Europa Universalis IV

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/GinnDagle on 2025-06-26 11:50:25+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Thangaror on 2025-06-26 11:48:56+00:00.

We all are aware how much the player actions can impact the AI nations, even if we do not take an active hand in their affairs, by our sheer presence.

There are some nations that succeed in pretty much every game, no matter what the player does and even if event X turns out in their favour: Castille and Aragon don't need to form Spain to be successful. Portugal just does their thing (player Granada is an obvious exception!).

Others just fail to get going quite often or can get crippled early on, and sometimes even the AI is able to curb the ambitions of a usually successful nation.

If you nick Constantinople from Byz early, the Ottomans will pretty much never rise to dominance. The AI though rarely is able to do so.

Muscovy is another example: if the Scandinavians take out large chunks of Novgorod early, which is something even the AI sometimes manages, Muscovy will just... stop doing stuff.

Are their any other nations that fall into this category?

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/letroublancs on 2025-06-26 11:46:45+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Royranibanaw on 2025-06-26 09:40:27+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/noisyyy_ on 2025-06-26 07:57:33+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Ikashi15 on 2025-06-26 06:42:24+00:00.

https://preview.redd.it/vuqyk0i3w79f1.png?width=2167&format=png&auto=webp&s=44db6fc5af991a4e49baf7585207cea82623d7b2

I was playing as the papal state when I decided I wanted to fight the ottomans, so I wanted to drag in as much allies as I could because the ottoman army was HUGE. But then, for some reason, the commonwealth didn't wanna join. So i checked and....well, that happened. How?????????

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/idan_zamir on 2025-06-26 00:49:33+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/kryndude on 2025-06-26 00:41:37+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/IdeaFragrant1099 on 2025-06-25 22:45:00+00:00.

I’ve always found the way EU4 draws cultural borders in Europe a bit odd — especially the division between Dutch and German cultures. I’m not a historian, so please correct me if I am wrong but I was taught that Low German (Plattdeutsch) used to be the dominant language family across much of Northern Europe in the 15. century — including modern-day Netherlands and Northern Germany. It was spread widely through the success of the Hanseatic League and wasn’t sharply divided along national lines like EU4 suggests.

From what I’ve learned, the “Dutch” identity as a distinct culture only really started forming during the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule in the late 16th century. That’s when a separate state, language standard, and national consciousness began to take shape. Before that, the region was linguistically and culturally part of a broader Low German continuum. Even High German (the basis for today’s Standard German) was more of a regional thing at that point — it only became widespread later due to the printing press and Luther’s Bible.

So seeing the Dutch culture split off in 1444 in EU4 has always struck me as anachronistic. But I get that the game has to simplify things and meabx my assumption where wrong

That said, I’m curious: 🟠 Do you think EU5 will handle this better? 🟠 Are there other culture borders in EU4 that really annoy you or feel way off?

The Dutch–German split has always personally bothered me, but I’d love to hear about other weird cultural borders that stand out to you — especially ones that impact gameplay in frustrating or immersion-breaking ways.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/thunder-bug- on 2025-06-25 23:40:08+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Captain_0verkill on 2025-06-25 22:27:39+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/IdeaFragrant1099 on 2025-06-25 20:53:09+00:00.

Some of my favorite campaigns have always been the ones where the Netherlands remains small and unassuming in Europe, sticking roughly to its historical borders, but builds a globe-spanning colonial empire overseas. There's something incredibly satisfying about playing tall, staying out of constant European wars, and still shaping world history from afar.

But my dream campaign takes this a step further.

I imagine a religiously, politically, and dynastically unified Europe—not under one massive empire, but as a peaceful patchwork of sovereign nation-states, each representing its own cultural group, with clean and elegant borders. Germany, Italy and the Balkans would be divided into many small nations, while France, Spain, Poland, etc., would each be unified within their natural cultural limits.

All of this would exist under the framework of a decentralized Holy Roman Empire, with the Netherlands as Emperor—not as a conqueror, but as a symbolic, stabilizing leader. Think of it like a proto-EU: nations cooperating, trading, and advancing in peace, with the Emperor guiding diplomacy and balance.

Meanwhile, the Dutch would dominate the colonial world—wealth flowing in, trade nodes channeled to the Low Countries, and naval supremacy securing global influence.

Key elements of the campaign:

The Netherlands stays small in Europe but becomes a global colonial power

Every European culture group forms a unified nation within its cultural borders

The HRE remains decentralized, a peaceful confederation of sovereign states

A religiously and politically stable continent, focused on development and diplomacy

I imagine am HRE including all of Italy and the Balkans, a clean Scandinavia, Commonwealth, Spain, GB, Russia and France all under the Dutch crown.

The “tallest” experience of all.

Has anybody tried this before or has suggestions how to approach this? Would this be even archievabal?

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Akbelbela on 2025-06-25 20:42:50+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/mrderp1212 on 2025-06-25 12:14:37+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Apprehensive_Role_41 on 2025-06-25 17:24:59+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/pyramid_screams on 2025-06-25 14:17:13+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/KingstonEagle on 2025-06-25 04:58:45+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Julianianian on 2025-06-25 13:28:51+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Propagandalf1395 on 2025-06-25 12:06:32+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/Diligent-Mechanic325 on 2025-06-25 07:25:29+00:00.

I always play Wide and try to conquer as many provinces as possibile, but would like to Spice it up a bit. What tall nation would you consider picking in a campaign.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/ra_joos on 2025-06-25 11:10:48+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/mllyllw on 2025-06-25 08:49:05+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/kryndude on 2025-06-25 04:49:16+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/kryndude on 2025-06-25 02:56:51+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/eu4 by /u/SeelenJ on 2025-06-24 19:55:29+00:00.