tjs282
Stone \ Cold / Fish
France is the strongest Civ in the scenario: it has a large cohesive territory and the best units (hideously OP 8.8.1 Imperial Guards and 8.4.2 Cavs -- albeit also the most expensive?), so even at Emperor most of the AI-Civs would likely be walkovers. Would a ROFLstomp be fun to watch?
Britain also has strong units (7.7.1 infantry) but the disadvantage of having to conquer abroad to capture Victory Point Locations (while also defending Gibraltar), so might make for a more interesting game in that respect.
But if you're open to playing anyone else, Chox, then I'd pick the Russians. Their infantry is slightly weaker (6.6.1) but they start with (I think?) the most towns, the largest land area, and a comparatively simple border -- from which they can attack 4/5 of the non-aligned nations directly, allowing expansion and capture of VPLs, without automatically incurring DoWs from either of the locked alliances (I'd start with Prussia and northern Austria, then work south). The main disadvantage for Russia is that barbs will spawn continuously from the hinterlands.
As far as the smaller nations go, I've played this scenario 5 or 6 times now, at Emperor, but the pRNGods have only ever deemed Prussia or the Ottomans as worthy of my tender ministrations. I have won with Prussia (once), and failed to win with both (more than once!). IMO, then, the Ottomans are more difficult, having comparatively few towns but a large territory, most of which is largely unimproved or badly improved (spamming Workers initially, and getting Code Civil ASAP is essential; I add those native Workers back into my towns later, once I start capturing enemy towns and enslaving their populations). But both Prussia and the Ottomans start with large cities, so can also conscript lots of defenders in the early game.
My strategy for both was to (sell off useless improvements like Colosseums and) tool up as quickly as possible, eat as much of Austria as possible before the French and Russians got the chance, then expand further south (if Prussia) or north (if Ottomans), all while cravenly appeasing Napoleon to avoid getting attacked, and keeping enough troops near the Russian border to repel Peter any time he got froggy (grab one town, then make peace!). The Prussian and Ottoman infantry are comparatively weak (4.4.1 and 5.5.1, respectively) vs. the Big Three, so beelining Artillery Tactics (? = Grand Batteries) is also a high priority.
BTW, if you happen to have a NoRaze .exe, I would strongly recommend using it for this scenario, because Settlers aren't buildable -- but City-Culture (border-expansions) is retained on capture, as in Rise of Rome, and the AI will sometimes raze towns (I played this twice recently, first as Ottomans and then as Prussia, and the French burned down Venice both games!).
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