Looking for advices for a country with strong military

[Durmir]

Hello everyone! I am not sure whether it is the correct place to post such a question, but...

As an introduction, the very first thing I'll say is that I'm French. It may seem odd, but I'm saying this because French people are not known for being good at english, which I totally agree. My point in saying this is: please excuse my poor english

Second, I would say I am very new to this game. I am a long term fan of 4x games, starting with the very first Civilization, which I spent countless hours on. I played nearly all Civilizations, better many times than once, and I also enjoyed the Total War series quite a lot. Believe me or not, I never played Paradox Games before, for I didn't know about them. About a month ago, it was on sale on Steam, and I couldn't resist. Since them, I've become a huge fan and I am now recommending the game all around me (the perfect balance between an enjoyable and fun game, with the real Hisotry depth the Total War series lack, and which is widely appreciated by people as fond of History as I am).

Now to the point of this post. I started my first game as France (guess why...). I only played a couple of hours, was really lost despite my experience in other 4x games. So I gave up and started again with the tutorial. I then played Castille as my first "real" game. All went well, I colonized half of the possible provinces, had a really nice economy, had a decent tech level compared to my neighbors, and an army that looked nice. I was an ally of France for the most part, and I quickly conquered Portugal, making Spain a very safe place for me to be. Except at some point, France chose me as a rival, canceled the alliance and overran me so easily I was kinda stunned. My 40-stacks armies went raped by 10-stacked french armies, and in no time what was left of Spain was a tiny bit of land in the south-west of the peninsula. At that point, I raged somehow (I am not really a rager, but let's say I gave up in disgust). Then I gathered my mind and decided I'd get my revenge. I looked for a military oriented country in Europe, close enough to France to beat the crap out of it, and I played as Brandeburg (which became Prussia, which became Germany). God damn, this game was awesome, and this was the game that gave me all this love for eu4. you can see the results here: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...s-4-Empire&p=17580473&viewfull=1#post17580473

Anyway, I enjoyed this game so much, playing as a military kickass, beating the clown of out France's arse (among other worthless "foes"), feeling like a dirty German Napoleon throwing used diapers to coalitions barely trying to stop me, that I now know the playstyle I'm going to for my next game.
With all this babbling of mine, you may know what I am coming to. My game with Germany (sadly) came to an end, and I am now looking for a new country to play. I am looking for another military oriented country, not necessarily strong at first but with a big potential (starting with a 1-province country doesn't frighten me if it has to be), preferably not in Europe (or in Europe but with another perspective than France or Germany). the best would be a military-oriented country with a challenge big enough to be both interesting and exciting to success with. I don't know well the game yet, and I have absolutely no idea what to pick. I trust you, estimed experienced gamers, to enlighten me to this purpose (enough boot-licking? ).

I thank you a lot for your incoming answers, I will truly appreciate any advice


*** TL;DR *** : looking for advices for a challenging, enjoyable, military-oriented country with another perspective than France or Germany.

 

[bacchus451]

I'd vote for the Golden Horde or any Horde! They're made for conquest and can stomp all over anyone who isn't western European. They actually get an event called, 'House of Peace' for being at peace for too long, wherein your ruler is replaced. It's a whole lot more fun than France, and requires more work, but is far more rewarding.

 

[unmerged(566081)]

Ottomans, Sweden, Burgundy and Hungary are choices. If you want to try a less advanced nation, then a horde nation, Japan, Nepal or a rajput/maratha nation

 

[Outrider]

Ottomans, Sweden, Burgundy and Hungary are choices. If you want to try a less advanced nation, then a horde nation, Japan, Nepal or a rajput/maratha nation

Starting as one of the Italian minors and forming Italy can be fun. Italy has some pretty good Military ideas, but this would also give you a chance to experience dealing with heathen religions (you might want to expand into Muslim lands) and naval struggles.

 

[MrGarfield]

Poland with 63% cavalry combat ability is devastating.

 

[loveactually]

in HRE:
-tuscany
-switzerland
-cologne/trier (divine ideas are quite awesome)

in central asia you could play hordes because horde ideas and government form bonuses are really great
not to mention that in 1444 horde cavalry kick ass
later you could decide to reform government or just stay horde and build cavalry from stolen cores of western/eastern nations
too bad that western arms trade has been nerfed. before, bordering western vassals with certain relations could give you -10% tech cost
but now, the nation must be independent but only need 150 relations

far east:
-nepal
-taungu
-tibet
-dai viet
-japan
all of these countries have nice military ideas, but the start might be a little bit rough. especially taungu, tibet, and dai viet

 

[voldezar]

Brandenburg -> Prussia
Tuscany -> Italy
Moscovy -> Russia
Ottomans
Timurids
Japan

 

[Rooz]

Outside of europe, huh? Try Manchu or Japan, it could be fun

 

[NYmasajista]

If you want to fight on the other side of Eurasia with a badass army try Dai Viet, Japan, or Nepal. Or start as a vassal OPM and carve out an empire as Taungu. Expand and westernize, you may also want to covert to Sunni for the piety bonuses and ahistorical lulz as the Sunni Shogun or Vietnamese conquer westward.

 

[Durmir]

Thanks a lot for your replies! There are some neat ideas. I'll probably try a horde nation and reform the Ghengis Khan empire
Then I'll try Nepal or Japan

 

[Hakuromatsu]

Thanks a lot for your replies! There are some neat ideas. I'll probably try a horde nation and reform the Ghengis Khan empire
Then I'll try Nepal or Japan

Both excellent choices.

Nepal has a very strong set of military ideas and lots of potential for expansion into India, but a Nepal playthrough runs the risk of going sour with an unfavorable political situation in India (e.g. a Vijayanagar that blobs faster than you).

Japan is generally a solid place to play with some off-the-wall options (like colonization!) but is sometimes...boring? Maybe not boring, but dull.

 

[unmerged(566081)]

Starting as one of the Italian minors and forming Italy can be fun. Italy has some pretty good Military ideas, but this would also give you a chance to experience dealing with heathen religions (you might want to expand into Muslim lands) and naval struggles.

The deal with Italy is just how different its military focused NIs are compared to the either tech, trade or diplo focused states that start there.

 

[Thrake]

Mamlukes look more appropriate than Ottomans. Ottomans is easy mode; Mamlukes however need to deal with stronger Ottomans. They also have a good share of events, and they aren't European.

Otherwise, you might just start in South India. Vijayanagar if you don't want it too hard (plus they are the only Indian nation with unique events), or someone smaller if you're not affraid of the challenge. I say South India, because in North India, you would have Timurids on your back...

 

[China is OP]

+1 for manchu

 

[jrk264]

I tried to respond to this yesterday but the OP temporarily disappeared. Weird.

I would say the nation to try depends on exactly how hard you want things to be. In escalating order of difficulty (IMO, of course):

(1) Italian minor -> Italy. Others have hit the high points, and I agree that it's worth a shot. You've done the northern HRE thing, now try the south. It's a little tougher since you have France breathing down your neck pretty quick, but not a radical shift from what you're used to. You also get the same sort of "form nation, power up, wreck France" sequence at the end, which is satisfying.

(2) Hordes. Patch 1.6 secretly buffed hordes a lot. Start with the Golden Horde or Kazan, then try the others if you enjoy the experience. As you move east the hordes tend to get poorer and harder to play. I wrote up a brief guide to horde mechanics that you might find helpful getting started.

(3) Songhai. Their national ideas are really sweet. It gives you a fun military focused nation in a neglected part of the map. Songhai also used to have crazy economic potential with control of Africa (steal trade at the Gulf of Aden, slingshot it around the Cape, and collect where you have a monopoly). You also had a nice multi phased game of conquering Africa, fending off Europeans, then taking the fight to Iberia. I'm not sure it's still enjoyable with the base tax nerf and the westernization nerf in 1.6.

 

[Outrider]

The deal with Italy is just how different its military focused NIs are compared to the either tech, trade or diplo focused states that start there.

True, but you can form it in 1518 no problem, so get to rock out the military NIs most of the game.