The Imperial Council - /r/eu4 Weekly General Help Thread: October 12 2026

[u/Kloiper]

Please check our previous Imperial Council thread for any questions left unanswered

 

Welcome to the Imperial Council of r/eu4, where your trusted and most knowledgeable advisors stand ready to help you in matters of state and conquest.

This thread is for any small questions that don't warrant their own post, or continued discussions for your next moves in your Ironman game. If you'd like to channel the wisdom and knowledge of the master tacticians of this subreddit, and more importantly not ruin your Ironman save, then you've found the right place!

Important: If you are asking about a specific situation in your game, please post screenshots of any relevant map modes (diplomatic, political, trade, etc) or interface tabs (economy, military, ideas, etc). Please also explain the situation as best you can. Alliances, army strength, ideas, tech etc. are all factors your advisors will need to know to give you the best possible answer.

 

---

Tactician's Library:

Below is a list of resources that are helpful to players of all skill levels, meant to assist both those asking questions as well as those answering questions. This list is updated as mechanics change, including new strategies as they arise and retiring old strategies that have been left in the dust. You can help me maintain the list by sending me new guides and notifying me when old guides are no longer relevant!

Getting Started

• Europa Universalis 4 Wiki

• Wiki Beginner Guide

• Which DLCs should I buy?

• Client/Game Troubleshooting Help

• Reverting to a previous version

New Player Tutorials

• How to play EU4, by Ezekiel (patch 1.28)

• Arumba teaches EU4 to Civilization player FilthyRobot (patch 1.18)

• Arumba's New Player Tutorial Series (patch 1.20)

• Arumba teaches EU4 to Monk004 (patch 1.28)

• Beginner's Guide to Coalitions 1, 2

• General tip collection thread

• How to revert to an older patch

• Reman's War Academy Volume I - Army Composition and Basic Combat

Administration

• Remans guide to Absolutism

• Guide to Religious Ideas

• Converting Culture

• Converting Religion

Diplomacy

• Personal Unions and Succession Wars

• Video guide to Personal Unions

• A guide to multiplayer diplomacy

• Comprehensive guide on Subject Nations

Military

• Reman's War Academy Volume II - Troop Quality and Advanced Combat

• Reman's War Academy Volume III - Military Idea Groups

• Reman's In-Depth guide to Fort Zone of Control

• Guide on Combat Width

• Ideal army composition for every tech

• On War - A Comprehensive War Manual for Multiplayer

• Dismantling the HRE

• Combat Simulator

Trade

• Reman's In Depth Guide to Trade

 

---

Country-Specific Strategy

• 1.30 Aztec Guide

• 1.30 Granada Guide

• 1.30 Knights Guide

 

---

Misc Country Guides Collections

• 1.25 - 1.29 Misc Country Guides by RadioRes

• 1.25 - 1.28 Misc Country Guides by Lord Forwin

• 1.28 - 1.30 Misc Country Guides by AlzaboHD

• 1.30 Misc Country Guides by Ludi et Historia

• 1.31 - 1.35 EU4 Nation Guides by The Red Hawk

• Misc Country Mission Visualizations

 

---

Advanced/In-Depth Guides

• Misc mechanics guides by RadioRes (culture shifting, policies, absolutism, etc)

• Guide to personal unions and direct inheritance

• 1.28 Three Mountains (Shogunate)

• Arumba's Assay series (misc patches, takes user-submitted failing or problematic games and helps fix them)

• A Complete Guide to EU4 Economics, Part 0 (links to multiple in-depth guides on economics)

• Comprehensive Multiplayer EU4 Guide (1.28)

• General World Conquest Guide

 

---

If you have any useful resources not currently in the tactician's library, please share them with me and I'll add them! You can message me or mention my username in a comment by typing /u/Kloiper

Calling all imperial councillors! Many of our linked guides pre-Dharma (1.26) are missing strategy regarding mission trees. Any help in putting together updated guides is greatly appreciated! Further, if you're answering a question in this thread, chances are you've used the EU4 wiki and know how valuable a resource it can be. When you answer a question, consider checking whether the wiki has that information where you would expect to find it, and adding to the wiki if it does not. In fact, anybody can help contribute to the wiki - a good starting point is the work needed page. Before editing the wiki, please read the style guidelines for posting.

[u/Hachenburger]

How do you upgrade Prussian Militarization as Germany?

Playing as Prussia, able to form Germany now but dont have 200 Force Limit yet to upgrade the Prussian Militarization to Total through the mission (and get the extra ICA from the "army with a state" modifier). As I will get new missions with forming Germany, is it possible to upgrade the Militarization another way with Germany or should I wait to form it until I have completed the mission? Thank you!

[u/grotaclas2 → u/Hachenburger]

There is no other way to upgrade the militarization. Are you far away from the 200 force limit? Maybe you could mass-build conscription centers/regimental camps and go over your governing capacity temporary by half-state all territories which have no TC provinces

[u/Hachenburger → u/grotaclas2]

Thanks for the info! yeah I am at 160, so I think I am just gonna spam the buildings for the rest.

[u/MedievaI_Peasant]

Justified trade conflict as france, then declared war, as England. Apparently I have the 'trade dispute' casus belli instead?????? It requires me getting superiority instead of blockading ports, so now I'm stuck in an endless war.

Actual mind destruction.

What did I do wrong?

[u/AquaRegiaAg]

Best way to invade Europe from North America? I'm concerned about naval attrition wrecking my fleets before the battle, but no one will grant fleet rights (I could get army rights, however).  Aztec missions seem to send you to western Africa first, but Scotland has been reduced to a tempting OPM with weak allies and I don't want to miss the chance at a foothold. 

[u/AquaRegiaAg → u/AquaRegiaAg]

Nvm, got access from Castile eventually and took the Scottish isle. Now I'll just wait for the Sunset Invasion mission and the -25% War Score diplo idea before making more progress. 

[u/DutchHandGrenade]

I feel like in my latest Austria run, many smaller, close allies are not asking to join the Empire. I make sure they have less than 100 dev and my opinion of them is 150 and they won't join consistently. Some do like the Livonian Order, but Provence and Gotland just give me a cold stare. Am I missing something?

[u/Indian_Pale_Ale → u/DutchHandGrenade]

Your vassals will automatically join the HRE if they are eligible to join, with the exceptions of the Italians depending upon the outcome of the Shadow Kingdom event. However usually it is quite random, some nations when felt threatened will join the HRE but from my experience it is very random.