In general
- Successfully westernizing and becoming a modern nation, particularly if you have a heavy tech penalty (like an African or Asian country). Now you're on equal footing with the once-terrifying Europeans, and if you want some payback on your would-be conquerors, now you have a chance!
- Bonus points if you had to deal with a lot of rebels before you were fully modernized.
- Surviving early westernization as Byzantium by trapping the last stack of rebels in Anatolia and ceding the besieged provinces to the Turks. Have fun, Mehmed!
- With the introduction of institutions for IV, you can actually retard the tech speed of the West by spawning certain institutions in Asia or Africa. note As Ming, you can help your Asian brethren tech faster by doing said institution grabs or by jump-starting the institution in your provinces and then embracing it, thus allowing it to spread in Asia; it is very possible for Ming to be the most advanced country on the planet at any one time.
- Further expanded on in MEIOU and Taxes mod, which changes what exactly constitutes as institution. Countries influenced by Confucian teachings (so most of Far East) start with Meritocracy
and it will take European nations about... 250 to 300 years to get it, assuming they are lucky and pro-active toward that goal. If they aren't, they might never get it. Meanwhile, Far East can quite easily get access to pretty much all Europe-starting institutions and snatch those unrelated with specific place of origin, meaning European nations can end up so severly behind they will have a technological disadvantage against pretty much everyone.
- Further expanded on in MEIOU and Taxes mod, which changes what exactly constitutes as institution. Countries influenced by Confucian teachings (so most of Far East) start with Meritocracy
- Being able, through well-thought out alliances, the right technology and ideas, and a few good leaders, to fight your way out of a historically bad starting position and become a world power, such as forming Prussia as the Teutonic Order (normally destroyed by Poland while Brandenburg formed Prussia), taking the Byzantine Empire back from the Ottomans, winning the Hundred Years' War as England, and more.
- As of the 1.27 update, it is possible to get Vlad Draculesti as your ruler as Wallachia. He's better known as Vlad the Impaler, and even more well known as Dracula. It is also possible, if you play your cards right, to get an event to impale the Ottoman Sultan. The event for doing so is as chilling as it is awesome. Better yet, doing so not only grants you boatloads of prestige, it also cripples the Ottomans by removing their powerful ruler and heir.
- Abolishing the Nobility estates in your nation by enacting Parliament, especially if the nobility had high influence which threatened to overwhelm the nation. All those provinces with minimum 25% autonomy which were under the nobles? They can now have 0% autonomy, and if a province receives a seat in Parliament, it receives some bonuses. Then, during the parliamentary debates, with the odd bribes here and there, you can ensure that the issues being debated are passed in your favour, preventing a loss of prestige and netting small bonuses along the way.
- With the changes to Estates from 1.30, attaining 100% Crown land ownership is a very satisfying achievement; you've had to break the self-righteous clergy, emasculate those arrogant nobles, and put the greedy merchants in place, ensuring that none of these petty squabbling factions will ever threaten the sovereignty of your ruler's government.
- Defeating an entire coalition by yourself. Doubly so if you're not a late-game blob faction like the Ottoman or Russia with a million soldiers casually lying around. Triply so if you manage to do it as France and essentially replicate Napoleon's feats.
- One Self-Imposed Challenge is to achieve a World conquest... from a single province. The hardest of these is from the Ryukyu Islands, from which "The Three Mountains" gets its name. Naturally, a player by the name of DDRJake managed to do it in EU3.
- He attempted to repeat it in EU4, with Ironman mode on this time. He succeeded. Then he did it again!
- Speaking of DDRJake, it's pretty awesome that he actually ended up employed by Paradox as a QA thanks to his youtube videos. That's really fulfilling the dream most gamer kids have of getting a job at their favourite company simply by virtue of passionately playing their games.
- He also became Production Director for EU IV, but has indicated that he would no longer be with the company come 2020.
- He attempted to repeat it in EU4,
