Playing as the GH

[DDRJake]

When I played, I expanded as far as Bohemia, Novgorod (the province) and no further south than Georgia. I made a vassal wall and killed rebels for 150 years as I made slider changes and westernised. As soon as I westernised I expanded in every single direction and conquered the whole world within 100 years of coming out of dormancy.

I never reformed my government; borders with other nations can be gained through patriotic rebels.

First national idea is military drill. Without it troops are just dirt. You also need to be able to keep inflation down and rely on taxes because you certainly won't be getting income any other way.

 

[DDRJake]

I heard the vassal wall tactic was made obsolete? As in enemies can walk trough non participating vassals since a few patches ago, or am I mistaken here?

It works in 5.2 if the horde is the one with the vassal wall. It doesn't work for settled nations who make vassal walls against hordes.

How can you conquer overseas continents and Islands without borders?

How? Wouldn't they be different culture, different religion? Or do you sell provinces?

Let's say you want to fight Genoa, but all they have is their island of Corsica. Eat the rest of the Italians and then let some kind of Italian patriots take a mainland province. When it defects to Genoa, which it will as patriots will go for the most fitting nation based on culture, you will now have a border with Genoa. Make sure you occupy the island of Corsica, have it defect to you THEN take the mainland province.

Of course if you want to take over the new world just get a border with a nation who has colonies and take those colonies before taking their European provinces.

 

[DDRJake]

If you're a settled nation, and you have a vassal bordering a horde, you're automatically at war with the horde too. The inverse isn't true for the horde?

That's correct.

When I westernised with the Golden Horde, even though I had cores in all my provinces I had over 30 revolt risk in every province. I released Sibir as a vassal so I didn't have to police those huge worthless siberian provinces. It also speeds up slider changes when you have fewer provinces.

Of course, if you ever want to conquer anything other than the mainland and want to remain a horde, you have no choice but to westernise. Nations with 10% tech speed cannot build boats.

 

[DDRJake]

well you CAN colonize , but you'll have other priorities than using a NI to get those colonists ...
plus the colonies will spawn rebels during TSC , once they complete.

No. Hordes cannot colonise at all with the single exception of an increadibly rare random event caused by a certain National-Idea which auto-colonises an adjacent province.

If you attempt to colonise a province you just see the send colonist button greyed out with mouse-over text of "hordes cannot colonise"

You can make other states turn into hordes?

Only in 5.1 if your country collapses to religious zealots which rose up on horde territory.