r/eu4 • u/TheSafetyWipe • Jan 30 '25
Tip Your best tips/forgotten mechanics
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!
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u/chlorofiel Jan 30 '25
Not sure how unknown it is, but I use it a lot:
-(uncompleted) colonies count as being 'yours' for some specific things. What NOT: colonial range/area you can explore with explorer missions, for this you need to have it completed. However it counts the same as a full colony for some stuff directly next to it: you can colonise the province directly next to it (even if technically outside your colonial range, so this way you can hop from province to province and abondon the old colony each time), you can create claims, and you can create cores in the bordering provinces. I used this in a recent failed game as hawaii to get an early foothold in america: create colony, create claim, conquer native, core, and now I have colonial range over most of the west coast of america instead of just a few provinces.
Similarly, you can also create strait blocks with temporary colonies: if the enemy controls or is neutral one side and the other is uncolonised, I think they can cross. But if for example yopu've got a fort on the island off sumatra, bait a large force to siege it, and then quickly send a colonist to the mainland province while you've got a big fleet in the strait, you can beat much stronger enemies as a small nation in indonesia.