Video summary

Building The PERFECT Economy Starts With - EU5 Urbanization Advanced Guide

Main summary

Key takeaways

Gaming

Storyline / Context (what the video is “about”)

The subtitles are framed like a comedic tutorial: the creator argues that many players fail their economy because they don’t understand urbanization (upgrading provinces/locations and granting the right urban rights). The guide then walks through how location tiers work and how to build the “perfect economy” by choosing when and where to upgrade settlements to towns, cities, and megalopolises.

Core gameplay concepts: Location tiers and what they do

The video explains 4 location ranks (based on color in “Location Rank Map Mode”):

  • Rural (starting rank)

    • More RGO size, more population growth, and more food production
    • Strong for early/food backbone production

  • Town

    • Higher higher-end population mix
    • Grants 1 Urban Right
    • More building levels and population capacity
    • ~5% maximum control (and control increases with rank)

  • City

    • More of town benefits
    • Grants 2 Urban Rights
    • ~100 building levels and ~10% maximum control
    • Can construct two buildings at once

  • Megalopolis

    • Big jump: 3 Urban Rights, ~200 building levels, much higher population capacity
    • Can construct three buildings at once
    • If it’s in the capital, it grants a bureaucracy slot

Upgrade rules and costs (hashes + population requirements)

The video uses “hash” markers to mean a location can be upgraded to the next tier:

  • Rural → Town

    • Requires about 5,000 population
    • Costs 500 ducats (can be reduced by construction efficiency + cheaper goods)

  • Town → City

    • Requires about 30,000 population (and the location must have the upgrade hash)
    • Costs 2,000 ducats

  • City → Megalopolis

    • Requires about 400,000 population
    • Must be a market center and the capital to reach megalopolis

Main strategy: Upgrade in stages (towns first, then cities)

A key recommendation:

  • Upgrade everything you plan to town first, then later promote towns to cities.
    • Promotions to higher social classes (nobles/burgers/laborers) take time; upgrading directly to city makes it “slow anyway.”
    • Cities cost far more (2,000 ducats vs 500 for rural→town), so towns give better early value.

Spending priority advice:

  • Get towns across the country first (even if you could afford cities), then start specializing cities later.

Where to urbanize: around proximity centers / capitals

The creator recommends:

  • Urbanize near main economic/proximity centers first (especially around the capital).
  • Example described: upgrade viable locations around key proximity centers (capital → then other centers).

What NOT to urbanize (general “never/usually” guidance)

The video gives a long list of resources that you typically should avoid upgrading to towns/cities for most nations.

“Vital raw materials” (usually “absolutely never”)

Do not upgrade these to town/city in most cases:

  • Silver, Gold, Copper, Iron, Salt, Alum, Gems, Saffron, Silk, Lead, Tin
  • Also mentioned as problematic to urbanize: Wool and fiber crops

“Depend on location/resources” (not blanket rules)

Depending on province supply and national situation, the video also warns against urbanizing:

  • Wheat, livestock, fruits, mercury, beeswax

(But these can be exceptions if you have enough of them or food balance allows it.)

Important exceptions (situational “when it’s okay”)

Resource shortages matter

  • If you are short on a good in your region, keep those RGOs rural to maximize output.
  • Example given:
    • Sand shortage in Europe generally → in shortage areas, keep sand rural
    • But in regions where sand is abundant, it may be okay to upgrade sand deposits

Food vs supply logic

  • If you can import food / have plenty of food, you can urbanize some food-related RGOs (wheat/livestock/fruits) more safely.
  • Example case:
    • Russians can urbanize wheat/livestock if supply is strong, but should avoid fruits in the east due to fruit scarcity (no/very little fruit east).

Horses example

  • Horses vary hugely by region:
    • Iberia/France/Balkans: many horses → maybe only urbanize some
    • Italy: very few horses → keep most/rural because demand is comparatively better for your economy

“Always urbanize” items (with exceptions)

  • Wine is “always” a good urban target…
    • …except in Eastern Europe, where wine is scarce and you need it as your only/primary source.

German cultures “break the rules” with unique mining urban rights

Big centerpiece: German culture advantage via Bergsregal urban rights.

Why it’s powerful

  • German cultures can grant an urban right that gives the same RGO bonus as rural, while still getting town benefits (control, pop, building advantages).
  • The video argues this makes Germany (and related cultures) extremely strong.

Specific mining law / Bergsregal coverage (as described)

  • Upper Bergsregal for:

    • Gems, Gold, Silver, Salt

  • Lower Bergsregal for:

    • Iron, Copper, Lead, Tin, Aluminum, Marble, Mercury, Coal, Stone, Saltpeter

Practical example

  • Turning a silver mine from “town but with reduced RGO logic” into a proper Bergsregal-compatible urban can drastically increase maximum RGO output.

“Bersregal stacking” note

  • The creator notes some mining charter privileges aren’t compatible with other Bergsregal privileges, so you can’t freely stack everything.

Hidden/advanced strategy: “Agrarian Communities” meme strat

The creator presents an “unknown strat”:

  • Go Agrarian Communities (requires political choices like Traditionalist / Humanist, per the narration).
  • Claimed effects:
    • Charter of Religious Freedom
    • For food-producing locations:
      • 50% maximum RGO size + food production
      • plus 20% food output

Claim:

  • This can keep food sufficient even if you urbanize “the entire” empire.

Practical implication:

  • Under this privilege, the creator suggests a large-scale urbanization approach (even “turn all Germany yellow”) while still managing food.

Special case: Dyes and “printing rights” synergy

A targeted recommendation:

  • Dyes are great early because they’re scarce.
  • Later, upgrade dyes RGOs to urban when you can pair with:
    • Printing Rights (buffs dye output locally)
    • and fully built dye production buildings

Net effect:

  • Dye becomes a top-tier income/production hub (paper/book + dye chain idea).

Late-game adjustment: population caps force you to detown

Important late-game rule:

  • If a rural/urban location hits population cap, RGO output can become bottlenecked by available population.
  • At that point, upgrading to town/city increases population cap and can increase total output even with reduced rural RGO size bonus.

Example described:

  • A rural iron location becomes capped, then upgrading to a city increases population cap and produces more total iron overall, plus more production via more building capacity.

Other “special detown/up” guidance

  • Elephants: described as low-demand early; because demand is mainly tied to high-development nobles, elephants can often be urbanized.
  • Cotton: recommended to stay rural (needed for spinners guild; cotton is scarce).
  • Silk: usually good to keep rural but can become situational.

Important “don’t detown” targets:

  • Byzantines/Ottomans: avoid changing away from key cities like Constantinople and Bursa if they’re vital.

UI/operational tips (how to manage upgrades efficiently)

The video includes practical interface techniques:

  • Filter locations by:

    • Town
    • then population thresholds
    • to find which towns are ready to become cities

  • Use “encourage migration”:

    • assign a cabinet member / action to speed reaching city requirements

  • Grant urban rights “straight up” from the Location tab:

    • noted as especially useful early for establishing core urbanization quickly

Urban rights priority order (what to grant first)

The creator suggests a general setup:

  • First Urban Right: Granary Town (early game priority)

    • doubles down on population massively

  • Second and Third Urban Rights: specialization urban rights

    • choose based on what RGO is produced in that province

Example:

  • In a province with gold, specialization can turn a city into a jewelry-focused production place with large production efficiency boosts.

Why urban rights matter (economic outcome proof)

The creator claims the wealth gap between Italy and France comes largely from urban rights mistakes:

  • One side had urbanized but failed to grant certain rights (missing specialization/second right).
  • Result: missing production efficiency → less money/richer outcome in the long run.

Key overall takeaways

  • Urbanization is not universal; it’s situational.
  • Use a rule of thumb:
    • Upgrade to towns broadly for value,
    • specialize cities later based on:
      • shortages,
      • your nation’s RGO map,
      • building efficiency,
      • and population cap needs.
  • Germany culture’s Bergsregal privileges are a major “break the usual rules” method.

Gamers / sources featured

No external sources (channels, websites, or game dev references) are explicitly credited in the subtitles. The only “named” in-video entities are:

  • Ludi (speaker/creator)

Mentioned in save/examples:

  • Bielefeld, Iberia/Castile, Spain, Italy, France, Prague, Brandenburg, Novara, Châtillon, Madrid, Toledo, Constaninople, Bursa, Venice, Kutná Hora, Tortosa, Valladolid, Toledo, Cordoba, Terasina

Referenced groups/cultures/nations:

  • Germany / German cultures, Bohemia (Bohemian German), Wallonia, Ottomans, Byzantines, Russians, Scotland, Oman, French

Patch/era references:

  • 1.3 patch, 3rd age, 1600s, Colombian exchange, New World

Original video