Great Britain

[Slaists]

Note that, English being a sea-centered and trade-centered country, declaring a war on the French (and dragging Spanish in by default) would mean trade collapse at least for a turn or few (until their fleets are cleaned up)... That can put the treasury into deep red. Just a warning.

Especially the pesky French are dangerous with many small fleets hanging around the channel. All of those tend to swarm to British ports in the very next turn after DOF (English on French or vice versa). Placing a unit of milia in every England's trading port is a good idea too. That way enemy fleet cannot raise the port necessitating an extra turn for port repairs, which would be impossible if the treasury was in red. Note that the KEY to trade is the harbors in the capital city province... With a unit of militia sitting in the port French ships can just blockade (not destroy) and trade can resume as soon as the enemy fleets are removed. I learned it the 'hard way'...

On a different thought: probably it's cheaper to maintain an india-man trading ship than a unit of militia (50 upkeep for an indiaman versus 220 upkeep for militia). The protective effect for either would be the same.

[anweRU]

Great Britain:
Type: Prestige Game
Strategic difficulty: Hard
Battles: Auto-calc ~95% of the time
Modification: Script file modified to annex Thirteen Colonies by conquering the three Cherokee territories, i.e. replace New France with Kaintuck territory.

Irony: Ended up conquering New France a good 10 turns before I even declared war on the Cherokee!

I have played the opening turns of GB in several variations. My current campaing worked out as outlined below

Research plan: First the enclosure tech for farms, then empiriscism. Next, carbines and bayonets. As I acquired more universities, Oxford specialized in military, Cambridge in industry, Dundee (Scotland) in enlightenment, Sault St. Marie (Quebec) mostly in industry, the one if Montreal in military, Decca (Bengal) in industry, Hartford (CT, New England Fed) in whatever was available.

Universities vs Industry: Benares (Hindustan) operated only until Decca was built. It was torn down, along with the pleasure palace, because Hindustan's towns are all prosperous or wealthy, while Bengal's are very poor. The French University was torn down immediately after capture, along with those in Persia, and other captured territories.
I prefer small population areas for universities (Quebec, Montreal, Boston) due to the ease of maintaining order with small garrisons. Even a single militia unit gives 2 suppression (at least early in the game). The first two were supplemented with church + inn, the last with just a church. Bengal has both church + inn.
Built observatories everywhere, except London. The British museum is preferable (+5 happiness for both classes goes a long way to counter the clamor for reform).

First turn:

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Cabinet:
Fire the idiot PM, got a 4-star version of Cloudesly Abbot (random, other games he was a 3-star).
Policies:
Europe taxes 3-1 for growth, Americas taxes 2-2 for stopping unrest.
Diplomatic offensive:
(a) Swap Rupert's Land for French Guyana. Add tech as sweetener (France wanted 3200 gold otherwise).
(b) Ally with as many minor factions as possible. Most German factions, Savoy, Genoa, Italian States, etc.
(c) Trade pacts with Marathas, Ottomans & Austria.
Buiding & Upgrades
(a) French Guyana, build the mine.
(b) Build the remaining farms in GB
(c) The happiness buildings in England and Scotland (can't remember if turn 1 or 2).
(d) Tear down the religious school in Oxford.
Navy:
(a) Recruit indiamen in all 6 trade ports.
(b) The fleet in the Irish sea sent to Ivory Coast.
(c) A 6th-rate from the Channel fleet sent Madagascar Straits.
(d) A sloop from the Channel fleet took units from Ireland to GB, then sent to MS.
(e) The remaining ships of the Channel fleet docked.
(f) The two Americas fleet combine and attack nearest pirate fleet. Captured fluyt, lost the brig.
(g) Two damaged sloops go on a 'suicide' mission, attack the pirate island ports so they can't build. The two frigates and remaining sloop set sail to Jamaica (and have enough MP to move only 1 hex).
(h) Fluyt goes to Bahamas to pick up Bahamas garrison + the ranger & milita unit that magically appeared in the Bahamas when I swapped Rupert's Land. Fluyt repaired in the mean time.

Evidence of a memory leak or sneaky, behind-the-scenes record keeping by CA: When I auto-calced this battle the first time E:TW started after booting up the computer (regardless of diff. level), I captured the fluyt (most of the time, sometime thes brig) and lost my brig, and sometimes one sloop. If I loaded the save and recalced, all pirate ships were destroyed and I lost both a brig and a sloop. Same result regardless of how many times the game was reloaded. Same result after exiting E:TW, restarting it & loading the game!!! Only a reboot of the computer resulted in the capture of the fluyt.

Military:
(a) Bahamas units moved to port, along with Rupert's Land contingent that was teleported.
(b) Recruit two colonial line inf. at Jamaica.
(c) Enough money left to recruit one line inf. @ London.
(d) Leave one pikeman in Ireland (until governor's building can be upgraded, the Irish were not happy).
(e) Move remaining Irish units to the sloop, transport to England.
(f) Combine England units with the Irish units. One general stays behind.

Second turn:

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Building and Upgrades:
(a) Continue with happiness buildings, governor's buildings. Aiming for observatory in Scotland, and British museum in England.
(b) Oxford builds a school.
Diplomacy:
(a) Declare war on New Spain. My allies join, Spain defends its protectorate. France remains neutral.
(b) Capture & sell Flanders to UP for 6000 gold.
(c) Make peace with Spain (but not New Spain).
Army & Navy:
(a) Channel fleet transports England army to Flanders' port. Army captures Flanders. Returns to ship for long voyage to India.
(b) Fluyt takes Bahamas troops, joins the frigate fleet.
(c) The two badly damaged sloops succeed in their missions. They find the pirate ports empty, and quickly seize them.

Turns 3-15
Americas:

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Without their ports, the pirates recruited infantry units to kick out my sloops. I kept reoccupying until land forces arrived.
First target was T&T. Captured. Repaired. Next turn, the army boarded the fleet and moved on to Windward Isles. Shipyard demolished, trade port built instead.
Second target was Windward Isles. This was a nastier fight, but won by my troops (auto-calc win, despite 1/3 GB - 2/3 pirates odds). Troops replenished. Board ship, dockyard demolished, trade port built.
The plan was to attack New Andalucia and the neighboring province. Unfortunately, the Dutch did not reinforce Flanders sufficiently. France declared war. I joined. The next turn I offered peace to France, and was accepted. Unfortunately, I had to load the game from the previous turn, and the second time France refused.
New plan: The Americas army, already in port above Martinique lands next to the capitol (can't enter port, French have ships in it). Capture Martinique next turn. France accepts peace. Wait a turn (repairing Martinique) before heading south to New Andalucia.
Land next to New Andalucia. New Spain is upgrading its barracks and building the first level of canon factory. Wait two turns for it to finish, capture New Andalucia. Recruit two dragoons, take army on ship, immediately go to the port of the next region.
Master Plan DOA: The same turn Spain annexes New Spain, my army gets teleported back to New Andalucia. Army board ships for long trek to Georgia.

India:

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The Marathas & Mughals are locked in a deadly struggle. The Marathas have made some headway, but the front lines shift. Mughals recapture Orisca and Ciscar, only to lose it to me.
Ex-English Army lands in Ahmednagar. Captures it. City upgraded. Recruits sepoys and later East India Co. infantry. Capture province north of Ahmednagar. Then march on to Hindustan. This was a nasty battle in an earlier game. This time Hindustan is lightly defended, as the Mughal have launched a counter-offensive against the Marathas. Hindustan easily captured. City repaired. Buildings upgraded where possible.
The nearly full stack army splits into two. A small group moves on to Bengal, then Orisca & Ciscar. The larger group moves west, to Rajpootana (in my Marathas game, this is where the Mughals had been concentrated).
Turns out the Mughal deployment is the opposite this time. Rajpootana is defenseless. Bengal lightly defended. So is the capital of O&C. However, the remaining large stack of Mughals is attacking the Marathas in the region to the west of O&C!

Europe:

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Build, build, build. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade.
England acquires two new trade ports relatively quickly. Make trade agreements with Russia, Savoy, Italian States. Much later (~ turn 50) with Poland, once P-L manages to build a trade port.

Trade theaters:

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Continue to build IM like crazy.
First six indiamen: pick up all four spice slots in the East Indies. The remaining two go to MS.
The Irish Sea fleets arrives in IV, occupies all four remaining trade slots (one spot begins Portugese).
Remaining two warships arrive in MS, occupy two spots.
The three damaged sloops in the Carib are not yet able to rest, they get sent to Brazil to occupy trade spots.
New indiamen: Rush to occupy remaining spot in MS and Brazil. Then relieve the military ships. The six Channel Fleet ships return to the Channel, where they are joined by three 4th rates.
The three sloops finally return to the Americas, and get a well deserved R&R while they are repaired.

Turns 15-50:
Send more IM to trade theaters, so there are at least two traders in each spot. Commodity prices almost collapse, so I halt recruiting IM for a while.

Americas:

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Disaster strikes, or the Master Plan Goes Down the John once again: Iriquois declare war on the Colonies. A large stack moves into America territories. Stupidly, attacks fully garrisoned Boston, and gets beaten. Why not attack undefended NY or Maine?

The Americas army , off the Bahamas, cancels the previous plan (of attacking the Cherokee), rushes to NY. Disembarks. Destroys Iriquois stack, then captures the three Iriquois regions in order.

War against France: In the mean time, a small reinforcement stack from the Bahamas (1 arty, 3 col. line inf., 2 dragoons) lands in NY. The two dragoons separate to destroy a marauding Iriquois two-unit stack (pitiful rememanants of prior engagement). Seeing how undefended the French territories are, I declare war, and the inf. + arty. occupies the religious school across the river. The French units (original garrison in Montreal) attack, beaten back. For some reason, they back into GB-owned Iriquois territory instead of Montreal itself. The dragoons destroy them. Montreal is taken, and Quebec the next turn.

Two gentlemen pop-up (Daniel Defoe is the first), of all places in French Guyana, within three turns of each other. They are sent to Sault St. Marie. Two others that appear at later times (in F.G. & New Andalucia!) are transported to S.S.M. and the new university in Montreal. Daniel Defoe duels the three French gentelmen in the university, killing one, and wounding the other two in three consecutive turns.

As soon as I capture Montreal, the Hurons declare war. In a few turns, they send two consecutive stacks, promptly destroyed by the original Americas army and the reinforcement stack (conquerors of New France), both reinforced with some Hessians and col. line inf. The main Huron settlement is captured. The reinforcement stack moves to the gold mine while the main army moves south to destroy the Cherokee (so that I can finally annex the USA!).

Suddenly, two stacks of French appear in Rupert's Land. Alarmed, I offer peace to France. Having lost Flanders (see below), Upper Canada and New France, and all of its fleets (except the one hiding in New Foundland's port), France accepts peace. My allies continue the war.

The Cherokee are conquered in a series of several bloody battles. My veteran stack first met a full stack in northern Kentucky. During the AI's turn this stack moved back into my stacks range, triggering another deadly battle (Cherokee stack destroyed). My stack then attacked Kentucky, defeating both its and neighboring Cherooke capitol's armies. Immediately attacked Cherokee territory. Destroyed the remenants of the stacks from Kentucky, the Cherokee garrison falls back into Florida. All of my units are badly depleted. The largest line infantry unit has only 18 men in it! One militia stack has only three men! Replenishments keep being ordered.

Reinforcements (a dragoon, native cavalry, militia inf) rush from the Iriquois, Algonquin and Michigan territories to reinfore.

Finally the main stack moves to capture Georgia. Mission accomplished. The Thirteen Colonies, plus the region they captured from the French!, join GB.

The conquered territories are repaired, rebuilt, upgraded.

India:

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After Rajpootana is captured, Persia declares war. Send several small stacks into Rajpootana, while the Mughals conjure up one-unit stacks from Sindh. The large Mughal army in the east moves back towards O&C. The choice is clear. Troops are recruited in Ahmednegar to capture Sindh, a small group moves to capture Kashmir, and the main force destroys the Persian stacks in several turns. Then three stacks (two yeomanry from England, two dragoons, and general+arty+inf.) move into Afghanistan. After its capture, the three stacks move towards Baluchistan. In one of the rare manual battles that I fought, a bug causes my King's Own Infantry (1st Line) and artillery unit to swap men. I end up with a 113 men artillery unit, and only 18 men in my three-chevron line infantry. The very first unit to reach three chevrons (and hence named King's Own) drops to a single chevron after reinforcements.

The war against Persia continues. I reinforce the stack with more troops from India (roughly 10 East Ind. Line Inf. and another arty.), and move into Persia. The Persians have a full stack in Persia's port. This army is attacked. Defeated, it moves into Baluchistan. My army can't catch up with it, so it moves on to Tehran instead. When Persia (the region) is captured, and Persia accepts peace, this marauding Persian stack teleports to Baghdad, which the Persians apparently captured from the Ottomans. Peace (for me) in the Indian theater for the next decade or so.

Marathas (my allies) declare war on Portugal, capture Goa. A single Portugese ship blockade the port at Sirinagar. The first turn, the Marathas send an inf. unit to kick it out, but then that unit moves elsewhere. The Portugese ship moves back in, and my trade with the Marathas goes out the window.

Europe:

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After declaring war on France, a small stack from London moves to capture Flanders. The original plan was to give it back to UP, and help defend it. After seeing how rich it is, I decide to keep it. After we make peace, France is left with a continuing war with all the minor nations that surround it.

Turns 51 - 63
The Destruction of France:

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At the start of the 56th turn, I notice that Alsace-Loraine is now German (captured by Wurtemburg to be precise). I immediately decide to send my veterans from Americas, on R&R in Georgia, to capture France. I know a French stack is near the border with Savoy, as I've seen them battle a Savoyard stack several times, thanks to my trade lane with Savoy. After saving the game, I send the troops from Flanders to attack Paris as a recon mission. I plan to load the game afterwards.

My little army consists of 1 general, 1 horse regiment, 1 12lb foot arty., 4 line inf., 1 milita, and 1 pike. In Paris, I find two yeomen cavalry, 1 uhlan cavalry, two canon regiments, 1 ranger, 1 militia, and 13 line inf. The odds are ~ 1:4 against me, judging from the bar.
As this was a recon mission (to be loaded), I say "what the heck" and press the auto-calc. Much to my chagrin, the French appear to have lost no troops in the post-combat report, while my army is wiped out. Only the general, the arty., and three line inf. units remain (18 in the largest group). I click OK, expecting to see either the retreat or death animation. I am puzzled when neither appears. It takes me a few seconds to realize that the Union Jack is flying over Paris, and the little news paper icon is flashing at the bottom. France is destroyed! I had misread the after-combat report.

I save immediately! I load the prior save to check how I could have possibly won. The stupid French AI had not researched a single military technology. The fact that I had captured his second university early on, and assasinated his only European gentleman in turn 2, caused the French AI's demise. His three North American gentlemen had been chased out of S.S.M. by none other than the famous author Daniel Defoe, who killed one and wounded the other two.

Paris is a boiling couldron though, -9 nobility and -6 middle class happiness. A single dragoon unit (the only reserve I have left in London) ships over. All buildings are repaired. The French university and two catholic churches are demolished. Tax exemption ordered.

Next turn, I receive both the strike and letter-of-demand. But, the happiness levels have already switch to positive. I build churches in two very poor town slots, everything else goes to industry. within a couple of turns, France is taxed, and by turn 63 is my richest province (17K), followed closely by Hindustan (15k).

Cleaning up the French Territories in the Americas:

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The four French colonies (upper & lower Louisiana, Rupert's Land and Newfoundland) are quickly captured. Lower Louisiana by my veteran stack, Rupert's land by the old "reinforcement stack", then the other two by newly recruited troops.

Pueblo nations declare war on me, and sends two large stacks to Lower Lousiana. The veteran stack attacks the first stack, which retreats right next New Orleans. I have a new group of units there, a howitzer, couple of dragoons, three line inf., and a newly recruited general. The P.N. stack is destroyed by this group the next turn, after it stupidly moves within 1 hex of my interception range, instead of retreating. The veteran stack then moves eastward, to defeat the second large stack at the border. The new stack hops on a sloop, lands in Texas, and captures its capital the next turn. The Pueblo are destroyed.

Kicking out the Spanish from the Americas
An Invasion Plan Inspired by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941

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The Spanish have 8 regions in the Americas. They have also reinforced the region with at least three powerful fleets. However, Florida is empty.

A rake also finds Mexico City empty. I recruit a couple of extra sloops. My hardy sloops from the start of the campaign are once again pressed into service, with one or more expected to be destroyed. The veteran unit is broken up into four groups, to be transported to Mexico, Panama, Guatemala and Cuba. Troops are recruited in Jamaica (for Puerto Rico), New Andalucia (the neighboring region) and Georgia (for Florida). The army that has just conquered the P.N. moves north, towards New Mexico, leaving behind a dragoon to maintain order.

War is declared on turn 61. Most sloops enter into a Spanish port. The Cuba group lands on a beach, the sloop has enough movement points to escape to the Bahamas. The Guatemala group lands on a beach as well. The Spanish have a ship in its port, but my sloop has enough MP to escape to a friendly port. Several regions are captured.

The Spanish send a fleet to occupy Jamaica's port. About 5 fleets raid my trade lanes. My net income falls from 60k to a mere 30k. However, the remaining Spanish regions are captured on turn 62. I offer peace to Spain, and it is grudgingly accepted.

Destruction of Persia:

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Around turn 59 or 60, I declare war on Persia. A small group moves into Azerbaijan (3 colonial milita, 1 E.I.Co. line inf., 1 arty, 1 general). It encounters a 6-unit Persian stack, reinforced by an arty. unit from Baku. Auto-cal wins, but barely. My army retreats to village near the Persian border. Two dragoons from Tehran are sent as reinforcements.

The remaining part of the veteran stack moves into Mesopotamia, but can't reach Baghdad. Next turn, Baghdad is captured from the army that I had defeated over a decade ago. The Persians did not have enough funds to replenish. I now see a large Persian army up north, at the border with Anatolia. Next turn, the dragoons reach the replenished army, Baku is captured, Persia is no more!

Economic Situation:

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Despite having multiple stacks of veteran armies, I am bringing in close to 70k. I am in the process of upgrading all remaining plantations (the newly conquered ones) to maximum (3rd) level. Upgrading the sugar plantations to level 4 will have to wait until the relevant industrial technology is discovered, which will probably take another 10-20 turns.

Diplomatic Situation:

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I am well hated by everyone except the Ottomans (friendly) and the Marathas (very friendly). The Dutch are barely indifferent, and that is after lots of state gifts.

Economic Situation:

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Most roads upgraded to 3rd level. Almost all farms upgraded to max. All average/ growing/ wealthy/ prosperous industrial towns upgraded to 3rd level. Waiting for tech advances to upgrade further. The very poor towns have been upgraded to 2nd level. All mines to second level. There are three indiamen per trade node.

Future plans:
1. Consolidate the Americas

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The Hurons are still in their last territory. My rake, which has been sitting outside their capital for at least a decade (you don't want to know how many negative movement modifiers he has by now) hasn't seen any movement outside their territory. The AI simply shuffles his units around.

As soon as I consolidate my veteran stack, it will move up to New Foundland, and capture the Inuit. Lets see how fearsome they are! The Hurons will be destroyed either by the veteran stack, or the group currently in Ruppert's Land, after it is reinforced.

The New Mexico group will advance on the Plains Nations, after it is also reinforced. This whole operation might take 10 to 20 turns.

I will either buy the Dutch territories, or take them by force. I assume there is an achievement for consolidating the Americas, as there is one for India (which I unlocked as the Marathas).

As soon as my veteran stacks are finished, they will be transported to England.

2. India

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Well, the Marathas have been good to me. But I want it all! Mysore will be the first to go. Then the Marathas. However, Sirinagar is at the verge of revolution (low class happiness = 0). I have sent three priests (8-9 stars!) to increase religious unrest there, and to push the state to revolution. As the Marthas don't have any soldiers garrisoned there, I hope to see it happen soon.

After that, the tanks will roll. Well, at least the howitzers, infantry, & cavalry will.

Once India is mine, all of the veteran stacks will be sent back to England.

3. Europe

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If the Dutch prove to be obstinate, and do not sell their territories, they will die.

The Moroccans will probably be among the first to fall to my veteran colonial armies. I will send some troop east, into the Barbary States.

Other troops will be sent to France. If Portugal is still alive, I will land a full stack there. Though are alliance war broken a long time ago, we still have indefinite military access on both sides. Then 2-3 full stacks will march on to Barcelona & Gibraltar.

Afterwards, I will sweep clean the rest of the Spanish lands.

The German states will follow.

And then, who knows? I want to keep several big countries around for the trade revenue. That would mean Russia, Sweden, the Ottoman Empire,

Austria-Hungary and Poland-Lithuania will survive, as long as they don't DoW on me.

In summary, I started out to play a prestige game, but will soon surpass the world domination requirements. I probably need another couple of decades to finish the tech tree, simply because the last few long duration research projects need to be researched consecutively, and can't be done in parallel. I will tear down either Oxford or Cambridge, and convert it to an economic building, whichever one is more profitable. Once the tech tree is finished, all universities, except the remaining modern university in England, will be destroyed, to be replaced with economic building. Likewise with most of the churches around the globe. As soon as sufficient levels of the population are converted to Protestantism, the churches will be destroyed. Same for the pleasure palaces.

By now, India is at 3-2 taxation, ramping up to 3-3 shortly. Europe and the Americas will follow soon.

[anweRU]

Especially the French are dangerous: they have many small fleets hanging around the channel: all of those tend to attack British ports upon English declaring war on French or vice versa. Placing a unit of milia in each England's trading port is a good idea too (the enemy fleet cannot take the port over (necessitating an extra turn for port repairs, which would be impossible if the treasury was in red) that way: they can just blockade it and trade can resume as soon as the enemy fleet is removed.

Good recommendation about the garrison. In my game, the French fleets were mostly docked. I had to flush them out with a depleted land unit that occupied their ports. Then my fleet of 4th, 5th & 6th rates and brigs blasted them out of the water. I even captured several 6th rates & brigs...