that I didn't know about and proves super useful once I find out. Other thoughts/advice/tips? What am I missing that I should know about but have missed so far? Every game I play I find about a new mechanic / button / etc. Haven't done much at all with religion & culture conversion. I hear the Absolutism strat is harder with Byz due to the massive stability of core provinces anything specific to do, or just follow Reman's Paradox's tips in his video? Okay, but I'd like something nicer to start me off well. Currently have a 2/2/2 king, and 2/3/2 heir. When should I disinherit my heir? Last game I never had anyone better than 3 MP who didn't get killed by illness. Other thoughts/questions advice that may not be 1.28 related: Makes me think that maybe Espionage should be in there somewhere now? Any other thoughts / Ideas? I did a lot of colonizing in my last game, but I'm thinking that I can probably conquer & map seal to make my way to India to make money. Easy to miss the policies from the combo of ideas I'm thinking the diplo rep & manpower recovery ones are slam-dunks, but any other especially good ones to look out for?

Beyond that, Diplo & Offensive seem like natural picks though I'm not sure I want to wait until group #4 to take this one. Military will probably go Quantity first (again). I've mostly done Humanist to date, so thinking of going Religious for #2 it's supposed to work well for Byz, if I convert everything, and I'd like to try out some new options anyways. I already have one vassal, and I am anticipating many to feed & integrate. Influence is still looking great as a 1st group, despite the loss of the -20% AE bonus. Since I'm a fairly new player (~75 hours), I'd appreciate some thoughts on what's changed in this patch, most especially what idea groups make the most sense. Goal is the bog-standard Basilius & Mare Nostrum achievements. Wallachia, Hungary, and Muscovy are my allies, and Serbia is my vassal being integrated (see below). For posterity, I finished the early game just fine using the Albany-ally strat.

However, I'm not going to do the 'how do I get started' thread. So, 1.28 is out, and I haven't seen anyone ask about Byz in this patch yet, so I'll start the obligatory thread.

How to play as byzantium eu4