Napoleonic Europe conquest

[AdHHH]

Im about 16 turns from finishing. Just razed Barcelona and am well defended against them but am fighting every other Civ Ill post a finishing screenie when Im finished


Edit: I finished with 43000+ VPs, beating all others comfortably but not by the 60000 limit, and at my peak I was only half way towards domination By the end Id made peace with Austria and Spain, and since the Ottomans weren't posing many problems i pushed through Prussia, taking Berlin (finally!) and razing the city between myself and Denmark. By the time the scenario was finished i had Guards completely blocking the Spanish border, and many conscripts holding the hills between myself and the Austrians. Things Ive learnt...

1. I thought I'd sorted out my diplomacy, wrong! Because Naples had frustrated me in the previous game I went for Prussia after the Dutch, which was a mistake. In my next game I plan to take Amsterdam and Milan as I had previously, then sweep through Italy, *then* take Prussia. An MPP with Russia should make this possible.
2. Next time I'll take Amsterdam and Milan, avoiding a GA trigger, will then have a revolution and trigger it under monarchy
3. Ill try to keep mobilised throughout after the GA; annoyingly you return to peacetime whenever you sign 1 peace treaty.
4. The second MGL is far better used to build a war academy, and from there building is better - i used my first popped MGL to rush the FP in Marseille, which cut corruption by about 100 gpt.
5. Brits aren't a threat but because I left my cities undefended they briefly took Brussels, must keep an eye on them.
6. Despite my initial thoughts, the Spanish fighting the Portugese isn't a great idea. In this game they took Portugal quickly and a lot of my men died because they got extra production from those cities. I will start an alliance with them but if i see them 'winning' Ill try to discourage it from there.
7. The Pentagon thing is great, looking at the army formula I can see I wouldn'tve lost my 2 armies (probably) if the extra man was in there (common sense really, but I didn't know there was an A/D bonus too). Any MGLs popped will also be used to rush this too.
8. My view of the navy was right; it isn't necessary. I scuttled the Navy at the start of the 2nd game and i think it was more useful than those conscript boats, therefore the Naval Acadey isn't worth building (for France), especially when they have no bombard.
9. Russian relations are vital, although they won't endanger France they start in the lead in Civ points and can strike Otto, Pruss and Aus. at any time, and therefore would be a great ally.
10. Ill fortify conscripts on the Spanish border from the start to prevent RoP rape, and I may even leave some cannons there too.
11. I probably don't have to move cannons to Amsterdam because the Prussians throw cavalry at the city, weakening it before my army gets there; Ill probably just take an army and a voltigeur there next time.

Things Im unsure of

1. Why don't the Spanish take Gibraltar? I ally with them at the start, and it would be easy to take as it's next to all there strong cities, but they never do, it's a VPL too so it's even more useful.
2. Does AI attitude just get plain bad? Im 80% sure I didn't break any agreements but no-one would do anything with me by the end of the game (although they would accept gpt).
3. I razed non-VPL cities, good idea? Settlers can't be built, so it's a bit of a 2 edged sword, but i thought it was worth it.
4. What can be done with Denmark, it's bloody useless?! It didn't get me into as many wars as I'd feared but i thought with my supplies they would've at least taken Sweden by the end of the game, but no, nothing doing.
5. How many cannons should be built? I built 1 and stole about 5 all through the game.

Any other comments welcome

And having re-read I now see a link between 2. and 3.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Originally posted by AdHHH
annoyingly you return to peacetime whenever you sign 1 peace treaty.

That's usually what happens when a peace treaty is signed. And when war is declared usually a state of war follows

 

[AdHHH]

Ho ho very funny It isn't helpful when you're fighting the whole world though, that's my point... and you KNOW i was talking about war-time economy

 

[Rustwork]

@adHHH: first read my earlier reply, and be aware of the need to be aggressive, battle is the only way to get VP! domination is almost impossible (for an example: use the cheat by giving MPP for all the other civs' cities on the first turn, and look at the victory screen after each negotiation, this should give you an idea how much land you will need for domination. it is simply too much.) france has the initiative from the start, it is vital you use this advantage. surviving this scenerio is easy, but you must go get the points to win with 60,000!!

i tell you how big my stacks were when i went on the offensive.

don't rush the academy, make an army and get busy on your conquest. paris will build it timely enough anyway. then build armies until you reach your max.

don't revolt, this just allows everyone else to catch up, neutralizing your advantage. secure the lux near naples (this required a few cavalry to do it early enough.) and at least one other lux, i mention where in the other reply. this will be enough happiness. besides, the units you need to stack on your cities for happiness are better used to attack with. many interior cities i didn't even defend until later, i couldn't spare the units. trade your lux as i say on turn one! don't forget to trade with denmark.

mobilize often.

i built whatever gives the extra unit to your army and liked it, but the research involved is a waste and with enough grand batteries and some guards to support the stack your 3 unit armies are fine as they are. the game i won i did not build this wonder.

i mention how to research.

MPP after turn one is not possible, late in the game there are too many embargoes for you to be able to trade anything but gpt. use gpt gifts to help keep other civs off your back. this was very effective (5 per turn seemed to be enough, with an additional gift if they get more aggressive). nothing can be done if denmark gets you in a war but without the gifts these guys will declare on their own.

if you are at war in the east use the mountains in spain as protection, then use those units for an offensive when things get settled. those big spanish cities are excellent VP.

don't raze cities, leave them then counter attack if you don't want them. razing a city takes away the chance for more VP.

attack prussia while you are taking italy, don't wait until after.

i don't want to minimize the importance of a proper defense, but don't over do it. a guard in each city is pleanty, with more attention to vital cities. i defended italy with only one voltiguer in each city, more for naples because of the lux. the AI only landed one weak attack near naples the whole game. if you lose a city just go retake it, and add those VP. be a bit more concerned about the core french cities because they will get razed on occasion (the russians seem to do this the most). these cities are your base of production. the AI tends to use the same tactics so increase defense in the places they previously attacked.

if prussia is attacking amerstdam before you capture it then you are moving too slow.

your correct about the navy, i never built one naval unit.

i'm sure there are players who have been more efficient and quicker with their strategy, but using the principles i mention here and in my earlier reply i reached 60,000 VP with 12 turns to go. it was difficult and i thought i was going to be overrun a few times. russia had stacks of guards (10-20 per) coming at me by the end, but i just went after big spanish and ottoman cities, winning before they could reach me.

post if you have any specific questions. goodluck! this scenerio is a lot of fun! one of the most enjoyable for me to play.

 

[Strikez]

After reading the folowing web page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars I think the time frame should have started a bit earlier giving us more time to play out the scenerio, therefore increasing our chance of victory. Anyone else agree?

 

[AdHHH]

"The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803 until 1815." isn't that how long the scenario lasts? IIRC it begins in 1800, so in fact it is longer than it should be. If it had been monthly turns it would've been too long (at 192 turns!?)

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Originally posted by Strikez
After reading the folowing web page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars I think the time frame should have started a bit earlier giving us more time to play out the scenerio, therefore increasing our chance of victory. Anyone else agree?

Time to employ the well designed and easy to use editor. Turning off the time limit and victory point scoring makes the conquests a whole lot more fun.

 

[KingTux]

If you're having troubles with your allies, why don't you just elliminate them. That's what I did when I played it in v1.00. I just got annoyed with their actions so fast, that I didn't see a reason to keep them around (Besides, Denmark just has one city, why should one city drive your politics?). Try this and it should be a lot easier to keep a good reputation.

 

[AdHHH]

So, is it a good idea to sell Nationalism or not? I used the money from it to upgrade all my Musketeers to Voltigeurs...

 

[Rustwork]

@AdHHH: i haven't tried it.

after reading your post i did some experiments, and it doesn't appear that other civs will trade this tech among themselves. i traded it to denmark and 7 turns later the other civs still didn't have it. i also traded it to russia with the same result.

because russia and otto will benefit from advanced tactics i would not trade it to them since this will allow them to reach adv. tactics sooner (russia will demand nationalism sometimes or you could sue for peace with this as an offer).

now that i have looked closer at this strategy i think it could work. trade lux to russia. and trade nationalism to the others (except otto). the main defensive unit's toughness will not increase. although russia gets a 5 vs. 4 from musketmen, more reason not to trade it to them (they will give you all their gold for wine anyway). nationalism will give more power to defensive units, but i don't think this is a concern.

my initial strategy says trade lux, but trading nationalism will get you max benefit without giving them the happiness. upgrade all your musketmen, and draft as many citizens as you can.

spain and prussia will pay you the most for this tech so my initial thought is to take a stack of conscripts into austria so you can secure some victory points and also establish a dye colony just south of austria. i might give lux to each civ in the hope that they will stay friendly longer, but it seems early wars are started because of denmark regardless, so maybe not.

or, having no active trades with otto i might get a RoP with austria (for wine?) and then attack otto first. this allows you to keep receiving gpt from austria while still being aggressive.

with all those voltiguer you need to attack somewhere. i might use a few to help capture naples (the hills really make this difficult without cavalry). i'm inspired to try this scenerio again. domination?

 

[Qpdaj]

After reading through this thread, I played this scenario taking some of the advice listed.

Personally, I used one of my first ML to build the Forbidden Palace in south-central France.

I basically ignored the British the whole game, though they did manage to land and take out one of my core cities. I made sure after that I had a few ImpCav within range of all of my coastal cities. They never did land more than three units at a time.

Amsterdam was my first target, mostly becuase it was only one city, and one of my main goals with more than 8 civs is to reduce their number to the point when I can see all of them on the Foreign Advisor screen.

I hit the northern most city of Naples next, but then Austria took out the next city down, and I didn't want to cross Austria at that point.

So I took out the Spanish.

This whole time, I tried to keep Prussia and Austria friendly, since they were right next to me.

I initially traded for furs (from Russia), but then found I had some within my borders that just weren't roaded yet. I also traded for dyes from Ottomans(?), but that didn't last too long.

I ended up most of the game with luxories at 20%. I also built a bunch of workers to fill in roads and build a lot more mines.

After Spain, I took a few turns moving all my offensive units back toward my western borders, then Prussia decided to declare war on me.

So Prussia was wiped out next.

By the time they were gone I was close in VPs, so I declared war on Austria, took a few more cities, and that was about it.

As far as razing or keeping cities, unless I needed more support for armies, I only kept the cities with VP locations.

At the end, I had seven armies running around. I ended up using a stack of armies to attack one city, while I used a combination of twenty (or so) batteries with ImpCavs on another. VPs added up quicker that way.

Hit the VP limit with ten turns left. Again, a fun scenario.

 

[Krakenman]

I've played this scenario first Austria then France (after the comp made a disgrace of the Republic).

when i played as France i started by moving into Amsterdam. then i made an all-out invasion into Naples. Britain only landed troops on the mainland once or twice and late in the game.

After finishing off Naples, i made RoP and MP agreements with Austria (Prussia wouldn't accept) and then turned on Spain. I ended up taking about 3/4 of the iberian peninsula, the rest going to austria.

russia declared war on austria and the ottomans, forcing me to fight aswell. i took the 3 southernmost russian cities before he made peace with us.

then i invaded britain and took Cardiff about 5 turns before the game was over.

my advice: grand cannons are a MUST. churn out the armies no matter what and be sure to secure a quick route across the english channel.

 

[Nihilist]

Originally posted by Doc Tsiolkovski

Revolt ASAP back to Monarchy. While that helps a lot with happiness, I consider it a because of the theme.

Is it really a unthematic? Napoleon did end up crowning himself Emperor, after all.

 

[pirke]

I'm currently playing this scenario the first time, as France on regent. In the first turn I sold Nationalism to almost everybody and with the money I upgraded all musketeers and I think it was a good choice. The 2 leaders became 2 armies, I did research the naval academy first and it's fun to annoy the british with those Frigates.

I took Amsterdam with 1 army and a cannon, I took out Naples completely with the other army and some cannons and later some backup units. They were totally no challenge.

I alligned with spain to attack Portugal (to keep them away from my land), a few turns later Prussia and Austria alligned against me, but I almost had conquered Naples by that time, so that wasn't a problem. I alligned with Russia and the Ottomans to Prussia and Austria to keep those countries busy on the other side.

Now I'm fighting Prussia and Austria, progressing not very fast but steadily going. Finished the military academy and my 3rd army almost ready, consisting of guards. I must say I was 3 or 4 times pushing my luck with those 2 armies I had: with 2 or 3 health left attacking conscript or regular forces and barely winning it, but they did win those 3 or 4 times while it happened to be the last man in the city, then my cavalary could move in with it's second movepoint left defending it.

I don't see how you think naval isn't important, as for now I'm building naval units (ship of the line I think it's called) in 3 or 4 cities. They can kill every English ship trying to stay out of English harbors and England doesn't dare to set sail anymore. I do keep the coast heavily defended, but more then 3 units never cross, so a cannon, voltiguer/guard and a cavalery is more then enough.

As I am allied with Spain and have a ROP so they can wage war against Prussia/Austria with me (without alliance, they wanted it?) I'm hoping them to stay my friend.

Trade lux when you can, but to allies: trade tech as well. Russia, Ottomans and Spain all get it from me and are Gracious toward me, helping me fight my enemies and paying A LOT of money each turn which I spend on research so I get free allies

Also: when your allies have good units, they do make a difference in the war, if your enemy is stronger then your allies, what use are they?

I'm at turn 30 or so now, I'll keep you informed how it ends

 

[Qpdaj]

Playing as France, I didn't waste a lot of energy on Naval units, either. I did build a few, but the British kept sinking them; I think if I play again as France, I won't build any. As you pointed out, the British only land a few at a time (at Monarch for me).

I stayed in Republic the whole game; perhaps I should have switched to Monarchy. I might have gotten some production out of the cities I captured then.

I'm replaying this scenario now as the British, since I was irritated by how little they did in my last game. France was gone by about turn 30 (everyone ganged up on poor Napoleon, with some encouragment from me). Not sure I'm going to reach 60,000 VP before the end; the British Calvary isn't as strong as the French was, and I keep losing armies.

 

[pirke]

I don't switch to monarchy either, I love these theme settings and don't want to ruin the historicle value of it

 

[dgfred]

How could I not like this conquest? My last name is Frederick-
I like to play as France, re-name Napoleons Army to Frederick's
and then make treaties with the two other Freds. Great fun.
By the way my mother's maiden name was LaRoque so it is even
more fun playing as the French/German alliance.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Originally posted by pirke
I'm currently playing this scenario the first time, as France on regent. In the first turn I sold Nationalism to almost everybody and with the money I upgraded all musketeers and I think it was a good choice. The 2 leaders became 2 armies, I did research the naval academy first and it's fun to annoy the british with those Frigates.

I took Amsterdam with 1 army and a cannon, I took out Naples completely with the other army and some cannons and later some backup units. They were totally no challenge.

You need to play on Diety to give the AI a chance to defend itself. It's still not too hard and makes for a fun game instead of a no-brainer cakewalk like you seem to be having.

 

[Kolchak]

I want to get through this conquest as Russia, but they start without much tech or military, and under a fairly deep defecit. Corruption is so rampant that the country's size isn't much of a plus either; and there's no Communism to get it into line (How ironic).

It seems to me in the first few turns I'd have to drastically overhaul the nation to have a shot at winning, anyone have an idea how I might go about doing that?

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Originally posted by Kolchak
I want to get through this conquest as Russia, but they start without much tech or military, and under a fairly deep defecit. Corruption is so rampant that the country's size isn't much of a plus either; and there's no Communism to get it into line (How ironic).

It seems to me in the first few turns I'd have to drastically overhaul the nation to have a shot at winning, anyone have an idea how I might go about doing that?

Communism wasn't invented until WW1. But Russia is actually the strongest civ in that scenario based on both size and the safe location with its backside safe from attack. Just build it up as usual and it becomes a powerhouse. Meanwhile all the other civs have it out with France and get tired. I shut off corruption in my game