Sweden

[Monk]

Sweden is one of the 12 major factions available for play.

[Strategy]

Just some brief impressions from my early play through on VH/VH,

The game is set up with a "historical" diplomatic situation; i.e., the outbreak of the Great Nordic War (Russia, Poland and Denmark versus Sweden). First step is to build up the army - quickly. Then break up the alliance.

The easiest way to do so is to attack Courland. Poland will support Courland, but Russia (occuppied with other wars), is unlikely to help. Roll over Courland (easy) and then take on Poland before the bear wakes. In my game, Poland never really got around to getting built up, with the result that they had been totally conquored by 1707. After this, you can bide your time until you are ready to take on the Russians - whom you need to beat sooner or latter.

[The historian]

Now at 1750 conquered most of Poland all of Russia, Denmark, Dagestan,Crimea, Georgia and Courland now fighting the Prussians. I have been badly defeated by the Inuits
Strategy has stated the start up so i'll go straight to what i have done.
I used a Denmark first policy After 3-4 turns of army preparations(garrisoning Riga and Petersburg with some more units and used my armies to strike the Danes. Turn 5-6 I took both Copenhagen and Norway in a surprise attack lost the fleet however. After wards i focused on Russia. They were at war in the south so I capitalized on that and allied with the ottomans also Poland was busy fighting Prussia.
Hod the line and proceed to a slow methodical advance through Russian and polish territory. Taking Denmark and Norway should give you the monetary muscle to field some 3 advancing armies with which you also garrison the border regions as you advance. Don't defend every town and farm just defend the region(city) let the Russian and Polish armies burn what they want focus on the advance. As i advanced i took Lithuania and Minsk from the poles and Karelia from the Russians. This with the 3 armies I mentioned also kept a sizable garrison in Riga should Courland attack. Once Moscow and Kiev fell some 5 turns later Russia was a cakewalk with one last big battle in Astrakhan the last province i took were they concentrated their army, their other army was busily burning the don region and disappeared when they fell.
After i took Galicia Poles sued for peace and i accepted.Once this is done should be about 1720 invest in Russia heavily, convert it and build it up, once developed you'll be swimming in cash. Keep the garrisons(armies) in the border regions and the ottomans friendly usually no major will attack you at this point.
Daghestan Crimea and Georgia did but you can handle them just keep Austria and the Ottos friendly .This isn't to hard as even with Russia not developed you should be good for a state gift from time to time also trade with them.
As you strongly garrison some regions to keep the front build up research there so you can lead the tech race. Stealing research from German minors is quite profitable too. You should be able with 8-10 universities to stay well ahead in tech. Take Iceland when you have the time or money. The poles and Prussian might give you some trouble but usually they are fighting among themselves and with the Austrians. In my game Courland beat both Poland and Prussia destroyed the first and almost conquered Berlin till i stepped in.

In short
I Secure Scandinavia
II Take out Russia
III Hold the front in East Europe Kiev Lwow Vilnius(Minsk partially) for some 20 years to develop
IV Develop Russia and your own territory, befriend the other major powers (Britain, Ottomans especially) so you can trade with them, research everything in the 20-25 years of peace. This should give you anything you need to do whatever you like afterward's . I'm considering invading India through Persia

Never made a guide before hope it helps

[Strategy]

If you want to go to the Colonies with Sweden, the easiest way is to build (at least) two full stacks, sail them to Ceylon and South America, and declare war on Holland. Their three colonies are easy to seize if you prepare properly and they can't touch you on land in Europe. Once you have seized them all, you can make a peace agreement and you will have excellent footholds in both America and India. The Pirate faction is also a good one to take out in America.

In my current game (1763 - 43 provinces), I took Courland + Poland (may as well do them both), followed up with Denmark and parts of Russia, before annexing parts of the Ottoman and the rest of Russia. Prussia is good to leave as long as they'll let you, since they are very belligerent and will fight other nations (keeping them occupied).

[Darth Venom]

As I see it from my Experience on H/H, there are basically two roads you can go do down as Sweden.


First and most obvious is to follow history and head for the Great Northern War and win it. Targets are Denmark, Poland and Russia.
The historian describes this in more detail above.


Secondly you can do follow the path of colonial expansion. Not terribly easy because of your weak navy and hostile neighbours but doable (at least in H/H, have to try VH yet). Main targets for expansion is overseas and later than usual Denmark. It is somewhat roleplayish, at least thats how I play it (e.g. I try to get the Provinces in the very north of America instead of the Dutch ones in South America. I'm playing Sweden after all! )

1. Make sure the Great Northern War doesn't happen
If you want to have enough money to go overseas fast you need to stay out of any prolonged (i.e. more than a few turns) war in Europe. The only thing to do here is simple: get Poland aud Russia to like you enough not to attack you. (and later on to like you more then Denmark once you start fighting them) In my games it wasn't to difficult to achieve this, state gifts (translation?) and trade rights are the way to go. Don't give them territories though if it can be avoided in any way! Especially St. Petersbourg is far to valuable to let future communistst handle it Eventually you should try an obtain alliances with them.
Denmark is a different story, since you'll eventually want to conquer them, don't invest to much money in diplomatics here. (Don't go to war just yet either).

2. Initial Buildup
Focus your research on economic growth, since the money will be used to avoid a war (against an equal opponent) anyway. Consider razing a town (in Finland for example) to erect a second school and make on of the emerging villages into a third eventually to stay ahead in the tech race.
Tradewise you should build quite a few Eastindiamen ASAP and send them on their way. Early on the Pirate acitvity is low enough to find yourself a few spots with an unescorted trade fleet. Russia seems to crave ivory and pepper and buys lots of it via land trade. Get sea-trade agreements with whomever you please when you upgrade the trade ports, just make sure the lines won't be blocked.

2. Expansion
Take a look at North America. See those Inuit? Go! If invaded early enough they should have about 1 to 1,5 stacks. Take whatever you need depending on your tactical prowess (or just about 1 to 1,5 well mixed stacks for autocalc). Make sure you have ring bayonets and square formation though.
Don't worry about a navy buildup yet, Pirates appearently dislike cold water and nobody else is at war with us!
Next military target is the Huron Confederacy, beforehand I like to buy Rupert's Land from the Brits (Depending on relations, their well-being, your strength, etc 18000-25000 plus some techs should do the trick). The Hurons are harder then the Inuit, but managable if your not to impatient.
If your on VERY good terms with Poland try to get Kurland declare on you and keep the Poles out -> easy grab. This eats more diplomacy money up than this single province can generate though.

3. Denmark
A strong navy is mandatory here. Build it to take on the Danish easily, you'll need the ships later anyway. Your (money-) lifeline goes right past their capital and you should at very least be able to avoid blockade!
When you declare war make sure Poland and Russia don't join in or buy them out of it again (present then peace offer + money). Without their support the three Danish provinces are easy pickings, I found the fights rather easier than the Huorn conquest.

3. Onwards
By now you have a strong strategical, easy defendable position and pretty much a monopoly on fur trade . Options are pretty much endless, the Dutch colonies (they can't reach you in Europe) and Pirate isles are a good target, as well as the French posessions in America. India is possible, Ceylon is a very nice staging point.
I had the VERY lucky coincidence that while I was en route to Antigua with an invasion force, my king died and the Dutch declared a succession war... their colonies were history

Questions? Remarks? Am I all wrong?
Have Fun building your Great Northern Empire!

[clikarbar]

Great info.

I am year 1732 and I have prussia and russia as my sole allies from turn 2. I have 3 universities and 3 collages at the moment. All of Poland, Lithuania, Courland as well as Denmark, Norway and Iceland are part of the great swedish empire. I attacked inuats early in the game and got screwed. I have assembled a force to retry the invasion of the north canada stopping in iceland(current positon). I also have Prussia busy with Austria, Russia with Ottomans. I have a force attacking Hannover and Cologne at war with me as well. Great relations with Austria, France,Great Britian, Martha and Ottoman. Russians love my fur. I make 12000 per turn. Way far advanced in the Philosophy, Farming & Military tech tree but not as good as Britian when it comes to the Navy.

My plan is to take parts of north west of Canada(hopefully I will have to plan this more because if the french. I might need Britain as an ally), eliminate the dutch from Europe as I would have my borders with the dutch once I eliminate Hanover, Cologne and Saxony(Dresdon), The Dutch Colonies, Then India.

My path to glory!