Ok, so how do I play the game?

[Lysistrata]

I've had a couple of games and I know the basics, but I still don't feel I have much of an idea of how to play the game.

First game was Greece. I managed to get all my cores from the Ottomans, only to be defeated catastrophically by Russia in a war against Egypt for Crete before I realised great powers can and will join wars pretty much whenever, wherever, with any non-GP they're friendly with, even if they aren't sphered.

Second game was as Italy in the AHD start. Things went well enough until I got inadvertently drawn into war against my principal ally (the top-ranking player, who I clearly had no hope of defeating - the German Empire) by Romania about 30 years in.

Then I tried Sardinia-Piedmont, seeing as I've heard it recommended as a good game for beginners. I have no idea why anyone would say that when most of Italy is sphered by France and Austria. Nonetheless, I allied with Switzerland and the Pope and declared war on the Two Sicilies for one of their regions. The Pope backed out, and no-one would give me military access, so I tried to get across by fleet, only to have that destroyed. Before I could build a new one, the Sicilians landed in Genoa and destroyed the bulk of my army.

Ok, I thought, so I'll try the Two Sicilies. That collapsed quickly since I couldn't find anyone willing to ally with me, and wasn't sure it was the best idea to

So you're probably noticing a pattern here - the most glaring gap in my knowledge is in warfare. In the above games, I've generally avoided warfare once all the easy targets were gone, or else delegated responsibility to my great power allies, hell, I've even had a sphere take over a war for me in the Italy game (I sphered Spain for an alliance, which came in handy when they became a great power again, and yeah, I know it still speaks volumes about my military score, I remained a great power mostly due to prestige). I usually ended up losing track of enemy movements pretty quickly anyway, seeing as they aren't as easy to quickly identify as they are in EU4 and CK2.

I'll admit, I've made an unhealthy habit of falling back on using default troops and mobilising because, as far as I can see, there's no clear indication of which troops are better than the others (although some are obvious, like Frigates/Men-o-war vs. Steamers, in other areas it isn't so obvious to someone as uninitiated in this time period as I am). I'm also unsure of what constitutes a good setup, troop/ship-wise, and whether it's a good idea to simply disassemble your army and rebuild it once the units in it get outdated, or can they be upgraded somehow? Or does it just not make a difference?

I'm also kinda stumped by what determines the AIs rationale for refusing/accepting alliances. There've been times when I've offered an alliance with 100-200 relations to a nation with no obvious cause to refuse, and been refused (happened in the Two Sicilies game with France, who ostensibly loved me). And how do I steal a sphere from another great power? I'd assume the only way possible is through war, since when I try to do it peacefully the great powers just repeatedly ban my embassies and decrease the sphere's opinion of me.

 

[Esben_DRK]

Okay... First, the very basics of war:
Like EU4/EU3, your military depends on supplies, that you have to buy. To get your budget to fit, you can lower your military expenditure, which works, right up until your army gets murdered in new and brutal ways (I've made that mistake too many times to contemplate myself).
Next, soldiers: Recruited soldiers far exceed conscripts. No questions asked. Furthermore, this is the age of artillery. If there are three things your armies can't do without, it's artillery, mobility and artillery.
Depending on mods, various units are better than others, obviously, but generally you want a frontline of infantry, two flanking units (Cavalry with reconnaisance), an engineer unit and almost as much artillery as infantry.
Techs change the exact ratios, but the setup generally holds.
Another thing: As techs progresses, dig-in and provincial fortifications increases until it becomes irrational* to attack. I've held off the French forces in Elsass-Lothringen with almost ludicrous French losses due to massive fortifications and my troops just sitting behind their Maginot line, artillery firing overhead at the advancing French. It ought to be a warcrime to send those French soldiers to their death like that, but I guess that's an internal French matter...

For ships, metal ships wil murderzone any wooden ships, and the bigger iron ships, the better. If it's called HMS Dreadnought and built in the late 1890'ies, you're in the sweet spot.

You can take spheres from other GPs. The efficient way is to swap around so you focus on specific ones, but I'm not really good at it, I tend to "power through" and then use money to build in the country we're competing over for penalties to the other GP (And of course increase relations, that gives a bonus as well). Taking spheres through war should really be the last resort for most countries, Germany probably the most notable exception.
And honestly, many wars are not economically viable. If you don't see the win, or at least a substantial victory over a strategic enemy alongside few losses for yourself, don't fight it if you can avoid it. Diplomacy in the period was volatile, take inspiration from Bismarck.

There are a lot of things that can be substantiated here, but it's a little hard to just "throw stuff out there", without knowing either what mod (If any) you play, and more specific questions.
Anyway, best of luck and I hope you enjoy the game!

*Unless you're suffiently stronger or more willing to take those losses.

 

[Lysistrata]

I don't use mods, yet. I'm more wondering about specific types of units you unlock through tech like Hussars, Regulars, Guards, etc. There doesn't seem to be any easy way of comparing their relative strength in game. And is there any advantage in dismantling an army full of outdated troops and rebuilding it with newer types, like from frigates to steamers, for example? Or is it unimportant?

 

[Kirikano]

I just started playing myself, but after reading the following two pages, I haven't had any difficulties fighting a war myself.

http://www.victoria2wiki.com/Land_combat_strategy
http://www.victoria2wiki.com/Land_combat

In general, all you need is a line of infantry and a equal line of artillery, with 1-2 of your preferred cavalry and engineers. The AI tends to not use as much artillery as it should, and forts increases the strength of the defending army, so if you play around that you should have no problems.

About navies - I would definitely try to upgrade. In my experience, a dozen combat ships of a tier higher than your opponents will massacre an outdated fleet that is 5 times larger.

 

[Bob the Inept]

You can take spheres from other GPs. The efficient way is to swap around so you focus on specific ones, but I'm not really good at it, I tend to "power through" and then use money to build in the country we're competing over for penalties to the other GP (And of course increase relations, that gives a bonus as well). Taking spheres through war should really be the last resort for most countries, Germany probably the most notable exception.

Could explain the bit about using money in the influence race?

 

[Gnorf]

Could explain the bit about using money in the influence race?

If you invest in a country (railroads, factories) then others will get a penalty to influence. If only one nation has invested then all other nations will get a 50% penalty. If multiple nations have invested the penalty is split depending on how much you've invested.

http://www.victoria2wiki.com/Sphere_of_Influence

 

[Esben_DRK]

I don't use mods, yet. I'm more wondering about specific types of units you unlock through tech like Hussars, Regulars, Guards, etc. There doesn't seem to be any easy way of comparing their relative strength in game. And is there any advantage in dismantling an army full of outdated troops and rebuilding it with newer types, like from frigates to steamers, for example? Or is it unimportant?

For armies, no, I wouldn't disband. Your artillery and infantry doesn't stop being effective (Althoug irregulars are pretty much shit, and should be replaced as soon as you have access to civlised soldiers), you just need to add more units. I can't remember in vanilla whether guards and hussars are worth it, sorry.
As for navy, the simple answer is: YES!
The longer answer is: You should replace your ships as new, better, versions become available of that class and you get the means to do so. So replacing frigates with commerce raiders, and Ironclads with Dreadnoughts, and Clippers with Steamers, you get the drill.
If you didn't already know: There are 3 types of ships: Heavy, Light, and Transport. So don't replace your frigates (Light) with Steamers (Transports).
This, along with the colonisation race, is a good reason to keep building better dockyards. Capital ships (Man'o'Wars, Ironclads, Dreadnoughts...) provides tonnes and tonnes of military score, and if your military score is high enough, nations will simply stop messing around with you around.

The links Kirikano provided gives you a quick overview of the various stats military units have. Go through it for more specific optimisation, but as a very quick army setup, take this (Pretty much what I wrote earlier, and what Kirikano wrote):
X amount of infantry.
X-2 to X amount of Artillery (Personally, unless I'm filthy rich, I go with X-2, it's close enough and somewhat cheaper).
2 units with both flanking and reconnaisance, normally cavalry will do this.
1 engineer.

Due to the frontline getting smaller over the course of the game, at some point it's better to have many small armies and do a "cycling" trick (Where you send reinforcements and rotate battered armies out to reinforce), since this offers you more maneouvre and you don't lose out.
Generally, around 45 thousand in each army is my preferred size. Allows for 7x inf, 5x art, 2x cav and 1x eng. I'm sure people with more patience for micromanagement will have more optimal builds, but this works decently enough.

 

[Owl Raider]

I've had a couple of games and I know the basics, but I still don't feel I have much of an idea of how to play the game.

First game was Greece. I managed to get all my cores from the Ottomans, only to be defeated catastrophically by Russia in a war for Crete before I realised great powers can and will join wars pretty much whenever, wherever.

Second game was as Italy in the HoD start. Things went well enough until I got inadvertently drawn into war against my principal ally (the top-ranking player, who I clearly had no hope of defeating - the German Empire) by Romania about 30 years in.

Then I tried Sardinia-Piedmont, seeing as I've heard it recommended as a good game for beginners. I have no idea why anyone would say that when most of Italy is sphered by France and Austria. Nonetheless, I allied with Switzerland and the Pope and declared war on the Two Sicilies for one of their regions. The Pope backed out, and no-one would give me military access, so I tried to get across by fleet, only to have that destroyed. Before I could build a new one, the Sicilians landed in Genoa and destroyed a portion of my army.

Ok, I thought, so I'll try the Two Sicilies. That collapsed quickly since I couldn't find anyone willing to ally with me.

So you're probably noticing a pattern here - the most glaring gap in my knowledge is in warfare. In the above games, I've generally avoided warfare once all the easy targets were gone, or else delegated responsibility to my great power allies, hell, I've even had a sphere take over a war for me in the Italy game (I sphered Spain for an alliance, which came in handy when they became a great power again, and yeah, I know it still speaks volumes about my military score, I remained a great power mostly due to prestige). I usually ended up losing track of enemy movements pretty quickly anyway, seeing as they aren't as easy to quickly identify as they are in EU4 and CK2.

I'll admit, I've made an unhealthy habit of falling back on using default troops and mobilising because, as far as I can see, there's no clear indication of which troops are better than the others (although some are obvious, like Frigates/Men-o-war vs. Steamers, in other areas it isn't so obvious to someone as uninitiated in this time period as I am). I'm also unsure of what constitutes a good setup, troop/ship-wise, and whether it's a good idea to simply disassemble your army and rebuild it once the units in it get outdated, or can they be upgraded somehow? Or does it just not make a difference?

I'm also kinda stumped by what determines the AIs rationale for refusing/accepting alliances. There've been times when I've offered an alliance with 100-200 relations to a nation with no obvious cause to refuse, and been refused (happened in the Two Sicilies game with France, who ostensibly loved me). And how do I steal a sphere from another great power? I'd assume the only way possible is through war, since when I try to do it peacefully the great powers just repeatedly ban my embassies and decrease the sphere's opinion of me.

First of all, you started your first game with Greece which is a pretty hard nation for beginners. Second game as Italy(I assume A house divided start, as in 1864 rather than 1836?) while better than Greece still isn't the most newbie friendly nation. Third game as Sardinia-Piedmont into Italy is solid for newbies but not as their first game. You want your first game to be with an easy country, the UK and France are by far the 2 easiest countries or beginners. Brazil is also a good beginner nation due to its isolated position but not as your first serious game but rather your second or third as building an industry from scratch requires knowledge of how industry works in the game. So for your next game you should play the UK if you want a naval based game or France if you want a land based game.

As for some of the mechanics you've encountered. In your Greece game you mentioned Russia intervened in your war for Crete. If the Ottomans weren't allied to Russia than what happened was that the Ottomans were no longer a great power and Russia was at least friendly with the Ottomans if not sphered them. When a great power has friendly status with a nation it can intervene in wars against said nation to maintain status quo, but only as long as the defending nation didn't add a war goal of its own. Therefore before declaring a war it's always good to check on the status of the country you're declaring on, the key things to look for are alliances and if not declaring on a great power than also their diplomatic status(does any great power have said country in its sphere or at least friendly status), as those are the only 2 options for other countries to join a war on behalf of the defender.

As far as playing an Italian minor and uniting Italy is concerned, there are 2 efficient options. The first is to rise to great power status than fight the diplomatic war against France and Austria to get all the other minors out of their respective spheres than into your own. The second is to wait for Garibaldi's Red Shirts to break 1 of the Italian minors, which will lead to the Italian Unification event. This event goes first to Sardinia-Piedmont unless they are not a great power and 1 of the other Italian minors is, in which case it will prioritize them instead. If both Sardinia-Piedmont and someone else are both great powers than Sardinia-Piedmont will retain priority. Garibaldi's Red Shirts appear naturally most of the time, but if you want to hasten their appearance than you should get 1 of the other Italian minors involved in a war against you(either a direct declaration or a declaration on 1 of their allies) than fully occupy that other minor and wait for Red Shirts to start spawning in said minor's territory. Than peace out and let the Red Shirts break the country.

As far as warfare is concerned, there are 2 ranks: front and back. Artillery, Engineers and Airplanes default to the back line and are most effective there, everything else defaults to the front. That means that you want a mixed army with both front and back line units. There are a few other mechanics at work, for example Engineers as well as Tanks later on have a siege stat, which make them capture provinces with forts faster. Dragoons, Hussars and later Airplanes have a recon stat, which make them capture provinces without forts faster. Engineers, Artillery and Airplanes have a support stat, which makes them fight very efficiently from the back line but very poorly from the front line. The most efficient configuration for the majority of the game is X Infantry, 1 Engineer, 1/2 Hussars/Dragoons and X-2 Artillery where X is determined by supply limits. In the late game you slowly include Tanks in place of some of the infantry and Airplanes instead of your cavalry, Engineers and eventually some if your Artillery as well.

As far as alliances go, that's a very complex subject. You can see the reasons in the opinion modifiers window, however you probably won't understand them. Firstly uncivilized nations are unlikely to get any alliances other than perhaps sphere overlords due to the massive civilized vs uncivilized opinion penalty. As for civilized nations that aren't great powers the main variable is political considerations, which to be honest works in mysterious ways and only a Paradox developer can really explain how exactly it works and what affects it. The rest of the modifiers are predictable, like army/naval strength, infamy, etc. In general though you shouldn't be relying on alliances, nor being scared if you don't have any allies. Typically if you play a civilized nation the AI won't just randomly attack you because taking a single region from a civilized nation costs up to 11 infamy, which is very expensive and the AI knows it. So in your Two Sicilies example, you shouldn't have given up just because you were politically isolated. You should be primarily relying on yourself, which means grabbing the good uncivs early on as they're much cheaper on infamy to conquer, up to 5 infamy for a region vs up to 11 from civilized nations and only up to 10 for full conquest(protectorate) as opposed to up to 22 for a civilized nation. Note that in order to Establish Protectorate on an uncivilized nation that has more than 1 region you need to research Nationalism and Imperialism.

Last but not least, I recommend you watch some Lets Plays of Vicky 2 on YouTube to get a better idea on how the game works. Different streamers have different skill levels and also go into different depths of explanations.

 

[Bob the Inept]

For armies, no, I wouldn't disband. Your artillery and infantry doesn't stop being effective (Althoug irregulars are pretty much shit, and should be replaced as soon as you have access to civlised soldiers), you just need to add more units. I can't remember in vanilla whether guards and hussars are worth it, sorry.
As for navy, the simple answer is: YES!

Yeah, how about...
If the hussars or guards are worth it, you may want to disband infantry and cavalry to stay below the brigade limit you have.
For the navies, you don't see a limit like that on the military tab, so you could keep your old ships around, but it's be more expensive to maintain.
No matter what, you should remember that the speed of an army or fleet is equal to the speed of its slowest component, which is quite important in fleets.

 

[Bob the Inept]

If you invest in a country (railroads, factories) then others will get a penalty to influence. If only one nation has invested then all other nations will get a 50% penalty. If multiple nations have invested the penalty is split depending on how much you've invested.

http://www.victoria2wiki.com/Sphere_of_Influence

I can do that?!

I never noticed a way to do that. Then again, I was halfway through my first game when I realized/remembered that I needed to click on the priority boxes to start gaining influence at all.

 

[Esben_DRK]

For the navies, you don't see a limit like that on the military tab, so you could keep your old ships around, but it's be more expensive to maintain.
No matter what, you should remember that the speed of an army or fleet is equal to the speed of its slowest component, which is quite important in fleets.

The limit is based on your harbours, so yeah there is a limit.
You can't build endless dreadnoughts, and especially not if you keep Men'o'Wars around, so disband the worthless old kitchensinks and build brand new gunboats to do diplomacy from.

 

[Lysistrata]

What about the composition of navies? Is there any rough rule of thumb for the heavy/transport/light ratio?