Easiest Countries to Play as in Europa Universalis IV 1444
The Ottoman Empire is recommended for new players, making it an easy start.
Being surrounded by three or more geographic regions, aggressive expansion is less of a concern. If you accumulate a lot of AE with Hungary and Poland, you can invade the Mamluks while the AE ticks down, and vice versa.
It is easy to expand quickly as there are many smaller nations like Byzantium, Serbia, Albania, Candar, Bosnia, Wallachia, and Dulkadir, which you can easily steamroll over, as long as they don't ally with Austria or the Mamluks.
Initially, the Ottomans are on par with the Mamluks and Poland, but after conquering Byzantium, they soon outpace them.
Be sure to get allies in case Russia or Austria declares war when you're weak. Usually, France, Bohemia, and Tunis are good choices for allies.
Ming has overpowered development and weak neighbors. They can practically decimate any nearby nation, and aggressive expansion isn't much of a problem.
Muscovy starts with a core on Novgorod in 1444, so you can instantly declare war and quickly expand.
Once you reach the Swedish border, turn to the east to colonize and conquer the steppe while waiting for Poland-Lithuania or Denmark-Sweden to either break their union, have no allies, or be weakened before declaring war.
Muscovy starts off with Pskov and Perm as vassals. There are easy prey nearby such as Tver, Ryazan, and Novgorod.
Watch out for Lithuania and Denmark, as they can ally with each other and declare war on you.
Portugal (est.1152), officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain. Its territory also includes... read more Usually a casual game, the aim is to ally with Castile and basically be their lapdog. Portugal is good at colonizing, so you'll do a lot of that.
You can try to conquer northern Morocco, with or without Castile, but Castile will want the land too. Don't invade Castile unless they have a lot of rebels and/or you're allied with France or the Ottomans.
Portugal is best for colonizing and little else.
I guess you can colonize some parts of Africa and the east of South America when you play as a European nation. EU4 has many nations to play as, and you can invade many small nations in Europe to form the HRE. You can even expand as a tribal nation when no colonizers are there to invade you. I rate EU4 9/10.
Strong army and the strongest nation in Iberia. Navarra can easily be diplomatically vassalized.
However, they are surrounded by three potential strong enemies: France, Aragon, and Morocco. The Iberian wedding event allows Aragon to enter a personal union with Castile.
France, officially the French Republic, is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European part of France, called metropolitan France, extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to... read more France is a powerhouse. You can easily take all the provinces of France from England and defeat Castile or Aragon with the help of one of the others before they unify.
You can then conquer Burgundy when they're weak or get the Burgundian Inheritance, which gives France half of Burgundian land for free if they lose a war and have no heir. You can also take a province in England while reconquering French provinces to avoid the English navy and invade England.
Then start your empire, conquer Italy once they leave the HRE, and be Napoleon.
A strong nation in India with many weak nations to prey on in the south.
However, a major problem could be Bahmanis.
The Mamluks start with Hejaz as a vassal and the opportunity to either diplomatically vassalize or conquer Dulkadir. However, Qara Qoyunlu and the Ottoman Empire are huge threats, and war with an expanded Ottoman Empire can destroy the Mamluks.
England, previously the Kingdom of England, is a constituent country of the United Kingdom along with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.England can trace its history as far back as the 10th century, but modern England didn't start till the Norman Invasion of 1066. In 1535, England annexed... read more
England can easily unite the British Isles and form Great Britain.
However, the War of the Roses is set to happen, and France could declare war at any time.
Austria was Celtic (Hallstadt) then as Noricum, part of the Roman Empire, Alaric, who took over Rome, studied at a monastery near Vienna. In the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Emperors moved to Vienna, then Austria became separate. Medieval documents from Eastern Europe as far as West Ukraine were often... read more A powerhouse when played correctly, Austria can follow either the Habsburg route or the Emperor route.
The Habsburg route involves forcing a union with Bohemia, either acquiring it for free or forcing one on Hungary, and obtaining the Burgundian inheritance. In this scenario, the HRE lands of Burgundy go to Austria if Burgundy has no royal marriage with Castile.
The Emperor route involves implementing HRE reforms as quickly as possible while remaining emperor. This requires invading Venice and the Papal States to rein in Northern Italy and prevent Italy from leaving the empire, thereby increasing Imperial Authority to help pass reforms.
Crushing the Protestant Reformation quickly by "forcing religion on nations" and forcing German princes to release as many nations within the HRE as possible is also crucial. More nations equal more authority. This also includes adding provinces, nations, or vassals to the HRE. Once you reform the HRE on the second to last reform, all princes become your vassals, and world conquest begins.
Its national ideas are essentially a combination of the national ideas of Japan, France, and Sweden, which have some of the most quality-intensive ideas. On top of that, you can take innovative and quality ideas, which by themselves give nice bonuses, but the +20% infantry combat ability policy amplifies quality ideas even further.
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) and Lithuania to the north. With a population of approximately... read more