Newbie as Brazil

[jayswimmer]

Is Brazil still a good nation to play as a noob? I just tried it and have spent the first several years losing the north to rebels and the south to the Piratini.

I'm trying to weed through all of the VIP events to figure out how long I need to hold on before the revolt risk is reduced sufficiently to make the game actually fun.

 

[HisMajestyBOB]

In VIP, I'd recommend starting with a stronger, more stable power like USA, Netherlands, Belgium, or Sweden. Brazil is fun, but the rebels and initial Piratini war can be tricky for new players right at the start.

Once you've got your footing, though, Brazil is fun. It's good for your second game, in my opinion, especially if you're new to Victoria: Revolutions.

 

[jayswimmer]

Well, this is actually my second game, but I still consider myself a noob since there are so many things to learn. I've actually switched to Argentina, which seems a little easier. How do you manage all of the rebels as Brazil? Do you have to tough it out for years? I saw an awful lot of rebel events in the VIP events folder.

 

[JoeGiavani]

I've just gotten to 1892 in a game as Brazil and I intend to go to the end with this one. Brazil is an okay nation to start with, make sure you get some good industrial techs and freedom of trade as quickly as possible, then you'll have plenty of money to play around with since your coffee and sugar RGOs will provide more money than you'll realistically need.
Try to get as much plurality as possible from the events and make sure CON is as high as possible, since this speeds plurality growth. Also get ideological thought and make sure the liberals stay in power indefinitely, this'll give you a +25 boost to plurality but if the conservatives get in charge it'll be -25. Also there's an event which changes the liberal and conservative parties, and after that the liberal party is interventionist and protectionist, so you can have nice high tariffs, and enact all social reforms except for the 8-hour work day, you'll have more than enough money to fund at the lowest level.
At about 1870 you'll start to get immigrants in large numbers, and by 1880 you'll be growing by +1 million a year
Also try to be as punative as possible in early peace deals with paraguay/uraguay, demanding humiliation and war indeminities, this'll give you lots of prestige early on so you won't have to wait so long for inventions.

 

[unmerged(84717)]

IMHO, Sweden is a perfect nation for "noobs". Get into wars only if you want to (Crimean, Holstein crisis) and no significant consequences if you don't; good technological base; no big stir-up; good resources; significant population and industries; plenty of potential for expansion.

 

[unmerged(95236)]

I played Brazil in both my first vanilla and VIP games. In VIP, I used the cavalry division to handle all the rebels in the north while I concentrated on the piratini with the rest of my forces. IIRC, the piratini split their forces which allowed me to defeat them piecemeal and beat them within a few months. Also, because Brazil has a healthy income from the start - coffee and sugar rule in VIP - you can keep taxes and tariffs relatively low at the start to compensate for the revolt problems in the beginning. Then you can jack up the lower and middle class taxes while dropping upper class taxes when it is time to industrialize.

Maybe I just got lucky but these tactics worked very well. I ended up 4th at the end of the game but could have been much higher had I used my navy more. I started building PDNs and DNs 10 years before everyone else. However, I feel it would have been gamey to attack GB, etc since there seemed to be a game mechanic issue going on.