Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (2024)

This article is timeless and should be accurate for any version of the game.

This page deals with event mechanics. For an overview of all events in the game, see list of event lists.

Events occur throughout the course of play of EU4. There are a whole range of events in the game, which can result in positive, negative and mixed outcomes for a player's country. They take the form of a pop-up notification on the player's screen, which may present a player with a choice, or may simply inform the player of the consequences and require they acknowledge the event has occurred. After four months on the same date, the first choices gets autoselected, if the player did not choose an option.

Contents

  • 1 Triggered-only events
  • 2 Pulse events
    • 2.1 Date calculations for x-year pulses
    • 2.2 Date calculations for the monthly pulse
  • 3 Mean time to happen
  • 4 See also

Triggered-only events[edit | edit source]

Triggered-only events are events that occur as a result of a nation's actions. The events can happen to that same nation or to another nation altogether. The needed trigger can be as simple as one nation choosing a particular option in an event or complex as taking over a certain province, thereby enabling an event at another nation. The events are usually fired immediately or within a short amount of time from being triggered.

Pulse events[edit | edit source]

Pulse events[1] are random events that happen within regular intervals of time. One of their main purposes is to provide interactions and a sense of randomness within the game. That being said, while the events are bound to happen they are still based on player's actions; for example, for an exploration event to fire, the player needs to have an explorer/conquistador in the process of exploration.

The events are grouped together into different sets depending on their purpose (regular gameplay or mechanic related) and assigned weights within their respective sets. Each set is programmed to fire in regular time intervals. The time intervals range from yearly intervals and up-to 5 year intervals. It is important to note however that there are several same-year intervals and it does not mean they'll fire at the same date. When the interval arrives an event is picked at random from within the set and fired. Events with higher weights have higher chances to fire than the lower ones[2]. Having certain modifiers, idea groups, provinces etc. can increase or decrease some events' weights. Most pulses also have a weight for getting no event at all.

Date calculations for x-year pulses[edit | edit source]

Yearly pulses happen each year. The 2 year pulses always happen in years which are divisible by 2 and the 3 year pulses happen in years divisible by 3. The years in which the 4 and 5 year pulses happen depend on the tag order id[3] of the country which gets the event. They happen if Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (2) is divisible by 4 (5 for 5 year pulses). The day of the year on which the pulse happens for a country is calculated with the following formula(this applies to all x-year pulses):

Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (3)

Day 0 is January 1st and day 364 is December 31st.

A spreadsheet to compute the exact date of each pulse for any given tag can be found here: [1]. Be sure to download it first, as the web version could create #NAME? errors. Alternatively use this simpler version for 1.35 here:[2] which does not use a dropdown country name list and simply type the 3-letter tag in the relevant box. The spreadsheet formulae have been updated to work in the most recent versions of Excel. To use the spreadsheet go to the first Excel tab titled "Pulse Dates" and in the top left corner of that sheet simply edit the cells with green text (note all user inputs are in green text while calculations are in black text) . There are three inputs required for the spreadsheet to work namely (1) entering the game version you are using (2) selecting the target country name from the drop down list (or if using the simpler v1.35 then only type the tag) and finally (3) the start date of the game you are playing, e.g. 1444. Not required, but for ease of reference, you can enter a target year to view and the sheet will highlight all the dates related to that year. The sheet will automatically determine the short 3-letter tag, the tag order and calculate the pulse date. Note that on that pulse date an event (for that particular pulse's associated group of events) may or may not fire depending on the probabilities associated with any event in that group. Moreover, the events in a pulse group are mutually exclusive, meaning only one event may fire at a time, assuming an event fires at all.

The pulse offset is different for each pulse:

PulseOffset
yearly pulse I (only used for one event)0
yearly pulse II (unused)30
yearly pulse III (unused)60
yearly pulse IV (unused)90
yearly pulse V (unused)120
2 year pulse I69
2 year pulse II99
2 year pulse III129
2 year pulse IV159
2 year pulse V189
3 year pulse I94
3 year pulse II124
3 year pulse III154
3 year pulse IV184
4 year pulse I130
4 year pulse II (unused)160
4 year pulse III (unused)190
4 year pulse IV (unused)220
5 year pulse I167
5 year pulse II197
5 year pulse III227
5 year pulse IV (only used for fail-safes/cleanups)257

Date calculations for the monthly pulse[edit | edit source]

There is also a monthly pulse in the game, but it is only used by mods. The day of the months for the pulse is calculated with the following formula:

Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (4)

For example Ragusa with the tag order id 36 will have the monthly pulse on the 6th in months which have 31 days(because Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (5)), on the 7th in months which have 30 days and on the 9th of February which has 28 days.

Mean time to happen[edit | edit source]

The chance of an event with an MTTH of 365 days firing within x days.

Other events are not triggered but have a chance of happening at any time if their conditions are met. These events are controlled by a mean time to happen (MTTH).

This mechanic determines the time it takes for an event to trigger, measured in months. Yet since events are probabilistic, there is a small chance an event may happen very quickly, or possibly never at all during the game. For example, if an event had a MTTH of 120 months, it means that usually it would take around a decade for the event to trigger. Certain factors may increase or decrease MTTH for an event, such as country's leader's quality, national stability, and so on.

Assuming the probabilities are calculated in the same manner as in EU3, then despite the name MTTH is actually the median time, or half-life, for the event to trigger, i.e., the amount of time during which there is a 50% chance of the event occurring by that time, rather than the mean (average).

The engine checks whether an event occurs every EVENT_PROCESS_OFFSET days, set to 20 at default. The chance per check is

Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (7)

where Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (8) is the EVENT_PROCESS_OFFSET and Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (9) is the median.

This approximates the "ideal" probability

Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (10)

where Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (11) is the amount of time that passes. The approximation is best for a long MTTH.

The median Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (12) and mean Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (13) are related by

Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (14)

In terms of the mean, the ideal probability is:

Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (15)

For a repeating event the number of occurrences within a given number of checks is given by a binomial distribution, which may be approximated by a Poisson distribution for a long MTTH.

See also[edit | edit source]

  • List of events files

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  1. For a list of Pulse events see List of event lists.
  2. The weight for no event and all weights of events who's triggers are fulfilled are added together to arrive at the total weight. The chance for each event is its weight divided by the total weight.
  3. The tag order id of a country can be found in the first column of the tag order list.
Events - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki (2024)

FAQs

How do you change dynasty in Europa Universalis 4? ›

How to change dynasty? Then just find your save, hit Ctr f, search for dynasty and then just replace whatever's there with what you want. Honestly, this took like 5 minutes to google save edit eu4, and find that. As long as you weren't playing iron man that should work.

How to form the United States EU4? ›

As you try to spawn Colonialism institution in your country, you will eventually need to colonize California and Cascadia. In a full colonial game these Eastern Nations can form United States as well given that no other Europeans colonize East Coast.

What is a personal union EU4? ›

At least some were last verified for version 1.30. A personal union is a form of diplomatic relationship where one monarch rules over two nations.

What are unjustified demands in EU4? ›

unjustified demands are everything that are not in the stated war goal. Eg: War goal : reconquest of Calais. You take Calais AND another Province, the second one will cost you Diplo Points. The bonus reduces this cost.

Can you be a Protestant emperor in EU4? ›

An emperor can only be selected from candidates that are: Male (unless the Pragmatic Sanction decision has been enacted by an emperor with a female heir) The accepted imperial religion (either Catholic or Protestant).

Can you change the government type in EU4? ›

To switch the government type the country has to enact a special government reform of the highest tier. However, this is prohibited for some forms of government.

What is the easiest country to form Prussia eu4? ›

brandenburg and teutonic order are the easiest, although they dont have the potential that some of the others do (poland, denmark, bohemia). the standard and intended choice would be brandenburg.

How to become Texas eu4? ›

Formation. Texas can be formed by any nation in the Rio Grande region. Unlike other colonial nations, Texas does not receive claims on its entire colonial region, and is restricted to claiming the Rio Grande region.

Can you form Italy in eu4? ›

Italy is a member of the Holy Roman Empire but not the emperor or an elector, then: all its provinces are removed from the Empire. Provinces in dark green are required to be owned and cored to form Italy. The pink provinces mark the Italian region.

How to reduce liberty desire EU4? ›

StrategyEdit. For a tributary overlord, sending manpower to tributary subjects at war can often be the cheapest way to decrease liberty desire and maintain the more value tribute income in the form of monarch powers.

What does autonomy do in EU4? ›

Local autonomy applies multiplicatively, rather than additively. This majorly impacts how local autonomy affects a nation. A +50% manpower boost in a 50% autonomy province would thus yield an increase of only 25% of the base value.

What happens when you claim a throne in EU4? ›

It makes your monarch the favored successor should their king die without an heir; however if another country has also claimed their throne, and have both the same Dynasty as the target, it will result in a succession war.

How to peacefully annex EU4? ›

The requirements for initiating diplomatic annexation are:
  1. The subject's vassalage has lasted at least 10 years. ...
  2. Vassal opinion of overlord is at least 190.
  3. Liberty desire is less than 50%.
  4. Vassal is at peace.
  5. Vassal has control of its capital.
  6. Vassal has at least one core province that can be cored.

How to get 100% war score? ›

If you occupy all of a countries provinces and colonies, your war score will be 100%, while if the enemy country occupies all of your provinces and colonies, your war score will be -100%.

Should you go over force limit EU4? ›

For example, having 12 regiments of infantry while at a force limit of 10 will increase maintenance for all regiments by 40%, independent of the type of unit. As can be seen, going over the force limit will very quickly increase the maintenance costs and should only be done when absolutely necessary.

How can a new dynasty form? ›

In Chinese history, a dynasty typically starts when a new ruling family or lineage comes to power and establishes a centralized government over a significant portion of the country. A dynasty ends when its rule is disrupted or replaced by another ruling family or political entity.

Can you change culture in eu4? ›

The country cannot shift to a culture that is accepted due to the cultural union granted by Empire level government. Shifting the culture to outside the players cultural union shifts the cultural union, enabling the player to shift back to the preferred culture in the original cultural union.

How do you become a Protestant in Europa Universalis 4? ›

Once reform desire reaches a threshold (100%), the Reformation has a chance to happen, starting the new Protestant (and later, Reformed) Christian denominations. Regardless of the players' actions, reform desire will gradually tick up by 0.2% each year and generally increase based on AI nations' choices.

References

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