King Freidrich Wilhelm had decreed that Sweden would be the next target for the glorious armies of Prussia, and so the General Staff swiftly set about to prepare for the invasion. The first obstacle, of course, was the lack of transport craft. Before building boats, we probably need to determine how much of a landing force we need. So I investigate Kristianstad, for 67g. Decent improvements, garrison appears to be 2 reg and a vet musketman, with one of the newer Musket Infantry (5 defense) due to complete before we can land.
A little short-rush and some MM gets me a transport at Danzig next turn. Konigsberg would waste 30 shields switching, but I can rush a Cav (which I need for the landing force) and then start on one next turn. I have one transport now, and should be able to comfortably rush 3 more, the one at Danzig next turn, and then wait a turn and rush one in each city. That gives me the capacity for 16 units, which would be about as many vets as I can get to the cities in 3 turns anyway. My plan is 6 cannons, 6 cav, and 4 Fusilers, with a follow-on wave once Kristianstad is seized.
On the tech front, I buy Advanced Tactics from Russia for 82gpt (as additional insurance), and turn it to the Ottomans, with an additional 3gpt for Medicine. I decide to sell some older techs for money, getting 120g from Naples for Seapower, and 4+13gpt from Denmark for Espionage. England gets our Wines for Gems straight up. This lets me drop lux to zero, saving 42gpt, with just one cop in Amsterdam. I do a little more MM to max shields vs. food, hiring a couple cops and setting up a WLTKD in Frankfurt. Using the worker stack I convert a couple irrigated tiles to mines, trying to get to some magic numbers (Berlin hits 22spt, one cav/5 turns).
IBT: Portugal and Russia ally vs. Austria. Konig-Cav>Trans, Danzig-Trans>trans, Frankfort-Cav>Cannon.
JAN 1804: More worker moves, continue moving cannons and Fusilers to Danzig.
IBT: Sweden and Portugal now ally vs. Austria. Sweden asks to trade WM, Russia asks for an embargo on Naples (no). Amserdam-Temple>Rax, Leipzig-Fusiler>cannon, Hannover-Fusiler>cannon, since Im taking most of ours north.
MAR 1804: Continue worker moves, chop one forest at Frankfort to get it to 12, there are plenty of mined hills to work. Sweden had some cash, so I sell them Espionage, as they are the last civ without it, for 120g, which I use to rush a transport (gotta love the irony).
Transports are rushed in both Danzig and Konigsberg, our force is assembled.
IBT: Britain/Naples/Portugal make peace w/Spain. Russians land a Cossack next to Konigsberg??
That doesnt look good. Stettin-Cav>cav, Danzig-Trans>trans, Konig-trans>trans.
MAY 1804: Were paying Russia over 110gpt net, Id hope they wouldnt want to throw that away. Also, the one Cossack is the only unit we see, nothing near their border. In fact, there had been a Cossack (this one?) on the border earlier, maybe they are just landing here as a way to get to Austria. I ask him to leave, and he says OK, but hes still waiting there. I really dont want to fight Russia right now, but I certainly cant risk launching the invasion force until I know whats going on, so I fortify and cross my fingers.
IBT: British sink a Danish ship off of Copenhagen. Cossack moves to border w/Austria, as ships head for home, must just have been a scare. Amsterdam-Rax>Fusiler, Leipzig-Cannon>Fusiler, Hamburg-Fusiler>Cannon, Hannover-Cannon>cannon, Posen-Fusiler>fusiler, Frankfort-Fusiler>Fusiler.
JUL 1804: The armada is launched. Join 2 workers into Leipzig to max it out, getting it to 24spt, for a Fusiler/3 turns. Most of the irrigation has been mined, send some workers toward Danzig. I rush another transport, and a Ship/Line for escort, for our follow-on forces.
IBT: Watch a Hussar take out the Cossack, then another Cossack comes from the fog to kill the Hussar.
SEP 1804: Declare on Sweden, and land near Kristianstad. New transport with some cav and fusilers, and our new Ship of the Line, move out to cover the empty transports halfway. Join a worker to Danzig. Austria and Ottomans have General Education. We could probably broker it, it would cost about 100gpt, and we could probably get most of that back selling it to Russia and France, but I dont really want to lock us into a 20-turn deal with France, so I hold off.
IBT: Sweden, in typical AI fashion, sends a musket north OUT of Kristianstad, then sends 3 frigates and a transport south. Denmark and France sign peace w/Spain. Hamburg-cannon>cannon, Hanover-Cannon>Fusiler.
NOV 1804: Get some worker moves out of the way first, move some more cannons toward Danzig. Assault on Kristianstad:
Cannons go 2/6, showing a vet and 2 musket infantry (at least).
Cav redlines, but promotes vs. reg MI
Cav is killed redlining the vet MI
Cav loses 1hp killing wounded reg MI
Cav loses 2hp and promotes, killing the redlined MI
We capture Kristianstad, with Barracks, Granary, and Market intact. I start a harbor, we need to get our luxes flowing in. I leave a couple Fusilers to guard the cannons, land our follow-on transport with a couple more fusilers and a couple cav. Wounded cav move into the city to heal, healthy ones, with some fusilers, move north to position adjacent to Huskvarna, which has a vet MI showing.
I move the rest of our fleet back to Danzig. Theres a few stragglers there to reinforce, and some workers to transport over to work in Sweden. It looks like once the resistance ends, Kristianstad could be pretty productive, 50% or better after a courthouse.
Heres our beachhead: