United Provinces

[Monk]

United Provinces guides

Please review the ToC before posting new strategies.

[Malkut]

Hallo, guys! Here's a guide for new people looking at playing one of my favorite factions, the UP.

The UP are about one thing and one thing only: the Benjamins. There are quite a few obstacles between the Dutch and that giant pile of gold and easy women that they've been dreaming of: France, Spain, and the Pirates, for starters.

However, with a bit of planning, these are not insurmountable. We'll be livin' it up like rock stars in no time flat!


LEGAL LOOPHOLES SAVE LIVES

Like the British, you face the daunting prospect of war with the Franco-Spanish alliance, but unlike them, you don't have a channel of water filled with warships between them and you. Thus, you must find a way to move without being steamrolled by both major nations.

Spain is obviously your top priority. They're practically at your doorstep! But if you declare war on them, France will jump in as well. What's a guy to do?

The answer is, declare war on New Spain. That's right: the colony. France's treaty protects the government of Spain, but not it's colonial holdings. TAKE THAT OPENING. Fighting Spain is far easier than fighting Spain AND France. Be quick about it, though: New Spain vanishes forever at the end of turn two. This is a once-in-a-lifetime offer.


GETTING AN EDUMACATION

The sooner you load up on schools, the faster you'll learn. Fortunately, you're surrounded by schools. The only problem is that none of them belong to you.

Taking on the gaggle of tiny nations next door is a high risk/high reward sort of thing. You're already at war with Spain. Fighting on two fronts isn't a terribly good idea, and two of those nations are allied with non-hostile Austria and Prussia.

However, those two nations lack a huge navy, and can't impact your economy very much. If you can play the diplomacy game well, then there's a good chance that you'll walk away with a substantial European empire and enough schools to think your way to victory. If not, there's a chance you'll be dragged down.

Oh, and take Mysore right away. It's got one, too.


A DIAMOND MONOPOLY IS FOREVER

The De Beers corporation is a leftover of real life Dutch imperialism from way back when. Having long ago ruthlessly crushed any competition, they charge exorbitant prices for semi-common lumps of shiny mineral, largely by wholecloth inventing a fake cultural tradition that turns the sacred act of proposing marriage into an excerpt in crass consumerism.

Now, I know what you're thinking: yes, you can totally cash in on this.

Every gem-producing provenance is right there, in your reach. Two of them are in South America, one is at the tip of India, and the others are in Ceylon and Mysore. Grabbing all the gems in the world makes them more valuable on the trade market.


KINGS OF THE SEA

Unlike most other factions, you start with a special ship called the Fluyt. Having possession of a heavily armed trade ship from turn one means that you've got an excuse to get out there and start securing trading ports early on.

Your first opponets for sea dominance are the Pirates, those scurvy dogs. Fortunately, you've got a nice settlement capable of producing line infantry right next to their two islands, so eliminating them quickly is not very hard.

[Leptomeninges]

Looking for any tips on a recent UP campaign (VH-CAI/Normal-BAI)!

I generally try to make my Empire games interesting by resisting the urge to overly cripple my main enemy factions in the early game. I decided to play UP as an aggressive trade nation rather than mucking about much on the continent.

Turn 1 I made trade agreements and alliances with Rhineland and Hannover. I dropped the Maratha trade agreement for one with the Ottomans. I'm planning on expanding into India in the early game and covet the Maratha territories. I send trade ships out to the various theaters and hit pirates as appropriate.

Turn 2 I hit New Spain with a DoW. Hannover and Rhineland join the war. I took Brussels with my continental army. I have no other territorial demands in Europe! (Ever hear that one before?) But seriously, I want to maximize my trade lanes or I'd stay out of Europe completely. But in the new world I do have my covetous eyes on Cuba and land there with some Line Infantry trained at Curaco.

France declares a turn or two later. Hannover and Rhineland join the war on my side with the Italian states and Louisiana fighting for France. I fight an offensive engagement against France on the continent and get mauled pretty badly despite having superior total numbers and artillery. Not sure what the deal is, but France just chews me up.

I'm able to take an undefended French New Guinea with the Pikeman unit that started in UPs adjacent territory. I make peace with France in exchange for Curaco and get a bunch of cash and a trade agreement in return. I take Cuba, then Hispanola and then make peace with Spain in exchange for some of France's cash and a tech.

I don't recall the turn #, but it's still quite early. My plan at this point was to solidify the South American holidngs and take a pirate island or two, but otherwise try to stay out of war as much as possible with the psychotic campaign AI in both Europe and America while preparing a push into India where the expansion shouldn't be as damaging to European relations.

I think it's a good plan, but I'm a little spooked by the strength of France's continental army! I'm new to Empire, but are UP's line infantry markedly worse than France's? Is there something about France's generals that makes their forces that much stronger?

[Fisherking]

If you got beat up that bad, chances are that you auto-resolved the battle.

What is your difficulty setting?

The Spanish territories in South America are very good ones. Wait a few turns before taking on the Pirates. If you are lucky they will take Curacao from the French.

If you are good at naval battles the pirate fleets can be a good source of income, selling off the captured ships, but don’t try this on auto-resolve, particularly if you are set on the upper difficulty levels.

Morocco is also a good place to take for their location near the trade lanes and their two ports.

I would also make sure you have a powerful fleet before you take on any of the Indian factions. They will build a lot of ships and some are powerful ones.

There are several regions there with multiple ports and the second of each of those is likely naval rather than commercial.

[Leptomeninges]

Yeah, I saw that in another thread about auto-resolve being brutal on VH CAI. That was the problem. I'm often a little lazy but it's incentive for me to improve my skirmish map skills. I refought the battle last night manually with a much more favorable result. Playing on VH-CAI and Normal-BAI.

I grabbed Cuba and Hispanolia, but think I'll leave the other Spanish provinces. I know that places like Mexico are stupidly rich, but I don't like to overly cripple main factions. I want a viable Spain to make the end game interesting. Also, I have a tendency to under-garrison provinces and worry that some crazy AI would just tromp across the continent to demolish me in South America. The islands seem easier to defend with a fleet.

I appreciate the advice on Curaco. I took the Windward Islands, but may leave Trinidad/Tobago. I do this pretty commonly as part of my "house rules" to make the campaign more interesting anyway.

I've thought about Morocco. I definitely want a multi-port city in the European theater. Kicking around Denmark as an alternative for the linked trade lanes, but I'll likely pick up one or the other at some point.

I also appreciate the advice on having a big navy before tackling India. I want to consolidate and upgrade my holdings a bit and spam some trade ships, but I'll be headed there next.

[jawalla]

I always play VH-CAI & BAI but as the UP France always declares war on me turn 2 and I can't really beat 4 armies of line infantry. Should I just turtle in Amsterdam and expand abroad or try to take westphalia?