Europa Universalis IV is a sandbox type of game, which does not impose any restrictions in

particular and gives the player a total freedom of actions, limited only by imagination and the
size of the globe. This is why this guide does not focus on describing the gameplay in detail with
a particular nation step by step, but rather attempts to acquaint the reader with the options and
the optimal ways of using them. Furthermore, if you have had no previous experience with the
games of the series, or similar games developed by Paradox (Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron,
Victoria), you should acquaint yourself with tutorial. This guide does not describe the basics of
the gameplay e.g. loading troops onto the ships . It, instead, focuses on more complicated options
that do not get explained by the game itself.

Nationality selection is a very important decision
Before you start the game, you need to select the starting year, as well as the country that you
want to play as. The year of beginning does not matter that much and it only depends on how
long you are indenting to play and if you want to have any particular political situation on your
hands. Still, the selection of the country determines what kind of aims you will be able to
assume. These depend on both its size and its geographic situation. The world comes divided
into technological regions which determine the pace of development. A beginner player should
select a nation from the Latin technological group (the Western and the Middle Europe) to
have access to cheapest technology possible. The further to the East and to the South, the
worse the technological group with slower and more expensive development to follow. As much
as in the case of the differences between the countries of the Middle Europe and Turkey the
differences are not that great, and it is easy to keep up with the competition, the more primitive
cultures like the Aztecs and the Congo are never going to be on a par with the European
countries.
Also the size of the selected country doe s not remain without its significance. The beginner
player should not select the biggest of the available countries, to avoid getting lost in the
management issues. Still, selecting a small country of one or two provinces is also
immensely dangerous for the risk of falling prey to bigger neighbors. Your selection of the
country should reflect your plans of how you actually want to play. A good selection, for starters,
will be, e.g. Portugal or Castile. Both countries are quite strong and safe, for the lack of
numerous neighbors, and you will also be able to focus on the development while colonizing the
New World. If you are not interested in colonization, and want to focus on a more offensive
mainland game, you could turn your attention to Sweden or the Ottoman Empire. If you, on the
other hand, want to forge an economic power and restrict your military actions to the necessary
minimum, then Venice s Your choice.
After the beginning, the game pauses. It is the moment in which you should get acquainted
carefully, with your country. EU IV is going to require you to plan many years ahead. It is a good
idea to determine your moves and aims for years to come. Before you un-pause the game, you
should learn each interface in detail and comprehend individual options. It is also a good idea to
review the hints displayed each time you start the game. Once you know whats ahead of you, it
is time that you learn about your new empire. You should review the map and learn about the
relationships between your neighbors. Learn who is your adversary, who you can deem an
ally? Check out if there are some of your provinces on the enemy territory. If so, they may
turn out to be a good target for the beginning. Find out if there are any provinces, which belong
to any of your neighbors, within the boundaries of your country. If so, you may be sure of the
fact that, sooner or later, your neighbor will be interested in getting them back and you should
take necessary precautions, as soon as possible, to prevent that. Learn about your economic
condition. How rich is your country? What do you produce? Is there the economic center in your
country? If your reserves are high, you could start by constructing new buildings or additional
soldiers. On the other hand, if you barely make moth ends meet, maybe it is a better idea to
disband some of the army to make some savings? Also, get to know your monarch, his strong
and weak points. Check, thoroughly the religions professed within your boundaries as well as the
available missions and decisions. All of these factors should determine the beginning action plan.
Take advantage of the strong points of your kingdom and try to strengthen the weak ones as
quickly as possible. Once you draw up a plan for your first movements, and take your first
decisions, it is time that you let the play begin and let the years fly by.
The Sovereign (3/25) next page

A good ruler is a half of success
One of the changes implemented in the newest installment of Europa is a new set of rules and
the altered significance of the ruler, in terms of the gameplay. Traditionally, the sovereigns
abilities are determined by three factors administration, diplomacy and military. The sovereign
will be assessed, with respect to these categories, with grades ranging from 0 to 6, where 0
means an utter moron and 6 an absolute genius. This is more significant than in the case of the
previous installments because of the introduction of a new resource, which is Monarch Power.
As much as the kings higher statistics provided better or worse boosts for the specific domain,
in EUIV, Monarch Power translates into the form of the currency used for specific actions
like development of doctrines or technology, or even the construction of buildings, or hiring
generals, Depending on your level, the monarch will generate a specific amount of points of
three kinds (i.e. administrative, diplomatic and military), on a monthly basis.
This lends a new spice to the game and at the same time carries a greater risk. Even a strong and
developed country may, at some point, face a great crisis when the monarch turns out to be
completely inept. It may also turn out that you will have to alter your strategy by 180 out of a
sudden, when the military genius will be succeeded by his son, who turns out to be incapable in
these matters, but is an excellent diplomat nevertheless. Each country has its base increase in the
MP points, depending on its technological group. The European and Islamic have 3 points per
month. The Asiatic 2, and the African and the American 1.
Although, in general terms, the increase of the MP points is a permanent value, which is
independent of factors like the countrys wealth or size, to a certain extent you can manipulate its
growth. First of all, there is an option of hiring advisors. At the same time, it is a quite expensive
thing to do so, the best solution is to hire, temporarily, an advisor that offers a discount, onlu for
the period necessary to implement changes that you want to implement, and fire him if you do
not plan on any more sizeable purchases. Furthermore, while playing a republic, each time you
elect the same sovereign, all of his statistics go up by 1 point. The downside of this solution is
that you suffer the drop in the republican values, which may lead to a rebellion and the collapse
of democracy. Also, while playing the monarch, the forms of manipulation are limited. If the heir
turns out to be a complete nonentity, you can appoint him a commander and send him to a
battlefield on purpose. Such battles are bound to be lost, which will result in the kings death and
make it impossible for him to ascend to the throne. Of course, this is the most drastic of solutions
and it is recommended only as a last resort. At the same time, you need to be prepared to face all
the situations that come with it, like plummeting stability of the country. Finally, you can try and
influence the increase of Monarch Power points by taking advantage of random events, often in
exchange for money. If you are prepared to sustain such losses, it is a sound trade-off then.
Dynasty and political system (4/25) next page

You can change the political system by clicking the crown icon in the Government tab
There are two basic government systems in EU IV monarchy and republic. Furthermore, there
also is theocracy and the tribal system, which can with time evolve into a more enlightened form
of government. The difference is, of course that in the case of the monarchy, the country is ruled
by the dynasty and in the case of the republic, the successor is determined by way of election.
If your system is the monarchy, it is immensely important that you take care of having the ruler
on your throne. An heir can be born from a royal union with another country, secured by the
marital bond. If the king dies and his heir is still a baby, the power will be taken over by the
regency council. Throughout the rule of the regent, you will not be able to take any diplomatic
decisions, until the prince reaches adulthood. The situation is more serious if the king dies
heirless. That is when you will enter the personal union with the country that you entered the
royal union with and, until the king dies, you will be completely dependent on that country. This,
of course, works both ways so, there is a chance that you will also ascend to the other countrys
throne, via non-aggressive means. Still, there is a danger in that. Royal marriage is, in general
terms, a powerful tool, which is to be used with artifice. You can find the details in the chapter
devoted to diplomacy. The most important thing, though, is that you should always send 2-3
princesses to the other countries because, no heir to the throne may be tragic in its consequences.
The situation is much more simple in Islamic states, because these have +100% chance for a
heir. Well, harems do well here.
The republic, on the other hand, deprives you of the option of marriages, which makes the hard
diplomatic expansion more difficult. Still, you will not have to worry about the drop in stability
and various wars for the throne. In the event of the rulers demise, election, to determine a new
leader, is organized.
Additionally, there are two characteristic values to both systems, which influence the game.
Legitimacy the sovereigns entitlement to the throne. It ranges 0-100%. The higher the factor,
the higher the current rulers right to own the throne and, which follows, the less opponents in
the country. This comes with additional bonuses including, as much as -3 to rebellions, +1 to
religious tolerance for all religions and +2.5 to diplomatic reputation. Obviously, it pays off to
make sure that it is as high as you can get. It increases, on an annual basis, with dependence on
prestige (1 prestige =0.01 legitimacy), and by 0.20% per each royal marriage. It drops as a result
of events (e.g. if it turns out that the king is a bastard) and at the moment of signing every next
royal marriage.
Republican Tradition the republican tradition reflects democratic ideals in the country. J ust
like in the case of legitimacy, it ranges 0-100%. Low values are connected with the increased
prices for stability and the risk of restoring monarchy (the country will turn into one
automatically when this factor drops to 0%). On the other hand, however, with the RT, you
receive -3 to rebellions. You automatically gain 1% a year, just for the fact of being a republic.
Still, you lose 10% if the same leader is elected during elections but, this provides a +1 rise to al
his statistics. The fact itself, that during the elections you decide which leader to choose, is a big
advantage of the republic. Each newly-found republic starts with 1% tradition so, in the case
absence of events, reaching the maximum value takes 100 years!
Changing the system of government takes up 100 Monarch Power administration points and 50%
of the amassed legitimacy. Also, an appropriate level of the administrative technology is
required. Monarchy can peacefully turn into monarchy only. The Republic, oin the other hand,
can turn into any other type of republic, or monarchy, if its tradition factor is sufficiently low.
Additionally, each country can be seized by rebels, whose aim may be to introduce monarchy or
the republic.
Monarchies
Absolute
+10% discipline
-1 revolt risk
Requires the 20th level of administrative technology
Administrative
+10% Production Efficiency
+5% Global Tax Modifier
Requires the 12th level
Despotic
-1% National Revolt Risk
+10% Unjustified Demands.
Requires the 2nd level. Low Tradition Republic, which keeps electing the
same leader will turn into this type of monarchy
Feudal
+10% Vassal Income
+10% Manpower
Requires the 2nd level.
Constitutional
-1% Prestige Decay
+1% annual legitimacy
+10% Manpower Recovery
Requires 22nd level
Enlightened
Despotism
+20% Global Spy Defense
+10% Manpower
-5% Core Creation Cost.
Requires the 29th level
Revolutionary
Empire
+1 Army Tradition
+25% Manpower
+0,5 Morale of Armies
Requires the 31st level.
Republics
Administrative
+1 Religious Tolerance
+10% Trade Efficiency
Requires the 12th administrative level. Five year election cycle.
Bureaucratic
Despotism
+1 Religious Tolerance
-20% Stability Cost.
Requires the 29th level. The sovereign rules until death.
Dictatorship
+1 Tolerance
+0,1 Morale of Armies
Requires the 20th level. The sovereign rules until death.
Constitutional
+1 Tolerance
+20% Production Efficiency
Requires the 26th administrative level. Four year election cycle.
Merchant
+1 Merchant
+10% Global Trade Power
+5% Trade Efficiency
Does not require any technology level. Four year election cycle. Cannot
turn into any other form.
Revolutionary
+2 Tolerance
+0,5 Morale of Armies
Requires the 31st administrative level. Four year election cycle. Possible
only in a European country.
Noble
+1 Tolerance
+0,25 Morale of Armies
Requires the 7th level. Eight year election cycle, the only republic to llow
for royal marriages.
Tribal
Tribal governments can turn into reformed forms of government. This requires 200
administration points, +3 stability, 90 legitimacy or republican tradition, and also a fully
developed economic or administrative doctrine. Reforming will result in a 5 point drop in
stability.
Democracy
+20% Manpower
+20% Land Force Limit
-100% Provincial Trade Power
Reforms to Noble Republic.
Despotism
-10 Core Creation Cost
+1 Global Revolt Risk
-100% Provincial Trade Power
Reforms to Despotic Monarchy.
Federation
+20% Manpower
+20% Land Force Limit
-100% Provincial Trade Power
Reforms to Feudal Monarchy.
Steppe Horde
+100% Manpower
+100% Land Force Limit
-50% Relations Over Time.
Always has Casus Belli against all neighbors. Bonuses to battles fought in
home provinces, deserts and flatlands.
After reforming, it becomes a Despotic Monarchy.
Unique
There also are unique forms of government available for selected countries, which cannot be
turned into anything else. Some can be activated only after the specific decision is taken.
Archduchy
+10% Vassal Income
+1 Diplomat
+10% Manpower
Available only in Austria after the completion of the Privilegium Maius
event. To activate it, Austria needs to control the Holy Roman Empire, the
Habsburg Dynasty needs to be in power and the year needs to be past 1500.
Empire
+0,25 Morale of Armies
+10% Vassal Income
Available only for Byzantium after it is imported from the Crusader King 2
converter.
Daimyo
+0,5 Morale of Armies
+10% Infantry Power.
Available only for Vassals to J apan. Cannot wage war against other
Daimyo systems.
Iqta
+33% Vassal Income
+100% Chance of new Heir.
Iqta is a counterpart of Theocracy for the Muslim countries, functions e.g.
in Tripoli.
Celestial
Empire
-3 Global Revolt Risk
-with positive stability, it gains the so called Celestial Mandate that
decreases the cost of stability by 10% and reduces the revolt risk by
additional 5%
Available only in China.
Ambrosian
Republic
+10% Global Tax Modifier
+0,20 Morale of Armies
Three year election cycle. Available only for Milan in a 1447-1449 start or,
as a result of an event during regency, or with low legitimacy.
Dutch Republic
+33% Naval Force limit
+10% Global Trade Income
The sovereign rules until death. Allows for royal marriages. Available only
for the Netherlands in the 1581 start or, as a result of revolt.
Shogunate
+4 Diplomatic Relations
Available for J apan only.
Theocracy
Tolerance to Own Religion +2
Tolerance to Heretic -2
+0,1 Papal Influence, if the country is catholic.
Available only for selected countries like, e.g. Church State or the Teutonic
Order . Cannot change systems.
prev page Dynasty and political system (4/25)

Important terms and factors (5/25) next page
There are many elements in the game that overlap and determine a strong, healthy empire. A big
country with a big army is not an indicator of welfare and safety. This is decided by many other
factors, which it is good to know, and whose existence and gravity a regular player may not
realize to the full extent.
Prestige
Prestige represents your reputation and respect in the country, and in the world. It ranges
between -100 and +100. In general, you want to have as much of it as possible but, not
necessarily at any price so, it is not the thing that you should be too bothered with. Still, prestige
has immense bearing on your relationships with the other countries and their willingness to
cooperate. So, if you are planning on entering into an alliance with a country that is not too
interested in that, you should consider employing an Advisor who will increase your prestige and
reinforce your attempts. Apart from Advisors, your prestige is also increased by victorious
battles and wars, as well as thanks to ideas. Also the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire wins
prestige points. Higher and higher with each emperor from the same country.
With 100 o prestige, you receive the following bonuses:
Global Trade Power +15%
Morale of Armies +0,5
Morale of Navies +0,5
National Spy Defense +10%
Mercenary Cost -33%
Fort Defense +10%
+1 legitimacy, per annum
+1 influence on the papacy, per annum
100% Better Relations Over Time.
With prestige at the level of 50%, you receive a half of the above list. With zero, you receive
nothing and with negative prestige, you receive negative counterparts of the above. Maintaining
prestige at the highest possible level is quite difficult. The basic annual loss to the current
prestige is 5% (with negative prestige, you receive the base +5%). You also lose 0.3 prestige a
year, per each Core province within the boundaries of an enemy state. Of course, also in the case
of a lost battle, or war you also lose your prestige. Often you will have to decide whether it is
better for you to lose your prestige, or go to war. Often, these are going wars that you cannot
handle or, simply, they would be completely nonsensical so, you will have to live with losing
your prestige points. To the extent it is possible, try and keep your prestige high but, not at any
cost to avoid getting into more trouble.
Stability
Stability has been improved considerably, in comparison with the third Europa. First of all,
stability does not depend on economy and finances anymore. The slide for spending money, to
keep it high, already disappeared from the budget window. What you now spend on that, is the
Monarch Power and, more precisely, the administration points. Once again, the tendency to
make your countrys welfare dependant on the kings skills, becomes apparent. Administration
points spent on stability are not going to be, after all, spent on the development of technologies.
With the deficiency of the Monarch Power, it is a good idea to consider improving it. The base
cost of the stability improvement is 100 administration points. This price is influenced by the
following factors:
+50% if your stability level is 1
+100% if your stability level is 2
+1 Overextension%. Half of the Overextension is the additional percentage of costs.
+lack of religious unity %. The principle to calculate the percentage is 100 the current
religious unity level. For example, for the unity of 75% the stability cost is higher by
additional 25%
-5% if you control the Papal Curia
Stability itself ranges -3 and +3. The effect of stability on the country is as follows:
For one positive point (the effects cumulate by up to x3 on the +3rd stability level):
Revolt risk -1
Interest per annum +10%
Missionary Strength 0,5%
Global Trade Power +1%
National Spy Defense +5%
For one negative point (the effects cumulate by up to x3 on the -3rd stability level):
Revolt risk +2
Interest per annum +1
Annual Legitimacy -1
Global Trade Power -1%
National Spy Defense -5%
So, as you can see, stability is an immensely important element with its influence on the
development of the country. Additional 30% to profits from taxes is a considerable cash injection
for your economy. On the other hand, additional +6 to the Global Revolt Risk-3 legitimacy,
which is going to increase the risk even more, can ruin even the best of economies in no time at
all, and that is what you want to avoid at any price. Avoid the excess Overextension and lack of
religious unity. Never attack without any justification of your actions! Play with slowly and
reasonably. Seize a province and turn it into a Core. Then, convert the infidels. Only after that,
take to conquering further lands.
The stability is best if it does not exceed 2. First of all, it is expensive. Secondly, the increase in
stability can often be achieved as a result of missions or (more rarely) events. If you receive an
additional stability point when you already have +3, it will go down the gutter. Finally, the game
has the tendency for quick decreasing of maximum stability. If you reach the fabled +3, within
several months, you are bound to receive an event or heirs death. That is why, you should strive
to keep stability at +2, and reach +3 by completing missions. Still, if you need administration
points elsewhere, and the condition of the country is relatively stable, you can easily play with
stability at the level of 1, or even 0. Negative stability should be made up, to the extent it is
possible, as fast as you can.
Core Provinces

The hatched regions are the exterritorial core provinces.
The so called Cores. Provinces perceived as integral parts of the country that you have the
indelible right for. You receive an automatic casus belli against each country, within whose
boundaries, there are your core provinces. As you will be conquering everything, soon you will
learn the hard way that foreign provinces, within a country, are not a good solution, due to the
high revolt risk, low tax income and increasing overextension (with more expensive stability to
follow). In general terms, this is a curb that prevents the player from conquering the entire globe.
Still, each province can be cored but, the larger the country, the longer the process.
The base time for the establishment of a core province is 3 years. The price, expressed in the
administrative MP depends on the taxes in the province in question 20 points per 1 ducat of
taxes, if the province is not occupied by an accepted culture. The cost is additionally higher if
you are exhausted from the war war exhaustion X3 (e.g. exhaustion =5 =15% to the price).
Additionally, some of the provinces have the additional Local Nobility modifier, from the
Aristocratic idea, which increase the price by 100%.
The base three years to core a province can be modified by two factors. Firstly, each province
owned by you on the same continent (+5% per province) and for Adaptability on diplomatic
ideas, which decreases the time by 25%.
The situation is different in case of colonies. You can conquer these straight away and their cost
is only 10% of the regular price. So, if you want a sprawling country, and avoid problems with
overextension, you should immediately set on to colonization. Be fast about it to beat the others
to it.
You can always core all of the provinces that are subject to your rule. The only exception here is
the situation in which you want to gain a core in a province already cored by another country,
that you are currently at war with. In such a situation, you will be able to start only after you
sign the peace treaty. In general, you always want to have all of your provinces cored but, you
should core the rich provinces first as well as the ones that bear the highest risk of losing in the
forthcoming war, which will provide you with casus belli. If you want your country to be big,
the adaptability is a must so, make a wise choice of the idea.
J ust like it can be gained, core can also be lost in a given province. It may be one of the
conditions of peace. Furthermore, core disappears after 50 years if a war between the country
that owns the province, and the country that claims right to it, is not waged. If the war actually
takes place(even if you lose it) the core is automatically extended for another 50 years. As you
can see, sometimes it pays off to go for a war, even if you are too weak to defeat the enemy, and
only if you want to extend coring and casus belli, just to increase your numbers and defeat the
enemy several years later.
The only exception to the above is a province whose culture is the same as the countrys main
culture. In such a case, core never expires. The purpose of this is to enable the countries, which
disappear from the map, to be reborn after one or two hundred years.
Overextension
Overextension is a growth that is too extensive. It is another restriction o those who aspire to
conquer the entire world, and it is directly connected with the core provinces. Each province,
which is not a core, will provide a specific percent of OE calculated as follows: 1 tax ducat=4%
overextension. So, a province with the tax of 5 ducats gives 20%. Again, colonies are the only
exception here, because they do not yield OE, provided they are not occupied by your culture.
The higher OE brings about the following:
Revolt risk higher by a half of your current OE (10% =+0,5 t to revolt, 20% =+1 etc.)
The stability cost higher, in percents, by a half of your current OE (10% =5% more
expensive, 20% =10% more expensive etc.)
Foreign merchant compete chance lower by OE percent (10% =10%, 20% =20% itd.)
Mercenary cost higher, in percents, by a half of the current OE (10% =5% more
expensive, 20% =10% more expensive etc.)
Diplomatic reputation lower by a 1/5 of the current OE (10% =-0,20, 20% =-0,40 etc.)
Papal Influence lower by 1/5 of the current OE (10% =-0,20, 20% =-0,40 etc.)
Relation Over Time lower, in percents, by 1 of the current OE (10% =-2,5%, 20% =-5%
etc.)
Furthermore, heightened OE will have an adverse effect on your neighbors. This will result in
more frequent wars and, which is even worse, entering coalitions. Overextension also hes
negative bearing on the citizens of the country. The maximum, acceptable OE is 100%. Above
this value, you will be regularly nagged at by events with revolts on a massive scale, throughout
the entire country, the loss of stability effectiveness of commerce etc. A bit above 100% or 150%
it is not that bat, though (events occurring every, more or less, year). With 200%, and especially
250 it goes crazy enough to make you want dump your screen out of the window.
It is easy to guess that excessive overextension is something that you want to avoid like fire. You
bring it down by creating cores (start with the richest provinces, of course), which you create
with your administrative MP points. So, once again, the games mechanics come full circle
which reveals the connection between a well-prospering country and a good ruler. If necessary,
you should free vassals to decrease OE. You may be thinking that with a strong army you can
suppress all revolts but, it is a very short-sighted solution. Surely, at first you will face no
problems with that, but soon enough, your Manpower will start to plummet abruptly, and an
unexpected war with a coalition may quickly bring you down with a hard landing. The history of
our country, with the Cossack uprisings should serve as the best example here. Never exceed
170% OE.
Technological groups and westernization
Depending on its geographic situation, each country belongs to a specific technological group.
This determines the cost of technologies, the increase in Monarch Power and the level of the
starting technology. Of course, the more advanced the technological group, the easier the game.
A beginner player should stay away from backwards countries.

Western France, Spain, etc.:
Technology cost 100%
Monarch Power 3
Starting Technology Level 3

Eastern Poland, Russia, etc.:
Technology cost 120%
Monarch Power 3
Starting Technology Level 3

Ottoman Turkey:
Technology cost 125%
Monarch Power 3
Starting Technology Level 3

Muslim Persia, Tunisia etc.:
Technology cost 145%
Monarch Power 3
Starting Technology Level 3

Indian Nepal, Mysore etc.:
Technology cost 150%
Monarch Power 2
Starting Technology Level 3

Chinese China, Japan etc.:
Technology cost 160%
Monarch Power 2
Starting Technology Level 2

Nomad Mongolia, Golden Horde etc.:
Technology cost 175%
Monarch Power 2
Starting Technology Level 3

Sub-Saharan Ethiopia, Congo etc.:
Technology cost 200%
Monarch Power 1
Starting Technology Level 1

New World Aztecs, Mayas etc.:
Technology cost 250%
Monarch Power 1
Starting Technology Level- 0
As you can see, with the game started in 1444, there are no starting differences between the four
leading groups. With the passage of time, the technological collapse will increase on a regular
basis. That is why, there is a special option of westernization.
Westernization is a process of merging a worse technological group with the Latin world of the
Western Europe. This is the only reasonable way in which backwards countries can coexist with
the European powers. You initiate westernization by clicking the appropriate option but, there
are two conditions that need to be met. Firstly, your core province needs to border a core
province of the Latin world, which is ahead by, at least 8 levels of technology, and also you need
to have +3 stability. The pace of westernization depends on your current stability, where one
positive point =1% of westernization per month. After the process, stability will fall to -3, which
means that you will first need to gain +1, at least, to progress the slightest bit. At the same time,
all Monarch Power will fall to -100 and the cost to improve stability will rise by 200%.
Additionally, throughout the entire process of westernization, you will have to face the
occurrence of events of revolting people, which will often end up in rebellions, the drop in
stability or the loss of prestige. In other words, westernization is a very tough job and you need
to realize very well what you are up to, well before you start it. IT is a good idea to calculate how
much time it will take to reach positive stability (of course, there is always the risk of negative
events so, you should take that into account also). Make sure that your army is large enough (not
too large though, because negative stability will have adverse effect on your finances and it may
turn out that maintaining a large army runs you into debts). You should first wait for a ruler with
high administration and high legitimacy. It is also a good strategy to withhold decisions, or quick
missions, which will increase stability, and enact them/perform them right after you start the
process. Before you start westernization, do not forget to spend all your Monarch Power points,
or else they will go down the drain.
The decision to westernize is a serious enterprise and you need to be sure that this will pay out.
For example, while playing Poland, this will, probably, do more harm than it will do good. With
a normal game, you probably will not lag behind, with technological development, more than 3-6
levels, which means that you would have to halt the country development on purpose. Later on,
this would be too difficult to make up for, not to mention the other negative aspects ofthis
process. With Turks and Slavs, it generally pays off to westernize only if you will be able to
reach positive stability. E.g. with the Russian Czarism, you will be able to make a secision of the
building of Sankt-Petersburg, which will provide +3 stability, i.e. will allow you to reach level 0
straight away, after you start westernization and will speed up the process. On the other hand, in
the case of primitive countries, it is the only chance for survival and should be the primary
objective that you will be attempting to reach. It is also good to remember that westernization
provides Heathens with the opportunity to accept Christianity, which will withdraw
automatically, casus belli from the European countries, with Heathens so, it will provide
Heathens with safety.
Advisors (6/25) next page

Use advisors to make up for the kings shortcomings or, to take a full advantage of his strong
points.
In the game, you can hire up to three advisors. One for each kind of the Monarch Power. You
will have 3 potential candidates for each position (this number can be increased via some of the
ideas) of 7 types. The price of an individual advisor depends on his age (the older at the moment
of hiring the cheaper he is)and his skills (1-3). Each type of advisor has a permanent bonus to
offer. With each consecutive skill point, the generated Monarch Power, of the corresponding
type, increases. At first, the advisors may be expensive and ruining to the budget. Then, select
them only if you need a boost to the corresponding area. When you already have big monetary
reserves, it of course pays off to keep them permanently. At the same time, do not hold on to this
one type so, fire and hire the new ones so, they correspond to your plans and aims in the best
way possible. In general it is not worth to employ advisors on the third level due to their price,
unless you have an utter economic empire, or you need the best support possible (e.g. the
improvement of attitude while westernizing).
The starting cost of an advisor (a thirty year-old, the older the cheaper) in 1444, amounts to,
correspondingly, depending on the skill level:
Level 1 16 ducats to employ, 1 ducat a of monthly pay
Level 2 64 ducats to employ, 4 ducats of monthly pay
Level 3 144 ducats to employ, 9 ducats of monthly pay
With time, these prices increase, more or less, by 1% a year. Some of the ideas also decrease the
cost of advisors.
Administrative advisors
Artist stability cost -10%
Inquisitor Missionary strength +2%
Master of Mint Inflation reduction 0,10
Natural Scientist Administrative technology cost 10%
Philosopher Yearly Prestige +2
Theologian National Revolt Risk -3
Treasurer National Global Tax Modifier (does not refer to colonies) +5%
Diplomatic advisors
Diplomat Better Relations Over Time +30%
Colonial governor Global Tariffs +10%
Naval reformer Diplomatic Technology Cost -10%
Navigator Colonial Range +20%
Statesman Diplomatic Reputation +5
Spymaster Spy Offence +10%
Trader Global Trade Power +10%
Military advisors
Army Organizer Land Forcelimits Modifier+10%
Army Reformer Military Technology Cost -10%
Commandant Discipline +5%
Grand Captain Morale of Armies +0,3
Master Recruiter Manpower +10%
Military Engineer Fort Defense +25%
Quartermaster Reinforce Speed +33%
Missions, decisions and historical events (7/25) next page

Missions will help you decide on your aims .
EU IV offers a number of missions that you can take up throughout the game, as well as
decisions that you can implement. Both carry bigger or smaller bonuses, and they can
additionally provide a framework for your future aims, if you cannot yet decide for a
specific strategy. The available missions and decisions depend on the current political
and economic situation, and also on the national religion (e.g. changing the religion from
Catholicism to Protestantism) and the historical conditions (e.g. Poland and Lithuania
have the decision of entering the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Before you start a
mission, you should get acquainted with the requirements and determine if you are able
to meet them. You should also check if the reward is worth it because, you could spend
the time and the resources on something more important. In general, the strategy is you
select the quickest task to perform, so you can perform as many missions as possible and
collect as many bonuses as possible. You can also cancel the selected mission but, this
involves a penalty if you will not be able to take up another mission for the next five
years.
Another issue are the historical events. Veterans of the series probably remember the
historical events in the first and in the second installment of the game. They were
permanently bounded with specific dates and, when the time was right, the player had to
face the historical ramifications of the event. The third installment of the game gave up
on this element and focused on a more open-ended type of gameplay. In the current
installment, the history repeats but, in a modified way, though. Now, historical events do
not come with certain dates. Instead, they initiate automatically when the conditions are
met And so, if in the XV England, there is no heir to the throne, this may initiate a series
of events, which will result in the civil war known as the war of Roses. If the war
exhaustion towards the end of the XVIII is high, and the proposals of the social and
economic reforms have been repelled, this may lead to the French Revolution which, if
handled properly, may (or may not) bring about the reign of Napoleon.
Historical events spice the gameplay up and lend the element of unpredictability and the
variation of elements while completing the game for the next time with the same country.
It is difficult to give any advices at this point. When the option of a string of events
appears, you will be informed about this and learn about the general outline of possible
consequences, depending on the decisions that you take. Of course, this type of events
abound in the most important countries on the European continent. When it appears, you
decide for yourself if you want history to roll out in the way known from the history
books, or if you want to see what if
Development (8/25) next page

Technological development in EUIV may seem complicated, at first, but after you give it
a closer scrutiny, it will turn out to be quite simple. First of all, Monarch Power points are
the most important again. The MP points determine when you can develop. There are
three basic technology trees administrative, diplomatic and military. You develop each
one of the trees by spending the corresponding MP points. The base cost to improve a
technology is 60 MP but, it is modified by your neighbors, ideas and the current year.
The more ahead of your times with a technology you are, the more expensive the next
levels. Still, if your neighbors technological advancement, for a technology, is higher,
you will receive a discount of 5% for each level higher. Sometimes, it is worth it to lag
behind n purpose. E.g. if you want to develop and idea that makes it possible to colonize,
or if you want to perform westernization and take advantages of the discounts to make up
for your losses. Still, these are single exceptions from the rule.
As you progress for higher levels, you will unlock further ideas, buildings and
improvements. You will unlock detailed information about what will get improved , if
you hover your pointer over the appropriate icons to the right of the technology tab.
Additionally, these are indicated by the elements highlighted I the screenshot. The
highlighted type will be improved with each next level.
Ideas
Apart from the development of technological levels, Monarch Power can be spent also to
develop ideas. Ideas are specific permanent bonuses of a given kind. These are mighty
tools which it is good to account for in your plans at the beginning. There re , in total, 15
idea groups, 5 of each kind (i.e. administrative, diplomatic and military), and each of
them uses up the corresponding MP points. You can select new ideas after you reach the
following levels of administrative technology 4, 7, 10, 14, 17, 22, 26, 29. So, as you can
see, it will never be possible to acquire all of the ideas. Which groups you select, should
be the result of the of your general strategy, e.g. if you are planning to establish a colonial
empire, the Exploration group is mandatory for you. This will provide you with access
to conquistadors and explorers.
While choosing ideas, you should turn your attention to where you need the most points.
The base cost of unlocking an idea is 400MO of the corresponding type. Make sure that
you can spend them on the idea and you are not going to need them elsewhere.
Administrative ideas, for example, use up the administrative points. But you also need
them to unlock higher technology levels, core provinces and regain stability. If the last
one are a commonalty that you face every day, taking up additional administrative
expenditures makes no sense, and it will be better to take the military or diplomatic
group.
Ideas are unlocked one after another from left to right, you e.g. cannot select the third and
leave out the first two. After you unlock the whole group, you will receive a special
bonus. Additionally, each idea is connected with a random event that occurs every five
years.
Administrative:

Innovative
Patron of the Arts: Annual Prestige Decay drops from -5 to -2%
Pragmatism: Mercenary cost-25%
Scientific Revolution: technology cost -5%
Knowledge Transfer: Army and Navy Tradition Decay drops to-2%
Organized Recruitment: Regiment Recruitment Time -10%
Optimism: Monthly War Exhaustion -0.05
Formalized Officer Corps: Leaders without upkeep.
Bonus: Advisor Costs -25%

Religion
Unam Sanctum: Permanent Casus Belli Against All Other Religious Groups
Missionary Schools: +1 Missionaries
Church Attendance Duty: Stability Cost -25%
Divine Supremacy: Missionary Strength +3%
Devoutness: +1 Tolerance of the True faith
Religious Tradition: +1 Prestige per year
Ecumenism: +2 Tolerance of Heretics.
Bonus: Better Relations Over Time +100%

Espionage
Privateers: +33% embargo efficiency
Vetting: +25% protection against espionage (e.g. fabricating of claims by the other
countries , or their support of rebels in the country)
Rumourmongering: allows you to sabotage the reputation of a foreign country among
their neighbors and enemies. Especially useful for entering coalitions against weaker
countries.
Efficient Spies: +25% effectiveness of covert actions, additional diplomat.
Shady Recruitment: 33% less penalty for being discovered.
Destabilizing Efforts: Adds a covert action- Sow Discontent, that increases the risk of
rebellion by 1 and increases the cost of stability by 50%.
Espionage: Adds a covert action - Infiltrate Administration, which temporarily covers the
fog of war from another country.
Bonus: +50% do to rebel support efficiency in a foreign country.

Economic
Bureaucracy: +10% National Global Tax Modifier
Organized Construction: Build Cost -20%
National Bank: Yearly Inflation Reduction -0,10
Debt and Loans: Interest per annum -1
Centralization: Possible Advisors +1
National Enthusiasm: Military Maintenance Modifier -10%
Smithian Economics: Production Efficiency +20%
Bonus: May reduce inflation by 1% for 200 AMP, if higher than 3%.

Administrative
Organized Mercenary Payments: Mercenary Cost -25%
Benefits for Mercenaries: Mercenary Maintenance -33%
Mercenary Recruitment: Available Mercenaries +50%
Bookkeeping: Interest per annum -1
Administrative Efficiency: you can select from among four advisors instead of three.
Resilient State: National Spy Defense +25%
War Cabinet: Cost of Reducing War Exhaustion -33%
Bonus: Production Efficiency +20%
Diplomatic:

Diplomatic
Foreign Embassies: Additional Diplomat
Claims Fabrication: Time to Fabricate Claims -50%
Cabinet: +3 Diplomatic Relations
Adaptability: Core Creation Cost -25%
Revolution & Counter Revolution: Permanent Casus Belli against other Government
Types.
Diplomatic Influence: +3 Diplomatic Reputation
Flexible Negotiations: Unjustified Demands Cost -33%
Bonus: Lowered impact of Diplomatic actions on Stability, e.g. penalty to stability for
attacking a country without Casus Belli.

Trade
Shrewd Commerce Practices: +10 Global Trade Power
Free Trade: Additional Merchant
Merchant Adventures: +25% Trade Range
National Trade Policy: +10% Trade Efficiency
Overseas Merchants: Additional Merchant
Trade Manipulation: +25% Trade Steering Income
Fast Negotiations: +10% National Trade Income
Bonus: Additional Merchant

Exploration
Colonial Ventures: Additional Colonist
Quest for the New World: allows you to recruit explorers and conquistadors. Absolutely
necessary if you want to join the race for America colonization
Overseas Exploration: Colonial Range +50%
Land of Opportunity: +33% Global Settler Increase in Colonies.
Viceroys: +33% Global Tariffs
Free Colonies: Additional Colonist
Global Empire: Overseas Income +10%
Bonus: Permanent Casus Belli against Heathens.

Naval
Superior Seamanship: Morale of Navies +1
Naval Glory: Prestige from Naval Battles +100%
Grand Navy: Naval Force Limits +100%
Seahawks: Yearly Naval Tradition +1
Excellent Shipwrights: Leader Maneuver +2
Naval Fighting Instruction: Port Blockade Efficiency +50%
Press Gangs: Ship Costs -33%
Bonus: Ships can repair in coastal sea zones.

Expansion
Additional Colonists: Additional Colonist
Additional Merchants: Additional Merchant
Faster Colonists: Colonial Travel Time -33%
Additional Diplomats: Diplomatic Relations +2
Improved Shipyards: Ship Construction Time -10%
Experienced Diplomats: Diplomatic Reputation +3
Competitive Merchants: Global Trade Power +20%
Bonus: Permanent Casus Belli against Indian, Chinese and Nomad technological group
countries.
Military:

Aristocracy (unavailable for republics, except from Noble)
Noble Knights: Cavalry Cost -33%
Local Nobility: +100% Hostile Cost-Core Creation.
Serfdom: +25% Manpower
Noble Officers: +1 Shock for all commanders
International Nobility: Additional Diplomat
Noble Resilience: -20% Cost of Reducing War Exhaustion.
Military Traditions: -10% Military Technology Cost.
Bonus: Cavalry Combat Ability +10%

Plutocracy (only for republics, except for the Noble)
Tradition Of Payment: Possible Mercenaries +50%
Abolished Serfdom: Land Morale +0,25
Bill Of Rights: Global Revolt Risk -1
Free Merchants: Additional Merchant
Free Subjects: Production Efficiency +20%
Humanist Tolerance: Tolerance of Heathens +2
Emancipation: Manpower Recovery Speed +20%
Bonus: Technology Cost -10%

Offensive
Bayonet Leaders: +1 Shock for all commanders
National Conscripts: +25% Manpower
Superior Firepower: +1 Fire for all commanders
Glorious Arms: Prestige From Land Battles +100%
Improved Maneuver: Land Leader Maneuver +1
Grand Army: Land Force Limits +25%
Esprit de Corps: Discipline +10
Bonus: Allows the issuance of the Forced March order. Land forces move faster by 150%
at the price of 2 Military Monarch Power per each 2 provinces moved.

Defensive
Battlefield Commissions: +1 Yearly Army Tradition
Military Drill: +0.50 morale
Engineer Corps: +1 Leader Siege.
Regimental System: -10% Land Maintenance Costs
Defensive Mentality: +33% Fort Defense
Supply Trains: +33% Reinforce Speed
Improved Foraging: Land Attrition -50%
Bonus: Attrition for Enemies +1

Quality
Private to Marshal: +10% Infantry Combat Ability
Quality Education: +5% Army Morale Recovery Speed.
Finest of Horses: +10% Cavalry Combat Ability.
Oak Forests for Ships: +10% Heavy Ship Combat Ability.
Naval Drill: +5% Navy Morale Recovery Speed
Merchant Marine: +10% Light Ship Combat Ability
Massed Battery: +10% Artillery Combat Ability.
Bonus: +15% Discipline

Quantity
Benefits for Horseowners: Cavalry Cost -10%
The Young Can Serve: Manpower Recovery +20%
Enforced Service: Infantry Cost -10%
The Old and Infirm: Land Maintenance Modifier -10%
Ship's Penny: Ship Cost -10%
Standardized Artillery: Artillery Cost -10%
Leve en Masse: National Manpower Modifier +50%
Bonus: Land Force Limit +33%
National ideas
An additional element is the special national ideas, which are different for each country.
First of all, each country will have access to two special bonuses of own tradition that it
starts the game with and which do not need to be unlocked. E.g. France receives a bonus
to diplomatic relations, and Portugal to trade. Secondly, there is a special set of seven
ideas that unlock automatically, from left to right, per each three ideas purchased in a
normal way. These do not necessarily have to be any specific ideas, not necessarily from
the same group. Simple calculations prove that, in order to unlock the national idea fully,
you need to buy 21 ideas. With full unlocking of the group, you also receive a special
bonus, different for each country.
The national ideas correspond to the historical conditioning of a given nation. And so, in
the case of Poland, it is going to be +33% to cavalry strength, due to the Hussars, for
Spain, it is going to be a 10% improvement of the fleet, due to the Spanish Armada. As
you can see, numbers are high so, it would be good if you learned about your ideas and
take full advantage of the bonuses that you receive for them.

Religion (9/25) next page

World religions can be checked out in the appropriate map mode
Religion has a great significance for the game. Each country in the world has its own religion,
which it deems the True Faith and, by default, it disagrees with another one. Foreign religions
within a country not only wreak havoc among the citizens, but also increase the risk of revolt and
the stability cost. It also translates into lower income from provinces. Your aim should be to a
country that is uniform, when it comes to religion.
The world is divided into four main religious groups::
Christianity (Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestantism etc.)
Islam (Sunni, Shiite)
Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hindu etc.)
Heathens (Shamanism, Animism)
The country, attitude to a religion is marked with the tolerance factor. The base tolerance for
own religion is +3, for heretics (the other religions) -2 and the tolerance of Heathens (all the
others) -3. These factors are additionally modified by various othe elements like ideas,
legitimacy and the religion in question. It is important that your tolerance, to the extent possible,
is positive for any type, especially in the case of a multi-religious state like Turkey or even
Poland. Each positive tolerance point decreases the risk of rebellion in the province by -1%, and
each negative point increases the risk of rebellion by 1,25%, and decreases the tax income by
10% and the income from the goods produced in that province.
But, it is worthwhile to unite your country under one religion not only for the sake of tolerance.
Another important factor here is the Religious unity. Each province in the country, which does
not profess the national faith, decreases the unity. Unity has influence on the risk of rebellion and
the cost of stability. Each 10% missing from the 100% increases the global rebellion risk (in the
entire country and not only in the province in question) by 0.20 and increases the stability cost
by 10%. Furthermore, if you are playing a catholic state, higher unity increases your influence on
the Rome up to, as much as, 5% with full unity.
A province can be converted with missionaries. A missionary dispatched to a foreign province
will increase the conversion ratio by a given percent. As soon as it reaches 100%, the province
will be converted. The situation is not that simple, though. Base conversion for each missionary
is as little as 2% per month. The bigger and the richer the province that you dispatch him to, and
also if it is populated with an alien culture, the more factors there are to act against conversion.
In such a situation, the missionary will be trying to convert the province until the end of times
and never succeed! You need to monitor the progress of each missionary. If any one of them
shows no progress, remove him from that province straight away. Each active missionary
increases the rebellion risk by 6% and, additionally, costs 0.4 ducats per month so, keeping him
there without results makes no sense. Increase your missionaries strength e.g. through an idea,
advisor, increasing the stability or by building a fort. Then, try again.
In the XVI century Reformation is bound to happen in Europe. When you open the religion
window, you will notice the reform desire indicator. When it reaches 100%, Martin Luther will
start his speeches and a religious avalanche will start. Throughout the following centuries,
provinces in Europe will be switching between religions spontaneously, which will make the
missionaries job harder by 8%. At this time, it may turn out that most countries will change their
religion out of a sudden (you can change either to Protestantism or reformation). Changing
religion will cost you 3points of stability but instead, you will receive a bonus of 10% to your
annual income. This bonus is awarded only once so, changing again will yield no results.
An additional element of religion is the possibility to activate the title of Defender of Faith.
For a modest price of 500 ducats, you can receive an additional missionary +50 to Land Morale,
drop in war exhaustion by 0.03. The title remains active until the death of the ruler, or until you
are bought out by a country with higher prestige. In general, this is not the best of trade offs in
history. An additional missionary can help you convert provinces, +0.50 to morale is also a big
reinforcement but, this is not the best solution, at least as long as you do not have a super-
powerful empire where shelves sag to the gold on them. Then, you can try and hold the Defender
at all occasions especially that, for holding the title, you will be receiving a free Casus Belli
against your religious opponents.
Christianity
Catholicism tolerance of The True Faith +1, tolerance of heretics -1. The only religion with
the access to papacy. To learn more, see the chapter devoted to Holy See.
Orthodox tolerance of The True Faith +1, stability cost -10%. The Orthodox church also has a
series of unique events that come with it - Patriarchal Authority. With each event, you will be
able to bolster up the Patriarchs authority. ON the maximum level, you will increase the
Manpower modifier by 33% and you will decrease the risk of rebellion by 3%. Still, there is no
rose without a thorn and such a decision involves a Global Tax Modifier of as much as -33%. It
is a trap that an Orthodox player should stay away from because this may easily lead to a
disaster. Events are random and it is difficult to determine when they appear. When the moment
is right, if you have big monetary reserves, 33% to Manpower may tip the scales and decide
about a victorious war that would be lost under different circumstances. Increasing power for a
number of times is, in general, advised against, unless you are completely cornered and
surrounded from all sides. But even then, you need to keep your fingers crossed for an event to
crop up soon, so you can bring down the patriarchs power back to normal.
Protestantism Global Tax Modifier +10%, idea cost 10%. If you convert from Catholicism
to Protestantism, all of the religion-based decisions and their effects will be removed.
Calvinism trade effectiveness +10%, an additional advisor to choose from. If you convert from
Catholicism to Calvinism, all of the religion-based decisions and their effects will be removed.
Islam
Islam has an additional element added pity. It is a value that ranges from -100 to +100. Both
sides have special bonuses to them and so, with -100 you receive a 25% higher Global Tax
Modifier and manpower modifier, as well as 10% technological discount. +100 is, on the other
hand, gives you +3 to missionary strength, +1 to Land Morale and +50 to fort defense. In the
case of piety, the middle which gives you nothing is the worst solution. That is why you should
avoid balancing things out, and choose one of the sides, depending on your preferences. You
strengthen up piety by means of events and wars. Declaring wars on the infidels will increase
this value and declaring wars on another Muslim state will decrease it. Additionally, after the
rulers death, you lose 3 of your current value. This allows for switching sides quite fluently.
Sunni Tolerance of The True Faith +1, +100% Chance of new Heir, -2% Local Missionary
Strength.
Shiite - +0,25 Land Morale, +100% Chance of new Heir, -2% Local Missionary Strength.
There is also a special option Unify Islam which combines it into one religion. To perform
this, you need to have your control extended (direct or in the form of vassals) over the following
provinces:
Lower Sind
Cordoba
Constantinople
Iraq-i Arab
Mecca
Medina
Messina
Palermo
Dagestan
Damascus
Samarkand
Ifni
Aden
Muscat
Furthermore, all of these provinces must follow Islam. The cost to unify is 200Monarch Power
of each kind and, in exchange you will receive +2 to Tolerance of Own, Local missionary
Strength +2% and also you will lower the stability cost by 20%. This last option is especially
interesting if you want to westernize with the Turks. Needless to say that is easiest to unify of the
Ottoman Empire.
Eastern religions an Heathens
Buddhism - +2 Tolerance of Heretics, +1 Tolerance of Heathens.
Confucianism - +2 Tolerance of Heretics, +1 Tolerance of Heathens.
Hindu - +1 Tolerance of Heretics, +5% Global Tax Modifier.
Shinto - -1 Tolerance of Heathens, -2 Local Missionary Strength, +0,50 Land Morale
Animist - -50% Enemy Core Creation, -50% Defensiveness, +10% Missionary Strength in
Cores.
Shamanism - -50% Enemy Core Creation, -50% Defensiveness, +10% Missionary Strength in
Cores.
Additionally, if you make use of the Crusader Kings 2 converter, you can import the game save ,
where the Heathen faiths have been reformed . This will provide you with access to a number of
additional heathen religions, like the Slavic or Hellenic which, unlike Shamanism and Animism
will have positive values.
The Holy See (10/25) next page

Controlling the Curia provides several interesting additions
The Catholic countries can enter the control of the Curia. Controlling the Curia has a positive
effect on the country and, furthermore, provides access to unique diplomatic options.
The Curia consists of seven Cardinals. The country to control most of the priests of this group,
takes control over the Papacy, which automatically provides him with the following effects:
Stability Cost -5%
Available Diplomats +1
Yearly Prestige+1
Possible Advisors +2
Yearly papal influence +2
Leaders without Upkeep +1
Controlling the Curia also gives access to two unique diplomatic options:
Call for Crusade You can all a Crusade against heretics. Each Catholic country will receive a
special Casus Belli for the Holy War against a chosen target. The crusade lasts one year and
there can be only one active at any given time. Each country that responds to the call, will
receive the following bonuses: Tax Modifier +10%, Morale +0,50, manpower modifier +30%,
prestige +1, papal influence +2.
Excommunicate Excommunication will allow you to attack a Catholic country without losing
your stability for the lack of Casus Belli. It is possible only if the relations of that country with
the Rome are low.
Furthermore, even if you do not control the Curia, you receive the following bonus for each
Cardinal that you control:
Yearly Prestige+0,20
Yearly Papal influence +0,20
Yearly Legitimacy +0,5
Technology cost -1%
There is a number of advantages and useful options to the Papacy so, it is not a good idea to
ignore it, and you should attempt to control it, to the extent that it is possible. Crusades are
especially useful when, e.g. you play an European country bordering with Turkey, whereas the
Excommunication is a good way to weaken a strong country, by drawing it into a series of wars
without moving your armies. Unfortunately, the control over the Curia is a thing that is quite
complicated and random, to a large extent. The entire Curia is divided into 12 Cardinals 7 main
and 5 candidates, of which the oldest one will take place among the 7 in the case of death of one
of them. A Cardinal once hosen will be a supporter for one country until his death and this
cannot be changed in any way. You can still change the support of the candidates. For that, you
spend the so called, Papal Influence. The growth of Papal influence is dependent on prestige,
taxes, the number of erected temples, religious unity, your relations with the Holy See, and on
various decisions taken by you and the number of Cardinals that you control. By spending your
Papal Influence points, you talk the candidate into loyalty and, once he is elected, he will be
loyal to your cause until his death. Of course, the other countries may also spend their Papal
Influence points to persuade candidates and, which is most important a candidate can never
become a Cardinal and die before being elected. This matter decides about the random nature
and unpredictability while striving for power over the Curia. The lifespan of a Cardinal is around
72 years but this number is variable and it may be much longer or much shorter. The best
strategy is to fight for support of the youngest candidates from the very first years of candidacy
but you will have to wait a decade or two for the actual effects to take place. Also, do not let
yourself be pulled into a senseless fight over the support of one Cardinal. If there is a country
bent on outbidding you, instead of wasting all your Papal Influence on one candidate, spread it
over two or three others. The fight for the domination of the papacy will be much easier after
Reformation takes place, when a lot of countries will leave the Romes umbrella.
Holy Roman Empire (11/25) next page

The boundaries of the HRE can be looked up in the appropriate map mode. The lightest green is
the Emperors country.
The Holy Roman Empire is a unique union between Teutonic countries. The Empire consists of
the Emperor, seven electors and a number of teutonic princes. The electors elect the Emperor and
he gains access to special options. Although the Empire is a Union, of a kind, it is more of a
loose partnership of autonomous states than the actual country. And so, the member states of the
Empire can wage wars against each other.
Most of the times, throughout the game, the Austrian king will be the Emperor (Austria also has
a bonus of +10% to the Imperial Authority, due to its national idea), but if you manipulate events
with skill, you can cause a situation in which another country, also non- Teutonic, becomes the
Emperor, or even the HRE is disbanded.
The fact of being the Emperor carries several bonuses:
Spy Activity +5%
Possible Advisors +1
Diplomatic Relations+2
Additional Leader
Manpower increased by a half of the total number of members (e.g. 40 countries=20
manpower)
leaders without upkeep increased by a half of the total number of members(e.g. 40
countries=20 limit)
Annual prestige increased by a tenth of the half of the total number of members (e.g. 40
countries =2 prestige). Additionally, prestige rises with each new emperor from the same
country, which is to highlight the importance of dynasty.
Casus belli against which country with lands within the boundaries of the Empire, and is
not a member
Every male Christian ruler can become the Emperor, if he is a member of the HRE. The duty of
the Emperor is to care about the unity and independence of the Empire. To fulfil his duties, the
Emperor receives the following diplomatic actions:
Bestow imperial grace improves relations with the other members, used mainly to
influence electors.
Enforce religious unity forces a member state to change its religion to the religion of
the Emperors country. Does not take effect on the electors. In the case of the remaining
countries, success depends on relations, prestige, the size of the other country (the bigger
the country the lower the chance) on distance between boundaries (the further away from
the boundary the lower the chance). Successful enforcement is rewarded with increased
Imperial Authority.
Grant electorate endows a member with the electoral title. Possible only in situations
when a country ceases to be an elector. With each month when the number of electors is
not full (7), you lose Imperial Authority so, you should endow someone with this title .
Of course, you should choose an ally that knows perfectly who to vote for.
Revoke electorate a special Casus Belli against electors to deprive them of the right to
vote and give it to another country.
Demand unlawful territory demand that a land that belongs to the Empire, but remains
under control of a non-member who is not entitled to it (no core), be returned. Chances of
success depend on the relation, prestige and the value of the province.
Furthermore, each member can seek help from the Emperor, while at war.
Who an elector is going to vote for, mainly depends on relations, Imperial Authority, prestige,
legitimacy, the size of the country and trust (trust falls when you attack the other members,
especially electors), but also on religion. An elector will never vote for a country with different
religion so, while choosing your allies, remember to make sure that the electors are not
Protestants, and do not become ones after the Reformation, if you are still playing in the XV
century. In general, the Northern countries are more susceptible to changing religion than the
ones in the South so, for a catholic Emperor it is safer to surround oneself with the countries
from the South, and for protestant one from the North.
Authority and reforms

In the HRE menu, you can look up who the electors are going to vote form, as well as to
implement reforms
It is necessary that to take decisions, you have the Imperial Authority. You gain authority by:
Helping member states at war.
Victorious defensive wars against enemy countries.
Converting members to the True Faith.
Freeing the enslaved members
J oining new provinces to the Empire
Successive Emperors from the same country.
You lose Authority by:
Denying pleas for help at war from members
Decreasing the Empire in size
Change of the religion by a member
Apart from bolstering chances for success in diplomatic actions, authority also gives you the
opportunity to enact reforms in the Empire, to centralize it into a stronger entity, or even to unify
it into one nation. You can find the list of reforms to the right of the Emperors window. To
introduce a reform, you need high authority and the support from members. After you point your
mouse to a specific reform, you will learn who is in favor and who is against and why. Try to
make up for the shortcomings by persuading the enemies to change their mind, and introduce the
reform. You should also take into consideration the fact that each one of the members may
declare war on the Emperor, to force reversing of a reform.
Each reform carries its effects, both on the Emperor and on the members. These are:
Call for Reichsreform:
1. For the Emperor:
Building cost -2%
Technology cost-2%
Yearly Prestige +2%
2. For the member states:
Building cost -2%
Technology cost -2%
Institute Reichsregiment:
1. For the Emperor:
Additional Diplomat
Diplomatic reputation+2
2. For the member states:
Diplomatic reputation -2
Reform the Hofgerichit:
1. For the Emperor:
Yearly Prestige +1%
Cost to Core -10%
2. For the member states:
Yearly Prestige -2%
Enact Gemeiner Pfening:
1. For the Emperor:
Global Tax Modifier +25%
2. For the member states:
Global Tax Modifier -5%
Ewiger Landfriede:
1. For the Emperor:
Stability Cost +10%
Annual Army Tradition -1
2. For the member states:
Stability Cost -10%
Annual Army Tradition -1
Forbids wars among member states.
Proclaim Erbkaisertum:
1. For the Emperor:
Annual authority +25%
2. For the member states:
-1 Diplomat
Reverses the Imperial Elections, each consecutive Emperor from the same country.
Evoke The Privilegia:
1. For the Emperor:
Diplomatic reputation -1
2. For the member states:
Diplomatic reputation -1
Each member of the empire becomes the Emperors vassal. Ones that disagree will wage war
against him.
Renovatio Imperii:
Unifies the Holy Roman Empire into one country!
Joining and Leaving
Being a member of the Holy Roman Empire comes with a special modifier Imperial Integrity
which decreases the Revolt Risk, the Stability Modifier by 3 and decreases the global technology
cost by 10%. Due to the lower price of stability, sometimes it is worthwhile to join the Empire
(westernization with an Eastern country). Although the HRE in reality means the German Reich,
any Christian country can actually join it (provided it is not too big). To do that, you need the
relations with the Emperors country of, at least +190, and you need to border the Empire. Then,
you can join the border provinces to the HRE in the province menu. Once you join the capital,
the entire country will be under the protectorate of the Emperor. You can also leave the Empire
at any time, in its menu, but this will have adverse effects on the relations.
There also is an option of destroying the Empire utterly. To do that, you need to take control
over the electors and occupy the Empires capital. Liquidating the HRE will come with a large
boost of prestige - +100.
Culture (12/25) next page
Another important element that decides about the country integrity is its culture. Each country
in the world has its main culture that rises from the Founding Fathers of that country. In some
countries, there also is an accepted culture which, although it does not spring from its founders,
enjoys the same rights and privileges as the main culture. Some countries become an utter
melting pot with five, or more, accepted cultures. An ideal example of such a country is France.

The Teutonic cultural group.
The cultures of the world have been divided into cultural groups. All of the cultures that spring
from the same group, as the main national culture, come with limited adverse effects (as long as
they are not the accepted ones because then they will have no adverse effects). Every province of
the same cultural group lowers the Manpower and Tax modifiers by 15%. While a province of an
absolutely foreign culture lowers these values by, as much as, 33%, and will raise the Revolt
Risk by 2%, and weaken missionaries by 2%.
The more foreign cultures within the boundaries of a country, the more problems you will have.
Is you plan on expanding your boundaries, the range of your cultural group is a good place to
start. The view of the division into cultural group can be found in the appropriate map mode.
Additionally, the culture of a province can be changed in a way similar to establishing a core.
This process takes three years and costs 25 diplomacy points per a ducat of taxes.
Treasury (13/25) next page

The budget boils down to the monthly balance only
In EU IV, unlike in the case of the previous installments, the budget has been simplified to the
juxtaposition of monthly income/expenses. Thanks to this, the financial issues are definitely
more lucid and comprehensible. The income visible on the left side of the budget window
basically boil down to taxes, production, trade and, occasionally, to the other elements like tariffs
(if you own colonies), the harbor fees for letting another country use your it, gold mines vassal
income and war subsidies received from the other countries as a form of help (possible virtually
only in multiplayer). The expenses are restricted mainly to the army upkeep, but also to the
maintenance of missionaries, colonies, maintenance of advisors, diplomatic expenses (e.g. when
you are a vassal or support the foreign rebels), as well as harbor fees and loan interest. Although,
after the introduction of Monarch Power, gold lost some of its value, it is a natural thing that you
want to have as much of it as possible. It is mainly spent on building and conscripting new
armies so, you should always make sure to keep a positive balance.
If the countrys economy is not capable of dealing with the generated expenses, you need to limit
them. First of all, you should turn your attention to the army upkeep slide. In the peacetime, you
should keep it somewhere in the middle of the scale and, if you are not likely to experience many
problems with rebels, you can cut the expenditures by further 10-15% . In general, if nothing
shows that, in the nearest future, you will have to use your army, you should disband much of the
existing troops. The second slide that determines how much is spent on the fleet, also may be the
source of considerable savings. The situation here, though, is more complicated due to the trade.
Light ships are used to protect trade routes and, at the same time, the income generated by these.
In this case, cutting their budget may do more damage than it will do good. So, if you use many
ships for protection of the trade (which you should) you will have to determine manually how
much lower these, to make the savings exceed the potential profits from trade with higher
financing of the fleet. Compare both of these values and balance things out to lower the expenses
but still receive profits due to the protection of the routes. Still, without mucgh hesitation, you
can liquidate heavy galleons, especially if you wage war mainly on land. Of course, in the case
of a war, increase both of the slides to their maximum and, look for any financial support in war
taxes, loans or in a peace treaty.
The remaining two slides probably do not constitute that big a part of the budget, but also here
you can fork out some pieces of gold. The money you spend on the missionaries translate
directily into their effectiveness while converting. In this case, there exists a possibility of
bringing down the expenses, for these, if you choose appropriate ideas, and they still will be
converting people for free, in fact. The situation is a bit similar in the case of the colonial slide,
although you should restrict limiting this kind of expenses to a minimum. The better you
maintain a colony, the faster its population will reach one thousand which is practically
synonymous with its self-sufficiency and a general increase in the income generated by it.
So, you can choose between paying larger sums for a shorter period of time, or paying less for a
longer period of time (in the long run, it will turn out that you are actually paying more). If you
really need to cut down the expenses connected with colonies then, just like with missionaries,
there is a probability of receiving a positive growth of population, even with major cut-downs.
For this, take advantage of the appropriate ideas (e.g. Land of Opportunity in Exploration). If
you want to curb your budget, make sure that population still rises in colonies, even to the
smallest extent. Finally, also take into consideration that maintenance costs for each consecutive
colony (starting with the third), will be higher and higher. So, it may be a good idea to restrict
the number of owned colonies to two only, until you are financially back on your feet again.
During wartime, you also gain access to war tax option. Levying this tax does not give you cash
directly and decreases the cost of army and fleet maintenance by 20%, in exchange for the
increased war exhaustion ratio, and the extra 10% to the cost of the reduction of the exhaustion.
This is especially useful in the case of quick wars that end before the exhaustion factor reaches
high levels but, this may also be used to safeguard yourself if the war is getting on the money too
fast. Beware, though, because long-lasting war taxes result in steep inflation.
Loans
When you are hard bent on money, you can save the treasury with loans (you take out a loan
automatically when you reach 0 with your finances). Loans are taken out for 5 years with annual
interest depending on the current modifiers (base interest is 4%). You can also pay up the loa
earlier than planned but, even then, you will have to pay up the entire loan just as if you paid it
up after the five years. So, with the base interest, one loan is as much as 20% of interest! This is
really a lot and additionally, each loan increases inflation by 0.10. In other words you should in
general avoid taking out loans and do that only if the situation is really grave, when there is a
risk of losing a war if you dont, etc.
The amount of the current loan and the total amount that you can take out depends, mainly, on
the size of the country. After you use up the limit for the available loans, reaching 0 with your
gold will mean going bankrupt. Bankruptcy will erase all of the loans that you have taken out,
but at the price of the fall in stability, inflation will soar, you will suffer the loss of all your
Monarch Power points, the loss of prestige and legitimacy. Furthermore, all your advisors and
mercenaries will leave and the morale of the remaining armies will drop. All of the loans that
you take out thereafter, will be with the interest higher by 10%.
Inflation
Inflation increases the cost of everything that can be bought for money, by its own value. What it
means is that a 5% inflation =buildings, army, etc more expensive by 5%. It is easy to guess that
it is something that you want to avoid at any cost. Inflation can rise as a result of events, taking
out loans (0.10% for each), war taxes and gold mine taxation. Haw high it will soar depends on
what percentage of the total income comes from these mines. If it is more than 10%, then the
inflation will soar on a monthly basis. This is especially destructive in the case of the New World
countries, like the Incas, whose deposits of gold are especially large, where the income from the
other sources is low. This will result in inflation rising to a high scale over the years. Once it
rises, inflation is difficult to bring down. Apart from events, there are only four other ways to
limit it, of which two require the appropriate ideas. You can hire an advisor who will be reducing
the inflation by 0.10% annually. Full development of the economic idea will bring inflation
down by another 0.10% a year, and will allow you to eliminate 1% directly, at the price of 200
administration points, with the minimum inflation of 3%. The last way is to build the Tax
Assessor building, which is going to bring the inflation down by 0.05%. You can only have one
such building and, it is additionally available only late into the game, because it requires the 27th
administration level.
As much as in the last decades of the game, inflation is not going to mean that much, at the very
beginning, it is very difficult to combat and can make the game considerably more difficult.
Avoid its excessive rise at all costs. Try not to take out loans and do not build the economy of the
country on the Indian gold.
Taxes, production, tariffs (14/25) next page

Total income from provinces is the outcome of many different factors
The income generated by provinces is divided into three main types - taxes, production and
tariffs.
Tax this is the base amount of income generated by each province. The level of taxation of
specified for every province in the world, and it depends on the population, resources and
historical conditioning of this area. This base amount is modified by decisions/events, as well as
the following:
Building of a temple+1
Capital +2
+0,2 per each one thousand of locals left alive during conversion from colony into a city.
Note that any decisions and various factors inform of the modification of the tax modifier in a
positive, or negative way. +10% of the tax modifier, does not mean that the taxes are higher by
10%. The modifier is a multiplier that you multiply by the total of taxes, which you receive as an
income, in a given province. I.e. if the taxed amount in a province is 10 (e.g. base 9 and +1 for a
temple), and the modifier is 150%, then from this province you will receive 15 ducats.
The modifier is calculated separately for each province. Apart from decisions and events, the
modifier depends mainly on:
Stability (+10% per each positive point);
Religion (each negative tolerance point equals -10%, furthermore, protestants have
+10%);
Culture (-33% for a foreign culture, -15% for a culture of the same group, but
unaccepted);
Buildings (e.g. constable provides +20%);
City +25%;
Core +75%;
Geographic situation, other provinces on the continent (regardless of the real distance)
will have -90%;
Blockades of ports in wartime;
Revolt risks.
You necessarily need to note the difference between the values displayed directly in the province
window and the values displayed in the budget window. The ones in budget will be far lower
than the ones displayed in province. This result from the fact that directly in the province, the
annual income from taxes is displayed, with the monthly in the budget, i.e. divided by 12.
Production is an income from selling of the goods produced in a given region. Goods differ
between each other and, in general, what is produced, will depend on the income. There is a base
value to each one of the goods (2 for regular and 3 for luxury like tobacco or ivory), but it is
going to fluctuate depending on the current supply and demand in the world. You calculate this
by multiplying the base price by demand and dividing it by supply. Controlling what kind of
goods are currently in demand is an easy way to profit, especially if you play in Europe, when
the goods in high demand turn out to be the ones produced on a mass scale by a pagan country
that you can easily conquer within two months. The production is subject to multiplication with
adherence to the same rules as taxes. The modifier can be increased by ideas, decisions,
technological development and building.
A specific kind of ware is gold, which does not make it directly into the market, and is worked
into direct income instead. Gold is a secure and rich source of quick money but, if it constitutes
more than 10% of the countrys income, it starts to generate inflation on a regular basis. Detailed
information about what is produced in which province is available in the economic mode of the
map, and detailed information about specific products and their prices is available in the log
(Hotkey L).

Tariffs the provinces that are not on the same continent, do not generate production income
and their taxes are largely limited (-90%). In exchange for that, the income from these is based
on tariffs. Note that there is no difference between the distance of a given area. Each province
that is located on a continent different than the capital, which has no direct land connection
with it, counts as an overseas colony. The exception to this rule are all the straits, apart from
the Strait of Gibraltar. E.g. if you play with Spain and conquer the region right past the strait, just
like in the screenshot, this will count as an overseas land. But if you cut through the entire coast
of the Mediterranean, all the way to Constantinople, along the northern African coast back to the
Strait of Gibraltar, then this land will count as a mainland colony.
How do you calculate customs? By adding the base tax amount to the modified value of trade in
that province, and then multiplying it by the base tariff modifier of -85%. There also are several
ways to modify the value of tariffs e.g. the abovementioned Spain has a national idea that
provides +10%. You can also receive another 20% from the Exploration idea, but you need to
remember one thing all of the positive indicators to tariffs are calculated from a ready
value, and not summed up like in the case of tax or production. In simple terms, the idea that
adds the 20% will not make the global tariff modifier amount to only -65%. The sum is
calculated in a regular way (with the -85% modifier), and the 20% is added to the result, i.e. as a
result the difference is minimal. You also need to include the fact that the maintenance of
collecting the 100% of tariffs will require a big fleet (roll your mouse over the tariffs in the
budget window to see your current effectiveness and how many ships you need more).
In practical terms, tariffs can never be considered the basis for finances and basing on them is
not too wise. It is much better to focus on the development on the continent by erecting buildings
and developing tax and production ideas. If you have vast lands in the American continent,
maybe it is worth considering to relocate the capital, which will carry over production to
America, and tariffs to Europe. To relocate the Capital, you need to open the province menu and
click on the grey crown next to the name of that province. The cost to relocate is 200 MP.
Buildings (15/25) next page

You can only build one type of special buildings in a province.
There are four types of buildings in the game regular, special, unique and manufactories. When
it comes to the regular buildings,, they all can be erected in each province. They are divided into
six categories - Government, Army, Navy, Production, Trade and Fort, four in each section.
Special buildings are two additional upgrades for the regular buildings. In each province there
can be only one such building so, if you build the arsenal from the Army division in a province,
you will not be able to build e.g. the Post Office from the Trade division.
Unique buildings, on the other hand, can be erected only once on the whole map. Manufactories
can be built one per each province.
While erecting buildings, try to think ahead, so you do not lose your freshly-built manufactories
at war. First of all, you should be developing the richest provinces that are far away from
borders.
Regular buildings
The building time of each building is 12 months. You can only build one in each province and in
the pre-determined order ( you cannot build a courthouse if you do not have the temple). The
effect of these buildings holds only in the province in which they were erected.
Government
Temple
Requirements 5 Administrative level. 10 AMP. 50 Ducats.
Increases the base tax level by 1
Courthouse
Requirements 8 Administrative level. 10 AMP. 75 Ducats.
Decreases revolt risk by1
Spy Agency
Requirements 11 Administrative level. 10 AMP. 100 Ducats.
Local spy defense +25. Local defensiveness +10%.
Town Hall
Requirements 14 Requirements 10 AMP. 150 Ducats.
Local tax modifier +20%. Local defensiveness +10%.
Army
Armory
Requirements 4 Military level 10 MMP. 50 Ducats
Manpower +25. Local regiment cost-5%, Local regiment time -10%.
Training Fields
Requirements 8 Military level 10 MMP. 75 Ducats.
Manpower +25. Local regiment cost-5%, Local regiment time -10%
Barracks
Requirements 11 Military level 10 MMP. 100 Ducats.
Manpower +50. Local regiment cost -5%.
Regimental Camp
Requirements 13 Military level 10 MMP. 150 Ducats.
Manpower modifier +20%
Navy
Dock
Requirements 4 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 50 Ducats.
Trade power +0,33. Local ship repair +25%
Drydock
Requirements 8 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 75 Ducats.
Local shipbuilding time -10%. Local ship repair +10%.
Shipyard
Requirements 11 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 100 Ducats.
Naval Force Limit +2
Grand Shipyard
Requirements 13 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 150 Ducats.
Local shipbuilding time and their cost -10%.
Production
Constable
Requirements 5 Diplomatic level. 10 AMP. 50 Ducats.
Local tax modifier +20%
Workshop
Requirements 8 Diplomatic level. 10 AMP. 75 Ducats.
Produced goods +20%
Counting House
Requirements 11 Diplomatic level. 10 AMP. 100 Ducats.
Local production efficiency +25%
Treasury
Requirements 14 Diplomatic level. 10 AMP. 150 Ducats.
Produced goods +20%
Local tax modifier +20%
Trade
Marketplace
Requirements 4 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 50 Ducats.
Trade power +1
Trade Depot
Requirements 8 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 75 Ducats.
Trade power +25%, Trade value +1
Canal
Requirements 11 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 100 Ducats.
Trade power +1. Trade value modifier +25%.
Road Network
Requirements 13 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 150 Ducats.
Trade power +25%. Local movement speed +10%
Fort
Earth Rampart
Requirements 3 Military Level 10 MMP. 50 Ducats.
Local missionary strength +0,1. Supply limit +0,5%. Fort level +1
Star Fort
Requirements 9 Military Level 10 MMP. 75 Ducats.
Local missionary strength +0,1. Supply limit +0,5%. Fort level +1
Tenaille
Requirements 14 Military Level 10 MMP. 100 Ducats.
Local missionary strength +0,1. Supply limit +0,5%. Fort level +1
Star Bastion
Requirements 20 Military Level 10 MMP. 150 Ducats.
Local missionary strength +0,1. Supply limit +0,5%. Fort level +1
Special Buildings
Special buildings can only be built after you have erected all four of the regular buildings of a
given type. There can be only one type of special buildings per province. The construction time
is 24 months. The effect of these buildings holds only in the province in which they were
erected.
Government
College
Requirements 16 Administrative level 10 AMP. 250 Ducats.
Local revolt risk-1. Local spy defense +25%.
Cathedral
Requirements 18 Administrative level 10 AMP. 500 Ducats.
Local revolt risk -1. Local spy defense +10%.
Army
Arsenal
Requirements 16 Military level 10 MMP. 250 Ducats.
Manpower Modifier+25%, Local spy defense Local recruitment time -25%
Conscription Center
Requirements 18 Military level 10 MMP. 500 Ducats.
Manpower modifier+25%, Land limit +2
Navy
Naval Arsenal
Requirements 16 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 250 Ducats.
Naval Force Limit +2, Local shipbuilding time -10%
Naval Base
Requirements 18 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 500 Ducats.
Naval Force Limit +2. Local shipbuilding time -10%, local repair time+50%.
Production
Mint
Requirements 16 Diplomatic level, 10 AMP, 250 Ducats.
Local tax modifier +50%
Stock Exchange
Requirements 18 Diplomatic level. 10 AMP, 500 Ducats.
Tax income+5
Trade
Post Office
Requirements 16 Diplomatic level. 10DMP. 250 Ducats.
Local trade power +3 and +50%
Custom House
Requirements 18 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 500 Ducats.
Local trade power +5
Fort
Redoubt
Requirements 24 Military level 10 MMP. 250 Ducats.
Missionary Strength +0,1. Fort level+2, Local defensiveness +10%.
Fortress
Requirements 29 Military level 10 MMP. 500 Ducats.
Missionary Strength +0,1. Fort level +2, Local defensiveness +10%.
Unique buildings
One country can only have one unique building of each kind, regardless of its size. Some
buildings have special requirements to operate. If the requirements cease to be met after some
time, the buildings will be demolished. And you will be able to erect a new one in another
province(as long as the requirements are met, of course). The construction time for these
buildings is 12 months. Their effects hold all around the country, unless it has been stated
otherwise. Furthermore, unique buildings can be erected in the same provinces, even all in the
same province.
Tax Assessor
Requirements 27 administrative level, 10 AMP, 1000 Ducats. It can only be built in the capital,
as long as the capitals base tax level is at least 10.
Inflation reduction -0,05 per annum.
Embassy
Requirements 6 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 1000 Ducats.
Additional diplomat. Foreign Core Cost in your core +10%
Glorious Monument
Requirements 19 Administrative level 10 AMP. 1000 Ducats.
Annual prestige +1
March
Requirements 8 Military level 10 MMP. 500 Ducats. It needs to be a border core province.
Manpower +500. Local defensiveness +200%.
Grain Depot
Requirements 24 Administrative level 10 AMP. 1000 Ducats. Only in grain producing core.
Local Army Limit +10%, army maintenance modifier -10%.
Palace
Requirements 20 Diplomatic level, 10 DMP, 1000 Ducats. Only in the capital and only for
monarchy.
Annual Legitimacy +1
War College
Requirements 19 Military level 10 MMP. 1000 Ducats.
Yearly army tradition +0,5. A Leader without upkeep.
Admiralty
Requirements 19 Diplomatic level, 10 DMP, 1000 Ducats, only in a coastal province.
Yearly navy tradition+0,5. A Leader without upkeep.
Fine Arts Academy
Requirements 12 Administrative level 10 AMP. 1000 Ducats.
Stability cost modifier -5%
University
Requirements 17 Administrative level 10 AMP. 1000 Ducats.
Technology cost -5%
Manufactories
Manufactory increases the production of a provinces good by 100%. It requires an appropriate
type of good though produced in that province to be built. One province can only have one
manufactory and their construction time is 60 months (5 years!) and additionally, cannot be
destroyed once built. Before you decide to build a manufactory, you should consider possible
changes in economy in future years (e.g. due to new geographic discoveries or wars that will
influence the supply of a given ware), the capacity to hold the area and its overall production, to
take full advantage of the 100% bonus.
Refinery
Requirements 20 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP. 500 Ducats. Wine or sugar
Naval Equipment Manufactory
Requirements 12 Diplomatic level. 10 DMP, 500 Ducats. Naval supplies, fish or salt.
Weapons Manufactory
Requirements 20 Military level 10 MMP, 500 Ducats. Copper or iron
Textile Manufactory
Requirements 12 Administrative level 10 AMP, 500 Ducats. Wool or fabrics.
Farm Estate
Requirements 6 Administrative level 10 AMP, 500 Ducats. grain.
Plantations
Requirements 13 Administrative level 10 AMP, 500 Ducats. Coffee, cotton, sugar or tobacco.
Trade Company
Requirements 12 Administrative level10 DMP. 500 Ducats. Ivory, tea, ceramics, slaves spice
or fur
Trade Nodes (16/25) next page
Trade is one of the main sources of income generated by the country. It is also, seemingly, one of
the most complicated elements of the game so, learning it thoroughly is a must for the economic
domination in the world.

The world is divided into trade regions, i.e. the so called Trade Nodes. The entire production
from each province in a given region makes it into the Center of Trade. From there, it is sent
further on, in accordance with the arrowheads shown in the map (the above screenshot). Note
that the transfer on the European routes is permanent and never changes. Unlike in the third
Europa the trade routes can be neither destroyed, taken over, nor established. The map of these is
permanent and it will only grow in size with new geographic discoveries. There are two end
stations for all of the routes, which do not send goods any further. These are Venice and
Antwerp.
The amount of money in a Trade Node depends on the amount and the price of the goods
produced within its boundaries. This value is called trade value and it is calculated by
multiplying the product price by its amount manufactured in a given province, and then by the
modifier that is influenced by e.g. the Canal building which increases it by 25%. The total trade
value o all the provinces is the sum of money that you can put your hands on by controlling a
given trade route. Of course, there will be other countries that will want that money also.
In each Center of Trade there are merchants responsible for goods and money transfer. The
larger the trade power at your disposal, within a given center, the more profit you are going to
generate.
Trade control (17/25) next page

A trader can amass money or send it further, in hope of making a larger profit
To control trade, you use merchants. There is a base number of two per each country. This
number can be increased through ideas (especially Trade that provides three extra merchants)
and decisions. Furthermore, merchant republics have one more base merchant. You dispatch
merchants to trade nodes (only within your trade range modified by diplomatic technology and
ideas), where they attempt to seize as much control over the local trade route as possible.
You can order a merchant to do either of two things:
Collect money
Steer the trade, conforming with the route, over to the next center
The larger your control over a given trade node, the larger percentage of the money, coming
from the total, you receive. What you want to do, then, is establish a transfer route from the
starting point A, through B, to C, where you have great control and where you are going to
collect the money (much more than if you collected it in points A and B, where your share in the
market is low). How much money you are going to collect for yourself, depends on the current
trade power.

Trade Power is a key factor of how much you actually are going to get. Note that it is not a
value that has bearing on the amount of money in a node (that is what trade value is for). Trade
power determines how much of the entire pie you are going to get. This value varies for each
trade center (although some modifiers, e.g. for high stability, are global for all nodes). Trade
power depends on the following factors:
Provinces, the more provinces you have in a given region, the higher the trade power, for
the local node, you are going to generate. That is why it is immensely important to hold a
stronghold in the distant regions e.g. in very rich India. Additionally, coastal provinces in
the middle of the trade are going to generate higher TP than the remaining ones. Erecting
new buildings also increases TP.
Mercantilism. The current percentage multiplied by two is an additional TP generated by
each province. Mercantilism can be modified by means of events.
Half of the Trade Efficiency is an additional percentage of the Trade Power. Efficiency
cannot exceed 200% (i.e. 100% of TP)
Modifiers of the idea, system advisors, stability.
Merchants, Each merchant increases TP by 2 in the region that he has been dispatched to.
Trade steering. A merchant that sends money on, increases Trade Power in the next
center. The effects cumulate, up to five merchants. And so, the first one increases trade
power by 20%, the second one by 30%, the third one by 36.6%, fourth by 41.6% and fifth
by 45.6. Note that merchants do not need to (and technically speaking cannot) be from
the same country. This is the basis for establishing a good trade node. Send money from
the weaker nodes, to the ones where you have a bigger share to increase income
generated there. Determine how to best establish a transfer to maximize profits. A good
solution will be to establish e.g. two three-layer node. But, sometimes, one long node, or
three shorter ones, may turn out to be a better solution. Remember about transferring
your money to the appropriate node! It is an element that is easy to overlook. Note
that, in the above screenshot, directly next to the trade center in Gold Coast, right on the
routes, there are small windows. Clicking any of these selects the direction in which you
want to transfer money. And so, in the screenshot, money is being transferred to the
North-East towards Mauretania, and on to Seville. It is easy to make an oversight here,
which will result in money being sent into completely different trade point where you do
not have any merchants, and in wasting all money! So, make sure that your node sends
your money in the correct way.
Ships. Each light ship that patrols the sea trade route increases the generated trade power.
The base value is 3 per each ship but, this amount increases with each better ship model.
It is an immensely effective way to increase income from trade so, build big fleet and try
to determine, manually, the ratio of the number of ships to the navy financing in the
budget that generates the highest income. The better you finance the navy, the better this
influences the income from trade. So, it may turn out that it is more economical to spend
more money on the navy, than make apparent savings by curbing the financing.
You should collect money where it is most effective after the establishment of the entire node,
i.e. it is the ideal situation when it is a trade node with high trade value from production and from
steering, and also very high trade power coming from market control (the more negligible the
competition the easier it is to control, you will receive a lions share in the market, somewhat by
default, in the nod that your Capital belongs to.
Eventually, the game puts a merchant in the trade center of the capital to collect money there.
Money in the capital is always collected automatically and the merchant presence modifies it
only by 10%. Therefore, the most effective solution is to remove the merchant from there and
put him in another node that you have strong control over. You need to take into consideration
the fact that this will pretty much decrease the local trade power there but, if it still stays on a
high level, this will be anyways more effective than the additional 10% from the capital. In
general terms, a good solution for trade are two transfer routes, one that ends in the center that
the capital belongs to and the other ending in another center, which you exercise vast control
over.
Embargo
To maximize your share in a trade center, you can consider imposing embargo on another
country. Embargo will decrease this countrys trade power in nodes, in which both of you have
trade power. This will increase the income of the remaining countries from these nodes. The
imposed penalty is a half of the owned TP in any other trade center. I.e. the more power you
have over a given center, the more effective the embargo is. Embargo effectiveness can be
additionally increased by 33% by the Privateers idea from the Espionage group. Furthermore,
England has a national idea that increases the effectiveness of embargo by 100%.
Embargo wil come with the decrease in the opinion of the other country by 15. Furthermore,
each imposed embargo decreases trade effectiveness by 5%. This penalty can be avoided if you
name another country your opponent.
Strategic goods

Controlling the market comes with very nice bonuses.
For controlling the market of certain goods, you can receive special bonuses. If you are the
leader of the world production, you will receive a 10% rise to the production of these goods. If
you, on the other hand, control at least 20% of the world trade of these goods, you will receive a
special bonus, which depends on the type of the goods. These bonuses are really big and worth
obtaining. For example, controlling grain market, will increase the limit of the army by 25%, and
controlling wine market wil decrease stability cost by 25%. Gold is the exception here because it
provides no bonus. You can find detailed information about that in the log (Hotkey L).
The mechanics (18/25) next page
Colonization provides you with peaceful means of expanding your territory. The first centuries
on EUIV is the period of breakthrough geographic discoveries in the history of man so, it is only
natural that, by default, it makes a significant element of the game. What you can discover, and
then seize in the name of King, God and Country are, among others, African Coast, India,
Oceania and, above all both Americas with plentiful gold and other riches. Once the tape goes
up, the race is on. The early bird catches the worm.
To be able to even think of joining the race, you need a colonist, Most countries can only have
three of those. All of them require an appropriate idea 2 from Exploration and 1 from
Expansion. Furthermore, due to the national ideas, Spain, Norway and Russia wil receive an
additional colonist, which results in the total of four for these countries.
Even if you only have colonists, this will do no good, if you do not discover new lands yourself.
To discover new lands, you need to obtain either and explorer or a conquistador. Only they can
set out into Terra Incognita to explore it. The explorer travels by ship and he can explore new
waters, whereas conquistador can set out into the depths of the land. To gain access to them, you
need the Quest for New World idea, from Exploration. So, as you can see, if you are going to
join the conquest of the world, the Exploration group is absolutely necessary, because otherwise
you simply will not be able to discover the unknown lands. If you do not have explorers, nor
conquistadors, you can only hope that when you learn about new lands through the mouths
word, they will not be colonized yet, and you still will be able to send out a colonist, but this is a
thing that you cannot base your colonial empire on. As you discover new lands, remember about
the right selection of the army. Use only the fastest units to be able to discover new lands as
quickly as possible before the leader is consumed by exhaustion. When it comes to explorers,
always use the lightest ships.

The mechanics of the colonization itself is very simple. You dispatch a colonist to a land that has
not been colonized yet and, after enough time has passed, he will establish a colony. Andthat
is basically it. Unlike in the case of the previous Europa games, the colonist will always succeed
and he will always establish a colony. Then, the colonist may remain in the colony, just like in
the screenshot, to speed up the development of the colony. He can also be sent elsewhere to start
establishing another colony. Once the colony reaches the population of 1000, it will turn into a
city.
At the very beginning, a colony has only the population of 10. In the province tab, you can find
information about annual increase (or decrease) of the population. This value depends on the
current level of financing the colony from the budget, as well as on modifiers e.g. Land of
Opportunity from Exploration provides +33, and a province situated in the tropics has a modifier
of -10. The colonists presence does not increase population directly. He provides a chance,
expressed in percents, that he can make new people settle in a given area. The chance depends on
the situation of the colony, its natural resources, culture and religion. Colonies also expand faster
if they border a city so, clustering them together will speed up the general development.
Due to the limited number of colonists, you will have to choose carefully your next moves. You
need to decide if you want to develop your current colony, or to move ahead to colonize another
land which will threaten the existing colonies with the extended process of turning into a
city(which is connected with larger expenses, the risk of being attacked by locals and the
possibility of losing a colony in a war). In general, first select the richest provinces and those that
will produce the most expensive and the most important goods, e.g. to seize control over trade
with strategic goods and profit from the bonus that follows.
While colonizing, you should also pay attention to the locals. Each one thousand of locals, which
is left alive at the moment of transition into a city (population of 1000) will be included into the
population count and will increase the base tax income by 0.20. In theory,, this will allow you to
create an entirely new city, which will start with the population of 5000 or 7000. Still, locals can
be irritating. They have two main indicators aggressiveness and ferocity. The former, marked
with the small axes, indicates the probability of their attacking your settlement, where the latter,
marked with the bows, indicates a bonus to the damage inflicted by these locals. You need to
keep in mind that locals with high ferocity level can quite easily put even the best of the
European armies if they outnumber you, or even when the numbers are even. If there are troops
stationed in the region, you can order them eradicate locals but, this will set back the
development of the city later on. If you can afford this, the best solution is to keep your troops in
the colony, which will have locals let you be and protect the citizens of the colony from the
attacking locals. Then, at least some of the locals should make it into the newly-created city
before they die.
Territorial range and wars (19/25) next page

The green provinces on the colonial map are within range
Territorial range determines how far you can send a colonist. It is the key fctor of the range of
colonization. You will not be able to bridge the gap between Europe and America if you do not
have sufficient range. The range is counted from the closest core province that you control and it
is influenced mainly by your level of Diplomatic Technology and, again, the Exploration group
where you find an idea that increases the range by 50%. Some countries also have a bonus
provided by the national idea, e.g. Portugal (+25%).
What do you do if you are not able to reach out for the new world? If you play e.g. Austria,
Poland or Sweden, it is going to be much more difficult than if you played with countries at the
brink of Europe. You can submit a diplomatic plea to the other countries that already have their
overseas lands for access to their ports and then, your range will count from their provinces. This
way, you can easily neglect the less important provinces in your way to gain a piece of land in
the wealthier regions. Unfortunately, this involves quite high fees that you, especially at the
beginning of the game, may not be able to handle. You can terminate the agreement to use ports
whenever you want to so, if you cannot afford maintaining it, you can send out a colonist and,
after he starts establishing a colony, terminate the agreement to get the fees off your back. Once
the colony is established and you will want to move your colonist over to another province, you
will enter the agreement again and terminate it after he starts establishing a new settlement.
In a situation in which, either for financial reasons or because of low relations the plea for the
access to the ports is denied, there is nothing else to do but delineate the route yourself by seizing
control over the key islands in the middle of the ocean. It is easy to reach America e.g. via
Iceland and then to Greenland. In 1444, Iceland remained under Norwegian rule that has union
with Denmark in union with Sweden. This will mean going for war with the entire Scandinavian
peninsula. Still, at this level, these are countries with relatively small armies. Another option are
islands to the west of Northern Africa. Especially the Azores (towards the Caribbean) and Cape
Verde (towards the hunch of the south America). The Azores belong to Portugal and Cape
Verde has been no mans land from the very beginning but, since Portugal starts the game with
an explorer and a conquistador, it is only a matter of time before it will make under the
Portuguese rule. Also the African provinces may be an alternative, because they border, in the
shortest straight line, with America. Remember that these regions, unlike Iceland, start out as
colonies so, they first need to be transformed into a city before you can core them.
Colonial wars
By bordering, with your colony, another countrys colony, you receive a mutual casus belli
Colonial Conquest. Note that these do not need to be colonies per se (population lower than
1000). In this case the colony is an overseas land (not on the same continent as the capital, unless
there is a land connection). If there is a war going on, and the armies enter the actual colony (less
than 1000 settlers), the colony is then seized (colonies do not have ports so they cannot defend
themselves). Then, the enemy army may burn the buildings down, which leaves the area for re-
colonization, or seize it for itself. Still, such actions will negatively influence relations with
neighbors.
Introduction (20/25) next page

In the diplomacy window, you will learn against whom you have Casus Belli
You are able to make life easier for yourself, if you operate diplomacy well, by avoiding many
exhausting and unnecessary wars during conquests. Therefore, it is good to know how to best use
your diplomats.
First of all, in EUIV relations between countries are bilateral and the opinion of country A about
country B does not necessarily have to reflect the opinion of country B about A. These are two
different values, both can range between -200 and +200. Of course, the higher the relations the
higher willingness to cooperate with the other side. Diplomacy is also influenced by, the so
called, diplomatic reputation. It is influenced by overextension, advisors and ideas.
Apart from number relations, the countries also have ideas about each other, which will, to a
large extent, determine their actions. To learn how you are perceived by the other side, roll your
mouse over the icon to the left of the current relations.
Countries may have the following ideas:
Vassal the country is a vassal.
Overlord you are a vassal to the other side.
Domineering you are much weaker than the other side so, it thinks that you should
become its subject, which it will be attempting to achieve. Be ready for a war.
Cordial you are perceived as a potential ally due to similar interests. The other side will
try to keep the good relations.
Friendly you are perceived as a natural ally. The other country will try to enter an
alliance, even if relations are low.
Neutral your opinion with the other country is neutral but, when relations are low, the
other side may declare war on you. You should improve your relations with such
countries to prevent them from entering a coalition.
Threatened you are much stronger than the other side, which fills them with fear. They
will be trying to enter an alliance with your enemies or with you directly. It is a better
solution to enter alliance with such countries, to somewhat keep them under control.
Beware though, because as soon as you show them weakness, they will be ready to act
against you.
Outraged you have made the other side angry with your actions and it will be trying to
strike at you at the first opportune moment. J oin any coalition. Activates at the high
Aggressive Expansion level.
Hostile/Rivalry you are a natural enemy to the other side so, they will try to annihilate
their enemy. Unlike the outraged countries, who will, sooner or later, give it all up, your
rival will perceive you as an enemy for long years to come.
During the game, you will quickly notice the meager of diplomats. The basic amount of these,
for each country is two so, each additional diplomat for a big country is very important. You can
acquire them from the Diplomatic, Espionage an Aristocracy ideas, by building an embassy and
by becoming the Holy Roman Emperor, after the introduction of an appropriate reform. Each
loose diplomat should be used straight away, unless you have a good reason to keep him away
from work, e.g. submitting a proposal of peace after winning a battle or to gain more MP. Avoid
getting entangled in close relations (e.g. marriages, alliances) with many countries. Three or four
countries that you enter such relations with is enough.
Finally, if you plan on any definite offensive actions against a country, and you are not going to
conceal it too much, you can make that country a rival. You can have up to three rivals and
naming one costs you 10 diplomacy points. It is very useful an option so do not forget about it.
You receive the following modifiers per each rival:
Increased chance for an alliance with the other of its enemies.
+25% to prestige for winning a battle.
No 5% penalty to trade efficiency for imposing embargo.
+20% effectiveness of spy actions.
-33% cost of diplomatic points for demanding a province during peace talks.
Diplomatic actions (21/25) next page

You can use diplomacy to wage wars without rolling out cannons
War and peace
The first option in diplomacy is declaring a war or starting peace talks, if the war is already on.
You can declare a war nearly always, with small exceptions, e.g. when you are a dependent
country in a personal union or when your country is ruled by the Regency Council. Still, for war
to be grounded, you need Casus Belli, i.e. the reason for war. Attacking without CB will
decrease stability in your country and will have a negative impact on diplomatic relations, which
is why you should never attack without reason. You should never attack a country that you
currently have truce with (truce is imposed automatically after you sign peace). You can gain
Casus Belli for many reasons. First of all when you have cores within the boundaries of an
enemy country or at least you present a claim to that province. Other CB include, e.g. a war with
your Overlord for the independence of the country, war on infidels refusal of an ally to help at
war, wars for colonies attacking a country that you guarantee peace to, offence on the part of
another country or seizing the throne in a country where you secured it with marriage.
Furthermore, there also are special historic CBs that can be activated after certain requirements
are met e.g. around 1600 Russias neighbors may intervene about the, so called Time of Troubles
to place their candidate on the Tsars throne.
The type of war determines the reactions from the nearby countries, prestige that you will earn
from victory, cost of diplomacy points for each demand during peace talks and, of course, the
aim that needs to be fulfilled.
Casus Belli is not restricted to the possible spoils of war but to the initial aim. The more lands
you occupy and the more battles you have won, the more you can demand during peace talks but,
you need to keep in mind that you will earn excessive overextension this way, and also that
neighbors will react to that. The more aggressive your gaming style, the more you increase the
Aggressive Expansion with countries that are interested in these lands. Careless playing and
expanding your country in every possible direction will soon result in a number of coalitions and
to war with 20 countries on four different fronts. The game is long and, if you do not gain
everything that you want, you will have the next opportunity in five more years. That is why it is
better to wait than have to face half of the continent.
During peace talks, the winner can demand the following:
Seizing a province. You can demand only your cores or the provinces that you are
occupying;
Renouncement of the core provinces by the other country;
Returning of the core provinces to a third party. Useful option that will allow you to
weaken the enemy without gaining too much AE, and without taking over lands that are
valueless from the strategic standpoint;
Freeing of vassals;
Endowing a new country with independence;
Termination of agreements with other countries;
Other agreements like changing the religion, becoming a vassal or the transfer of 50%
Trade Power;
Ducats.
How much the other side will agree to that will be determined by the warscore. With peace
negotiations, it is immensely important that the aim from Casus Belli is met. When you fulfill it,
e.g. when you take over a province that you started the war over, the warscore will start to rise
systematically, until it reaches 20% at most. That is why, if you have several CB to choose from
, always choose the one whose aims are the easiest to fulfill. Note also that the demands require
specific value of the Monarch Power Points. In a situation when there is no definite victor, both
sides can agree to Status Quo i.e. ending the war without effect.
Alliances
In the second tab, there are two options entering an alliance and a coalition.
Alliance forces both sides to help each other in both defensive and offensive wars, as long as the
assailant summons an ally. Refusal to help will result in the loss of 25 prestige points, breaking
the alliance, a tremendous fall in relations and casus belli for the other side. Still, as long as you
are in the alliance, both you and your ally receive +50 to relations and additional +25 during
wartime.
You should use deliberation when selecting an ally. One, or two is enough. These should also be
big and strong countries . Getting involved in a net of alliances with small countries will drag
you into a string of conflicts when the weaker side will make trouble with another one in hope
that you will win the war for them. Additionally, you will often have to break truces. It is
something that you want to avoid. Find one strong ally, at best one that you do not border with
and that you have common enemies with., ideally on both sides to lock them between a rock and
a hard place, e.g. France and Poland or France and Turkey with Austria in the middle, which is
disliked by all sides. Or Spain and Austria against France, and Austria with Russia against
Poland.
Coalitions are, on the other hand, a good way to ally yourself with against a common enemy
without entering into the official alliance and without taking the risk of being dragged into a
series of wars that you are absolutely not interested in. After you enter a coalition, each country
(even a rival who would not agree to enter an alliance under regular circumstances) can join the
coalition. When a war between the aim of the coalition and any of the member states breaks out,
all of the countries will join in the fights and create a common front. Unlike in the case of
alliances, the option to refuse is not available here. If you are in a coalition, you will always join
the war, unless a truce between you and the enemy is currently in power. Note that this works
both ways so, it is one of the few acceptable situations when it may be a good idea to break
truce. If you have a truce with 5 members of the coalition, you can declare war on one of them
and defeat him, without worrying that the rest will intervene.
Coalitions can be a very useful tool in fights with stronger countries but, assuming that you play
an offensive game, they more often will be a problem than they will be helpful. As a matter of
fact, each neighbor, or even his neighbor will join an armed coalition to conquer and expand in
every possible direction. It does not matter that these are small countries that can affrd only
troops 10 thousand strong. If there are fifteen of then and additionally they attack at all sides, you
will soon notice that this is not a comfortable situation. Of course, you can play this way and
win, as long as your country is big and strong but, this is going to be very tiring and not too
pleasant and even unhealthy, when a war over a small worthless island will be waged for 10
years. When you play an aggressive game, it is impossible to avoid entering a coalition. But, you
can manage them prudently by restricting them to reasonable sizes. First of all, what matters here
is numbers. If a country is not threatened/outraged/hostile, he will leave the coalition when
relations are higher than -100. If it is one of the three, he will leave the coalition at zero. So,
when you plan an expansion, you need to learn about the neighbors carefully and try to win the
undecided over to your side, to avoid them joining. Also, do not forget to care for your strongest
ally that you have common enemies with. F a strong country is nearly bound to react in a
negative way to an attack on a smaller nearby country, try to neutralize it at first e.g. by royal
marriage and later on, through war, for the throne. Also, troy to restrict your expansion to one
place at a time, to have all the coalition partners on one front. This kind of calm and more
sensible playing style, in spite of appearances, brings development on a larger scale and faseter
expansion. Instead of fighting against the coalition of eight countries, in a long-lasting
exhausting war, from which you can get only three provinces, you can instead fight a quick and
relatively easy war with three enemies to get the same three provinces. At the same time, you
will be able to plan on your next move!
Influence
Force peace in theory, with relations with another country at the level of, at least, +100, you
can support the defender to force Status Quo on the assailant. In practice, however, this option is
probably bugged because it always shows 0% chances to succeed without explaining any
positive or negative modifiers, just like in the case other decisions.. The other country will
automatically refuse, which will drag you into war. You can take advantage of it in the case of
lack of Casus Belli, to support a country, which will protect it from destruction and will not let
the enemy expand too much. You can also use this option in the multiplayer mode because the
other player is presented with a choice to either accept or refuse to proposition of forced peace.
Unfortunately, in the case of AI, you will always get a refusal.
Guarantee of Independence you guarantee the other country with independence. If it is
attacked, you will receive casus belli against the assailant. Useful, first of all when you want to
prevent the bigger countries from seizing the smaller ones, which you need for decisions, and to
prevent them from expanding too much. Castile and Granada are good examples here. To
transform Spain, Granada cannot exist. By guaranteeing it with independence, and making sure
that it does not disappear from the map, you prevent Spain from being founded.
Relations
Improving of Relations Sending out a diplomat so that, with time, he can improve your
relations with another country. The diplomat must remain in the country for relations go up so,
he will not be available for other actions. After relations reach the maximum value (+100 or
+200 depending on your relations with the country) the diplomat returns to the capital, and
relations start to go down again, on the base rate of -3 per year. You can modify it through
advisors prestige and ideas. Take a good care of your relations with allies and neutral countries
to prevent them from joining a coalition.
Send a warning If a country attacks one of your neighbors, you will receive casus belli against
that country.
Send offence You offend a country and provide it with casus belli against your country.
Dynasty
Royal marriage is a very useful tool. First of all, you can ensure your country with a heir thanks
to it. This is not the end though. If the king of the country which you have married into, dies
heirless, you will enter a personal union with that country and take control over it! This,
unfortunately, works both ways and this can make you a subject to another king for years to
come so, there is a risk in that. There also is an option of annexing the country that you are in a
personal union with. The country needs to be dependent for, at least, 50 years, needs to be
smaller and relations should be, at least, +190.
Three or four marriages is the maximum that is wirth having. With royal marriage, you can take
over an enemy throne, through war, even if the rightful ruler is still aliveIt is a perfect tool for
nipping inconvenient coalitions in the bud. Imagine you want to take over a small country, which
will pave your way to rich provinces in the east. Nearby, there are two strong countries which
definitely are not going to like it and there is a justified risk of a coalition. And now, if you
could, instead of going to war with one of them, and bind yourself with one of the countries? By
winning the war, you will make one of the countries into a vassal. Now, you can annex the small
country without being bothered. Because, one of the enemies, although still being enraged, will
be your subject so, it wont be capable of doing anything and the other will fear war one on one.
The appropriate way of playing with your princesses is halfway to success. You should also
watch out for countries that already have several marriages. In such a situation, a war, among all
the fathers in law, for the throne may break out. Access to marriages is barred for republics
(apart from the noble) and theocracies.
Vassalization is a way to develop your country in a peaceful way. A vassal pays 50% of its taxes
to the overlord and has to help him in wartime. To propose vassalization, you need to have a
marriage and alliance with a country, as well as the same religion and +190 to relations. You can
then annex your vassal, after 10 years in a non-hostile way, as long as relations remain at the
level of +190 and you have not taken over anyone within the past ten years. You can walk
around this restriction, though by annexing vassals at the same time, with the game paused.
Espionage
Unlike in EUIII there are no spies in the game. All of the covert actions are now performed by
diplomats. Some of the options are available for each of the countries, and some can be activated
with the Espionage idea group.
Claim fabrication achieve a claim to a province which will allow you to declare a war over it.
The basic tool used for expansion. This process can take up to several years in a situation when
the diplomat is detected, which make the process longer by 10%. The provinces that you claim
are cheaper by 25% during peace talks and they are cheaper by 25% to core.
Support Rebels you can start sending money to rebels in a country that is endangered with an
uprising. You decide which rebels you want to support and how much money you want to
transfer for their cause every month. The financing itself increases the risk of rebellion by 3 and,
the more you pay them the more soldiers will appear. Furthermore, if rebels succeed, and they
establish an independent state, they will become your ally.
The remaining option require appropriate ideas from the Espionage group:
Sow Discontent you increase the Local revolt risk by 1 and the stability cost by 50%. Requires
Destabilizing Efforts.
Sabotage Administration this allows you to sabotage the reputation of an enemy country
among its neighbors and enemies. It is especially useful for creating coalitions against stronger
countries. Requires Rumourmongering.
Infiltrate Administration removes the fog of way from a given country. Requires Espionage.
Economy
Embargo decrease trade power of the country in the centers that you compete in. it will also
impose a 5% penalty on trade efficiency, if the country is not a competitor.
Send gift a financial help for a country. It will increase relations depending on the amount that
you send, +15 at most, for five years.
Loan an offer to lend money to another country. If the country does not pay up the loan, you
will receive casus belli.
War subsidies you can lend help to a country in wartime, by sending a definite amount of
money every month.
Sell a province you can sell one of your provinces to a country. It can be, e.g. a stronger
countrys core to ensure safety. Aesthetics may use this tool to establish better looking
borderlines on the map. As an alternative, you can sell a province to your vassal, when
Aggressive Expansion and Overextension are too high, to decrease these values. You will
strengthen your ally and, when you annex a vassal in a peaceful way, these lands will return you
anyways, at a far lower price.
Access
You can offer to give, or ask another country to provide you with military access. Although it is
not too fair, you can take advantage of the fact and strike at the enemy from neutral lands.
Furthermore, agreeing for the foreign troops to enter you country will increase your relations by
+10, for as long as it remains in power.
There is a bit different rule that applies to harbors, for which you need to pay a certain amount of
money to access. Still, if you have a green light in harbors of the other countries, you can repair
your ships there and expand your colonial range.
The basics of war (22/25) next page

You will find all of the most important information on the army in the Military tab
War is the quintessence of EUIV so, everyone who wants to succeed in it, needs to know the
rules. War can be divided into land and naval, although the latter is less important and it is on
land that the fate of kingdoms kings and countries will be decided. In general, it is easier to
defend than to attack but an utter power will, as a rule of thumb, be always decisive. J ust like in
the case of administration, it pays off to know several basic terms and factors that decide about
victory and failure, as well as their impact on the rest of the country.
Manpower
Manpower is the basic factor to how many soldiers you can conscript and how fast it will be
possible to replenish losses of the existing units. In a nutshell, if any of the sides depletes its
manpower, it will practically lose, unless it can invest in mercenaries. The base regeneration rate
for the depleted Manpower is 10 years, while you will be at the mercy of your neighbors. The
speed of replenishing manpower can be modified with decisions, ideas, buildings and advisors.
When it comes to the units that already exist, you need to remember that it is going to take
longer abroad and that leaders of high maneuver will speed up the process.
Leaders
No army can exist without its commander. Well, it can, in theory but, when it comes to battles, it
is better if your army has an experienced general to command it. The cost of a leader is 50 MMP
for a general and 50 DMP for an admiral. If you have unlocked Conquest for the New World,
you can also employ conquistadors and explorers, who can enter the unknown lands. There is a
preset limit on how many leaders you can have and exceeding this limit will cost you 1 military
point a month, per each excess leader. If you want to, you can also transform your king, or his
heir, into a leader, because they are for free, but you need to take into account the fact that they
will be exposed to the risk of dyingor they will have the opportunity to die, if you want the
heir to take over from his inept father, or if you want to get rid of an incompetent heir before he
ascends to the throne.
Leaders are assessed in accordance with four categories:
Fire the phase of the battle in which both sides fire at each other at a distance. Each
additional point adds +1 to die roll in this phase;
Shock the phase of the battle in which the armies cross their swords. Each additional
point adds +1 to die roll in this phase;
Maneuver determines the speed of the army on the map, the pace at which losses are
replenished and the flanking range of units in the battle . each point decreases wear by
1% and, in the case of admirals, it increases trade power that they generate from
protection of trade routes.
Siege Each additional point adds +1 to die roll during siege.
Morale, discipline and tactic
The effectiveness of armies strength in the battle can be modified through discipline, military
tactics, tradition and morale. The first two factors are easy and obvious. Simply, the more of
them you have, the stronger you hit and the less damage you take. Tradition and morale,
basically, work similar but their function is a bit more complicated.
Tradition influences morale, manpower and trade steering. It is amassed through ideas, events
discoveries, trade protection and, above all, battles. This does not matter if a battle was
victorious or lost, each increases military tradition, to the maximum of 100%, which yields the
following effects:
+0,5 morale
+50% manpower regeneration speed
+10% morale regeneration speed
+100% trade steering (only in the case of naval tradition)
The annual drop to tradition is 5% of the current value. You can decrease this to 2% through the
Innovative idea group.
Morale is, to all intents and purposes, the factor of victory and loss in battles. The army, whose
morale is first to reach zero, retreats and loses. You should never attack with an army whose
morale is low. Morale of an exhausted army regenerates automatically during rest from fight and
that is why it is important to swap armies skillfully, so that the freshest ones fight.
Additionally, a low morale can cause two other effects:
Shattering the army that lost the battle, due to the drop in morale, starts an abrupt retreat into
safe regions, far away from the enemy, best to the fortified provinces where supplies are high. It
is one of major changes to battle in EUIV. The defeated army does not retreat to the neighboring
province, but rather as far as possible, sometimes several provinces across. The area that they
flee too is selected automatically and you cannot change their route until they reach their
destination.
Disorganization even after winning a battle, the armys morale may be so low that they will be
disorganized. This is signified by a small icon of fire next to the morale bar. They cannot set out
and will be stationed in one spot as long as they are disorganized, i.e. as long as their morale is
regenerated to the appropriate level.
The maximum level of morale available for an army can be increased through ideas, prestige,
technology, advisors, military tradition, piety, in the case of Islam and by holding the title of the
Defender of Faith.
Wear
Each land province has a predetermined limit on supplies, which determines the limit of troops
that can be stationed there. If there are more troops than the current limit allows, the troops will
suffer from wear, which decreases their numbers every month due to desertion, starvation etc. In
general, the level of supplies in EUIV is discernibly higher than in the previous installments, so
you can have larger armies at your disposal without fear of that much wear but, naturally, it is
still an important factor that you need to pay attention to. The level of supplies depends on an
individual province, technology level, the leader (maneuver), control exercised over the province
(increases the limit by 25%), climate and weather. You should pay most attention to the last
factor. In winter, depending on the severity, the limit can be lower by as much as 30%, which
may prove lethal for your troops. You should always consider the current conditions while
planning on a new campaign. If you are going to attack countries like Russia, you should start
your war around March or April to minimize the possibility of operating in winter.
Wear is somewhat different in the case of the navy. A ship near home ports will sufer no wear.
After leaving territorial waters, it encroaches the range of supply ships. When you roll your
mouse over water, you will notice the distance of the given region from the nearest port and your
current maximum range. As long as ships are within range, they will suffer no wear. After you
set out further, the process of wearing will start and the level will be rising by 1 each month. The
navy will losing a percent of the whole each month, which can, in effect, destroy all ships if they
do not make it to the waters that you are capable of supplying, in time. The wear for the months
spent at sea will be regenerated after you reach the 22nd level of diplomacy. You should also
consider the fact computers ships are not subject to wear so, you should not be surprised if a
fleet makes it around the Americas and attacks on the Western coast of the modern USA.
War Exhaustion
War exhaustion rises as a result of prolonging war. This factor is facilitated, in particular, by
defeats, blocked harbors, wear and war taxes. Exhaustion disappears automatically during
peacetime but, the base value is only 0.10 per month. You can speed up this process by holding
the title of the Defender of Faith and through ideas. You can also decrease exhaustion manually
by two, in exchange for 75 diplomacy points. You should avoid long wars and try to finish your
actions relatively quickly. High war exhaustion has adverse effect on the entire country. With the
maximum of 20 points, these are:
Diplomatic annexation-1;
Local revolt risk +20;
Land and navy morale -0,80
Manpower regeneration speed-20%
Units and ships construction time +200%
Fort defense -40%
Cost to create core+60%
The Army (23/25) next page

You cannot fight battles in EU IV so, even if you are a military genius, you will not benefit from
it. The fate of battles is in the hands of the games mechanics and luck. Still, t is a good idea to
reinforce these two factors to the extent it is possible. First of all, it is important to organize your
army and choose your units properly. During a battle, clashes are fought along the predetermined
length known as the combat width, which is divided into two rows (the above screenshot).
Armies in the first row fight against each other, by default with the regiment in front of them.
High maneuverability acquired from technology and the leader, will allow the unit to attack
sideways also, and thus flank the enemy, which you can view by rolling your mouse over a
specific unit (square). In the screenshot, one unit of rebel infantry can attack three cavalry units.
The base maneuverability of infantry is 1 (which means that it can attack enemy directly infront
of it, on its left and on its right). For cavalry the value is 2, but the factors rise basing on
technology and a good leader. The range of maneuverability also depends on the current
manning of a given regiment. It acquires its full maneuverability with 75%. You achieve half
the potential with 75-50%. If a unit less than 25% strong, it cannot flank the enemy . Infantry and
cavalry that stay in the second row, do not participate in the fights and, that is why combat width
is more favorable to smaller armies. CW is appropriately smaller, depending on the size of a
province. For example, in mountainous areas, it is smaller by, as much as 66% so, this is a
considerable handicap for defenders who cannot be flanked and, at the same time, attacked by
several units at the same time. . this answers the question of why, while fighting in mountains,
defenders are capable of defeating enemy armies larger in numbers. The only type of unit that
can attack while in the second row is artillery. It is worth noting that artillery does not slow
down the army, unlike in the previous installments. The unit speed remains the same regardless
of whether it has cannons or not. Therefore, you do not need to worry about this factor. The
artillery that remains a t the back, can easily lay fire on the enemy without sustaining any losses.
Still, if it makes it to the first line, by accident, it becomes very vulnerable and receives twice as
much damage so, it can be easily destroyed. That is why the army make-up is so important. You
should have sufficiently enough units in the first line to keep cannons in the back. Furthermore,
the make-up is important due to the appropriate balance between infantry and cavalry. Infantry is
the basic unit for armies of that period so, if you have lots of cavalry, you will receive a special
modifier Insufficient Support. This will decrease your military tactic by 25%! The balance
factor depends on the technological group and it amounts to:
Western Group maximum amount of cavalry is 50% of the current infantry
Eastern 60%
Turkish 50%
Islamic 80%
Indian 50%
Chinese 50%
Nomad 100%
Sub-Saharan cannot own cavalry
The New World 50%
The make-up of the army is a key to success. There are many opinions on how to best make up
your army, and what works best here is experience, as well as own preferences. In general, a
good solution here is armies between 15 and 20 thousand, or even 25- 30 thousand, depending
on wear, technology and finances. Mostly, it should be composed of infantry. Per each 15K you
can try solutions like 9 infantry, 3 cavalry and 3 artillery (with possibly more cavalry). In spite of
appearances, cavalry is not that effective a solution. For more than twice the price of infantry, it
offers not much more, and much less than the slightly more expensive artillery. Of course, you
should always have some units for flanking available but, in general, when you develop
financially, I recommend that you prefer artillery e.g. for an army 20 thousand strong - 10
infantry, 2 cavalry and 8 artillery. It pays off to have as much artillery as possible to fill in the
second row, and keep it completely covered in front. Not only does artillery attack without
taking damage, but also reinforces, offensively, the first row at the cost of a half of its defense!
At the same time, you should always have some infantry reserves, which will fill in the gap in
the front row if necessary, and some unit is rendered incapable of fighting.
You should also consider the terrain and the country you play as, while making up the army. E.g.
Poland, due to hussars, has formidable cavalry available and in this case, the above ratios are not
going to be that effective. It is a way better idea to play here, e.g. 4-6-5. On the other hand, if you
are going to fight a defensive battle in the mountains, cavalry is completely useless and you can
have artillery and infantry in equal proportions (with maybe more infantry in reserve).
Siege
Whenever you take over a province, you initiate siege. Every preset amount of days (the base
number is 30) there is a die roll which determines what happens in the castle, starting with status
quo, through deficiencies in supplies, food, water, to surrendering the fort. You can speed up the
siege if you have an appropriate leader, by blocking local harbor and by owning lots of artillery.
Next to the fort, you will find information, expressed in percents, of how possible it is that the
fort will be surrendered.
If you do not want to wait, try storming the enemy fort. Only infantry takes part in storming. It is
a very expensive maneuver and it is virtually unprofitable with low technology levels but, with
the passing years, it is increasingly more effective. First of all, you should make sure, before
storming that there is a crack in the wall. Storming undamaged walls practically equals sending
all of your soldiers to a slaughter and can be successful only in the case of enormous advantage
in numbers. If there actually is a crack, storming will be expensive but, it will be successful with
numbers of your armies three or four times higher.
Mercenaries
If you are hard pressed on deploying armies and replenishing losses, you can enlist mercenaries.
You can recruit mercenaries only once a month and they do not use up Manpower. The access to
these is limited to specific number of units a month , and they are also 50% more expensive to
recruit than their national counterparts. They are also 1.5 times more expensive to maintain. The
50% higher cost of recruitment is negligible and it makes no difference, but maintaining them
may botch you up, even if your country is rich and, that is why you should never base your army
on mercenaries in peacetime. It is simply best to disband such units. In the wartime, they can still
prove to be immensely useful, especially to rich countries with low Manpower. You can modify
mercenaries through appropriate ideas and, additionally, some countries like Byzantium,
Burgundy and Sweden have national ideas that decrease their cost. In the case of such countries,
with ideas developed, you can easily wage wars basing on mercenaries only.
The Navy (24/25) next page

Sat war, battleships will be mainly busy with blocking ports and protecting narrow exits into the
sea
In EU IV there are four types of ships. These are:
Heavy ships. Heavy, formidable galleons. The strongest and, at the same time the most
expensive in the game.
Light ships. Almost useless in military terms. If you are planning on a naval fight, you
can ignore these straight away. Still, they are very fast and should make up the fleet of an
explorer setting out to Terra Incognita. Furthermore, they can support trade when you
dispatch them to patrol trade routes, which is incredibly effective.
Galleys. Galleys in themselves are quite weak but there is one unique characteristic to
them. The damage they inflict rises by 100% if they fight on inland waters like the Baltic
Sea, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea or the Red Sea. Anywhere else, they are not going
to be as effective as heavy ships, but they turn out to be a better investment after being
converted to money. They are capable of defeating a heavy ship at the ration of, more or
less, 4:1 and, they will cost only 60-70% of that price. So, if you fight main land battles
on such a sea, it will be more economical to invest in galleys, although you need to make
sure that you do not exceed the permissible naval limit.
Transport. These are used solely for transportation and are completely useless in the
battlefield. They should never sail alone.
You can use ships to set blockades on enemy harbors to decrease income of the enemy and speed
up his exhaustion with war, as well as to lay fire on the besieged forts from the sea. Still, they are
not as crucial and victory in the sea will not provide you with any real profits if you lose on land.
Still, it always pays off to have a strong fleet, if only for breaking blockades, elimination of
pirates and protecting trade. Of course, you can also use transport ships to surprise the enemy
with surprise-landing from behind. Remember also to control the key entrances to basins and
passages between strips of land. Like, e.g. between Sicily and the Apennines, or between Europe
and Asia near Constantinople. You will not only lock the way for the enemy ships this way, but
also for his infantry which, in some cases, can make it across such straits.
General wartime hints (25/25)

Acquaint yourself with the enemy numbers carefully
Heres a handful of general hints that it is good to keep in mind during military actions:
It is easier to defend yourself that to attack. To the extent it is possible, force the enemy
to attack in a spot convenient for you, with good defense, by luring him with a small,
bled-out unit, which you will then support with your main forces when the battle begins.
You can find the Forced March useful here, which speeds armies up by 150%. At the
same time do not involve too many soldiers to avoid enemys retreat. If the armies are of
comparable strengths, the enemy will remain and fight, but you will be receiving defense
bonuses.
Replace the tired units. Keep several armies close to each other and, when the morale of
one of them drops, take it away from the battlefield and introduce a fresh one, which will
buy the first one the time it needs to regenerate.
Wear and Manpower may have the decisive value. Take care of your units and of where
they are stationed. You also should control the weather and do not let yourself fight
climate, instead of the enemy army. At the same time, try and burn out the enemys
manpower if war of attrition. You should be creative here e.g. Turkey has a modifier for
threefold recovery speed of manpower while fighting infidels. Even if the other country
has bigger armies and higher manpower, you will emerge successful in the long run
anyways, when he is out of resources to replenish losses.
Chase the retreating armies to destroy them absolutely, as long as their morale is low. Do
not get too far and do not let yourself be lured into a trap though.
Always use a general during battle. Even a weak one is better than no general at all. You
do not really need to buy one for each army. Simply, swap leaders between armies and
transfer them to where there is a fight.
With appropriate ideas, use mercenaries. When your gold reserves are high, drag the
enemy into war. They will believe that you only have small units at your disposal and
thet they will win quickly so, sending an insult should provoke them to attack. Then,
within a month, you should be able to deploy a formidable army of mercenaries against
the unsuspecting enemy.
As a rule of the thumb, your enemy will usually have one strong army and a group of
smaller ones for besieging. If your forces allow you to crush the main army, you should
launch a strike straight ahead and destroy it rapidly. Even if you lose some areas in the
meantime, you will quickly regain them anyways. On the other hand, if your forces are
too small for you to destroy the main army, you should keep escaping from it, chase the
siege units and do not let them take over the province. Play cat and mouse with them.
Remember that dragging the siege army into battle will reset siege meter, which will
postpone the forts fall considerably. Furthermore, computer will divide its armies to
create new siege armies, which will allow you to launch an attack.
If you are fighting a defensive battle, try to drag some of the enemy armies away, by
sending one quick army into the enemys country. He will have to send some of the units
away to try to catch the troublemakers. You can even reach the enemy capital this way.
Once the capital is threatened, the enemy will try to transfer bigger forces there for
defense. This will allow your units to catch some breath.
If you are retreating, you should take advantage of the tactic of scorched land, in
combination with extra wear for a defensive idea, this will be an incredibly effective way
of defense.. Try to drag the enemy armies into the provinces consumed by fire and allow
wear do its job.