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Ricox

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Sep 24, 2009
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I've been looking around everywhere (not for hours, just for minutes, so I might have missed it somewhere) for any hints & tips on how to properly play with Belgium.

I've played it before, but I did that on easy difficulty, so it wasn't much of an accomplishment to turn it into the great power I did, not that I remember how I did it now. Playing A House Divided, can barely keep Belgium running #9 power.

Currently I've got Taza & West Morocco from Morocco, as well as Friesland & Gederland from Netherlands and it's 1845, my badboy is ~20, so it's hard to finish off Netherlands to get some good civilized regions right near Belgium. Any ideas on what to do?
 
You made a mistake by seizing moroccan bits. With a nation with such a low population, you need to annex some high pop regions, such as asian nations. Seize Dai nam, form colonial hordes, profit.

The reason I took Morocco was to get some sort of a role in the Scramble for Africa (not gonna bother finishing up with Morocco, thought), but I'll take your advice, thanks.
 
Actually, dutch states aren't really that good. I'd suggest taking their asian colonies - Java and Jambi. You don't even need to occupy them, just occupy dutch mainland and demand as many colonies as you can. More states you take from them - harder to get their colonies in the next war. Also, Johore and Brunei are, as always, good targets.

Be friends with France, so they can't justify war against you and don't try to fight them if/when England will call you, you'll be smashed.

Replace Netherlands on the world map and be the first one to colonize Africa. Only then you'll be able to fight France and take their regions (I think I noticed French culture as accepted in AHD).
 
Thanks for the tips, ajax.hsp, althought the one about not taking Netherlands comes too late now as I took 2 of their states to make them weak (it worked quite well, threw them down to very low ranking, got them to 100% WE, destroyed their military capability and made sure they'll never come back up), plus I needed their ports quite badly.

Right now I've taken 2 of Dutch states, 2 Moroccan states (Taza & West Morocco, the last one just to make the borders look good) and 2 Vietnamese states (the only ones I could get, waiting for infamy to go down so I can finish them off, it's Dai Nam, by the way).

Perhaps I could attack the Dutch colonies from my positions in Dai Nam, as I'm recruiting quite a lot of troops there (want to concentrate Dai Nam on being my recruitment region, since I'm pumping out craftsmen in Belgian mainland and I can't make Dai Nam colonies a state either, so getting anything else than soldiers and farmers there would be pointless, but there's no lack of farmers as all of the convertions to soldier are covered by natural growth).
 
Yeah, I understand, it's late. But I think it may help to others :)

Take Java ASAP. It has population over 2m if you want soldiers.

It's just the question of sequence, what to do first - take their 2 states or 2 colonies:

- if states, you won't be able to get as much colonies in the next war by occupying their mainland, you'll need to sail to east indies and occupy colonies also;
- if colonies, in the next war you'll be able to get even higher score just by occupying their mainland ('cos they'll lose some big colonies).

About ports - yes, 1 is not enough, but why would you want them so badly in early game? Also, you can build ports in Java. So, I think getting Dutch colonies first is wise decision.
 
Java is definitely the most ideal place to start I think, then maybe Johore afterwards. I always enjoy playing Japan, because once I take Java, my profits go up +300
 
Java is the cornerstone of my Belgian Empire. Its the first thing I take from Netherlands. It takes a loooong time but once you manage to get it into a state its a powerhouse. Until then its a great colonial/conquering port and a source of cheap soldiers.
From there I took Sumatra which leads to an easy conquest of Atjeh and Johore.
 
Belgium was the first country I played in normal :). For me, I just industrialized (which made me at least a secondary power) and earned my Great Power just by allying with Great Britain and Prussia and defeating France (which was easy if you colonized even a single region in Africa and produce a crapload of units).
 
Belgium was the first country I played in normal :). For me, I just industrialized (which made me at least a secondary power) and earned my Great Power just by allying with Great Britain and Prussia and defeating France (which was easy if you colonized even a single region in Africa and produce a crapload of units).

Uhm, Africa is not exactly the soldier recruiting region you're talking about. The population there is relatively low, you sure you got majority of your units from there?
 
Uhm, Africa is not exactly the soldier recruiting region you're talking about. The population there is relatively low, you sure you got majority of your units from there?

Africa can field a ton of soldiers. There are multiple regions with >500K population, more then enough to raise a big army. Sure, it's not India but it's a lot easier to get.
 
Africa can field a ton of soldiers. There are multiple regions with >500K population, more then enough to raise a big army. Sure, it's not India but it's a lot easier to get.

Oh, yes. I have a game with Germany and I colonized around Nigeria and Cameroon. Without using any NF, I already have over 10 brigades in every province.