History GameBreaker / EuropaUniversalis

* As weird as that sounds, Byzantium. The nation may start surrounded by the resident GameBreaker Ottoman, but should it manages to survive its historical doom and reclaims its Balkan territories[[note]]very doable by getting alliances early to avoid an instant death then going over the limit to build a navy that can trap the Ottomans in Anatolia[[/note]], the country will receive several events and decisions that will raise its military tradition to nearly 100 ''before 1500''. This will allow it to recruit utterly bonker generals on the levels of Skanderbeg at a time when a general's pips are all that matter in a fight.

** Austria starts the game as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,a decentralized network of bickering microstates that demands the player's constant attention lest they devour each other and harm your Imperial Authority, a stat which is required to pass Imperial reforms that increase the Emperor's power over time. Worse yet, the Protestant reformation threatens to start shortly into the game and rip the Empire apart (and Austria with it) in the War of the Protestant League. To even the odds and make the trouble worth it, the player gets several extra diplomatic relations as the emperor to build a large network of allies to both secure the loyalty of the electors and enforce peace on the smaller states of the Empire as they try to conquer each other. On top of this, Austria is given several "Force Union" Causus Belli: Hungary, Croatia and Milan without the Emperor DLC, and adding Bohemia and Poland (and possibly Lithuania with it) to the mix with Emperor, letting Austria have a swarm of minions early into the game. Austria is also a prime candidate to receive the Burgundian Inheritance, letting it take the Netherlands for free to either release for more imperial Authority or to add directly to the player's territory and get a cut of the valuable English Channel trade node. While the protestant reformation is still a massive threat, it can be contained by declaring war with no Causus Belli and enforcing religion in the peace deal, destroying each of the 6 centers of reformation before they can convert the empire and destroy the player's Imperial Authority. Once one gets through the reformation, it's only a matter of time before the player builds enough authority to enact the later reforms, which add a myriad of bonuses strengthening Austria's prestige, diplomatic reputation, number of allies, Imperial Authority and even end the imperial elections, all of which allow Austria to pass reforms faster over time, The accumulated powers as Emperor give Austria a superb position to make an impenetrable network of allies, vassals and Personal Union partners as Austria reaches the semi-final and most powerful reform of all: Revoke The Privelegia. This reform turns [[MinionMaster every member state of the Holy Roman Empire into Austria's vassals]]. A competent player will gain ''over 50'' vassals overnight. "But what about liberty desire and diplomatic relation slots?" one might ask. Thankfully the HRE vassals are classified differently from normal vassals, and neither take up slots nor get huge amounts of liberty desire. At the same time, these vassals contribute income and force limit to Austria, allowing it to field giant armies... not that they need to do anything, as Austrias vassal swarm will devour anything you point them towards through sheer numbers. These vassals can also be fed land to save Austria coring costs and overextension, allowing Austria to take much larger chunks of territory in wars. All these factors make it perfectly possible to become an absolutely invicible superpower by 1650, likely even earlier, and despite the setup time, it makes Austria the best European candidate for world conquest by a large margin.

* Most of the historically significant nations from the time period have unique advantages that turn them into powerhouses when exploited by the player, especially with DLC, Some [[DiscOneNuke start out powerful]] while others benefit from extreme cases of MagikarpPower
** France, the Big Blue Blob itself, returns with a vengeance. Starting with some of the richest land in the game and a small army of vassals to throw at the enemy, France can easily throw the English out of Europe with the help of its allies, who will automatically join its defensive war against England. Afterwards, France is surrounded by weak nations like Provence, Brittany and the irish minors that can be all be taken with no effort. Once it gets Élan, its second national idea giving a 20% Morale bonus, France can then expand into Spain, the lucrative English Channel trade node or even Italy. Even better is that France is one of the prime candidates for the Burgundian Inheritance, giving it up to 400 development if one is willing to fight a defensive war against Austria to keep it. France also gets a reduction in colonial native aggressiveness, so it can even colonize if the player decides not to expand farther into Europe. Alternatively, France can navigate its mission tree from the Emperor DLC to force a Personal Union on Spain, possibly giving it a massive colonial Empire in a single war. Making it even more versatile, France gets a 10% technology discount and close proximity to most institutions, so it can easily stay ahead of tech while belonging to the best technology group. France is a fantastic [[MasterOfAll jack-of-all-trades that can perform well with any kind of playstyle and is highly accessible even to beginners.]]

* As weird as that sounds, Byzantium. The nation may start surrounded by the resident GameBreaker Ottoman, but should it manages to survive its historical doom and reclaims its Balkan territories[[note]]very doable by getting alliances early to avoid an instant death then going over the limit to build a navy that can trap the Ottomans in Anatolia[[/note]], the country will receive several events and decisions that will raise its military tradition to nearly 100 ''before 1500''. This will allow it to recruit utterly bonker generals on the levels of Skanderbeg at a time when general's pips are all that matter in a fight.

* As weird as that sounds, Byzantium. The nation may start surrounded by the resident GameBreaker Ottoman, but should it manages to survive its historical doom and reclaims its Balkan territories[[note]]very doable by getting alliances early to avoid an instant death then going over the limit to build a navy that can trap the Ottomans in Anatolia[[/note]], the country will receive several events and decisions that will raise its military tradition to nearly 100 ''before 1500''. This will allow it to recruit utterly bonker generals on the levels of Skanderbeg that can casually trounce all oppositions.

* As weird as that sounds, Byzantium. The nation may start surrounded by the resident GameBreaker Ottoman, but should it manages to survive its historical doom and reclaims its Balkan territories[[note]]very doable by getting alliances early to avoid an instant death then going over the limit to build a navy that can trap the Ottomans in Anatolia[[/note]], the country will receive several events and decisions that will raise its military tradition to nearly 100 ''before 1500''. This will allow it to recruit utterly bonker generals on the levels of Skanderbeg that casually trounce all opposition.