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I need help with the game. All advice welcome.

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unmerged(1668)

unmerged(1668)

First Lieutenant
Mar 9, 2001
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I play on normal difficulty, with normal AI aggressiveness. I've played as Poland-Lithuania, France, and Russia during GC's, and I always do well until I hit 30-40 years, then I'm finished. This is because in my futile attempt to keep up with Spain, who is always at least anywhere from 100-200 VP's ahead of me, I attack and take provinces from any nation that I have a CB against. But eventually, practically every other nation gets annoyed with my BB status, and then I'm finished. I even had a nation bail out of a successful alliance that I was in because I was taking too many provinces. (despite the fact that this nation benefited by taking three themselves)

Even though I never lose stability points (due to making sure that I have a CB, and no peace agreement with the nation) I know that my BB rating must be the source of half the world pouring into my country.

So I know that I should chill out with the conquests, but how else can I keep up with Spain? I realize that I should try to conquer the New World, but in my situation I never have access to the proper maps, and waiting until I hit level 21 navy tech is unbearable.

So I guess I'm looking for a good strategy... how often should I wait in-between wars? To be honest, I used to go to war with a major power, take 3 provinces, sign the peace agreement, wait 5 years, go to war, take 3 provinces, sign the peace agreement...:D but I know this is going to kill me in the end. I should also mention that the only time I bothered to check my BB rating it was at 9, and I know that is nothing too severe.

I'm really looking for a new approach to the game. Thanks in advance.

And one more thing, how did the country that I alluded to (Hungary in my GC with Russia) manage to do that? The military alliance that we were both a part of wasn't supposed to expire(as far as I remember, anyway) for a while, but Hungary bailed out of a war that we were in, taking a province from my enemy, then joining another alliance that declared war on my remaining two allies! I've negotiated peace agreements with minor powers during a war, which left their major ally in trouble, so is that what happened to me? And how can I prevent this from happening to me again?
 
Relax, the game lasts for 300 years... and France and Russia will have quite a lot of colonists/explorers/conquistadors later on.

Put the conquest down a little... though when playing as France, it might be a good idea to cripple Spain early in the game.

It's hard to fight Spain, but it's doable, especially if you are a colonizing nations also.
 
I'm currently playing two 300 year campaigns(IGC1.8, RealEU, patch 1.08). Playing as POL(1620), I've managed to fight 0 wars. I picked up 3 provinces, both of Bavaria's(inherited) and Moldavia (diploed). My monthly income is about 185 ducats. I have 5 merchants(monopolies are more hassle than they are worth, unless a new CoT pops up in your country) in every CoT that I have knowledge of. I've had the good fortune of having several cot's pop up my provences(Ukraine, both of Bavaria's, Mazovia, and Krakow). I've maxed out trading advances. I concentrate on building refinerys(only in provinces without a resource that other manufactory gives bonus to). Advances in trade are much more valuble than infrastructure. I'm currently trying to discover India(I just had an Admiral pop up) in hopes of finding more CoT's. Peace does pay. between diplomacy and missions, I've managed to surpass Spain in VP's. That's one characteristic that really pleases me. One doesn't need to resort to offensive wars in order to "win".
dudmont
 
300 years is the key. At the start there are times of great tedium playing certain nations whilst the rest of the world seemingly expands. Be patient and grow. Think within you're country's capabilities.

Read the historical notes at the back of the rulebook and get some idea of when things historically became dynamic for the country you're playing. Research even more.

England as an example should find a very :eek: time for the first century or so then watch 'em let lose :eek: !

Even today some 500 years later we're watching the death throes of colonial power plays. Every country gets its chance :D
 
I sort of got sick of playing with Russia--however, I found a nice strategy that allows you to get some good vps, but I don't know if you'll be able to beat them in the long run. Two things have to happen, you have to get to a shore line, and you have to annex or take territories from everyone in your way to central Asia that will allow you when you will a lot of conquistadors and settlers (3 col dyn is nice for Russia) that will further allow you to expand all the way to China, and if you get there fast enough you'll get a new CoT. It's a long process, and you should really focus on expanision eastward instead of fighting wars (which will lower your BBs) and in middle game you'll be able to attack Poland and take some of their Orthodox provinces with no trouble. I just did that in the game and only have 3 BBs (and have annexed 4 countries), so your BBs will drop heavily over time.
 
Don't worry about keeping up with Spain at the beginning of the game. They'll get enormous points from their initial exploration and expansion. If you play with a good strategy, you should overtake Spain in the 17th century. Otherwise, if you care that much about VPs, you can always get ahead of Spain by beating it in wars (hence raising your military VPs while lowering theirs).
 
I think you'll have more fun all the way around if you ignore the VPs (but that's a different issue). Don't worry about trying to keep up with Spain early on. They get a very fast start but run into serious problems later. Make your move then.
 
Thanks, everyone

It's good to know that Spain runs into problems down the road, because in the beginning, they get VP's left and right.

I just started a GC with Russia again, and have decided to wage war on a very selective basis. I'm trying to build up my economy better, so I must ask: should I build refineries in provinces without sugar or wine? (the same goes for good factories in provinces without cloth, tobacco, or cotton)

Also, I really don't understand the merchant aspect to the game, so I have the option to auto-send merchants on: is this a good idea or a bad one?
 
Not having the optimal good for ur manufactory yields just 6 ducats a year less. All the tech bonuses are intact, so defo gett hem.

Autosend merchants isn't a good idea unless u really haven't got an idea of what ur doing. With Russia, just make xure u control ur own COT(s)
 
When you start a game get your merchants into Venice, Flandres, Novgorod, and then Tago. Andalusia is good for a while, but Spain will get CoT in New World that decimates Andalusia's value later. Tago will become extremely valuable later. Get five merchants into CoT, and forget about em(seems the AI isn't quite so aggressive about giving you the boot if you have five vs six). If a market fills up, wait until an opening appears and go for it. It doesn't hurt to hold merchants.
Definately build refineries. IMHO they are the most valuable manufactory, due to their research bonus for trade. Trade in my experience is the biggest source of monthly income. Along this road of thought comes the attempt to find those valuable asian CoT's. Go for it. Isfahan is worth a 120 ducats a year alone(when you max out trade discoveries).
Concentrate on trade. Avoid pissing off those who have rich CoT's in their controlled provinces and you should prosper over time.
dudmont
 
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Re: OK then...

Originally posted by Kintaro
If I don't autosend the merchants, how should I place them? IOW, what should I look for in a location?
Click to expand...

One of the most lucrative things are CoT's, only discovered by yourself or yourself and another country. In that case you can get a monopoly by sending merchant after merchant. With such a monopoly you can get large amounts.
I now know 2 CoT's, the first only discovered by the Netherlands and the second only by Portugal. They both give me around 350 a year, when I have a monopoly.

If you don't know such CoT's, I would choose the biggest ones and send your merchants to those. Especially when there is enough "room", i.e. there aren't many merchants from other countries.
 
I started to experiment with sending my own merchants, and earned monopolies in two locations. However, my merchants kept getting booted out, so I had to re-establish my monopoly. I also read something about how each COT can hold up to 20 merchants...how can I do this when I continually lose merchants to other nations? And is there a good way to steal merchants, or is it random?

Another annoying thing was that I was at level 4 trade, but level 5 was 20 years off. (I don't know if this would have helped or not)
 
Originally posted by Kintaro
I also read something about how each COT can hold up to 20 merchants...how can I do this when I continually lose merchants to other nations?
Click to expand...
It's twenty merchants for ALL nations. You can't put in that many, although you can get a complete monopoly (20/20) if you have 6 merchants and no-one else has any.
 
use missions

If you do easy missions like no xxx in your country(worth 50 points) and keep xxx (worth 20) then you can have a fighting chance against spain in early game(when it comes to victory points
 
Re: I see.

Originally posted by Kintaro
I could just imagine how much money I'd make if I did have 20 in one location. :D
Click to expand...

You would if you have a monopoly , and noone else is in that CoT. Since a monopoly claims all of the "unused slots" , and since there is nobody else there but you you essentially have 20 merchants going working for you...as Dark Knight stated.
 
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