HELP..Not grumbling just clueless .. Any Hints / Tips / etc

[dikki10]

:eek: I have so many questions i don't know where to start !!!! To start with i am admittadly new to this type of strategy game - the closest i've come to this is C&C. I HAVE done the tutorial and read the manual that comes with the game. However both only skim the surface. I played the game for the 1st time last night and spent 3 hours not really getting out of the management screen and into a fight except one sea battle (more on that in a sec..) Alot of you guys here seem to know this stuff backwards so any help ..?? :)

Questions that came out of said three hours.....

I was playing as GB (patriotic me !!!) Is this a bad choice for 1st attempt ?

Also i did try to do an invasion of Denmark - I just wanted to land troops and see how they'd react but couldn't get it to do that with or without a declaration of War.

So basically I suppose one question is how DO you annexe militarily. Also aside from building consulates and taking up the one off trade offers - whats most effective for building sympathy? i got a couple of countries to about 76% and then seemed to stop. In the meantime France had peacefully annexed a new territory

I suddenly found i couldn't build any more troops / cavalry / artillery. I could still do buildings as far as i could tell. Common reason for that? (food ?)

Also I saw another thread mentioning a pdf manual - is this on top of the game manual from some site ?? I did look on the game disk but didn't see one

The one battle I did hit was a sea battle - sloop vs sloop - which was a very twisty / turney affair in which i was beaten eventually but it does beg the question - As much as i would like to control my own sea battles - is it really possible ??? between the narrow window to fight / Sailing off the screen and the fact that controlling one ship in the fight was hard enough - how in the name of * :eek: * :eek: can you handle more than that aside from having one follow anoth and providing a huge and steady target ??

Also (playing as GB) i didn't seem to be getting much from the trade routes - and it says you can only set them up in Capitals so how come countries like Norway and Holland don't seem to have a capital ?

All that said i am NOT grumbling, just ignorant and very beginner. Both to this game itself and the game genre (Never played RTW) I do know the period though being a Napoleonic re enactor.

[joxer31]

I was playing as GB (patriotic me !!!) Is this a bad choice for 1st attempt ?

No, since Britain is isolated from the rest of Europe, its a good first choice. The AI does not seem inclined to make amphibious landings even if your not GB.

Also i did try to do an invasion of Denmark - I just wanted to land troops and see how they'd react but couldn't get it to do that with or without a declaration of War.

One aspect of landing troops is that they have to board ships from a territory that has a port, and land in a territory with a port. Another thing to note, is that your ships have to be in the sea zone from which that port resides.

So basically I suppose one question is how DO you annexe militarily. Also aside from building consulates and taking up the one off trade offers - whats most effective for building sympathy? i got a couple of countries to about 76% and then seemed to stop. In the meantime France had peacefully annexed a new territory

To annex militarily, you have to have troops in the Nation's capitol territory and they cannot have any more troops in the field or in barracks, then the annexation begins. Make sure you have plenty of troops or they can raise patriotic armies to oust you. The annexation icon is a good indication of how well you are doing annexing.

suddenly found i couldn't build any more troops / cavalry / artillery. I could still do buildings as far as i could tell. Common reason for that? (food ?)

To build units, it requires 3 things, gold, wood, and population. A shortage of anyone of these will prevent you from completing construction. Food comes after the units have been created. If you run out of food, units will lose troops and disband. To save food, house your troops in barracks, will eat much less that way.

As much as i would like to control my own sea battles - is it really possible ??? between the narrow window to fight / Sailing off the screen and the fact that controlling one ship in the fight was hard enough - how in the name of * * can you handle more than that aside from having one follow anoth and providing a huge and steady target ??

Yes, naval battles can be tricky, the tutorial does do a good job of giving you a run down on how all this works. As with anything practice makes perfect. I promise you will get better when you become more accustomed to how everything is connected.

Also (playing as GB) i didn't seem to be getting much from the trade routes - and it says you can only set them up in Capitals so how come countries like Norway and Holland don't seem to have a capital ?

In the economic view, you can see how much gold you will receive from a trade route. It wont seem like a whole lot but it does add up once you get more routes and upgrade the trade branches. You can also open up sea trade routes as well. Get enough, its easy to take in another 1k gold a month.

They do have capitols, you just might not be able to see them due to the fog of war. There are buildings and quests that allow you to see more of the map and thus expanding what you can see. The other way is to expand your borders by political or military means.


This forum is very good about answering questions. Most of which have been asked before. Give it a good browse through, it will answer more of your questions than you might realize.

[dikki10]

Thanks - This all helps a great deal - thanks for taking time out to provide such a thorough response for a newbie :-)
:) :) :)