EUIV - Amaranthine Invitational #1 (1450)

Welcome to 1450, the year of the Renaissance, of new expression, of invention, of our first custom nations getting beaten the fuck up.

It's early enough that none of our countries have made only minor gains from minor AI and have not lost territory yet. However, as the following scenes will show, some of our number are well on their way to some catastrophic defeats.

Every quarter-century update will have a separate screenshot for each country. At this early stage, that means there's going to be a fuckload of them, I'm going to share a few general stats pictures, then get rolling.

First of all we have the score. In EU4, score is an overly complicated system used solely for competitive multiplayer games and has no real in game effect. Essentially, if you're in the top 10 in any one category, you get points towards your total cumulative score. You can't lose points.

In our game, the country which finishes (1821) with the most score wins. If you can predict which country will win, you win an EU4 related prize.

You can read up on the score system if you really want here: https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Score_system

Standard development chart - no real changes at the top...

...and likewise for income. Development and income are probably the two most important indicators of power, so we'll keep revisiting these tables.

One last thing before the country round-up. I mentioned 1450 as the year of the Renaissance and that is literally true.

The Institution system is EU4's latest attempt at modelling early modern era technological spread and eventual European world hegemony.

The green lines on the map indicate where the Renaissance is spreading. There are various rules concerning where and how fast it will spread (see next image). Once the Renaissance institution is present in enough of your provinces, you can spend money to Embrace it. Countries who haven't embraced an institution will suffer an increasing tech penalty (up to 50% per institution).

A new institution will spawn every 50 years until the Enlightenment in 1700.

We're taking a closer look at Crete to see the institution spread. There are a lot of different factors which affect spread and each institution differs from each other. As you can see, the biggest factors from the Renaissance are geographical proximity and urban European areas.

There's a lot more that could be said about institutions, but broadly, they're very likely to all spawn in Europe, they're easier to spread in Europe, and without taking special measures, the non-Europeans will fall behind.

There's a shedload of wars going on, so let's look at our countries one by one and try to figure out what's going on.

Not much going on yet in the Amaranthine Dutch Republic. They do have the most powerful navy in the world however, and have local allies which isolate Australia Minor, so they're looking to make a move.

Ruler: me lol

Arkansas saw Georgia being dogpiled from the west and north and figured 'hey, might as well join in from the south too'.

They saw that Georgia was weak and went for their own landgrab. The AI in EU4 is a lot better at this nowdays - they'll really kick you when you're down and this will become a recurring theme.

Ruler: Rey the Great

Case in point: Ashwinder. Grunhammer are pouring over the long shared border to the north. Erit Lux declared their own war in the west, looking to take the vital trading port of Venice. Even Switzerland are trying to join in.

Ashwinder as an isolated Confucian state in Europe, surrounded by Catholics and Norse, with no allies and no substantial military ideas of their own, were always going to be slow out the blocks

Australia Minor have been embargoed by Amaranth and have failed to pick up any major allies. Grabbing the New Pacific Order or Bengalistan would've helped balance out Malayan power, but as it is, they look ripe for the picking for Amaranth

Ruler: RevReb

Austurstrond are in what could easily become a very perilous position. They're allied with PRD (tolerant buddies) and Nordischreich (far right is just the same as the far left don't you know) but they're blocked from each other by Minsk and the Baltic Sea. If Russia or Scandinavia came calling, could the Germans actually help at all?

Ruler: Shamed

Bengalistan haven't done much in these first few years, but they don't need to. They're the richest power in India and have a solid ally in Jeohia.

Ruler: OwnedYou

Ruler of the Copts, Denial Valley has allied Infinite Citadel, but did not protect Georgia, leading to the loss of a Coptic Holy Site. No real territorial gains and no major allies either. Furthermore, they went out of their way to annoy Legendia by offering Condottieri (became a mercenary for) to the North Africans

Ruler: Denial

Epiphany has a very strong core of allies in Lahndahn, Switzerland, Patria and Erit Lux. As soon as they have enough favours they can stomp any one of their neighbours, and are pretty unassailable defensively.

Ruler: Epiphanus

Equestria are allied only with Kabus and joined in the war against Georgia. They have the most development in the world, they only really have two problems: #1 is horde unity - as a horde they need to keep beating up other countries and they could soon run out and #2, as a horde, they'll be a target for those around them and Kabus might not be enough to dissuade Qizil and Medvedstrana

Ruler: Ardus

Let there be light. Erit Lux did spawn the Renaissance and are celebrating by trying to consolidate not just the lucrative Genoa trade node, but the Venezia node as well. If they succeed in taking Ashwinder's provinces they'll be one of the richest countries in the world.

Ruler: SolarS

Free Scotland did nothing.

They allied with Versailles, then they sat there doing nothing.

This will become a theme.

Ruler: Mello

Poor Gauravdesh. You try to subjugate just one minor state and the whole of India piles in to stop you. Gaurav declared war to take Velanadu and - very sensibly - keep the trade rich provinces out of the hands of Bengalistan. Velanadu are allied to Samudr who joined the war on their side; a roughly even fight.

Then Takeela aggressively rolled in from the north and, despite Gauravdesh's military advantages, it's not looking good.

Ruler: Gaurav

rip

Ruler: Devilyn Caster

Grunhammer are biding their time.

I mean, they still declared war on Ashwinder within the first six years, but still, they're biding their time. They have an actually amazing set of alliances. The Catholic Ardus Grunhammer has talked his way into alliances with Norse Lurtzland, Orthodox Perevorot (securing their eastern flank) and Catholic Versailles.

They're defensively securing and can pick on isolated targets at their leisure, as Ashwinder are finding out.

Ruler: Ardus

Jeohia is contributing to the worst looking Taiwan I've ever seen via colonisation. That's about all I have to say about their first six years.

Ruler: Jeoh

Junlin haven't wasted any time in attempting to expand their Harborside operations at the expensive of the Japanese horsemen in Ninjakorutsu. They're allied with Sonyeo Sidae and all other major rivals are currently killing themselves. It's a good time to be the Archon of China.

Ruler: Archon

Kabus with their non-custom ally Urfa are digging into Georgia, while holding the border at the Sea of Marmara. They'll need to take the lion's share of the Middle East before Denial or Tolk get there first, or they'll have nowhere else to expand to.

Ruler: lebubu

Lahndahn have done nothing apart from watch their beloved founding father Alberto Del Tribute succumb to madness and sail off, looking for the new world.

They literally replaced him with some nerd named Francis.

Ruler: Tribute

Legendia will not suffer a pirate to live and are digging into north Africa. Their conquests are being delayed by the presence of mercenaries sent by Denial, but they should still have the land and sea supremacy to crush the raiders.

Ruler: LotS

Lurtzland continue to do what Lurtzland does best: trade, get richer, bide their time.

They have only one ally, but what an ally they have in Grunhammer.

Ruler: DarthLurtz

Russia and Ukraine stand united versus the hordes to the East and the Norse to the West. Neither have the power to upset the status quo. Yet.

Ruler: Voytek

The Confucians, as predicted, sit isolated at the toe end of Europe. No allies to be found, but they only border Pirineos, so perhaps they're not dead in the water just yet.

Ruler: Nero

It was always going to be difficult for Ninjakorutsu to hold onto its many geographically diverse holdings, but I thought it'd take longer than six years for them to collapse.

Ruler: ninja colt

Nordischreich actually did pick off a minor Duke of the Holy Roman Empire, slightly expanding their land out West. They have solid allies but are still surrounded by power players on all sides.

Ruler: Mistra

Patria are holding onto Epiphany's coattails a little. As a coloniser, it's still far too early for them to hit their own peak of power. Let's see what happens in another 75 years.

Ruler: Anarch

In allying with Medvedstrana and Grunhammer, Perevorot have somewhat limited their avenues of expansion. Wallachia would be a solid pickup if they can get at them while they're unprotected. Otherwise, Equestria is the only real target they can take.

Ruler: RevReb

I called Pirineos the isolated Norse crusader state, but I didn't expect them to be embargoed by their neighbors and to have picked up absolutely zero allies. With Epiphany and Versailles in strong diplomatic positions, the Pyrenees defence will likely soon be put to the test.

Ruler: Gobb

The PRD is just keeping on right now. Solid allies and only one 'easy' route of expansion - into Minsk - probably railroads their next 25 years of play.

Ruler: iosif

Leet Guy, Celestial Emperor of China, is massively losing a war he started himself.

The Celestial Throne is a poisoned chalice in a game like this, and while Qiuyu should survive this war, they likely won't be able to compete with a surging Junlin and a solid Jeohia.

Ruler: leet guy

The Red Broncos have done nothing, but they're massive and have no strong, threatening neighbors. They can take their time and pounce on opportunities as and when they happen.

Ruler: rsox

Samudr have lucked out. They rushed to the defence of Velanadu in the face of Gaurav aggression, but were more than likely going to lose until Takeela bailed them out. As it stands right now, they can make decent inroads into Gauravdesh, particularly as the Gaurav capital is very close to their border.

Ruler: LotS

Schwarzwald I think did almost literally nothing.

Ruler: Denny.

Sonyeo are allied to Junlin, though not involved in their war against Ninjakorutsu. This is a great position - their north is protected and, once Junlin are done, Sonyeo could take their own turn. Pretty much the perfect start for the Koreans.

Ruler: King Brandon

Takeela would have been the odd ones out in the Indian thunderdome. Bengal holds the wealth, Gaurav has the military power, and Takeela somewhat betwixt in between. They've timed their opportunism well, however, in pouncing on and already occupied Gauravdesh and should see some great gains.

Ruler: tequila mockingbird.

The Savage Men did not do much.

They have the same potential problem that Austurstrond does in that their allies (literally the same ones) in the PRD and Nordischreich are probably too far away to assist them with any conflict at home, which would be a cause of their inaction.

They should absolutely be jumping on the soon to be corpse of Ashwinder and grabbing what they can from under Grunhammer's nose.

Ruler: csm

Tolkmaria were a little bit of a disappointment. Unlike most other countries there are so many avenues of expansion for them: Arabia, the Red Sea coast, down to Zanzibar, consolidating East Africa before Denial, but they've taken none of them. Maybe next time.

Ruler: tolk

Versailles are sitting pretty, having built up a good range of allies and a series of claims on Pirineos. They haven't yet made their move but it's only a matter of time.

Ruler: MagicalTrevor

Vikingar probably have the most difficult starting position. Surrounded by more developed countries with no real opportunities to expand, they've nevertheless consolidated their diplomatic position by allying with Schwarzwald and the PRD

Ruler: quinoa rex

I'll leave you with a few stat tables I didn't really want to talk about. They're mostly self explanatory though and give relevant and somewhat interesting context to what's happening in the world.

(Like King Geraud Epiphanus himself being the greatest general in the world. That may or may not became relevant later)

If you have any questions about anything absolutely feel free to ask me. Any feedback is also very welcome.

Next up: 1475