Colonies, eh?

[Megas Methuselah]

Will any of you guys bother yourselves with colonies? For some land-locked nations, you'll start a few steps behind other nations in establishing colonies. Will it even be worth the effort? Or will your main focus be on mainland Europe/other homeland?

[batemonkey]

I will be busy painting the map red from the get go

i'll start off by capturing areas near naval coke points, and once i dominte the oceans, well, see my sig

[Greyblades]

I think it will depend on which country I will be; As Britain I would have little real need for lands in europe and the chances of my homeland being attacked are low (being and island and all) so I will have less concerns about being backstabbed while concentrating on colonies.
This is in contrast to playing as france or spain where I have about 3 or more direct neigbours all waiting for your defences to become neglected and weak enough to grab easily. If I was playing as them I would spend the first few turns being more interested in making sure my borders are secure before I can start taking over colonies.
And of corse there are the land locked and mediteranian factions that will not provide incentive to get myself in on the colony scene, therefore I would end up beating my neigbours over the head with a blunt stick, as per total war tradition.

[Monk]

It will be determined hugely by who you pick at the start. Britain and Spain, for example, will likely be huge colonial powers and you'll need to really balance your strengths in each theater of operations. Someone like Prussia however will be much more focused on mainland Europe.

It's sorta like picking what type of game you'd like to play, do you wanna focus solely on europe, or do you wanna manage and establish lots of colonies?

[Sir Beane]

The real fun is in picking a faction well known for one thing and then taking them in a completely different direction.

Why not Play as Austria and become the foremost colonial power, or take Britian for a spin and try and dominate Europe.

Or, once mods are out, play as Hannover or Savoy or the Khanate of the Crime and go and take America .

[Mailman653]

I think France starts out with Louisana in the Americas, as long as I keep the Lion happy, I can harrass the Spanish in the Carribean.

[Fisherking]

I would like nothing better than taking a country and making it a colonial power. Particularly after we get all the factions opened up.

Austria should have at least one seaport at start. They held Trieste from 1300 something… It is time they get around to building a navy.

Bavarian India would be a nice change, don’t you think?

Loads of possibilities! All we need is the game…

[ArtillerySmoke]

I'll definitely establish colonial holdings early on in the game, especially if expansion is unviable without drawing me into a major war.

I'm playing as France first so - expansion overseas is probably a fast track to security and prosperity at home. It should allow me to tech up a couple of times before I start painting Europe blue

[Megas Methuselah]

It would kind of be fun playing a game as a small German state, but establishing a bunch of colonies abroad. I really neeeeed this game...

[Sir Beane]

It would kind of be fun playing a game as a small German state, but establishing a bunch of colonies abroad. I really neeeeed this game...

So do we all...

[ArtillerySmoke]

So do we all...

QFT.

March 4th can NOT come soon enough.

edit: Proof? My birthday is Sunday and I couldn't care less. It's Wednesday I care about. Every time I pass my local Gamestop I see the huge Empire banner and think about how long it's going to be. Not too long at this point. Knowing my luck my PC will explode during installation.

[Monk]

Another good way to play might also be to establish colonies across the map, but then sell them off to the highest bidder/best tech advanced nation. Sort of like a 18th century real-estate tycoon, only with lots of war and killing.

You could easily amass technologies or even political alliances by subjugating vast tracks of land and then selling them off for some really stuff, then when you're strong enough from your dealings and have enough strong allies start to bully your neighbors a bit for some permanent acquisitions

[ratbarf]

So do we all...

Some of us need new computers too.

[ArtillerySmoke]

Another good way to play might also be to establish colonies across the map, but then sell them off to the highest bidder/best tech advanced nation. Sort of like a 18th century real-estate tycoon, only with lots of war and killing.

You could easily amass technologies or even political alliances by subjugating vast tracks of land and then selling them off for some really stuff, then when you're strong enough from your dealings and have enough strong allies start to bully your neighbors a bit for some permanent acquisitions

See, when running campaigns with naval powers, I'll probably employ a similar strategy. Imagine as the Spanish, repeatedly sacking colonies and selling them back to the British while building an economic and technological powerbase at home. After a while your small, teched up nation could build an unstoppable army and explode upon it's neighbors.

[Sir Beane]

Another good way to play might also be to establish colonies across the map, but then sell them off to the highest bidder/best tech advanced nation. Sort of like a 18th century real-estate tycoon, only with lots of war and killing.

You could easily amass technologies or even political alliances by subjugating vast tracks of land and then selling them off for some really stuff, then when you're strong enough from your dealings and have enough strong allies start to bully your neighbors a bit for some permanent acquisitions

Messing around with the 'balance of power' by selling tiny nations huge numbers of provinces would be fun. In one turn Hannover could go from minor power to world leader .

Sitting in a secure position and messing with the fates of other nations can be a lot of fun.

[Dramicus]

If playing a landlocked power (or nearly) such as Prussia, I would adopt a "Europe First" policy. However, once my position is relatively secure, I would not be opposed to reaching out and conquering the colonies established by other nations. An early, reverse D-Day in the 18th or 19th century would be interesting indeed.

[A Very Super Market]

Whats a reverse D-day?

And Hannover did become a major power. English monarchs are still Hanoverians.

[Polemists]

I plan my first game to be Austria, but as mentioned else where I plan to conquer the Carribean, and let militia hold/try to secure Europe. My main army though will be conquering the carribean.


Everyone does it different but I always like to change history slighty :)

I am expecting a long drawn out war between Austria and Prussia tho, just given Jack's swedish report. Mainly because it seems you can't wipe out a nation in five turns anymore :P

[Sheogorath]

My first action in my Marathas campaign will be to invade England :P

I think that answers your question nicely.

Possibly, I will force the English to grow tea, despite England being more or less totally unsuitable. They'll grow it anyway, by Vishnu!

That whole 'God, King, and Country!' thing will need revising too. From now on, it will be "Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Gautama, Kalki, King and Country!'

(The Marathas were Hindu, right? I can never keep which Indian states were Hindu and which were Muslim straight.)

[A Very Super Market]

Though you probably have already searched up the answer on wikipedia, I shall answer your question anyways!

Uh... yes

[peacemaker]

ive never liked overseas or far-away places. Too annoying to keep remembering to manage them, plus they'll likely be under attack. I figure I'll just build up my own empire where I am at home or if I have to move to another part of hte world

[PanzerJaeger]

As Prussia, I will eliminate Poland as soon as possible. Then I'll hit Sweden and secure Scandinavia, which will provide some relatively secure and easily defendable profit centers. During this time if funds allow my Western borders will be reinforced and a fleet will be built to ensure localized superiority in the Baltic Sea. From there... a slow and steady expansion into Russia...

[A Very Super Market]

Hmm... I wonder if the game will model Russian winters...

[Polemists]

I think part of it will be how colonies work.

I know you will have a govenor and obviously do buildings and units like usual, but I'm curious to see how they play out. Once I see how much I like or dislike them will probably weight heavily on if I use them in my other campaigns or not.

If they just become a outrageous amount of unrest similar to eastern provinces in RTW then I'll probably just ignore them later on.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I wonder, as Russia, is it possible to go south, destroy Persia and then conquer India? It should be possible to enter India that way?
Or is it really the only way you can go to India by sailing around Africa?

[Sir Beane]

I wonder, as Russia, is it possible to go south, destroy Persia and then conquer India? It should be possible to enter India that way?
Or is it really the only way you can go to India by sailing around Africa?

You can also get to India by walking there across the Middle East .

[batemonkey]

I wonder, as Russia, is it possible to go south, destroy Persia and then conquer India? It should be possible to enter India that way?
Or is it really the only way you can go to India by sailing around Africa?

This my friend was the essence of 'The Great Game'

With many of it's consequnces still playing out today in places like Afganistan and Iran

[Sheogorath]

This my friend was the essence of 'The Great Game'

With many of it's consequnces still playing out today in places like Afganistan and Iran

I think this is a convenient place to provide a Shameless plug for my mod idea.

Yo

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'm going to sit safely on the British Isles, forging a mighty trading empire and taking nothing to do with Europe until I own the rest of the world! Although I might crush a Jacobite rebellion or two...

[ULC]

I will be playing as Russia - first order of business will be to make sure Sweden knows it's place in the world. Follow that up with a landing in Quebec and circumventing the Cold War