Ragusa advice..

[checro]

I'm playing Ragusa.. All going well for now.

Allied with austria and poland, released croatia to feed them hungary, did everything that was obvious i needed to do...


I 'd like to play a - control the india trade kind of game..


Took the trade ideas first but now I'm not sure what to get. Naval or Exploration? Or something else???

I could go through mameluks into africa maybe, start colonising... But I am still pretty weak and poor, so it coud be a wasted idea right now... but if i go to late...
I will fight ottomans soon, so a defensive ideas could also be good..
And offcourse I need a strong navy so Naval will be one of the ideas for sure...


So, I kinda know what I want and how to do it, but I'm not sure when to do what??? So please, some advice and ideas

 

[Ultima_Ratio]

Trade ideas are a bit of a waste for a first idea on Ragusa as they already start with a ridiculous +40% modifier to trade income. You'll want Quality or Offensive (preferable for the manpower and forcelimits boost) to be able to compete with the Ottoman troops. If you can switch to another republic, do it and grab Plutocracy and switch back as Noble Republic is easily the best republican government. Another idea group that you'll definitely want to pick is Expansion. Exploration will be largely worthless if you aren't going for the Americas, and Naval isn't really all that important as galleys are dirt cheap, even if you go over your forcelimits.

Before going full out on OTT, you should go for dominating the Venice node (presumably Naples is independent as they have grown a bit?) for the richer provinces. Then wait for an Ottoman-Mamluk war and jump in while their manpower is low. Also try and vassalize the Byzantine Empire to be able to return all their cores to them. After subjugating OTT work your way to the Gulf of Aden, that node is filthy rich.

 

[unmerged(37855)]

Try to take Naples lands, thats what I did. Defensive idea is also a must. Basically when You take serbian and bosnian lands nothing much more to do than to wait OE to attack You...Even with strong allies (Spain, Austria, France in my game), pretty difficult to do anything against OE

 

[checro]

Trade ideas are a bit of a waste for a first idea on Ragusa as they already start with a ridiculous +40% modifier to trade income. You'll want Quality or Offensive (preferable for the manpower and forcelimits boost) to be able to compete with the Ottoman troops. If you can switch to another republic, do it and grab Plutocracy and switch back as Noble Republic is easily the best republican government. Another idea group that you'll definitely want to pick is Expansion. Exploration will be largely worthless if you aren't going for the Americas, and Naval isn't really all that important as galleys are dirt cheap, even if you go over your forcelimits.

Yeah, expansion seems logical... I overlooked that
I can't switch yet, but i will consider the plutocracy too, thanks

But, why Offensive and Quality vs Defensive? Isn't morale the king right now?

Before going full out on OTT, you should go for dominating the Venice node (presumably Naples is independent as they have grown a bit?) for the richer provinces. Then wait for an Ottoman-Mamluk war and jump in while their manpower is low. Also try and vassalize the Byzantine Empire to be able to return all their cores to them. After subjugating OTT work your way to the Gulf of Aden, that node is filthy rich.

Yeah... Good advice for another game... But... Ottos are really lame this time.. The didn't do anything. Mameluks rule around. They didn't even take Bysantium...
Bysanthium took me as a rival, so :facepalm:

Try to take Naples lands, thats what I did. Defensive idea is also a must. Basically when You take serbian and bosnian lands nothing much more to do than to wait OE to attack You...Even with strong allies (Spain, Austria, France in my game), pretty difficult to do anything against OE

Naples... My ally.. RM... I plan to vasalise sometime... much much later... They are usefull now when i don't hav a big navy...




So, basically... You are saying military this time? And go for OE?

What about Expansion and Africa? Too soon?

 

[Ultima_Ratio]

Yeah, expansion seems logical... I overlooked that
I can't switch yet, but i will consider the plutocracy too, thanks

But, why Offensive and Quality vs Defensive? Isn't morale the king right now?

You'll want to fight as manpower efficient as possible or you'll run out immediately.