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First was france demanding the rhineland, I beat them, and russia and the uk with the help of Austria and anexed Alsace Loraine

In this war, you should have destroyed France...
White peace the other countries (you prolly had enough warscore for them to accept as you get Alsace Lorraine).

Then it would have been you (+allies) vs France...

If bashed enough France never ask again for Alsace Lorraine...And England, Russia whatever will never start a war for Alsace Lorraine.
 
No, I dont want allies to be like, 'im making this alliance so you will help me but I have no intentions, at all, of helping you'
but you dont want them to be 'bro im making this alliance with you ive got your back!'
or do you want only the ai to do that with you. and break alliances with other ai?
 
About alliance...

Many players seem to have huge problem with the system...Sure, its not perfect and there are probably some tweaks to do.

But most players go berzerk on the first years of the game and stop when they close to 25 BB, and then navigate the whole game between 15 and 25...
And now, they cant find any reliable ally, everyone drop alliance as soon as possible etc...

Try a low infamy game like 15 at most, if possible less than 10 and see the difference...and at more you will have only 1 or 2 states less than the high infamy guy, so its not that it matters in the long run.

Some allies will still abandon you (after all they play for their country, not for yours), but most will follow you, even on the offensive...
 
About alliance...

Many players seem to have huge problem with the system...Sure, its not perfect and there are probably some tweaks to do.

But most players go berzerk on the first years of the game and stop when they close to 25 BB, and then navigate the whole game between 15 and 25...
And now, they cant find any reliable ally, everyone drop alliance as soon as possible etc...

Try a low infamy game like 15 at most, if possible less than 10 and see the difference...and at more you will have only 1 or 2 states less than the high infamy guy, so its not that it matters in the long run.

Some allies will still abandon you (after all they play for their country, not for yours), but most will follow you, even on the offensive...

I'm playing a game as Greece, 0 infamy, the most technologically superior force in the world....I can't get anyone to be my ally except for Great Britain because they're my sphere leader. Even at the beginning of the game if I try to ask people for an alliance, they shoot me the bird. Meanwhile, good ol Ottoman Empire. Yeah. Those guys with religious values contrary to our own. They're buddy buddy with the entirety of Europe. Austria. The Russian Empire. The Netherlands. The North German Empire. A couple South German minors. Everyone loves them! Yet I can't get an ally to save my life! D:

I'm positive that this has to do with the newest beta patch. I'm uninstalling and reinstalling.
 
Well, at the start of game, Ottomans are GP and they have decent army...so yeah, they are interesting allies to have for other AIs.
I agree the whole religion thing should account for something, but religion seems more flavour than anything else in victoria.

But see how fast it changes when they drop GP status, lose most of their armies and become a noone...

Now, Greece has what...well, not a GP, pityfull army, no sharing border with anyone but Ottos...not so interesting for other countries...

You already have Great Britain as ally, Russia can intervene in your favor too (they are friendly if i remember...not sure)...Now, if you dont have a great army, why any other AI would want to ally you, what for ?...how can you help them in their war, why would they help a GB sphere ?

Small countries are hard to play for that reason...im sure they were hard to manage IRL for the exact same reason...you depend on other s armies to defend yourselves but noone care.
 
Well, at the start of game, Ottomans are GP and they have decent army...so yeah, they are interesting allies to have for other AIs.
I agree the whole religion thing should account for something, but religion seems more flavour than anything else in victoria.

But see how fast it changes when they drop GP status, lose most of their armies and become a noone...

Now, Greece has what...well, not a GP, pityfull army, no sharing border with anyone but Ottos...not so interesting for other countries...

You already have Great Britain as ally, Russia can intervene in your favor too (they are friendly if i remember...not sure)...Now, if you dont have a great army, why any other AI would want to ally you, what for ?...how can you help them in their war, why would they help a GB sphere ?

Small countries are hard to play for that reason...im sure they were hard to manage IRL for the exact same reason...you depend on other s armies to defend yourselves but noone care.

It SAYS Britain will intervene. But they pretty much never do. To answer your question, Russia and Austria would/should ally with me for conquest reasons. They want to take over more land as is the point in Victoria 2 and having me as an ally would open up another front in a war, dividing their armies on who they need to fight and making occupying the Ottomans easier. Persia and Egypt would also want to get in on the action, but they don't seem to be interested in relationships either!

Additionally, it makes NO SENSE that the only AI country I border to just so happen to be friends with half of Europe. ((The half close to me at that!)) There is no other country in the entire game with that many alliances. It's not like the Ottomans are some powerhouse that everyone needs to befriend or lose the game. They have, at best, 40+ brigades. Usually they hover around 30-40 mid-game. They're very weak compared to other European powers. What tactical value could they offer for....let's say Austria in a war on France? Very little! The only reason that the Ottomans would have that many alliances is if the game was discriminating against me, the player. No matter what anyone says to the contrary, this game has made me very curious on whether or not that is true.
 
The only reason that the Ottomans would have that many alliances is if the game was discriminating against me, the player. No matter what anyone says to the contrary, this game has made me very curious on whether or not that is true.

It sure feels like it to me .... even with 0 infamy and +200 rleations, I can't even get an audience ... with even a maybe or unlikely. It's nearly always impossible.
 
It sure feels like it to me .... even with 0 infamy and +200 rleations, I can't even get an audience ... with even a maybe or unlikely. It's nearly always impossible.
Same. All of those allies with the Ottomans I was talking about? I've worked myself up to 200 relations with them gradually over the course of the game. The game doesn't give a hoot. You're not AI!
 
Well, there is probably some discrimination against human, everyone says AI is stupid (it is), so AI need some help...

Now, about Russia and Austria (that happen to be my to prefered big countries to play)...well, when i play them, there is something in common in all my games...I cant care less about Greece.
Perhaps, its not very historical, but really, why would i care ? And why would the AI ?

Greece, to say the truth, brings nothing to the table...only usefull stuff is, if Ottos want to attack it, with friendly status (i dont even bother to sphere), you get free bash on Ottos...Thats it.

Now, if you manage to get it to the point where Greece acount for something (say GP), thats a whole different story...
 
Pretty much a complete beginner here, only tried a session and a half. Had a fair share of experience with EU3.

Now, I'm learning the game through Belgium, since it's also the first tutorial country. Now, given it has massive industrial possibilities, having a spit of land (compared to others) really wears it down. I tried to do the Netherlands war trick with the colonies as described in the Wiki, but I'm having a hard time getting them to attack me again, even though I carved their whole damn country in half. I sure as hell don't dare attack them myself since Prussia (allied with them) would murder me (strongest Great Power). So I decided to drop the idea and try to search for alternatives.

What would a good option for Belgium be? Colonise Africa? Go after the area around Jakarta? Something third?
 
A good way to start with any european country is to attack Egypt and take Dumyat region (Suez).

That gives you a port on the Red Sea and open all Asia for you very early...Johores, Brunei, Sindh and some others are good to take.
If you build at least a lvl1 naval base on the Red Sea port, you are in range to start colonising East Africa.
If you manage to make it to GP status, this region also let you build and control Suez canal.
You can also sphere Egypt more easily from there as you will be neighbours.

All in all a very good investment for 5 infamy, but do it fast as Great Britain likes to sphere Egypt...as soon as they friendly, well...it will be hard :D
 
Is armour an auxillary unit like artillery or can it be used on its own (i.e. all armour armies)?
 
Advice on Industry. I spent ages researching culture tech and then started researching commerce. I've encouraged craftsmen and maxed tax on the poor. Getting workers isn't the problem, building factories that actually make profit is. Some do for a while, but then start losing money fast. I read that is probably due to my output and efficiency tech but even with that I struggle.

What factories seem to make a profit? is it all commerce problems? What steps should I take from the start of a game to ensure a growing industry?
 
Could someone please explain the differences between colonial, core and non-core provinces? What benefits does a core provide over a non-core? And the same question for states over colonies.

I once had a core on a colonial possession... That was odd.