Containing French from Acquiring Spheres

[Gefallener_Held]

So in my game I unified Germany in about 1852. One problem is that in focusing on kingdoms I need for North German Federation and Germany, France goes on a tear and spheres Belgium, Switzerland (!) and even Two Sicilies.
I was able to win but not sure I want to deal with a France with that many spheres. I would restart except I find the diplomacy aspect not much fun.
One thing that annoys me is that Britain for one does not seem engaged in checking French diplomacy. Thoughts?

 

[Jorlaan]

Honestly there really is not much you can do about those early if you're trying to form Germany, which of course you totally should be doing. You need to focus on the nations needed for Germany. Let France have a few minor sphere countries early on, you can either remove them via war or through the diplomacy game by being very patient and taking your time after you've united Germany

When you border a country you get a +50% influence bonus with them, France borders those 3 nations and ALWAYS prioritizes sphering them. Britain does not border them so essentially has 50% less power in them, so they often lose. I don't think sea borders count for this.

 

[Kovax]

In my current (nearly complete) GER game, I unified NGF, and then started in on the French sphere before they got too much of a lead. After pulling Spain and Belgium away from them (both secondary powers), I received the perfect opportunity to take Alsace-Lorraine when they declared on Belgium, which brought me and a handful of other countries in against a lone France. After that, I had a few years of truce ahead to work on Bavaria, Baden, and Wurtemburg to unify Germany, and one of them was already sphered by the time the war with France ended. Note that getting Spain involved sliding into the middle of a diplomatic Discrediting contest between France and the UK, otherwise France's proximity advantage would have made it a lot more difficult.

As far as I can see, the "trick" against powerful adversaries is to let them to attack an ally or sphereling which has other allies. Those allies can divert much of the initial onslaught, and let you beat them piecemeal. Once you've got your own collective sphere or a host of dependable allies (the UK is NEVER dependable), then you can declare your own wars, and call in allies.

 

[TK-XD-M8]

My younger brother and I did multiplayer game with each other, where I was Germany and he was France. We allied, and then stomped on Autria and had Germany formed by like 1840 or so.

 

[Lopatou_ovalil]

My younger brother and I did multiplayer game with each other, where I was Germany and he was France. We allied, and then stomped on Autria and had Germany formed by like 1840 or so.

do you have brother which plays V2? i am envy....