Enhancing Literacy in EU5: Completing Challenges and Solving Skills

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Europa Universalis 5 can feel overwhelming because of its large scope, but it includes guided beginner missions that help you learn the main systems. These early tasks act as a tutorial, introducing you to key mechanics like managing your internal development, overseeing provinces, and working with your powerful Estates.

Getting comfortable with these initial steps will earn you important bonuses early in the game and help you understand how to increase Administrative Capacity, boost your economy, and grow your population. Think of these missions as your guide to building a steady, successful nation before you even consider going to war.

Politics Mission Trees

When you start the game, you need to pick one of three mission packs: Economy, Expansion, or Politics. They look separate on the side panel, but you can only progress through one pack at a time.

There are four missions in the Politics pack:

A Capable Cabinet
Vassal Ties
Estate Cooperation
Progress & Literacy

Most objectives are straightforward, but some require extra effort. The game offers helpful tips, but we also have some advice to keep you on track. You can complete these missions in any order, though it’s best to save Progress & Literacy for last, as its requirements tend to be the most time-consuming for many countries.

Some optional settings in the game can give rewards upon completing each mission, but they are not automatic and need to be enabled at game start.

How To Complete A Capable Cabinet

Your Cabinet is a critical part of running your country. This mission is simple and introduces you to how Cabinets work. To start it, you must fully staff your Cabinet—done through the Government menu—and assign them actions to complete the mission. You can assign any actions for your Cabinet members and change their tasks anytime without penalties.

Tip: When choosing your Cabinet members, pick those with at least a 50 in Administrative or Military skills, or a 60 in Diplomatic skill, to meet the requirements for the Meritocratic Approach mission. The skills are represented by icons: a paper for Administrative, a dove for Diplomatic, and crossed swords for Military.

To fully complete this mission, you need to finish the Royal Authority and High Era missions, which involve increasing your Legitimacy and Stability scores, respectively. The other missions are mainly tutorials on how your Cabinet functions.

Tips for increasing Legitimacy and Stability:

To boost Legitimacy, have your Cabinet focus on the “Strengthen Government” action or spend more on Court costs.
To improve Stability, have your Cabinet use the “Stabilize Country” action, and consider increasing your Stability spending. Avoid revoking estate privileges or changing laws if Stability is a concern, as it can cause setbacks.

Warning: Ensure your Cabinet is manually controlled; an automated Cabinet won’t follow your chosen actions.

How To Complete Vassal Ties

This mission focuses on managing your vassals and understanding diplomatic options for working with them. You must pick one of your vassals to base your objectives on, which only makes sense if you have vassals.

The mission is short; the goals are clear, and there are two ways to complete it:

Base of Power: Increase the building levels within your vassal by constructing or expanding buildings.
Complete Annexation: Fully annex the vassal and incorporate their land.

Your choice depends on whether you want to keep the vassal alive or take their territory directly. For new players, especially those still learning, it’s usually best to pursue the Base of Power approach, as managing vassals is a key skill.

How To Complete Estate Cooperation

This mission teaches you about Estates and how to keep them loyal. The mission begins by asking you to select one Estate to focus on. Picking Commoners is often easier because their building requirements are lower. Note that building the Estate’s preferred building is optional and not necessary to complete the mission.

To finish, you need to complete the “Gain Favours” task by increasing your chosen Estate’s satisfaction level. Simple ways include bribing and lowering taxes; avoid granting privileges, which can significantly harm Stability. Revoking privileges can cost stability and shouldn’t be done unless necessary.

How To Complete Progress & Literacy

This mission emphasizes the importance of increasing literacy, which affects how fast your country advances technologically. Your goal is to improve literacy rates through building and expanding structures that produce books and boost literacy.

Key buildings include:

Scriptoriums: produce books needed by other buildings.
Libraries: increase overall literacy.
Clerical Buildings: like Cathedrals and Temples, improve literacy among clergy.
The Chancery: located in your capital, offers a significant literacy boost, but requires gold, so you may need trading efforts to afford it.

The final objective is to raise your country’s average literacy to a certain level. Since Libraries can only be built in urban areas, large countries with few cities might find this challenging. Expanding buildings staffed with clerical or landowning populations can also help boost literacy indirectly through estate promotions.

Additional tip: Some tasks involve embracing the Renaissance idea, which depends on your proximity to Italy. But, again, literacy is the main focus, and you do not need to complete all tasks to finish the mission.