What ideas to pick for my Netherlands late game?

[Swami]

Normally I'm mostly playing as a landpower in the HRE, Italy, Eastern Europe or middle east and I always go for sort of the same idea. I didn't understand the trade mechanics completely so never really bothered in my first games. But I have some experience now with trade and read some guids on it and it's actually going pretty well. With the huge new map in the last patch I decided to go for the colonisation game, because I really had to explore the world now. I went with expansion first, mainly for the extra merchant and diplomatic relations and I would have picked up the idea anyways later. After that I went with exploration and started colonizing, also took trade as an idea and now I'm ready to take the 4th idea, but don't know which one to pick.. Still have 5 ideas left and like 7 ideas I want to take xD So I'm asking for advice which ideas would be the best for me.

I have taken all the low countries and have no plans of expanding further in Europe, so I'm only defending there. Allthough I could be offensive against a Europe power, in order to take their colonies.

 

[vleup]

If you don't want to expand outside the low countries in Europe you should absolutely pick quantity to somewhat make up for your lack of manpower and land forcelimit. Quality is a pretty good pick too. Other than that i'll let others come up with some more ideas.

 

[slv]

You initial choice of expansion seems quite bizzare for my taste, since you can't use your colonist in any way.

If you are not interested in European warfare and are confident in your ability to defend yourself from France without France then the next list may help you.

You may consider picking Plutocratic/Innovative/Humanist/Religious/Maritime

1.Plutocratic
This idea quite often is my first choice for all republics. Don't be confused, it's not a military idea . Sure, it gives +10% morale (which is quite much in early years), but any other bonus will be useful. +1 Merchant is the same as in Expansion, -5% technology cost. +50% available mercenaries will increase your landforcelimit by 6 (well, not that much later in game, but it means more troops to keep natives in check).
Not sure if it's worth that late, but I like having merchants anyway

2. Innovative.
May be too late to use it effectively.
Also note that this idea is more warmongering than plutocratic (war exhaustion decay / army tradition). Since you are not interested in land warfarre this may be not the best choice. But anyway there are not that many good peaceful groups.

3. Humanist/Religious.
If you have troubles with rebellions (which you should not have since you're not rampaging in conquering Danzig) pick one of these. Religious also gives Fervor if you decide to go Reformed.

4. Maritime. Naval Forcelimit may be overkill for Netherlands, but still decent.

Whenever I play Netherlands I usually pick Plutocratic/Innovative/Exploration/Offensive/Defensive/Trade/Quality/Expansion in some order. Sometimes Religious/Humanist is chosen at some point. But I am way more militaristic, I guess.

 

[Swami]

Well France isn't really a problem. Me and my allies can handle them, actually the problem is more that France is to weak to keep back Austria / Spain. So I'm actually more afraid of Spain at this moment, since Spain / Austria could very well swallow France. Of course I'll make sure to enter the war on France it's side to stop that from happening. As the Dutch I've really slowed down the progress of both France and England in the first decades, I did everything I could to weaken them because they are so dangerous to me if they would get to strong. So Portugal / Spain pretty much dominate the new world as I wrecked the balance a bit. And even with focussing on colonisation I will still have to beat these two nations with a massive combined fleet and strong forces. I'm not expanding in Europe, but probably still be fighting wars there. Only luck is that France is a very strong buffer state. One that doesn't really pose a threat to me anymore, as long as my allies don't break with me, and can't hold back Austria / Spain on it's own, but still a powerhouse that gives me safety from Spain, since they rival eachother.

Thanks for the advice, I don't know about religious. Every homeprovince is allready Reformed and every colony I start gets my religion. Only colonies I take from Spain/Portugal would need converting, since France is also reformed and England is protestant (and that's easier to convert to reformed right?) I won't need that much converting power. Perhaps lateron in the indies, but converting natives in North America is pretty easy till now.

I haven't actually reformed to the dutch republic yet, still have my king. Does aristocratic automatically change in plutocratic when you change government or does it dissapear and you have to chose a new idea?

 

[slv]

Does aristocratic automatically change in plutocratic when you change government or does it dissapear and you have to chose a new idea?

No, if you've taken aristocratic it stays. You can have both.

 

[Meridian235]

You have expansion and exploration, and you're planning a colonial game.

Quantity will give you +25% naval forcelimits, an extra colonist, and the normal manpower, FL, and cost benefits of the group.

If you need a stronger military idea, by all means get one, but the synergy of expansion with a colonial trade game is undeniable.