All made possible by the "Sardegna Gambit":
Since Switzerland possesses no ports, I started the game invading Sardinia-Piedmont. In the following peace deal I demanded Savoie and Sardegna.
The latter proved to be a bonanza and vital to my imperial ambitions. The benefits of Sardegna are two-fold:
1. The island provides you with precious metals which single-handedly rids you of any monetary issues for the remainder of the game.
2. It grants you naval access.
After Sardegna I built up my defenses to fend off envious aggressors. Afterwards my focus lay on techs that lower life rating conditions (machine guns, nationalism) to get an edge in the colonial race.
And an edge I got! Even though France and Spain were first in Africa, I beat them to every region. Whenever they began colonizing a region, I did likewise with the assistance of a single cavalry division. This pretty much triples the process, so even when they were ahead, I could easily intercept them.
My Swiss empire currently has a population of 63 mio. people and I'm ranked 5th in the world.
Since Switzerland possesses no ports, I started the game invading Sardinia-Piedmont. In the following peace deal I demanded Savoie and Sardegna.
The latter proved to be a bonanza and vital to my imperial ambitions. The benefits of Sardegna are two-fold:
1. The island provides you with precious metals which single-handedly rids you of any monetary issues for the remainder of the game.
2. It grants you naval access.
After Sardegna I built up my defenses to fend off envious aggressors. Afterwards my focus lay on techs that lower life rating conditions (machine guns, nationalism) to get an edge in the colonial race.
And an edge I got! Even though France and Spain were first in Africa, I beat them to every region. Whenever they began colonizing a region, I did likewise with the assistance of a single cavalry division. This pretty much triples the process, so even when they were ahead, I could easily intercept them.
My Swiss empire currently has a population of 63 mio. people and I'm ranked 5th in the world.
Dutch Latvia is awesome indeed. Although it makes me feel like there should be an independent Gotland as well... 
