What provinces to attack?

[MarkShot]

Suppose you are planning a war against a large country.

You will have the upper hand. However, you don't intend to totally overrun them. You want to take a number of provinces through battle and then annex them in the peace negotiations. What provinces should be your priorities?

I am new to this game, but some of my thoughts are:

- CB shields
- COTs
- Resources?

Anything else?

Thanks.

 

[Porcius]

CB shields of course.

CoT's will require a significant military victory, but as long as they aren't in the enemy's capital they are prime conquests.

If you are landlocked, get a port. This is needed for colonization unless you border frontier lands.

Culture and religion friendly provinces are more important than good resources if they are available.

Provinces that are already heavily forfified are good because it saves you the investment.

 

[kurtbrian]

When I play I usually go for Cb provinces, Nearby CoT's or provinces with the same culture and religion in that order.

or Provinces with strategic value as well

 

[unmerged(7470)]

Partially colonised provinces are easy to grab, cheap on the peace table, and you can convert them to your religion and culture.

 

[AllonEU]

I dont know about the rest of you, but everytime I play at western or central European country I always try to get Flandern.

But always go after the CB shields first. (especially as Ottos, Russian or French)

 

[Rundris]

A lot of times in a peace settlement I try to leave my enemy with one of my shield provinces so that I'll still have a permanent CB against them. If you take all of your shield provinces from them right away, you may have trouble coming up with a CB later on to finish them off.

Basically in a series of wars with an enemy, I'll take all of my shield provinces but one first. Then take the non-shield provinces, then take the last shield province, then annex.

It's not always a suitable strategy, but it worked good for me when I was playing Brandenburg/Prussia and left Poland holding Memel, thus giving me a reason to beat on them over and over.