Murat
Posts: 803
Joined: 9/17/2003
From: South Carolina
Status: offline
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Well I have played this game for years and played many of the powers, but every time I go on boards and discuss what we have done and how we play people always act stunned and like the games we play are the most bizarre they ever heard of, that being said I will proceed. First though a note on bidding, we got tired of people bidding unrealistic amounts of VP to get the nation they wanted so we used an exclusive 10 points system: you can only bid 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 once; for example I may go France 10; Russia 9; Britain 8; Turkey 3; Spain 2; Prussia 1; Austria 0. Highest #s are compared first (all the 10s) and if a tie ensues, then a d6 is rolled, highest # getting country, then out of those who remain all the 9s, etc. People do not always get the country they wanted but noone ever got the one they hated the most.
FRANCE: NOTHING is as much fun as being 1805 France. You may lose, you may win, but the constant diplomacy, betrayal, chit pick suprises, die rolls, etc. will always give you something to discuss with your fellow players. As France, you need an ally, ANY ally. And when I say ally, it is someone who is going to join every war you are on as a pre-existing at the start of the scenario (which means Britain). On that note, you start at war with Britain, try to keep it that way. Tell the others that Britain OWES them $$$, especially Russia, and if there is not enough $$$ promised immediately, you will help them get their share by force. (See Spain below for Sack of Britain)
My first choice is Spain. Deep down Spain knows that Britain will always want her fleets at the bottom, and Britain for some reason always acts like the Spanish need to use their fleets to weaken the French for the British naval death blow (thus ensuring the safety of the channel), so this is frequently not as hard a sell as you would think. I tell Spain I will make them Dominant and I keep my word. There is NO reason to ever enter Spain, even if they are an opponent. I am not saying let them ravage France, but don't go across the border, there is no reason to give them free troops even if they are militia. If you can get Spain as an ally, stack with them AT SEA at the start (dont have my map, but you share a sea zone in the Atlantic). Odds are the British will use their entire fleet to smash you, but these are the best odds you will ever have in a fight with them and there is an 80 gun port to fall back on. In the event Russia decides to help, TAKE LONDON and go unconditional. Once London falls, you can do forced capitulation even if Russia backs out with a conditional peace (which actually only helps your goals - 2 peaces are more damaging than 1). Sow the fields with salt. Britain will never back off no matter how light a peace they get so strip them clean.
My second choice is Russia. If Spain is not on your side you will be fighting a holding action in the West so make sure that Austria/Prussia has a 2 front war too. Russia is frequently greedy for territory and you can offer them tons of other people's territories (you are Dominant, you just need to keep wars going with out losing to win the game). If they are a trustworthy player, you will have a 3-power Europe. The 2 of you can't take out Britain, but they are the only ones that will be able to stand against you. Tell Russia to declare right after the Prussians declare a pre-existing Poland (if they are good at decit, the Prussians might think the Russians are HELPING them by taking Poland, we called this the Russ Mind Ray - our Russia was frequntly played by a guy named Russ!)
My third choice is Turkey. Turkey is always $$$ starved and you usually need $$$ for your own armies, so they are not the best, but they will stretch the Austria/Prussia/Russia lines thinner. Encourage Turkey in the Ottoman dream, it keeps them energized and it costs you nothing since they cannot reasonably expect you to help much in that goal since you are not connected to Africa by land. Turkey is my one exception to the starting war rule with Britain. I tell Turkey to be deceitful. Get Britain to give them Ottoman (pointing out that they can always take it away if things go bad...) and lots of $$$ to get their troops in the field and that they will help with France once their morale is up and then turn when the time to fight France comes. By then they should have a stronger army than Britain and Britain will have a hard time taking Ottoman way especially with France pushing the Central Powers harder due to the Turkish ruse.
If you cannot get the above, try for Prussia, and focus on taking Italy and splitting the germans with Prussia (while carving up Austria) but you better really trust the Prussian since they really are best served by your defeat(s). We have had games with British "neutrality" but the negotiations to get around the pre-requisite surrender requirements to achieve this have been monumental and those alone (not to mention the power of the resulting alliance) have caused players to go play another game instead of waiting on 2 people for 8 hours :)
OVERALL STRATEGY is to always have an enemy but rarely (if ever) declare war. Two things are critical for France: war and supply. The PP machine for France is built off of land battles and you need to keep having them, so always have an enemy (Britain is good at the start but they will die quick if they are your only enemy). Tell the other powers they can have a free hand with the minors, you just want to kick British butt, roll on every control, but go to war over important ones like Holland and Sweden (Britain once gave me these gifts right off the bat and spent the rest of the game rebuilding her shattered fleets and economy). Usually you will Prussia/Austria/Britain at war with you at the start. Act scared of them and offer them all the minors they want. Every one they declare on gives you more troops and supply bases. French wars are best set up on a "rotation". Try to get your enemies on a rotation where every 6 months an enforced peace expires so you can fight one at a time and keep beating them. Strip them of money, and a few pieces of land but make sure they can make war again! You need an opponent (plus you look to be magnaminous in case you need them later, like if you never touch Prussia's land and Russia HAS gotten Dominant, the Prussians are excellently situated for you to ally with to get the Russian's non-Dominant again). Supply is the final aspect of French (and everyone's) strategy. Depots do not supply much and even with garrisons, supply chains are the easiest targets in the game. Keep in mind Napoleon won entire national surrenders from a single battle. Follow his example and only chase the big battle - learn from US Grant too and keep in mind, only key cities (Atlanta, Richmond, Vicksburg in Civil War, but Capitals in EiA) are worthy of capture, otherwise destroy your enemies' armies. Try to stay close to you borders, plan movement so that you can "auto" forage (forage roll is 6 for all corps), pay supply for those corps that can't auto forage and go last in land until you need the double move to engage the Great Victory ;) KEEP MILITIA IN YOUR RANKS. MANY people have argued this with me. They say that for the $$$, it is worth having only infantry in corps. If you place a few militia in your corps, you will lose .1 or .2 overall morale and can lose some cheap troops (ESPECIALLY if the people in your game do not use the proportional losses rule, nothing like having a 10 unit loss that you can soak with militia, but even proportional, you may be able to take 1 militia and that is $3 saved). I have seen more national armies destroyed from having to forage than from losing a battle, so the extra $$$ is important in my mind.
RUSSIA: As you can see from my bidding list (really in my order of favorites), Russia is my 2d favorite to play. Russia is the "free agent" of EiA. Everyone wants your help or at least your neutrality. Sweden is yours. Anyone who disagrees is your enemy. If Britain disagrees, tell them OK, they can have Sweden and Denmark but they better declare on them at the first round or you will on 2d Econ. Run to France and tell them you are going to help with the Sack of Britain and go to war with Britain when they declare on the Nordic minors (even if they just declare on Denmark). They will quickly be offering Sweden and MUCH more to get you away from the French. I tend to be ambivalent to Prussia and Austria. I tell Turkey that they need to focus on Ottoman (so what if they get it - they are not going to come into Russia and use it - they will die NOONE, not even Nappy, succeeds in a land war in Russia) and then do whatever they want and that you will keep the border unarmed if they will (even if they lie, who cares? As I said NOONE....).
OVERALL STRATEGY: Britain and France are the key people to be talking too. Think like a German Prince of this period. You have some mercenaries for sales, who wants them? Make them pay IN ADVANCE full price for each factor they want to have fighting for them (you will graciously eat the MP). They also need to reimburse your supply costs and full price for each factor that dies, if they fail to do this, your troops are heading home (you got some $$$ up front). France will usually tell you to kiss butt (they may buy part of your navy for the Sack of Britain), but to Britain you are offering them a way to make up for their weak army by using yours. They will usually offer a more moderate arrangement, but as long as you are not bearing all your costs, the British are good friends. Never forget that yours is the only army that can go toe-to-toe with France's. Make them come to you. Outside of the mercenary principle and taking Sweden (NOT IN WINTER - the infamous March of Neal lives to this day among us from where a Russia lost ALL his land factors executing a Winter Campaign by land against Sweden) there is no reason to venture far from home. Like France, you can use an enemy at all times to get PP, but you can go without longer than France can. If going for dominance, take the Austrain areas early and make it up them with Italian minors (if you are doing well, you can even give them the income from the provinces and tell them your Dominance will hurt France and help them). Prussia, on the other hand, will adjust. You can take their provinces at will and as long as the Austrains are not unduly offended (Dominance will hurt France...blah blah blah) there is no real need to appease them (Austria can wear the target for Turkey, Prussia cannot). Austria/Prussia should be viewed as "buffer states". Think like Stalin, their land is your land, their supply is your supply. The French have too much territory already and every step they make East is one step closer to making you fight. Only take what you need for Dominance (if that) and if Britain is not keeping them alive, you have to, even if your entire army has to be militia. Keep in mind though, while this is ultimately what you must do, do not let them know you think that way, even if you have to let them sweat it out for a while. Always act like you are doing everyone a big favor by even getting involved in these "European" problems.
BRITAIN: I hate playing Britain mostly because I hate beggars and whiners. I also hate the fact that I have to help defeat France and everyone knows it. That means carelessness by others, particularly Prussia and Austria, is paid for by me. As someone said here earlier, you must keep the anti-French coalition together. Give Russia Sweden (you can't take it anyway, not against the Russians), take Denmark (someone also pointed this out earlier, but it and N.Africa are defendable by sea - N. Africa due to the deserts), and mediate Africa. Either tell Spain and Turkey that you will hold Tunisia and keep both separated or convince Spain that a Ottoman Turkey will hold Russia off and secure Spain a good Italian empire. You must negotiate all the minors for everyone (who gets what) but agree minors will get taken care of once France is defeated. Then minors get grabbed, then hit France again. After that, everyone is free to act as they wish. France must fall twice to truly weaken it enough for it to be on a semi-equal footing with everyone else. I tell Spain that I will not build new ships if they do not so that we can focus on France and then offer $$$ proportional to MP to everyone in the alliance. Only ever block France's trade. $$$ is $$$. Even with Spain as an enemy, do not hit the Gold Fleet. Spain + France is bad for Britain and if you are not pouncing on Spain, they are more likely to stay neutral at the least. Get the French fleet! No matter where it is pursue it (don't impale on port guns), attack attack attack until it is no more. If it stacks with Spain at the start, you still have the odds with you, but try to gather all the allied fleets together (Turkish or Russian) and get greater numbers. I have never believed that Britain has anything to really offer Spain, so find out what they want and get it for them from the others (pointing out that France is the real enemy). Once the French fleet is sunk, you have a free hand navally which is where your military strategy comes into play. I keep a corps (even a minor one) in Britain, at a port, and use a mobile force to hit the French. If they are moving deep into Central Europe, I start taking French provincial capitals and costing them $$$. If they stay home, I jump isolated corps (remember the 8 space movement France can make) near the sea. If they are foolish enough to sea or coastal supply I cut supply. Almost forgot to add, Britain also need constant battle. Fleets only last so long in the game if you are doing your job right so you will need some land battles. Spread your corps throughout your allies' armies. Your morale (and leadership for some allies) helps them and they usually like getting 2 PP to your 1 (like trade, each individual spot you get less but you have more spots so overall you reap more PP).
OK I will do the other 4 later :b
< Message edited by Murat -- 8/23/2004 8:12:50 PM >
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RE: Best way to play each power - 
Regardless, if you reread, I said that if you were going for Dominance, get it EARLY. And yes, I implied that it is OK to go dominant. It stings Austria/Prussia, but it is CRIPPLING to France, she loses her double move ablity (yes she can still move 4 MPs to your 3, but now morale is equal) and you have extra $$$ to keep the Central Powers fighting France (and can help their morale by mixing in with their stacks) The reason I said it has to be done early, and that you have to get them minors to make up for the losses, is that, as I said a little further on, you must keep Prussia/Austria fighting against France even if YOU are paying for it. Out of the two, you MUST keep Austria happy. Prussia can go against you, but as long as Austria thinks they are at fault you are OK. Austria will even press Britain hard for $$$ and let you keep a strong treasury as long as you get $$$ into their hands when they need it (you would be stunned what buying 3 cav for the Austrians on Econ 1 will do for long term relations - you thought dogs were loyal?) While Austria/Prussia(/France) cannot get your surrender (without some SERIOUS errors on your part), they can damage your ability to get PP. Actually, a surrender in the Franco-Austrain war by EITHER side is not good for your PP. Constant war and victory is the best way to win PP (losses of course are a quick way to lose PP too, which is why you must choose your battles well). Short version: always appear to be less of a threat than France. 
We usually get stingy British - not sure why, they will pay, but just enough to win, no more. The secret loans were something I really liked, it kept British $$$ flowing against France. We also had limits on diplomacy time: 30 minutes for the very first one, 15 min for each econ phase, 5 min between turns, everything else was over the table. Over the table stuff was fun too since you could agree in private that Turkey could get Ottoman and then act stunned over the table when they started to take it ("I thought I told you no Ottoman.....you %^#*%@" "I'm stopping at Tunisia!"). Also, if you wanted an unconditional surrender in our group, be ready to force capitulation. Trying to hold all those provincial capitals while your spread out corps are getting nipped at for 1 PP losses is frustrating and often led to a conditional just to net better PP (and a quicker return to battle). 
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