You’ll never make it far if you’re not prepared for the shock waves of a successful war. There isn’t a Europa Universalis IV beginner guide, YouTube video, or Let’s play that can truly teach a spectator the stress of serious overextension quite like personal experience. We’re talking about Army, Navy, and Fort maintenance costs, rebel uprisings, and the cost to core provinces. With that said, bigger nations come with bigger problems. Blobbing is fun in EU4 because it means you have conquered other nations and absorbed provinces. It’s beyond thrilling to see your nation grow to a giant blob on the map. It’s difficult to learn this game when you’re sitting on 1-5 provinces waiting for Admin, Diplo, and Military points while running on loans. Just make sure to keep yourself involved and learning. France, Burgundy, and Britain are great choices too. Ottomans and Austria are absolute powerhouses from 1444-1821. Portugal and Castile offer a safe and exciting game. Your best bet is to keep to the Great Powers in Europe. If you do, you will get demolished the instant colonists arrive.

The worst thing you can do in your first EU4 game is to pick a nation in North America, South America, or a small nation in Asia on your first few campaigns.

Green is passive alerts, Yellow indicates warnings, upgrades, or timers, and Red indicated urgent and nation-threatening events. Those notifications will point you to key interests that you’ll have to address depending on their urgency.

Keep an eye on the notification banners at the top left. It also gives you a month headstart to prevent wars by improving relations with hostile nations. If you hit pause at the beginning, you give yourself an opportunity to create Royal Marriages and Alliance with key partners, establish merchants, and mothball forts to keep your income flowing.

The EU4 AI won’t wait for you to play around with troops or get lost in the dozens of tabs. It’s so important to hit pause at the absolute beginning of every campaign. We’ll keep it light in this EU4 beginners guide, starting with some good general tips to keep you moving through to January 3rd, 1821.

Europa universalis 4 england