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JonathanOfArc

Beelzebub's Grandson
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Nov 14, 2008
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So I finally got a decent game going as Pommerania. Becoming Emperor for my first time was huge in getting everything to go my way. While that game is going well, I've decided to start up a new one. Like my Pommeranian game, I will be doing a bit of editing.

I kind of wanted to try a Merchant Republic game (which ive never played as). With the main purpose of fighting The Hansa. So, what would be a good country to try? I would edit whatever country into being a Merchant Republic from game start which would likely be 1399 unless anyone has a good idea for another time? First thought was Holland and eventually being Netherlands. Just afraid of Burgundy/France turmoil. I don't want to be a country thats to big, and the country has to be close enough to The Hansa to mean something. Bremen maybe? Too small? I dunno. Thoughts?

Also. What is being Merchant Republic like? I know the general idea and about no royal marriages. But how would a trade union work? Do i have an option of forming one of those like The Hansa has?
 
Any merchant republic has a trade league. The challenge will be that if you are editing yourself into the game you wont have any members in your league at game start, but that could make it more interesting. I would say that you really have to be a naval country for it to be effective. Any of the Italian republics are viable but too far away. If your intention is to fight the Hansa I would go for something like Mecklenberg although you will really struggle to keep your COT alive under pressure from Lubeck at first if you are that close together. The same issue will apply with any of the north German states, they are all probably too close to survive in the early game.

Holland would be a lot easier and as long as you edit out the antwerp COT will be hugely rich. Burgundy/France isn't a big deal if you manage your alliances right. The key is to not be afraid to switch sides and prevent them from getting big at all costs. This probably means helping out Burgundy at the beginning to stop them from being overrun by a big blobby France and then switch to an alliance with France / England when you want to grab land from Burgundy. If you manage the trade league well though you should find that you can win wars with Burgundy just by outspending them. A good trade league can easily go over its force limits by quite a long way if required.

As I'm writing this I'm starting to think that Oldenberg could be an interesting option as well but be prepared for a difficult game if you go down that route.
 
Novgorod is a Merchant Republic on the Baltic. They could work.

You could also edit Norway into being one. They are a pretty weak country, so they should give a challenge to taking down Hansa.
 
Venice is also a merchant republic. Perhaps you could start up as burgandy then release flanders or a country with their capital as Vladerdeen
 
Why would you FIGHT the Hansa? Those guys (and to a lesser degree, Genoa, i think) actually have missions that evoke the feeling of caring about trade and money, instead of conquest and military power.
 
Checked out your signature Kurblius, definitely helpful.

What do you guys think of this one: IRELAND... I've united Ireland before au natural so i've got experience handling that. I edit one of the provinces (united with Tyrone last time) to be a Merchant Republic. I don't really mess with that stuff till I take Ireland, unite it, and then begin trying to be a more real merchant republic. Would it make sense for a newly united Ireland ruled by a merchant republic be hellbent on tearing down The Hansa? I dunno, probably not haha, but whatever. Ireland isn't very strong or rich, but it would be sorta like doing it with any random OPM right? Just with a bit more umph.

Holland is still feeling like it could be a good choice. Mecklenberg could be interesting (would still be Pomeranian like my last game).

What about an Independent Gotland? Suicide?

Whoaaa, start after 1399, Livonian Order Trade League??? hahaha
 
I don't believe you can build a CoT in Mecklenberg since it's directly adjacent to Lubeck. One thing you need to be careful about is to make sure that any CoT you create would be sufficiently stable. If the Trade Value going into the CoT is less than 250 ducats, it's stagnation value will rise and eventually the CoT will disappear. If you lose your CoT you will automatically change into an administrative republic.
 
Ireland will just get chomped by England/GB.
You could go Portugal? Focus exclusively on the very wealthy caribean colonies, colonise a string of bases in Africa to grab the really rich Indian provinces, use all this wealth to acheive naval superiority in Europe and enforce your trade league at the point of a sword.
 
I did something similar in my Brandenburg -> Germany game - once I annexed Pommerania with cores given to me, I went Merchant Republic and didn't necessarily fight the Hanse (because their alliance web was far superior to mine) but I did race them in both trade tech and colonization. I won out in the end, but that might have been because they left the HRE while I was Emperor. Free CB on one of my rivals? Yes please.

A big part in the trade war is colonization, which is why Ireland would be a good choice. If you rush Quest for the New World, you can beat everybody else to the USA and establish COTs quickly, making loads of cash due to your COTs being the only ones on the continent.
 
A big part in the trade war is colonization, which is why Ireland would be a good choice. If you rush Quest for the New World, you can beat everybody else to the USA and establish COTs quickly, making loads of cash due to your COTs being the only ones on the continent.

This. I didn't even have to build any of my own, I just used the ones that were already there. It also means you can sit back and let everyone else do the colonization work for you. It doesn't matter who colonizes, you get their trade, which is the bulk of their income. The other source is tariffs. Should anyone one colonizer become too dominant, destruction of their fleet will result in 0 tariffs for a long time, effectively crippling their economy for years and inhibit further colonization. Of course, there's also taxes, but from colonies that's peanuts.