Patch 1 4 — After Strategy

EU5: how to colonize, from exploration to colonial nations (patch 1.4)

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

To colonize in Europa Universalis 5, explore the area first, then open a colonial charter on a province within your colonial range, and let your settlers migrate until they reach the required threshold. Speed depends mostly on colonial migration, not on your fleet. This guide is current for the 1.4 Rio Salado update released on 28 October 2026, which adds charter goals.

In practice, EU5 colonization is about population before ships. Pops actually leave your homeland to settle the new land, so every colony is paid for with people.

Any country can colonize, from Portugal to the Ashikaga shogunate, especially after the Age of Discovery and the New World institution. Paradox also offers a game rule that limits AI colonization to European nations, without affecting Steam achievements.

Step 1: explore Terra Incognita

Each country only sees the areas it has discovered. The rest shows as Terra Incognita, which you explore from the Geopolitics tab, according to Developer Diary #4. An exploration costs gold plus sailors at sea, or manpower on land. It also needs a character to lead it.

The official wiki notes that duration depends on the distance to your capital and on terrain. A longer naval range and a skilled leader shorten the voyage. The wiki lists a cost of 100 gold and 250 sailors or manpower, then 10 gold of monthly upkeep, with 270 days of preparation that the leader’s diplomatic skill reduces. Paradox adds that preparation consumes lumber, naval supplies and liquor: without those goods in the port’s market, it stops.

Monthly progress starts at 0.05. The Age of Discovery, which begins in 1437, adds +0.25 according to the wiki’s Age page. What matters: launch your explorations as soon as that age begins, when the bonus multiplies your speed.

Another trap flagged by Paradox. Land is revealed only when the expedition returns home, not during the voyage. An expedition lost at sea brings back nothing, despite the gold and sailors committed.

Step 2: open a colonial charter

Once the area is discovered, the Colonization tab lists the available charters. A charter targets a whole province and completes when every location in it is colonized. It can only target land within your colonial range, which advances increase.

You pay for it in three ways.

Up front. A sum of gold to create the charter.
Every month. Upkeep that depends on local population, distance to the capital and colonial maintenance efficiency.
In goods. The wiki lists cloth, salt, medicaments, weaponry and tools drawn from your market.

The wiki gives a 12% upkeep reduction for each active charter beyond the first, capped at 7 charters. The Age of Discovery adds -25% colonial maintenance. On paper, running many charters is cheaper per charter. In practice, every extra charter also splits your settlers, so each one fills more slowly.

Step 3: move your settlers

Every month, pops of your primary religion and of your primary or accepted culture leave the homeland for the charter. You choose the province they leave from. Since patch 1.3, migration can come from any region linked to the capital by land or strait.

Colonial migration rises with advances, laws and the Outward societal value. It falls with Inward, distance and the province’s vegetation, according to the wiki and the developer diary. Patch 1.1 halved it and made it more costly.

If you play a colonial power, push Outward as soon as it appears with the Age of Discovery. It is the most direct lever on colonization speed.

The real cost: native population

The settler threshold is at least 1,000 per location, and it climbs with the native population. The wiki gives the formula: with 5,000 natives, you need about 2,400 settlers. With 20,000 natives, you need nearly 6,600, and the calculation caps at 50,000 natives. Power projection lowers the threshold, but only slightly: going from 0 to 100 saves 8.3% of the settlers on a 5,000-native location, per the same page.

Paradox adds that malaria, a harsh climate or little arable land slow colonization down. The risk is opening a charter on a crowded province early on, while a sparsely populated coast fills much faster.

Resources should guide the choice too. Each location has a fixed output: gold, sugar, furs, cocoa. The developers point to Portugal in Brazil for gold and gems, and Spain in Mesoamerica.

Colonial races and the partition treaty

A charter does not grant exclusivity. Several countries can target the same province, and the first to finish wins it. The wiki states that the loser gives up prestige, gold or government power. The losing settlers stay put, according to Paradox, which produces colonies with mixed populations.

Between two Catholic countries, the race triggers a situation. According to the wiki’s Situations page, it starts after 1437 once two Catholic countries with a European capital have colonized America. A location becomes the dividing line of the world, and the treaty takes its name: Tordesillas in real history, Lisbon or Havana in another campaign.

Step 4: colonial nation or direct control

When a charter completes, you get four options.

Integrate the colony. You keep the land and all its resources.
Give it to an existing colonial nation. The neighboring subject grows.
Create a new colonial nation. A semi-autonomous subject governs the territory.
Play as the colony. This option is only offered to human players.

Since 1.4, you set the goal when you create the charter, according to Tinto Talks #118 and the 1.4 patch notes. A best-fit preset picks the option for you, and you can change it at any time.

Direct control gives you everything, but control falls with distance from the capital. A colonial nation sends you a share of income, sailors and manpower, per the wiki’s Subjects page. It also joins your wars when loyal, and you can build buildings and roads inside it. The catch: the Age of Absolutism cuts income from colonial subjects by 10%, then the Age of Revolutions by 20%.

Changes since release

Patches have reworked colonization several times.

1.0.5. Colonial nations can no longer create their own subjects or settle on an adjacent sub-continent such as North Africa, per the 1.0.5 notes.
1.2. The Colonial Administration building turns distant holdings into trade assets, according to Tinto Talks #103.
1.3. The Merge Colonies interaction lets an overlord fold one colony into another.
1.4. Self-sufficient colonies carry the Self Sustaining tag, progress shows an estimate, and conquistadors are built in a homeland port.

The recommended order

For a first colonial empire, work through this list.

Research exploration advances as soon as the Age of Discovery begins.
Explore nearby coasts before the open ocean.
Open two or three charters on sparsely populated provinces.
Push the Outward value to speed up migration.
Group distant land into colonial nations.

If you are new to the game, our guide to the best countries for beginners in EU5 covers Castile, one of the six starts the game recommends. And if charters drain the treasury, our guide on why you are losing money in EU5 walks through the fixes.

Going further

EU5: how to leave or dismantle the HRE (patch 1.4)

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In Europa Universalis 5, you leave the Holy Roman Empire by beating the Emperor and enforcing the “Leave the Holy Roman Empire” peace treaty. That clause only exists once the Golden Bull is sealed. If the Bull has still not been enacted by 1400, the patch 1.2 notes say you can walk out without a war.

Dismantling the whole Empire is another matter: no official note consulted gives a recipe. This guide therefore separates what is documented from what comes from player reports.

The text targets Update 1.4 “Rio Salado” and hotfix 1.4.6 of 30 October 2026. The wiki page for patch 1.4 does not mention the HRE, so the rules below come from patches 1.2 and 1.3.

Leaving the HRE: it all depends on the Golden Bull

Open the imperial laws tab first. The Golden Bull law has two outcomes, and that choice decides your exit. According to the laws page on the wiki, Seal the Golden Bull enables the leave treaty and forbids unjustified wars between members. Uncodified Electoral Order leaves elector votes to custom.

Situation	Can you leave?	What to do
Bull sealed	Yes, through war	Beat the Emperor and enforce the leave treaty
Bull not enacted by 1400	Yes, without war according to patch 1.2	Look for the leave action in the Empire tab
Bull not enacted, before 1400	No documented route	Push the Bull vote or wait until 1400

The second row rests on a single sentence in the patch 1.2 notes: “You can now leave the HRE when the Golden Bull has not been enacted by 1400”. The note does not describe the steps, and no other source consulted details them. It adds that once the Bull is active, the treaty against the Emperor remains the only way.

On paper, the first case is the most likely one. Patch 1.2 also tells the AI to keep proposing the Bull, precisely because it matters to the Empire. Still, check your own campaign: one player reported in January 2026 a Bull never enacted under the first two emperors, on a version older than that change.

Preparing the war against the Emperor

The wiki is clear: the only way out is a treaty with the leader. A crushing win over a neighbouring prince therefore opens nothing. Four points decide what this war costs you.

The casus belli. With the Bull sealed, unjustified wars between members are forbidden, so you need a valid reason. One player cites parliament as a possible source, which remains a forum signal.
The Emperor’s allies. Since the patch 1.2 overhaul, bilateral allies come along when the Emperor accepts an imperial call to arms. Count their armies before declaring.
Subjugation. Patch 1.2 elects a new Emperor as soon as the previous one is subjugated. Subjugating the holder does not free you: the treaty must then target the successor.
The timing of conquests. The manual on Paradoxpedia says that taking land from a member multiplies Antagonism by 1.25 for fellow members and by 2 for countries outside the Empire.

In practice, if that multiplier applies to whoever takes the land, it sets a battle order: nibble at your German neighbours before the leave treaty, not after. Check the cost shown in the peace screen before you decide.

Why the option does not appear in the treaty

A Steam thread on leaving the Empire describes a missing clause in December 2025 and January 2026. Those posts predate patch 1.2, but the checklist remains useful.

The Bull is not sealed. This is the condition written in the law, and the first thing to check.
The war does not target the Emperor. The treaty is negotiated against the Empire’s leader, and the title may have moved since you declared.
Your religion differs from the Empire’s. A Lutheran player only saw the option after the Empire turned Lutheran. That is one isolated report, so test it.

If the Bull is stuck, look at Imperial Authority. The law is paid for with that resource, and one player described Authority falling because of illegal land and electors vassalized by France. The risk is staying trapped until 1400, with a Bull nobody can afford.

Exits without war: Italy and the Privilegia

Three situations remove members without a peace treaty.

A Guelph victory. According to the situations page, every country with its capital in Italy then leaves the Empire. Patch 1.3 bars them from rejoining for 50 years.
The 1437 stalemate. If neither side has progressed enough, Italian countries that belong to both the Guelphs and the Empire leave both organizations.
Revoking the Privilegia. Since patch 1.0.5, countries that refuse to swear fealty also leave the Empire. This law comes late, because it requires the previous levels.

Conversely, a Ghibelline victory brings Italian countries outside the south into the Empire. If you play an Italian state, the side you back is effectively an exit decision, with no casus belli against the Emperor.

Dismantling the HRE: what is established

Caution here. No patch note consulted describes a dismantling clause, and the wiki does not cover the subject. What is established comes down to four points.

The Empire can disappear. The There Can Be Only One achievement asks Byzantium to own Aachen once the HRE no longer exists. Hotfix 1.2.3 names this achievement.
Imperial Authority is the lever. It runs from 0 to 100 and falls with missing or subjugated electors, heretic princes, subjugated members and land held by foreigners.
Provinces leave by treaty. Since patch 1.3, removing a province from the HRE is no longer a button: you must enforce it in a peace.
An interregnum is expensive. The developers announce 1 Authority point lost per month without an Emperor, getting worse if it drags on.

That leaves the most quoted condition. A Steam post from November 2025 claims you dismantle the Empire in a war against the Emperor if half of its territory belongs to outside countries. That is one player, on a launch version, with no confirmation: treat it as a lead, not a threshold.

In practice, the plan that holds is simple. Stay outside the Empire, take land in North and South Germany, vassalize members, then open the peace screen against the Emperor and read the available clauses. The wiki adds, on a page not verified for the current version, 20 Prestige for conquering the last member.

Do not treat that win as final. Patch 1.2.5 mentions Renovatio Imperii, described as forming the HRE, so the Empire could come back under conditions we could not document.

Should you actually leave?

What matters is why you want out. Many players want to rank up: one of them claimed that outside Bohemia, Burgundy, Italy and Lotharingia, you could not go above duchy rank. Patch 1.2 has since added a game rule that sets which countries can become kingdoms inside the Empire. Check it before planning a war.

The crown is the other route. The wiki requires an independent candidate, a monarchy with no regency, an heir and more than half of the votes. If you play a major German power, being elected Emperor often costs less than fighting one.

Leaving is not free to reverse either. The wiki requires the Emperor’s primary religion and a border with a member to join, and patch 1.3 added a base reluctance to joining.

Going further

EU5: why you are losing money and how to fix it (patch 1.4)

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

If you are losing money in Europa Universalis 5, the cause is almost always one of five things: low control, unprofitable buildings, weak market access, military upkeep, or debt that costs more than it brings in. Check them in that order before you disband the army. This guide is current for the 1.4 Rio Salado update released on 28 October 2026, which adds tariffs, industry promotion and new budget tools.

In practice, cutting the army is the first reflex, but rarely the most profitable one. Control and market access weigh more on your income, and they keep paying once fixed.

Control: your tax base is only worth what you control

A location’s effective tax base is its potential tax base multiplied by its control, according to the official wiki. The DBLTAP guide puts it bluntly: at 0% control, a province does not pay a single coin.

Maximum control depends mostly on proximity to the capital, with a bonus ranging from 0 to +75% according to the wiki. A large, distant conquest can therefore swell your map without adding anything to the treasury. A rich province at 20% control yields barely a fifth of its potential tax base.

What matters here: integrate your conquests, build roads toward rich provinces and avoid expanding faster than control can follow. A wide empire of low-control land often earns less than a compact kingdom with the same population.

Unprofitable buildings: spotting and fixing them

A profitable building adds its profits to the tax base; an unprofitable one is excluded from it, per the wiki. Most of the time, the building lacks its input goods: DBLTAP points to raw materials that are missing or too expensive to import. Building subsidies also show up among your expenses, so a loss-making chain costs you twice: zero tax base on one side, a subsidy on the other.

Patch 1.0.10 added a warning indicator on building cards in the location panel. Patch 1.1 also lets you lock a building’s production method so automation no longer switches it.

Three fixes come up again and again.

Secure the inputs. Produce the raw material locally, or import it with a Trade Order.
Change the production method. A less demanding method can become profitable again when one input is scarce.
Destroy the building. If the market no longer wants the good, keeping the building costs money without paying anything back.

The risk is building the same workshop in every city without checking that the market has both the demand and the inputs. Ten loss-making weavers are worse than three profitable ones, because all ten drop out of the tax base while still employing pops.

A shrinking market: market access

The farther a location sits from its market center, the lower its access to that market. Developer Diary #3 explains that this cuts available goods, output and tax base. At 0% access, a location is cut off from the market’s goods entirely.

A market can also lose locations. Each location picks its market based on market attraction, market protection and its own access, according to the wiki’s Market page. Attraction grows with the owner’s prestige, the development of the center and its buildings. A richer neighbor can therefore pull your border provinces into its own market, and their trade goes with them.

Paradox lists several official remedies.

Roads. Patch 1.0.10 raised the bonus of paved roads to 20-40% on the path to the market.
Marketplaces and market villages. They increase market access since late 2025, according to Tinto Talks #90.
Moving the market center. The wiki gives a cost of 800 gold, against a base cost of 250 gold to create a new market.

On paper, merging all your markets into one looks efficient. The developer diary warns that an overextended market suffers from low access at its edges. Gamer Blurb adds that destroying a market costs stability and prestige, and can send its provinces to an unexpected market.

The budget: army, navy, forts and estates

Army, navy and fort upkeep are set in the budget tab. The wiki notes that lowering army or navy maintenance reduces their morale accordingly, while lowering fort maintenance cuts defense and garrison. DBLTAP reminds players that cutting these costs is never a lasting fix.

On the income side, each estate pays the national rate on its share of the tax base. The wiki gives a tax weight of 100 for nobles, 40 for burghers, 25 for clergy and 1 for peasants. DBLTAP advises beginners to automate estate taxation, which takes the maximum without excessive unrest.

If you play peacefully, trimming the army and forts helps. But the lost morale gets paid back at the first war, usually at the worst moment.

Debt and bankruptcy

A negative balance at the end of the month triggers an automatic loan, and with no loan available, bankruptcy, according to the wiki. Since patch 1.1, bankruptcy disbands part of your units, and Tinto Talks #103 states that it wipes construction queues.

The 1.3 update added a creditworthiness score from 0 to 100. Borrowing responsibly lowers interest rates, while a default or a bankruptcy makes every later loan more expensive. Patch 1.4 adds the Default on Creditor action: it repudiates every loan held by one chosen lender, at a cost to creditworthiness, to opinion with all lenders, and with a casus belli for the former creditor.

The trap is chaining loans to pay for a war, then watching the interest outgrow what the conquest brings in. The wiki lists loans over 60 months at a base interest of 10%, so a long war on credit keeps costing years after the peace deal. Factor the loan cost into the war before you declare it, not after the first defeat.

The new 1.4 levers

Tinto Talks #124 and the 1.4 patch notes detail three tools.

Tariffs. A market owner taxes or subsidizes foreign trade good by good, with import and export rates set separately. This is income, with a diplomatic cost.
Trade Orders. They form a priority queue: the top order receives trade capacity first, and whatever is left trickles down to the automation.
Promote Industry. One area gains productivity in one industry, and your pops demand more of those goods. The diary gives one slot by default, two for kingdoms and three for empires.

What matters in 1.4: exporting the goods you produce yourself raises their prices, which raises your tax base. The Tinto Talk describes this mercantilist approach, even when some exports run at a loss. Trade profit shrinks, but your workshops stay profitable.

The checking order

When the treasury drops, work through this list.

Open the balance breakdown and find the largest expense.
Check control in your richest provinces.
Look for buildings flagged as unprofitable.
Scan the market access map and spot the dark areas.
Adjust military upkeep only after these four steps.

On paper this takes a few minutes per check. In practice, repeating the pass after each war or big expansion catches most leaks before they turn into loans.

If you are just starting out, our guide to the best countries for beginners in EU5 lists the starts that teach the economy, such as Hungary.

Going further

EU5 best countries for beginners (patch 1.4 Rio Salado)

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The safest way to start Europa Universalis 5 is to pick one of the six countries the game recommends in 1337: Hungary or Holland to learn the economy, Naples or Norway for politics, the Ottomans or Castile for expansion. These starts activate the learning walkthrough and its tutorial missions. This guide is up to date for update 1.4 Rio Salado of October 28, 2026.

The choice depends less on how strong the country is than on which mechanic you want to understand first. The six starts cover three families, from Buda to Bursa, and Castile remains the most played with almost one game in ten. Here is what each start teaches, what can go wrong, and the alternatives outside the list.

The six recommended countries, sorted by mechanic

The official wiki beginner’s guide sorts the recommended starts into three groups. Launching one of them from the 1337 recommended countries list triggers the learning walkthrough.

Mechanic taught	Recommended countries	What the start trains
Economy	Hungary, Holland	Buildings, trade, development
Politics	Naples, Norway	Marriages, alliances, friendly estates
Expansion	Ottomans, Castile	Army, wars, integrating conquests

Players followed that advice. In Tinto Talks #90, one month after release, Paradox noted that suggested countries are popular. Castile led with 9.90% of games started, ahead of the Ottomans (9.63%) and Holland (8.65%). Hungary (3.24%), Naples (2.78%) and Norway (1.99%) trailed far behind.

Hungary: economy without immediate pressure

Hungary starts as a Catholic kingdom centred on Buda, holding part of Croatia directly and the rest in a personal union. Its main asset is the gold and silver mines of Slovakia and Transylvania, which the wiki advises developing first.

The games.gg guide makes the same point, with natural expansion into the Balkans. The neighbours (Austria, Bohemia, Poland, Serbia, Wallachia) do not all threaten you at once. In practice, it is a good place to learn rural buildings, road-based control and gradual urbanisation.

What matters: stay on good terms with Bohemia early, then push into the Balkans through vassals rather than direct annexation.

Holland: recommended, but not easy

Holland is the trap of the list. The wiki calls it “quite a difficult start for new players” despite the game’s recommendation. The county starts in a union with Hainaut, inside the Holy Roman Empire, between Utrecht, Guelders, Brabant and Zeeland.

The DBLTAP guide adds hostile neighbours, recurring winter famines and a possible succession crisis. On paper, Holland can grow into a trade and production powerhouse. In practice, you first have to survive the neighbours and secure your markets. Skip it if you want a quiet first game.

Naples: politics with room to breathe

Naples starts as a Catholic kingdom under Robert the Wise of Anjou, with Albania and Achaea as vassals. The wiki page on Naples lists two formables, the Two Sicilies and then Italy. The beginner’s guide calls it an excellent start, “highly recommended”, with many options.

The natural path runs through Sicily, then the Papal States, which the wiki strategy suggests vassalising rather than annexing. If you play to understand diplomacy, vassals and marriages, this is the most readable start on the list.

Norway: unions and decentralisation

Norway starts in a union with Sweden, which the wiki and games.gg both present as its teaching value. The country has about 474,000 people, highly decentralised, with six towns and no founded cities. Its small subjects (Greenland, Orkney, Iceland) work as annexation practice.

What matters: stay decentralised until your subjects are annexed, since decentralisation improves their loyalty. Breaking the union with Sweden needs a spy network and a dedicated casus belli. It is a slow start, useful for learning laws and subjects rather than war.

Ottomans: expansion through the Rise of the Turks

The Ottomans start from Bursa, among the Anatolian beyliks, facing Byzantium and the Ilkhanate. They are the leading country of the Rise of the Turks situation, according to the wiki and games.gg. Unique events and reforms act as a guiding thread.

The long-term goal remains Constantinople. The risk, according to games.gg, is expanding too fast, which triggers rebellions. In practice, vassalising neighbouring beyliks before annexing them limits the problem and teaches culture and religion management.

Castile: the Reconquista and Iberia reworked in 1.4

Castile under Alfonso XI borders Aragon, Granada, Navarre and Portugal. Granada is backed by Marinid Morocco, and Castile can eventually form Spain and then colonise. The wiki rates this start between beginner and intermediate.

Update 1.4 changes the region. The Rio Salado update notes add 315 advances for Iberian and Maghrebi countries, with unique events, decisions and buildings for Castile, Aragon and Granada. The paid Across the Pillars DLC adds the Battle of the Strait situation between Castile, Morocco and Granada.

One caveat: some Castile guides advise recruiting mostly cavalry. Update 1.4 rebalances cavalry and infantry so that an all-cavalry army is no longer the meta, according to Paradox. Read those older tips with care.

Outside the list: England and Portugal

Two countries often appear in guides without being among the game’s recommendations, so they come without the learning walkthrough.

England starts with large French holdings and hostile Scots to the north. The Hundred Years’ War comes very early, which DBLTAP describes as a crash course in warfare. You can defend the continent, claim the French crown or give those lands up.

Portugal has few rivals on the peninsula, and early events make good relations with Castile easier, according to DBLTAP and games.gg. It is a start geared towards exploration and trade. With 1.4, it also benefits from the Iberian content and the new expeditions system.

Countries to avoid in your first game

The games.gg beginner’s guide warns against three profiles.

Byzantium. The empire starts surrounded by stronger neighbours, and the game leaves little time to learn.
Granada. The Nasrid kingdom borders Castile, which aims at the Reconquista from the start.
Small Holy Roman Empire states. They lack the room and the army to survive the first wars.

What matters: an exposed country is not impossible, but it punishes mistakes before you understand what caused them.

Three settings before you start

First, start from a new save. The 1.4 FAQ states that a 1.3 game loads, but its balance may become unrecoverable, and Paradox recommends starting over.

Next, keep the learning walkthrough missions active: they give bonuses and goals designed around each mechanic. Finally, plan a second game with another group of countries. A Hungary game followed by an Ottoman game covers both the economy and war.

What matters most in a first campaign is reading tooltips rather than racing the clock. The risk of a fast start is missing why your income or stability drops, which the walkthrough missions are there to explain.

A first campaign also does not need to reach 1837. Playing the first age to around 1400 is enough to see the walkthrough missions through, then start again with a better grasp of markets, estates and control. On paper that sounds slow; in practice it is the fastest way to stop guessing.

If you come from EU4, our EU4 vs EU5 comparison details what changes in the learning curve.

Going further

EU5 1.4 Río Salado: Character Cardinals, Two-Phase Crusades and Religious Orders

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On Wednesday, September 23, Tinto Talks #125 gave a face to EU5’s Church. In 1.4 Río Salado, Catholicism becomes less a menu and more a set of people: named cardinals, holy wars with a war chest and a leader, and religious orders settled in your provinces.

Update, October 26, 2026: the 1.4 open beta has been available since October 1, and the update launches on October 28. It arrives with the Across the Pillars Chronicle Pack, which adds the Iberian military orders mentioned below.

Cardinals Become Characters

The main change fits in one sentence: cardinals are now characters. Paradox Tinto replaces the Cardinal Seat building, which the team was never sold on. The cardinal keeps a seat in a specific location, and the College of Cardinals appears on the Catholic Church map.

The example shown is Gil Álvarez de Albornoz, a historical Castilian who led the reconquest of the Papal States in the 1350s. In the base game, cardinals use regular ecclesiastical models; the dedicated 3D model arrives with Across the Pillars.

The Papal Curia is now composed of these cardinals. A bull is proposed by a Catholic country, as before. But only the countries that control a cardinal in the Curia vote, which limits the number of voters.

Diplomacy then kicks in. Two actions let you ask a country to support or reject a bull. In Paradox’s example they target France, which controls the most cardinals at the start of the game. The Dei Gratia Rex bull passes there.

A Cardinal in Your Cabinet

Cardinals also serve internal management. A cardinal whose seat lies in one of your locations can become a general or a cabinet member. He can even hold the regency for a minor if he sits in the cabinet when it begins. Promoting him to Head of the Cabinet takes enough Political Influence.

A new religious action, Appoint Dynasty Cardinal, turns a member of the ruling family into one. The two existing actions, request and remove a seat, stay in place. For Paradox, a ruler’s son becoming a cardinal opens new dynastic options.

Crusades and Jihads: Two Phases and a Leader

The rework hits both holy wars at once, because they mirror each other. A Crusade is called by a Curia vote, which needs a majority of cardinals. A Jihad is called by a religious action.

A Crusade has two leaders: a Spiritual Leader, always the Papacy, and a Temporal Leader, the founding realm. A Jihad has only one. A country that joins with a higher Great Power score, or contributes more, can take over leadership.

Each holy war runs in two phases. Preparation gathers members, gold and zeal. Religious Zeal runs from 0 to 100 and only wanes in war. It grants bonuses to damage against heathen troops, war exhaustion tolerance and peace offer acceptance.

At 100% preparation, a war is declared against the objective and 20% of the contribution is split among the members. Paradox shows a Castilian Crusade against Morocco, answered by a Tunisian Jihad.

Actions and Rewards

Actions fall into three lists: 4 shared, 6 specific to the Crusade (including Preach the Crusade, Grant Indulgence and Levy the Saladin Tithe) and 7 specific to the Jihad (including Issue a Fatwa and Levy the War Zakat). Actions reserved for Iberian and Maghrebi countries are left for another Tinto Talks. On top come 35 events, a Crusade Privileges bull and a desertion mechanic.

Winning pays more than before. Both wars open with Conquest casus belli, which makes land grabs easier. The war chest is distributed by contribution. The winner receives 10 prestige, 10 religious influence, an opinion modifier toward the other members and a Victor modifier for 10 years. Deserters are punished harder.

Religious Orders: Five Orders Spread Across Countries

Religious orders are new in 1.4. They span several realms at once, with holdings spread over abbeys, priories and hospices. Five generic orders arrive: Benedictines and Cistercians for the monastic type, Dominicans, Franciscans and Augustinians for the mendicant type. A third type, Iberian military, is announced for later.

Each order follows one of 10 callings, such as Preachers, Almoners or Confessors for the mendicants, and Contemplatives, Scholars or Cultivators for the monastics. Its strength depends on its global zeal and its standing in your country. Three generic actions use religious influence: grant a holding, expel it, change the order’s calling.

Each holding produces a character usable in the cabinet, which raises the order’s standing in your country. Orders also push toward certain societal values, and the clergy can press you for land through a parliament agenda. More than 20 events accompany the system.

The effects differ clearly: Dominicans convert, Franciscans foster peasant growth and disease resistance, Cistercians raise food production. For players who prefer internal development to Curia plotting and Crusading, it is a new use for religious influence.

What to Watch in the Beta

The 1.4 open beta starts on October 1, according to Paradox. The Grand Voyage Roadmap, published the day before the Tinto Talks, confirms that Christianity will be a major focus of 1.5, with the Western Schism, the Reformation, the Council of Trent and the War of Religions.

What matters for players: a Curia limited to countries that hold a cardinal makes the race for seats strategic, but it may also leave small countries by the roadside. In practice, watch how fast Religious Zeal builds during preparation, and whether each order’s actions carry enough weight to rival a Crusade.

Going Further

EU5 Patch 1.4: Political Influence and Decisions Head to Open Beta This Fall

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Two Tinto Talks in a row, on August 5 and 12, with one shared intention: give the Europa Universalis 5 player more initiative. The two headline additions of 1.4 Río Salado, Political Influence and the return of Decisions, answer a criticism Paradox Tinto voices itself: too much progress depends on an event you have to wait for.

Update, October 26, 2026: the 1.4 open beta has been available since October 1, and the update launches on October 28 with the Across the Pillars Chronicle Pack. Catholicism, announced for August 12, was finally detailed on September 23 in Tinto Talks 125.

Political Influence: A Currency for State Actions

Tinto Talks #119 presents Political Influence as a new national currency ranging from 0 to 100. It represents the political capital your ruler has accumulated. Keep it high and it raises base crown power by up to 20%.

It comes mainly from the ruler’s total abilities and from the active ability of cabinet members. Laws and privileges change how much you earn.

The team justifies the change with a balance problem. Some actions had wildly varying gold costs, and legitimacy or stability were sometimes used as a stand-in currency. Those gaps created balance issues that EU4 did not have. Political Influence becomes the shared currency of political gestures.

It pays first for estate-related actions: instituting a privilege costs Political Influence, while revoking one still costs stability. It also covers tolerating or discriminating against a culture, changing the primary culture, granting urban rights, moving the capital, appointing a cabinet member, hiring a courtier or acting on a situation. In parliament, 75 points of Influence buy 25 points of support.

The opportunity cost is the real subject. Every point spent is a point missing from the 20% crown power bonus, and getting the burghers’ money, for example, costs a temporary drop in that bonus. In practice, you choose between a stronger crown and a more active estate policy.

Inheritance Contracts and Betrothals: Dynastic Initiative

The same Tinto Talks details two tools of dynastic diplomacy. Inheritance Contracts let a monarchy offer a lump sum of gold, roughly 50 to 1,500 depending on development, to a monarch without an heir. In return, it gains the right to inherit that realm if the monarch dies before naming an heir.

The buyer gains 1 point of diplomatic reputation, the seller loses 1 and suffers a small prestige decay. When the monarch dies, the buyer inherits as the senior partner of a new personal union.

Betrothals, requested since launch, are a promise of marriage between two courts once a prospective spouse is 2 years old. Their opinion bonuses stay smaller than a marriage’s, and breaking one costs prestige and opinion. Both tools run on gold, prestige and opinion, not on Political Influence.

Decisions and the Content Tab

Tinto Talks #120 announces the return of Decisions, which EU5 launched without. Paradox places them in a new Content Tab, designed as a one-stop shop for what makes a country unique: reforms, advances, decisions, policies and laws, subject types, urban rights, bureaucracies and units. Content is color-coded.

The team is not reinventing the formula. Anyone who knows EU4 Decisions will feel at home. Paradox stresses that 1.4 is a first iteration, and the base of a content delivery system it will extend later.

The diagnosis comes from Pavia, the content design lead. Dynamic historical events are the game’s most abundant content: more than 4,000 out of over 8,000 events. Waiting for them to fire sometimes felt like a waiting room rather than a game.

Many 1.4 decisions are therefore existing content, turned into an action the player triggers. The Kremlin building is the example: it no longer depends on a capricious event, it is a decision to pursue.

What Decisions Look Like

A decision can be one-time or repeatable, generic or country-specific, and some offer several options. Each shows a progress bar on its requirements. You can search and filter them and switch alerts on. Some are tied to an Age, such as the Age of Renaissance or the Age of Absolutism.

Paradox gives several examples: sponsoring a cathedral or a great madrasa in the Renaissance, commissioning a palace, establishing a thalassocracy, challenging the rights of Parliament on the absolutist path, building a canal, or abolishing serfdom. The last one sets the societal value straight to +20, at a heavy stability cost. The Privilegium Maius is open to Austria, Tyrol and Styria.

Modders get access to the system from 1.4 onward.

Open Beta: What Remains to Be Seen

Patch 1.4 is not limited to these two mechanics. Paradox also lists the Catholicism overhaul, Crusades, and Iberian and Maghrebi content. The paid Chronicle Pack Across the Pillars, the first of its kind for EU5, will accompany it. The open beta is planned shortly after the Tinto Talks series on 1.4, with no exact date at this stage.

What matters next is how readable Political Influence turns out to be. Paradox does not say how fast it regenerates or whether Decisions consume it. Watch from the first beta days whether it is a reserve you spend regularly, or a stockpile you hoard for the 20% bonus. For Decisions, the question is simple: does the Content Tab make them easy to spot, or bury them under one more interface?

Going Further

EU5 1.4 Río Salado: Ambitions Delayed to 2027, but Catholicism and Crusades Land This Fall

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On July 22, 2026, Tinto Talks #117 reshuffled the 1.4 roadmap for Europa Universalis 5: Ambitions — the long-term national objectives system — will not ship with the next major update. Paradox Tinto chose to delay it rather than deliver a half-finished implementation. The tradeoff: 1.4 “Río Salado” puts its energy into religion, dynasties, and the Iberian peninsula. The open beta is now scheduled for after the August Tinto Talks cycle.

Update, October 26, 2026: the 1.4 open beta has been live since October 1. The update launches on October 28 alongside the Across the Pillars Chronicle Pack, which covers Castile, Marinid Morocco and Granada. The Tinto Talks schedule slipped: Catholicism was detailed on September 23 (#125), not August 12.

What 1.4 “Río Salado” Actually Contains

The codename “Río Salado” points to a 1340 battle in the Iberian Peninsula, where the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Portugal turned back a coalition of Marinid Morocco and Granada. The regional emphasis is intentional.

Confirmed mechanics for 1.4:

Catholicism Overhaul: a deep rework of the Catholic faith system. Specifics land on July 29 with the first dedicated 1.4 Tinto Talk.
Dynasty Overhaul: the dynastic system is being redesigned to give personal unions and succession crises more weight in the medieval-to-Renaissance timeframe the game covers.
Crusades and Jihad: two mechanics central to the era, reworked in the same spirit as Catholicism.
Iberia and Maghreb Content: regional content for the peninsula and North Africa. Paradox specifies that 1.4 is not about colonization but about pre-1500s Iberia (Tinto Talks #118).
Expeditions: included in 1.4 after several months of announcement.

Ambitions Pushed to 2027: Right Decision, Real Disappointment

The Ambitions delay is the central story from Tinto Talks #117. The system was meant to let players set multi-century national goals with diplomatic ripple effects — a layer that would have changed how long campaigns are planned from the opening years.

Paradox Tinto frames the delay as a quality call: shipping Ambitions halfway through would hurt the experience more than waiting. The feature moves to a future update called “Discovery,” targeted for late 2027. That update will also bring a redesign of the game’s content delivery systems — suggesting the team is treating it as structural work, not a simple add-on.

The issue is the timeline. Late 2027 is nearly two years after launch. Patch 1.3 Pavia proved Paradox Tinto can deliver meaningful updates — 200+ Italian nations, central banking — but players who have been waiting on Ambitions since day one have a legitimate grievance. The delay is defensible; the gap it creates is harder to dismiss.

“Across the Pillars”: EU5’s First Chronicle Pack

Alongside the free 1.4 patch, Paradox Interactive is releasing “Across the Pillars”, EU5’s first Chronicle Pack. The format adds content for two nations connected by a shared narrative — here, Castile and Morocco, fighting over control of the Strait of Gibraltar.

From the Castilian side: consolidating the Reconquista and locking down Iberian dominance. From the Moroccan side: pushing back the Christian kingdoms and reasserting influence over the strait. Two factions, one contested chokepoint, opposite objectives.

No release date has been announced yet: Paradox says coverage of the pack will come after the Tinto Talks series on the free 1.4 update, and no price has been revealed. The pack is already part of the game’s Premium Edition.

Schedule to the Open Beta

July 29 — Tinto Talks #118: 1.4 introduction, colonial quality of life, and the new Egyptian Plague.
August 5 — Politics and diplomacy.
August 12 — Catholics, expeditions, and content.
August 19 — Trade policies and economy.
August 26 — Interface quality of life.
After this series — The 1.4 open beta, with no exact date announced.

The July 29 entry should clarify colonial changes and the Egyptian Plague rather than settle every question around religion. Catholicism is announced for August 12. What matters before the beta is whether Crusades and Jihad carry enough weight to offset the missing Ambitions system, or merely add another thin layer to an already complex simulation.

For all EU5 coverage, see the Europa Universalis 5 game hub.

Our preview of the Iberian pack asks whether Castile, Granada and Morocco justify €19.99 in Across the Pillars.

For another Reconquista-themed game, see Crown of Hispania and its Early Access launch, province by province.