What now for Prussia (1868)?

[TheGreatRadish]

Right, I'm playing as Prussia (Vanilla 1.03b - normal/normal). This is one of my first games (after a few practice games with Brazil, Belgium and Sweden).

It's 1868 and I've reached a crossroads. The past 32 years have been very interesting for me and much has happened. Let me give you a run down of my goins-on:

I made an early decision to concentrate on culture techs initially and this has worked beautifully, by 1868 my prestige is 1982 and I'm ranked first in that. However, my industrial score has suffered as a result and is just 123 with me ranked 7th, not so good for Prussia.

I spent the first few years balancing the budget, improving relations and colonising (I now have Cameroon, Nigeria, a few pacific islands and Yebuti as well as Okinawa an Ammami). I managed to ally with both Britain and France and maintain 180+ relations with them.

I also avoided the liberal revolutions and I chose no in the Frankfurt Assembly Event. By this stage (1856), I was quite pleased with myself and decided to invade Hannover, winning an easy victory and gaining a few provinces. Great, I thought, maybe it's time to take on all the German minors and Austria and take the Badboy on the chin. just as I was considering it, I got a message asking me to hobour my alliance with France in their war against Russia. So, I did and the UK joined in too.

Now, this really annoyed me. I fought hard against the Russians, taking heavy losses (as well as inflicting them) and managed to hold the line against constant attacks. The war raged on but France and Britain still didn't help while Austria crumbled away. In 1863, the Russians offered a white peace and I accepted, I'd had enough. My once great army had been reduced to a rump and my war exhaustion was sky high with revolts happening all over the place, as well as revolts in Nigeria having resulted in some provinces defecting to Sokoto, splitting my West African Colonies.

But, hey, I thought, I've survived and now it's time to gather my breath and sort myself out, but first I'll finish Hannover off. Easy? Not a bit. After I declared war on Hannover, the Netherlands declared war on me. Fortunately, France came to my rescue and once again, a white peace was the best option.

So, I'm recovering nicely, beginning to industrialise and feeling better about things. Then, I get the German leadership event. I decided to force the issue, Austria did not accept and I chsoe prepare for war. War hasn't been declared yet, because I stopped and thought, ooh - what am I going to do?

The Austrians are relatively weak (maybe five divisions, not at full strength - the Russians beat them up very badly), weaker than me (I've only got ten divisions left) - I could beat them. But most of the german minors are not so badly off. Austria have a very good industrial score in comparision to me, it's about 4 times the size of mine. On the other hand, I have re-allied with Britain and France and they could help a great deal.

So, really my dilemma is, do I go for it and go to war or retreat and lick my wounds and recover. Also, should I concentrate on industrial techs for a bit, build a few more factories? And maybe I should fight Sokoto and attempt to retake the land I lost while I was busy with Russia? What do you guys think?


BTW: This game is fantastic, it really is the most absorbing game I've ever played and the best Paradox game yet and this forum makes the whole experience even better. A big thanks to the triumvirate and all those who have worked on VickyWicki, modding and all the guides, you're work is really appreciated. I really hope this forum keeps going stongly for many years to come - because I'll certainly be playing Vicky for many years to come.

 

[unmerged(10416)]

Fighting a war is very costly, but the rewards can be well worth it. If you can force Austria to pay war indemnities, you will easily be able to pay off all your debts and still swim in money. You can also go onto an annexation spree in Germany, or better, satellite the German minors so they cede you all their provinces save for the capitals. Don't take much land from Austria - certainly not any of their core provinces, it's not worth it unless you are already planning to dismember their country. (If you take any of their cores, they will get bitter at you and always remain your enemy.)

But ten divisions are not enough for a country like Austria. Austria may only have five divisions, but it would take you forever to occupy enough land to get any sort of juicy peace from them. Even if you can wipe out their armies, it's really dangerous to be at war with a country the size of Austria for a long time. You may spend two years conquering provinces but then have them all taken away by partisans and turn your supposedly easy war into a nightmare.
Have you invested in a good sized reserve that you can mobilize in case of war?

Oh and if you already own a lot of colonies, go and recruit the natives for manpower. Build ten or twenty native divisions and have them fight all your wars for you. That's what colonies are good for.

 

[TheGreatRadish]

Thanks

I had invested in a very nice reserve force. Unfortunately the Russian war wiped most of it out. That war will hang around my neck like a millstione for a while, by the looks of it.

I'm inclined not to fight Austria, at least for now and possibly the next few years or so until I'm ready. The only thing that is making me consider fighting now is having France and the UK as allies. They might do the fighting for me or send me expeditionary forces.

 

[Markusw7]

I was once in a similar situation but had less divisions than Austria. I was allied with them in a war against russia. when the war ended i demobilized and then the event came. I ignored austria and went for the, minors for each capital you get its +20 war score, if most of the small minors are still around you can annex a few and still have a high enough war score to get a favourable peace.

 

[unmerged(10416)]

If you join a war against a big enemy, try to rush into his land as fast as possible, grab the provinces you want and by all means SIT ON THEM until the war is over. Don't go off and race foer his capital. Unless your allies get totally wiped out, at some point your alliance leader will make peace and you will usually get almost all of the provinces that you occupy. Even if he doesn't take much for himself! The trick is to let war exhaustion do its work on your enemy and your allies, and preserve your own strength.

Dunno if this is easy if you have a long common border, but the British should usually land hundreds of thousands in the Crimea and cause massive attrition on the Russians. Try to make sure that Russia's main armies go off to fight down there, and only hold a line that you want as a postwar border.

 

[Darkrenown]

Thanks

I had invested in a very nice reserve force. Unfortunately the Russian war wiped most of it out. That war will hang around my neck like a millstione for a while, by the looks of it.

I'm inclined not to fight Austria, at least for now and possibly the next few years or so until I'm ready. The only thing that is making me consider fighting now is having France and the UK as allies. They might do the fighting for me or send me expeditionary forces.

You might want to rush for Wein and then get a white peace with the Austrian alliance, then you can spend the next few years building up for the war with France.

Oh yeah, and use my mod next time you play Prussia!

 

[unmerged(26608)]

IMHO, fighting Russia as Austria or (especially) Prussia is almost always a mistake, no matter who or how many your allies are.

You'll bear the brunt of the beating since you have land borders with them.

It's a long, long walk to St. Petersburg (unless you do a naval landing).

If you win, you'll likely just get a bunch of high militancy, low population, grain-sheep-cattle provinces. Unless you can get War Indemnities, of course.

Fighting Prussia or (especially) Austria as Russia is almost always a bad idea. Prussia isn't too bad, as their capital is fairly easy to get to, and you may be able to score a quick War Indemnities.