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Okay, so yes, I'm a new player, and no, Saxony isn't a recommended nation for a new player, but my wife is from Saxony so I've got a very soft spot for the place. I've tried a few tactics and felt like reporting my findings.
Saxony is a single-state minor with 300K population sandwiched between Prussia and Austria in 1836. Bad position, and easily at risk for annexation into the NGF/Germany. There are a few unique things about the country, though, that make it interesting.
Saxony is a single-state minor with 300K population sandwiched between Prussia and Austria in 1836. Bad position, and easily at risk for annexation into the NGF/Germany. There are a few unique things about the country, though, that make it interesting.
- You start with one Iron resource and two Coal resources. You start with no farmland.
- You are in Austria's sphere, and that fact is one of the thing that prevents Prussia from forming the NGF.
- You start with a fabric factory. In HoD, it will fail.
- Your literacy is an impressive 80%.
- In the first few years, there will be two events that grant you a lot of prestige (5.5 for each event).
- Since the fabric factory will fail, don't bother subsidizing it. Let it close, but don't remove it. It will reopen when it can.
- Get a cement factory as soon as you can. With any luck, investors will attempt to start one.
- Clean Coal, with its bonuses to Coal and Iron output, is an easy first pick to research.
- If you fight Prussia or Austria, you will lose. So, don't worry about dropping your military in order to make the budget work. I wouldn't disband your forces, and if you're looking to conquer something,
- You have no farmers. Some events will have a choice that gives your farmers high militancy. It's an easy choice with no downside.
- If you're looking for an easy conquest target to get that second state, ally with Austria and get permission to march troops across their land. The easiest target to conquer that no one cares about is Montenegro. Krakow or any other German state is usually allied with one of the GPs and is not recommended. One other location I'm considering but haven't tried yet is the Emilia region of the Papal States. It gets you a port and angers France, so it might be not too much trouble. Certainly France won't be able to attack your core.
- You'll work to get Idealism as soon as possible once 1840 occurs. Before then, you can easily get Clean Coal and another Level 2--you might need a Commerce tech for the money, but Romanticism is a good choice too because you'll be getting free prestige anyway. There's even time to pick up Experimental Railroad before 1840 if you want, but you might want to save your research points for Idealism first.
- It's possible to become the #8 GP for a bit on Prestige. It's worth doing if you suspect the NGF will be made soon, but don't force yourself to make the effort to stay there. The main goal is to break out of the sphere without making Prussia mad.
