Another big plus is that personal unions do not calculate all subjects forces vs overlord for liberty desire, as it is the case with vassals. Instead each personal union compares its own military strenght vs overlord(union leader). This lets you have multiple, very strong PUs and not worry about liberty desire as much as with vassals.
Im adding another neat trick for PUs. As mentioned in the video you cannot fall under a PU if you have a PU and get a random ruler instead if you got no heir. But the thing which determines what dynasty that new ruler has is the royal marriages you have and the prestige of the nations you got them with. So for example you if you are castille with aragon in a PU then you could royal marry england or france, let your ruler die without heir and then you will have their dynasty(depending on which nation has the higher prestige) on the throne. This can then be used to also claim their throne and then you can do it again with another nation.
@@ImperatorAugustus the amount of depth in tank designer alone would tell otherwise. you get one flagship in EU4 and outside of that there’s no customization in military matters. HOI4 is a military game first and foremost and the amount of content to do with that is immense, especially since I wouldn’t have to pay as much for all its DLC in comparison.
@@moonshinei Other than some military aspect hoi4 feels too casual. No economy, very simple peace deals, casual diplomacy, lacking focus trees, barely any subject interactions, no force limit, lacking flavours for some regions, etc; basically anything not related to warfare is lacking. Maybe that’ll change if they have get a million dlcs like eu4 but as of now, it’s definitely lacking compared to eu4 and victoria ii.
@@ImperatorAugustus I don’t know why a World War II simulation game would have a heavy focus on economics (even if, it exists), diplomacy wasn’t exactly at the forefront in the middle of the biggest war in history. I would heavily disagree with focus trees now that Italy has its own, all majors have a good focus tree despite some secondary powers still falling behind. EU4 has that problem too, but that’s what mods are for. I never play EU4 without some sort of missions mod, because there simply isn’t enough to keep my focus on the game for 300 in game years in base trees. Force limit isn’t necessary when manpower already exists as a factor to hamper you, especially in a game that is all about… you know, warfare. Conscription laws do exist though and they do a great job enough. There just isn’t a need to restrict conscription when the populace knows of total war on the horizon. Whatever is missing is definitely beat out by the mods of HOI4, which add such a level of flavor that it’s not a question. Although I said all that, Vic2 definitely brings in the best of both worlds despite the engine. I have high hopes for Vic3 but judging off CK3 it would take us another 5 years before Vic3 is anywhere close to Vic2 in terms of depth, especially from mods.
Almost 2k hours here in eu4 and still learning a lot of niche information with your videos so I would be very interested in an advanced guide in PUs, knowing how complex it can get ... would be very intrigued so see your take on it and perhaps learn something new there as well
In Victoria universalis, there is an upgraded form of PUs called "brother kingdom" They are like PUs but they can independently wage wars (kind of like colonies), their dev doesn't count towards your great power rankings, they can't get into the great power rankings, they give manpower recovery and fertility boost, you can royal marry them, they will automatically join your wars, will remain loyal as long as you're Christian, they can even form nations that requires a country to be independent, if someone attacks them, you and your vassals will be called in (but not your allies), you can also use the "enable send officers" from the subject interactions (imagine prussia with added 20% morale and 5% discipline on top of what they already have). Basically from their perspective you're in a defensive alliance, from your perspective they are a subject.
Hey, can you make a guide on switching capital/how to avoid having colonial nations/doing true one tag? It's not as simple as it seems, and would probably be an interesting idea for a video.
Honestly I would appretiate if you could pinpoint on what ideas would you take in different playthroghs - such as standard, exploration or some vasal/PU heavy nations (such as mamluks, France etc)
Man, in my Germany campaing (started as Brandeburg, formed Prussia, then Germany) i got Burgundy, Scandinavia (formed by Sweden), Great Britain and Russia as PU. Maybe some Prussia players will consider this a bad decision since their army is so strong and it will be easier to conquer all, but i find this way funnier
@@jonabenetazzo6674 diplomatic prussia is kind of underrated. it's actually really fun to play a puppet master run as them. i sometimes even go as far as to delay forming prussia entirely until i can get religious freedom in the HRE just to keep emperorship throughout the entire playthrough. after all, the only thing stronger than prussia is prussia with a vassal swarm :)
Very nice! Although I don't think I heard you mention the big relation penalty that "claim throne" gives to all other royal marriage subjects (vassals, allies, etc). Doesn't affect PUs though, so that's nice... I'm currently doing a Muscovy run... converted to Catholicism, became HRE Emperor... in 1503 at the moment, PUs with Lithuania, Poland, Castile, Bohemia, France, Burgundy, and Portugal. Planning to get to Religious peace reform, then convert back to Orthodox... I did a bunch of save scumming, though, not gonna lie :)
I was super lucky on my Aragon campaign. It was around 1470 when my rival France suddenly fell under a PU with Scotland and i was able to start a succession war to yoink the PU. After keeping Naples, vassalizing Byz, getting Castille through the wedding and then forcing Potugal via mission i was like "Another fine addition to my collection" ;) Afterwards i even did get the burgundian inheritance cause they were rivaled to Austria. Next up is getting my dynasty on the PLC throne and culture shift so i get the proper spanish missions which include PU cbs on the UK and Austria who has the Bohemia and Hungary PUs in my game. I doubted Aragon at the start. Thought that it has less potential than Austria and Castille. But its easily S tier for forming Rome and dominating Europe quickly. My ranking for PU masters would be: #1 Castille/Aragon (with proper spanish missions). #2 Austria. #3 Provence. #4 Poland/Bohemia What makes Aragon/Castille beat Austria for me is that Spain gets a PU cb on England/UK which is much more valuable cause colonizer than getting one on Poland/PLC. Everyone can force a PU on the latter, you dont really need a mission for this. But Austria has reduced integration cost in the ideas. Its close.
I had a France game at one point, pretty far back, and I got a PU over Castile while they had Aragon and Naples, And I'm pretty sure I got that one diplomatically, how can that be if them having a PU blocks me from getting it that way? is this new?
I would be particularly interested in the ways to acquire the same dynasty, how to fish for it etc... For instance, as a theocracy choosing an heir from powerful foreign dynasty, waiting for him to become the ruler, switch to a monarchy and then claim throne? Would that work?
LEGIT QUESTION, how do someone make their own colonies to convert their own provinces to your religion. I mean, obviously you can convert them for them, but is there anyway to make them convert themselves?
The colonial nations traditions give them zero penalties from any religion. They have full acceptance and zero incentive to convert. Some other nations do have this modifier like Hungary and the USA but they will convert once in awhile as independent nations. The only way to have a colony convert is to let it free and assuming it will form another tag which will change traditions. Like Texas for example. Hope this helps.
so we have to royal marry them first? is it better to also ally them? how can we make sure that we get the same dynasty as other nations? im trying to play nubia... conquered all the right provinces north, will soon become nubia, but my king died and i got same dynasty as ethiopia.. should i just normal conquest ethiopia or try to pu them? which i guess would involve a lot of waiting around and luck? problem is i cant war anyone else now.. either mamluks or ethiopia.. advice? thanks
if you plan to claim throne, don't ally. you'll be taking a bigger stab hit as you'll also gain a truce upon breaking the alliance to attack them. i've made that same mistake once ages ago trying to claim throne on austria as a hre minor. other than that, PU is definitely worthwhile as it'll be faster in terms of conquest + unlike normal vassals there's a chance that if they are small enough, you can just inherit their lands for free, meaning you won't have to spend resources on integration.
@@phoenix402 its like when i wanted to get burgundy as pu when i played hungary or austria (i forget which) but i didnt know what to do to get it so i allied and royal married and the event never happened.. whats the difference between that claim throne cb and the restoration of union one?
@@tigrecito48 if you ally them you have to break the alliance to declare war on them, it will give you a truce with that country for 5 years which usually means they get an heir in the meantime
@@connorh2215 yeah but usually if its a pu i dont know if i can definitely get and i want an alliance cos they are strong.. like castile or portugal or something id ally them cos they are more useful as an ally and a royal marriage still takes up a diplo slot, but if its a border guy i need to invade soon i probably wouldnt ally them normally..but thing is i never know how long it will take to get the pu or even if it will ever happen, so like i said its kinda a waste of a diplo slot unless you can do something to make it very likely.. is there a way to make ur dynasty spread easier? ive had missions before that say, spread ur dynasty to 5 nations.. i have no idea how to do it other than random luck
@@tigrecito48 restoration of union is only gained through missions or after an existing PU declares independance from you. claim throne is the surefire option you use when you won't get a restoration through missions. i'm saying surefire here because the only other way outside of those methods to PU someone is through a succession crisis which usually turns into a succession war against some other major power. they're much more rng heavy in terms of occuring than just claiming throne, though.
Personal unions are one of my favourite mechanics and the reason I usually always play as Christian nations- HOWEVER, I will never play crusader kings hahahaha
Good job, I almost never use PUs, I don't really go for them, but I am thinking about going for Russian PU in Serbian campaign as I got Rurikovich. I am worried about liberty desire though.
having strong allies helps keep subjects in check. there's also always the option of going influence ideas for the reduction in liberty desire (+ the extra relations slot and +2 diplo rep are always nice)
not gonna lie i'm like looking at laith and ludi and hawk and i'm like 'fuck these videos suck, they're all hyperbolic nonsense... wait a second, how DO PUs work?'
Another big plus is that personal unions do not calculate all subjects forces vs overlord for liberty desire, as it is the case with vassals. Instead each personal union compares its own military strenght vs overlord(union leader). This lets you have multiple, very strong PUs and not worry about liberty desire as much as with vassals.
also no liberty desire from development
Im adding another neat trick for PUs. As mentioned in the video you cannot fall under a PU if you have a PU and get a random ruler instead if you got no heir. But the thing which determines what dynasty that new ruler has is the royal marriages you have and the prestige of the nations you got them with.
So for example you if you are castille with aragon in a PU then you could royal marry england or france, let your ruler die without heir and then you will have their dynasty(depending on which nation has the higher prestige) on the throne. This can then be used to also claim their throne and then you can do it again with another nation.
Great video! Can't wait for the advanced guide.
yes please, Mr Monk.
You may want to write out “Personal Union” in the title of the video. People new to eu4 might not recognize the abbreviation
When you can make a video several hours long about ONE game mechanic... Man you gotta love how EU4 has TONS of content.
Funnily enough compared to Vic2 and HOI4 it’s the tip of the barrel in terms of sheer amount of contrnt
@@moonshinei Hoi4 doesn’t have a lot of content lol
@@ImperatorAugustus the amount of depth in tank designer alone would tell otherwise. you get one flagship in EU4 and outside of that there’s no customization in military matters. HOI4 is a military game first and foremost and the amount of content to do with that is immense, especially since I wouldn’t have to pay as much for all its DLC in comparison.
@@moonshinei Other than some military aspect hoi4 feels too casual. No economy, very simple peace deals, casual diplomacy, lacking focus trees, barely any subject interactions, no force limit, lacking flavours for some regions, etc; basically anything not related to warfare is lacking. Maybe that’ll change if they have get a million dlcs like eu4 but as of now, it’s definitely lacking compared to eu4 and victoria ii.
@@ImperatorAugustus I don’t know why a World War II simulation game would have a heavy focus on economics (even if, it exists), diplomacy wasn’t exactly at the forefront in the middle of the biggest war in history. I would heavily disagree with focus trees now that Italy has its own, all majors have a good focus tree despite some secondary powers still falling behind. EU4 has that problem too, but that’s what mods are for. I never play EU4 without some sort of missions mod, because there simply isn’t enough to keep my focus on the game for 300 in game years in base trees. Force limit isn’t necessary when manpower already exists as a factor to hamper you, especially in a game that is all about… you know, warfare. Conscription laws do exist though and they do a great job enough. There just isn’t a need to restrict conscription when the populace knows of total war on the horizon. Whatever is missing is definitely beat out by the mods of HOI4, which add such a level of flavor that it’s not a question.
Although I said all that, Vic2 definitely brings in the best of both worlds despite the engine. I have high hopes for Vic3 but judging off CK3 it would take us another 5 years before Vic3 is anywhere close to Vic2 in terms of depth, especially from mods.
A deeper PU guide would be great. I usually just rely on missions to get PU over a major nation, but doing so more deliberately would be very useful.
Would love a more detailed guide on unions. I rarely end up doing anything with them unless they're part of a mission tree.
Good video Monk, look forward to the advanced guide.
I really enjoy your videos. Looking forward to see more of them, especially the advanced ones
Thanks Matrix. just googled this 20 minutes ago and you put out this Video.
Thank you so much dear simulation for doing something good for once
Simple, straight to the point and well explained compared to other videos which are even longer. I would love to see more longer video on that topic.
PUs have so much subtleties in any way, an advanced guide could be really good !
Budgetmonk: Would you like to learn more?
Me: YES!
2k hours played and I never knew having a PU made you immune to succession crisis. Always learning something new lol.
Yeah honestly I get most my PUs through a mission tree or random luck so it’s nice to see how it works. Can’t wait for the advanced guide.
Almost 2k hours here in eu4 and still learning a lot of niche information with your videos so I would be very interested in an advanced guide in PUs, knowing how complex it can get ... would be very intrigued so see your take on it and perhaps learn something new there as well
Always love your videos.
In Victoria universalis, there is an upgraded form of PUs called "brother kingdom"
They are like PUs but they can independently wage wars (kind of like colonies), their dev doesn't count towards your great power rankings, they can't get into the great power rankings, they give manpower recovery and fertility boost, you can royal marry them, they will automatically join your wars, will remain loyal as long as you're Christian, they can even form nations that requires a country to be independent, if someone attacks them, you and your vassals will be called in (but not your allies), you can also use the "enable send officers" from the subject interactions (imagine prussia with added 20% morale and 5% discipline on top of what they already have).
Basically from their perspective you're in a defensive alliance, from your perspective they are a subject.
Definitely really interested in the advanced guide... hopefully will include how to keep PUs !
I would love an advanced guide! Great video Monk!
I would definitely be interested in seeing a longer video on personal unions!
I was just thinking about this yesterday. Would love an advanced version
Thank you for always making these high quality videos man!
Hey,
can you make a guide on switching capital/how to avoid having colonial nations/doing true one tag? It's not as simple as it seems, and would probably be an interesting idea for a video.
Honestly I would appretiate if you could pinpoint on what ideas would you take in different playthroghs - such as standard, exploration or some vasal/PU heavy nations (such as mamluks, France etc)
ooh, an advanced personal union guide by budgetmonk? im excited!
In my current Eastern Roman campaign I was close to get Rurikovich, but instead Russia got Palaiologos and I PUed them :)
Man, in my Germany campaing (started as Brandeburg, formed Prussia, then Germany) i got Burgundy, Scandinavia (formed by Sweden), Great Britain and Russia as PU. Maybe some Prussia players will consider this a bad decision since their army is so strong and it will be easier to conquer all, but i find this way funnier
@@jonabenetazzo6674 diplomatic prussia is kind of underrated. it's actually really fun to play a puppet master run as them. i sometimes even go as far as to delay forming prussia entirely until i can get religious freedom in the HRE just to keep emperorship throughout the entire playthrough. after all, the only thing stronger than prussia is prussia with a vassal swarm :)
Very nice! Although I don't think I heard you mention the big relation penalty that "claim throne" gives to all other royal marriage subjects (vassals, allies, etc). Doesn't affect PUs though, so that's nice...
I'm currently doing a Muscovy run... converted to Catholicism, became HRE Emperor... in 1503 at the moment, PUs with Lithuania, Poland, Castile, Bohemia, France, Burgundy, and Portugal. Planning to get to Religious peace reform, then convert back to Orthodox...
I did a bunch of save scumming, though, not gonna lie :)
"Bunch".
@@xRozmarzony The bunch isn't small :)))
I used to play Turkic/Turkish nations most of the time so I'm not familiar with PUs, but this helped a lot! Thanks!
The thing is that you need the target country to have the same dinasty as you said so I just see this as a really rare and situational CB.
I would love to watch an advanced guide on the subject!
Let's get our pheasant under glass sophisticated video
I would very much like to see extended version of this material.
having an OP gotland into denmark run and could definitely use all the advice now that my dynasty is on austrias throne
My soul demands more budgetmonk guides !!
I'd like any advanced and sophisticated kind of guide done by You
I was super lucky on my Aragon campaign. It was around 1470 when my rival France suddenly fell under a PU with Scotland and i was able to start a succession war to yoink the PU. After keeping Naples, vassalizing Byz, getting Castille through the wedding and then forcing Potugal via mission i was like "Another fine addition to my collection" ;) Afterwards i even did get the burgundian inheritance cause they were rivaled to Austria.
Next up is getting my dynasty on the PLC throne and culture shift so i get the proper spanish missions which include PU cbs on the UK and Austria who has the Bohemia and Hungary PUs in my game.
I doubted Aragon at the start. Thought that it has less potential than Austria and Castille. But its easily S tier for forming Rome and dominating Europe quickly.
My ranking for PU masters would be: #1 Castille/Aragon (with proper spanish missions). #2 Austria. #3 Provence. #4 Poland/Bohemia
What makes Aragon/Castille beat Austria for me is that Spain gets a PU cb on England/UK which is much more valuable cause colonizer than getting one on Poland/PLC. Everyone can force a PU on the latter, you dont really need a mission for this. But Austria has reduced integration cost in the ideas. Its close.
Aragon is the easiest to form Rome with.
I know it’s late but an advanced pu guide would be awesome!
Thanks man! Give us the details
I had a France game at one point, pretty far back, and I got a PU over Castile while they had Aragon and Naples, And I'm pretty sure I got that one diplomatically, how can that be if them having a PU blocks me from getting it that way? is this new?
We want the 5 hour long full tutorial on personal unions!! Like if u agree
I would be particularly interested in the ways to acquire the same dynasty, how to fish for it etc...
For instance, as a theocracy choosing an heir from powerful foreign dynasty, waiting for him to become the ruler, switch to a monarchy and then claim throne? Would that work?
Can't wait for the upper level PU class
A longer video on this would be great.
Would be absolutely interested in an advanced guide.
Keep the good info coming monk!
Yes definitely make an in-depth guide to PUs
oh i didn't know you could not be on the lesser side if you have a PU... (well , you can through wr but not monarch death)
I would love more videos like this but more in depth
thanks for the video monk! I would also appreciate the more detailed one :)
So you lose a claim throne cb if the guy gets an heir?
Would love advanced guide. At 1300 hours so I’m almost finished with the tutorial
I would like to see an advanced version
Cant wait for advanced guide
It would be very interesting yes !
Dude i have a good video idea:
In depth analysis of all idea groups
Would love a deep dive PU video
what football team do you support
advanced guide would be awesome
do you need a certain dlc for claim throne cos ive never seen that option... ive only ever seen support heir..
wiki doesn't mention needing dlc for it, so i don't think so? not entirely certain, though
@@phoenix402 its weird that ive never seen that option though.. im missing mare nostrum and a pirate one and everything after emperor
Hell yeah we want an advanced guide!
LEGIT QUESTION, how do someone make their own colonies to convert their own provinces to your religion. I mean, obviously you can convert them for them, but is there anyway to make them convert themselves?
The colonial nations traditions give them zero penalties from any religion. They have full acceptance and zero incentive to convert. Some other nations do have this modifier like Hungary and the USA but they will convert once in awhile as independent nations. The only way to have a colony convert is to let it free and assuming it will form another tag which will change traditions. Like Texas for example. Hope this helps.
Go for crazy PU guide =)
If you made a video talking for hours about PUs I would watch it.
Make the long version please
Advanced guide please :)
please do a experienced one
Thank you!
anyone can tell me why i dont have union option pls
Noice
Thank you
so we have to royal marry them first? is it better to also ally them? how can we make sure that we get the same dynasty as other nations? im trying to play nubia... conquered all the right provinces north, will soon become nubia, but my king died and i got same dynasty as ethiopia.. should i just normal conquest ethiopia or try to pu them? which i guess would involve a lot of waiting around and luck? problem is i cant war anyone else now.. either mamluks or ethiopia.. advice? thanks
if you plan to claim throne, don't ally. you'll be taking a bigger stab hit as you'll also gain a truce upon breaking the alliance to attack them. i've made that same mistake once ages ago trying to claim throne on austria as a hre minor.
other than that, PU is definitely worthwhile as it'll be faster in terms of conquest + unlike normal vassals there's a chance that if they are small enough, you can just inherit their lands for free, meaning you won't have to spend resources on integration.
@@phoenix402 its like when i wanted to get burgundy as pu when i played hungary or austria (i forget which) but i didnt know what to do to get it so i allied and royal married and the event never happened.. whats the difference between that claim throne cb and the restoration of union one?
@@tigrecito48 if you ally them you have to break the alliance to declare war on them, it will give you a truce with that country for 5 years which usually means they get an heir in the meantime
@@connorh2215 yeah but usually if its a pu i dont know if i can definitely get and i want an alliance cos they are strong.. like castile or portugal or something id ally them cos they are more useful as an ally and a royal marriage still takes up a diplo slot, but if its a border guy i need to invade soon i probably wouldnt ally them normally..but thing is i never know how long it will take to get the pu or even if it will ever happen, so like i said its kinda a waste of a diplo slot unless you can do something to make it very likely.. is there a way to make ur dynasty spread easier? ive had missions before that say, spread ur dynasty to 5 nations.. i have no idea how to do it other than random luck
@@tigrecito48 restoration of union is only gained through missions or after an existing PU declares independance from you. claim throne is the surefire option you use when you won't get a restoration through missions. i'm saying surefire here because the only other way outside of those methods to PU someone is through a succession crisis which usually turns into a succession war against some other major power. they're much more rng heavy in terms of occuring than just claiming throne, though.
More advanced video please
Part two lets jo!
Personal unions are one of my favourite mechanics and the reason I usually always play as Christian nations- HOWEVER, I will never play crusader kings hahahaha
Good job, I almost never use PUs, I don't really go for them, but I am thinking about going for Russian PU in Serbian campaign as I got Rurikovich. I am worried about liberty desire though.
having strong allies helps keep subjects in check. there's also always the option of going influence ideas for the reduction in liberty desire (+ the extra relations slot and +2 diplo rep are always nice)
Yes, please!
Hello South Islander 👋
id watch ur "hours" long PU video. if you want to make one.
More advanced! :O :O :D
Advance please monk
first :^)
Guide
not gonna lie i'm like looking at laith and ludi and hawk and i'm like 'fuck these videos suck, they're all hyperbolic nonsense... wait a second, how DO PUs work?'
going to sleep and waking up isn't making this make much more sense
how did you PU somebody in december 1444 what witchcraft is this?!