How to play as England into Great Britain?

[Shatter12]

I always end up losing the HYW, but that's not what I'm going to inquire about yet. The problem lies in the WoTR and tips for playing as England in general.
The WoTR ends up killing my manpower, income, and above all, increases unrest massively. it annoys me to the point where the game is pretty much unplayable to play as England.
The second one isn't uniting the Island which isn't too hard once the dreaded WoTR passes, but colonisation strategy and aiming for historical british land acquisitions. What is the colonial strategy, especially within India which I plan to either No-CB or use Imperialism on.
Basically I plan on going international, as Europe seems particularly difficult, and the WoTR messes it up big time. What colonisation strategies should I use (i.e. which regions to colonise so that I can steer the trade into the English channel, and is feeding a vassal Ireland a better idea then using admin points?
Also, what to do for idea groups? Since I'm focussing on Colonialism and the like, I'm guessing Exploration > Expansion > Quantity > Humanist > Trade > Administrative > Quality (?) > Religious?
TL;DR Help just in general with what to colonise and idea groups and what to do specifically for expansion in the New World, and within India and Indochina/Indonesia?
Thanks.

 

[Ixal]

The Wotr can be ended rather quickly. Save up ADM power (no +1 Stab at the start of the game etc.) and when it fires kill the rebel stack and boost Stab and the war will be over in months.
If you want to play international give up on your French provinces.
Because of the distance involved you can only really start to colonize with Dip tech 7, so focus on that. I am not sure if you can jump over greenland before that with a colonial range advisor.
If you can somehow dow Portugal get the azores and also their colonies in africa (Gold Cost is very important).
The fastest way to expand colonies is by conquering natives so place your first colony so that you border them. If it is a CoT province its even better.
You do not need to NoCB india. When your colonies are close enough you get a mission to conquer provinces in India which gives you claims.
As for the general colonialization strategy, grab the centers of trade in important regions (Caribbean, gold cost). In the new world conquer natives to quickly form colonial nations. Give them substitues so that they can build up an army and start to colonize themselves. Otherwise they get conquered in colonial wars when you are not looking.
Towards Asia form trade companies and kill off anything that draws trade away. Only take the conquer missions when you are ready to attack as the claims do not last forever.

 

[Shatter12]

The Wotr can be ended rather quickly. Save up ADM power (no +1 Stab at the start of the game etc.) and when it fires kill the rebel stack and boost Stab and the war will be over in months.
If you want to play international give up on your French provinces.
Because of the distance involved you can only really start to colonize with Dip tech 7, so focus on that. I am not sure if you can jump over greenland before that with a colonial range advisor.
If you can somehow dow Portugal get the azores and also their colonies in africa (Gold Cost is very important).
The fastest way to expand colonies is by conquering natives so place your first colony so that you border them. If it is a CoT province its even better.
You do not need to NoCB india. When your colonies are close enough you get a mission to conquer provinces in India which gives you claims.
As for the general colonialization strategy, grab the centers of trade in important regions (Caribbean, gold cost). In the new world conquer natives to quickly form colonial nations. Give them substitues so that they can build up an army and start to colonize themselves. Otherwise they get conquered in colonial wars when you are not looking.
Towards Asia form trade companies and kill off anything that draws trade away. Only take the conquer missions when you are ready to attack as the claims do not last forever.

The problem with the WOTR is that they end up spawning a similar size stack to me, and get the +25% for being pretender rebels. By colonisation strategy, CoT and estuaries are what I should be colonizing, but what regions should I be colonizing first and foremost?
Also, is it recommended getting wealth of nations purely for that TC boni?
In addition to that, are the ideas I listed fine for what I plan or should some changes be implemented?

 

[geschnittzlich]

Here is how I do: First I sell all my provinces to France(if it isn't rivaling me), Provence and Britany, gaining 300 ducats and -50 prestige. Then I pick mission Conquer Ayrshire, form alliance with Ulster and Connaught. I set as Denmark, Scotland and Burgundy as my rivals. I assign provinces to the burghers, Yorkshire and Pale and request them to give me 5 heavy ships for free. Then I start fabricating claims in Ireland, priority is Scottish ally there, if he is too far to claim, then Connaught comes handy with its claim when he and Ulster become vassals ASAP.
After you sell provinces on the continent, you start loosing Great power status, plus War of the roses would begin in 1449. (If you're lucky Margaret Anjou stops it).
As soon I got Conaught and Ulster as vassals diplomatically I DOW Irish minor allied to Scotland. In Pale I've built prior to war 6 more units and existing 13 and 14 attack Scotland from the border, on Ayrshire and Lothian. I tend to not move my armies from those provinces whole war, and Scotland doesn't dare to attack. So I use my navy and destroy theirs and blockade Lothian. When Lothian gets occupied i take Ayershire from them, and give irish minor territory to my irish vassal for 0 DIP. Army losses are minimal and I start claiming on other irish minors.

Now WOTR kicks in. Player has several options. Most of the time I take several loans if 28 doomstack of rebels pops and hire mercs as crazy. Another approach is that you pick weaker king in the event and let the rebels enforce their ruler. Third but somewhat gamey option is to place 1 Infantry in each owned British Isles province, because then rebels won't spawn at all and you get to pick York or Lancaster and get -manpower, NO rebels XD
After that I attack the rest of the Irish minors, make sure to tick arrow in DOW menu, so they call everybody, sometimes even Gelre, Hansa, Friesland, Utrecht which are good for subjugate and divert trade to me.

After Ireland is pacified I turn my gaze to the Burgundy, and by that time I have France as ally, because they love me for returning all my continental provinces to them We attack Burgundy and after several years of war, they are completely occupied and I take all 3 of their subjects for 97%WS(I've unlocked ability with 800 splendor that allows you to transfer subjects in a peace deal for half the cost). During this war I declare subjugation war on Scotland, and France can't kick in because we are busy in fighting with Burgundy
After Scots are defeated and fully occupied, I end the war by taking money and one province near Orkney for CB on Norway(only if Scotland doesn't have CB on Orkney and Shetland. Now I declare war on Norwegian island provinces, land in Sjaeland with my whole army and work my way up to the north, getting 90%WS and taking Norway from them XD
It is important to treat vassals, increase relations, give gifts and influence them, so they won't be rebellious later on. Important thing is to TURN ON SCOUTAGE! That way they are paying more money and aren't called to wars, so when coalition kicks in, they live happily in peace hehe.

OFC, people on the continent are quite displeased by my actions and they form massive coalitions, from Britany to Cyprus, but are no match for English navy consisting of 20 heavies, it could be a bit boring to sit on a island for the whole war, but this is awesome because it's the only to battle massive coalition and win!

For techs I pick Maritime or Innovative first, and Exploration for second idea. I know it's strange, but I like that way. By the 1460ies 99% of trade in English channel is mine thanks to DIVERT TRADE from my dutch vassals, Scotland and Norway and while Ireland is completely subjugated. I save DIP points with smart use of parliament (lower cost of vassal integration - Irish ones, and picking 1TAX increase in 1 province with 5%less construction cost which comes in handy with the Renaissance bonus!)

By 1480 I have DIP tech 7 and 2 Maritime and 3 Exploration ideas, going for Caribean. TRICK for England is to leave other colonisers alone, let Portugal create those Brazil, Mexico, Argentine and African colonies, let him battle with Jolof, Mali etc. I tend to colonize Caribbean, Newfoundland and East coast of America.
There is one silly thing I like to do: make Thirteen Colonies and grant them independence, they form USA and I vassalize them when they are small, that way they fight better, they fight overseas and colonize faster. Now it's time to take all colonies from Spain, Portugal and France, only by using navy!

It is possible to kill or subjugate all the indians in the America by 1500, and feed their lands to your USA vassal.
By 1520, using island jump technique I'm on the conquest of Maldives and the rest of India, having 30 transport ships for there and 50-60k units for the invasion.

TRADE: have merchants from Thirteen Colonies, Newfoundland and Caribbean steer trade to English channel, plus you get one in Ivory coast after the conquest of Portuguese colonies there, plus one from South Africa, plus Zanzibar, IMPORTANT: conquer or vassalise everyone in India, Zanzibar and Gulf of Aden for almost 100% trade going to English Channel.

For idea groups i tend to pick: 1.Maritime/Innovative, 2.Exploration, 3.Innovative/Maritime, 4.Quality, 5. Economic, 6.Trade, 7. Defensive, 8. Offensive/Naval

Hope it helps!

 

[Dominion]

As England I grabbed the PU over France, ate Castille+Brittany, vassalized Portugal and colonized without anyone challenging me.

You're not even getting declared on because your only wars are against minor nations overseas.

One of the few non-blobbing runs I played. Pretty relaxed setting.

 

[Zelius]

The Wotr can be ended rather quickly. Save up ADM power (no +1 Stab at the start of the game etc.) and when it fires kill the rebel stack and boost Stab and the war will be over in months.

The disaster can only end when you have an heir and no regency, so RNG can definitely keep the WotR going longer than that.


You can avoid losing the HYW by grabbing strong allies before WotR fires, and either accepting to surrender Maine or quickly deleting continental forts and attacking Scotland, guaranteed by France, to peace out quickly for ducats. Being in war or truce with France prevents the Maine event firing, and it expires very early. Of course if you leave France alone and just stay on the Isles, they will quickly become too strong on land for you to save your French provinces.

IIRC you can reach the tip of Canada from Iceland, otherwise you are left with a long wait.

For trade, you'll want to open the Trade mapmode often. In general you want to own the major Trade provinces in all zones going towards English Channel. Ivory Coast and North Sea if you have a mostly colonial empire. All Trade Company provinces are good too, to get the extra merchant (Yes, Wealth of Nations needed for that. Otherwise, can get merchants from colonial nations). If you don't want to expand or move your capital / trade capital though, you'll lose a lot of trade money to France + whoever owns the lowlands, and Norway will take a big chunk of North America trade going through North Sea trade node.

As for idea groups.. Exploration, sure. Expansion is still meh, though you can fabricate on trade company provinces with the finisher, so you don't have to no-CB into India regardless of missions. You could take Humanist or Administrative 2nd instead, though. Quantity has a peculiar relationship with England: they are already rich and their provinces tend to have low manpower. The gain from Quantity is thus very small.. Might be more useful to take Offensive / Defensive etc, and field armies of mercenary infantry instead. Taking Influence or Diplomacy early is useful always, so consider that, especially if you ever have vassals or subjects of any kind. No need for you to take Religious as well as Humanist, especially as the last idea group; its main function is the Holy War CB, which in late-game is replaced by Imperialism CB.

 

[Dominion]

I mean, if worse comes to worst there's always the exploit of putting 1k stacks in every province you own, preventing the event from spawning rebels altogether.

Assuming it still works. Haven't played England in a while.

 

[Ixal]

By colonisation strategy, CoT and estuaries are what I should be colonizing, but what regions should I be colonizing first and foremost?
Also, is it recommended getting wealth of nations purely for that TC boni?
In addition to that, are the ideas I listed fine for what I plan or should some changes be implemented?

Depends if you want to be historical or not. If you grab the most advantageous regions for trade the critical ones are the Ivory Cost (asia trade is steered to either Spain, France, England or the Carribbean) and the Carribbean (Steering most american trade to Spain, France pr up to North America and then England).

Regions of slightly lesser importance is the Gulf of Aden (India trade either towards Venice or England) and Malakka (China trade either goes past India or bypasses them). Other regions like Zanzibar are not so much needed for steering, but a lot of trade can still be drained if other nations have to much control and their home node there.

Trade Companies are very powerful, some say too powerful. But you can do well without them.
If you have Trade Companies you can imo drop Humanism as you won't have much unrest there anyway. And Admin comes a bit late for its full effect.
You might be forced to put Maritim in there somewhere because you run out of sailors easily when you stay on the Island.

 

[gia257]

The problem with the WOTR is that they end up spawning a similar size stack to me, and get the +25% for being pretender rebels. By colonisation strategy, CoT and estuaries are what I should be colonizing, but what regions should I be colonizing first and foremost?
Also, is it recommended getting wealth of nations purely for that TC boni?
In addition to that, are the ideas I listed fine for what I plan or should some changes be implemented?

start with a war on castille, to draw portugal in, get as close as possible, perhaps use a second war (if the first was without colonial range) to get islands near africa

if you cant get close to africa, canada it is, theres one province that is the closest and you can reach "early", from there, keep jumping south until you reach the caribbean, as you jump down get cbs and attack the natives, and core the stuff to get a canadian, new land, and louisiana, you ont need mexico, but if you got nothing to do, get it too, will be your biggest colony early on and pretty quick (as fast as you can fab cbs and war).

once you reach caribbean you want that land, so that its money doesnt go to sevilla/bordeaux, you want the american coast, so all the money goes to north sea (dont worry get a colonial nation, they will colonize for you)

thats the american plan

for africa, you want ivory coast, so long as you have all the green provinces, you are set, send that money to caribbean if you also own it, or to english channel straight

now to take advantage of the money you send to north sea, you have to attack norway and get control of it, and ofc, also attack the mainlans and get the remaining centers for th eenglish channel itself

later in the game, you will want zanzibar and build on the ivory, also send everything you get further away (and can) to zanzibar, for this you need to jump straight to malacca using the islands, or get control of aden and indus (lot more land and therefore harder) if you want to get get trade from india itself