War of 1812

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As said above, you mostly cannot defeat a large nation within a few years. The EU3 peace mechanic demands you to wage multiple wars to get the enemy provinces step-by-step. This is very different from Viki or HoI, but once you get used to it, it is actually fun, because a defeated enemy has in fact a chance to get his revenge.

The game lasts for 400 years, so 10 years is a very, very short timeframe, basicly I have sometimes fought wars for 15 years (bringing both me and my enemy to the edge of destruction), so - don't be too hasty. EU3 is a game of patience. It is not about building up a huge army and steamroll the whole world, but rather you have to make small steps and increase the size of your country.

For example: As Spain, you defeat Granada and take 2 of their 3 provinces, in a second war 5 years later you annex them. You set up a friendly relationship with France and England to keep your back safe. Then you go for Aragon and take some provinces. The next target is North Africa, you try to grab some provinces from Morocco. After a 5 year peace, you beat Aragon again. Meanwhile you colonize the African westcoast. In a third war, you annex Aragon and wait 50 years to get your cores to form Spain. As soon as possible, you either go for Portugal or sail to the new world - or do both. You colonize the Carribians and desperatly try to prevent the French from attacking you. If they do, you fight a defensive war and try to save your hide. Then you colonize north and south america, once you are eye-to-eye with France, you can start attacking them... And when this happenes, it is probably already around 1550 or something...

Or, for example if you start in 1399 and plan to destroy France, it will take you about 50-200 years, depending on your skill level and the AI reactions. If you are lucky and the AI makes a blunder, you can take out France quite early (meaning: weaken them so much that the next war won't be a problem), but most of the times you will have to expand your economy stand a chance.

And the larger your foe becomes, the more difficult it is to crush him and make his realm collapse.


So basicly: You can defeat Napoleon and sign a white peace (or make them releas some minor countries) in your timeframe, but "defeating" France in terms of getting major parts of it's posessions - no way. My guess is you would require at least 50 years for this. At least.

Patience is the key. Slow and steady wins the race!

 

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what bout the historical time line, surly like in HOI that just fixes the territories no matter what

Nah, EU3 is a sandbox (HoI3 is a bit like that, though the time frame is much smaller). In fact, your startdate is historical, but any developement beyond is completly depending on you and the AI.

There are some historical events that will happen - the reformation for example - but where it will appear and where it will spread is complelty random. In one game it happens in Sweden, but no one but the nordic countries convert. In another game the reformation starts in catholic Albania and most of europe - France, England, Austria plus the HRE - converts.

There are also some "historic decisions" like forming the east indian company (requires a home port and a coastal province in east asia), passing several historical acts, plus some national depending decisions like using swedish steel (as sweden), establishing "le etat c'est moi" (france), enabling the habsburg dominace and the fugger banking system (Austria) or 'sing' "Brittania rule the waves!" (England) that give certain countries a bit more historic flavor.

But these are rather minor things, in fact, you can play a game where the Golden Horde or the Timurids never collapse and start conquering the russian countries. Colonisation is also more or less random. I have had games where Portugal owns most of South America - and some where Spain conquered it instead. Sometimes Austria fails the early game and becomes a minor, sometimes (rarely, though) they manage to form germany. One time, the Ottomans take vienna, another game they are crushed by the Timurids and become a vassal. Trust me, I have seen Milan forming Italy, Leinster forming Ireland and France inheriting England - there are so many awesome things that may happen...

So the game is not historical in means of a historic timeline that makes empires rise and collapse, but rather historical by creating a sandbox that follows medieval rules and (very few!) key-events.