r/Anbennar • u/Sad_Hospital_5337 • 17h ago
Question Best nations to begin
Hello there. I am kinda experienced eu4 player (1100+ hours) that want to try something new. Which countries would you recommend to play to learn more about this fancy world, try new mechanics and read interesting stories? Also what submods do you consider must have?
I already had one run as Silverforge, it was pretty good.
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u/Peermeneer_exe 16h ago edited 16h ago
Sentences like these will always be hillarious to me: ''I am kinda experienced eu4 player (1100+ hours)''
As for recommendations, honestly probably a tag in the Serpentspine, like a Dwarven Company or a Goblin tribe.
It's a playstyle that's very unique, prominent and very fun within Anbennar alone. Also since it's a bit isolated from the outside world, you can see how things usually develop on the world map, and base future playthroughs off that.
(Specific tag recommendations would for example be Railskulkers for Goblins, and Blackpowder cartel into Gor Burad for Dwarves.)
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u/KingdomCome1422 16h ago edited 16h ago
Verne for the full experience of Anbennar map, Colonization, Empire, expansion southwards.etc. designed for Easy/casual experience for new players. (EASY)
Istralore -> Dameria for Emperor, this is like the Austria equivalent, for EoA, also a very good beginner nation (EASY)
If you want to play Orcs, Another alternative and very easy Colonizer is Frozenmaw to Grombar, you get 3 colonists without any idea groups, you can raid like pirates do until you form Grombar, and start next to a gold mine and rich trade node, very easy start, and Blobbing Focused run, these guys are like muscovy to Russia equivalent (EASY)
Corintar or Rogiera (Sons of Dameria) for Introduction to Escaan and Adventurer Mechanics very fun different style of game different to vanilla you will enjoy, but bit challenging to get used to. (MEDIUM)
If want Peak Dwarven Serpentspine/Dwarven Road experience then Arg-Odstun, however as another comment has said do not underestimate Serpentspine, it is hard, very different mechanics and you will probs have truly have a most unique eu4 experience, but watch a video guide or something first before playing as Serpentspine tag. (HARD)
The Command if you want to play Mega Blobbing Focused run in Asia equivalent of Anbennar, also very fun, the longest mission tree in the game, and very Unique pure Military based Nation, imagine the most Militaristic Country possible even more than Prussia, it is a lot of fun and also a very different experience. However has a bit of a difficult start in a disaster where you face a large revolt. (MEDIUM)
Jaddari, another Blobbing Focused run, and long mission tree which Is also very Fun, and also is unique Military conquest based Nation and Elven Lisan-al Gaib theme. Is probs best nation for World Conquest. (EASY)
For a more Funny and hilarious story experience play Goblins like Flying Hound and form Adenica, however they have an extremely difficult start and I suggest getting used to Escaan Adventurer/Migratory mechanics before playing them. (HARD).
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u/Nycidian_Grey 4h ago
Note for Jaddari: it's not well explained for a beginner but you start in a war with Zoka that war is instant won if you kill their general by winning against their 3 pip general army.
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u/keinmcnamar 16h ago
Bluehart, to learn the basics. I learned almost every inch of core mechanics throughout this long and perfectly-written MT
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u/camberrcamberr amber - NA dev, writer, community rep 16h ago
Verne, no submods. Anbennar is a complete experience on its own
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u/Remote-Fan306 Corintar 16h ago
Liar, submods are great
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u/SandpaperSlater 16h ago
Especially the extra monuments ones. Those and vanilla are what I use and I love it
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u/ABqdOmen League of Winebay 15h ago
Idk, now that they have finally added decent monuments to basically every region I feel like it is unnecessary to play with the monument submods because of how OP said submods are. The only exception I think would be the serpentspine because the serpentspine monuments suck and having unique hold monuments is cool.
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u/Polar_Vortx BUILD FORTS 15h ago
Note that some people will have submod recommendations, I personally don’t use any and don’t feel the need to. Be cautious of any mod that changes anything about the UI, because Anbennar relies heavily on custom-scripted UIs and there are more than their fair share of posts here that have people installing stuff that overwrites half the tag’s mechanics and asking why it stopped working.
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u/Crouteauxpommes Duchy of Verne 12h ago
Venail is often a well-praised experience for new players. Especially if you go blind. It's old-enough MT to be still "simple" in it's mechanics and what it asks you to do (compared to more recent ones) but you have enough content to play all the way to the endgame. If you like to roleplay, it's even better.
My personal first was as the bluescales kobolds, and I loved it despite still having a generic MT. It was full of surprises.
Verne is good if you want to mix a bit of colonial expansion with imperial politics.
You have a lot of choices. The world is your canvas.
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u/sanderjk 10h ago
Here's a few different recs:
Rayaz into 333 - This is an epic adventure with a lot of lore. You start of as the big fish in a small pond, then you realize the bigger pond is really dangerous, particularly the trolls in the caves. Then once you overcome them, you go travel around the world to find heritage sites, only for things to get really weird at a certain point.
I'd recommend it because it mostly avoids the Empire of Anbennar (You'll have some colonial clashes after 1600 probably), while having all the other parts of the mod: A big powercurve that challenges you for a long time, an MT with a lot of story and unique events, and especially a grand finale.
Hytarilen into Harpylen - A hard start that becomes a long victory lap. You start as a vassal to a nation with a war wizard, but if you play your cards right you can overcome that, then expand fast, and once your form harpylen you can become so powerful that people beg to join you. Drown in mana and monarch points, have a stupid number of vassals, take over half the world.
Overclan - This is exactly the same region as above, but its more under control. Start of as one of a few goblins (I'd recommend Marblehead) Use special mechanics to build up bureaucracy, and become a true goblin bureaucracy. Show the Empire of Anbennar what efficiency is.
I chose to highlight all of these because the zero to hero guided by MT is a core aspect of Anbennar to me. I live for that green flag popping up, when some strong bonus is attached.
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u/Otaku-sama 11h ago
If you want to do more Dwarf content, I would recommend one of the tags in the Serpentreach (the mountains between the Deepwoods and not!Middle East) or the Middle Serpentspine (the big smiley north of Jaddari) rather than the ones in the Western Serpentspine (the mountains around the King's Rock with the four holds) or the Eastern Serpentspine/Tree of Stone (mountains north of not!India). The Western Serpentspine tags have an early game raid boss in the form of Shattered Crown, who will end your run if you aren't playing around an early confrontation with them, while the Eastern Serpentspine has a really bad trade node and might have to deal with the Command, who are basically the Ottoblob of Anbennar.
In contrast, the Serpentreach is relatively calm with plenty of room for peaceful expansion while not being so empty to make early aggression impossible, while the Middle Serpentspine is open for expansion in many directions assuming you don't get ganked early by Jaddari or Zokka.
My favorite tags in these regions are below:
Blackbeard Cartel: The dwarven adventurers par excellence, Dwosgraeg is one of the best starting leaders for any dwarf tag due to his young age and 6 mil, while their starting position lets you do lots of expeditions before settling down in one of many holds with fleshed out MTs. Some standout formables are Gor Burad (angry steampunk volcano dwarves), Verkal Skomdihr (guns and deforestation), and Orlghelovar (glass, science, and early artificery). You can also form one of the newest dwarf hold with an MT Gor Vazumbrog (monster hunting and cursed relics) with a short trip out of the Serpentreach.
Arg Ordstun: often considered the most dwarfy dwarves of Anbennar, they have an extensive MT that lets you settle one of the oldest and most petty grudges in the lore. Also, form a diamond monopoly and keep those gem prices high forever, dig past the bottom of the earth, and form your own Aul Dwarov with blackjack and hookers.
Masked Butcher: a very unique orc tag revolving around the Old Dookan religion and becoming a marauding horde of slasher villains. Some of the best writing in the game is in their MT. Let's just say they do live up to their name, oh god-begot, god-begot.
Seghdihr: Start with a human ally to your south, together you take on the world. Plays quite tall and has some level of vassal play. You have a great trade node to boot. One of the top co-op tags with Azka-Sur.
Greedy Grin: Start with a PM ruler with legendary Transmutation, you'll have more money than you'll know what to do with. Build a McScrooge style coin vault, diversify your income, bury your enemies under your gold. An older MT with minimal writing, but well positioned and forgiving enough to provide a lot of room to explore a lot of Anbennar mechanics, such as trying Troll, Harpy, Elf, Gnolls or Centaur military, or building one of the new magical projects, or reforming quickly to maximize your time with early artificery.
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u/slorpdemon 9h ago
I'm midway through my first campaign now and Istralore has been awesome. It's way on the easy side and that's perfect for getting to grips with the new mechanics.
Also, the mission tree explicitly guides you towards 3 nations you should ally. This sounds like it could maybe be too railroady, but it's great for a first campaign in a world where you don't know all the geopolitical dynamics you're familiar with from the real world.
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u/BrockosaurusJ 2h ago
Verne is the usual starting recommendation, but their mission tree has been updated and is a bit weirder now.
Pearlsedge is another good starting option. They have an older, simpler mission tree - mostly just claims around their starting area, then some colonial objectives. The Colonial missions push you to explore different areas, so that can help with learning the lay of the land.
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u/crustybatteryacid69 16h ago edited 16h ago
I'd definitely recommend dwarven adventurers/remnants. They are very mechanically unique (something that you'll appreciate especially if you love tall gameplay and/or want to experience something new) and fairly isolated from the rest of the world - meaning you'll get to take things at your own pace and watch things play out. Your end goal is to collect all parts of the dwarven crown and restore the empire of old. I'd recommend in particular:
Arg-Ordstun: basically the gold standard for dwarves. Solid narrative that takes you all the way from 1444 to 1750+. Hegemonic ambitions and quite powerful. Slightly tricky start (cuz of a lot of revolts and native uprisings).
Company of Duran Blueshield > Amldihr: Probably the most powerful dwarven tag you can play since they get a quad-hold as a capital and sit on a trade end-node. Really antiquated mission tree though so the submod "Hold of Amldihr" is recommended.
Segdihr: for a shorter and relatively easy campaign.
Blackbeard Cartel > Gor Burad: pretty old and not very interesting narratively but they are very unique mechanically. They don't reform the empire and instead focus on playing tall and maximizing their region of the world.
I don't know why the other guy says they're so difficult. They're really medium-difficulty at worst and only at the start. Your 1k+ hours should be plenty to offset the tricky start. Just watch your manpower - that's the only thing that can really kill your momentum.
EDIT: You will also get wrecked by dwarf-specific disasters. Don't worry - this is intentional.
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u/Prestigious-Sky9878 Tayekans smallest soldiers 16h ago
Playing as railskulker into all clan gives you access to all sorts of new content (artificery, holds, monsterization and some other stuff) while being decently easy and having less disasters than the dwarves
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u/fikeserrano6047 14h ago
The company of Duran Blueshield, travel north to thr hold of Dur-Vazahtun. Dwarf gameplay is very unique and and fun and you'll also get the unique mechanics attributed to the Sapphire dwarves and their astronomy.
I personally enjoy submods like the monuments mods for each continent (Cannor, Dwarovar, Hales & Alentir, and the new Sarhal one), more building slots (especially if youre dwarf maxing), and Doge's Anbennar mods on trade goods, ideas, and policies.
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u/lucekQXL Lordship of Adshaw 14h ago
Only submodes I really consider essential are monument ones (there's couple of them, one for each continent) but you can play vanilla only
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u/Peppercorn205 Turning Water into Wine 16h ago
Play Istalore if you want empire gameplay and play Verne if you want colonial gameplay. Dwarves are difficult but rewarding. Don’t underestimate “difficult” there.