AGCEEP Poland

[Maximilliano]

Hey everyone, i'm trying my hand at agceep poland, normal/normal and I've managed to push up to the Odor, triggering the polish culture events in those provinces. The thing is that, i've fought a few wars against austria and its allies, forcing me to take loans, raise war taxes, bankruptcy etc etc. Its 1494, and i have 3 Land, 2 Navy, 2 Trade, 2 Infrastructure, with inflation at 42%... my question is should my techs be so low? I feel like i'll continue to lag behind, even if i'm on par with Muscovy, the German states will be able to beat up on my coalition at will. Any advice? Where should i go from here?

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Hmmm, that ech and inflation is pretty bad. You're gonna be lagging everyone soon I'd imagine. Muscovy will still be tough as you won't have a high enough tech to take them out fast before winter strikes and wipes you out. But getting them before so as to seal off that front would be very good.

How much are you minting at any time? I suggest keeping it at 0 so as to avoid inflation. Just spend all your income in January and stay at 0 the rest of the year. Are your troops over the support limit?

Otherwise what are your feelings on restarting?

 

[Canenald]

I won most of my games without being the technologically most advanced country in the world. In fact, I find it rather hard to keep up with AI in tech levels. However, bankruptcy should be avoided at all costs. Loans are ok if you can repay them, and so are war taxes, but bankruptcy can really damage you.

I don't know what Duke means with "keeping at 0", but I suggest you keep your monthly balance at 0 or as close to it as possible to avoid inflation. It is a bad idea to keep treasury at 0 as there are some historical and a lot of random events that require you to spend some money. I find that large countries are ok with 150 or 200 gold in the beginning. If you manage to forge a great empire, like Spain for example, it would be a good idea to keep 500 gold as a reserve. Of course, you can always cover event costs with loans, but they will force you to increase the percentage of monthly income that goes into your treasury, which in turn increases your inflation.

Also, as Duke mentioned, always keep your troops within supportable numbers. I made a mistake in my England game and didn't disband my excess troops. As a result, I got a technological lag that allowed Spain to beat me out of Low Counties. Excess troops require extreme amounts of gold to support which increases your inflation and leaves you smaller part of monthly income to invest in techs and stability. Poland produces a lot of grain so you shouldn't have a problem maintaining a sufficient force and staying within army support limits.

btw, reaching renaissance land techs with Poland looks great as they have unique army sprites

 

[Incompetent]

Hey everyone, i'm trying my hand at agceep poland, normal/normal and I've managed to push up to the Odor, triggering the polish culture events in those provinces. The thing is that, i've fought a few wars against austria and its allies, forcing me to take loans, raise war taxes, bankruptcy etc etc. Its 1494, and i have 3 Land, 2 Navy, 2 Trade, 2 Infrastructure, with inflation at 42%... my question is should my techs be so low? I feel like i'll continue to lag behind, even if i'm on par with Muscovy, the German states will be able to beat up on my coalition at will. Any advice? Where should i go from here?

If Austria's been coming at you hard enough that you need to go bankrupt to fend them off, you should swallow your pride, make concessions, and then bribe your way to good relations. Bankruptcy is only worth it if the alternative is getting wiped out altogether (eg Byzantium), and I'm sure you'd be able to buy off Austria with a couple of provinces you can afford to lose.

Austria would have to be unbelievably strong for you to have no hope against them this early on. What techs do they have and how much income? Have you been using cavalry in the plains?

What's your badboy like? That could explain why you keep getting attacked.

With 42% inflation you'll struggle to keep up with anyone in Europe. I would start again and be more cautious next time. Poland can be a very strong country, but it's not like France where you can steamroller everyone from the start. Early on you should focus on your cores (particular if held by weak alliances) and building up your economy.

 

[Maximilliano]

hmmmm sounds like a gotta start over. I think my problem was that i made an early grab for Silesia, Hinterpomern and Kursten, trying to get the polish cultures, which brought me into conflict w/ Bohemia (allied with Austria at the start) and Denmark later, this brought my badboy up to about 14 around 1450. the thing is that is Austria has land tech 7! I don't know how it got so high. I guess i'll be starting over, and NOT trying to grab Silesia. Thanks for the advice on troops and inflation... So should i keep cash in reserve or spend it all in jan? The thing is i usually have to spend SOME cash placing merchants during the year...

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Usually I spend all my cash in Jan and stay at zero the rest of the year. Just place all you merchants then or save a little cash for February. That early in the game i.e. before trade tech 3 sending merchants is barely worth it anyway.

 

[Dark Scipio]

For me this sounds like a good game, espacally as I find Poland very easy to play . I mean 42% Inflation is hard, but this could make the game interesting.

 

[Brian Roastbeef]

hmmmm sounds like a gotta start over. I think my problem was that i made an early grab for Silesia, Hinterpomern and Kursten, trying to get the polish cultures, which brought me into conflict w/ Bohemia (allied with Austria at the start) and Denmark later, this brought my badboy up to about 14 around 1450. the thing is that is Austria has land tech 7! I don't know how it got so high. I guess i'll be starting over, and NOT trying to grab Silesia. Thanks for the advice on troops and inflation... So should i keep cash in reserve or spend it all in jan? The thing is i usually have to spend SOME cash placing merchants during the year...

Land Techs 5-10 come really quickly, that is, if you're relatively rich and don't have huge inflation. Pretty big disadvantage in the early game. 5 is assaults, 7 is artillery, and 9 is a new CRT.

This isn't impossible though. You just have to play diplomatically, bribe Austria like crazy, and see if you can make a powerful ally. Maybe release a vassal, if you have any to relase, if you have badboy you need to get down. Really stay out of war for a long time, and hope for some deflation events. About eight of 'em. You need level 5 infra like crazy but its going to be a long time before you get there.

I also wouldn't bother with merchants at this point in the game. At Trade level 2, you probably aren't going to keep up enough to swing a profit.

I would suggest you restart, but hang on to the save file when you're more experienced at AGCEEP. Later you might find it a good challenge surviving and managing this situation.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

...which brought me into conflict w/ Bohemia (allied with Austria at the start)...

I do not know about AGCEEP, but in vanilla Bohemia turns "Protestant" around 1420 which removes them from any alliances. That would be the time to attack them.

 

[Dark Scipio]

I do not know about AGCEEP, but in vanilla Bohemia turns "Protestant" around 1420 which removes them from any alliances. That would be the time to attack them.

Not in AGCEEP, their they have the Hussites fighting catholic Bohemia.