England Strategy for UHV?

[JHLee]

I have been struggling with England for some days now.
I've tried some radical strategies, like conquering France, expanding in the Russia from the start, and adopting despotism+citizenship to build up early.
However I always fail.
The main problems are:
1) If left untouched France is way too fast in tech.
2) I need tons and tons of hammers for all the settlers, workers, troops and ships.
3) I need to stay ahead in tech while paying all the maintenance for the units.
4) While I am paying the maintenance and investing in settlers rivals such as the Dutch, Mughals, and Sweden beat me in tech.

What is the optimal strategy here?
I beat English UHV once before by conquering France early, but that was before Despotism and Citizenship were nerfed. Now it is way too difficult to manage unhappiness with those civics.

 

[TsarAndreas]

One thing I like about DoC is that it encourages you to think historically without forcing you to do so. As England, it should be in your interest to knobble France, either directly (e.g. 100 years war) or indirectly by supporting anti-French alliances.

My understanding of playing the English is that specialisation is key - London should be your tech hub, settlers built in Ireland, ships in Scotland, troops in the Midlands. Early colonisation of North America and South Africa help to boost the economy too.

Not sure if this translates directly to the latest version, but it might be helpful.

 

[keli]

I found that you have to take out France completely to win the race in tech. I landed 6-7 troops, two trebuchets included, and took Paris and vassalized France(emperor diff). For the colonization UHV, I only settled North America in the last moment and at random places. As soon as the UHV triggered, I tried to gift them to others. For Australia, you don't have to bring any guards, so I just took the settlers and some workers. First colony should be South Africa as soon as possible.

To conquer India I used the trading company event once I had Redcoats and cannons.

 

[TJDowling]

I found that you have to take out France completely to win the race in tech. I landed 6-7 troops, two trebuchets included, and took Paris and vassalized France(emperor diff). For the colonization UHV, I only settled North America in the last moment and at random places. As soon as the UHV triggered, I tried to gift them to others. For Australia, you don't have to bring any guards, so I just took the settlers and some workers. First colony should be South Africa as soon as possible.

To conquer India I used the trading company event once I had Redcoats and cannons.

With Australia you don't even really need to send more than 1 settler. As soon as you have a galleon send one there and then just build two more settlers in the first city. Also, with a small input of settlers, defensive units and workers from Britain you should be able to build the final 2-3 settlerments using your previously established North American settlements, saving on some production back home.

For me the hardest part is always building/sinking enough ships.

 

[8ha8ha]

I am Lucky enough that Spain have killed France. And my major Tech competitor is Mughal

 

[PiR]

Maybe you should not keep the colonies, just found them. Keeping too many of them will hurt tech research.