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(I'm by no means an expert at this game, but I'm alright. I've played vanilla 1.1 and 1.3, and I now play PDM.)

Belgium is a good option (it's also the tutorial nation). The only real threat might be the Dutch (but I mean... you'll figure out how to handle that). You're open to a lot of avenues of expansion; taking Dutch Java is a good choice (and then you can expand in the Pacific or southeast Asia... maybe war with the Dutch or Spanish more if you want a challenge- depends on configuration of European alliances. If not, attack Siam, Johore, etc.). Take a Dutch African colony, too, for colonization.

For a larger nation than Belgium (but still one that's fairly simple), play USA. I played my first full game as the USA; you get an introduction to pretty much everything early on. You have decent literacy, but you'll need to raise it. You have enough immigration to keep your population growing (you won't stagnate, unlike many European minors in patches 1.1 and... 1.2?), you can industrialize fairly early, play around with the democratic process. You can play war with Mexico (which isn't really a serious challenge; it's functionally a tutorial in managing wars), expand into the Pacific. If you get the hang of things early on, you can even break the infamy limit and start major world wars. The only things that will seriously challenge you are the UK and the possibly destabilizing effect of the CSA (which can be crushed easily, but might stop expansion for a while, depending on how many troops you have available). This was my first nation in 1.1 (back when rebels were a serious problem) but, now that you won't be getting constant rebellions, the USA is probably the best choice for a newcomer.

France is easy, I've heard. You have massive armies from the start of the game and good resources. Will want to boost literacy (same with Belgium), but you're already capable of industrializing (with your 40% literacy or w/e, you'll have quite a few craftsmen from the start). Some complaints about French population growth, I've heard, though; I use the PDM mod and it isn't really a problem. You should expand into Africa and Southeast Asia. France is so powerful, though, that, if you want a nation to break the infamy limit for the first time, you may as well just try to conquer Europe.

I've never played as Russia or Austria. Both have literacy problems, but I've heard Austria can be fixed with enough clergy and made a pretty solid choice. It'll definitely be easier to solve Austria's literacy problems (in which case it'll be a powerful nation) and Russia.

Prussia--->NGF--->Germany makes you one of (if not THE) most powerful nations in the world (probably in industry, prestige, and military... at least unless the USA becomes a captain of industry). It's not actually that hard, but unifying Germany may be a bit daunting for a newcomer.

Don't start the game with an unciv. Japan and Persia seem like the best choices if you want to play one, though.
 
I'm not exactly an expert myself, but I'd recommend the USA or France. Both start out fairly powerful, and have the ability to become tremendously strong. I'd say that, other than Germany, they're the only nations that could usurp #1 from the U.K. The immigration from being a Democracy does wonders for the U.S. (I don't remember if France is HM's or Democracy at start). They both have strong industry, and the population to support it. They also both introduce war well; the U.S.A. presents this via the Civil War, Texan War of Independence, Mexican-American War, Spanish-American war, and expansions throughout America. France does this by via imperialism in Africa and Asia, as well as having weak European neighbors. Finally, France introduces you to colonization. The U.S. does this also, but as France, you can easily colonize a vast majority of Africa.
 
One of the larger Italian states are usually fairly good choices. You have opportunity for expansion and industrialization, but you also have the chance for a bit of defeat as well. It also gives you a fairly simple, direct goal to work towards that isn't too hard to accomplish.
 
Well, France seems interesting. USA seems like it might be a bit boring and I have played as them before, so I guess I'll France ago.

Also, what are the best ways to increase Industry and Literacy?
 
I'm not exactly an expert myself, but I'd recommend the USA or France. Both start out fairly powerful, and have the ability to become tremendously strong. I'd say that, other than Germany, they're the only nations that could usurp #1 from the U.K. The immigration from being a Democracy does wonders for the U.S. (I don't remember if France is HM's or Democracy at start). They both have strong industry, and the population to support it. They also both introduce war well; the U.S.A. presents this via the Civil War, Texan War of Independence, Mexican-American War, Spanish-American war, and expansions throughout America. France does this by via imperialism in Africa and Asia, as well as having weak European neighbors. Finally, France introduces you to colonization. The U.S. does this also, but as France, you can easily colonize a vast majority of Africa.
Usurping UK isn't that hard. I'd think it'd be possible as any of the starting GPs (I've done it as Spain, which wasn't very difficult. I just needed to ignore the infamy limit and get a fairly large army... even if I fell behind in industry a lot). I've also done it as Bavaria---> SGF.

France is HM Government at start.

One of the larger Italian states are usually fairly good choices. You have opportunity for expansion and industrialization, but you also have the chance for a bit of defeat as well. It also gives you a fairly simple, direct goal to work towards that isn't too hard to accomplish.
Yeah, I forgot about Italian states. If you want to unite Italy, Sardinia-Piedmonte or Two Sicilies are easy (I've done it with both). I haven't played as the Papal states, but I have played as Tuscany (trying to prevent the unification of Italy for roleplaying reasons), and was able to become a GP (even though, b/c Garibaldi's redshirts, Italy formed without me... I just had to refuse annexation and defeat Italy in a war... also let me take quite a bit of northern land).

If you play as Sardinia-Piedmonte, you may have to confront Austria in a war, which wouldn't be difficult if you have France's backing or if Austria is being beat up by Germany/NGF/Prussia or Russia. All Italian states (especially Two Sicilies) have quite a bit of choice for African/Mediterranean expansion. If you're playing as Tuscany, you may want to annex some of the small Italian states (Modena and stuff). Idk if they're protected from the start by Austria or France, but they're easy to get control of (if they are protected, just wait until you industrialize and build a sizable army. Sea if you can build a navy too to prevent French naval invasion).



@That One Duke:
Make sure you get, like, 1% Bureaucrats at least in a province before increasing clergy (though I've people saying to wait on this until you get +admin efficiency techs?). That makes promotion a lot easier. Get clergy to 3-5% depending on what nation you are and how many provinces you have. Set education spending to 100% and research Biologism and +education efficiency techs (there are a few in commerce, iirc).

As for industry, it depends on your nation. If you're a really small state, don't focus on industrializing early on (wait until it's 1860s-1880s, ish... instead of building a Haitian factory in 1836). If you're playing as France, build quite a few factories in each of your provinces (preferably profitable ones; look at the international market, but note that luxury goods- like luxury furniture and clothing- tend to be successful... also build factories with goods that are prereq to luxury goods- like regular furniture or regular clothes factories-, textile mills, and factories that produce goods exclusive to a province, like lumber or steel). Focus on increasing literacy early on, as pops require a certain literacy level (at least in PDM, and I think in vanilla) before they can become craftsmen. After you have decent literacy you may want to national focus craftsmen (clerks tend to make industries really profitable too; I'm not sure exactly how many clerks you "should have" or if it's just a good end-game choice to begin switching to them... they fulfill a slightly different role in PDM). Capitalists in a province also are a good idea.

Keep middle and rich taxes low, IMO. And, in the early game (if you aren't trying to industrialize yet), keep poor taxes low too to boost population growth. Once you have a large population, you can increase taxes on the poor to impoverish them more; this will make them move into factories faster and demote to craftsmen. Because you're France and begin with a large population and sizable factories, you may just want to increase taxes on the poor early on. I tend not to, though (because they'll be working in RGOs producing other useful goods anyway).

Keep your industry and commerce techs up. I tend to do so in most of my games; even if I'm being hyper-aggressive and conquering Europe, I tend to go industry-army (industry is just important). Also build lots of railroads (or let capitalists build them; depends on how industrialized you are). Which reminds me; go state capitalist when you begin industrializing (early game for France, probably) so you can start forcing poor to demote to craftsmen by high taxes, and you can expand factories and railroads without relying on capitalists (in vanilla they can be kind of... difficult).
 
Belgium is not a bad choice for starters. Two populous states, two National Focuses allowing to quickly get the right ratio of each class of society for great tech, monarchy allowing to pick the party you want, wars against the Dutch with help of powerful allies giving an opportunity to gain access to ports in Africa and colonize a bit.

It isn't what it used to be in Vicky1 as there's no tech trading any more, but it's still a fairly pleasurable medium power to play. And very easy for a new player to wrap his head around.
 
Thank you for all the help guys :D

So, I began playing as France, and so far things are pretty good. I conquered Algeria and Tunis easily, along with a suprise attack on Sicily when it wasnt looking.

I've retained my Number two status, and have one of the best industries in the game, almost reaching Britain, with a fairly good Prestige ranking too.

The only problm I seem to have is my military, which is sadly in tenth place, although I haven't had the gall to attack another great power.
 
When I started I took Sardina-Pidemont for nationalistic reasons. :laugh:

In general i would say Belgium or even Holland are good choices to begin if you keep your relations with Prussia over 50.