If you're not going to blob, will you go for large subjects, or will you just go 'tall' and have some trading cities? Venice relies heavily on mercs so administrative isn't a terrible choice but it's definitely not a must pick either. to make your fleet unstoppable, but by mid to late game your fleet should only have the Royal Navy to worry about. With the economic-quantity policy that set will give you about + 100% force limit. As far as ideas go, it is really how you want to play your game and what type of leader you keep electing. ally the biggest people you can (Austria is necessary so if they rivalled you then restart) immediately no-cb Byzantium and wait for ottos to declare on them. Now, what other idea groups should you consider? Press J to jump to the feed. For the ideas of american natives see native ideas. Whenever I play Venice, I take: ADMIN, ECON, TRADE, QUANTITY, ETC, New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. As a nation develops technologically, it unlocks the ability to gain additional idea groups. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. For what you say you want to do, it seems like you picked the right ideas. Best National Ideas For France Eu4 For the ideas of individual countries, see national ideas. One thing to note about EU is the choice of ideas is not just what you need but when you need it plus what ideas will you get in your national ideas. Of course, most of your cannon fodder infantry could be mercs anyway, but quantity raises the amount of available mercenaries twice: first via a direct bonus, then by raising your land force limit, which is 2x the base amount of mercenaries available. I tend to go economic but I'm not sure if that's a better choice for third or second ideas. I haven’t actually tried this but I’ve spent a long time thinking about it and it might work. Won't be worrying about the new world at all. It's a build generally intended for PvP multiplayer games, but it works equally well for 'tall' singleplayer games. You have to money to fill out the +50% force limit once you unlock it, and the extra manpower also helps in that regard. What are the best picks for first ideas? Primary culture. A place to share content, ask questions and/or talk about the grand strategy game Europa Universalis IV by Paradox Development Studio. Normally I would avoid maritime like the plague but I'm going for a naval game and I really want to try to get thalassocracy.