>>725252220
Some neat details that I have never seen commented:

>late game combat changes dramatically from early and mid-game combat due to tech and army sizes changing
>armies can take prisoners, then you can either ransom or try to hire those prisoners as mercenaries
>some nations have unique technology
>you can later on in the game try to unify some culture groups through cosmopolitan education and state policy
>the main hindrance to war is that if your enemy has colonies, you can conquer them whole and only get 50% warscore
>too many wargoals are barricaded from you with >100+ warscore demand, there is no true unconditional surrender
>there are very interesting mechanics to countries under personal union, which includes laws between them, I was at one point in a commonwealth with Hungary-Poland-Bulgaria-Lithuania
>pic related was the final map, but don't let it fool you: France was once almighty before it collapsed due to a civil war, the big Russia-like Ruthenia does not pack any punch, the Balkans looked ugly as hell and I had to fight multiple wars to expel every single colony because it seemed like all of Italy was playing tall
>with advancements in medicine, ruler life expectancy grows, and by the end of the game your rulers can get really old