Hi!! 
Hi.
Here's how I play Victoria. I tell you this all because I am TERRIBLE, and I REALLY want to have more fun with this game. I will describe what I do and what happens, and you will please tell me what I can do differently to have more fun and play better.
I choose my country. YAY! Immediately after loading, the map and my interface appear, with a box giving me the option to begin the game. I never, ever, ever start the game. First, I go into budget. I tax everyone to 60%, put my tariffs slider all the way to the right (so much money!), I put education farther to the right, and keep everything else near the middle.
Then I spend about ten minutes in the trade screen, setting my country to sell almost everything I produce, except for small arms, artillery, machine parts, steel, iron, timber, lumber, cement, sulphur, ammunition, and canned food. everything essential to supplying an army, including wine and liqour, I set to buy if I fall under a certain amount (about 300), or set to sell for over a higher amount IF i am producing it in my own country (about 400-500). everything else, I keep maybe ten of, sell the rest.
then i go into diplomacy, and try to trade with people. no-one will trade me territories no matter what, so I end up just selling my techs to lesser countries for as much money as I can get until I run out of diplomacy points.
i set a science, usually for something industrial.
now the game begins, when I click start! my money jumps!, then falls, then stabilizes at barely making any profit, unless I actually run a small defecit, in which case I go decrease military spending and education. i usually end up making a profit of about 20 every day.
i wait and wait and wait, and when i have enough money and resources, i build railroads until i can build no more. then i go through industries in provinces, expanding until i can expand no more. then i wait and wait, and eventually i continue to not make any profit, so I come to the conclusion that i must need to conquer to make more money. i prepare my armies by marching them to a border of a country that seems weakened.
then i wait forever to acquire another diplomacy point.
in the meantime, i make soldiers of many farmers, since they seem to not do very much as grain is cheap to export. i use them to create armies, waiting for very long times to get enough money to make them. by the time i have made about 20,000 troops, i have another diplomacy, and i use it to declare war.
i advance! and attack, and destroy! I use leaders whenever possible, and i split up my forces to flank and encircle, then unite them all to push forward and repeat the process. and then from out of nowhere, 50,000 troops come and reclaim everything and force me to retreat. i try to sue for peace, they refuse. i end up giving them a lot just to get them to leave me alone. the only time i ever had a war that looked positive was when I was playing as the United States in the Grand Campaign. I allied with Texas against Mexico, and conquered everything Mexican which was West of Texas. then Texas declared peace with Mexico, and everything I had worked for and lost tens of thousands of men for was automatically given BACK to Mexico because the TEXANS got scared. later i attacked the texans' capital, then just quit the game before i could be more frustrated.
at that point i stop playing, and come here to look for tips, and find nothing as basic as what i need. everyone keeps saying to "read the manual", but unfortunately I bought my game in a regular CD case (no pictures), without a manual, used, from a local store -- probably sold by someone who was as frustrated as me but didn't know of the forum here.
so, what can i do differently?
Hi.
Here's how I play Victoria. I tell you this all because I am TERRIBLE, and I REALLY want to have more fun with this game. I will describe what I do and what happens, and you will please tell me what I can do differently to have more fun and play better.
I choose my country. YAY! Immediately after loading, the map and my interface appear, with a box giving me the option to begin the game. I never, ever, ever start the game. First, I go into budget. I tax everyone to 60%, put my tariffs slider all the way to the right (so much money!), I put education farther to the right, and keep everything else near the middle.
Then I spend about ten minutes in the trade screen, setting my country to sell almost everything I produce, except for small arms, artillery, machine parts, steel, iron, timber, lumber, cement, sulphur, ammunition, and canned food. everything essential to supplying an army, including wine and liqour, I set to buy if I fall under a certain amount (about 300), or set to sell for over a higher amount IF i am producing it in my own country (about 400-500). everything else, I keep maybe ten of, sell the rest.
then i go into diplomacy, and try to trade with people. no-one will trade me territories no matter what, so I end up just selling my techs to lesser countries for as much money as I can get until I run out of diplomacy points.
i set a science, usually for something industrial.
now the game begins, when I click start! my money jumps!, then falls, then stabilizes at barely making any profit, unless I actually run a small defecit, in which case I go decrease military spending and education. i usually end up making a profit of about 20 every day.
i wait and wait and wait, and when i have enough money and resources, i build railroads until i can build no more. then i go through industries in provinces, expanding until i can expand no more. then i wait and wait, and eventually i continue to not make any profit, so I come to the conclusion that i must need to conquer to make more money. i prepare my armies by marching them to a border of a country that seems weakened.
then i wait forever to acquire another diplomacy point.
in the meantime, i make soldiers of many farmers, since they seem to not do very much as grain is cheap to export. i use them to create armies, waiting for very long times to get enough money to make them. by the time i have made about 20,000 troops, i have another diplomacy, and i use it to declare war.
i advance! and attack, and destroy! I use leaders whenever possible, and i split up my forces to flank and encircle, then unite them all to push forward and repeat the process. and then from out of nowhere, 50,000 troops come and reclaim everything and force me to retreat. i try to sue for peace, they refuse. i end up giving them a lot just to get them to leave me alone. the only time i ever had a war that looked positive was when I was playing as the United States in the Grand Campaign. I allied with Texas against Mexico, and conquered everything Mexican which was West of Texas. then Texas declared peace with Mexico, and everything I had worked for and lost tens of thousands of men for was automatically given BACK to Mexico because the TEXANS got scared. later i attacked the texans' capital, then just quit the game before i could be more frustrated.
at that point i stop playing, and come here to look for tips, and find nothing as basic as what i need. everyone keeps saying to "read the manual", but unfortunately I bought my game in a regular CD case (no pictures), without a manual, used, from a local store -- probably sold by someone who was as frustrated as me but didn't know of the forum here.
so, what can i do differently?
