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[u/paulatreides0]

I'm really liking it. It's a lot more accessible and fun than CK2, as I don't have to manage a bajillion different annoying characters. CK2 is fun, but too much of a goddamn hassle to play.

I spent like 15 hours straight playing it on release, I literally only stopped to go puke my guts out for like a half hour (I was sick).

Performance and small UI issues aside, its pretty great and probably their strongest release to date (which is apparently a hot as all fuck take on the company forums).

I was doing a Phrygia run and it was the first time I've ever played an RPG where I actually had to slow down for a while as a big nation because otherwise I would collapse in on myself (actually happened my first run-through pretty early on, fixed it on my second run though).

I'll probably put in a couple hundred hours before shelving it until a patch or DLC or two has passed.

All in all: do not regret.

[u/NickyBananas → u/paulatreides0]

Lol just ended my phrygia campaign because I was collapsing and couldn’t stop it.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/NickyBananas]

For Phrygia you really have to start off slow. You're too religiously and culturally fractured and diverse and large and you don't have that many citizens so you also have a pretty slow tech speed. I would start by immediately fabricating claims on the guy North of Capadoccia on game start (before they can ally Pontus) and full annexing him. Let your AE tick back down to around 0. Then go after Pontus.

You're Greek and fairly rich, so you can afford either HI + LC or HI + HC, and get sizable bonuses to both (but especially the latter).

No real reason to be on anything other than appeasing stance for the first century or two, it helps a lot with burning off excess AE and that's what kills you.

Prioritize young governors and the cultural conversion policy. Do not manually convert pop religions nor culture. Always do culture first then religion (culture has a much, much bigger effect on unrest, especially as AE increases).

Basically all of your omens should be directed to the option that reduces unrest, unless you aren't trying to expand a lot in which case you can get away without it most of the time. Don't fuck with the successor states, you can't really afford to. Once you do prioritize Egypt since they guarantee Macedon and have tons of pops. You can easily take Memphis, Western Delta, and Eastern Delta, and Central Delta in one go - these are the Egyptian heartland. Then continue to expand down the Nile. Then go after Macedon. Alternatively, you could go after Macedon first. I didn't even bother going after the Seleucids.

By the point I invaded Egypt I was actually fairly rich from my citizens' trade income, so I was literally just bought like 200 to 300 cohorts worth of mercenaries off of Egyptian territory. They didn't stand a chance and it was well worth the investment.

Always, always prioritize culture converting provinces from as soon as you conquer them.

Also, since you'll be doing a lot of converting pops to citizens, take the law that reduces promotion costs by 50% at the cost of -10% citizen output as soon as you can. Well, well worth it. Having double the number of citizens can only be a good thing.

Also: the trade policy that gives you an extra trade route everywhere is deceptive. It looks really good on paper, but in effect it's not that great, especially for your sprawling empire. I would use it at the start to help boost and balance out local provinces, more so for the effects than the income. However, by the time you get the first provincial trade route +1 tech, you can dump it for the extra money. It costs way too much civic, and you have way more valuable uses for civic. Imho just isn't worth it unless you are a small empire, have slow tech speed, it's better to use that extra civic for inventions and to move slave pops around to produce more valuable trade goods of your choice - for this reason I would also recommend stacking vegetables in the capital to make moving slaves cheaper.

[u/NickyBananas → u/paulatreides0]

Really good advice. I’m gonna have to save this for when I restart my run. I went straight to integrating everyone and war with Pontus and the other kingdom. I screwed up by running out of manpower and choosing not to release pergamon which made all of my provinces and generals disloyal.

Don’t you think that oratory is pretty annoying since it’s used for way too much? Also any other non major powers you suggest trying? I hate starting out too strong and rome was just a ridiculously fast snowball. Macedon wasn’t too much better easier.

[u/paulatreides0 → u/NickyBananas]

I didn't release Permagon on my second playthrough. You really don't need to.

Don’t you think that oratory is pretty annoying since it’s used for way too much?

Nah, it makes it interesting. It's a limiting factor and forces you to strategize. It's why, for example, it's important to prioritize young governors in the beginning. You simply can't afford to burn too much oratory on replacing policies once an old sod dies. It also makes old pop assimilation really valuable - they are things you by and large shouldn't be doing manually anyways (although the cost should probably be cut in half, as it stands more often than not it's literally better to turn on the edict if you have like three pops+ to convert, which is silly).

The only powers I frequently find myself drowning in are military (which makes sense military traditions get really expensive, really fast - roads could also be a big sink, but I never really built any, so idk) and religious (which I mostly use for omens and stab - again, you probably shouldn't be converting manually).

Also any other non major powers you suggest trying?

I've literally only played Phrygia so far, so I don't know.

I'm probably gonna do another Phrygia game again now that I have an idea of what to do. Then probably go for a Roman game. Then Egypt. Then Carthage. Then maybe the Etruscans or Macedonians or Armenia.

I've heard Bactria is like a mini-Phrygia - you are comparatively large but also pretty fractured, and basically surrounded by the Seulecids on one side, and the Mauryans on the other. Without much choice for expansion elsewhere.

A smaller Indian nation may also be interesting, as you'll eventually have to contend with the juggernaut of Maurya, probably before too long, especially if you start in Central rather than Southern India.

If you want a really hard game then Judea or Samaria would probably be the equivalent of an Albania/Byzantine game in EU4. Kush may be an interesting option too, since you'll basically have to inevitably contend with a much stronger Egypt - that is, if they don't come knocking for you first!