EU5: Best nations for beginners

Europa Universalis 5 makes the world your playground starting in the year 1337 and you can choose to play as any nation around the globe when the game begins. That’s a lot of different countries to pick from, covering small city-states, respectable kingdoms, and domineering empires. 

While every nation has its own strengths and weaknesses and can result in a fun campaign, a beginner in EU5 might be advised to seek out a more curated experience to learn the ropes — and that’s what the countries on this list offer. They may not be the easiest nations in the game either, but all of them offer some unique advantages or situations that make them especially suited to learning the basics of EU5.

Here are the best EU5 starting nations for beginners.

Portugal

Portugal is not the mightiest player on the Iberian Peninsula, but its lack of foes on the continent – as long as you keep Castile sweet, which is easy thanks to several early game events – gives the country as safe a position as you’ll find anywhere in Europe. 

Portugal is destined to take part in the exploration of the New World and create many colonies around the globe, getting wealthy from trade, but you can also try and gain a foothold closer to home by helping Castile with the Reconquista and in turn cutting off a piece of North Africa for yourself. Just, uh, keep your army and navy out of Lisbon in 1358. Trust me.

If you’re looking for a similar experience with an added sprinkle of warfare on all fronts, you can give Castile a try.

Great for: Exploration, Trade

Ashikaga Shogunate

The Ashikaga Shogunate is a solid starting point, because it’s peaceful and wealthy. This allows you to dive right into developing the country, increasing production, expanding trade routes, and colonizing Hokkaido in the North without much external pressure — yes, Yuan China looks scary on the map, but don’t worry: The Red Turban Rebellions will cause it to fracture soon.

Of course, fate has the same for you in store: The Shogunate will splinter as part of the Sengoku Jidai Era, allowing you to delve into war and diplomacy as well as Situation mechanics. As far as learning several different concepts from an advantageous position goes, the Shogunate offers a great environment, even if its politics can get a little confusing at times.

Great for: Production, Diplomacy

Hanseatic League

Here’s something only EU5 offers: Playing a country that doesn’t have a country. The Hanseatic League is an alliance of merchants that acts as a building-based entity in the game. This means that you can have vassals and construct buildings such as Kontors in foreign provinces, but you yourself don’t hold any territories.

This makes for a unique playthrough in which the full focus is on diplomacy and trade. Since you don’t have to pay attention to many of the government duties expected of you in most countries, this makes the Hanseatic League a great environment to get stuck into the nitty gritty of trading.

For a similar experience, but with the prospect of taking over a country one day, you could play as one of the many Japanese clans inside the Ashikaga Shogunate.

Great for: Trade, Diplomacy

England

It’s not time for “Britannia rules the waves” just yet — not for a long time, in fact. England is not yet the world’s prime naval power and colonizer at the start of the game, virtually immune from attacks to its homeland. No, England is surrounded by enemies and not yet an island nation at all, thanks to its large holdings in France.

You’ll be embroiled in the massive 100 Years’ War very early in the game, forcing you to either defend these continental holdings and vie for the crown of France itself or giving them up to be content with the island life. Not that that’s any more peaceful with some vengeful Scots waiting up North. If you’re looking for a challenging military situation early on that gives you a crash course in warfare, then England is for you. 

Once those early troubles are behind you – and depending on how you resolved them – there are not many nations that can rival the amount of possibilities England has open to itself.

Great for: Warfare, Exploration, Diplomacy, Production

Holland

You’re a small county among the hundreds making up the Holy Roman Empire. Your neighbors are looking to make a snack out of you for breakfast. Your population is on the verge of starving every winter. A succession crisis could be around the corner. 

Yes, it’s not an ideal starting point for the humble County of Holland, but it has the potential to be one of the world’s production and trade powerhouses, if you play your cards right and avoid any tulip-based stock market crashes.

Holland is a fantastic stomping ground for learning about economic development and the power of trade. And who knows, maybe you can steal the spice trade later down the road?

Great for: Trade, Production, Diplomacy