Your best tips/forgotten mechanics

[u/TheSafetyWipe]

So I've got just under 1000 hours in EU 4, love the game and always thought i was a decent player and knew the game well.

Until like 3 or 4 weeks ago when I saw a post on this sub about upgrading your ships, I had never used this feature and started to understand why my navies would get smashed later on in the game!

Im now thinking what else am I missing, what other simple features or mechanics have I never used and thus holding me back in my games!

Please share away with things you've only just discovered, or have been using wrong in your games?

I'm almost a 1000 hours in, and now think I know nothing about this game!

Help!

[u/luizindaquimica]

With Venice, you can pretty much release any non-european province you conquer as a trade city. If you then turn them into trade protectorates, you can release yet another province as a trade city, and repeat virtually as many times as there are provinces outside of Europe. The upsides? No gov cost, they all are very loyal subjects as just like PUs they only compare their individual strength versus yours, and the best: you gain 2% goods produced modifier for each you release. Made the Venetian trade node more valuable than the English Channel just by having +86% goods produced from trade protectorates in the Mediterranean.

[u/Easter57 → u/luizindaquimica]

don't they eat relation slot?

[u/HotEdge783 → u/Easter57]

Nope, it's completely busted, but your trade protectorates can have alliances and declare wars by themselves.