religious as early, which really sucks and basically kind of forces you to wait on expanding as quickly. But it can really steamroll things if you get it all going, and those military policies it gives are incredible

[@classifiedforlife.1466]

The guide we didn't know that we needed, but the one that we all knew we deserved.

[@humbugswangkerton9972]

WHAT!!??? 10% tech reduction moderate?????????? Use math!!! Base cost is 600 MP so you save 60 MP on adm,dip, and mil........If you pick it first you can have it by tech 7......and so there are about 25 other techs......25*60 = a wooping 1500 MP saved....in each adm,dip, and mil!!!! Innovative is a must have!!! You can get +20% prod (with aristocratic), faster seiges (offensive), and be like prussia with 20% infantry ability (quality). The extra leader is very useful if you have a large empire and have multiple navies!!!!!Verryyyyyyyyy underrated group, its a must have.

[@raktor1996]

Your math ignores important factors. Firstly, each idea reduces tech cost in its category by 2%, which is 14% for each idea group, you often pick up the techs at 5% neighbour discount and you may have other reductions like trading bonuses. This is partially counteracted by tech cost increase over time, but that is only 30% by the end of the game. This all combined means that i usually pick up techs for ~450 on average. Secondly, no one should take innovative as first idea group, the opportunity cost is just too great, you could have admin, diplo, influence or any other S tier group first, or exploration if you want to go colonial. More realistically innovative would be more like third group. Given this, you would get about 21*450*0.1*3=2835 saved. Don't get me wrong, it is still good, but i wanted to be a bit more realistic. Otherwise i agree with you that putting it in the low tier does not do it justise, i think that considering the policies too, it is about on par with economic.

[@Sunlight91]

@@raktor1996 With innovative ideas I usually take tech in the 300 point range. If you are lagging behind an institution you can stack up the points to 1300-1400 and then after embracing take 3 techs at once to catch up. The 2% cost reduction for each idea is largely offset by increase over time. Also optimisim + defender of the faith = infitinte war.

[@jdawg443]

1500 points over the course of a game is not really that much considering the cost of completing the idea group (2800 points) as well as the opportunity cost of not being able to get something better. 1460 to 1820 is 360 years, or 4320 months, so that bonus is equivalent to having about a third of an extra monarch point per month in each type for the rest of the game. By comparison, admin ideas core cost reduction saves something like 7000 admin points during a world conquest (and the time it saves is basically crucial) and it also has a 10% admin tech cost reduction. You might note that this is only admin points, but the fact is all diplomatic tech is pointless after ~1685 when imperialism becomes available. All admin tech is also pointless after ~1745 when you get the last administrative efficiency upgrade, so I don't really care about wasting points on the tech at all (a 100% tech cost reduction! nice!). Staying current on mil tech is still important and 1500 mil points is 30 fort barrages... There's some good policies and events but overall I think it's a pretty lame idea group.

[@PyroManZII]

These calculations seem to be greatly understated; I have found that taking Innovative ideas first and aiming to increase your innovativeness where possible will save you about 30,000 to 40,000 Monarch Points over the course of a game, which is equivalent to a 33% bonus to the average Monarch Points you would earn across a whole game...which is a lot.

[@phobics9498]

@@PyroManZII No it wont, someone made a video about this and yeah he did prove that it was good, I am pretty sure it was like 8000MP not 40k lmao. I still don't pick it though just because there are better idea groups that I would want, especially if you play a country that benefits from the first idea group greatly like Austria with diplomatic, the bonuses from that are just insane, especially for Austria. If playing another country though I will definitely consider picking it up due to the innovativeness stacking being so good

[@WymarRepublic]

For the humanist group there are two secondary mechanics that you glossed over: -10 years of separatism not only reduces the time span of the unrest but also the intensity. It is -5 unrest in wrong culture provinces. +30% improve relations also quickens the degrading of AE malus

[@MsSpirit31]

Your videos keep improving with each new one , keep up the good work! One thing though I think u should include the op policies of each group. Ex like innovative and offensive siege pip and siege ability policy and economic quantity and quality have awesome policies. Those mentions would be gold. Cheers.

[@richardholiman8361]

Prob wanna mention that religious is also really useful if you are trying to form the HRE being able to convert religious centers of reformation is a massive bonus if they dont spawn in OPMs or in capitals

[@QuintiniusVerginix]

This is something I found out in a recent campaign where I picked Innovative as an experiment, but Innovative also has an extremely strong late-game idea called Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité that will kick off in the Age of Revolutions as soon as you embrace the Enlightenment. What it does is it gives your country +8 revolt risk and lowered missionary strength (among other religious maluses) in exchange for an insane 20% tech cost reduction, plus an additional 15% admin cost and 10% dip cost reduction for 20 (!) years. Sure, you'll be dealing with a lot of rebellions, more so if you also decide to go revolutionary, but considering I was picking up tech 20 year ahead of time for 400-500 monarch points it was definitely worth it.

[@rojoajax4441]

Absolute quality content. Thanks for putting in so much work.

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you for the nice comment!

[@fsgjosephtang]

Thank you for your videos, I really them, they are well presented, well edited and well narrated!

[@fsgjosephtang]

like*

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you for watching! Kind words like yours keep me motivated : D

[@austinshires3735]

For Humanist I think -10 year separation is awesome cause you spend less time and manpower dealing with rebels in newly conquered provinces combined with the other affects in the tree you can never stop conquering if smart except for Aggressive expansion

[@ChrisS1776]

Would be amazing to get a video on best government types, thanks for the videos!

[@AlzaboHD]

This is a great idea! I will add it to my list of future videos. Thank you for watching

[@F14thunderhawk]

Shogun > Oligarchic Republic > Prussian Monarchy > Literally every other government in the game > Veche Republic + Serene Republic. Most governments are of limited impact to actual performance in game, its more readily definable who are the extreme outliers.

[@copeandseethe9279]

Your video quality has went up sooooo much since ur early civ videos. love it

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you so much man, I really appreciate the kind words

[@Luwi1996]

I think you should have mentioned the 5% Discipline Policy from Eco and Qual and 20% Inf Combat from Inno und Qual, since they are generally the best military policies in the entire game, at least in the top 5.

[@Quintaner]

I’d rank innovative-offensive policy higher than either of those. Siege ability is, imo, the best military modifier possible, and the extra siege pip helps too

[@alexanderholt4679]

In economic ideas the intrest Per annum is one Of the Best thing for multiplayer

[@RKNGL]

Someone doesn't watch Floryworry if they don't think interest per annum is an amazing idea.

[@ApachePieman]

Constantly in debt squad where we at

[@loulucky2]

Innovative+ Quality makes for a great roleplay of space marines as Prussia with over 50% infantry combat ability with events and general traits. Ive had 65% infantry combat ability stacks absolutely destroy all those who dare stand against Preußens Gloria. long live the kaiser!

[@AtomikNY]

The +30% improve relations idea in Humanist is actually a big deal. It doesn't just affect the speed at which your diplomats improve relations, it also encompasses what used to be called "better relations over time". That is, your AE and other negative opinion modifiers will tick down 30% faster.

[@Rullino32]

I'd still advise you to set your diplomats to improve with outraged countries assuming you hame Mandate of Heaven DLC, it makes avoiding coalitions quicker than not doing it.

[@FoeReaper]

You are the unofficial official of all EU4 knowledge and strategies, love you Alzabo.

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you for the awesome compliment!

[@iielysiumx5811]

I think the most powerful thing about economic ideas is not the idea group itself but the events you can get after finishing them like founding a national bank, gives you a load of ducats and over bonuses out the gate and further reduces your inflation per annum, combined with economic ideas you never have to worry about inflation ever again

[@lordvoldemort953]

In my opinion, Economic and Innovative are top tier. Economic has arguably some incredible events connected to it and Innovative’s -10% tech cost is much stronger than you think, especially if you take it early or stack it up. Also you cannot build a military powerhouse without both of the ideas due to their policies.

[@t4r4g0n7]

eg. France (ni) and prussia (Events)

[@Melodeath00]

They are both shit tier in SP, because Admin/Humanist/Religious are simply much better.

[@MrThefoxyone]

@@Melodeath00 they aren't shit tier at all, they're just not needed in SP. Something doesn't go from shit tier to God tier just cause it's SP or MP, it just becomes unneeded.

[@4fallschirmjager]

Playing GB with innovative feels good

[@UltimateWolf900]

These days i picked innovative for the 1st time and i loved the events , i always had a event that gave me an advisor 50% cheaper , this boosted my economy and tech so much that i literally always had +100% tech penalty because i had so much points and development

[@patrickthomas8101]

Hello there im a new Sub. is it possible to do a vid on Byzantium Strategy because after Ever patch Ottomans always seem to change their Tactics. I love this vid when is your next video on Diplo ideas?

[@iielysiumx5811]

also if you establish a national bank you can get national bank events which are crazy powerfdul, free ducats, monarch power and never have to worry about inflation

[@Rullino32]

Agreed, I always had high inflation and now that I pick economic ideas much more frequently I no longer have to worry about events that keep increasing it like the "improvements in X technology" I always pick the "Spare no expenses" option to get more monarch points out of it and easily helping me when I need it.

[@howtoproperlycleanyourmeta4917]

Personaly, i love to pick the decision from innovative and offensive ideas. The policy gives you i think plus 10 to siegie and 1 siegie attribute in each general, i love blitzkrieging through enemy forts with over 35 siegie ability that come from the policy and the engineer corp idea.

[@dylan__dog]

Construction cost is garbage? Stack it with the generic mission and every manufactory gets 80 gold cheaper I mean it's not a reason to pick economic but its far from worthless

[@dianabialaskahansen8705]

I like Expansion, even if I am not going on a major colonization spree. Instead placing the colonists in your own provinces can save you a lot monarch points. Usually give my low level provinces those boosts, so I can focus my development on major provinces.

[@notJoshTan]

I love it, subscribed.

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you for the sub! I'm glad that you enjoyed it - more are on the way.

[@blafoon93]

I started playing EU4 when missionary cost was already dependent on development and I always picked humanist pretty early on. Now I finally had campaigns where religious was objectively better and I really grew to enjoy it. Alongside with innovative ideas it has the best events and it has some really nice policies. I probably still wouldn't pick it over humanist most games but man, those random stab events are nice. Plus picking religious and diplomatic ideas means that early on means you have a ton of diplo left over for development. Having every stated province at least at 10 development felt really nice in a world conquest game, since even without trade companies and colonial nations was making a lot of ducats, something that I was always lacking when taking humanist.

[@yeetdeets]

People have mentioned policies, but I think you overlooked an important one from the Religious idea group. Quantity is easily the best first military idea group. In part because it works well militarily as a sole military idea group, but also because of the diplomatic effect of having more units. So almost any player worth their salt takes Quantity within their first 3 idea groups. The Humanist+Quantity policy is 1+ leader shock. The Religious+Quantity policy is 10% army morale, and 5% morale recovery. Basically half an 'Elan!' versus a good leader roll. I haven't done the math, but I'm pretty sure 10% morale is better, or at least more consistent and scalable. A second note is that the strength of cheaper tech isn't that you save MP, but that you can tech earlier. If you get mil-tech 6, 12, 22 or 25 two years before your rivals, that's a free win. If you get forced march earlier that's likewise a large logistical advantage in war.

[@CliffjunglingNagaSiren]

Innovative is easily the best idea group for any campaign IF you take it first AND maintain innovativeness over the campaign, 100 innovativeness is a -10% GLOBAL POWER COST REDUCTION, and the most powerful modifier in the game bar none, Administrative ideas should be your next choice in any WC but I think this group is criminally underrated.

[@mrmeepmeep2486]

Love the video but man I love innovative ideas. Didn’t expect it to be in the bottom tier

[@MossadAgent100]

Isn't the best economic policy the econimic-quality that gives +5% discipline? Also, is economic better if you're e.g. France?

[@gabrielwagler3362]

I, for the most part, think Innovative is necessary for those playing outside of Europe.

[@rommelluna9613]

You should do a review and guideon the idea variation guide. One of the best mods in the game.

[@apples8754]

I think expansion should have been a mid tier idea group. Now with the balance changes you get 2 colonists and it is very good when colonizing. Economic should be low tier, because a lot of nations can benefit from colonisation and fewer can by playing tall.

[@MrHudson2212]

On Economic: it's worth noting that unlocking the third economic idea gives you a really good event that's almost guaranteed to fire. National Bank let's you lose 5 inflation, gain 1 stab, 1 year of income, and for 50 years get either +.05 yearly inflation reduction or -.5 interest per annum.

[@fireeraser2206]

You really forgot the point of the -10 years of unrest, that is pretty much the strongest idea in the entire game because it effectiveley results in -5 unrest. Combine that with the -2 unrest and +3 tolerance ideas and you get much fewer rebels.

[@male272]

I think if you're playing an 'expansionist nightmare' (ie; smaller nation in HRE) game, you may want to consider Innovative as your first Idea because you can't really do that much but secure alliances, RM's and avoid conflict. It means that the bonuses, being the first Idea, actually make a cost effective difference in the long game. I think that's the best rationale for taking it...it's a wasted Idea unless it's picked first or second out of the hat.

[@maddoctorscientist9472]

I always play as Scotland and have a very economy/science pacifist approach, so Innovative is always my first group. Maybe this is so wildly useful because Scotland is not particularly prone to my style, but it always helps me grow and gain enough prestige, stability and technology progress that my allies united to me intimidate the English enough for them to leave me be.

[@martinaustin6230]

Humanist is OP combined with Tengri with Hindu syncretic faith. +3 to heathens. +1 to heretics (although there are basically none outside of animist). Newly conquered provinces still have a -1 unrest without the advisor at +2 stab even with 100 over extension. Haven't had rebels spawn in decades outside from events

[@triplesharigan]

A year a go I would agree with the tier list, now I think Religious is equally good to humanist. The one you will pick in your campaign really depends on the your game plan/location and as whom you play. Admin is almost always a must have. I would good picks economic and expansion. Economic idea's is for most countries overkill unless you want to build tall then go for it. Expansion is almost not entirely but I think most of us would prefer to take it. Or if you are playing in east asia from japan down the coast to india expansion idea's is in general better if you want to colonize Australia and the Indonesian islands than exploration idea's and u can still beat europe with it on the west coast of the new world.

[@Gerwald_Lanzer]

please do Strongest Releasable Nations. Nations you don't really hear about and can only play if you release them as a vassal.

[@scorpionfiresome3834]

To be fair, construction cost is not actually that bad, it is most useful in the early game to mid game when you’re not making ridiculous income, it helps build manufactories. In my Lucky Lucca run, i was delighted to see Lucca had 10% construction cost reduction in their traditions, because i could stack it with Economic ideas and with the 5% reduction from the fist reform which the AI consistently manages to pass. Guaranteeing a 25% construction cost assuming i kept inflation to 0. I solidified my control over the Genoa trade node and was able to build manufactories at a respectable price of 250 ducats instead of 450, not only that, since each manufactory increases goods produced, Genoa is capable of rivaling if not surpassing the English channel in terms of overall value. All this income made it possible to keep high level advisors and stay ahead in tech, i was able to cut through the Indian nations like tissue paper and got the achievement.

[@-Temple-]

Mercenary maintenance is considered 250% of normal, so -15% from admin makes it 235% Also worth noting the +30% improve relations from humanist helps with AE especially in europe when combined with an advisor and using extra merchants for trade node use and establishing communications for a total of 65% improve relations in that node but +50% overall.

[@Rullino32]

The fact that merchants helped me alot in avoiding southern Germany joining in a coalition is great, too bad i can't get him on a better node for more money, I kept him there establishing communities and the AE is still high unless they join the reformation and you expand into non-reformed/protestant nations.

[@TauromOG]

Thx for the 3 videos about idea groups, but I still can't decide for which ones are the optimal group ideas for american countries like the Aztecs or Maya...

[@girlbuu9403]

Would innovative be more useful if I was doing something like, say, playing a custom nation in North America with Siberian Frontiers? Would the institution spread increase be more justified with a bunch of undeveloped provinces and a tendency to be behind all the Europeans that might be colonizing near you? I noticed institutions don't spread as well from them to me as is, especially if I cockblock them out of the mainland and force then into the Caribbean, Central America, and Northeast Canada only.

[@neenee8194]

U MISSED THE +20% INFANTRY COMBAT ABILITY POLICY WHEN COMBINED WITH QUALITY!!! VERY GOOD FOR MULTI-PLAYER GAMES

[@Flash4ML]

20% more casualties right there. Very nice

[@fasoliromanesti7195]

Inovative combined with anglican is beyond op

[@mlgZero1]

Love it

[@AlzaboHD]

Thank you Luis!

[@alex_spartan1805]

Combine economic ideas and diplomatic ideas to get a good policy. 15% national tax and 0.05 monthly autonomy change is pretty good. Combine that 15% with the economic 10%, that's a nice early mid game boost to your tax income. Besides you have to select the two best ideas in administrative and diplomatic idea groups anyways.

[@Andrew-pd6ey]

Innovative is one of the best idea groups in the game, for the reasons you said sure, but the tech cost also stacks, empiricism also saves mana, monthly war exhaustion reduction means even brutal wars won't destabilise your country too much and that plus quality can make some godly troops if you take the policy.

[@hebl47]

I think that -10 years of separatism is one of the best humanist ideas for aggressive players. It basically frees a large portion of your army from cleaning up rebels to fighting on your fronts, where they should be.

[@Rullino32]

Will it be helpful for restoring the roman empire?

[@hebl47]

@@Rullino32 It's been 5 years since I did my Florence run which ended with restoration of the Roman Empire, so there probably have been many balance changes; but in my case it was very, very helpful.

[@Rullino32]

@@hebl47Thanks Fort the info, I might pick it when I can.

[@juno6523]

Orthodox Venice into italy with religious ideas is it good idea for a campaign?

[@kebeqa5819]

with a japan game, innovation offer more event if you can look europe

[@BloodRider1914]

At least it's not the Afghan idea of reduce war exhaustion cost by 10 percent. Why is that an idea?

[@iustinprisacaru225]

Do this with all Ideas

[@AlzaboHD]

Diplomatic Idea guide will be up later this month - thank you for watching!

[@logoncal3001]

Innovative can be good if you do it early.

[@ihatehaters4794]

doesnt "patron of the arts" of the innovative idea group allow all institutions grow in your provinces?

[@McWerp]

You brush over the middle of economic's bonuses in the guide but I think thats a mistake. Passive autonomy gain is great, stacking interest buffs has been nerfed but still makes money almost limitless when done correctly and 5% cheaper army is nothing to sneeze at.

[@SyamuNekoSan]

Economic+Quality= +5% Discipline (not nerfed, yet) Alzabo: Economic Ideas are situational. Prussophile: Ja, situational...

[@pepper99ish]

Economic and innovative, when combined with quality, make sure you never lose a battle ever by giving +5% discipline and +20% infantry combat ability. Administrative typically loses a lot of its benefits due to the strength of Influence ideas and the relative power of having vassals to coring the land yourself.

[@MrThefoxyone]

I strongly disagree that you have to take administrative first or second. You can pick admin up as late as fifth or sixth if you want, fourth is usually ideal since that's roughly fifty years before absolutism kicks in. You'd only pick it earlier if you're playing a nation which has CCR in it's national ideas and you wanna stack the bonus.

[@MrThefoxyone]

@@alexanderthompson7164 it's not really a must until later on, you can take so little land early that it's only worth it if you're taking high dev and even then barel

[@Blinks77]

Honestly Humanist tends to be my go to for my first Admin idea, then either diplomatic or defensive depending. Administrative ideas itself.. beyond the 2nd pick it's really not got much. Everything else is bad with pretty crap policies too.

[@FUnazis]

Good guide. I agree with it a lot; Administrative ideas is essential because of the -25% core cost alone, period. Humanist is essential if you plan to play big, but very good all around; in my opinion, the - 10 years of separatism is really the strongest point of that idea group for me; because upon taking that idea (of course working together with the -2 unrest from earlier in the group), that is usually the point where I can reliably prevent rebellions from happening even once in newly conquered provinces, thus saving enormous amounts of manpower and also money. Religious ideas is not bad, very useful when you have to convert a lot early on and when you simply can't convert certain provinces without the +3 % missionary strength. Deus Vult is fun and useful, though in this game, you can fabricate claims reliably and fairly quickly, so it's not mandatory. Economic is good early on, in the late game, you should have enough money anyway. Its strong point for me is the policy together with Quality ideas that gets you an extra +5% discipline, because I always tend to stack discipline to the max. Expansion is situational, yep, for the colonist, it makes more sense to go with Exploration ideas, when your economy is strong, you can easily afford to go over your limit a little bit (as long as you are not also going over your army limit at the same time) anyway. I did an Inca campaign once where the Expansion + Exploration combo was really necessary, because you really need to colonize as much as possible as fast as possible to keep up with those pesky Europeans, all the while you are still backwards in technology and poor. Very fun game, that one. But yeah, it's situational, usually I won't pick it. Innovative is not worth the slot for me; it's not bad, the - war exhaustion modifier being by far the best one of this idea group, but there are just so many other groups that you would rather have. Usually, I go Administrative, then Economic, then Humanist. Core cost you need the earliest, you get the extra discipline as soon as you can (gold doesn't hurt, either) and the extra unrest reduction and years of separatism become the most crucial late in the game. Religious I pick if I need it, Expansion is situational.

[@Acirnie]

I know it comes down to personal preferences, but I feel like economic ideas should at least get an honoruable plus for having the policy with plutocratic ideas. Stacking yearly republican traditionwith right government reforms allows for almost infinite re-elections.

[@Rullino32]

Agreed, they could also buff the admin-aristocratic policy which gives 0.1 yearly RT which makes it worthless considering both of these idea groups are situational and not that much relevant to me, unless you were desperate on RT, legittimacy, Devotion or Horde unity I don't see the point of it.

[@gizel4376]

i hope you do diplo and military soon

[@AlzaboHD]

Im on it! Next one should be out this weekend at the latest. Thanka for watching

[@ypsilondaone]

Did Expansion get patched? In my current game i only have 3 colonists with Expansion and Exploration together. I play with the extended timeline mod..

[@Flash4ML]

Yeah you get 1 colonist for Exploration, and 2 for Expansion. You can get more from certain national ideas, like Castile or Norway, but the most you normally get is 3

[@domesticdingo1417]

Okay but how many light ships am I supposed to build?

[@tjaenig]

I would say rel. is very situational. Its only usefull if you skip humanist and in nearly all circumstances its inferior to humanist. But I would say that innovative is at least Mid Tier. (Tech Cost, WE reduction, Adivsor Cost + imo the most powerful mil. pol. (20 % inf CA) )

[@Hamim963]

I remember that the vassel integration act was removed. Did they change that back?

[@AlzaboHD]

I'll have to check - it was in as recently as my Theodoro world conquest a few patches back.

[@eragonshurtugal4239]

@@AlzaboHD It wasnt included in the dev diary for the current patch or that before(the patch wich the policie changes ), but the took it back in in the final build for the patch

[@Racnive]

Yes, they changed it back.

[@MrThefoxyone]

@@eragonshurtugal4239 It was in a dev diary a while back so idk where you looked.

[@eragonshurtugal4239]

@@MrThefoxyone Right it was the 1.26 Patch (so 3 patches ago (wichout hotfixes wich doesnt count))

[@napoleonofdorset]

Innovative is top tier and should be first pick if you have a secure starting position. 10% tech cost reduction is really handy - esp as if ups the chance of the first to gain a tech. This plus the 50% innovation gain is very helpful. 100% innovation = 10% reduction in all power costs. So that’s 10% lower coring cost, idea cost, tech cost... anything that uses monarch points. Gaining an already innovation edge will have a snowball effect, as you’re more likely to be the first to get an idea or invention. Then there are the policies. 20% infantry combat ability, siege bonuses etc etc. Innovation stacks well with almost every idea set.

[@maden4039]

So many ideas... ... Yet Paradox still has *none* :(

[@Flash4ML]

?? Paradox has plenty of ideas

[@robloxgamerman8457]

In dlc.....

[@epicbenshapirobro4263]

I don't think the Saint performs miracle is a Religious ideas event

[@The_Milkman_Delivers]

You are correct. Religious Ideas doesn't even make it more likely to pop

[@EndranExit]

@@The_Milkman_Delivers There is other event for extra stability tho if you pick religious i think it pop every 100 years

[@AlzaboHD]

Shoot! I guess its a christian or catholic event? Thank you for the heads up

[@F14thunderhawk]

@@The_Milkman_Delivers Religious ideas literally only cause problems with their events, which is dumb

[@sanskaarkulkarni1036]

Yep, but they still give good events, such as a 50 percent off theologian and vlergy loyalty.

[@WeAreTheSHWE]

-0.5 Interest per annum is actually crazy strong if you abuse loans. It's one of the backbones of florrynomics

[@TheAjie91]

Better pick espionage with adm/defensive combo -0.3 corruption = free money

[@henkkoonstra4014]

I really like humanist ideas

[@lamename2010]

Undervaluing advisor cost and the impact that having a much earlier +3 or +4 advisor can give you.. :( At least this shows that Admin overall has good idea sets, with none being bad, unlike diplo and mil, both having the naval idea sets, which are handicapped and some of the others are a bit more questionable...

[@Beachdudeca]

Helpful Video , But , Innovative is actually very powerful , its ideas of Prestige Decay , Innovative Gain, -10% Tech Cost , an Extra Leader , and Adviser Cost -25% , will save u Thousands of Monarch Points and Thousand in Gold. but its very powerful when u enact Decisions, go Aristocrat and you can get a + 20% Production Efficiency, go Diplo and not only drop Adviser Cost by -35% but also get another point in Dip Rep, u want to end Sieges in weeks vs months then go Offense with a guaranteed pip and a base -20% ability , or even go Quality for Uber Infrantry or Influence for an elusive -10% AE impact

[@graveeking]

These days I'd actually seriously consider swapping economic and Innovative around. Economy is almost exclusively for gold mine Nations these days and even then you can offset it by getting the yearly influence reduction advisor if it's only a small part of your income and you aren't taking many loans - which is now far more likely. Especially since the Burghers estate can give you a guaranteed one if you've gotten unlucky. Like don't get me wrong - money is great n all but Innovative can save a TONNE of monarch points through events and having better advisors. Also in large empires, I really cannot understate the power of that institution spread bonus - it can save you a lot of money. Also, the leader without upkeep is nothing to sniff at, a luxury sure but sometimes it's really nice when you want to have both a siege general and a shock general around.

[@omgrussian]

If you're playing an Orthodox nation, especially Byzantium in particular or even Muscovy/Russia, Religious ideas should be considered Top Tier (S), as in, just as important as Admin and your first Military idea.

[@akshaymishra3674]

Religious is op af on Persia since you are prolly the only shia country at that point and well shia is the best muslim.

[@zacharymohammadi]

My picks: 1: administrative ( better mercs and core creation cost ) 2: humanist ( great for dealing with foreign religions ) 3: economic ( extra money could never hurt ) Note: if I’m a colonial power #3 changes to expansion

[@IronWolf123]

Best ideas for colonial games, please

[@thenanomachi2091]

economic-quality gives 5% disipline and economic-offensive gives 10% artillery combat ability.

[@Rullino32]

The fact that the eco-offensive policy is called horse artillery makes it even funnier and worth it to take the policy.

[@SuperPagt]

Quality Innovative Economic and the rest depends on the country

[@SuperPagt]

@Rio Jose Cheeran I personally love to develop my provinces and you can't spit on 5% disc But i'd agree for the rest

[@CliffjunglingNagaSiren]

Innovative op

[@Quintaner]

I personally think that you slightly undersell innovative ideas. Tech cost reduction saves you a base 60 monarch points per tech, so it takes over six technologies for you to get your points back. For the other idea groups that isn’t great, because the idea is at the end and only applies to one tech, but innovative‘s is third and applies to all. I wouldn’t take it early because the first two ideas are garbage, but if you take it relatively early, when you’re ahead on tech and can bang out the first three ideas, it’ll save you monarch points in about two techs across the board. More importantly, it has some incredible policies, particularly the siege ability and pip with offensive. In a game where you’re just blobbing, the war exhaustion reduction and faster sieges are just so good once you’re getting absolutism

[@edemortoth7974]

I think you gravely underestimate indirect rule and years of separatism as a whole. Reducing it by 15 by humanist ideas and its policy completely nullifies rebellions from newly conquered provinces allowing you to blob practically unstoppably.

[@kore9126]

how the hell did he not mention the 20% invantry combat policy from innovative qualety ist in my opinion the best policy alongside economic qualety 5% disc

[@justvlaxx1260]

Why is construction cost garbage?? It's really good, in my opinion, makes me boost my economy really fast. Also, interest per annum is also one of my favorite ideas here...since I tend to do hard-impossible wars and having lesser interest when taking loans is great. Also, even tho centralization and nationalistic enthusiasm is decent, even if it is filler.

[@tadposting9505]

Funny, I have always picked inovete as opposed to administrative

[@CrimsonReaper189]

the admin + influence policy is so stupid if u are uk or austria as both have a extra 15% integration bonus. in my uk game i got spain that owned all of italy and it only took me like 700 point to integrate them instead of about 1800

[@psychic_beth]

Humanist + Offensive = -5 years of separatism and -1 unrest, absolutely critical for blobbing campaigns, especially as Bharat. Bharat gets -5 years of separatism so if you play as them, you can get -20 years of separatism at all times (-10 from Humanist, -5 from the policy, -5 from Bharathi ideas) and you can get a further -5 from having a ruler with the Conqueror trait and also some events give you more. TLDR: As Bharat you can have -10 unrest from newly conquered provinces, -12.5 if your ruler is a Conqueror, and this is IN ADDITION to all your national unrest reduction modifiers. In effect you can have almost zero rebels, or go way over 100% OE and still be fine.

[@CesarLuisAfonsoDias]

You understimate Inovate idea too much. Right now its the 3rd best adm idea, after administrative and humanism. Why? Specially because by 1600 you can have 100% innovativeness that reduce 10% coring cost, have much cheaper tecnology and have imperialism 25 years cb ahead of time. That combine with saving money from advisors and institutions spwan and that 20% infantary ca its rather huge. Ritgh its always my 1st choice as non colonial nation.

[@justacrewmate3876]

Nah, Not really Adm Ideas > Religion > Innovativ / Econonics

[@AdmarilDarius]

I need to put more focus on ideas, I invest far too many monarch points on stupid amounts of development.

[@Vincrand]

Humanist + Offensive = -1 unrest and -5 years of separitism. Giving a total of 15 years reduction.

[@wisdomball4584]

Probably one of my favorite games was a tech cost bohemia game where I chose every idea group that lowered tech cost. It was hilarious. In the 1600's my tech costs were sub 500.