Viva Espana: A Spanish Strategy Guide
VIVA ESPANA
This guide is for Nab. I didnt intend for it to be this long, but it kinda grew out of control. It is a general strategy guide for MP Spain, as requested by Nab. Due to the generality of it, I tried to avoid specific advice, instead favoring general maxims. Dont follow this like it is Holy Writ, it is only a template for your own style.
Spain is a hard country to play. There are a lot of things to do simultaneously in Europe and the Americas. In this strategy, I am going to PRETEND THAT ASIA DOES NOT EXIST. Any headway you make in Asia is wonderful, but I am going to limit myself to just the European and American regions to keep the guide simplistic. That is not to say you should not go to Asia. At least go to trade. AT LEAST. But I am not going to talk about Asia anymore after this paragraph. Goodbye Asia...
I am also assuming 1492 start date.
The Americas:
After 1550, you should be making at least as much money from the Americas as you are making in Europe. Over time, you should draw a large majority of your income from the Americas. There are three sources of wealth in the Americas; taxes, trade, and gold. However, in order to get those, you need to have a good exploration strategy and a conquest strategy.
Exploration:
My "route of choice" to the Americas is greatly helped by Portugal. You need military access with Portugal, so if they are not human, this may be a problem. Maybe not, just telling you. Without Portugal, you will have to sail from either Andalusia or the Canaries, which will mean longer and more dangerous trips. With access you can dock in the Azores and Cape Verde, as well as future Portugese ports in Brazil or Africa if you need to. If you are playing a scenario with the Creek nation, sail to the Azores and then sail for Savannah. Just 20k will easily conquer the Creek. And you will now have 2 ports in the Americas. If there is no Creek nation, sail a triangle from Azores to Hispaniola to Carolinas. Bermuda, the Carolinas, and Hispaniola make create FIRST COLONIES. Choose provinces with non-hostile natives and send out a lot of trading posts. Once the trading posts succeed, send colonies. I usually recommend provinces with 50% or higher success rates (this is after a TP is built, building a TP almost always raises the colonial percentage rate) for my first colonies.
Conquest:
I am going to assume that the only native nations in your colonial region are the Aztecs, Maya, and Incas. They are the only important ones at least. As soon as you can, get a conquistador to the Americas with an army of around 20,000 men. Once you discover an Aztec coastal province, you will be able to see their capital. Declare war, land, and march to Tenochitlan. Once you control the capital province, an event will trigger and you will inherit them. As soon as you can, declare war on the Maya and crush them as well. Then use that conquistador to send a small party south to discover all of Central America and Colombia. Eventually you will run into the Incas. You will need a good size army to take down the Inca. If you get a colonial city in the Caribbean, you can raise fresh troops there and land them in Panama (or march from Mexico, but it is a long walk and you will take casualties). Start in the north and sweep down along the coast. Do not engage the Incan army when possible. Maneuver so that you defeat the last Incan army in battle and it is in retreat when you take the last province (so they cannot just grab an undefended province and prevent annexation).
Complete the conquests AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The sooner the annexation, the more income over time. Counteract gold inflation by raising non-gold income, not by putting off annexation of gold provinces.
Taxes:
You should develop colonies to cities and TPs to level 6 before moving on to other provinces. If you have extra colonists, develop a couple of provinces simultaneously; however I would recommend trying to avoid ever having more than 5 provinces in development at the same time. In the early years of colonization, I recommend building colonies in the poor-trade-good provinces; fish, grain, etc. Of course, violate this if you need a port in the area, obviously. AS SOON AS IT IS A CITY, build a tax collector. You will need all the income you can get. Claim the high-trade-value provinces with TPs and upgrade them to level 6 as quickly as possible.
Convert pagan provinces ASAP. Gold first, high-trade-value second, everything else last. Send as many missionaries as you can possibly afford.
Trade:
Grab all the colonial COTs you can. Trade vigorously in them. In the early years when there are no non-Spanish territories in the Caribbean basin, establish pure monopolies and milk all you can from that trade. If other european powers try to get into the trade, embargo them. The odds of the COT dying is higher, but it will probably respawn in one of your territories. There is a chance the trade will go to a non-Spaniard, but very unlikely. Never embargo Portugal if they are human, you dont want them to even THINK of betraying you.
Put one galley in every coastal sea zone. This will keep pirates away. If a European war erupts with a colonial power, you may want to watch these ships and dock them if the enemy sends a fleet around your colonies. You dont want them to gain free warscore from killing galleys.
Gold:
Colonize every gold province that is open and build it up to a city. Conquer every one that is native. Build tax collectors on the gold ASAP, forget revolt risk. Maintaining a colonial force to put down rebellions is cheaper than going without that extra income. Build up your non-gold assets (trade/taxes) to offset your gold income so you dont get inflation.
Colonial Defense
Choose one or two central location(s). Station large armies here with a fleet of galleys to transport them where needed. Do not deploy multiple smaller armies all over; a human opponent will not land small armies all over so such a tactic is useless. Keep your army concentrated. If a colonial attack is launched, put your armies to sea and wait a bit for the enemy to reveal his plans, then land and surprise him.
Europe:
All your escapades in the Americas are child's play compared to Europe. Europe is where the big boys play. The Americas exist only to finance your wars here. Because of the Americas, you may be operating with a smaller standing army than many of your opponents. You will have to make up for this with astute diplomacy. There are three regions that are vitally important to your cause in Europe; Iberia, the Netherlands, and Italy.
Iberia is your homeland. If the enemy is pressing you here, you have a serious problem. You need to make sure that this is the least likely place for the enemy to attack. The best border for you with France is Rousillon/Bearn. The French will not like this. However, this creates a tighter choke point for the French to attack through. You should structure your diplomacy around achieving this goal. The ultimate goal will be keeping the battles centered around the Netherlands and Italy and AWAY FROM IBERIA. Colonially, you want to keep fighting ongoing between France, England, Holland, and other colonial players and NOT with Spain.
In order to do this, I am going simplify my strategy down into
packages. You offer a package to another player in a diplomatic exchange. These are rough guidelines, you should negotiate the finer points. The ultimate goal is to create a SUSTAINABLE LONG TERM diplomatic relationship. This will provide you with stability, information, and security.
France:
Despite your instincts, France can be your best friend. They are sitting on the only land route into your homeland, they are competitive with England colonially, and they are diplomatically surrounded so they are more likely to negotiate than other powers (like England or Ottomans). The problem is that France wants into the Netherlands and Italy.
There are two ways to manage France; keep them in a tight vise (more force, less diplomacy) or co-opt them with bribery and manipulation (more diplomacy, less force). The Netherlands and Italy prove useful negotiating points. You can "trade land for peace" to borrow from the Israeli strategy, or I prefer to "trade land for land".
French Package A: In exchange for a stable Rousillon/Bearn border, give France land concessions elsewhere (Franche Comte and Artois work well) or give France your support in Italy (support for French Genoa, for example).
French Package B: In exchange for stable Rousillon/Bearn border and colonial peace, pledge solidarity with France against England. Assistance for them in colonial wars with England, military access in Spanish ports, Spanish subsidies, and other inducements can keep England and France at each other's throats and not at yours.
French Package C: The anti-Austrian option. A deal could potentially be forged with France that would abandon your support for Austria in exchange for Spanish Italy/Netherlands free from French attack and a secure Rousillon/Bearn border. Use with caution. France could become extremely manpower heavy and turn on you.
England:
Due to its distance from you, England is much less of a threat militarily but a much greater threat economically than France. England has the potential to become a fearsome naval power and cut you off from your American bounty. This cannot be allowed to happen.
The best way to deal with England is to create some conditions which tie them to the continent in some way. This could mean ownership of land in Europe (Netherlands or Brittany, for example). This should always come about as a "helpful gesture" from Spain. You want them to succeed..... right?
English Package A: Straight colonial peace deal. Agree to limit your colonial power to certain regions in exchange for their support against France or pledges to not intrude in other regions. As always, free trade in English COTs is nice. This should be a baseline deal; even if you are making deals with France you should have a deal with England like this.
English Package B: Agree to give England the northern Netherlands in exchange for something of value to you; help vs France, colonial boundaries, etc. This will create a permanent liability to England on the continent. Support their claims on Calais, offer them military access, and so on to sweeten the deal. If England and France are always at war, you win.
Austria
Austria is usually your friend. They need your gold, you need their military power to augment your own. You should always seek to maintain a balance of power in central europe. If France is too strong, you are in danger. If Austria is too strong, it will threaten Italy. Try to keep your diplomacy hinged around this balance. Support Austria when it is in danger, let it expend its own resources when it is strong. Balance!
Austrian Package A: General deal. Mutual support in the event of gang-bang attacks, gold transfer from Madrid to Vienna, Spanish Italy, and so on.
Austrian Package B: Agree to give back Southern Netherlands after Abdication (sell/trade Northern Netherlands for something else from another country like England or a Scandinavian) in exchange for something you want (northern Italy, for example). Dont let Austria grow too strong, but help keep them dominant in Central Europe.
Ottoman Empire:
It is rare that the Ottomans and Spanish work together. That is because the Ottomans grow to a massive size, just like the Spanish do. However, the Ottomans can be an important lever against your enemies.
Ottoman Package A: Offer your support for an Ottoman India in exchange for something you want diplomatically. Ottomans in India keep the English and French away, which is nice. To avoid a super-OE, court Russian and Polish friendship and use them as pawns against your supposed "friend" in Constantinople.
Ottoman Package B: Agree to divide the Mediterranian in half and each take one half. Create a stable peace agreement between your two nations based on Ottoman kindness towards Austria. You will not join a Austro-Ottoman war if they are not too rough on Austria. In exchange for this, there is peace. Peace is good.
Portugal:
KEEP PORTUGAL HAPPY. Divide the world between yourselves and live in harmony. The last thing you want is a Portugese backstab. That is all, Portugal is simple.
