Colonization? (also reforms)

[unmerged(174602)]

I'm pretty new to vicky, i bought it off a friend after i read the DD for Vicky 2, which are awesome btw . Not new to Paradox games, i've played EUIII, HoI III and CK.

So far i've run into few problems in my Prussian game, right now it 1875 (still my first actual game, ignoring the ones where i just got used to the interface).
I've got the military stuff down pat, no more complex then HoI after all, but i am having some problems coming to grips with some of the social stuff and colonisation.

So first off:
what would you say are the pro's and con's of a colonial game?
Is it wise to always colonise, or do i want to have a strong continental base first?
What exactly do i stand to gain with say, a large African presence?

And on reforms:
I seem to be unable to stop the tide of liberals in my country, is their any way to stimulate the growth of the conservatives over the liberals?
Said liberals are getting quite militant, at what point would it be a good idea to enact some reforms?
As i'm trying to maintain the authoritarian style monarchy of the Prussians, are there any particular points i should worry about?

Thanks for reading, looking forward to some awnsers.

 

[henryjai]

There are some pros of colonizing, especially your base population is low and you're in Europe.

The reason is that for European countries,

1. Assimilation rate is low in European mainland even if you have Full citizenship party, that means immigration economy is not as effective.

2. Your home population is better for factories, as very likely your RGOs aren't fertile enough to be effective.

3. Guarding Colonies is surprisingly easy with colonial(native) divisions, cheap to maintain. If you like the more "exploitive" way you could raise simply colonial divisions for a huge army as a minor, and save your own population for factories.

4. Overseas colonies have better assimilation rates, especially for America (but unfortunately, it is hard to get colonies in
America without wars with civilized nations, purchasing could be expensive and not worth it.) So, if you managed to direct the immigrants to a state outside Europe, that is good. There are ways to get immigrants, one include grabbing some Chinese province and let the jobless go to your state colonies. (You need a state colony to assimilate immigrants)

If you are playing American nations, colonization might not be as profitable as your population would not move to your colonies outisde America and thus almost impossible on getting a state in, let's say, Africa. But it is always nice to have colonies for the prestige you gain from claiming colonies. For USA, your RGOs are rich enough to ignore expanding into the other continents. Consider invading South America as USA to get some nice RGOs.

 

[gornard]

Colonies are one of the easiest ways of gaining prestige, they can also be handy for raw materials and especially manpower, claims can also be traded for quite alot more then provinces. The cons are the expense, the chance of conflict and the resources required (smaller countries may have restricted access to steamers for example).

As prussia though it's possible to completly ignore your navy and concentrate on being a land power, in which case colonies become a liability. You also have no shortage of prestige when unification comes around. You'll be powerfull enough to expand with in europe, where as smaller nations like belgium, denmark, netherlands etc. wouldn't.

As pluracy rises (which it enevitably will) you're problems will increase as an absolute monarchy. The best way to fight this is to nip it in the bud early on by making sure your population is getting all the goods it needs (don't over tax or tarrif) and making sure taxes aren't too high (below 33% for the poor at least). Try and make sure those conditions are met first.
Inact reforms if you have to and make sure you fund them up to 50%, you may want to switch to a liberal party after you've enacted them to satisfy some of your population. Take a look and see whats making your population militant.

 

[unmerged(174602)]

Thanks for the awnsers, very helpful.

Another question though: Is it necessary to maintain a certain sized fleet in order to fully capitalise on your colonies? I mean besides the obvious protection needed.

 

[henryjai]

Thanks for the awnsers, very helpful.

Another question though: Is it necessary to maintain a certain sized fleet in order to fully capitalise on your colonies? I mean besides the obvious protection needed.

there is no need for a physical fleet unless for protection, you only need the steamers/clippers assigned as convoys.

 

[unmerged(174602)]

there is no need for a physical fleet unless for protection, you only need the steamers/clippers assigned as convoys.

?
Ok, you lost me there, is this automatic?

 

[gornard]

Yeah it is automatic, you can see whats going on by clicking on the button to the left of the crown on the top left.

If you got roped into a colonial war you may need a fleet to defend yourself and transport troops to the colonies (and also defend your troop transports). I'd recomend making friends with britain if you are going this root, it requires alot of effort to keep up with their naval production, it's better to avoid fighting them altogether untill/unless it's on your terms. Sweeden, netherlands, belgium and france are also common colonizers, but they'll probably be much easier targets for colonial war.