Prussia snatch victory from Russia...

[Patgarret77]

1810... As Prussia I'm land dominant but I still need 3 russian ports for sea dominance.

Russia is at war with Sweden and owning them...300k army and 500k manpower...
How can I manage to get those points with my 150k army and 50k manpower?!?

I'm planning on staying on the fence for 5 years, maybe grabbing some easy territory for manpower and waiting for Russia to get involved in some big brawl...but I do need some sound plan for field battles...I know they will field stacks of 60-90k and all I can do is dance around rivers and try some defensive battles with right tactics in order get some dents in their army...but thats is far from a sound plan...

Any hints?

 

[unmerged(105998)]

Well, you'd need several crushing victories, so I guess the easiest would be to let them come to you. Withdraw from your borders, let them come to you where they will most likely divide their forces for sieges then hit them with numeric superiority where they are weakest. You can't really afford to play either offensive or go upp against the dice. Focus on inflicting as many casualties as possible and be patient - don't chase destroyed armies unless you are certain you're not following them back into a doomstack. You can often draw the AI to you by luring them with a smaller force. Bait them to attack you in suitable terrain such as a rivercrossing and then arrive with reinforcements (March to the sound of guns = must). You could even disband a lot of your garrisons, freeing up manpower that you might actually need in order to gain numeric superiority. You could of course go with a different aproach and try and put everyone on one card - rushing the provinces you need. In order to win you only need to control them - not own them, but yeah that is not recommended.

In general the AI seem to doomstack against any enemy force roaming THEIR provinces - but if you let them invade you, they tend to split their forces so use that against them. Also, with manpower so clearly in their favour - it's better they take attrition losses than you do. Also, there is a balance of power on the eastern front that gains you if it's preserved. A good idea can be to try and keep the powers of Austria/Russia/Ottomans quite even. If the balance is tipped so that OE and Austria are made to weak then Russia will obviously just stock up unreasonable amounts of manpower - and most of it will be used against what remains... well you

 

[Conch]

150k army and 50k manpower is not enough, even at that point in time.

Just wait and build an army. Take some austrian provinces (Bohemia, Moravia) if you didn't do already, for the manpower. Then declare war on them when you got at least like 250k army and 50 k manpower. Use alot of guards and fight them on the plains. Don't fight them in Russia or at the border, because their light infantry and cavalry will own your guards in the woods and the swamp. This way you can easily beat an army that has more than double the size of yours, but you must be patient and choose your battles carefully. Don't get over confident after the first victories.

 

[unmerged(445219)]

You still have plenty of time, but if you play it right, all of your work up to now will be lost. Build up and plan, attack those who are weak and can give you a boost in manpower with little to no attrition cost.

 

[Robin67]

Isn't there any other port you can capture? Like a danish or swedish? then you would only need to or 1 russian port and i think there are some near your border. you would just have to move in and assault while they are busy somewhere else. you should easily kill the defneders with 150k soldiers.

 

[Patgarret77]

Judging from the score, I still need 3 ports...and the only "easy" one is the danish one... Denmark is protected by sweden and spain...so I would rather face Russia for those 3 than facing denmark for 1, france for another, and GB for the last.
I guess Prussia's point in this game is exactly this: sweep up some easy points, build up muscles and face a big boss in the end.

 

[Pkunzipper]

I'm currently playing with Prussia and I've found that the best way to go for Prussia is to achive a prestige victory.
Winning wars with german minors, Sweden and Austria while it was at war with Ottomans gave me a lot of prestige, so I can now play on defense.
Prussia, IMHO, just can't win an offensive war against France or Russia and so it's hard to gain its dominance targets, in addition Prussia has also to declare war on England to get it lose its naval dominance status.
Prestige is the way to go!

 

[Patgarret77]

Well well, I beg to differ... It's definitely not for the faint of heart or the novice but I do think that other suggestions could have a point. Prussia can become huge at the expense of Austria, and get manpower. Then wait for Russia to get involved somewhere else and strike fast and hard to get those 3 naval points (Riga and the others). Now the tricky point will be tackling the 90k stacks Russia usually move in Prussia right from the start of the war. It's hard to outmanouver them and hope they split...and if they use "march to the sound of guns" it could end in a bloodbath...and Prussia can't afford to loose a big battle.
Then again, I suppose this is where the game gets interesting...

 

[nalivayko]

Well well, I beg to differ... It's definitely not for the faint of heart or the novice but I do think that other suggestions could have a point. Prussia can become huge at the expense of Austria, and get manpower. Then wait for Russia to get involved somewhere else and strike fast and hard to get those 3 naval points (Riga and the others). Now the tricky point will be tackling the 90k stacks Russia usually move in Prussia right from the start of the war. It's hard to outmanouver them and hope they split...and if they use "march to the sound of guns" it could end in a bloodbath...and Prussia can't afford to loose a big battle.
Then again, I suppose this is where the game gets interesting...

Yes, thank you, Paradox, for delivering a game that forces us to think

 

[Baltasar]

Best chance is to attack Russia when they're already in a war. Realistically, you just can't beat them unless you manage to achieve lots of crushing victories where they only need few. Russia will just replace lost troops with new ones and wear you down. I'd attack them when they are in a war and preferably not in a coalition (because Britain often offers subsidaries to those joining them in their war against France).

 

[Robin67]

If you attack the russians while they are at war you can just walk to the victory provinces and get them before the russian armys even reach you and don't be too afraid of denmark or sweden their armies should be no match for prussia and spain is too far away to do anything so just quickly conquer the victory provinces. and to defeat france you should really think about joining a coaalition against them even if you don'T get provinces it could be worth it if they loose thier dominance