How to Increase Crown Power (& Why You Should) in Europa…

Crown Power plays an extremely important role in Europa Universalis 5, and players should be looking for opportunities to increase it throughout the entirety of their playthroughs. Indeed, a player's Crown Power affects their country in a variety of ways, and it is a key component of improving income, increasing efficiency, and beyond. Fortunately, there are many ways to raise Crown Power in Europa Universalis 5, and this guide is here to provide an overview of them.

Crown Power represents the influence of the government, and it can be thought of as the power of the player's estate.

How to Increase Crown Power in Europa Universalis 5

europa universalis 5 crown power increase

Players can see their current Crown Power, and what is impacting it, by clicking on the Government tab, visiting the Estates menu, and hovering over the percentage beneath the crown. This view will give players some understanding of how they can alter their Crown Power, and here is more detailed information on how that is done:

Control

A player's unmodified Crown Power is determined by the amount of control they are exerting over their population. Indeed, the more control a player has over their most populated locations, the higher their base Crown Power will be. This is just one of several reasons to consistently focus on control, and this guide to increasing control in EU5 will help you get started. Here is a brief summary of some of the things that players can do to gain control:

Build roads between locations and the capital.
Increase harbor capacity and maritime presence in seazones.
Use the Increase Province Control cabinet action.

Estates

Players can directly increase their Crown Power by reducing the power of the other estates. The easiest way to perform that reduction is to revoke privileges that have been granted to the estates, and that is done by right-clicking on the privileges that appear beneath the estates in the Country tab's Estates menu. However, players must be very careful when revoking privileges, as the action both costs quite a lot of legitimacy in EU5 and can dramatically reduce an estate's satisfaction.

Players can reduce the cost of revoking privileges by unlocking certain advances.

Legitimacy

Players can get a modification to their Crown Power by having high legitimacy, with a maximum legitimacy of 100 providing +10% Crown Power. It is thus recommended that players always strive to have max legitimacy, and the easiest ways to build it are enacting the Strengthen Government cabinet action and investing in the Cost of the Court. To pursue the latter, players should navigate to the Economy tab, select the Balance menu, and move the Cost of the Court slider to the right, and it is advisable to put the slider to the max until 100 legitimacy is reached.

Reforms

Several government reforms grant +10% Crown Power, such as Autocracy and Royal Decree, and they are great ways to get an immediate boost. To set a government reform, players should navigate to the Government tab, select the Estates tab, click on the plus sign beneath the crown, and then choose the reform that is of interest.

Buildings

The Royal Court is a building that EU5 players can place within their capitals, and it provides +10% Crown Power. While it may take a while to accumulate the goods that are needed to construct this building, the Crown Power that it provides makes the effort worthwhile, and players should definitely pursue it.

Laws

Players can get positive Crown Power modification by enacting certain Laws. For example, Favor the Ruler, an Estate Law, provides +20% Crown Power, and players can enact it by clicking on the Government tab, selecting the Laws menu, clicking on the law that is beneath Estate Laws, and choosing Favor the Ruler. Notably, changing laws requires quite a lot of stability, and players should be careful about sending that currency too far into the negative.

Values

The Centralization societal value grants +50% Crown Power, which is an absolutely tremendous modification. While it may take players a long time to move their countries away from Decentralization, they should continually be on the lookout for opportunities to gain monthly progress towards Centralization and eliminate monthly progress towards Decentralization if they want to activate that bonus. Those opportunities come in a variety of forms, including privileges that can be granted and revoked in the Country tab's Estates menu, and players can check their progress towards Centralization in the Government tab's Values menu.

Cabinet

Having a cabinet member that is part of the crown estate grants +12.50% Crown Power, and promoting a cabinet member that is part of the crown estate to head of the cabinet awards an additional +25% Crown Power. To assign a Crown Power-increasing cabinet member, players should open the Government tab, navigate to the Cabinet menu, click on the box beneath the portrait space, and select a character that is part of the crown. Players can then click on the assigned character's portrait and choose Promote to Head of the Cabinet to perform that action.

Ruler's Administrative Ability

Your ruler's administrative ability provides a modification to Crown Power. While players may not have a great deal of control over the ability scores of their current ruler, they can prepare for the future of their country in EU5 by doing things like giving their children administrative educations.

Why Crown Power Matters in Europa Universalis 5

Crown Power provides some extremely important modifiers, which improve as a player increases their Crown Power. One of the most notable benefits of raising Crown Power is that doing so increases the amount of Trade Income that goes to the treasury. Indeed, the Crown Power percentage translates directly to the percentage of Trade Income that the crown receives, and this can have a huge impact on a player's ability to make money in EU5. Crown Power also impacts things like efficiency of the cabinet and building upkeep costs, and players can see all the effects that are being generated by their current Crown Power by selecting the Government tab, clicking on the Estates menu, and hovering over the percentage beneath the crown.

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