Conquests: Napoleonic Europe strategy/tip thread

[El Duderino]

I must say, after playing this conquest, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I played as Russia, and I had a lot of fun. The smaller map size is nice, because it means that there isn't a huge number of units to deal with. This was one of my favourites, along with Rise of Rome, and the Middle Ages.

Yes, it has its problems, but it also has some very good aspects that made it enjoyable.

 

[dgfred]

Common opinion on the diplo problem is: You are very well allowed to make deals; France and England should get straight MAs with everyone. If you wait until turn 2 most Civ will have MAs/MPPs against you.
Just don't take cities in the deal.
About the Leader: Better wait until turn 3 or so with the GA, you'll benefit a lot more when you have some more Workers already. Make an ICav Army with one MGL, and use #2 for either the MilAc (Paris) or the FP in Marseilles. You cannot build the FP when mobilized, so also wait here as well.
The most important thing about the KoN war are the Silks. Also, sign a RoP with Austria and form a Dyes Colony S of Venice ASAP. With 5 Luxuries, situation will look much better.

@ Doc - Do you have some opening strategies for some of the other civs ? Especially Prussia and England How important
is the FP for France? It seems another Army would be more powerfull
in human hands. If I build the MilAc in Paris, it seems to take over 30
turns to build an Army, almost 1/3 of game . I also find myself
wishing I still had that army instead . What are your theories?

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Sorry, have played neither Prussia nor England (or Austria and Spain). But the RBCiv SGs should help you out here...
I did play:
* Russia - build up, hand-build the FP in Kiev or Smolensk (takes about 30 turns!), and strike with lots of Cossacks after that. Since Cossacks are the only move 3 unit in the game, you won't have any problems to win in time, even with Domination.
* Ottomans - Revolt to Republic at once (REL!), build up (you have about zero Workers), around turn 20 start whacking Austria. Not that interesting, you cannot loose, but it takes ages to reach the theatres.
* France - Fun. Yes, hand-building an Army takes about 22 turns after the GA (Armies are not helped by Mobilization) - but the MilAc also makes existing Armies stronger, and you can cash-rush Armies (~1600gp). The FP is really helpful as soon as you claim more cities; Spain/KoN/even Bordeaux will be pretty corrupt without.
* Sweden - great, great fun. Broker everything you have, take St. Petersburg ASAP, take parts of Denmark, later Prussia.

 

[dgfred]

I wish you would test the others, especially England. I seems fairly easy to
invade in France or Denmark withouth too much problem . When
I play as France I get disgusted with ALL the man-o-wars and pirate ships
moving about, but not really doing anything constructive .

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Oh, in our Sweden game England was about the most helpful AI ally I ever saw . They did land a lot of expeditionary forces, and killed lots of Austrians and Frenchman.

 

[dgfred]

Oh, in our Sweden game England was about the most helpful AI ally I ever saw . They did land a lot of expeditionary forces, and killed lots of Austrians and Frenchman.

Very Interesting . I will look it over . In my games as
France they usually land 4 household cavalry, which I knock off and then
land 4 more units a couple of turns later . Later in the game
they don't have ports or cities very close to drop a big landing
party close by.

 

[dgfred]

Sorry, have played neither Prussia nor England (or Austria and Spain). But the RBCiv SGs should help you out here...
I did play:
* Russia - build up, hand-build the FP in Kiev or Smolensk (takes about 30 turns!), and strike with lots of Cossacks after that. Since Cossacks are the only move 3 unit in the game, you won't have any problems to win in time, even with Domination.
* Ottomans - Revolt to Republic at once (REL!), build up (you have about zero Workers), around turn 20 start whacking Austria. Not that interesting, you cannot loose, but it takes ages to reach the theatres.
* France - Fun. Yes, hand-building an Army takes about 22 turns after the GA (Armies are not helped by Mobilization) - but the MilAc also makes existing Armies stronger, and you can cash-rush Armies (~1600gp). The FP is really helpful as soon as you claim more cities; Spain/KoN/even Bordeaux will be pretty corrupt without.
* Sweden - great, great fun. Broker everything you have, take St. Petersburg ASAP, take parts of Denmark, later Prussia.

@ Doc- How would you handle first turn diplo and MA's, do you still make
those mega-deals for gpt/resourses and Military Alliances all around??

I'm playing Britain right now on Diety and have just had the pleasure of the
'Duke of Wellington's' arrival on the battlefield before Brest . On to Paris!


edit: I have got 2 more leaders since the 'Duke' arrived. 1 more Cav Army (I
will only put 2 units in an Army btw) and 1 to rush the Intelligence Agency
in PARIS !!! I have captured 1 city from the Danes- but Russia
has Copenhagen I have 3 cities from Spain- one with spices and wines and the other by Gilbralter . I am at war with France, Russia, Prussia, Ott & Spain.
France and the Danes are about to be destroyed.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

I'm creating one thread per conquest in order to discuss strategies and experiences with each conquest.

I think this is a great idea! But did you do this? I didn't see it anywhere. How can I find it?

 

[Tomoyo]

I gots me a question 'ere:

How does'ya win by the victory points? I'm playing this'ere scenario with Austria an' I'm arleady at turn 60, but I only have about 24,000 of the points, although I've conquered Prussia, the Kingdom of Naples, and part of de Ottomam Empire, an' I control Vienna, Budapest, Berlin, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Rome, Naples, and that Eastin German VPL. I have binnin an attrition war with the Ottomans for about 20 turns now, trying to counter their 5.5.1 extra hp infantry by leaving Hussars on Mountains for them to attack, since the terrain is so mountainous that it's hard ta find one that's on flat ground ta attack. The Otto's dun seem ta have any Sipahi either, altho they have horses. Level's Emperor, by da way.

 

[Own]

my best win on that was as britain, i conquer france, most of spain, dug halfway into austria but the game ended (there was no way i wasnet going to conquer them) hint: use grand batteries,

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

I gots me a question 'ere:

How does'ya win by the victory points? I'm playing this'ere scenario with Austria an' I'm arleady at turn 60, but I only have about 24,000 of the points, although I've conquered Prussia, the Kingdom of Naples, and part of de Ottomam Empire, an' I control Vienna, Budapest, Berlin, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Rome, Naples, and that Eastin German VPL. I have binnin an attrition war with the Ottomans for about 20 turns now, trying to counter their 5.5.1 extra hp infantry by leaving Hussars on Mountains for them to attack, since the terrain is so mountainous that it's hard ta find one that's on flat ground ta attack. The Otto's dun seem ta have any Sipahi either, altho they have horses. Level's Emperor, by da way.

The lower the level, the harder it is to get enough VPs. I doubt it is possible to win by VPs at below Monarch.
Emperor should work, though.
The problem is not so much the smaller number of AI units you get to kill, it's more the slower growth of their cities, and the fact they build Hospitals far later.
VPs for capturing a city is 100*city size.
On the higher levels, a city like Warsaw easily reaches size 20+, equaling 2000+VPs for this city alone...
Now Tomoyo, if you immediately go out and capture the cities as long as they're small, and as long as the AI has only Musketmen, you of course won't make too many VPs.
The Sipahi: Same is true for Russia. That's the usual problem for AI unit selection - they only look at attack/defence values, and ignore the movement. And Janissaries and Guards are both stronger than the respective Cavalry. Even France mostly builds IGuards, but they usually have lots of ICavs from the time before they could build their guard unit.

 

[Tomoyo]

Well, the Ottos kinda attacked me four turns in...

Then, my Prussian holdings were captured after the Prussians drafted their cities to oblivion...

And finally, the KoN cities were captured by letting the IGuards do most of the fighting, having some Hussars around to kill the cities off...

Right now the only decently-sized cities belong to Britain and France. Russia most likely is mobilized, as is Ottoman Empire, so they can't build Hospitals. Britain has some size 21 cities though. Those IGuards look really daunting, so I don't want to attack France if I don't have to, and there is no way I am conducting a naval invasion of Britain. I guess maybe I should try for Domination by conquering all of Russia and Otto...

 

[Seanirl]

What about if you're playing as Austria?

After finding Prussia too hard, that was my 2nd choice...

I took Berlin, Leipzig and... some city to the east of Berlin. Russia happened to be attacking at the same time and took the other cities except Hamburg... which the Ottomans took >_<

Right now I'm making Hussars and was planning to attack Denmark, but they're in a locked alliance with France >_<

I'm not strong enough to take on anyone either... well no one big.

 

[Tomoyo]

As Austria, I found that Prussia, KoN, Holland, Ottos, and Russia are all enemies that you can take on. Did you consider mobilising?

 

[Blackbird_SR-71]

I'm playing as France and i started out mobilizing and attacked Prussia and KoN at the same time with my two armies. was this a good move? Austria, Russia, Spain, and Denmark are my allies so i don't have to worry about them. I took one city from Prussia and KoN. next turn i'll take Lezpic from Prussia and Rome from KoN. once i finish off these guys who should i go for next? austria? spain? (probably Spain since they have weaker units)

 

[zurichuk]

I'm playing as France and i started out mobilizing and attacked Prussia and KoN at the same time with my two armies. was this a good move? Austria, Russia, Spain, and Denmark are my allies so i don't have to worry about them. I took one city from Prussia and KoN. next turn i'll take Lezpic from Prussia and Rome from KoN. once i finish off these guys who should i go for next? austria? spain? (probably Spain since they have weaker units)

Personally I would go for the nations you are meant to, ie eliminate KoN, eliminate the Netherlands and get Spain to eliminate Portugal if possible, this will get rid of the ww from those nations leaving only ww from England, then the choice is easier (unless of course you already revolted to Monarchy then the above statement is totally irrelevant)

 

[Tomoyo]

Don't you start with max WW, though, since it's a locked war?

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

I'm playing as France and i started out mobilizing and attacked Prussia and KoN at the same time with my two armies. was this a good move? Austria, Russia, Spain, and Denmark are my allies so i don't have to worry about them.

Be carefull with Denmark! I think it's an agressive AI and sometimes it will get you in trouble by attacking your allies. Keep Denmark very busy!
I wish there was a way to DESTROY Denmark, as I think it is the most dangerous enemy of France diplomacy!

I took one city from Prussia and KoN. next turn i'll take Lezpic from Prussia and Rome from KoN. once i finish off these guys who should i go for next? austria? spain? (probably Spain since they have weaker units)

I don't recomend Spain... it takes too much time. Besides it can be a good ally to entretain GB (just put them at war with Portugal).

 

[RegentMan]

I played my first real attempt at this scenario as the Ottomans and won. Got some basic infastructure up, then just massed siphai. Conquered Austria and made good use of my golden age. I also conquered Prussia with the help of the Russians. However, those thugs then proceeded to backstab me and they took, if I recall, six of my cities. However, I eventually got them all back and then some. I amassed the required amount of VP by that time and won. Was glad when it was all over!

 

[zurichuk]

Don't you start with max WW, though, since it's a locked war?

but ww is civ dependent, happiness increases every time one is eliminated as their ww is eliminated, going to war with Prussia or another will just add more ww problems, in any case that's what is says in the ww topic in the War Academy and also what i've experienced