Lion come forth! Come from the North! Come from the North!

My brother (no, my other brother) recently asked how one would go about "easing into" playing Europa Universalis IV. That's a good question, in my mind roughly equivalent to asking how one would ease into trigonometry or ease into ballet. I thought a full response could make for a nice short (for me) blog post!

First, to set expectations: EU4 does have a relatively steep learning curve, so if it feels daunting, that isn't on you, just part of the overall experience. But I think it's nicely broken down into multiple systems, each with their own "hook". As you play, you get to learn those systems better, and can gradually grok how the whole works together.

Also on expectations, I like to think of Europa Universalis as being a "history simulator" more than a "strategy game". The experience is a bit closer to playing something like Sim City. You typically set goals for yourself as a player, which might be something like making a clean and vibrant home, but could also involve a rampaging Godzilla. People who have played other historical strategy games like Civilization before might assume that the goal is to conquer the world, but it really isn't: it's more of a sandbox to tinker around in.

There is an in-game tutorial which you can and should play through to get familiar with the interface and some of the major game modes. When you're ready to start in earnest, try not to get too attached to your first couple of games. They'll be opportunities for exploration and experimentation. Pick a country that looks interesting, play for a while until you're feeling stuck or bored, then start over with that country or pick another one and apply what you learned in the last run.

There are multiple "bookmarks" for starting years (like 1776 for the United States), but I recommend beginning in the default year of 1444. Among other reasons, the game is simpler earlier on: for example, you only have Infantry and Cavalry in 1444, as it will be a few decades until Artillery makes an appearance.

For picking a country, keep in mind the "simulator" frame, so if a particular region or theme is interesting to you then that might be a good one to pick. I will say that in general larger countries are better to pick than smaller ones, as they are more resilient to setbacks. The "easiest" overall country may be Portugal: they are friendly with Spain and England and isolated from the rest of Europe, so they can focus on internal development, with maybe some occasional adventures in North Africa. Other good choices could include the Ottomans, France, Poland, Castile, or another large country.

As you play, bad things will almost certainly happen: you may lose a battle, or a war, or some provinces. This is okay! One of the coolest things about EU4 is how well it models the sort of power dynamics we've observed in history: when one country occupies another, that other country will generally be restive, and often will regain its independence. So it is in EU4. If you lose territory, the conquerer will need to deal with rebels and intransigence, while you will get large bonuses to re-conquer it later. Conversely, if you conquer a lot of territory from a competitor, you'll likely need to invest time, military resources and money into pacifying your new subjects. EU4 gameplay feels like a squishy ball that tries to regain its shape, while Civilization and other games are more like snowballs where success breeds success and failure breeds failure.

Having zen to deal with setbacks is helpful. So is the willingness to ignore things. There are a lot of systems in Europa Universalis, and they all serve a purpose, but none of those purposes are essential. You don't need to learn everything all at once. In your first game you might just focus on using your military and growing your economy. There are other systems, like diplomacy, that you can dip your toes into, or invest a lot of time into mastering. One system I especially appreciate are the "Estates", which simulate the Nobility / Clergy / Burghers estates that dominated post-feudal Europe. There are a lot of fun things you can do with estates - summon Diets, grant privileges, seize land, and so on - but you can also just 100% ignore them and nothing bad will happen.

What should you focus on, then? One of my favorite parts of Europa Universalis are the "Missions", which give specific goals for specific countries to work towards. Most of these are based on historical developments, so in pursuing the missions you'll be at least running parallel to historical movements. Portugal might get missions related to exploration and trade, while Brandenberg will have missions related to military professionalism, and the Ottomans will have missions nudging them towards conquering Byzantium. I really like having concrete goals to work towards, which helps things feel less overwhelming and give a few specific areas to focus on and learn more about.

I think those are the main things! A few random tips before I go:

• Money is precious, especially early on. Treat it as a limited resource and only spend on things you (1) can afford and (2) know will be useful.
• Specifically, you'll rarely want to spend money on Buildings in the early game (with a couple of exceptions like building a Marketplace in a Center of Trade). This is a big change for Civ veterans who want every city to always be building something.
• Fighting a war and losing or ending in a White Peace isn't terrible. You'll likely have gained Army Tradition and maybe Prestige, as well as trust from any allies.
• Likewise, when winning a war, you may decide you don't want to take any provinces from the loser. It could be better to take money and war reparations. This results in all upside for you without any of the overhead of absorbing new territory.
  
• You'll probably want to Ally a powerful neighbor to discourage enemies from attacking you.

 When you're ready to dive deeper. Europa Universalis like the other Paradox games has a fantastic official wiki. It can look overwhelming at first, but once you have the rough overall framework in mind it's terrific for explaining details, showing connections, and offering guidance on strategy and tactics.