Every country in EU2 has a monarch who is its head of state and chief executive. The monarch's abilities affect many actions the country makes.
In general, monarchs in the EU2 timeframe were actual monarchs (individual men or women who were the crowned monarch of their nation). However, the concept is used more generally to represent any group or person ruling a country. Thus, if you play the "American Dream" scenario you'll see the American "monarch" (the President) changing every 4 years under your control. Or if you play Switzerland the "monarch" is the Tagsatzung, which was a meeting of delegates of the individual cantons.
Monarch Duration[]
Each monarch has a date when he, she, or it (for composites) takes charge of a country. This date is fixed; for a given country the same monarch will take charge at the same time in all games.
From within the game, there is no way to determine how long any monarch will last. You can do this only from outside of the game, by reading monarch files. The start date for a monarch is encoded (slightly) in a country's monarch file as "startdate". Note that there is also a "deathdate", but this date is not used. Only when a new monarch has a startdate will a replacement happen.
Some monarchs have no following monarch, or else the subsequent monarch takes over a long time beyond a normal human lifespan. In this case, you'll get an undying, or very long lived monarch. For example, among the better American native tribes to play (in vanilla EU2) is the Chimu, in large part because their one monarch happens to be rated 5/6/6; and because there is no other monarch defined he lives throughout the scenario.
Monarch Statistics[]
Each monarch is modelled using three numbers, called monarch statistics or monarch skills. The three numbers rate the monarch's administrative, diplomatic, and military abilities. They range from 1 to 9, but may be modified by the country's domestic policies and/or by events. 1 is bad; 3-5 is average; 6+ is good.
In the monarchs file for a country, the three stats are recorded using the tags "ADM", "DIP", and "MIL"; these abbreviations are therefore used generally to discuss the three attributes. It is also convenient to be able to discuss the statistics for a monarch overall without writing them out in a lengthy form. In the EU2 parts of this wiki, we use the A/D/M method to abbreviate stats. The stats for a monarch are written down in the order administrative, diplomatic, and military, with slashes in between. For example, the initial English king, Henry V, who has administrative 5, diplomatic 7, and military 9, would be written as:
Henry V (5/7/9)
Monarch Statistics Modifications[]
All three of a monarch's statistics may be modified by events, although this effect is always temporary. Many countries (especially major powers) get "excellent minister" type scripted events which last for a considerable time, making average monarchs into super monarchs. There are also random events ("excellent minister" and "temporary insanity") which boost or hose your monarch, although these are both short-lived (1 year duration).
When a monarch's stats are modified by events, there is a maximum of 9 and a minimum of 1 for their effect. Temporary modifications caused by events modify only the monarch who was ruling when the event happened; if a new monarch takes over before the event's effects were supposed to run out, they end anyway, regardless of how long they were supposed to last.
A monarch's diplomacy stat is modified by the country's aristocracy domestic policy. This effect happens after the maximum or minimum, so that an effective diplomatic rating of -2 to 11 is possible.
One other way in which monarch statistics are modified is when a country's government collapses. This causes the monarch's statistics to be set to 3/3/3 for the duration of his reign, which is as close as EU2 can get to representing him being deposed and a random ruler taking over until the next monarch arises.
Effects of Monarch Statistics[]
Monarch statistics generally affect the part of the game they are similarly named as; i.e., the military statistic affects military morale.
Administrative[]
The administrative stat (ADM) is used in many places.
- The number of colonies you can have before getting penalties for founding new ones.
- The number of trading posts you can have before getting penalties for founding new ones.
- The chance of successful religious conversion in a settlement, the time it takes, and the cost.
- Direct investment in infrastructure tech and trade tech: 1d per ADM point
- Direct investment in stability: 2d per ADM point
- The ability to place and keep merchants in centers of trade. The exact effect is unknown.
- Admin rating affects manufactory cost considerably (up to a few 100 ducats). More research needs to be done for exact effects.
Diplomacy[]
The diplomacy statistic (DIP) affects the following actions:
- Gifts: Higher DIP lowers the cost of gifts, and makes good outcomes more likely.
- Diplomatic vassalization.
- Diplomatic annexation.
- The badboy maximum value.
- Badboy decrease per month.
- The number of diplomats a country gets annually: base is 1, +1 for each DIP point above 6.
Military[]
The military statistic (MIL) has only two effects.
- Direct investment in land tech and naval tech: 1d per month per monarch point.
- Army and navy morale: Monarch modifier = (MIL-5)*0.0625; MIL is capped at 9.
Seeing Monarch Statistics[]
There are several ways of determining a monarch's statistics, both in the game and outside of it.
The Country Screen[]
When you click a country's capital, you are shown the country screen; in its middle is the monarch area. The statistics of the country's current monarch are indicated by the dots shown in the monarch area.
- Red: 1 or below
- Orange: 2 or 3
- Yellow: 4 or 5
- Light Green: 6 or 7
- Dark Green: 8 or above
Note that these displays show the statistics as modified by events and domestic policies.
The Monarchs File[]
You can determine the exact base statistics for any monarch in the game, by looking at his entry in his country's monarch file. You can also look at his base stats and his modified stats in a save game file.
Via Technological Investment Effects[]
You can determine exactly what the modified values for the admin and military statistics of the monarch of the country you're currently playing, by examining his effect on technological inventment. Each of these monarch stats has two technological fields which it gives you free direct investment in.
To do this, get to the budget screen, which shows the tech investment sliders. Mouse over them until you get the tooltip: it displays the breakdown of investments, including the monarch's effect.
The monarch's military stat is invested monthly into both naval and land. His admin stat is invested into infrastructure and trade techs. Twice the admin stat is invested into stability.
Via Diplomatic Effects[]
Access the screen where you can give gifts to other countries. Hover your mouse over one of the gift options and a help text should pop up saying:
"Attempt to [gift-size] improve relations. The actual increase depends on your monarch's diplomatic skills (N), the gift's size in relation to the recipient's annual income and luck. In the worst case relations may even be hurt."
Your monarch's modified diplomacy statistic is the N.