How is your Victoria Game going?

What's the game year? How many people are working in your factories? The industrial score isn't calculated on just the # of factories alone, but also # of workers and profit generated. You can increase the number of craftsmen by using your national focuses (although I think you can colonize in Africa at the game start since some of the regions already have Portuguese regions), or by waiting for population growth and your RGOs to fill up, after which the people will go to your factories looking for work. You could also try to beat up your artisans by raising middle-class taxes and demoting them to craftsmen, but they might start getting militant and revolt against you. I think the profit factor was toned down because France always skyrocketed to first place with luxury clothes and furniture factories every game.

Portugal doesn't start with impressive prestige, so gaining a few points there so you can buy your resources ahead of the other minors would improve your access to coal in the market. You could try conquering some African or SE Asian country that has coal, although off the top of my head I can't think of one. Maybe Siam, Viet Nam, or one of the other ones up there has a coal RGO, Indonesia has mostly tea and gold mines (which are great in their own right). More coal will also flood onto the market as RGOs start to fill up and nations start developing advanced technologies, so don't despair.

Also, being that you are Portugal, you are probably going to have a little difficulty industrializing. It's not going to happen overnight. ;)

Note: strictly speaking, as a civilized nation or secondary power you sell your coal to the world market, and then you have to buy it back in order of prestige unless you are a great power and have a sphere, in which case you get first crack at your spherelings' resources before they go to the world market. So conquering a source of coal won't necessarily solve your problem. However, winning battles and a war will gain you prestige, which moves you up in the rankings as far as purchasing stuff goes, and when you eventually get to be a great power it will matter.

That's very helpful, thank you. Although it seems a little non-sensical that I have to sell my RGO goods to the market and then buy them back... there is no way to stockpile goods from your factories to use yourself? For example, by building a small arms factory, am I able to stock the arms for myself without other nations having first pickings? That can't be right... Although I suppose it would make war-mongering too easy. :lol:

EDIT: and it was only early 1840s. So yeah, very early in the industrialisation process.
 
My PDM test game as France: It's about 1855, I have so far grabbed all of Prussia west of the Rhine. No pix sorry.
 
That's very helpful, thank you. Although it seems a little non-sensical that I have to sell my RGO goods to the market and then buy them back... there is no way to stockpile goods from your factories to use yourself? For example, by building a small arms factory, am I able to stock the arms for myself without other nations having first pickings? That can't be right... Although I suppose it would make war-mongering too easy. :lol:

EDIT: and it was only early 1840s. So yeah, very early in the industrialisation process.

Well, strictly speaking, you never own the goods. Your capitalists, or farmers, laborers, artisans, or whatever, own the goods, they sell them to the market, and then buy what they need with the money. There are basically one or nine markets in the game, dependent on how you look at it--the great powers' private playgrounds, and the global market that everyone exchanges in.

You can choose to stockpile material as the state, and then allow your people to buy out of your stockpile on the trade screen. By default, this is turned off. However, your stockpile will only build up when you could otherwise buy (i.e. prestige order). So you can use the stockpiles to smooth out the curves but not avoid global shortages for any prolonged period of time. I especially recommend stockpiling wine, liquor, weapons, canned food, etc. to make sure you can raise troops in the future. Sometimes, the demand for these goods gets so great in the late game you might not be able to buy enough to make new brigades.

As a small nation (like Portugal), you also should keep some canned food, ammunition, artillery, and small arms available in case of war. If your home country's ports are blockaded and Spain is hostile, you won't be able to buy and sell stuff on the global market. Then, all your troops will lose organization because they won't get their supplies.

If it's only 1840s, you probably won't have too much success. Early-game, most of the RGOs are nearly empty, and Portugal isn't exactly the most population-dense nation, so it will be hard to build up craftsmen in the factories. Don't even bother trying to get clerks yet, you need high literacy and a good base of craftsmen to sustain them. The other problem is that once the country gets crowded, people will start emigrating to the Americas. If you increase your immigrant attractiveness by passing political and social reforms, more people will stay in your country (and thus you will have more potential workers to industrialize with).
 
Diplomatically I'm pretty safe for now, but I'll be sure to stockpile up some weaponry and food for my soldiers. And yeah, I'm having a hard time getting people into the factories. So many artisans in Portugal. I'm taxing the middle strata heavily and the poorer even heavier still; I want the middle to become poor and the poor to stay poor.

How long approximately will it take to fill the country up with workers, and when should I change my focus to something else? Like clergy, my research rate is pathetic. 13% literate, ha.
 
Diplomatically I'm pretty safe for now, but I'll be sure to stockpile up some weaponry and food for my soldiers. And yeah, I'm having a hard time getting people into the factories. So many artisans in Portugal. I'm taxing the middle strata heavily and the poorer even heavier still; I want the middle to become poor and the poor to stay poor.

How long approximately will it take to fill the country up with workers, and when should I change my focus to something else? Like clergy, my research rate is pathetic. 13% literate, ha.

It takes a while. It really depends on who you play as, i would personally switch to encouraging clergy though.
 
I'll finish off a few factories then switch to clergy.

Spoiler :
and I should be in your signature list because that day is my birthday :mischief:
 
Diplomatically I'm pretty safe for now, but I'll be sure to stockpile up some weaponry and food for my soldiers. And yeah, I'm having a hard time getting people into the factories. So many artisans in Portugal. I'm taxing the middle strata heavily and the poorer even heavier still; I want the middle to become poor and the poor to stay poor.

How long approximately will it take to fill the country up with workers, and when should I change my focus to something else? Like clergy, my research rate is pathetic. 13% literate, ha.

Strictly speaking, your country will never "fill up" with workers because factories can grow to massive sizes. Most of the games I have finished I have had around 20% to 35% craftsmen, and I still had a significant number of farmers, laborers, etc.

You might not be taxing your middle class as high as you think you are--check out your tax efficiency percentage. That's the portion of taxes that are actually collected, and until you research a bunch of the +5% tax collection technologies you probably won't be breaking their backs. The best way to tell how effective your taxation is is by looking at those pie charts and seeing what % of your people are getting luxury needs, everyday needs, and bare necessities met. If you mouseover each piece of the pie chart, it will tell you who is being affected (i.e. 99% of my clergy are getting their luxury needs, but only 60% of my artisans are getting everyday stuff).

As Portugal, I would first try to use my NFs for clergy to get to that magic 2%, and if I had NFs to spare I would look at colonizing Africa. I think Portugal starts with some African territories half-Portuguese and half unclaimed, and you can claim the entire region with an NF years before others can colonize in Africa.

As to research, the techs that grant +50% research points and improve education efficiency by 10% are a must. One of the middle education techs gives you the Darwinism invention, which gives you +50% education efficiency (I think, look in the middle of the Culture techs). Once you get that, your people's literacy will start climbing fast. Also, literacy helps promotion to craftsmen and clerks, which will encourage more of those peasants and artisans to become factory workers. Don't worry, industrialization will get easier as time goes on!
 
My tax efficiency was low - about the 20-30% mark - so maybe I wasn't taxing them as highly as first thought.

Getting soldiers seems to be a bit problematic however. I have the right goods for them - arms, canned food, ammunition... but I struggle to recruit brigades. Shall I set my focus for Soldiers to get more people into the soldier POP? How exactly does it work?
 
My tax efficiency was low - about the 20-30% mark - so maybe I wasn't taxing them as highly as first thought.

Getting soldiers seems to be a bit problematic however. I have the right goods for them - arms, canned food, ammunition... but I struggle to recruit brigades. Shall I set my focus for Soldiers to get more people into the soldier POP? How exactly does it work?

It'll be low for most of the game. ;)

If you are lacking in soldier POPs, then setting a national focus on soldiers or increasing your military spending will generate more of them for you. I tend to leave my military spending as high as possible throughout the game to get me more soldier pops. I use my NFs for soldiers more rarely--generally, I am colonizing, trying to recruit clergy or later clerks to up my research rate, encouraging promotion to capitalists to increase rate of industrialization, etc.

To even start recruiting a brigade, you need to have a minimum soldier population in any one province (1,000 I think) to recruit a single brigade, and then an extra 1,000 for each subsequent brigade. They have to be of the same ethnicity, so 600 Portuguese and 600 African minors cannot form a brigade, but either 1,200 Portuguese or 1,200 African minors could. Also, if a unit takes losses in battle, some of the soldier POPs in its home state will be removed to replace losses in the brigade. As time goes on, and if your soldier pops don't grow, you might be stuck with brigades at reduced strength that cannot replenish (the icon in the army popup window changes from a normal soldier to a yellow soldier to a red one). If the strength of a brigade is low, you are at peace, and the soldier pop is depleted, your brigade may auto-disband--there aren't enough people left to fill the ranks. So, those extras that don't let you recruit a new brigade are still useful, especially as wars drag on.

If you get into a big war, remember you can mobilize your poor people into infantry units (the # is right under your current and total sustainable brigade #s). Because of this, I tend to recruit a more artillery-heavy and cavalry-heavy main army with my soldier POPs, and then supplement it with drafted infantry during the big wars.
 
Got bored of Portugal and their very slow industrialistation, so I started up a game as Two Sicilies. How different! Within the 4 years to 1840 I have 7-8 factories fully stocked with workers, unemployed craftsmen just begging for new factories to be built and my industrial score was skyrocketing. After about 10 years I was 5th in the world! It's now 1855, and over 17% of my population are craftsmen in the factories. I'm beginning to think that's a few too many though...

Anyway, I'm stuck as to where to go from now. I have my industrial base. I have a very sizable army that could easily become bigger with some NF persuasion. My goal is to form Italy, but achieving this seems slightly problematic. All Italian minors are either under France or Austrian influence. I have no CBs to go to war for some states. Whenever I try and play the diplomatic game I get my embassy banned so can't influence any further. And although I have a sizable army, it's no match for that of Austria or France.
 

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Heh, first games usually go like that. :)

How close are you to uniting Italy? Playing the diplomatic game to gain influence is tough, but you can pull it off. They usually ignore you while you get yourself up to Cordial, sometimes to Friendly, but then they start banning you when they get to 65 and you have to hit 100 to knock them out of sphere. Stop influencing the moment they discredit you (because that cuts your influence points by 75%!) and then start again once the effect wears off. Go one at a time, maybe grab the Culture techs that give you more diplomatic influence, and you can break the French and Austrian hold.

And of course, you will eventually have to declare war on Austria to take Milan. You might be able to grab it when Austria is at war with Prussia, Russia, or France (depends on the politics of your game, usually Prussia but sometimes surprises happen).
 
No closer to forming than when I started. :lol: Egypt is the only country in my sphere, and whenever I try to take an Italian minor through diplomacy Austria/France get annoyed and ban me. I have 40% diplomatic influence bonus from techs though, so maybe I should try again. Expansion is needed, really - I can't expand my industry without more space!
 
No closer to forming than when I started. :lol: Egypt is the only country in my sphere, and whenever I try to take an Italian minor through diplomacy Austria/France get annoyed and ban me. I have 40% diplomatic influence bonus from techs though, so maybe I should try again. Expansion is needed, really - I can't expand my industry without more space!

The Concert of Europe doesn't like your little upstart power! You get the ban-hammer!

Keep at it, you'll get there eventually. If only Austria would suffer from a revolution, that would break their sphere. Then you'd just have to get Sardinia-Piedmont from the French and you'd be good to go.
 
My game as Sardinia-Piedmont saw the German Empire formed with minimal help from me. The only assistance I offered was when they fought France. I did not join their war against Austria Hungary for the simple reason that they did not ask me to join.

I am still struggling to break France's hold over the Papal States so I can annex them and form Italy.

But I did fight a successful war against the Russian Empire with my allies, the then North German Federation, Austria Hungary, Ottoman Empire and scores of minor German states now annexed by the German Empire to humiliate them. A war I was impressed with my troops, they stood their ground against double their numbers and pulled out with a victory with no help from nearby allied troops.

Spoiler :



EDIT: An interesting fact: France is losing ground for the first time I can see ever since I started this game. They started in 2nd and generally find themselves in 1st by the end of the game, right now after their humiliating defeat at the hands of myself, the NGF, and the Ottoman Empire with Algiers they have dropped to 4th with the USA in 3rd and the German Empire in 2nd. (Though I predict that after they rebuild they may be back in 2nd soon, but I am going to try and keep them down.) :p

EDIT 2: As predicted France rebounded quickly. I was not able to slow down their recovery, though fortunately my strong and reliable ally remains in 2nd and is in serious contention for 1st, only needing some 50 points to take 1st. I eagerly watch with anticipation for the chance that someone other than France will dethrone the UK this early in the game.

Spoiler :
 
You should've included the Wargoal "Remove from Sphere" against France (for the papal states) when you went to war with them!
 
Funny story there... the war against France was a very interesting war. I was dragged in by the North German Federation who wanted some border provinces so I moved 60,000 troops to capture Nice and move along the coast while the NGF crushed France in the north, which saw battles that exceeded 500k troops in a single engagement. :eek: My ally Switzerland (which was in my SoI) joined and brought their 40k troops to bolster our southern campaign.

From the beginning I did add the war goal of removing the Papal States from France, and needed only 5 more warscore to achieve victory, occupying Corsica and 4 other provinces along the Med sea, along with another 3 that Switzerland occupied. At this time I had 2 provinces near Spain that were ready to fall, roughly 85-95% siege, when suddenly the NGF brokered peace and got their land and as a result my war ended. :(

But I am working on my diplomatic research line and hopefully I will be so diplomatically awesome that France will fall for my sleight of hand as I swipe Rome from under their noses. All without once again lifting my gun against France. :p
 
That sucks :( Also for the borders are you using a graphics mod? I really like how dark they are.. Maybe you could tell me where to get it?/How to do it? :D
 
Germany til 1917, 1.3





Second real Victoria game, I'm hooked. Especially since the economy is much less superficial than EU3's, and balance seems to change every time a new patch/mod comes out.

Anyway, I unified Greater Germany first by invading Denmark, then Asserting Hegemony over Austria and stripping Bohemia, unify NGF, second war for Moravia in which I occupy all of Austria. Before peacing with Austria I turn my armies toward France and seize Elsass-Lothringen, use convenient add-to-sphere CB on Austria, and I form German Empire before 1860. My brief moment as the number one power on earth is cut short when first France (who remained number one industrial power for 40 years by cornering the luxury furniture industry) and then Britain overtake me. While the world map was too big for imageshack, I invaded Johore, Tripoli, 60% of Africa, Dai Nam, and Korea, most of which turned into states in short order.

Funny about the military discussion further up the page - after I left my military slider at 100% for the better part of 50 years, I started getting huge numbers of soldier pops...with a nation of 50ish million workers, I have 1500 possible brigades, or about 4.5 million men...I realized this probably inhibited craftsmen promotion since most farmers turned into soldiers, so I set military maintenance to 0 and my industry skyrocketed. Sitting on a huge Fabric, Cement, and modern (telephone, automobile, barrel) industrial complex that finally beat out France's luxury furniture empire. Dreadnought spam recently beat out UK's 12 million soldier POPs, and I passed every possible reform to increase my population - passed up the Russian Empire in population a couple decades ago. I appointed Nationale Partei for state capitalism up til 1905 or so when it became clear that they wouldn't be reelected, so I appointed the sozialarbeiter partei.

I think I'm moving on to PDM. I bought the game at a secondhand shop so I can't register and get the beta patch, but I might just buy the discounted Steam copy at $12. I'm thinking a Russia game would be fantastic - any tips on NFs/tech/economy for this howling, illiterate wasteland (hint hint Antilogic)?
 
I think I'm moving on to PDM. I bought the game at a secondhand shop so I can't register and get the beta patch, but I might just buy the discounted Steam copy at $12. I'm thinking a Russia game would be fantastic - any tips on NFs/tech/economy for this howling, illiterate wasteland (hint hint Antilogic)?

Sounds like you had a good one! I united Germany in my first game as Prussia, haven't gone back to it (until maybe AHD comes out, I'll give Germany another go).

Russia is a challenge; I started a 1.2 game as them and quit it when 1.3 was released (started on my Sweden -> Scandinavia game). Early industrialization is basically futile--your people are too scattered and illiterate, your capitalists too few, etc. to get anything good going, but you might have more luck in the recent patches. You can make some money on the timber industry (and building a few of those factories is a good idea, since you will be the world's #1 supplier). Outside of a a few cement and timber factories, maybe a liquor distillery, you won't be able to keep much open. It's all good though, the Russian industrial menace comes a couple decades later.

I'd start with trying to get clergy in your most populous regions to build up your research points, colonize the rest of Alaska (can't believe Russian AI misses that), and establish China as your sphereling (you have a common border, and thus are in the best position to do so). Getting China in your sphere is amazing, since they will buy up any industrial good you can produce and export tons of resources to you. Build up your sphere with Sweden in the west, Japan in the east, establish protectorates in Central Asia to push your borders, beat up the Ottomans, etc. Then, once your population and their literacy increases, start the inevitable, anachronistic Russian super-industrialization.

I always like to play the game with Great Britain, and threaten their possession of India and the Mediterranean as much as possible. You might be able to pull off colonizing some Pacific Islands, but you are largely out of the Africa race unless you get lucky with the Congo event or load up some transports and claim either Egypt or the Turkish territories in Libya. And then you gotta cross the useless Sahara to get to the better stuff.

You will build up a massive mobilization pool and standing army so long as you fund your military, so that's not a problem. Your worst enemy will be the rebels--Russia is so freakin' huge and your troops so scattered it will be difficult to contain rebels before they can sack provinces, and encourage others to rise up. Early on, you can post troops in hot spots where people actually live (the West, the East coast, and in the one or two cities along the steppes). Unfortunately, the POPs migrate and equalize the population in the game, so you will have to use reserve units across Siberia and Central Asia to maintain control. Use your reforms wisely, make sure you keep an eye on the politics screen.

Late game, I recommend letting your country fall to the first Communist or Fascist rebels you get to prevent future rebellions. Russia needs to be guided with a strong hand. :)
 
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