EU4 Guide for Complete Beginners | Part 1 | Base Game, No DLC | First time playing EU4? | Tutorial

Here's my attempt to summarize this amazing complex game for first time players. Feel free to ask more questions in comments and I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Guide to Personal Unions: • EU4 Basics | Personal ...
Guide to Trade: • EU4 Basics | Trade Gui...
Guide to Converting Religion: • EU4 Guide to Convertin...
Castile Guide: • EU4 Castile Step-By-St...
Text guides - www.eu4guides.com
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Follow me on Twitch- / radiores

[@uncleflagzz]

People from HOI4 first 5 seconds into their first EU4 match: *_Ok so how can I declare war on someone_*

[@ayush21399]

Lolz relatable ... I directly went to a war tutorial... Then i came here...

[@yazui.i.9368]

true

[@RamanShrikant]

How do I justify the war goal? How do I go facist, aahhh?!?!!?!?!?

[@aaroncarolan820]

Why won't the game let me build Civies?! My infrastructure is trash!

[@jj7045]

Relatable

[@Ulas_Aldag]

I have around 2000h... Soo I consider myself a slightly experienced beginner

[@survivalizer]

I know the feeling. I just learned that you can send diplomats on automatic missions in the production interface (Why the hell would they hide that there and not in say, the diplomatic tab..)

[@kaziklubey7098]

@@survivalizer wtf!!!!!!! which dlc is that Lol

[@kaziklubey7098]

@@survivalizer yeah game's not intuitive at all. i have 300 hours and i can do some stuff pretty well now after watching many tutorials. still working on my first world conquest with a not major nation though Lol. i love the learning curve in this game but a proper tutorial wouldn't hurt. best would be a tutorial/demo mode where you can also try all the dlcs and where it's being explained so players could try and see what DLC they want to buy. with all the updates though i can imagine that such an advanced tutorial would be a lot of work but then again they could really at least try to attract more noobs. i love "hardcore" games but hardcore doesn't have to mean only your core audience can learn it. But better than dumbing the game down for sure. i still think those two things aren't mutually exclusive. very few devs manage to pull it off though. good entry for noobs and hardcore steep learning curve. the biggest problem for noobs IMO is all the DLCs. you watch a tutorial on say youtube and then you realize after 3 hours that you don't have those features in your game. kind of stupid.

[@jordandehart6905]

Gosh. I thought taking 500 hours to learn the ins and outs of Civilization IV was a bit much.

[@Coregame3]

me 2

[@Ponanoix]

Kids these days have everything: food, water, warm bed and eu4 tutorials. During MY times we had to learn about eu4 OURSELVES!

[@gilly775]

Well back in my day I had to play the text based game Zork on my Commodore 64 without a manual! 😉

[@antonioussykas4140]

Back in my day there wasn't a pile of trash the size of texas floating in the pacific ocean.

[@grimhavenz]

Ok boomer

[@RobloxAciko]

I dont own eu4

[@joonask7]

@@RobloxAciko thats sad

[@Ryo517s]

After watching about 15 minutes Me: just gonna go back to hoi4

[@valdemarklementsson4918]

YES, i literally screamed at my scream when my 15k danish soldiers couldnt take lübeck (which was empty)

[@johnathan2041]

The thing is, after 600+ hours I have pretty much done everything in hoi, so I have to find a new paradox game to get into

[@Daniel-rm9xf]

@@johnathan2041 play multiplayer, than the game gets 10x better and 100x toxicer and 30x more competetive

[@mariolis]

OMG SAME , i am a veteran HOI4 player and i have no idea how to play EU4

[@YouTubedoesntneedhandles]

@@johnathan2041 same

[@gabrielegenota1480]

_20 minutes of brainwracking explanation_ *"And that concludes the main menu"*

[@mencot89]

ikr i cant wait on the war part lool

[@simpumoon]

@@mencot89 war is easy

[@Ghost_PM11]

I am a Dwarf Fortress player, so don't take this lightly: This game is insanely complex!

[@RadioRes]

Haha just give it a few hours, you will get a hang of it

[@mayoman6384]

Oh dear god

[@Jaeger1420]

People from Hoi4 who started EU4 be like "Ah yes, enslaved speed"

[@rubenbrouwer6897]

Finally i can skip months instead of days

[@carpesa4913]

I wish I had this when I was a beggininer!

[@vibby1004]

Are you a beginner now or is beggininer above beginner? lol

[@julianodantas4285]

Although I play HOI4, I won't understand the different EU4 mechanics, and even after reading many tutorial and guides, I still was confused. Then, I found this video, and it's so helpful that I will watch all of them. EU4 seems to me even better than HOI4, and now I'm able to start enjoying it after learning the basics. Thank you for the good work.

[@johnnytopside9215]

This is easier than HOI4 at leat i can win wars when i have 5h of experience even after 15h of hoi4 i cant even delcare a war

[@aa898246]

hoi4 is very easy after you get the hang of it@@johnnytopside9215

[@kam2894]

Johnny Topside hoi4 way easier

[@naygaming3530]

what... EU4 is a good game and all, but i had over 200 hours of hoi4 the first 2 weeks, i don't understand anything of any other paradox game... no matter how hard i try.. help..

[@ignatzp1690]

Extremely helpful. Without guys like you I would have given up and moved on to another game. Thanks.

[@RadioRes]

Glad it helped! :)

[@sinnerthesinful552]

Everyone came here from HOI4, where are the CK2 players

[@whaddyamean99]

Here I am friend. I play Ck2 and a friend of mine plays EU4, so we are trying to get each other into the respective games

[@josephpeed2002]

I’m from ck2

[@airbornefilip9139]

Trying to make my friend to play CK2 so I don't have to learn EU4, which neither of us knows. Can't be always playing l4d2 and vermintide.

[@user-mq9yt4wx3d]

True

[@sdsdsrgdsfds7287]

meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[@krasimirmaslarov3228]

I will finally be able to introduce some of my friends to eu4 I have tried before but I am terrible at explaining and both of them are quite busy ( school and stuff) so Yeah That guide is amazing

[@RadioRes]

Thanks! More beginners guide will follow in between usual nation guides.

[@genildomiranda1690]

Me: plays ck2 for 700 hrs and think I'm ready for eu4. Me the other day: here.

[@kam2894]

Me the other day after 10 minutes of confused staring at the screen: *No longer here.*

[@theskolian7177]

I've had this game a while, and am just getting ready to start playing. You sir are Very Good at this! I look forward to viewing many of your tutorials. Subscribed!

[@RadioRes]

Thanks!

[@Maren617]

This is absolutely fantastic and so clear and helpful. It's slow enough to give me time to memorize a bit what you said, but not too slow, and it systematically goes through each thing one by one. I've tried to watch several other tutorials for this game, and they were not at all as good as this one and out-of-date, as well. I'm really grateful and I'm subbing to your channel!

[@bertvsrob]

most helpful customer service. 10/10 would take short survey after vid

[@miguelfajardo8356]

Been playing CK2 & HOI4 only. Getting interested in EU4 and this tutorial is really helpful. The way you explain it is really good for a beginner and makes the game easier to understand.

[@erwinrommel6561]

I have both of them. And I terrible at both lol

[@whaddyamean99]

I'm in the same boat. I'm waiting until a sale to get EU4 so I can play with a friend and I have no idea how this game works, I have been trying to learn for years but it scares me

[@digitalcat303]

I recently discovered CK2 and EU4, so I've watched tons of beginner's guides. This is one of the best I've seen for both games. You focus on the important things, explain them well, and also say why they're important. Many thanks!

[@micheltanaka2420]

9:17 - "Repeat after me: ENRIQUE IS THE WORST!" Made my day. XD

[@Ponanoix]

At 2:39 you just see how Radio Res struggles to click Ulm, but instead clicked Ansbach and just went with it XD

[@mytholiver386]

I've been watching different tutorials to learn the game but this is by far the best and most clear one, thank you

[@Lurch150]

Rock solid tutorial. This game makes me sweat. I shall implement a fraction of what I've learned and return many more times. Someday I will play this game and enjoy it. Currently enjoying Stellaris.

[@dominiquelaflamme7804]

Most useful beginners tutorial I've watched so far. Thanks a bunch!

[@jaythompson5102]

Am a Civ player back from Civ 1 and always avoided EU series for some reason I really don't know why. As a lover of history I'm pretty excited that Steam has it on sale today and decided to give it a shot (got the Empire bundle as I expect to be playing it for a while). Thanks for this series so much!

[@RadioRes]

I'm glad it helped! welcome to the game!

[@scroogietw6878]

11:37 500h in and learned that today lol

[@airbornefilip9139]

Want to check CK2 beginner tutorials just to see what don't know :D

[@hiraldosternflyer7112]

Stunning video! Thank you for making it.

[@mencot89]

This is excellent. Thank you! I will refer to your videos from time to time when I feel like Im stuck.

[@drbundkrands9363]

u just earned yourself a sub im following the rest of the beginner guides u have made probs to u for making it so easy to digest for new players

[@lutfunpervin2889]

Really helpful vid mate! Helped me a lot! Keep up the good work!

[@Siptom369]

Really good help for completely new beginners

[@Astroman10]

This is the best beginners guide for EU4! Thank you

[@Mrlaksi-py9ke]

You really deserve more subs

[@davidlisovtsev6607]

I have around 5k hours but I love those vids

[@trent6112]

sounds unhealthy man

[@ShahjahanMasood]

I will show this to my friend. He wanted to learn this game but didn't have a lot of free time Edit: I watched this video and can comfirm it is moderately simple

[@bbravo9544]

Thanks for this. Just getting started on this great but very complex game.

[@anderson52ma]

This is awesome. I've been trying to break into this game for a while and have never been able to.

[@RadioRes]

Glad this helped!

[@yaasinm]

Thank you for starting the guide whiteout any DLC and add more over time. So you can understand how the game is from the ground up and what al the DLC does. I mean i bought one dlc and regretted it just because it didn't do much as I believed it would. ( el dorado) it was mostly good for making you know your own country.. lol

[@RadioRes]

Thanks. Glad its helping. My plan is to make a separate guide for just DLCs, so you can decide which feature you want and which DLC you should buy.

[@walrusinc2736]

Fantastic, thanks! Excited to get into it.

[@mickjib3189]

Great tutorial. Thank you for making it!

[@Sahkoautoseparempiauto]

This is going to be helpful! Want to familiarize myself to PDX games before Imperator arrives! Thanks a lot, Lancelot!

[@thecurlyheaddude]

CK2 is the most fun and most complicated of there titles. Hoi4 and this game are probably there most polished games though.

[@cascadesequence7307]

Great tutorial - thank you so much.

[@shawnp6653]

Thanks @Radio Res! I never understood this game; looks like I will have to reload and play along! :)

[@RadioRes]

do it! :)

[@wolfhound8675309]

Thank you for making this

[@HowdydoodyCJ]

Great Tutorial. Clear and to the point. +1 sub

[@willforlife_]

dude thanks great stuff already

[@filipkapstadbrastein7656]

Love your videos dude! For future guides; i would love to see Poland-Commenwealth. Ottomans and Hungary. And i Japan as well.

[@RadioRes]

They are on the list. Thanks!

[@westr70]

This is an excellent tutorial. Thanks.

[@SymeonPhronema]

Very well done! Thank you for taking the time to make these!

[@scroogietw6878]

A great idea!

[@quma2590]

Nice one . My only question is how do I transport units with transports? I haven't figured it out yet.

[@RadioRes]

See part 2 of this tutorial :) Basically, put navy in the province of your army. Click army, press A. Move your navy to wherever you want it to go. Click on transport, then right click on the province you want to land troops.

[@kirzuvo7145]

Vic 2 is legit the only paradox game I've played as I got it for free from a friend but been wanting to get into Eu4, this tutorial was very beneficial though itll take time for me to learn all the buttons and such as I did with vic 2

[@skele3310]

after 200 hours of eu3 and a solid game of castille with all of iberia, north africa, and a lot of american colonies under my control, i thought i was ready to try out eu4. and now i'm here because they are nothing alike.

[@matt7745]

Same but if the game was Victoria ii and my biggest accomplishment was *Uniting Italy*

[@skele3310]

@@matt7745 *oof* i've never had a problem with vicky 2

[@matt7745]

@@skele3310 niether have I but I was chosing whether to buy the heart of darkness dlc or Europa universallis iv

[@skele3310]

@@matt7745 oh, vicky 2 without the dlc is nearly unplayable. i'd also recommend the hpm mod, it streamlines and improves a lot of the game, and makes things more historically accurate to the time period.

[@Himmyjewett]

@@matt7745 dude I got the dlc before I had the game

[@willforlife_]

Great video thanks

[@magnustholstrup9483]

Amazing guide

[@noodled6145]

Thank you. Other guides are assuming you already know all the base mechanics.

[@kaihinton6623]

Much more complicated than hoi4

[@RadioRes]

only a little bit :)

[@gzs7483]

"there are no final bosses to beat" he says in a Video for Newcomers .... when Ottomans exist in 1444 ^^'

[@superbattleship3873]

I only came here because Hoi4 doesn’t have a mode to make custom worlds

[@RyanPHoferJr]

ever heard of the 9001 and mods on the workshop?

[@rubenbrouwer6897]

@@RyanPHoferJr i haven't, How does it work?

[@DogukanSeptem]

Almost 20 minutes in the video, "that concludes our quick guide to the MAIN MENU".

[@grimhavenz]

Right after this tutorial I got in a war and lost. I now have a debt of -615 lmao

[@kam2894]

Britain

[@richardm.4227]

Great intro!

[@johnedwardcastillo8442]

this tutorial is very good. reminds me that EUIV is better watched in youtube than played. lol.

[@DisconnectedUSB]

I wish I could give you 999999 subs because of how useful this is. But then, I wish I had a gaming PC.

[@sdsdsrgdsfds7287]

Stop trying to make drama no one cares if you dont have a gaming PC this aint GTA 5 and EU4 runs pretty good with low spec /med spec computers

[@washikaafrozi1469]

Get the mod fast universalis

[@DisconnectedUSB]

@@washikaafrozi1469 thank you

[@hannesoreberg2395]

Thanks, good video

[@healyalvarado4791]

Thank you bro

[@thrashnado9135]

i started with ck 2 ,then i played hoi4 and now im here

[@RadioRes]

welcome!

[@Psyxic_Crimes]

Thank you

[@cash_banooca17]

Been trying to learn the game for over a few months... Lets hope this guide is good.

[@RadioRes]

Let us know if you have questions. If you already have a few hours to gametime, I would recommend watching other nation specific guides here. That might help more.

[@FragsofWar]

Great guide. Will definitely send people to this video as a good intro to to the game.

[@shinylr8091]

Am I crazy or is a piano cover carol of the bells playing the background...

[@rebelli65]

no you're not crazy

[@icencold3447]

You should try doing the rereconquista achievement

[@RadioRes]

Planning that in 1.28!

[@redhunter8731]

Wow...the production interface on the no dlc menu looks so different. It feels like a totally different game without DLC even with the patches.

[@mithren1358]

What I dont understand is, how do you, like, do war? The units are so weird, you can't make a border around a country and command the units to go to a specific place when you like activate them

[@krishurlburt7375]

I've been playing Total war games since I was 6. None of those games prepared me for this one. I probably messed up by choosing the Black Foot as my first country

[@loudanbrzdic1883]

THX 🙂

[@snowman01]

Is this the steepest learning curve of any game ever?

[@RyanPHoferJr]

not exactly

[@eduardofreitas8336]

Vic 2

[@RyanPHoferJr]

Eduardo Freitas not for me

[@eduardofreitas8336]

@@RyanPHoferJr really? Thats interesting. For me its the hardest paradox game and eu4 the easiest

[@teemup9247]

@@eduardofreitas8336 For me its ck2 》 Vic 2 》 Eu4. Since i started from HOI3 and went to ck 2 and vic 2 then HOI4(easiest). which and the EU4.

[@Mrlaksi-py9ke]

Can you give a tip how to stay with tech and not fall behind? I have a mamluks run, and im 3-4 techs behind in diplo and military and its 1608

[@hosthan8782]

Advisors and luck, if you get a 1 0 2 king i'm sorry but you are just gonna get behind.

[@kyrakia5507]

I wish I had watched learned about mercing up to reach force limit back when I started this game, because now its the mid 1500s, Spain owns all of Iberia, West Africa and most of North Africa in addition to some colonies in the New World, but due to not having the manpower to get the achievement back then, I still don’t have the Prepare the Reconquista mission.

[@RyanPHoferJr]

this game has had a steeper learning curve fro me than vic2

[@samirflima]

I'm coming from Civ6, and people think that's complex, but this game needs a college degree. I'm loving it.

[@samuelculper7125]

So, when I watch all of these videos where do I pick up my degree, professor?

[@Becrog]

so much info to learn uugh

[@POTBELLY15]

I can’t make it far as Castille cuz I always get a damn civil war and then someone declares war on me during the civil war. Happened on multiple tries

[@kcflick6132]

Perfect I just got this game yesterday for $10

[@mnmfreak502]

I was overwhelmed when learning Hoi4 but I wanted to keep going. This game....ugh. Too dam much.

[@distilledwater8871]

*just don't worry about it*

[@Orangeboyhd]

help aragon does not want to be my ally as they view me as a rival

[@Vhailor_Mithras]

I still play EU3 because of how simple it is in comparison.

[@crazyhercules9442]

I only recently decided to start playing EU4 because I wanted to convert my CK2 save and continue growing my empire. It didn’t workout, so I wanted to then begin a new game and play from the start date, as England at the horizon of the Hundred Years War and (just for shits and giggles) play through the Wars of the Roses. Needless to say, I went into EU4 thinking it was going to be like CK2 but nope. France freakin’ kicked my ass and Henry Tudor died before he could become king😅🤦🏽‍♂️I haven’t been back on since. For me, EU4 feels like HOI4 and I just never got the hang of that one. I’m still trying to learn.

[@brianjensvold1882]

I 1st started playing EU4 3+ years ago. And over the years have been annoyed by how the creators keep changing the base game. Is there a way to prevent updates like the estates, building spy network, and retooling of missions mechanics? I had hoped these changes were the result of new DLCs, but you're saying what you show here is the "base" game?

[@pavlotretiakov2130]

20:08 "Shedrick"😍

[@pltkaiser9258]

Each time I'm trying to make a decision I always get flash back of this Tutorial Guide

[@mjf9998]

Nice video ! Could you make a multiplayer guide?

[@RadioRes]

I don't have a ton of experience with MP. But its a good idea. I will put more thought into it. Thanks!

[@redhunter8731]

@@RadioRes I know this is sort of a late comment, but if you reach out to some other EU4 youtubers, you can find some that love to play MP with other youtubers.

[@ghostfire1249]

Good guide really help me a lot. But I think the game just hates me. Played as Castille to day and Portugal Aragon, France and England had set me as rival, so I literally couldn't get any worthy ally

[@roma9292]

Brand new to the game. Love this tutorial. My only problem, I have 0 DLCs loaded so just base. But when I start the game as you have, I only start with 70 ducats instead of 240!? Any suggestions as to why?

[@robertryan3206]

There have been a few updates to the game since this video came out, so there are some new regions, factions and updates to the existing ones/ :) A few mechanics covered have also changed, but 90% of this guide is still applicable! Good Luck!

[@shoobill4553]

Hoi4 player here and my first thought when I loaded up the game was, why the numbers so big?

[@emreyigitkoc]

The most important question is how do i build a civilian factory?

[@naygaming3530]

I'm pretty temted to go to a different tutorial because this is 2 years old... Castile has been nerfed alot since 2018... help...

[@CC-hx8gj]

29:31 b-based

[@antoinemills653]

"I recommend starting as ming" well this aged well since the video came out