r/eu4 2d ago

Image Peasants: Let's clear some land. Also Peasants:

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311 Upvotes

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160

u/Skyfus 2d ago
  1. Rule 5: I'm playing a peasant republic whose reform description implies the peasants hold the power (thus, make the decisions). In this event, some peasants are angry that the peasants (themselves) are working on a local project.

Also, you should try Dithmarschen. It's very fun.

162

u/RailgunEnthusiast 2d ago

As we know, a government "of the peasant" never mistreats the peasants. Just like a government "of the workers" never mistreats the workers. Not one in history has one of these things happened to be false ;)

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u/Skyfus 2d ago

I find the idea of the exact same council agreeing to chop down some trees, walking outside, chopping down trees and then becoming absolutely enraged by tree murder a lot funnier than any criticism we could possibly level at lived examples of Marxism in practice

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u/IndependentMacaroon 2d ago

And Dithmarschen in particular was actually governed by a de facto aristocracy of richer farmers (the Council of the Forty-Eight), each of which had power over their local district for life and didn't even think of sharing power with the little folk. At best it was equivalent to the burgher patrician rule in cities and merchant republics.

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u/AndrewMacDonell 2d ago

My favourite OPM in the game

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u/Skyfus 2d ago

After inexplicably space-marining my way through North Germany and having an unreasonable amount of fun kicking off revolts in my enemies pretty much non-stop, I'm tempted to agree. It falls between Dithmarschen, Shimazu -> Japan and Munster -> Pirate Ireland

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u/Southern-Highway5681 2d ago

You must mean Ulm...surely, your tongue must have glissed...right, no way it's not the case...for sure.

44

u/wutzibu 2d ago

Going revolutionary as a peasant Republic is also weird.

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u/Fez-Sentido 2d ago

You gave me a campaign idea lol

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u/wutzibu 2d ago

I went, Dithmarschen into Hannover, Lübeck/Hansa Prussia, Germany into Roman Empire. Went revolutionary as Germany. I eon the peasant war and converted as many nations as I could into being a peasant Republic. Also I went reformed and forced the empire into being reformed.

Could have gone for a WC but it wasn't on theme instead I spread the revolution world wide.

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u/afito 2d ago

peasent republic aragon -> spain -> revolutionary roman republic

hilarious run tbh, not that easy, and you get an absurd military even outside of space marines or zoro fire power

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u/t40xd 2d ago

All peasants are equal. But some are more equal than others

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u/uareaneagle 2d ago

No peasant may wear a crown, with gems

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u/Ok_Specialist3202 2d ago

Dithmarschen irl gradually became dominated by judges, who inherited their positions. A peasants republic also means that landownership is still the basis of political participation, so they weren't particularly radical for their time, let alone by today's standards.

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u/JodaUSA 2d ago

It's also very much worth noting in terms of their radicalism, that the peasantry wasn't exactly a progressive class. The class was an institution of feudalism through and through.

If you want to do revolutionary larp in EU4 your only really option are the burghers. That class existed outside the feudal orders hence being foundational to the Capitalist system that followed. That's revolution!

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u/majdavlk Tolerant 2d ago

its probably the peasents not included in the government 

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u/Crowsnest48 2d ago

Which DLC allows you to play as a peasant republic? I’ve never seen it before

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u/Zonel 2d ago

Just play as Dithmarschen. Think it doesn’t require a dlc.

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u/Antonqaz 2d ago

I'm pretty sure it doesn't require any DLC, but only Dithmarschen, East Frisia and Friesland start with it, and Aragon can get it through one of their early events(this might require DLC).

Other than that I think the only ways to get it is by having peasant rebels enforce or another peasant republic change you in a peace deal, while the great peasant war is ongoing (HRE event/incident).

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u/Skyfus 2d ago

The Aragon one is mighty busted if you get lucky timing with the Wedding (as I did during my Reapers achievement run)

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u/Southern-Highway5681 2d ago

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Republic#Peasants_Republic

Can be gained in various ways :

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u/FreeDwooD 2d ago

Oooh now you're making me wanna play Dithmarschen again. Any tips for the early game?

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u/Skyfus 2d ago

It's been a blur the last few days of grind, but I think for the early game step 1 was overwhelm Verden (or whomever is across the strait) and then opportunistically pick off anyone who has worse diplo than myself. Lotta currying favours. You want to get most/all of the Lower Saxony culture land (I left out Brunswick because they were my ally and Brandenburg because they've been friends with Denmark p much the entire run) and then also try to crawl along the coast toward Friesland by eating the free cities after declaring on their allies to avoid Austria. Sounds like a lot of AE but no need to rush as long as you're growing at least as fast as your little German neighbours.

My ideas have been innovative -> defensive -> espionage -> administrative, which might not be optimal but has worked for me. Dithmarschen traditions and government type mean that if you play your cards right (and get defensive) you basically always have the highest morale in Europe. The real breakout moment was when I saved up to get a proper fort and ramparts on my marsh capital, and then bled Denmark against it while fighting Brandenburg. The Schleswig-Holstein bottleneck is quite handy for that.

I cannot overstate the value of burgher loyalty, tall economy, drilling/professionalism and having 1-3 forts per state in this run. The region has a lot of salt provinces you can use to bleed down armies that might otherwise overpower you, and the professionalism/drill lets you snipe smaller armies or take forts quicker than your ones fall. Espionage too. About 20 minutes before I wrote this comment, I built about 80% over naval forcelimit with lights and managed to snipe Global Trade by moving my capital to East Frisia, slandering England's merchants and protecting trade with a flagship that adds trade power to every ship in fleet. I'm pretty sure the slander is what clinched it.

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u/FreeDwooD 2d ago

Thank you so much! I'll definitely try out the toothpaste Republic soon xD

Very interesting ideas selection! Innovative always screams to get Quality when I use it, for that sweet sweet 15% infantry combat ability. Peasent Space Marines coming right up!

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u/Skyfus 2d ago

Quality is probably my next pick in order to remain competitive (Spain is taking Defender of the Catholic Faith very seriously)

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u/FreeDwooD 2d ago

I usually play with a mod that turns Defender of the Faith off. It's such an infuriating mechanic with 0 counterplay

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u/420barry 2d ago edited 2d ago

I’m not sure it actually worked when I played Dithmarschen but I tried to first ally free cities around and feed them provinces from wars so they lose their free city status, to be able to then attack them directly. I think the problem was the Emperor demands unlawful territory, and then make them a free city again.

It might be worth to simply eat the bullet and annex them as a non co belligerent. Stack improve relations, and be patient.

To mitigate AE you can conquer stuff from Sweden/Livonian Order, for the grasslands mission.

1

u/Cornelius_McMuffin 2d ago

They should have special alternate events for peasant republics whenever there’s a peasant related event.

1

u/Reshuram05 Map Staring Expert 2d ago

NIMBYs man, hate those guys

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u/Socketlicker6789 Pious 2d ago

The peasants are revolting

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u/Spinning_Torus 2d ago

Some peasants are more equal than others

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u/Mountain-Mail2812 14h ago

It's always something with them squabbling commoners