Prussia

[dopp]

One problem with the Rhineland is that countries will spam you with offers to buy it. I got around the problem by buying Flanders and Alsace-Lorraine for about 100k each and then taking out Holland and Hannover so it was completely surrounded by my own territories. The Rhineland is one of the richest provinces on the map, only capital regions like Brandenburg, England and France earn more.

[Squints]

Rhineland, right. Yeah, Ceylon was too good of an offer to pass up, and UP got pulled into this World War of mine, so I just took it back.

On the other hand, I almost lost Ceylon to a rebellion there. I managed to quell it just barely with the small stack I had, and have since been able to keep the peace.

[katank]

Lots of good tips in this thread. Just thought I'd add my two cents by sharing my experiences so far.
VH campaign. H battle


Prussian Breakdown
Advantages: sizeable starting army, including ability to build top notch line inf.

Disadvantages: starting regions aren't very rich, all your neighbors hate you.

Overarching strategy: aggressive early land push, bow down to no one.

Blitz:

Turn one:
Declare war on Saxony, assault Dresden w/ army in Berlin. Assault West Prussia with army in East Prussia. Note: leave one unit of inf, militia, and arty back in East Prussia and hire a new general. Send him with this force against a Polish arty fort across the border. This force can be left in the east later on. West Prussia is weak and can be taken with the other units just fine.

This brings you into war with Saxony and Poland which immediately turns into war against just Poland.

Exempt taxes everywhere necessary.

Turn two:
Start marching Dresden army East.

Assault Warsaw with army that took West Prussia. You can't keep it from rebelling so don't bother, let it riot. Just move on and take other things with your army.

Turns three and four:
Press attack the attack in Lithuania, etc. Poland eliminated by turn four. Poland made a few attempts at East Prussia. My firelocks saw them off. They only send one militia to take the walls which are beat back by my four firelocks.

Austria declares on me during turn three. Move Dresden army back to counter by taking Silesia and then Bohemia. Beat off raiders and wait for Eastern army to move on Vienna and Hungary.

Turn five:
Poland reemerges with a stack in Warsaw. Four cannons and five militia. Easy mauled by my veteran line infantry. Now if you crank out militia, it's actually possible to hang onto this due to the recent crackdown bonus.

Eastern army keeps moving west. Courland declares war. Hannover declares war.

Courland takes a crack at East Prussia. My firelocks see them off.

Turn Six:
Assault Vienna and Hungary. Very tough battle with their crown Prince. A whole unit of exp 2 line inf totally annihilated. However, we succeed on taking both. Now all Austria has left is Croatia and Transylvania. Not worth the effort. I got a peace and alliance with them and forced them to send me 5k as well.

Raising up a new army in East Prussia and Warsaw.

Turn Seven:
Venice declares war. Courland assaults East Prussia with a force consisting of 5 units of cav, 2 militia, a pikeman, and a cannon. My four firelocks managed to beat off the two militia on the walls and then proceeded to camp in the buildings near the square. My game seems to be bugged in that my arty on the walls seem to rarely fire. Their cannon busted down my wall. My firelocks shot from the buildings and killed many of the invaders but soon ran out of ammo. They charged the town square in melee and managed to resent the countdown timer twice. Alas, I lost the countdown by ~30 seconds. If I didn't choose 60min battles, I wouldn't have lost this.

I immediately counterattack by promoting a general and taking East Prussia back by emptying out Warsaw (I had 6 units of militia there plus a pikeman and two newly minted line inf). In a bloody and melee heavy assault, I took back East Prussia. Courland also left their capital relatively unguarded as beside this force to assault east Prussia, they also had two marauding half stacks. I used my small force stationed in the east to assault and take their capital. Courland eliminated.

Agent activity:
My rake ran around stabbing people nonstop. He killed a general in Saxony, two Austria generals and helped gather intel. I got a six star gentleman Leibniz who ran around stealing techs including common land enclosure (vital to get your farms up) and canister shot.

Battle strategy:
Your line infantry are the best in the area bar none. Alas, you won't be able to afford many of them, esp. if you are also trying to build up some infrastructure. Supplement with militia.

Set up in long thin lines and try to get enfilade fire positions. Against a force heavy in firelocks and miltias (what you'll likely be facing), don't shy away from melee. Their morale holds up far longer in a shooting match. Give them a volley and charge in with bayonets.

Use cav to flank/rear attack. While cav is no longer capable of breaking infantry frontally (at least not without severe casualties), it's still enough to make most units rout if you hit them from the back. I got out a unit of Uhlan lancers from Warsaw and they are lovely. They can break line infantry with a single charge to the back.

Techs:
I went for ring bayonet right away though it didn't make a difference in the war against Poland as I wiped them out before I got the tech. It sure helped against Austria though. Most factions don't have bayonets yet. Having plug and then ring bayonets means that you can win most melee fights.

Summary:
As it stands, at the end of 7 turns I have conquered a total of 14 regions. My military prestige is well past 200. I only have one ally, Austria who I forced into it at swordpoint. Still at war with Venice and Hannover but doing well otherwise.

Make em fear your world conquering armies!

[Squints]

Wow, a very interest blitz tactic. I will have to try it out.

I guess I'm weary of leaving my cities undefended, I'm used to there not being a "mob" that can help out, even as feebly as they do.

[Monarch]

Definately reccomend making friends with Austria. The year is currently 1711 in my campaign and Poland and Courland no longer exist. Embarassingly, I've forgotten about Saxony. I'm playing on Hard, they've not attacked me yet so like I said, until reading this thread I forgot about them I have been directing my armies East to invade Russia. But perhaps best to send some to finish of Saxony

Oh, and I also suggest sending a gift (maybe two) to secure trade rights and a friendly relationship status with Sweden. Could be quite annoying to see off an invasion from the Swedes.

I've carved out a nice empire alot faster than my British campaign. Money is definately an issue though, I managed to get the first farming tech for free from Poland though which helped, when they had 1 province left I offered them peace in exchange for them giving me the tech. I of course took the tech and stabbed them right in the back

Edit: Now further in...the alliance with Austria is going strong. They're even chosing me when one of their other allies declares war on me (Bavaria, Wutturmberg etc). Prussia is certainly more interesting because of the age old German problem...fighting on multiple fronts. In my British campaign is was able to focus on America, then mainland France, then Spain, then India etc. But now as I'm trying to focus on Russia, these goddam German states keep declaring war. Still, I'm doing well. Getting fire by rank makes you unstoppable until other factions get it, you shred armies apart.

Edit 2: My efforts to be friendly with the Swedes were all for nothing, they claimed my throne and a War of Succession erupted. Wasn't ready for it whatsoever, so I got peace from Russia and turned my full attention to Sweden. I've taken St Petersburg, Stockholm and Finland. Had money issues due to raising large armies, so up went the taxes and down went the public order. So ye, be weary of those backstabbing Swedes.

[Eusebius86]

Well. I just finished my first ETW short campaign, N/H. I was passive the first 15 years, focusing just on trade and technology. Poland ended up being a major thorn in my side as they took over half of Austria, and took out all but 2 of Sweden's territories. By 1725 I had all the major military techs I wanted, so I basically steamrolled through Saxony, Courland, several of Polands territories, and even a couples of Austria's (which put me at odds with a couple of my major trade partners). I never once faced any rebellions, thanks to dragoons, and a couple well placed missionaries. I won't bore you with the details of my conquerings, as I was mainly focused on testing the gameplay and campaign/battle ai. Here are some of my observances however:

- Campaign AI. Poland is very aggressive and will expand if given the opportunity. Deal with her early and do not let her gain power. She is very difficult to deal with later, and will raid your territories non-stop if given the chance. Austria should be viewed as an ally early on and not as an enemy, pursue friendly relations with them early on. Also, Sweden, though enemies with Poland will NOT ally with you no matter what. I offered them everything from techs to teritory. However, if you sell them techs it can help them deal with Poland and Russia early on...

- Naval campaign AI. Enemy factions were quick to raid my trade routs, but never once tried to remove my ships raiding theirs. Kind of odd.

- Economy. Trade is a must. Marathas and the trade nodes (Africa) were my best means of income. By 1725, I was averaging $9k a turn from trade alone. Modest, but very helpful. Also, get the first couple farming techs, this is very helpful in the long run (thanks Monk!).

- Techs. The two most important techs are bayonet and the first firing drill. You will absolutely own Poland (and everyone else for that matter) once you get the first firing drill.

I never once lost a battle on hard. On the open field the AI generally came straight at me, and was predictable, but not stupid. When evenly matched (manpower) I normally lost around 30/35% of my forces. In RTW I almost never lost more than 15% of my forces. That rarely happens to me in ETW unless I vastly outnumber the enemy. They just don't rout as quickly...

I think I might try Austria next. I'm just don't feel ready to deal with OP'd galleons and pirates right now...

[clikarbar]

I choose the long campaign.

I started of by deciding who to ally with to take Saxony and Poland. I decided that I should choose Austria since Austria can keep Poland busy while I fend off Saxony and rush to Warsaw. My desire was to ally with Russia as my goals are not that Far East and my intentions are to invade west and Italy, however Russia is busy with Sweden and ally to Poland and hate Austria. I allied with Hannover as well to help with any surprise attack from the west and Scandinavia.

I planed my research and converted Potsdam and another town in East Prussia to schools to have 3 schools in total. I targeted Military and farming. I secured trade with my friendly neighbors through land trade. Seeing that GB was the best at that time and had allot of American soil I started to trade as well with Ottoman and Martha for luxury trade. I also secured good relations with Sweden for later use. Built up that 2 armies for 2 turns and upgraded the farms. Tax policy is set on 4/5 for nobility and 2/5 for worker.

So let the game begin....

I attacked Saxony and as expected Austria and Hannover are at war with Poland and Saxony. I took Dresden in 1 turn that Hannover did not have a chance to attack it. In the meantime the army in East Prussia was still defending Konigsberg as the army in the fort in Lithuania will attack. Austria will be busy defending its lands rather than attacking Poland as Poland concentrates more on Austria as it feels that it’s a bigger threat. Russia will not even interfere as it is busy destroying Sweden and defending it land from the Ottomans.

I slowly built up the army to a full stack to attack Lithuania while moving the army that took Dresden to West Prussia and then Warsaw. I took Warsaw in 4 turns and had to stay there for some time to stabilize the population while recruiting a small militia with a general to garrison it while moving to Galicia as the polish made it as the new capital(in my game). Meanwhile I moved the army in East Prussia on offensive and take Lithuania.

I had to secure Courland as I felt it was increasingly turning unfriendly and tried to improve relations by making a trade agreement with 3k payment. With Galicia and Lithuania secured Poland was left with Minsk. I decided that I should secure Courland as it was still not that friendly and building up forces so I took the forces that took Lithuania and attacked their capital which I had to stabilize for 2 turns, while the forces that attacked Galicia attacked Minsk. Poland was history.

Guess what! In My game while I was doing all this Russia was defending itself from the Ottomans and attacking Sweden that it annihilated Sweden. Courland took Riga as well that I had to take it from them after I secured Courland itself. Austria did not gain any lands from this war as it was busy defending from surprise attack from Poland and constant Ottoman attempts. By 1718 I had all of Poland, Lithuania, Courland, Riga and Saxony. By 1720 Sweden had been taken back by the Swedish rebellion and secured it. Russia has been busy trying to retake Sweden now with the help of Denmark.

While all this was going on I decided that Hannover is no longer needed so I attacked with a new army that I built in Berlin and Dresden while securing Poland and Courland in the east. France is at war with me for attacking Hannover but till now there was no threat as I have Austria as an ally and GB is also attacking France. I made allies with 2 minor nations for future use in mind that is Bavaria and Portugal, to help me fight the French and Austria later on, while making good relations with Spain. Russia is very friendly but as yet does not want to ally since I destroyed Poland and still an ally with their enemy, Austria!

I then decide to do the unexpected from any nation...I attack Sweden by transporting the army that took Minsk leaving the 2nd east army in the fort in Lithuania to make sure Austria or Russia stay within their borders, while leaving the army that secured Hannover in a fort in Hannover as to the west the German nations, as well as the Dutch are getting influenced by the French to attack me. Preparing for war while researching like crazy. I am sieging Stockholm and Denmark is raiding towns in the south and Russia raiding in the north of Sweden.

The situation so far....

Its 1725 I have taken just Hannover since 1718 (7 years - 14 turns), however I am 650 prestige at moment while GB is 350. 16k per turn income. Trade with everyone you can. I have 3 commercial basins and 1 drydock. My final goal is to destroy the Danish, Dutch, German States, Austria and France. France is hated by GB and Austria. Austria is hated by GB and Russia and France. Ultimately I need Russia to be an ally and I know they need Sweden so my plan is...

I will take Sweden, cancel alliance with Austria, and ally with Russia with an offering for Sweden (hopefully they will not rebel again). Get friendlier with France. With Bavaria and Portugal as allies and getting Spain as ally I can fight the Dutch and Danish at the same time with the army at Hannover and with the 2nd rate naval fleet I have to help in the sea battles against the Dutch and GB as it is an ally with Holland. However I would have Portugal and Spain on my side. While I can move 2 armies to attack Austria with the help of Russia and Bavaria. I have to keep up and monitor the German states as I will move in slowly.

After Austria, the two D nations, German States are dealt with I will have an empire from Copenhagen to the Alps, From Minsk too Amsterdam. If time permits my extended goal is all the way to Sicily, Malta, Barbary States and France itself and maybe who knows GB as well. While making good relations with the Ottomans since they always wanted to expand westward.

N.B:
Build a church school in every province that you take from Poland during the invasion it will help you. Also build coaching inns at least till the population is no longer under protest. Invest in Farming and Philosophy and obviously in military and naval technology. Your navy can be one stack but make sure its 1st or 2nd rate.