Spain post-patch

[mbrasher1]

Wow! I started a Spanish game (on H/N) and found it alot harder than before. In the first few years, I was faced with wars in Flanders with the UP, in Italy with the Italian States, in Iberia/North Africa with Morocco and in NA with the Cherokee and Louisiana (costing me the French alliance, so I also have less protection from the GB and Dutch fleets).

Combined with the nerfing of the Spanish fleet, they are really tough now.

This is actually good. Never before in a TW game have I felt so besieged. I have to now decide where to face losses so I can retain what is important.

[knoddy]

im the same cept with GB, started a new game on h/h and its actually quite challenging atm im focusing on beating up some native americans and protecting the 13 colonies (im not doin a very good job atm too! lol

keepin the peace in europe and rushing trade fleets to the trade theatres when i have money to make them. Its very VERY challenging and ive lost several battles against massed natives and lost a province too :)

glad im not the only one enjoying a patch that actually made the game challenging !

Cheers Knoddy

[Fisherking]

In spite of my first impression post patch I found Spain very playable but it took a bit of thought to get into that position.

I didn’t have to give away or sell any regions but I did have to make alliances and spend most of my starting cash to get agreements. They all seem to be holding so long as you don’t ask anyone to go to war.

You also want to rearrange and replace ministers very quickly and keep checking to see if any better ones show up.

Also don’t be surprised if Mexico and Columbia emerge before you have New Spain.

I was a bit frustrated (vast understatement) when I saw I could not ship tobacco from America because of the changes made in the game. You may want to pay close attention to what is upgraded and don’t bother with any plantations until you upgrade your ports. You may even want to experiment with replacing one of your military ports with a commercial one, just save before you do so if it is not the best you can always go back.

On turn one I allied with the Italian States, made Savoy a trade partner and protectorate. Allied with and got a trade agreement with Portugal and tried to secure agreements with Genoa. They didn’t budge and soon went to war. But I was allied with everyone on their borders so the war amounted to naval actions where I captured a 5th rate.

The Cherokee came and took Florida but it is no great loss at the moment. The pirates attacked first turn and I captured their fluyt. I sent all the ships I could muster to trade areas to reserve spots and had to build the three in the Mediterranean to combat Genoa. That is as far as I have gotten.

Research is slow and you need desperately the port upgrade to expand, but be advised the AI will find a way to impede any gains you make. Just be prepared for what may come.

[knoddy]

the more i play in my GB campaign the more i find im impressed by the changes, yes the ai is quite aggressive diplomatically, maybe even too much but the changes FORCE the player to not blitz, u cant amass armies and zerg, u cant go the whole way down the military tech tree and ignore every other one, u have to concentrate on building up ur economy getting trade agreements so then u can actually build up armies, i am getting in about 10k a turn and im bout 25 turns into my GB campaign, ive basically ignored europe till i can secure the americas only thing im worrying about in europe is my economic buildings and infrastructure.

all in all im quite impressed and very much enjoying a challenging game as GB.

Cheers Knoddy

[Fisherking]

the more i play in my GB campaign the more i find im impressed by the changes, yes the ai is quite aggressive diplomatically, maybe even too much but the changes FORCE the player to not blitz, u cant amass armies and zerg, u cant go the whole way down the military tech tree and ignore every other one, u have to concentrate on building up ur economy getting trade agreements so then u can actually build up armies, i am getting in about 10k a turn and im bout 25 turns into my GB campaign, ive basically ignored europe till i can secure the americas only thing im worrying about in europe is my economic buildings and infrastructure.

all in all im quite impressed and very much enjoying a challenging game as GB.

Cheers Knoddy

That is true for some factions but not all.

Prussia, Poland, the MC are blitz factions. If you just try to sit and build with those you loose advantages. Their incomes will support enough troops to sustain conquests and gain a very strong position without building much more than farms.

To a lesser extent UP have the troops to take out one region, and if France masses troops it can do the same, just not on the first turn like the other 4.

Prussia can accomplish its short game or prestige game goals in 10 years. The MC can take two regions on the first turn and keep up a steady expansion. Poland is a bit more of a slow and steady expansion type.

Most of the buildings now are too expensive to bother with past the second level. The faster your faction can expand the better off it will be in the end.

It is really too early to tell how the whole game plays until more campaigns are finished. There are a lot of surprises I have seen in the early game but I have not played a faction into the mid game or end as of yet.

[loony]

Actually I found turtling a viable strategy with poland; you have 2 armies and 4 fronts. No way you can blitz, as you would get devastated. What I did was:
a) AI declares war
b) i attack and capture a settlement
c) I destroy all buildings and sell the settlement back for peace and some cash
d) another AI declares war; I reinforce the army and send it to capture another settlement.

I kept playing this game with ST petersburg (selling to russians), Transylvania (austrians), Dresden (prussians) and once I sold the crimean region to the ottomans... After 15 turns of such things (and most enjoyable battles!), I was developed and could afford decent armies and expand.