Polish Allies

[Sidney]

I'm not a big expert on what happens east of the Oder but in several IGC's P-L get clocked badly- and very quickly- and that does seem out of line. I'm talking veritable partition by 1600. In three games I've seen Poland reduced 5 or fewer provinces by 1600.

Having played Poland I can see why:
She has the massive Russia, Crimea and usally Danes (often with Sweden) alliance on the east and the huge nasty Austro-Bohemian-Hungarian-Spanish alliance on the west. Throw in the Turks and the hostile Order and Poland is toast from the word go. I know that balance isn't the issue since Poland is a doomed state but she survives for quite some time and is even a reaosnable facsimile of a power well into this period.

Poland can't really build any useful alliances since she only has good relations with states not in Eastern Europe- there isn't even hope of some weak Pommerania/Brandeburg allaince for her. When she does start making allaince she usually get the incredibly stupid and useless Spanish alliance.

Question...assuming that relations aren't too wrong, how the hell did the Poles survive for so long and what can be done to help keep Poland a viable state.

 

[Demetrios]

Poland-Lithuania usually does OK in my IGC games, going from swiftly collapsing to dominating eastern Europe. In one recent game, it diplo-annexed Hungary, and in the game I am presently playing, it has expanded all the way east to Samara, effectively blocking off Russia's expansion and reducing it to a minor, sidelines role.

 

[Cockney]

In my games Poland is an evil monster taking everything in sight, it has a nasty habit of annexing Prussia and the order and beating the crap out of Turkey (although the new Moldovian Bujak option has solved this somewhat)

I gues it just depends on the individual game...

 

[Sidney]

Does P-L achieve these big results one against many or are they forming alliances that I don't see them forming in my games?

 

[hjarg]

In my games, Pol-Lith has usually France or Spain as ally.
Though I have noticed that early in the game, when they attack Teutonic Order, Poles get beaten pretty badly. Especially when Teutons are allies with Prussia: Poles siege Eastern Prussia, while Teutons wreck havoc in their lands and usually end up conquering 2 provinces. But Poles will get them back sooner or later.

They tend to grow pretty mighty when you are not directly opposing them. And once, in my game as Russia, Polish-Persian-Crimean-Spanish alliance was the thing i feared most. So they are doing quite all-right.

 

[BiB]

PLC always does very nicely in my games. Teutonic order not really posing a threat. Often see them with France. But I never oppose them directly, really.

 

[unmerged(3236)]

how well it goes for pl is very different in my games.
i my last they declared war on tutonic order.
in the peace they left 2 provinses to prussia and then a litte later losin two more to tutonic order.
PL always get huge armies but they dies faster then physicaly possibe. i dont know why, they march in with huge armies and after i while most of it is gone and very few enemys dead. i dont think i is attriation.

but in some games they do well.
i seldom war much with them. i take danzig but not more, the other provinses is not worth owning.

 

[BiB]

Galicia and Krakow are nice too

They tend to die of attrition though. Just ask anyone who plays Russia, his army commanded by General Winter

 

[unmerged(2724)]

P-L

I like playing as Austria or Bohemia and I usually find P-L allied with France (as they are in my current game). It leaves me in a tough two front war. Since it's usually France in front of me in VP, I want to take them down. I try to take Posen from P-L so that I can take their capital to force them out of the war quickly. Also Danzig and Western Prussia. Everything else they can keep.

P-L usually does ok in my games. Might have something to do with the fact that I duke it out with Turkey from time to time and take the heat off of them.

 

[Quinton]

well P-L is not doing bad... allways.
but in my last 2 games as sweden. i got into an alliance with Hanseatic Leuge, P-L, Teutonic Order, Venedig and Hungary. *i bribed hansa, becouse no one like me * and then i got the Hansa by some reason,.,, their king died or something.. then i didnt want to war an alliance, and got out of that alliance. then suddently P-L dropped our, and Austrian alliance with bohemia, bayern, and würtenburg attacked...
the Kahanat alliance attacked. *Kazan, golden horde, Astrakhan, Crimea* and the turk alliance. Poland got raped. so i saw my way for some land, and attacked. *i had allied with Tutonic order* and Poland was down to an size so they counted as an minor,.,,, they died after 100 years.

Polan sux =)

 

[unmerged(4040)]

In my games Poland always seem to be a monster, and they dominate the East the way I would expect Russia to.

Historically Poland had a lot of internal strife and basically self destructed. There were three great partitions of Poland with the last one coming around the late 1700's (I am not sure of the date), when Poland ceased to exist as a nation. Austria, prussia, and Russia were the ones who carved Poland up. Then they ceased to exist until 1918.