Great Britain

[ironanvil1]

Sending a stack under Marlborough on some military adventures in Eastern Europe early in the game can be a great way to pick up some tech and cash and get yourself a nice experienced army as a bonus.

Ally with Prussia, Austria and Poland and wait till the inevitable war kicks off then snag some provinces to trade to the land hungry AI.

[Nepereta]

TRADE TRADE & INDIA.

My strat was probably similiar to others but its worth notcing you get a bonus tech at the game start and diplomacy is infinite (so much better than m2tw in that regard) . I used this to trade for as many tech as I could from others I also used cash to prise any outstanding techs. I then sold that tech to every one and I came out with a profit + about 4 techs tight at the start. (NB selling techs seems you have to keep dropping the price steadily as you go through them ) Set up extra trade routes if possible taking note that Turkey is a suprisingly good trade partner. (maybe there is a distance scarcity relationship). I also befriend maratha & persia ( my new neighbours)

In all of the commercial ports I built the indiaman ship. (500 gold + 3-5 turns for position then at least 300 annual return is a no brainer you got all your money back in 7 or so turns) You don't really need a church in oxford so knock it down for a school. I initially researched the college tech but in hindsight it may of been better to get commercial port tech. This tech will ultimately net an additional trade route per port. Which would mean additonal 3(4 when bristol comes online) trade routes.

All my european friends I befriend and I do my level best to stay out of continental affairs if they can see me simply as a trader and ignore me that would be nice. So with that in view I am looking at india. First step is to pack every single force I have on the boats leaving a small channel fleet. I build extra line infantry in port royal and collect them as the fleet from above cuba comes down.

I attack the Mughal empire as quickly as possible starting with the Port city on the west side. The main objective is hindustan. Fortunately when I took hindustan it was well fortified and had a second level arsenal.

I continue building up my traders steadily ( this is the primary objective!) and also trading any tech I get as soon as I get it. For some reason it gets hard to buy their tech so I don't always get it. After getting the college tech I go for the ring bayonet tech and eventual the military doctrine tech + carbines ( I love the mobility of dragoons ).

In order of importance:

Continue dominating the trade arena NB you can stick mulitple ships on trade port (balance them once they are all full I managed all bar 4) you also need a few fleets to deal with pirates. When knocking out and capping pirates simply redirect the captured Fluyts and Galleons to the nearest trade area. (I don't bother repairing them trade is more important and it doesn't appear to factor damage into trading capacity). Ultimately I plan to keep sending ships until they amount gained by the extra ship is little more than its upkeep. I don't where this is even 5 ships on a square seems to make decent money. NB the true Trade power is not just what appears on the trade leg, there is also a great deal of cash involved in the trades. I also plan on going for max commercialized ports.

Finish off the mughals they have 2 cities in the north west and 2 cities in the north east.

Give Mysore all tech that will help them in their initial fight with maratha ( the real problem in india). Anything that gives Maratha a hard time ultimately will help in I hope in consolidating the continent.

Give the protectorate all the tech you have spare this I hope and pray will enable them to resist north american problems until India is completed.

[pdoyle007]

I expanded in North America against the inuits, got a few provinces, then traded Ruperts Land with Portugal for Goa. They act as a buffer against attack, 13 colonies are watching my left flank so I can focus my attacks against France through the centre of North America.

I expanded from Goa against the Mugals and now have a base in India.

In Europe I took Iceland (from Denmark who only have 2 provinces) and otherwise have just developed the homelands.

[ironanvil1]

Eastern Europe is a gold mine of tech.

I waited till the Polish-Austrian war kicked off then attacked the Poles in West Prussia, lightly defended so it fell to direct assault with no losses.

Traded that to the Prussians for half their tech advances (mostly agricultural) then took Lithuania and swapped that with them for the other half (the military stuff) and some cash to retrain my army.

Then it was off to Podolia which fell and was traded back to the Poles for their tech and a peace treaty which teleported my now well experienced 2 chevron troops back to London.

In the Spanish War a few years later I picked up Hispaniola and Cuba then conquered Flanders with my Polish expeditionary army and swapped it with the Dutch for Ceylon. Also captured the entire Spanish Fleet in an epic battle somewhere around Trafalgar

By 1720 I have 15k or so a turn profit and am madly upgrading all the plantations and ports I now own.
Ceylon should give me a good jumping off point for India (I'm supporting the Mughals financially against the expanding Marathas).
The only current war I'm in is against the last remnants of the Huron in the NW Territories who I'm using to level up a Canadian stack for the longer term war against the French.

Halfway or more up each tech tree when my own research is combined with the captured techs.

Now if only the AI would give me a reason to have to defend all those islands...

[loony]

Final step of the game:

EUROPE
own france, italian and german states as well as south africa
NA
The spanish are in mexico and the pirates now see 2 fleets fo 2-rates bringint 2 nice experienced armeis towards their bases.
INDIA
Captured calcutta, two inital armies on defence, sepoys and the newly recruited fellows go bleed the enemy.

ECONOMY
I don't need trade; I get aroundn 100 000 k from taxes. Spend around 80 000. The 40 000 trade income is just a nice bonus :)
I found that once everyone starts hating you, investing into taxes is a better idea than buying presents for them. Now I just don't care about anyone else anymore.

TECH
2 or 3 techs remaining. whatever.

ARMIES
4 stacks in NA, 2 to be moved to capture pirate bases and returned back; 2 to be moved to india.
4 Stacks in Europe (Munich, Rome, Paris and Southern France)
3.5 stacks in India, kicking poor indian ass.
2 fleets in Europe
1 fleet in NA
2 fleets in India
2 fleets keep travelling, killing enemy shipping, protecting trade theaters and transporting troops


After I achieve my objectives and win the campaign, I think i will declare war on everyone and see ho that goes