Suggestions for a republic to play?

[rs2excelsior]

Hello all,

As basically all my games have been monarchies, I've been getting an itch to try out a republic for a change. Just to see how it goes. I'm looking for suggestions of republics that have interesting starts and/or flavor events, preferably. I'm not a novice at the game but by no means an expert either (nearly 400 hours). DLC I own are Conquest of Paradise, El Dorado, Res Publica, Rights of Man, Wealth of Nations, Common Sense, Art of War, and Cossacks. Some of my thoughts:

1) USA. Start as England, establish a colony in eastern America, switch to playing as colonial subject. Never played as a CN either (obviously since they're locked into Republic) and I'd probably want to try and do it proper--stay a vassal and break free when appropriate, rather than sabatoging the mother country before I switch. Not sure how interesting it'd be basically dealing with natives, though.

2) Switzerland. I like their idea sets and I like the idea of playing kind of a mini-Prussia game. Seems to be a difficult start, though.

3) Milan. Go for the Ambrosian Republic via event, maybe unite Italy.

4) Netherlands. Start as a Dutch minor, try and form Netherlands. Not sure about starting as a subject. Can the BI fire if one of Burgundy's subjects is a player? If so do you get auto-inherited like usual?

If anyone has suggestions go for it. I'm open to non-European starts as well.

 

[Viktor Vaughn]

there's always Dithmarschen, and you can get their achievement as well.
novgorod to russia could be interesting

pretty sure BI doesn't fire if burgundy or any of the subjects have ever been controlled by a human
if you're alright going from dutch minor to netherlands, you could do burgundy to netherlands. if france doesn't exist you get to keep all your french provinces when you form netherlands. otherwise if they do exist, they get all the french provinces you own. it's an interesting challenge to try to wipe out france completely before forming netherlands.

 

[Bouchart]

There are almost no non-European republics. There are tribal democracies, which can turn into oligarchic republics. There's also Lanfang, a one province minor which exists only on start dates in the late 1700s.

Your best bet is with a merchant republic. Venice is the largest and most stable of those, and is in a good position to form Italy. Genoa has religious unity problems and is scattered about in a bunch of places. Novgorod is big but is under constant siege by Muscovy. Some people like Lubeck but they are a one province minor in a cramped area. Ragusa is in a horrible node and surrounded by large enemies.

 

[durbal]

Genoa is fun.

 

[rs2excelsior]

Hmm, I might try Venice. The imminent prospect of war with Austria and/or the Ottomans is a bit daunting, though. Any suggestions for opening moves as Venice? The wiki page is a tad outdated (last updated 1.19).

 

[estile606]

One of the new tags in the Philippines is a republic...

 

[DarthDanMan]

Florence perhaps? New achievement for them to form Egypt. It also has a decent number of DHEs.

 

[Northernwwater]

Florence is fun and can be seriously rich quickly.

 

[Northernwwater]

I love playing Hamburg. Many options including colonization.

 

[Coffer]

pretty sure BI doesn't fire if burgundy or any of the subjects have ever been controlled by a human

Just Burgundy I think. As one of the subjects it still fires but you're not caught in it.

 

[TenshiN]

Pskov, obviously. Can't beat the +20% Goods Produced ambition
#pskovprideeu4wide

 

[Runite Drill]

Golden Horn achievement with Ajuuraan can be fun

 

[Vicodin_Addict]

Poland --> Commonwealth --> After Pacta Convecta switch to Oligarchic Republic and keep the godlike ruler with infinite re-election (or just switch to Republican Dictatorship later on) and make Constantinople great again! Who needs a lot of ships when your Hussar can take lands more efficiently?

 

[Ironside121]

Venice is fun. Building up an alliance network to bring down the Ottomans is a good time, and invading Mamluks to try and secure Alexandria and a colonization path was one of the funnest military campaigns I've done. First ever war of attrition I've had to fight. Blockading all of Mamluks ports to increase WE, slowing their manpower down, and then bleeding them out in combat, before withdrawing to Crete again to safely replenish my men/hire more. Then the Ottomans invaded and did the rest of the work for me. Venice's main enemies are large, but you're rich. It's a thrilling campaign to say the least.

 

[PrimeYuri]

Florence -> republic Italy (at least until absolutism kicks in) was a very fun run for me.

 

[sigeena]

Venice is probably the most resilient of all the republics. You can make mistakes and still recover.

1. Always ensure your galley fleet is as good as your largest enemy, Ottomans.

2. Keep Austria- Hungary or Poland-Lithuania as an ally against Ottomans.

3. Look to expand in Italy once Shadow Empire hits at 1490.

4. Expand by taking Estuaries and CoTs in Ragusa, Venice, Alexandria.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Venice can be quite fun, but the 20 province limit they introduced a while ago can be a pain
Milan into Ambrosian Republic is very strong
Novgorod, obviously

 

[fredrikslicer]

Madyas is an option in the philipines

 

[holyvigil]

If you have the American dream starting the American Revolution and playing out the rest of the years can be fun with all the events.

 

[Yxklyx]

I've played a few custom OPM Merchant Republics. Interesting places could be the island off the coast of Mali (say an offshoot of that kingdom), the island in between Madagascar and Africa. Gotland might be a good one.