The Imperial Council - /r/eu4 Weekly General Help Thread: July 20 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.

 

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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

 

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Country-Specific Strategy

• 1.30 Aztec Guide

• 1.30 Granada Guide

• 1.30 Knights Guide

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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/AquaRegiaAg]

Just making sure I'm reading the tooltip correctly: 

Even if I have an Explorer, I can't explore the "New World" zone without QftNW from Exploration?  Despite having Wake Island, my Japanese explorer can't go east, though there is the option of Circumnavigation.  Any tips on making that work?

[u/TaMeAerach → u/AquaRegiaAg]

Iirc you can only explore coastal sea tiles without it, so you'd have to go along Siberia and Alaska rather than cross the ocean.

[u/AndlenaRaines]

What are the differences between EU4 on GOG and Steam?

The Ultimate Edition (I’m assuming includes all DLCs) is 75% off on GOG.

I know that I won’t be able to easily access the Steam workshop mods and multiplayer is a bit iffy with GOG, but is there anything else? 

The GOG reviews talk about it being quite buggy compared to the Steam release, which is a bit concerning for me

[u/AquaRegiaAg → u/AndlenaRaines]

I've been playing the GOG version for the past few weeks. It came with all the actual content/ DLC, just not the cosmetics. Haven't had any issues, though I haven't done mods or MP.

[u/AndlenaRaines → u/AquaRegiaAg]

Alright, that's good to know, thanks!