Forming a Empire, where to start

[Sheogorath]

Southward ho!
India's my target ;)

[Wausser]

Can't vote in the poll yet


I'll grab the Dutch East-Indies (if they are in the game) and try to expand it

[Martok]

There; I added in a "Gah!" option. Much better.

For me, it really will depend on who I'm playing -- obviously factions like the Dutch and British better lend themselves to a naval/trade empire stratagem, while nations like Austria and Russia will more heavily favor large land empires. (I can't wait to colonize Florida as the Ottomans, though. ) I'll also be keeping an eye on what everyone else is doing, and plan accordingly.

I'll grab the Dutch East-Indies (if they are in the game) and try to expand it

CA has said the East Indies are in as a "trade theater", but you can't actually colonize/conquer them. I'm afraid you'll have to plant your flag somewhere else.

[GMaximus]

I'll probably go for ye olde 'attack my neighbour'. At could actually be more fun in ETW if diplomacy is improved, then it'll finally be possible to be the one gang-beating on a faction instead of being on the recieving end of (usually poor attempt at) a gang-beating.

[Fisherking]

This is something to ask me on about the 10th of Feb…

I’ll need to get a feel for the possibilities first…but as India, North America, and the Caribbean Islands can have land units, and as I understand it , Africa is a trade theater I will likely want to play with sending troops and worry about Africa when I have spare ships.

[Incongruous]

India! most definatley, that tasty bit will be a nice attachment to the Republic of Great Britain.

[atheotes]

Gah! i will decide while i am installing the game...

[Wausser]

There; I added in a "Gah!" option. Much better.

CA has said the East Indies are in as a "trade theater", but you can't actually colonize/conquer them. I'm afraid you'll have to plant your flag somewhere else.

Then the West Indies


And yeah I'm gonna grab Nieuw Amsterdam(New York) back from the Red Coats

[Megas Methuselah]

I’ll need to get a feel for the possibilities first…but as India, North America, and the Caribbean Islands can have land units, and as I understand it , Africa is a trade theater I will likely want to play with sending troops and worry about Africa when I have spare ships.

Why would Africa be a trade theatre? Only the southern portion is cut off, you get the whole northern half...

Anyways, for myself, I'll insignificantly plant my little flag here and there. My main concern will be playing around with European politics and allying with various native nations to keep the European scourge off their lands(exception made for myself, of course).

Also, once I get down to playing as a Native American faction, I'll be colonizing Scotland!

[Sir Beane]

Why would Africa be a trade theatre? Only the southern portion is cut off, you get the whole northern half...

Anyways, for myself, I'll insignificantly plant my little flag here and there. My main concern will be playing around with European politics and allying with various native nations to keep the European scourge off their lands(exception made for myself, of course).

Also, once I get down to playing as a Native American faction, I'll be colonizing Scotland!

From what we have seen of the map so far I don't think half of Africa is in the game. It seems to be the very Northenmost areas, those North of the Sahara. CA themselves have stated Africa will mainly appear as a naval only trade theatre. It sucks, but that seems to be the truth.

[Megas Methuselah]

Well, that's too bad. Nonetheless, those Scots will be beaten like beetles beneat the NA boots... er... moccasins, I suppose?

[Zaleukos]

I'd go for India or the Carribean. India has rich developed places to simply take over, while the Carribean sugar colonies are the great moneymakers of the era.

What?!?! How can you have a game set in the 18th and early 19th centuries and not include Africa!! That was like thee place to conquer and colonize in that time period! I really wanted to raise that American flag in Tripoli if you know what I mean. Oh well, I guess I just have to plant the flag in the heart of the British Empire and squash the Brits, who doesn't like
that?

Not in the games timeframe. Africa was mostly untouched until 1860 or so.

It would make a lot of sense to make it a trade theatre. Except for South Africa it has a pretty hostile climate and nasty diseases. Europeans only built trading stations on the coasts and generally died like flies. Inland trade was almost exclusively handled by locals. The scramble for Africa only came almost 100 years after the game when the Europeans had better medicine.

Tripoli should be reachable though. The corsair states of North Africa were a major nuisance and are very close to Europe. But their land should be rather useless, there are barely any resources in the area:p

[Eusebius86]

Depending on how privateering/piracy works in ETW, I might be tempted to just take the British merchants treasures and trade at sea, instead of bothering to colonize the west indies

I'm not a huge fan of colonizing, better to be strong at home and focus on expanding your own borders... unless of course you're on an island with nowhere to expand.

[Pontius Pilate]

I'd go for India or the Carribean. India has rich developed places to simply take over, while the Carribean sugar colonies are the great moneymakers of the era.



Not in the games timeframe. Africa was mostly untouched until 1860 or so.

It would make a lot of sense to make it a trade theatre. Except for South Africa it has a pretty hostile climate and nasty diseases. Europeans only built trading stations on the coasts and generally died like flies. Inland trade was almost exclusively handled by locals. The scramble for Africa only came almost 100 years after the game when the Europeans had better medicine.

Tripoli should be reachable though. The corsair states of North Africa were a major nuisance and are very close to Europe. But their land should be rather useless, there are barely any resources in the area:p

Yeah, about the Tripoli thing, I was just joking. Anyway, they should still have put the whole of Africa in the game because it would be something new, we already have seen enough of North Africa in the Rome and MTW2. Even though it might be a little bit out of the time frame we should be able to rewrite history.

And the slave trade was big during this time too, but then again the Europeans didn't actually go into the continent to get the slaves, that was done by other Africans. So I guess I can understand Africa just be a trade theater.