Hello!
My goal today is to pick my favorite choices for the hardest nations to play in EU4, and the take the consensus or hardest ones and play as one!
:
The Top 5 Hardest Nations to Play as in Europa Universalis 4 - YouTube
The Social Streamers:
#5 – Granada
#4 – Dahomey
#3 – Athens
#2 – Mzab
#1 – Tripura
Top 10 Most Difficult Nations in EU4 (1444 Start) - YouTube
AlzaboHD
#10. Kharabakh
#9. Sarig Yogir
#8. Yas
#7. Ryukyu
#6. Mzab
#5. Odoyev
#4. Jaffna
#3. Perm
#2. Manipur
#1. Sukhothai
The Top Ten Impossible Starts! (EU4) - YouTube
Darkfireslide
#10. Saxe-Lauenburg
#9. Navarra
#8. Circassia
#7. Theodoro
#6. Mzab
#5. Jaisalmer
#4. Sarig Yogir
#3. Dahomey
#2. Albania or Athens
#1. Ryukyu
Top 10 Most Difficult Nations in Europa Universalis IV - YouTube
Adrian Gaming
#10. Mzab (And other local minors)
#9. One Provinces in Anatolia
#8. Hormuz
#7. Byzantium
#6. Albania
#5. Granada
#4. Jaffna
#3. Theodoro
#2. Trebizond
#1. Athens
A few trends:
Mzab, Athens, Theodoro
Why are each of these hard?
Mzab – Ibadi can’t royal marry with other Muslims to get royal marriages to help create and solidify alliances, inland, some of the poorest starting economic holdings in the game, have to go through regional powers like Tlemcen or Tunis to expand, if you do, it’s harder to core those provinces with your power.
Theodoro – One province minor at the tip of Crimea, and you’ll be taken out by Crimea, Genoa, or even the expansionistic Turks. You can’t go elsewhere as you are at the tipoff a peninsula
Athens – This has all of the problems of Byzantium, it’s a small barely recognizable part of its previous self. It’s in the way of the Ottomans. However, it doesn’t have the ability to wage just war on it’s neighbors with casus beli’s nor is it able to actually survive. It’s a vassal of Byzantium, so you have to both survive and win freedom – that’s a rough double ask as a one-province minor power in the way of a bigger nation.
My Personal Shout out to:
Navarra – One province minor adjacent to four major powers – England, France, Aragon and Castille and with the wrong culture. I think I can play these four off and survive, but there are no expansion opportunities here. But I could do colonial game like real-life Belgium or Netherlands who were locked by major players so they colonized instead.
Sukhothai – Currently a vassal of Ayuttahaya who is under the Ming nation. You have to both win independence and to survive the Ming war. Not easy You are also the wrong religion for the region as well.
Sarig Yogir – I never thought about it before, but a small clan nation next to Ming can’t be easy.
I could see myself doing any of those six.
I don’t think islands with no major land routes are that hard – like Ryukyu.
Now I have done smaller nations on this list (Trebizond, Granada) or close to it (Naxos).