After making the transition from regular to iron man, I decided to take a whirl at forming Netherlands from a Dutch OPM. The first few tries as Utrecht didn't go so well, but I managed to last until the early 1600s in my last game as Friesland before getting eaten by France. It's a bit of a different animal on Iron Man without the save scumming, and taking down the BBB isn't quite as easy anymore.
This isn't going to be a France thread, but they were the biggest problem, cutting me down from full control of the Dutch and Flemish states to my single starting province in one fell swoop. I let them have the French provinces along my southern border, but they still desired my lands. Austria was my ally for most of the game, and we lost multiple wars defending the HRE against them. I was allied with Castile, Austria and the Commonwealth, but it wasn't enough in the end. Austria was weakened from losing multiple previous encounters, and I never had a chance to bring the full alliance against France until it was too late. The BBB would attack a HRE OPM before our truce was over, and once again it would be Austria and Friesland vs the blob. Frustrating, but this won't be the last time I play this start. France needs a beatdown earlier in the game, I can't let them blob up or I will pay for it later.
A few notes on the Friesland start:
1) Starting as an administrative republic is amazing. The .2 reduction to autonomy at the start of the game feels gamebreaking.
2) You can hit the Caribbean from Holland with Dip9 + third Exploration idea.
3) Even with quantity, I felt small and weak. Elan owned me, I need something to stand up to it.
4) Expansion + Quantity gave me three colonists the instant I hit Adm 10 and more than made up for waiting an extra 25 years.
5) All that colonizing ability didn't do me a lick of good against France.
6) Eating Burgundy used to feel hard. Now it's easy, but removing one of France's biggest threats makes them stronger.
7) I feel like a good way to deal with France might be to avoid Austria as an ally and attack them with Castille when they go to war with the HRE
8) England just sits there glaring at me from across the channel. I should eat them to make myself stronger. Ally Scotland?
9) Going Expansion first got me an early merchant and a diplomatic relation, but there are better choices.
So it's time for round two.
Expansion + Quantity + Exploration was good in theory. No doubt that four colonies on the go so quickly was powerful, but that doesn't matter if you get eaten by France. Plutocratic has bonuses to morale, force limits, and manpower recovery. With military focus + leader, I can both keep up in military tech and fill the idea group, getting the extra merchant and -2 unrest along the way. It's clearly superior in the very early game, and will help a lot vs Burgundy. It's a decent stopgap vs Elan, but does nothing to close the gap between my crappy generals and the god-tier ones France spits out. Let's not forget that they take offensive as their second idea group, further exasperating the situation.
Here's my problem. Let's say we take plutocratic first. Are we really better off with that than with Quantity? Plutocratic starts strong with +FL , +10 Morale in the first two ideas, but doesn't get another real military idea until the last one, which is manpower recovery. We're inside the HRE, so the unrest bonus isn't as good as it would be for say... Novgorod. Quantity gives you a double manpower bonus and +50% force limits. Neither pack the punch of offensive or defensive.
Double military ideas is possible. As a administrative republic I don't think I would have much trouble filling both Plutocratic and Quantity while keeping ahead of time in military tech. Both groups have a force limit and manpower recovery bonus. Throw in 10 morale, a bigger manpower pool, and all the other cool stuff that these two groups provide (cheaper troops, MP point savings on buildings, a merchant, -2 unrest, -5% tech cost, +25% naval force limits, -10% attrition). Heck, even merchant steering and goods produced aren't horrible in the colonial game we are planning. There's a lot of good stuff here, and it can be done.
Here's the problem. Expansion is the straw that stirs the drink. A relations slot represents an ally like the Hansa or an extra vassal. How many military ideas is that worth? You lose not one, but two colonists if you include the one from the policy, and you're going to have one colonist at ADM10 instead of three. You lose 20% colonial growth from the Exploration/Expansion policy, and 10% global settler increase from your third idea. You're missing out on +20% global trade power. That's a hell of a lot to give up, and I'm really not sure it's worth trading all that for 10% morale, +10% manpower recovery and +6 force limits from plutocratic. I'm concerned taking Quantity and Plutocratic isn't going to be enough to beat France anyway.
What I'm thinking is to stay the course with my three chosen idea groups, but to change my approach. France starts the game as an ally against Burgundy and England is hostile, so why not turn them against each other? Invade the British Isles. In a perfect world this could be done before DIP7, letting us take one of the western English provinces and starting our colonization early. In the real world, the English fleet needs to be taken care of first. If we start with Quantity, we'll have the +Naval FL idea early, and we MAY be able to focus our economy entirely on heavy ships and cogs. This would allow our ally France to cross the strait in peace, using our cogs to transport their men. Alternating beatdowns on England and Burgundy might keep France occupied for long enough to slow down the smashing of the western HRE and Italy. Controlling London and the rest of the channel provinces might give us a chance against France. We go Quantity/Exploration and get a head start on the new world, then decide if expansion or a second military idea would be more productive. Our -2 atonomy would make those english provinces useful, sooner, and we end up playing a reverse-England strategy.
The big question is if I will have enough time to conquer England before France and the HRE coalition turn on me?
This isn't going to be a France thread, but they were the biggest problem, cutting me down from full control of the Dutch and Flemish states to my single starting province in one fell swoop. I let them have the French provinces along my southern border, but they still desired my lands. Austria was my ally for most of the game, and we lost multiple wars defending the HRE against them. I was allied with Castile, Austria and the Commonwealth, but it wasn't enough in the end. Austria was weakened from losing multiple previous encounters, and I never had a chance to bring the full alliance against France until it was too late. The BBB would attack a HRE OPM before our truce was over, and once again it would be Austria and Friesland vs the blob. Frustrating, but this won't be the last time I play this start. France needs a beatdown earlier in the game, I can't let them blob up or I will pay for it later.
A few notes on the Friesland start:
1) Starting as an administrative republic is amazing. The .2 reduction to autonomy at the start of the game feels gamebreaking.
2) You can hit the Caribbean from Holland with Dip9 + third Exploration idea.
3) Even with quantity, I felt small and weak. Elan owned me, I need something to stand up to it.
4) Expansion + Quantity gave me three colonists the instant I hit Adm 10 and more than made up for waiting an extra 25 years.
5) All that colonizing ability didn't do me a lick of good against France.
6) Eating Burgundy used to feel hard. Now it's easy, but removing one of France's biggest threats makes them stronger.
7) I feel like a good way to deal with France might be to avoid Austria as an ally and attack them with Castille when they go to war with the HRE
8) England just sits there glaring at me from across the channel. I should eat them to make myself stronger. Ally Scotland?
9) Going Expansion first got me an early merchant and a diplomatic relation, but there are better choices.
So it's time for round two.
Expansion + Quantity + Exploration was good in theory. No doubt that four colonies on the go so quickly was powerful, but that doesn't matter if you get eaten by France. Plutocratic has bonuses to morale, force limits, and manpower recovery. With military focus + leader, I can both keep up in military tech and fill the idea group, getting the extra merchant and -2 unrest along the way. It's clearly superior in the very early game, and will help a lot vs Burgundy. It's a decent stopgap vs Elan, but does nothing to close the gap between my crappy generals and the god-tier ones France spits out. Let's not forget that they take offensive as their second idea group, further exasperating the situation.
Here's my problem. Let's say we take plutocratic first. Are we really better off with that than with Quantity? Plutocratic starts strong with +FL , +10 Morale in the first two ideas, but doesn't get another real military idea until the last one, which is manpower recovery. We're inside the HRE, so the unrest bonus isn't as good as it would be for say... Novgorod. Quantity gives you a double manpower bonus and +50% force limits. Neither pack the punch of offensive or defensive.
Double military ideas is possible. As a administrative republic I don't think I would have much trouble filling both Plutocratic and Quantity while keeping ahead of time in military tech. Both groups have a force limit and manpower recovery bonus. Throw in 10 morale, a bigger manpower pool, and all the other cool stuff that these two groups provide (cheaper troops, MP point savings on buildings, a merchant, -2 unrest, -5% tech cost, +25% naval force limits, -10% attrition). Heck, even merchant steering and goods produced aren't horrible in the colonial game we are planning. There's a lot of good stuff here, and it can be done.
Here's the problem. Expansion is the straw that stirs the drink. A relations slot represents an ally like the Hansa or an extra vassal. How many military ideas is that worth? You lose not one, but two colonists if you include the one from the policy, and you're going to have one colonist at ADM10 instead of three. You lose 20% colonial growth from the Exploration/Expansion policy, and 10% global settler increase from your third idea. You're missing out on +20% global trade power. That's a hell of a lot to give up, and I'm really not sure it's worth trading all that for 10% morale, +10% manpower recovery and +6 force limits from plutocratic. I'm concerned taking Quantity and Plutocratic isn't going to be enough to beat France anyway.
What I'm thinking is to stay the course with my three chosen idea groups, but to change my approach. France starts the game as an ally against Burgundy and England is hostile, so why not turn them against each other? Invade the British Isles. In a perfect world this could be done before DIP7, letting us take one of the western English provinces and starting our colonization early. In the real world, the English fleet needs to be taken care of first. If we start with Quantity, we'll have the +Naval FL idea early, and we MAY be able to focus our economy entirely on heavy ships and cogs. This would allow our ally France to cross the strait in peace, using our cogs to transport their men. Alternating beatdowns on England and Burgundy might keep France occupied for long enough to slow down the smashing of the western HRE and Italy. Controlling London and the rest of the channel provinces might give us a chance against France. We go Quantity/Exploration and get a head start on the new world, then decide if expansion or a second military idea would be more productive. Our -2 atonomy would make those english provinces useful, sooner, and we end up playing a reverse-England strategy.
The big question is if I will have enough time to conquer England before France and the HRE coalition turn on me?
. Allied with Hansa and (barely,had to take diprep advsisor) Austria. Got some gains in the east (Eastfrisia, Osnabruck).