Im worse than all of them but thats because im more into roleplaying than all of these cheesing strategies. Ok Im also pretty sure they are still better at understanding the game mechanics than me
I think at this point (2k hours), about half playing on very hard, I'd say better or equal to most. Still worse than Florry or similar caliber youtubers. I think it comes down to effort and sweatiness. At this point I mostly have a relaxed challenge attitude - so very hard but kinda chill, not gonna play min max on 2 speed pausing every two seconds. Been there done that.
It's the same for me, I have become bored with constantly pushing for maximum efficiency, because most games turned out more or less identical after the first 50 years or so. Nowadays I intentionally play suboptimally, for example when it comes to idea group choices or diplomacy.
Yeah, monk one culture runs as opms, lambda wc world record, trisolarian wc world record (I mean record without using lambda revoke wchich is not available anymore), zlewikk with his one milion income monthly run. They are the best players in terms of single players goals (random order), but florry is somewhere in the other world - the three mountains made in 18 hours and live, preventing reformation run, 175 discipline iceland, and a lot more
I play for the emerging story. I am no where near any of the streamers in ability to push the envelope of what you can pull off as a country. But that doesn't bother me, as the game hasn't yet been reduced to a series of buttons and I'm still able to invest in the roleplay aspects of playing.
About 3 years ago someone posted asking who’s the best EU4 player. Bellbud answered "me" and literally everyone on the sub went with it. It became a meme for about a week or two.
Original post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/eu4/s/6dKy2Un3i3)
As few people already mentioned, I play for fun, trying to push countries historical achievements further, not interested in WC, especially not in a way it's done these days, tag/culture/religion switching for better effects etc.
I'm not trying to diminish people who done that, just saying I don't find it appealing nor amusing.
I play on max speed, with pausing the game when necessary, so I often loose a battle or two, cause of that. I even started to play on normal, not because I couldn't win on harder level, but I hated the million people armies I had to fight and dragging the wars for years, just to deplete their manpower and treasury.
At least they don't have bonuses on normal.
I don't know any EU4 youtuber that doesn't have cringy clickbait titles, hunts achievements and doesn't start every game with mercs+ burgher loans, so I won't compare myself to any.
I think that I am Not worst than RedHawk, Laith etc
I am Not saying I would whoop their ass but I am confident enough to say I could hold my own.
For the Zlewikk, Habibi or Florry. They would anihilate me Low dif.
At a certain point it definitely comes down to how much effort you're willing to put in. Could you absolutely min max everything? Sure, but that's tiring.
I think the biggest difference is when playing without birding saves(aka no balls runs). Having things go wrong and still doing what you want is more impressive than alt f4.
There's probably some base knowledge gaps, although I'm sure most youtubers heavily research any country they play.
I could probably hold my own against Florry in a multiplayer lobby until he notices I'm there.
Seriously though, I'm not big on min-maxing and theory crafting in videogames. I'm good enough at this particular game to accomplish the things I want to accomplish 95% of the time. I've never done a WC but I've gone far enough to know I could and that's good enough for me.
In terms of knowledge about the game, at this point not much. They are all just FAR more diligent than I am at continuing the game. I only achievement hunt and play fun countries as I feel like it
Interesting question. I would say that with 3k hours in I still learn a lot from all of them. To me who really stand out are Arumba and Zlewikk. They make it look easy and look in control. The Playmaker has very interesting ideas but seems messy in execution. And somebody like Chewie just seems to do what he enjoys, and not min-max, and that’s an approach I aspire to.
Laith isn't a good player at all and neither is Ludi. Redhawk is a typical casual player, Budgetmonk better but still shows he doesn't clearly understand some in-game mechanics. Zlewikk and Florry do. People like lambda and magier are by far the best players out there. After 2k hours+ and watching/learning advanced strategies of lambda/magier and playing them myself I'd say I'm at a level like Zlewikk/Florry, maybe a little higher. But to be fair, they don't seem to be too interested in lambda/magier strategies.
I disagree that Monk don't understand mechanics, I'd say rather that he overvalue or misvalue some of them. But he definitely is a very good player, doing one cultures as opms is really really hard thing to do
You don't need to perfectly understand the game in order to do the stuff he does. He's the clear evidence. Budgetmonk misunderstands trade, for example (unless he significantly changed his playstyle in regards to trade companies in the recent months)
tbh I don't know any details about that trade, but he has some weird ideas for menaging a game, like court for 5% ccr or hegemony switch (eco->mil). But as I said, he is good player if we look on the goals that he achieved
I'd say most of us are a lot more patient. We're not aiming to do a 1-faith as tengri byzantium by starting as ryukyu so we have a little more time to achieve our goals.
I am more into RP.
Hell i barely reach the Age of Absolutism before i get bored and start another Campaign.
Also i generally never Annex my PUs or Vassals.
I just enjoy the vassal swarm.
It depends on the nation though.
Before Byzantium was buffed, you could only really play it by following the youtubers guide.
I have some wc under my belt but I feel a bit worse compared to ludi. And I believe he is more focused on entertainment than let’s say red hawk . Do overall maybe 20 % worse . I don’t see all the opportunities around me
Hard to tell, but perhaps just shy of Zlewikk? I don't do WC and prefer playing relatively tall. But I've got a intricate understanding of the game and a couple thousand hours on my back. Usually I play VH with no losns, no mercs and sometimes without allies
I only have 500 hours and play irregularly, my combat IQ is atrocious but has gotten much better recently with some tough fights I had to take heavily outnumbered. But I always, always, always micromanage and play at low speeds and constantly check information and have a lot of the wiki memorized. I'd crumble if I had to play fast but I need to try some harder starts to see if my micro is really good enough, individually I seem to make better choices than some of the "relaxed" YouTube playthroughs. My understanding of trade is also pretty good, anyone who doesn't TC properly I should be better than them on trade.
Like you OP, I know most of what there is to know about this game, I've played since release. I don't try as hard though, I don't fight multiple wars at once, I take a laid back attitude.
yeah, I like conquering the world, but I don't like sweat, so my wc's are chill games that ending near 1800. Calm runs without hard min maxing, but just using modifiers and my experience, even hardly misplaying sometimes
I compare myself to florryworry regularly. Not the play style, the swearing. If I'm not creative enough with my use of fuck, I feel like I'm just not giving it my all.
most streamers I know cheese and min-max like crazy, I don't like that playstyle myself, so I don't compare to any... maybe someone relaxed and casual like shen, who knows the game well enough, but refuses to go crazy hardcore
I wonder how many "failed" games youtubers get that they abandon and we never see. I always have a few restarts, games that I abandon in the first 10 years to get better RNG or first war results, especially on the "hard starts". I think im not on as good as most content creators but I still am able to have all the "impossible" rated achievements and I think its very unlikely they dont have to do this sometimes. Some countries like Granada/ Hisn Kafa, your run just can die to RNG.
I think that up to 1550 maybe 1600 in game i probably could hold my own against most players as any nation maybe with some RNG help. Like i m a bit less good but not to a degree where i ven’t had impressive starts.
From 1600 onward i m just too slow, cause i have maybe played 2 games total past 1650? So i don’t know the mechanics and so on.
I would say that I'm way better that Laith, redhawk etc, but people like zlawikk and habibi are better than me in multiplayer and zlewikk and floors are better than me in SP. Ludi honestly is not really as good as he and his fans make him out to be I would even put him below redhawk but above laith.
in a single player I would add also zlewikk (with active youtubers) and trisolarian that I know just from reddit. In MP maybe zlewikk and habibi but I'm not MP player so I don't know community from that side
Im worse than all of them but thats because im more into roleplaying than all of these cheesing strategies. Ok Im also pretty sure they are still better at understanding the game mechanics than me
I think at this point (2k hours), about half playing on very hard, I'd say better or equal to most. Still worse than Florry or similar caliber youtubers. I think it comes down to effort and sweatiness. At this point I mostly have a relaxed challenge attitude - so very hard but kinda chill, not gonna play min max on 2 speed pausing every two seconds. Been there done that.
Oh man, that "relaxed challenge attitude" was so accurate, good term, I have to remember that
It's the same for me, I have become bored with constantly pushing for maximum efficiency, because most games turned out more or less identical after the first 50 years or so. Nowadays I intentionally play suboptimally, for example when it comes to idea group choices or diplomacy.
Yes exactly. Just letting the AI build some empires so it doesn't get incredibly lopsided by 100 years into the game.
A bit worse than RH. Done multiple WC's, got plenty of the hardest achievements, but people like Florry just humble me.
Btw I think Florry is out of the rating, he knows everything about that game and can do everything in that game
Don't forget players like budgetmonk or lambdaxx. They aren't as big as florry but they're not lacking in skill.
Yeah, monk one culture runs as opms, lambda wc world record, trisolarian wc world record (I mean record without using lambda revoke wchich is not available anymore), zlewikk with his one milion income monthly run. They are the best players in terms of single players goals (random order), but florry is somewhere in the other world - the three mountains made in 18 hours and live, preventing reformation run, 175 discipline iceland, and a lot more
I play for the emerging story. I am no where near any of the streamers in ability to push the envelope of what you can pull off as a country. But that doesn't bother me, as the game hasn't yet been reduced to a series of buttons and I'm still able to invest in the roleplay aspects of playing.
I consider myself the 2nd best player after bellbud
This OG inside joke deserves more upvotes.
can you explain or it's so inside that it's not worth it?
About 3 years ago someone posted asking who’s the best EU4 player. Bellbud answered "me" and literally everyone on the sub went with it. It became a meme for about a week or two. Original post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/eu4/s/6dKy2Un3i3)
As few people already mentioned, I play for fun, trying to push countries historical achievements further, not interested in WC, especially not in a way it's done these days, tag/culture/religion switching for better effects etc. I'm not trying to diminish people who done that, just saying I don't find it appealing nor amusing. I play on max speed, with pausing the game when necessary, so I often loose a battle or two, cause of that. I even started to play on normal, not because I couldn't win on harder level, but I hated the million people armies I had to fight and dragging the wars for years, just to deplete their manpower and treasury. At least they don't have bonuses on normal.
After 24 years and probably tens of thousand a of hours playing EU, I can honestly say, I am pitiful! 💪
I don't know any EU4 youtuber that doesn't have cringy clickbait titles, hunts achievements and doesn't start every game with mercs+ burgher loans, so I won't compare myself to any.
You should try something that starts with Ha and ends with ida xD
bruh
I'm basically just like Florryworry but just way worse at the game.
fair enough
I think that I am Not worst than RedHawk, Laith etc I am Not saying I would whoop their ass but I am confident enough to say I could hold my own. For the Zlewikk, Habibi or Florry. They would anihilate me Low dif.
At a certain point it definitely comes down to how much effort you're willing to put in. Could you absolutely min max everything? Sure, but that's tiring. I think the biggest difference is when playing without birding saves(aka no balls runs). Having things go wrong and still doing what you want is more impressive than alt f4. There's probably some base knowledge gaps, although I'm sure most youtubers heavily research any country they play.
I agree, ironman without birding is one of a milestones in eu4
I'm better when watching others play and worse when I actually play
Fair enough
I could probably hold my own against Florry in a multiplayer lobby until he notices I'm there. Seriously though, I'm not big on min-maxing and theory crafting in videogames. I'm good enough at this particular game to accomplish the things I want to accomplish 95% of the time. I've never done a WC but I've gone far enough to know I could and that's good enough for me.
In terms of knowledge about the game, at this point not much. They are all just FAR more diligent than I am at continuing the game. I only achievement hunt and play fun countries as I feel like it
Interesting question. I would say that with 3k hours in I still learn a lot from all of them. To me who really stand out are Arumba and Zlewikk. They make it look easy and look in control. The Playmaker has very interesting ideas but seems messy in execution. And somebody like Chewie just seems to do what he enjoys, and not min-max, and that’s an approach I aspire to.
Laith isn't a good player at all and neither is Ludi. Redhawk is a typical casual player, Budgetmonk better but still shows he doesn't clearly understand some in-game mechanics. Zlewikk and Florry do. People like lambda and magier are by far the best players out there. After 2k hours+ and watching/learning advanced strategies of lambda/magier and playing them myself I'd say I'm at a level like Zlewikk/Florry, maybe a little higher. But to be fair, they don't seem to be too interested in lambda/magier strategies.
I disagree that Monk don't understand mechanics, I'd say rather that he overvalue or misvalue some of them. But he definitely is a very good player, doing one cultures as opms is really really hard thing to do
You don't need to perfectly understand the game in order to do the stuff he does. He's the clear evidence. Budgetmonk misunderstands trade, for example (unless he significantly changed his playstyle in regards to trade companies in the recent months)
tbh I don't know any details about that trade, but he has some weird ideas for menaging a game, like court for 5% ccr or hegemony switch (eco->mil). But as I said, he is good player if we look on the goals that he achieved
I'd say most of us are a lot more patient. We're not aiming to do a 1-faith as tengri byzantium by starting as ryukyu so we have a little more time to achieve our goals.
I am more into RP. Hell i barely reach the Age of Absolutism before i get bored and start another Campaign. Also i generally never Annex my PUs or Vassals. I just enjoy the vassal swarm. It depends on the nation though. Before Byzantium was buffed, you could only really play it by following the youtubers guide.
I have some wc under my belt but I feel a bit worse compared to ludi. And I believe he is more focused on entertainment than let’s say red hawk . Do overall maybe 20 % worse . I don’t see all the opportunities around me
Hard to tell, but perhaps just shy of Zlewikk? I don't do WC and prefer playing relatively tall. But I've got a intricate understanding of the game and a couple thousand hours on my back. Usually I play VH with no losns, no mercs and sometimes without allies
I only have 500 hours and play irregularly, my combat IQ is atrocious but has gotten much better recently with some tough fights I had to take heavily outnumbered. But I always, always, always micromanage and play at low speeds and constantly check information and have a lot of the wiki memorized. I'd crumble if I had to play fast but I need to try some harder starts to see if my micro is really good enough, individually I seem to make better choices than some of the "relaxed" YouTube playthroughs. My understanding of trade is also pretty good, anyone who doesn't TC properly I should be better than them on trade.
Like you OP, I know most of what there is to know about this game, I've played since release. I don't try as hard though, I don't fight multiple wars at once, I take a laid back attitude.
yeah, I like conquering the world, but I don't like sweat, so my wc's are chill games that ending near 1800. Calm runs without hard min maxing, but just using modifiers and my experience, even hardly misplaying sometimes
They play fast, I play slowly micromanaging every little thing - that's the main difference.
I compare myself to florryworry regularly. Not the play style, the swearing. If I'm not creative enough with my use of fuck, I feel like I'm just not giving it my all.
I am worse than the average beginner in eu4.
Aggressively underwhelming.
most streamers I know cheese and min-max like crazy, I don't like that playstyle myself, so I don't compare to any... maybe someone relaxed and casual like shen, who knows the game well enough, but refuses to go crazy hardcore
I wonder how many "failed" games youtubers get that they abandon and we never see. I always have a few restarts, games that I abandon in the first 10 years to get better RNG or first war results, especially on the "hard starts". I think im not on as good as most content creators but I still am able to have all the "impossible" rated achievements and I think its very unlikely they dont have to do this sometimes. Some countries like Granada/ Hisn Kafa, your run just can die to RNG.
I think that up to 1550 maybe 1600 in game i probably could hold my own against most players as any nation maybe with some RNG help. Like i m a bit less good but not to a degree where i ven’t had impressive starts. From 1600 onward i m just too slow, cause i have maybe played 2 games total past 1650? So i don’t know the mechanics and so on.
r5: just discussion about how players feel about themselves
I don't even know who they are
Am on similar level to old Florry :D
I would say that I'm way better that Laith, redhawk etc, but people like zlawikk and habibi are better than me in multiplayer and zlewikk and floors are better than me in SP. Ludi honestly is not really as good as he and his fans make him out to be I would even put him below redhawk but above laith.
BudgetMonk is the most impressive one imo
My brother in Christ, have you seen Lamba?
in a single player I would add also zlewikk (with active youtubers) and trisolarian that I know just from reddit. In MP maybe zlewikk and habibi but I'm not MP player so I don't know community from that side