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TheMightyPuck

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Used to play EU II years back and just played some HOI (got the strat pack--a real bargain just to get EU II back). So I just destroyed the Canadian army in HOI in a Galipoli like misquided attack on Italian forces in north Africa. I figure I need to stay away from HOI for a while out of respect. In the meantime I am planning on trying out Victoria but there is no tutorial and I don't think I got the manual with the strat pack (need to check CD rom). In any case I was planning on jumping in with Texas. Is the is a good country to start with? What are some things I should do to get me moving in the right direction? Any help would be appreciated. TIA.
 

King

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I played Brazil in my first few games. Everytime I played Texas Santa Anna kicked my arse.
 

Chris8b

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Texas is a bad choice. It'll make your Canadian venture in HoI seem successful.

A lot of people will recommend Brazil. There's a tutorial for it around the forum somewhere.

Personally, I'd suggest a country that starts fairly industrialized. France would be a good choice as it doesn't get in to nasty wars immediately but will later as you've become comfortable with your economy.

I'd suggest you wander over to Vicky Wiki.

I'd also suggest downloading the VIP Mod--it improves the game tenfold.

-C
 

PostPaintBoy

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I've always found prussia in 1836 an awesome starter country. Its pretty easy to industrialized, they start with decent tech, and you can mess up for the first 20 years (like i did) and still end in first. All of their big wars are pretty easy, and once you unify, you'll be familier with the game, and will be able to win every war. Oh, and don't forget prussia has an awesome army.
 

Zuckergußgebäck

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I must agree with PostPaintBoy on this. Unifying Germany as Prussia is easy, even with a guy without any sense for strategy like me. The only downside is that you don´t get acces to the ruhr, so your steel mills will not get that coal, but then I might just have missed something...
 

OriginalRafiki

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chris8b said:
Texas is a bad choice. It'll make your Canadian venture in HoI seem successful.
Indeed. Texas as a first game is for suicidal masochists with a death wish ;)
A lot of people will recommend Brazil. There's a tutorial for it around the forum somewhere.
Or at http://victoria.nsen.ch/wiki/index.php/A_Modest_Guide_For_Brand_Spanking_New_Players
Personally, I'd suggest a country that starts fairly industrialized. France would be a good choice as it doesn't get in to nasty wars immediately but will later as you've become comfortable with your economy.
Same goes for the USA; a very forgiving country since it'll let you do quite a lot of errors in industrializing.

Quite a few recommend Belgium as a starter nation too.
I'd suggest you wander over to Vicky Wiki.
Seconded :D
I'd also suggest downloading the VIP Mod--it improves the game tenfold.
I don't; make sure you understand the basic game first. Most guides are written for vanilla Vicky, and VIP makes things more complex as well as slightly harder.
 

TheFlemishDuck

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Aside from Prussia

Sweden: Very good literacy ,good position for early industrializing and fast technological progress (not to much pops) ,Scandinavian events come somewhart early but you can gain a lot there an make Sweden powerfull.

Spain: Somewhat annoying early events ,but youre in a very secure position and Spain ,although somewhat larger to industrialize ,has quite some potential later on.

Portugal: Smaller ,but in a good spot for colonization ,easy to industrialize

Belgium: War at first but after that easy ,although somewhat uninterresting posiition ,very good technological position

Netherlands: Somewhat similar to Belgium ,but somewhat worse industry at start ,good colonies though.

Switzerland: Easy to industrialize ,but limited potential and not very interresting position neither.

Brazil: Larger ,but not to much pops in much state's ,takes some time to industrilize and gain on the Europeans in tech ,after that immigration can gain you a lot.

United states of America: Some tricky events ,but large and quite wealthy ,can become a massive superpower

Urugay: Small ,but can get loads of immigrants ,and tech should be fairly fast.

Intermediate:

United kingdom: very large ,easy to industrialize but also lots to invest to and to keep you occupied

France: Large ,fairly good early position but takes quite some time to industrialize ,moderate tech position ,lots of events and some political problems.Once industrialized can be very powerfull ,Algeria is also a plus.

Italian minor's as Sardinie Piedmonte ,papal state's and 2 sicily's ,Italian unification is somewhat of a challenge ,but once achieved italyhas quite some potential.Because most minor's industrialize fairly quick on themself you unify a fairly industrialized country.

Austria: About the same as france ,large ,takes time to industrialize ,some bad events and has to fight of some country's ,but once industrialized quite powerfull.

China: Uncivilized ,and gets to fight of the brits to ,but it's very rich so a for a human not that hard ,Very large so takes a lot of time to industrialize and technoligy will come slow.

Japan: Uncivilized ,but gets civilized by event and gets a good tech position mid game ,medium sized so industriazing is pretty fast ,Is quite rich by norm ,gets to be bad boy in Asia.

Greece: Somewhat backward and small ,innitial position is not easy to overcome especially if Turkey is strong ,but once cores are reached a fairly good country ,hard to become a major though.

Other minor's of Germany: Like Bavaria or hanover ,can be fairly strong early on ,but lots of fights before Germany is yours.

Most other South American country's ,Somwhat lesser technological start ,no industry's usually ,takes longer time to industrialize and fairly uninterresting position.

Transvaal: Good technological start position ,can get wealthy with precious metals early on ,can get big lumps of Africa but UK is a danger.

Hard:

Krakow: Can become Poland ,but small ,very good tech spot ,can get many immigrants ,not to few manpower neither ,but surrounded by big boys.

Ottoman empire: Some hard events here ,and not an easy country to industrialize ,but in a good position for GP to the end.

Mexico: Large country ,but with lots of problems ,and not that rich

Persia: Uncivilized ,can get civilized by event but prepare youreself for bloodshed ,especially if Russia is in it's bad mood.Once industrialzed though it becomes powerfull in Asia ,but has a lot of big boys around it.

Serbia: Small ,but lots of cores ,has to fight of major's though to reach full potential ,then can be a large power in Balkan.

Egypt: Uncivilized ,but not to small ,still quite a challenge.

Indian minor's: Surrounded by Brits ,hard to get civilized ,but fairly wealthy

Siam: Fairly wealthy ,epecially with precious metals ,but not to easy to civilize

Very hard:

Most uncivilized country's ,especially the smaller ones.

Sattlelite's like Ionian islands



Well thats about it i guess ,add if you wish
 

unmerged(45852)

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TheMightyPuck said:
Thanks all. I'm going with Prussia.

Is it too late to give a suggestion? ;)

Imo, Prussia is a bit of a micromanagement nightmare for a beginner (I tried it first too and quit because I was overwhelmed). Try Belgium, it is a wealthy country that isn't too hard to manage. You can learn a lot, just don't expect to win the game.
 

Iasius

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I started out with Sweden. Played about 60 years or so until I had no more pops to convert to craftsmen and clerks and never got into a war during the entire game. Then I switched to Prussia to learn about combat.
 

unmerged(5205)

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Alfred Russel said:
Is it too late to give a suggestion? ;)

Imo, Prussia is a bit of a micromanagement nightmare for a beginner (I tried it first too and quit because I was overwhelmed). Try Belgium, it is a wealthy country that isn't too hard to manage. You can learn a lot, just don't expect to win the game.

You don't really do to much micro as Prussia. All your provinces are in central Europe and you don't have to fight any wars until the 1860's except for that minor 1840 something war with Denmark
 

Ciçatrix

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KölscheJung said:
You don't really do to much micro as Prussia. All your provinces are in central Europe and you don't have to fight any wars until the 1860's except for that minor 1840 something war with Denmark
1848 is the date for the danish war.
 

unmerged(3084)

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Portugal.

A quiet peaceful country which starts with a small but tasty empire. With this country you can be very late and still get into the colonisation game. Hell, you own the back door to Africa.

If you don't annoy Spain too much you can avoid war completely (and the UK persists in guaranteeing your independence).

For the second game I suggest USA so you can learn large scale industrialisation and gain combat experience without any real danger. You will also have a strong economy to try out a spot of colonising.

If you are playing version 1.03 try Kashmir when you have got the hang of the game (no good if you have 1.03b though as you can't buy a tech unless you have the prerequisites) to really stretch your diplomacy, industrialisation, research, diplomatic deals and warfare (not to mention exploits).
 

unmerged(45852)

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KölscheJung said:
You don't really do to much micro as Prussia. All your provinces are in central Europe and you don't have to fight any wars until the 1860's except for that minor 1840 something war with Denmark

That is true, but you do have a lot of provinces. When I was first starting out, I was under the mistaken impression I had to manage each of them independently. It made Prussia pretty complex.
 

TheFlemishDuck

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I think in the end Sweden is the best as beginner country ,but thats my oppinion.But Sweden has a very high literacy ,good resources ,good tech position ,not to much pops to convert and not to much province's.It has quite some potential if you get it to Scandinavia but i figure beginners won't get down that line ,but i would say it's the most effeciant country at start due to high literacy.
 

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Personnaly I think the best beginner country is Switzerland if you're looking to learn how to manage the economy.

There is a good starting population (near spliting which gives you quickly some more ), there is also strategic ressources at hand (like iron, coal and lumber... plus near there is some silkworm RGO) and last but not least your neutral so you can cut in your military spendings whithout fear. ;)

Beside all this it will teach you one crucial thing for this game : patience. :D :D :D
 

unmerged(5205)

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Alfred Russel said:
That is true, but you do have a lot of provinces. When I was first starting out, I was under the mistaken impression I had to manage each of them independently. It made Prussia pretty complex.


I failed miserably in my first game, which was with Prussia. I couldn't figure out how to get my manpower positive so obviously I didn't do to good in battles :) But once I figured that out I just restarted the game and did pretty good
 

unmerged(45852)

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KölscheJung said:
I failed miserably in my first game, which was with Prussia. I couldn't figure out how to get my manpower positive so obviously I didn't do to good in battles :) But once I figured that out I just restarted the game and did pretty good

I can see that being a problem with the ridiculous number of army units you start with as Prussia. The good thing about Belgium is that you don't start with a ton of units, and you also start in a war. Starting in a war is cool because you can learn real quick how combat works, rather than waiting until around 1850 after your game has already taken shape and a lot of effort put in the game.
 

unmerged(32734)

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my favorite nation to start with is sweden, you are seperated from european politics without being too distant, and so are less likely to suffer from "Whipbacks", you have a reasonable amount of money and a high literacy rate which helps, the problem is you have a small national population.
thanks,
dizzy