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Thank you for this! I recently bought this game and was wondering what would be the best to start with, I'm new to these kinda games.
Depends on what goals you set. As a beginner you probably shouldn't aim for world conquest or even being number 1.
Years of boredom? Yes, if you treat this game primarily as a war game (which of course you can, but IMO you miss a fair bit of the game by doing so). Otherwise no.
And who says you have to win (as in being No.1 in 1936)? Brazil is underdeveloped and as such IMO a bad choice for beginners, but unless you screw up big time you're going to do well enough. Sweden definitely is not underdeveloped, it has great industrial and scientific potential for its size (some good resources and high literacy from the beginning), it can go to war if it wants to, but can also avoid doing so without much difficulty, and finally has great potential for getting ahead in the colonial race. Succeeding in having a fun game with Sweden is not hard.
Largely the same can be said for other medium sized European states.
IMO not having vast amounts of POPs adds a dimension to the game. When you don't have to carefully consider whether a certain POP should be a soldier, a craftsman or a clerk, you really miss an aspect of the game. And constantly having to promote, split and add POPs to factories can get frustrating and repetitive too.
We are talking new people, they want a fun game, not a game of minutia trying to discover the optimum use of the single pop they get to convert every 30 years.
I'm affraid the answer is yes, just sitting there waiting for a pop to grow when you only have a few or a tech to finish reserach is boring.
It has zero to do with wargaming or making war. Little countries can do almost nothing and all you will learn is how fast the UK can crush you if you annoy them.
Playing as the Swedes requires understanding the game or being religated to being Russia or Prussia's lap dog.
Its good for EXPERIENCED players, and quite frustrating for new people.
Largely the same can be said for other medium sized European states.
And how to handle such matters is for when you know and understand the game, not your first trip to the store.
New people to understand the game require a margin of error, you are looking at the game from having played it for years.
I look at is a professional game reviwer (which i have been for over 9 years, semi retired now) and I know the most frustrating thing you can do with a complex game is give people a scenario where you have to know what you are doing to make the experince worthwhile.
Glad to help.
If you have any questions or get stuck, just post here, plenty of great players will be along to lend a hand.
I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter. Much of what you say is a matter of taste in my opinion. My first game with Victoria was as Sweden and I had a blast.
Brazil is a good nation for you to learn the basics. It's economy is superavitary and all the neighbour countries are not really strong. You just need to avoid being to much imperialist to not go on war against France, which always have troops on Guayana.
Brazil receives a lot (or some) immigrants, have some interesting events, and can, if well played, be on the Top 8 nations of the World.
Brazil receives a lot (or some) immigrants, have some interesting events, and can, if well played, be on the Top 8 nations of the World.
I agree with Brazil 100%, however, compared to Belgium or Sweden, playing Brazil does take patience to play decently in Revolutions. You don't start out with any capitalists, and it takes a bit of cash to convert one of your laborers or farmers to clerks and then capitalists. Then you stop worrying about making cash and concentrate on getting rich taxes to nothing while not overtaxing the poor and middle class. But before you even start doing that, you need to have experimental railroad researched, because building factories early on is not nearly as important as building up your infrastructure, in terms of the country making money for the treasury. And if you have imperialistic plans for South America, your country needs to be making cash.
Sound contradictory? Well, it is; but these all take place in distinct phases in Brazil's plans.
Sound contradictory? Well, it is; but these all take place in distinct phases in Brazil's plans.
Have I played the USA well? It is 1876 and the civil war has not happend yet.
How would I free the slaves?
How would I free the slaves?
You've played the USA in a way that's prevented the Civil War from taking place. That's all.
Typically, this means that you have probably kept a conservative party in power, perhaps through landed voting rights or full suffrage. Wealthy voting rights tends to work best with the USA.
Also, keep in mind that events with multiple choice responses always have the historical choice as the 'A' choice, or the top selection. Events like the Missouri Compromise and the states' slavery decisions should all have their top selections chosen by the player to help mold the game toward a historical path, if such is the player's wish. Sounds like you may have picked some non-'A' choices along the way.
Which country is a good one for beginners?
USA is probably the best. It only has to fight a couple of times - both times against enemies which it can defeat without too much effort. The Mexicans will fold like a deck of cards, and you can slice through the CSA like butter. The Civil War won't take you 4 years to win, more like 4 months.
However, if you want to fight more wars, the USA, unlike some other countries, can handle it. You have the resources to defeat Britain and its allies on land, although you may have a problem projecting power off continent due to the Royal Navy. But without too much trouble, you can occupy all of Britain's North American territory and allies such as Canada if they exist. And if you win, even conquering all of Canada and all of Mexico, the other Great Powers will still be too afraid of you to attack in retaliation.
The #1 complaint in the Victoria community is being unable to attract enough immigration to their country. The reason for that is the USA is stealing all those potential immigrants. If you're the USA, you will benefit from having all your factories fully staffed and having a large, gradual increase in population and territory throughout the game, no matter what you do or how good or bad a player you are.
If you try to play Brazil, for example, you won't get immigration. You might get a little bit, but it will be very expensive and complicated to get even that little bit. And even if you do everything possible, it's not even all up to you - you might still never get any immigrants if there are not enough push factors from the countries of Europe and China.
Trying to play any other American-continental country besides the USA is an exercise in futility; you will never be able to compete with the USA because of their immigration bonus. If you try to conquer foreign territory to increase your population and resources, this will anger the Great Powers who will immediately attack you in retaliation. You will not be able to defend against them, and you will lose.
There are some European countries which are kind of suitable for a beginner. If you play Prussia, France or Russia, it will be difficult to screw up so badly that you lose Great Power status. Those countries have a lot of economic activity and many events and several automatic wars, so the gameplay is interesting.
Britain might be too easy because it's basically invincible. But because its empire is so large, managing it might be too complicated for the beginner.
If you want a quiet game, you can choose one of the European minors such as the Netherlands, Belgium, or Sweden. They don't have to fight much or at all. Your goal with one of these would be to end the game as a Great Power. You probably wouldn't want to try to dominate by conquering other civilized countries, because you would quickly be reduced to nothing by the other Great Powers.
Japan is a fun country. The only problem is the boredom waiting 30 years for the Meiji Restoration. Before that, there's not much you can do except watch.
Sardinia-Piedmont is a challenge but if you succeed, you get to become Italy. I don't recommend it for a beginner.
Other countries will probably be too frustrating or boring to play unless you know what you're doing - ie. Egypt, Spain, the other Italians.
USA is probably the best. It only has to fight a couple of times - both times against enemies which it can defeat without too much effort. The Mexicans will fold like a deck of cards, and you can slice through the CSA like butter. The Civil War won't take you 4 years to win, more like 4 months.
However, if you want to fight more wars, the USA, unlike some other countries, can handle it. You have the resources to defeat Britain and its allies on land, although you may have a problem projecting power off continent due to the Royal Navy. But without too much trouble, you can occupy all of Britain's North American territory and allies such as Canada if they exist. And if you win, even conquering all of Canada and all of Mexico, the other Great Powers will still be too afraid of you to attack in retaliation.
The #1 complaint in the Victoria community is being unable to attract enough immigration to their country. The reason for that is the USA is stealing all those potential immigrants. If you're the USA, you will benefit from having all your factories fully staffed and having a large, gradual increase in population and territory throughout the game, no matter what you do or how good or bad a player you are.
If you try to play Brazil, for example, you won't get immigration. You might get a little bit, but it will be very expensive and complicated to get even that little bit. And even if you do everything possible, it's not even all up to you - you might still never get any immigrants if there are not enough push factors from the countries of Europe and China.
Trying to play any other American-continental country besides the USA is an exercise in futility; you will never be able to compete with the USA because of their immigration bonus. If you try to conquer foreign territory to increase your population and resources, this will anger the Great Powers who will immediately attack you in retaliation. You will not be able to defend against them, and you will lose.
There are some European countries which are kind of suitable for a beginner. If you play Prussia, France or Russia, it will be difficult to screw up so badly that you lose Great Power status. Those countries have a lot of economic activity and many events and several automatic wars, so the gameplay is interesting.
Britain might be too easy because it's basically invincible. But because its empire is so large, managing it might be too complicated for the beginner.
If you want a quiet game, you can choose one of the European minors such as the Netherlands, Belgium, or Sweden. They don't have to fight much or at all. Your goal with one of these would be to end the game as a Great Power. You probably wouldn't want to try to dominate by conquering other civilized countries, because you would quickly be reduced to nothing by the other Great Powers.
Japan is a fun country. The only problem is the boredom waiting 30 years for the Meiji Restoration. Before that, there's not much you can do except watch.
Sardinia-Piedmont is a challenge but if you succeed, you get to become Italy. I don't recommend it for a beginner.
Other countries will probably be too frustrating or boring to play unless you know what you're doing - ie. Egypt, Spain, the other Italians.
Well... I think we agree that the three best countries to begin with are:
- USA (isolated super power in America)
- Brazil (easy to learn the basics, although, a little difficult to make it a great power)
- Sweden (it is always fun to try to creade Scandinavia, but you have to avoid making Russia or Germany angry)
- Prussia (well, for some reason, France don't keep a large continental army, and if you are good on building your army, Austria and France will be no menace, just need to have good relations with Russia if AI is developing well this country)
- USA (isolated super power in America)
- Brazil (easy to learn the basics, although, a little difficult to make it a great power)
- Sweden (it is always fun to try to creade Scandinavia, but you have to avoid making Russia or Germany angry)
- Prussia (well, for some reason, France don't keep a large continental army, and if you are good on building your army, Austria and France will be no menace, just need to have good relations with Russia if AI is developing well this country)
To learn the basics of capitalist production it's best to have dense underutilised population. As brazil your pops are small and sparse in many states and in such valuable RGOs that it would could be easy to damage your economy. The US at least has great poptential and a huge margin of error. It'll also get a constant supply of convertable pops to grow your industry. You can very easily destroy your neighbours and threaten the great powers as and when you are ready.