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It's the early 16th century, and I've just invented the Netherlands. It's taken me six hours to do it, but it's there. It's got all the requisite Netherland-y bits: canals, beer, and impressive societal stability, and I am very proud.
The EU series of grand strategy games has long left me baffled under the sheer weight of its interlocking systems. Put at the head of one of medieval Europe's countries, players must manage cities, armies, taxes, rulers, lines of succession – and everything else the era's inbred band of kings, queens and emperors convinced of their divine right to rule had to fiddle with.
Earlier Europa Universalis titles handled this vast task-list by swaddling the game in complicated menus that gave little feedback regarding the player's actions. Europa Universalis IV keeps its predecessors' predilection for technical detail and complex strategy, but knocks a lot of the sharp edges off. I find myself learning naturally how to rule well across a vast two-day, 20-person multiplayer session
I started the game as Burgundy in 1444. Uniting the historical provinces of the Netherlands was one of the missions that EUIV flagged up as I started the game, but it required I controlled another four territories that were under independent rule. My conquest of them was slow and unsteady. A year after taking charge, I declared war on Gelre, to the north, citing reconquest as my casus belli. A casus belli is a reasoning for war, something canny rulers will want to earn – via alliances, historical border changes, or subterfuge – before starting conflicts. Wars fought without a viable casus belli negatively affect prestige and can render your country unstable, leading to armed revolts.
Immediately after declaring war on Gelre, a group of northern states rose up in union. My Burgundian army was big enough to smash through Gelre's paltry forces and lay siege to its only territory, but I was being invaded from Liège, Aachen, Köln and Friesland. Anywhere that had a lovely Christmas market was sending its forces against me, besieging my northern territories and picking me apart in five places at once – as my over-extended forces lost men to attrition.
I could've sent my men against them, mopping groups of four or five thousand up with my 20,000 troops, but Gelre's capital was falling and I wanted to sue for peace. England and France – who'd spent the last year chatting and had downgraded the Hundred Years War to the Six Month Scuffle and reached a happy alliance – saw my bruised and bloody Burgundy. They swept in and besieged any cities missed by the chocolate box axis of Gelre and pals.
War is a major part of EUIV, but it's not a wargame. England and France weren't going to crush me in one swoop – and even if they could, taking on my territories would've meant dealing with countless peasant revolts. Instead, they offered me dual peace deals: France took two of my southern lands, and England took Flanders. My attempt to expand my borders instead saw them contract.
May 27, 2018 - History stands as the most effective and valuable source of putting nation on the course of progress and prosperity and saving them from the. The New Cambridge History Of Islam - Volume 3. Bosworth, The New Islamic dynasties: A chronological and genealogical manual (Edinburgh, 1996), pp. Mar 26, 2013 - The New Cambridge History of Islam 6 Volume SetThe New Cambridge History of. 3 TheNewCambridgeHistoryofIslamVolume3. History of islam volume 3 pdf.
That wasn't the end of it. EUIV has an events system, whereby history kicks up a crisis and forces the player to deal with it. I'd been dealt 'Peasant War', and spent the next decade crushing uprisings as they sprung up in my shrunken domain like a bloodier version of whack-a-mole. Five years in, my army was so beleagured it no longer had the manpower to deal with them: my only hope was to acquiesce to their demands for lowered taxes and try to regain a little stability.
Stability – like prestige, gold, and manpower – is measured along the top of EUIV's UI. The pieces interlock: gold enables you to buy regiments, which are then reinforced monthly out of your manpower allowance. Stability can range from +3 to -3: a +3 realm is content; a -3 one is always in danger of uprisings. Stability in turn can be boosted with a another set of numbers: power, which comes in administrative, diplomatic and military forms. Drop around 100 admin power on your realm and you'll solidify the government, cheering your people up, but you'll also slow down societal progress: these power points can be spent on new ideas and technology instead.
Taken alone, these elements are disparate and confusing, but EUIV's strength is in pulling them all in and tying them together, making players play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses. Feedback is not yet explicit – the build I played was missing a planned 'score' figure – but it's easy to see how a ruler is doing, and how best to adapt your approach and move forward.
After my Burgundian dark times, I spent years consolidating after being dealt a ruler who was useless on the battlefield, but incredibly gifted in the vagaries of economic management. I rebuilt and continued my assault on Gelre, this time not with sword but with pen, using diplomats to sow seeds of friendship, eventually taking the province on as a vassal, before annexing it fully under my rule half a century later. My Netherlands was complete.
There's very little information about this wonderful thing, so after doing some research I decided to write it all up.What is a megacampaignParadox Grand Strategy games cover very long time, and most people never even 'finish' a single game of CK2, or EU4 - but it's possible to go the other extreme and play a 'megacampaign' - start in one game, then convert to another, and keep playing. Possibly even chain multiple such games, like CK2 to EU4 to Vic2 to HoI4.Since Paradox games make it hard to avoid blobbing, you pretty much have to play with mods, severe self-imposed restrictions, switch countries every now and then, or otherwise do silly things or your second/third/fourth campaigns will be pretty boring. Please don't ironman megacampaignsI'd generally dislike ironman, but it's even more important not to play ironman for a few reasons:
Or if you really want to, go ahead, just don't say I didn't warned you.
What is the converterThere's been many converter tools which take save game from one game and create a mod for another.In theory you could convert save game to save game, but converting to a mod is much more flexible, so that's the generally used method. Mod setups starting map, rulers, and whatever else it felt like including. CK2 to EU4 converter is a builtin feature of Crusader Kings 2. You can only access it if you have converter DLC. If you want to continue to Vic2 and HoI4, you'll need to use third party tools. Where are the filesIf you want to mod it, or just look at it, you might be surprised. Unlike pretty much other DLC-locked content which is included in base game, just with some flags telling it to turn it off, all converter files are in DLC zip.Go to your Crusader Kings 2 game folder, find dlc/dlc030.zip, and unpack it somewhere. If you want to mod it, you can include modified files directly in your mod, in eu4_converter folder, just as if they were in base game. What converter doesConverter creates EU4 map matching CK2 map, with proper cultures, religions, dynasties, and government types, adding new countries as necessary.It creates matching rulers with sensibly mapped stats, traits, and heirs. It reassigns province development and centers of trade. In limited way it also sets up vassals. It will convert any game to 1444.11.11 game, no matter at which point you decided to use it. It will convert your stash of CK2 gold to EU4 gold at 10:1 rate, and your prestige at 50:1 rate. What converter doesn't doIt ignores any diplomatic relations or wars.It ignores any family relations, except for dynasty name. So if you're king of England and your son is ruling France, that won't be modeled in any way except giving you same dynasty. All provinces produce same goods as before (including gold), are in same trade nodes, have same estuaries, and other modifiers - with exception of centers of trade. It doesn't extrapolate outside map - so even if you converted everyone to Zoroastrian, you'll still need Sunnis in Africa and Indonesia on conversion in any place not included on CK2 map. All ongoing rebellions are cancelled. Does converter randomizeThe process seems to be completely deterministic.If you export multiple times without reloading, you'll get same files. If you do it after reloading, you'll get trivial changes, like order if tags (so things like which duke gets X01 and which gets X02 can flip), but there doesn't seem to be any meaningful randomness. How active DLCs affect converter
If you have Sunset Invasion DLC active, new world map will have very powerful Aztec and Inca empires, will be much better settled, and will be mostly in High American technology group. Otherwise, it will look pretty much the same as vanilla. This is true even if Aztec invasion never happened.
If you have Sons of Abraham DLC active, heresies will convert to individual religions, otherwise they'll get folded back to their base religions.
If you have Conclave DLC, it uses different system to convert government types.
Can I use converter with modded CK2 gamesYes, as long as they don't modify the map significantly.One notable exception is my Suez Canal mod, which is totally fine to use with converter as it doesn't add or remove provinces. You won't have canal prebuilt in EU4. What affects ruler attributes and traitsRuler/heir martial, stewardship, and diplomacy attributes divided by 3 and rounded up are what ends up as their EU4 attributes - capped at 6 of course.There's some correction for underage rulers, since in CK2 children grow attributes with age, while in EU4 toddlers are born 6/6/6 or 0/0/0 somehow. This means any attribute at 16 or higher is converted to a 6 - so it might be worth switching focus before conversion, just to get that extra point. If you're immortal, you'll get immortal trait in EU4. Other traits are based on trait_conversion.txt. For some reason converter will only generate 2 traits, even if ruler reigned long enough to get 3. Conversion is based mostly on your traits, and secondarily on your attributes. Some good CK2 traits like greedy convert to some bad EU4 traits like greedy. It's mostly nothing to worry about unless you have an immortal ruler. How is map createdCK2 titles are described by rank and name (like c_jylland is County of Jylland), while EU4 are described by number (like 15 Jylland), and their names are just descriptive and occasionally not unique (like 157 Bihar and 558 Bihar).It is based on many to many mapping in province_table.csv. Every CK2 title (not just a county!) can map to some number of EU4 provinces. In simplest case a single title maps to a single title, for example in Iceland CK2 has two counties. So CK2's Vestisland maps to EU4's 370 Reykjavik, while CK2's Austisland maps to EU4's 371 Akureyri. A title can map to multiple counties - like county of Holstein maps to two provinces - 1775 Holstein and 4141 Ditmarschen. So whoever controls it gets both. Sometimes multiple CK2 titles map to single EU4 province - like counties of Lyon and Forez both map to 203 Lyonnais. In such case country holding majority gets it, and if someone else held part of it, they'll get a permanent claim on it. Quite often 2 counties and a duchy map to a province, for example counties of Coruna and Santiago and duchy of Galicia all map to 206 Galicia. If duke holds one of them, he gets 2/3 and gets it. I haven't investigated what happens in 50%:50% splits, presumably it's based on their order somehow, since conversion is not random. What affects province development traitsDevelopment seems to be redistributed between provinces based on total value of building in each province.This means that provinces with more slots will generally get more development, because they'll generally have more buildings in them. Because development is redistributed and not mapped, games converted early or late will have same overall EU4 development. Things like technology levels, saved technology points, whose capital is it etc. have no effect on converted development. Development mapping is separate from province mapping - so one very well developed Jylland could give you 4 30-development EU4 provinces, while 2 very well developed counties of Coruna and Santiago would only give you 1 30-development EU4 province. What affects centers of tradeCenters of trade are also redistributed, generating approximately but not exactly same number, and generally to high development provinces, but I couldn't figure out exact mapping logic.It doesn't seem to strongly relate to merchant republics, sometimes two CoTs spawn next to each other. I couldn't figure out how it works. What affects government typeIf you have Conclave, that otherwise purely cosmetic feature describing your government as 'Hereditary Despotic Monarchy' is actually used to drive mapping, with government_table.csv determining it.A few countries - like Papacy, holy orders, and other religious heads - are hardcoded to specific types, also listed in government_table.csv. Which government flavor you get is determined by common/government_flavor/00_government_flavor.txt, based on your laws, religions etc. One silly thing about current table is that merchant republics will be converted to merchant, oligarchic, or administrative republics based on their laws, which feels really silly and I'd recommend fixing that in a mod. What affects culturesCultures of characters and provinces are mapped by culture_table.csv.Every mapping is currently unique, so you can get Horse culture in EU4. What affects religions
If you have Sons of Abraham, converter uses heresy_table_soa.csv, where every religion maps one to one.
If you don't, it uses religion_table.csv, where heresies are folded back into base religions, including some dubious mappings of unreformed pagans to various EU4 vanilla pagan types.
One very notable problem is that all Buddhists will map to EU4 Theravada, completely ignoring your character's traits. Off-map Buddhists in EU4 will have same groups as vanilla. Converter doesn't generate PUs, marches, protectorates, or tributaries, but it sometimes generates vassals. There's special logic for HRE.Another problem for CK2 Buddhists is that your vassals will rarely convert Hindu/Jain provinces as they're in same culture group, but in EU4 they're suddenly in a separate group ever since patch EU4 1.6 - which to be honest still feels like a highly questionable choice. For non-HRE countries, if you have Conclave, government_table.csv specifies maximum number of vassals generated - between 0 to 2 depending on your laws. Without Conclave, rules are specified by defines.lua and maximum number of vassals is 4, but it will only happen at zero crown authority. Generated vassals will often start at very high liberty desire. How Holy Roman Empire worksOne title, chosen by defines.lua (by default e_hre, but you can change it) uses special Holy Roman Empire converter mechanics.It will turn all your CK2 vassals into independent countries unless you have absolute crown authority (non-Conclave), or its Conclave equivalent. This also includes your de jure vassals - so even if you're king of Lombardy and Holy Roman Emperor, you'll be left with just your demesne and duke tier title. Meanwhile even viceroys will keep all their vassals' lands, de jure or not, which feels rather silly overall. I'd recommend destroying all king-level viceroyalties by console if you want to convert HRE. All lands in your empire, regardless of de jure status, become part of empire, even if they're in Africa or Asia. You can be HRE as any religion, like Zoroastrian or Jewish. It will generally result in HRE starting at religious peace. Emperor will have a permanent claim on any province contested between HRE members due to map conversion rules, which I find rather silly, and I'd recommend removing them. EU4 interface for HRE has very small area for HRE princes, so it's very likely conversion game will just overflow it. Then again, it's not uncommon for the interface to overflow during EU4 campaign if you create a bunch of new princes. It's another example of Paradox games seriously needing bigger interface mods for people with first world monitors. What affects claimsYou'll get permanent claims on any land that's your de jure that you don't own - including land generated by your vassals (but not HRE members).You'll also get a permanent claim on any land that should be partly yours by map conversion, but which another country got. There are no regular claims. How are tags convertedEvery CK2 country - independent, generated vassal, or generated HRE member - gets EU4 tag.It's based on their primary title and nation_table.csv. So for example kingdom of Bulgaria (k_bulgaria) gets tag BUL (Bulgaria). Converter also has a small number of unique tags like ISR Israel, JOM Jomsvikings etc. Countries with existing tags have same national ideas they'd have in vanilla EU4. For dynamically generated countries, it's based on their cultures etc., just as for existing EU4 minors. However - if you use cultural names (like Norge, Danmark etc.) these will always convert to dynamic tags. This doesn't affect their idea groups. What happens if there are duplicate tagsSometimes two countries map to same tag, like duchy of Perm and kingdom of Perm. One of them will get proper tag PRM, the other will get dynamic tag with same name. In my tests, duchy got the real tag, and it's not clear why.It's probably good idea to rename them manually in such case. If you rename a country in CK2, it keeps that new name on conversion. What affects government rankIt's directly mapped from CK2.There are rules within EU4 that can change your rank - for example if you're vassal, or non-elector HRE member you'll get reduced to duchy on next monthly tick. What affects technology groupsTechnology groups are based on location of your capital. You'll get Western, Eastern, Muslim, Indian, West African, and East African tech groups based on which group your capital would get it in EU4.One exception is that nomads always get nomad technology group. I haven't seen any Anatolian (Ottoman) technology group nations. Things like your religion, your technology, your primary tag etc. don't seem to have any impact on tech group you'll get - if you're Sunni France with maxed out tech but your capital is in Constantinople you'll get Eastern group. Rest of the world gets their predefined groups. If you play with Sunset Invasion New World will be mostly High American technology group, which is strongest group in game - like Western except with better units. All this doesn't matter much since institution system got added. How national ideas work in EU4In normal EU4 game each national ideas have associated trigger, so to get English ideas you need to start as ENG England or GBR Great Britain; to get Rajput ideas you need to be Rajput or Malvi culture and non-Muslim etc.If no ideas match, you get generic National Ideas, which tend to be awful. By now very few countries in EU4 get National Ideas. What affects national ideas in converted gamesConverter adds some new national ideas with new triggers, for example Karlings, Israel, or Jomsvikings get some new ideas.Converter also disables a lot of idea groups from EU4, and changes trigger rules for others. For example to get English ideas you no longer need specific tag, you need to be English or Anglo-Saxon culture kingdom or empire with at least 10 provinces (after conversion) and at least 5 coastal provinces. Simply being kingdom of England or ENG tag does not suffice. You can check these rules in common/ideas/*.txt in generated mod, which comes from copy/common/ideas/*.txt and sunset_invasion/common/ideas/*.txt. What about nations matching no rulesBecause these rules tend to be very restrictive, most countries get no ideas - they'll show as having generic 'National Ideas' when you start new EU4 game.That's not however what happens - they all get some random set of custom ideas, similar to what you could do with EU4 nation designer. CK2 converter changes weights for these custom ideas to better work with generated countries. Whenever you start new campaign, EU4 will randomly select new set of ideas, so there's no way to predict them. You can check their weights in common/custom_ideas/*.txt in generated mod, which comes from copy/common/custom_ideas/*.txt. Are any buildings generatedThe only buildings generated are basic forts, and I can't see any pattern to them.Known BugsAs of CK2 2.8 Jade Dragon, converter got updated to support EU4 1.23 Cradle of Civilization. There are still some unsolved problems.With Sunset Invasion, some new world provinces have 0 base production. These are:
As two of five bugged provinces are Aztec goldmines, this effectively makes them far weaker than they were supposed to be.
Occasionally province's controller won't have a core on it for no clear reason. There's a bunch of province visibility glitches depending on tech group, like seeing Iceland but not waters around it. These generally don't cause any serious gameplay problems. Playing with any combinations of versions other than supported ones (and hotfixes) will invariably cause additional issues. Usually there are minor, like any newly added provinces having wrong setup - either uncolonized, or controlled by whoever controlled them in 1444 vanilla EU4 start. Using converter with map modsIf you're willing to mod province_table.csv, you can have map mods on both ends, but that's significant project, especially without proper tools.Then again, the kind of people who play megacampaigns are probably excactly the kind of people who would put that effort. If mod you're using changes map only somewhat, you can always try converting and then clean up a bit manually. Advanced conversionYou can get a lot from the converter:
Writing your own converter
Converter doesn't do anything magical - the most complex part is province_table.csv. So based on just that file and save game it wouldn't be that hard to just create your own converter, customized whichever way you need.
Are there any third party converters?The only one I'm aware of doesn't work with current version of the game, so no.It's not terribly hard to write one (especially if you reuse province table), but then the real work of keeping it updated begins. SummaryAnd that's all I discovered about the converter. If you have any corrections, questions, or feedback, please comment and I'll update this post.
HomeMainstreamThe Best Europa Universalis IV Countries to Start With for an Easy..
Europa Universalis IV has just been launched and I am sure that you have a great time playing the game. Fortunately, Paradox didn’t come up with just a sequel but a brand new and really challenging game, one that can prove really difficult to win for most of us. Therefore, I have decided to create this article and share with you the best Europa Universalis 4 countries to start with to have an easier shot at world domination and turning your country into the best one that ever was.
Of course, some might agree that the real challenge and fun in the game comes from choosing some really tough starting countries, but I do think that an easy win can raise the morale and keep us going. So if that’s what you want, here are the best starting countries for Europa Universalis IV in our opinion:
1. Portugal – considered the regular “easy” country in Europa Universalis games, your only worry should be to stay on the good side of Castille. It’s pretty isolated too and it’s great at helping you go on a full scale colonization. Strong navy is not optional, though!
2. Castille – Neighbors with Portugal, so probably this “easy” part is passed on. Has the disadvantage of being France’s neighbor so also has to go colonial, but otherwise really easy to manage.
3. France – considered one of the most powerful countries in the game, France gives you all options and it’s up for you to decide how to play: go colonial or not, France is a great choice.
4. Ottomans – another really powerful country that can see you conquer the entire world (that was the initial plan, right?). You need to go on a full scale invasion and manage your ever-expanding empire, but the Ottomans have the advantage of being really powerful and situated in a region that opens up your gates for conquering… everything!
5. England – being a island nation makes it very easy to manage. However, it’s a bit too isolated for my taste and the navy focus adds an extra degree of challenge, but if you want to try out things, England allows for quite a few mistakes to go unnoticed.
So these would be our 5 best Europa Universalis IV countries for an easy victory. Which one is your favorite?
Two weeks ago, we interviewed Paradox Development Studio on the new converter DLC that lets you import your version of medieval Europe from Crusader Kings II into Europa Univesalis IV . Now that the DLC is out, we went hunting for some of the less than historically accurate groups and nations that can be carried over. From Viking holy orders to a restored Roman Empire, here's how they pan out in EU4.
The Jomsvikings
A Norse Pagan warrior brotherhood that functions as a Holy Order in CK2, the Jomsvikings become a playable Warrior Cult (basically identical to a theocracy) if they survive with landed titles into EU4. In addition to the Land and Naval Forcelimit modifiers they gain from importing the Reformed Norse faith, they also have a unique idea group:
The Jomsvikings Code: Morale of Armies +0.10
The Legend of Jomsborg: Land Forcelimit +15%, Naval Forcelimit +5%
For the Glory of the Allfather: Manpower Recovery Speed +10%
By Thor's Name: Permanent cassus belli against all non-pagans
Adopt Feudal System: Production Efficiency +10%
Implement the Högting: Stability Cost -10%
Valhalla Awaits: Yearly Prestige +1
Their traditions grant a bonus to Leader Shock and Discipline, and completing the tree grants a +10% to Infantry Combat Ability. So, war. And more war. Especially in the early game (when Shock is more important than Fire), they are likely to have one of the scariest armies in the world. I recommend the Quality ideas in the Military group, which will make your soldiers truly peerless.
The Roman Empire
If you managed to restore the Roman Empire as Byzantium using CK2's Legacy of Rome DLC, they will be imported into EU4 as an Empire with a unique idea group:
Pax Romana: National Revolt Risk -1
Legacy of Rome: Diplomatic Reputation +5
S.P.Q.R.: Stability Cost -20%
The Roman Legions: Land Forcelimit +15%, Infantry Combat Ability +10%
Roman Architecture: Production Efficiency +20%
Imperial Bureaucracy: National Tax Modifier +10%
Imperium Sine Fine: Core Creation Cost -20%
Their traditions grant +10% Discipline and +1 Yearly Legitimacy, while completing the track gives you an insane +33% Manpower. This seems more than a little overpowered, based on the other idea groups in the game. But hey, restoring Rome in CK2 isn't easy, so being rewarded with all the tools to become an intercontinental superpower is probably appropriate. In contrast to the Jomsvikings, Rome pairs well with the Quantity military ideas, which should swell your ranks to the point that globally-based legions are barely a tax on your resources.
The High American Tech Group
If your CK2 game was running the Sunset Invasion DLC when you exported it, the Europeans will find a very different version of the Americas when they arrive in EU4. All of the Native American Nations will be lifted up from the New World tech group (200% tech cost, -2 Monarch Power) to a fictional 'High American' tech group, which is identical to the Western tech group (100% tech cost, no monarch power modifiers.)
Central America is blanketed by the Aztec Empire, while their rivals, the Incans (who, if you payed attention to CK2's Aztec Invasion Events, actually invented gunpowder infantry in this universe) dominate South America. Contrary to what I was told in the interview, the other North American states from Vanilla EU4 still exist as independent nations, and they have High American technology. The Creek, Shawnee, and Huron are Feudal Monarchies. the Cherokee have a Theocracy, and the Mayans and Iroquois are.. Merchant Republics, for some reason. All follow the Aztec Religion, save the Incans, and the Shamanist Huron.
The new Aztec and Incan relgions are both considered part of the Pagan religious group. The Aztec Religion grants -1 National Revolt Risk and +0.5 Morale of Armies. The Incan Religion grants +10% Tax Modifier, and +1 Tolerance of the True Faith.
The Aztecs and Incans also get unique idea groups, while the rest of the North Americans use the generic ones.
Aztec ideas are mostly focused on warfare and forcibly colonizing the Old World:
Build the Tepochicalli and the Calmecac: Technology Cost -5%
Enact the Flower Wars: National Revolt Risk -1
Invade the Whiteskins: Naval Attrition -10%, enables Conquistadors and Explorers even if you haven't unlocked the prerequisite tech
State Administration Reform: National Tax Modifier +5%
Found the Imperial Cities: Production Efficiency +5%
Found the Imperial Jaguars and Eagles: Discipline +10%
The Imperial Road Network: Global Tariffs +10%
Aztec traditions grant +5% Infantry Combat Ability and -5% Advisor Cost. Completing the track grants +0.1 Morale of Armies.
Incan ideas focus more on economy and infrastructure.
Census Record Quipo: National Manpower Modifier +5%
Enforce Quechua: Stability Cost -5%
The Written Word: Technology Cost -10%
Official Axe-monies: National Trade Income +10%
Imperial Gold Trading: Merchants +1
State Administration Reform: National Tax Modifier +5%
The Imperial Road Network: Global Tariffs +10%
Incan traditions grant +20% Fort Defense and -5% Advisor Cost.Completing the track grants +10% Land Forcelimit.
If you haven't yet, check out our review of Europa Universalis IV .
There's very little information about this wonderful thing, so after doing some research I decided to write it all up.What is a megacampaignBest Ideas For France Eu4 HistoryParadox Grand Strategy games cover very long time, and most people never even 'finish' a single game of CK2, or EU4 - but it's possible to go the other extreme and play a 'megacampaign' - start in one game, then convert to another, and keep playing. Possibly even chain multiple such games, like CK2 to EU4 to Vic2 to HoI4.Since Paradox games make it hard to avoid blobbing, you pretty much have to play with mods, severe self-imposed restrictions, switch countries every now and then, or otherwise do silly things or your second/third/fourth campaigns will be pretty boring. Please don't ironman megacampaignsI'd generally dislike ironman, but it's even more important not to play ironman for a few reasons:
Or if you really want to, go ahead, just don't say I didn't warned you.
What is the converterThere's been many converter tools which take save game from one game and create a mod for another.In theory you could convert save game to save game, but converting to a mod is much more flexible, so that's the generally used method. Mod setups starting map, rulers, and whatever else it felt like including. Best Ideas For France Eu4 2017CK2 to EU4 converter is a builtin feature of Crusader Kings 2. You can only access it if you have converter DLC. If you want to continue to Vic2 and HoI4, you'll need to use third party tools. Where are the filesIf you want to mod it, or just look at it, you might be surprised. Unlike pretty much other DLC-locked content which is included in base game, just with some flags telling it to turn it off, all converter files are in DLC zip.Go to your Crusader Kings 2 game folder, find dlc/dlc030.zip, and unpack it somewhere. If you want to mod it, you can include modified files directly in your mod, in eu4_converter folder, just as if they were in base game. What converter doesConverter creates EU4 map matching CK2 map, with proper cultures, religions, dynasties, and government types, adding new countries as necessary.It creates matching rulers with sensibly mapped stats, traits, and heirs. It reassigns province development and centers of trade. In limited way it also sets up vassals. It will convert any game to 1444.11.11 game, no matter at which point you decided to use it. It will convert your stash of CK2 gold to EU4 gold at 10:1 rate, and your prestige at 50:1 rate. What converter doesn't doIt ignores any diplomatic relations or wars.It ignores any family relations, except for dynasty name. So if you're king of England and your son is ruling France, that won't be modeled in any way except giving you same dynasty. All provinces produce same goods as before (including gold), are in same trade nodes, have same estuaries, and other modifiers - with exception of centers of trade. It doesn't extrapolate outside map - so even if you converted everyone to Zoroastrian, you'll still need Sunnis in Africa and Indonesia on conversion in any place not included on CK2 map. All ongoing rebellions are cancelled. Does converter randomizeThe process seems to be completely deterministic.If you export multiple times without reloading, you'll get same files. If you do it after reloading, you'll get trivial changes, like order if tags (so things like which duke gets X01 and which gets X02 can flip), but there doesn't seem to be any meaningful randomness. How active DLCs affect converter
If you have Sunset Invasion DLC active, new world map will have very powerful Aztec and Inca empires, will be much better settled, and will be mostly in High American technology group. Otherwise, it will look pretty much the same as vanilla. This is true even if Aztec invasion never happened.
If you have Sons of Abraham DLC active, heresies will convert to individual religions, otherwise they'll get folded back to their base religions.
If you have Conclave DLC, it uses different system to convert government types.
Can I use converter with modded CK2 gamesYes, as long as they don't modify the map significantly.One notable exception is my Suez Canal mod, which is totally fine to use with converter as it doesn't add or remove provinces. You won't have canal prebuilt in EU4. What affects ruler attributes and traitsRuler/heir martial, stewardship, and diplomacy attributes divided by 3 and rounded up are what ends up as their EU4 attributes - capped at 6 of course.There's some correction for underage rulers, since in CK2 children grow attributes with age, while in EU4 toddlers are born 6/6/6 or 0/0/0 somehow. This means any attribute at 16 or higher is converted to a 6 - so it might be worth switching focus before conversion, just to get that extra point. If you're immortal, you'll get immortal trait in EU4. Other traits are based on trait_conversion.txt. For some reason converter will only generate 2 traits, even if ruler reigned long enough to get 3. Conversion is based mostly on your traits, and secondarily on your attributes. Some good CK2 traits like greedy convert to some bad EU4 traits like greedy. It's mostly nothing to worry about unless you have an immortal ruler. How is map createdCK2 titles are described by rank and name (like c_jylland is County of Jylland), while EU4 are described by number (like 15 Jylland), and their names are just descriptive and occasionally not unique (like 157 Bihar and 558 Bihar).It is based on many to many mapping in Eu4 France First Ideaprovince_table.csv. Every CK2 title (not just a county!) can map to some number of EU4 provinces.In simplest case a single title maps to a single title, for example in Iceland CK2 has two counties. So CK2's Vestisland maps to EU4's 370 Reykjavik, while CK2's Austisland maps to EU4's 371 Akureyri. A title can map to multiple counties - like county of Holstein maps to two provinces - 1775 Holstein and 4141 Ditmarschen. So whoever controls it gets both. Sometimes multiple CK2 titles map to single EU4 province - like counties of Lyon and Forez both map to 203 Lyonnais. In such case country holding majority gets it, and if someone else held part of it, they'll get a permanent claim on it. Quite often 2 counties and a duchy map to a province, for example counties of Coruna and Santiago and duchy of Galicia all map to 206 Galicia. If duke holds one of them, he gets 2/3 and gets it. I haven't investigated what happens in 50%:50% splits, presumably it's based on their order somehow, since conversion is not random. What affects province development traitsDevelopment seems to be redistributed between provinces based on total value of building in each province.This means that provinces with more slots will generally get more development, because they'll generally have more buildings in them. Because development is redistributed and not mapped, games converted early or late will have same overall EU4 development. Things like technology levels, saved technology points, whose capital is it etc. have no effect on converted development. Development mapping is separate from province mapping - so one very well developed Jylland could give you 4 30-development EU4 provinces, while 2 very well developed counties of Coruna and Santiago would only give you 1 30-development EU4 province. What affects centers of tradeCenters of trade are also redistributed, generating approximately but not exactly same number, and generally to high development provinces, but I couldn't figure out exact mapping logic.It doesn't seem to strongly relate to merchant republics, sometimes two CoTs spawn next to each other. I couldn't figure out how it works. What affects government typeIf you have Conclave, that otherwise purely cosmetic feature describing your government as 'Hereditary Despotic Monarchy' is actually used to drive mapping, with government_table.csv determining it.A few countries - like Papacy, holy orders, and other religious heads - are hardcoded to specific types, also listed in government_table.csv. Which government flavor you get is determined by common/government_flavor/00_government_flavor.txt, based on your laws, religions etc. One silly thing about current table is that merchant republics will be converted to merchant, oligarchic, or administrative republics based on their laws, which feels really silly and I'd recommend fixing that in a mod. What affects culturesCultures of characters and provinces are mapped by culture_table.csv.Every mapping is currently unique, so you can get Horse culture in EU4. What affects religions
If you have Sons of Abraham, converter uses heresy_table_soa.csv, where every religion maps one to one.
If you don't, it uses religion_table.csv, where heresies are folded back into base religions, including some dubious mappings of unreformed pagans to various EU4 vanilla pagan types.
One very notable problem is that all Buddhists will map to EU4 Theravada, completely ignoring your character's traits. Off-map Buddhists in EU4 will have same groups as vanilla. Converter doesn't generate PUs, marches, protectorates, or tributaries, but it sometimes generates vassals. There's special logic for HRE.Another problem for CK2 Buddhists is that your vassals will rarely convert Hindu/Jain provinces as they're in same culture group, but in EU4 they're suddenly in a separate group ever since patch EU4 1.6 - which to be honest still feels like a highly questionable choice. For non-HRE countries, if you have Conclave, government_table.csv specifies maximum number of vassals generated - between 0 to 2 depending on your laws. Without Conclave, rules are specified by defines.lua and maximum number of vassals is 4, but it will only happen at zero crown authority. Generated vassals will often start at very high liberty desire. How Holy Roman Empire worksOne title, chosen by defines.lua (by default e_hre, but you can change it) uses special Holy Roman Empire converter mechanics.It will turn all your CK2 vassals into independent countries unless you have absolute crown authority (non-Conclave), or its Conclave equivalent. This also includes your de jure vassals - so even if you're king of Lombardy and Holy Roman Emperor, you'll be left with just your demesne and duke tier title. Meanwhile even viceroys will keep all their vassals' lands, de jure or not, which feels rather silly overall. I'd recommend destroying all king-level viceroyalties by console if you want to convert HRE. All lands in your empire, regardless of de jure status, become part of empire, even if they're in Africa or Asia. You can be HRE as any religion, like Zoroastrian or Jewish. It will generally result in HRE starting at religious peace. Emperor will have a permanent claim on any province contested between HRE members due to map conversion rules, which I find rather silly, and I'd recommend removing them. EU4 interface for HRE has very small area for HRE princes, so it's very likely conversion game will just overflow it. Then again, it's not uncommon for the interface to overflow during EU4 campaign if you create a bunch of new princes. It's another example of Paradox games seriously needing bigger interface mods for people with first world monitors. What affects claimsYou'll get permanent claims on any land that's your de jure that you don't own - including land generated by your vassals (but not HRE members).You'll also get a permanent claim on any land that should be partly yours by map conversion, but which another country got. There are no regular claims. How are tags convertedEvery CK2 country - independent, generated vassal, or generated HRE member - gets EU4 tag.It's based on their primary title and nation_table.csv. So for example kingdom of Bulgaria (k_bulgaria) gets tag BUL (Bulgaria). Converter also has a small number of unique tags like ISR Israel, JOM Jomsvikings etc. If tag is not listed, a new dynamic tag will be generated like X01, X02 etc., with appropriate names. Countries with existing tags have same national ideas they'd have in vanilla EU4. For dynamically generated countries, it's based on their cultures etc., just as for existing EU4 minors. However - if you use cultural names (like Norge, Danmark etc.) these will always convert to dynamic tags. This doesn't affect their idea groups. What happens if there are duplicate tagsSometimes two countries map to same tag, like duchy of Perm and kingdom of Perm. One of them will get proper tag PRM, the other will get dynamic tag with same name. In my tests, duchy got the real tag, and it's not clear why.It's probably good idea to rename them manually in such case. If you rename a country in CK2, it keeps that new name on conversion. What affects government rankIt's directly mapped from CK2.There are rules within EU4 that can change your rank - for example if you're vassal, or non-elector HRE member you'll get reduced to duchy on next monthly tick. What affects technology groupsTechnology groups are based on location of your capital. You'll get Western, Eastern, Muslim, Indian, West African, and East African tech groups based on which group your capital would get it in EU4.One exception is that nomads always get nomad technology group. I haven't seen any Anatolian (Ottoman) technology group nations. Things like your religion, your technology, your primary tag etc. don't seem to have any impact on tech group you'll get - if you're Sunni France with maxed out tech but your capital is in Constantinople you'll get Eastern group. Rest of the world gets their predefined groups. If you play with Sunset Invasion New World will be mostly High American technology group, which is strongest group in game - like Western except with better units. All this doesn't matter much since institution system got added. How national ideas work in EU4In normal EU4 game each national ideas have associated trigger, so to get English ideas you need to start as ENG England or GBR Great Britain; to get Rajput ideas you need to be Rajput or Malvi culture and non-Muslim etc.If no ideas match, you get generic National Ideas, which tend to be awful. By now very few countries in EU4 get National Ideas. What affects national ideas in converted gamesConverter adds some new national ideas with new triggers, for example Karlings, Israel, or Jomsvikings get some new ideas.Converter also disables a lot of idea groups from EU4, and changes trigger rules for others. For example to get English ideas you no longer need specific tag, you need to be English or Anglo-Saxon culture kingdom or empire with at least 10 provinces (after conversion) and at least 5 coastal provinces. Simply being kingdom of England or ENG tag does not suffice. You can check these rules in common/ideas/*.txt in generated mod, which comes from copy/common/ideas/*.txt and sunset_invasion/common/ideas/*.txt. What about nations matching no rulesBecause these rules tend to be very restrictive, most countries get no ideas - they'll show as having generic 'National Ideas' when you start new EU4 game.That's not however what happens - they all get some random set of custom ideas, similar to what you could do with EU4 nation designer. CK2 converter changes weights for these custom ideas to better work with generated countries. Whenever you start new campaign, EU4 will randomly select new set of ideas, so there's no way to predict them. You can check their weights in common/custom_ideas/*.txt in generated mod, which comes from copy/common/custom_ideas/*.txt. Are any buildings generatedThe only buildings generated are basic forts, and I can't see any pattern to them.Known BugsAs of CK2 2.8 Jade Dragon, converter got updated to support EU4 1.23 Cradle of Civilization. There are still some unsolved problems.With Sunset Invasion, some new world provinces have 0 base production. These are:
As two of five bugged provinces are Aztec goldmines, this effectively makes them far weaker than they were supposed to be.
Occasionally province's controller won't have a core on it for no clear reason. There's a bunch of province visibility glitches depending on tech group, like seeing Iceland but not waters around it. These generally don't cause any serious gameplay problems. Playing with any combinations of versions other than supported ones (and hotfixes) will invariably cause additional issues. Usually there are minor, like any newly added provinces having wrong setup - either uncolonized, or controlled by whoever controlled them in 1444 vanilla EU4 start. Using converter with map modsIf you're willing to mod province_table.csv, you can have map mods on both ends, but that's significant project, especially without proper tools.Then again, the kind of people who play megacampaigns are probably excactly the kind of people who would put that effort. If mod you're using changes map only somewhat, you can always try converting and then clean up a bit manually. Advanced conversionYou can get a lot from the converter:
Writing your own converter
Converter doesn't do anything magical - the most complex part is province_table.csv. So based on just that file and save game it wouldn't be that hard to just create your own converter, customized whichever way you need.
Are there any third party converters?The only one I'm aware of doesn't work with current version of the game, so no.It's not terribly hard to write one (especially if you reuse province table), but then the real work of keeping it updated begins. SummaryAnd that's all I discovered about the converter. If you have any corrections, questions, or feedback, please comment and I'll update this post.Comments are closed.
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