Europa Universalis 4 - Castile - Tutorial for Beginners! #4 - Preparing for War

[@lucaswhitfield718]

Her: I only date *bad* boys Me: Well I dont mean to brag but, uhh, I do have a coalition against me with more than 20 countries

[@aarongorton1984]

lol lucas

[@man2meandyou]

Lucas, lol.

[@loge9981]

xd😂😂😂😂

[@seanymc982]

lol

[@sammy57533]

bro lol XD

[@MrPetur4o]

Paradox should watch this and make actual tutorials. Fantastic work, quill!

[@error9106]

Paradox tutorials fucking suck

[@seanymc982]

ya but would probably be DLC and a horrible tutorial

[@NaSandJayZ]

Got this game and most of the DLC cheap not too long ago on humble bundle, tried going through the tutorials, and had NO idea what I was doing. While I still think its complicated, these videos are helpin me understand it a little better (still not sure about trade though lol), so hopefully I cant actually play this game soon

[@Nickel_Eye]

@Addiction i can assure you that everyone here has tried the game out before they watched any tutorials, and the thing is that these tutorials show you the basics not how to be good at the game. a game like this you will not enjoy when you don't even know what what you're supposed to do and how to do it, also this game is almost unplayable without DLCs and will create a lot of confusion when there are important or helpful game mechanics locked behind a paywall.

[@nfg_racing7968]

There in game tutorials are garbage

[@sinecurve9999]

Followed this advice. By 1537 I've formed Spain and have overseas colonies. I got a lucky start. I was able to ally Aragon and Portugal from the beginning. Quite the potent trio. Morrocco got knocked off the face of the planet by Portugal (not so great for my trade power in Seville). France is still having trouble winning the Hundred Years War (more like the Two Hundred Years War, amirite?). Austria ate Hungary and the one province minors in the HRE are looking very well consolidated. Good game so far.

[@billy_boi]

I conquered Garnatah and their 46k of rebels fucked me :D

[@kingchannel146]

LMFAO

[@rasaecnai]

4yrs late but for those new players like me playing as spain: transfer your main trading hub to genoa after forming spain. As Castille this is not possible because genoa is too far. But once you got Aragon in the fold you have territory very near the trade hub so transfer the main hub there and collect there. Put a trader in sevilla node and forward the trade to genoa as well. THe reason for this is that genoa is the most important node in the game. All trade end up there and it does not have an out going trade so it keeps all the value coming in. So send your ships there too to protect trade.

[@Simalacrum]

Well, that trade tutorial was feckin' confusing! Fortunately this tutorial will be about warfare which hopefully will be less complicated. *Tutorial starts with "oh I forgot to talk about gold and inflation!"* OH LORD HELP

[@aarongorton1984]

your right it was and is confusing and very uneeded confusion but the gyst fo trade is send merchants to steer trade towards you but if your main trade port is more than 80 percent its sometimes worth while to send merchant to your self and collect

[@duckmcfuddle7537]

I know right exactly what I thought

[@seanymc982]

same with me XD

[@jasonbolton2067]

lol made sense to me, he is a tad adhd though

[@chrisnorman1183]

Mate thank you so much, You helped me with HOI4 and how to grasp the basics. And again bought Europa 4 and checked your channel for a walk through and yes there was one for newbies like me :P This helped so much, Thank you.

[@SilentVendetta7]

I started with HOI4 and have recently got EU4 (still very much a noob in need of tutorial videos like quills' videos)...I definitely will say EU4 is the more complex game. With HOI4 diplomatic relationships don't have the same impact that they do in EU4. With HOI4 you pretty much choose your alliances based on your ideology. There is deeper strategy in choosing alliances in EU4 than HOI4. Also, trade in HOI4 is pretty remedial while trade in EU4 has much more depth. Based on my experiences so far, I prefer the combat/battle mechanics of HOI4 over EU4, but I haven't gotten into many wars in EU4 to make a good assessment on it. Overall, there is much more going on in EU4 than HOI4 and requires more overall strategy in terms of what your goals are and how to achieve those goals. That is my view of the two so far.

[@growrip8510]

Joshua Vacek nnw

[@CharleneVanAs]

This is really helping me understanding this game. I sometimes dont watch lets play's cause it just goes Whooosh over my head but now that I understand it a bit more, I will come to enjoy watching more of these and perhaps eventually buying the game. Thank you.

[@zerid0]

What is this madness quill ? one video every 3 hours ? Is this Christmas ?

[@christianwong9491]

Columini it is christma

[@OpenWorldAddict0]

this is a great tutorial series. That is how i found you and you continue to amaze me with your tutorials. Can you do another tutorial series with the updated Crusader Kings 2?

[@skippyplays4372]

This is a great tutorial. Most others assume that you have some knowledge of the game but this one is great because I just bought the game yesterday.

[@tayothirtythree]

I screwed up Quill, somehow I ended up in war with England and Portugal decided to join them. The Papal States pulled me into a war with Provence as well. And that sneaky asshat Granada is giving money to England. Miraculously, I ended up taking provinces from Portugal and wiped their armies (but all of a sudden a 16k England army appeared there...), while my ally Aragon is taking the brunt of Provence and England (which took two provinces next to Navaro). Oh yeah, and that "little insignificant" nation was the reason for all of this shitstorm!

[@ShowginTV]

Well sometimes it be like that

[@Joshua-yf5mh]

I mean some Serbian youths were the cause of ww1, so yeah...

[@fogease]

The Workshop and Counting House don't increase the trade pie, as Production Efficiency only applies a bonus to direct income from production. Manufactories are the only buildings that increase the Goods Produced.

[@martinaustin6230]

So... Allying France backfired. England went to war with France, Portugal got involved, and allied with Aragon, and now I'm in a 2 front war with no morale or heavy ships. But at least the pope likes me. And English troops are scouting my North Time to reload save!

[@martinaustin6230]

Funny looking 5 months back. I could easily win that war today (I was also playing very easy). Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@viggolek]

Lol

[@samuelledden1816]

I love the casual narration and repetition of previous knowledge to help us remember

[@bentomoswall]

As a complete newbie I love this so much. It keeps all the excitement of making new decisions for myself, with general goals to keep in mind.

[@turenilsson351]

Long live the kanigits!

[@Kleptomaniac96]

Hi quill, I know this is an old video, but I wanna say that I love the detail you put into these videos, and the enthusiasm is contagious. Great videos! Thank you

[@MaxApocalypticGaming]

Is it bad I've been waiting all day for this?

[@gregdesigns9869]

no.

[@randomusername.5605]

Nope

[@anvithrai4133]

Nope

[@mrsamtheman80]

I am so glad you are doing this series! I hope you continue it for quite awhile, as I am finding it quite helpful since there have been significant changes in EU4 since most of the other tutorial videos were recorded (yours and others'). I am also hopeful that you will do another Victoria 2 game in the somewhat near future; it would also be greatly appreciated!

[@noctislucis1099]

Okay is there a piece of the world where England hasn't claimed core onto? Plz let me know

[@Orneyrocks1609]

Siberia

[@thehumanity3324]

So far these tutorials have been great! First thing I dont like however is the different tech costs with civilizations, as it kind of enforces this idea that great innovation is easier in Europe while disregarding all the enormous discoveries, technology, science etc. that originated from the Near East and the Oriental. I think Im def going to buy this game though, so many different aspects you can focus on!

[@Jamesanglo]

Love the series. Would love to see a video about each of the expansions too. Would be really useful!

[@Burkhelsie]

Thank you so much for these tutorials. I got this game on a whim because I'm a history fan, but I didn't know how to work anything. I love it now that I know what's going on.

[@2877arkantos]

I’m late but your french pronunciation is on point ! Nice job dude, great tutorial !

[@anvithrai4133]

He is French Canadian

[@TheSaunaViking]

Hi Quill! Love the new series. You might even convince me to buy the game. :)

[@cumhurbabaoglu2585]

"Ten or twenty countries in coalition" It reminds me of the Battle of Lepanto where Ottomans fought against a coalition of ten countries termed Holy League.

[@DJSbros]

Wow once you begin to understand this game it is sooooo satisfying.

[@sparrowhawk3422]

I keep thinking of Aragorn when you say Aragon. Just getting into this game thanks for the advice:)

[@skippyplays4372]

This series is how I found your channel!

[@Ashalmawia]

I can't remember if it was this video or not, but one thing I think I disagree with is where you said that the military spending slider should always be either 0% or 100%. It seems that the position of the slider controls your % army reinforcement from each month's manpower, so if it's at 0%, any under-power armies you have won't grow at all. Just making it 10% or so, they will at least get some growth.

[@brendanwong1918]

Bro, your tutorials are indepth, fun and awesome. Good work!

[@pandaman_5607]

this is the only tutorial I can think of that's fun to watch

[@kiseligrah5709]

I learned to play eu4 from this series. Rewatching after playing eu4 for about 4 years.

[@steppebro]

Man, this shit is way more complex than total war. *see settlement that's not yours* *attack it*

[@s02mb]

"Conquest belly"

[@thegasman_72]

Excellent tutorial series for players new to EU4, maybe a video giving a brief overview of all the expansion dlc towards the end of the series would be a good thing to cover as they do add a lot to the game. Keep up the good work!

[@kyleflounder9783]

11:39 Okay, so the fact that in my game Morocco allied with Granada isn't game-changing, then. That's good. The big thing with my save is that England, France, Austria, and Portugal are NOT at war yet, and I really hope that doesn't happen at all. Also, little prick Aragon decided to ally The Papal State. While that IS their only ally, I was suspecting they would ally someone along the lines of Genoa since they are close to Aragon and would make for a good tag team in war. I'll just have to deal with Aragon and possibly the Papal State at the same time when this war comes up, it seems.

[@deusvult6920]

Bruv your videos are some of the best eu4 tuts. I couldn't figure the game out well enough first go I gave it bc vids were garbage that I found but I'm getting back into it and I actually understand trade now lol

[@ZanathKariashi]

The Emperor always has military access with all HRE princes. Though only he can use it, unless he's the war-leader.

[@NeoLokiGaming]

Thanks so much for this tutorial series, helped me alot getting started in this awsome but confusing game.Thanks man and greetings from germany..

[@yousif428]

Very good tutorial series. 100 thumbs up!

[@dramravett4621]

hey quill , have to say this going well for me playing the game is not as bad as i once thought .. can't wate for more GG :D

[@franzfanz]

I like to think that attrition includes troops suffering due to disease, cold, hunger etc. then either dying or simply deserting. I think if your army couldn't feed you you'd be pretty likely to slip away at an opportune time.

[@vanadams742]

Got to be the most complcated game ever devised.

[@logandaley1544]

So it sounds like I need to grab a few more Calvary regiments for my armies. I didn’t know about the 6k limit for how many knights can fight at a time.

[@leinopaajanen2523]

Aragon decided to invade navarra and since i was in alliance with them, i got pulled into the war aswell. Aragon just had too many troops for me to handle. I'll start again and hopefully it all goes better.

[@sanderfurberghve2969]

27:45 ahahah the way you say "Knights" lmao!

[@majorphysics3669]

this looks easier to understand than hoi4. I'm assuming I can use this as a slight precursor?

[@Ranulf13]

i would not declare war on Aragon i would do it on Frace! Frace would at somepoint be very stong and your enemy and cuting them short is almost allways good if you plan to become a powerhouse in Europe. I understand why you dont do it in a Beginners Guide, but you could also have explained that EU4 is a very oportunistic Game that way.

[@lordoftheflings]

Great stuff! More like this please!

[@viktor_overlord3961]

I got an alliance with france and they called me in to a war against england. We won. And now calais is spanish

[@BookofHolyH2O]

id love to see a video on what DLC are worth getting and in your openion an order to get them in we don't waste a bit of money on something that isn't that good

[@ZakTheFallen]

+BookofHolyH2O Problem is, Quill often gets these games for free from the devs. What he's far better at is showing off a DLC's content so you can decide yourself if it's worth your money or not.

[@BookofHolyH2O]

+ZakTheFallen he might get them for free but he knows them more then me at this point and advice or his opinion is always helpful before making a purchase just like lets plays let you see how a game is before you buy them

[@mattbenz99]

The 7 main expansions are the only things worth buying. Ignore all of the music and art DLC because Paradox only releases them because they wouldn't have enough work to justify keeping their artists on the payroll otherwise.

[@marcoackermann2686]

I'm screwed in my game! I just began playing EU4 as Castille today and love it so far! Aragon made an alliance with France...so if I go to war with Aragon I'm probably going to have to fight France too. Hopefully Portugal will be of help (allied), I'm trying my best to get England to like me more so that I can hopefully get an alliance with them! Do you guys have any tips on how I can protect myself against France? I will most definitely lose my whole country if I have a war with Aragon and France. Aragon already has claims on al my East provinces...so they can strike at any time...

[@neeneenee]

I have the same issue except England also rivaled me -.-

[@fearsomefawkes6724]

I really wish this game had proper tutorial campaigns. It's great to have free form games where you can do whatever you want but I don't know what my goals are yet I'm just trying to figure out how to make things happen

[@franzfanz]

Having put 200 hours into this game France no longer scares but Brandenburg haunts my dreams.

[@TheOneEyedMac]

Damn, can't even play the game because of my slow ass laptop that even though I've downloaded a mod to increase performance and trade it with graphics, it still slow as a snail but not to much, probably on par with quill's 2 time speed if it's in 3 or 4 speed, but nevertheless, great tutorial! Learn a lot in this than my first semester!

[@aarongorton1984]

OMG NEW COUNTRIES CAN SPAWN AS A RESULT OF THREATEN TO GIVE CORES OVE R I LOVE THIS FEATURE

[@DeliaLange]

Thanks, managed to conquer granada! and also bag Tetouan & Tangiers as well!. the problem is, i can't convert them because my missionary effect is 0 so that's a bummer! btw i pulled Aragon & Portugal into the war and we basically occupied the entirety of morocco & their vassal states & also a few of the tunisian provinces but i couldn't demand all of them. any advice on conversion? i can't change the culture because they have unrest & i'm trying to squash any opposition so i can change their culture to then convert them to then prevent unrest do you get what i mean?

[@andrewdupper973]

when you're playing along but then aragon attacks navarra and you honor your alliance so you get curb stomped by aragon and naples

[@jdubble15]

you're a great teacher. thank you!

[@calebcali1482]

This vid helped quil make a better hoi4 tutorial

[@strat5502]

well I'm Portugal in my game and within 2 minutes after unpausing I get pulled into a war: Aragon, Austria, Naples. and Portugal VS. Navarra, Castile, and France so idk if I'm screwed or not...

[@deanoreilly2013]

Got the game in the last few day nothing is like this in the update 😭

[@DeliaLange]

ikr? how do you get your lightships to protect trade? the button's gone & i've been searchin for it!

[@hadyelleik9343]

@@DeliaLange click on the letter icon called select mission then on protect trade

[@jhbBouwmeester]

Tnx for the tutorial, but is it normal that I can't click on a national idea because it is not unlocked yet?

[@aarongorton1984]

in Denmark theres always rebel problem on the island near Sweden Denmark ALWAYS IN 1444

[@epos79]

Bought game today but the missions seem different, how to play those missions?

[@Casey_HZD]

Yeah I ignored the missions bit for now. Gonna look for info elsewhere regarding the new updated missions tab.

[@screaming_ghoul]

ok so I followed your advice and I ended up being lucky with friendly attitudes from France and Portugal, so I allied them both but then France pulled me into the Maine crisis war and Portugal was on England's side. So now I hope I can defeat Portugal and maybe even get some land? idk

[@screaming_ghoul]

it ended up with me being distracted that Navarre accepted to be the junior partner of Aragon. I ended up reloading an older game save.

[@zr0w3n-16]

Is EU4 worth it for £40. (Yes my PC is good enough)

[@holin59]

+Gamer Zeke it sure is. But it's on steam sell rather often so if you are patient you might as well wait.

[@Elec7rify]

+Gamer Zeke I've put 2000 hours into it in the last year, it's definitely worth it, but if you wait until it's on sale (which it is fairly often) you'll be able to get most of the DLC for that price as well - which I definitely recommend.

[@Pangora2]

+Gamer Zeke its 80% off Steam this weekend!

[@maxben3391]

+Gamer Zeke Its basically the only game I play anymore, so in my opinion its worth it

[@zr0w3n-16]

Really, I just bought it and now I find out its on sale!!! OMG

[@Calabresa022]

Whats the unit pack you're using? I couldnt find any for the first era soldiers

[@puckernet8155]

Can you add closed captions to this? I've done the first three and can can't move forward without them.

[@Codan3]

this series is from march...

[@vasiltashkov594]

i just gave up on the idea of playing that game ... i need uni degree to play that one

[@zy0_]

Man I'm bad at this, Aragon attacked the one province minor that I was allied with (Because you allied with that country too) and they dragged Portugal on to their side.. RIP, I swear I did exactly the same that you did! :(

[@jakalordarkblood4331]

+CaptainZyber It happens. As long as you can fight to a stalemate, it *should* be fine. At times, Aragon and Portugal will attack Castile and brutally create an Iberian murder sandwhich. It's never pretty. But it can be very good for you if you want someone that hates France to own Iberia.

[@maxben3391]

+CaptainZyber Each game is completely different, which is part of what makes EUIV exciting. Maybe next game Portugal and Aragon will be your allies

[@Ashalmawia]

you refer to provinces as being more or less developed? is "developing" your provinces something you can actually do, or is the development level of each province static?

[@Altrescu]

+Sahuagin Every province starts with a scripted amount of development at the start of the game, however, if you own the Common Sense DLC, you can spend monarch points to increase that. Admin points increase base tax, diplo points increase production, and military points increase that province's contribution to your manpower pool. Developing gets REALLY expensive and is generally only useful in specific circumstances.

[@ethanturner6887]

+Sahuagin With the DLC Common Sense it is adjustable, however without it its static.

[@4d1ce]

"In the next video, in a little over a year" *dumbfounded* *thinks for a bit* I now understand the next video is not coming out for a year.

[@SirSavesALot1977]

Luv your videos :)

[@aarongorton1984]

this and viccy 2 best games ever made

[@aarongorton1984]

I AGREE WITH MOST PEOPLE TRADE IS CONFUSING AND STILL CONFUSED

[@CptSlow89]

Will someone explain missionaries and those guys in yellow cirlce above? :(

[@Grunge1012]

Johnny Good missionaries convert provinces. The others are diplomats, merchants and colonists

[@megaangryjoe]

Does the forge thing ever run out like in hoi4?

[@goganii]

Cores is like de jure?

[@jhbBouwmeester]

How works technology I think I missed it

[@FeelinGoode]

This game is too bloody hard. I want to get into it... I really do. I keep losing battles arghhhhhH!!

[@drvir]

Are you still playing?

[@DonatasSimkus]

If you master this game, you can run for president!

[@fite-4-ever876]

mine doesn't have a protect trade button, is this something changed in an update

[@slyguythreeonetwonine3172]

Nope, it's just God telling you how much he really, *really,* hates you.

[@-recoilbear-2576]

lol i started with +41 aragon imma ally them

[@novandita9071]

where is the capt

[@Adam-g01]

In my opinion, Castille is harder than Byzantium. Whenever I play, Austria, Aragorn, Naples and Burgundy all attack me in the first 4 years. Even when I followed this play through. So I always get annexed and lose. I mean how can I use 29,000 troops to defeat 70,000k? How is Castille easy. It's impossible

[@dchuhay]

Is it true that you tend to get more bad events if you have higher stability?

[@christianhoffmann8252]

+dchuhay No. You get more bad events if your overextensions is high but beside that in my experience all events are random. I even get +1 stability at some times when I'm already at +3.

[@poilboiler]

+dchuhay I think you get more comets at higher stability. :p

[@ZanathKariashi]

+dchuhay the reverse actually. High stability increases the MTTH for most negative events, except for a handful of events related to losing/gaining stability which are unchanged. It doesn't actually cause fewer events to happen, it makes them take longer to occur, so it gives you more time to recover when they do happen. Though bare in mind, it's a very minor difference of 5% per level of stability or -5% per level of negative stability. Which in the greater scheme of things is only a few months to a few years, depending on the base MTTH. Also some events simply cannot fire if you stability is above certain level or require you be below a certain level before they can happen. These though tend to be nation-specific and related to historical events, rather then the generic events all nations get.

[@jakalordarkblood4331]

+ZanathKariashi There are some really dickish events, like Decadence, that check for very little and thus will happen, because an event must happen at least once every five years. Decadence only cares about if you've been at war the last ten years, which is likely to not be the case, because there an be truces that last more than ten years.

[@bloodangel9403]

Is it worth issuing an embargo to Granada or Aragon?

[@Agimam]

+Blood Angel No, you should only really Embargo Rivals.

[@bloodangel9403]

Aragon is his rival already. So just Aragon? Why not Granada and/or Tunis? He is about to do the Reconquista anyway.

[@orko4185]

+loldig well yes you should, but it isn't as costly to have extra embargoes as it was a few patches ago. Now extra embargo 'only' reduce your boni to income from collecting (flat modifier to income of your trade). In older patches it did reduce your trade power, when you had extra embargo's against non rivals. Which was very bad to have. But now it 'only' reduces your boni income. And it can't drop below 0. So can never be a negative modifier. Which means it can be a good thing, to embargo the whole world, to reduce everyone's trade power in nodes where you have trade power. Question here is, if you reducing others trade power, is worth more than giving you a boni to collected gold in your home node. You can try it out with starting a new game as castile, Embargo EVERYONE, and look at the income difference. You will make more money embargoing everyone than otherwise. But this can and will change during the game depending on the situation of trade. Especial how much boni you have to trade income from collecting in your home node. Naturally they are wasted if you embargo everyone. But most likely as Castile you will always earn more gold embargoing everyone in the world than not. But the most important thing is, you always reduce the income (trade power) of everyone else in the nodes you have power, Which might be even more important than your own actual income. Important note here is that paradox might change the embargo mechanics again (or already have in a newer patch I play on a bit older version atm and don't have checked patch notes they change the game so often)

[@orko4185]

+Blood Angel Well why not? Embargoing a non rival gives -10% to gold earned from collecting. So you have to calculate if reducing the trade power of Granada or tunis is worth the -10% gold collected from trade. Important note here is that this modifier can never fall below 0% boni to collected. So you can never have a negative to your income only reduce your boni to collected, like the +10% from having a merchant collecting in your home node. So if reducing tunis power in Seville (and all other nodes you have power and they) gives you more than +10% income from Seville does it is worth it to embargo them even when they are not a rival. As i mentioned in my other comment it becomes interesting when embargoing more than just granada or tunis. Since the modifier can never fall below 0% and become negative you could just embargo everyone beyond that point with no additional penalty, and might earn more money that way.

[@JasonWeakley]

OK, deep breaths... please repeat after me: "C-A-V-A-L-R-Y" is a horse-mounted division of troops, "C-A-L-V-A-R-Y" is the place where Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross.

[@harryamanatidis1576]

Jason Weakley holy shit ive never noticed ive been saying it wrong this whole time

[@JasonWeakley]

haha, it's OK, I usually let it go but when I heard it several times in a row I had to issue a PSA

[@chrisbolland5634]

THANK YOU! EVERYONE I TALK TO SAYS IT WRONG!

[@mowie7738]

how do you get more money in this game

[@the_rikTa]

+quill18 How fucked would i be if my starting nation would be Bosnia? xD

[@Rflexion]

his voice at the intro always seem different in the rest of the video

[@GhostyLT2]

Ended up allying Portugal. They declared war on Morocco within like 2 years

[@GhostyLT2]

Not fun lol .-.

[@aarongorton1984]

20 25 countries in a coalition this sounds like Victoria 2's crisis mechanic and wow 20 countries against you good luck with that you would get stomped lmao

[@LongLiveTheDoors67]

Fucking "Kinigits" Too funny, you got a subscriber

[@aarongorton1984]

ITS SCARY HOW VICTORIA 2 AND EU4 ARE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME GAME SAME LEDGER SAME BALANCE UI SAME WARS SAME EVERYTHING I SOMETIMES THINK EU4 IS VICTORIA 3

[@SquareNoggin]

Very good tutorial, probably the best I've seen, but like most he repeats himself too much. This doesn't have to be as long as it is - I found quill would repeat the same concept like 8 times before moving onto the next thing. Not really complaining because this really helped me, but I find it's something all youtube video game tutorials do too much. Reading out every stat we can clearly see on the mouseover is a little unnecessary.

[@aarongorton1984]

LOVE PLAYING with Austria me they are very powerful and i always marry hungary queen :)

[@Muck006]

Mercenaries are more expensive now ...

[@_rami_745]

DID THIS BOI JUST SAY "KANIGGETS"

[@houseking9211]

It is and he did, I have no idea how you didn't realize that it was a joke...

[@RigelOrionBeta]

John Doe The mispronounciation is a nod to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail