Recommended First Playthrough Starting Nation?

[nicholander]

I've been learning the game, mostly just fiddling around with ship design and such, and I think I'd like to try an actual full game play through, but was wondering which one I should try. I've been using Austria-Hungary for my testing, and have tried a war with Italy actually to see how the combat works. Should I try a full game with Austria-Hungary, or should I do it with another nation, like say the U.S.?

[fredsanford]

I think the US is probably the easiest. You get plenty of money, good tech bonuses, and your potential enemies are all far away.

[ranger9000]

US is probably the easiest yeah, A-H probably puts the least demands on the player (as the game doesn't expect you to do much) but if you screw up the diplomatic game things can go south very fast. Personally I like the CSA2 start, you have someone you can easily bully (Spain) and it gets you used to moving ships around since you need to defend the eastern Seaboard too

[mbishop]

I usually go with CSA2. I bully Spain2 & France out of the Caribbean. I'm always nice to USA & GB early on. I'll try for colonies in West Africa (Angola) when offered.
If I go to war with RUS, GER, JAP, I let them come to me first to whittle them down. I'll send my raiders to their home waters. I usually build a fair amount of subs.

[Airy W]

With the US you can do pretty much any strategy at all. The only way you can end up in over your head is if you get in a war with Britain. So do the US and try to recreate your favorite historical designs.

[babylon218]

US or GB. I'm naturally biased (I'm british) but GB does give you a pretty easy early game with the challenge gradually rising as the US starts catching up. I like GB as a starting nation because it introduces you to pretty much all the mechanics at once (fleet battles, blockades, raiders, colonial stations, ASW, etc.) US is probably the 'easiest' however.

It depends what you want from a first experience: a gentle game which pretty much hands you the gold, or a game which starts you out in a strong position and challenges you to keep it.

If you're just sadistic though and want to get your teeth kicked in, go with Spain.

[ieshima]

I prefer a small to medium start, mainly CSA2 or Director's Byzantium. Gives you a feeling of being strong, but not the biggest fish in the pond.

[bcoopactual]

My only concern with the USA as a starting nation would be the fact that because you are an ocean away from your rivals you don't see many of the full fleet battles that make the game really interesting. If the OP goes with the USA, try to ally with one of the Northern European nations if you can, it will allow you to use their bases for staging.

When I read the OP's question my first thought was "needs to be European" Then I was thinking Britain has way too much micromanagement to get all of their overseas requirements met and to constantly have to rotate all of those ships back to NorEu for refits. I think Italy and A-H's budgets and the fact that their bases aren't in NorEur make them less fun than say France or Germany. France and Germany have a little of the micromanagement that Britain does but not as bad and they have decent to good budgets, especially if you don't use historical resources. Russia has undeveloped shipbuilding and poor education which means that ships take longer to build and they have a greater chance of flaws with the ships. On the plus side with Russia though, you can fight both the Northern European nations and Japan from friendly bases easily. Japan is very similar to the USA but they have a smaller budget and undeveloped shipbuilding.

So my answer to the OP's questions would have been France or Germany to start. USA is the easiest but not necessarily the most fun to play because of the distances involved. I haven't played with the traitors (CSA) or Spain so I can't give an opinion on those.

But then again, I started with and stick mostly to the USA and I still love this game so there is that. The only nation I would stay away from in the beginning for sure would be Britain mainly for the large amount of micromanagement.

[Noname117]

I almost say you could go Italy if you want. A-H you have too small of a budget but with Italy you have no colony management and can focus the Mediterranean. You can beat up Austria Hungary and France is an opponent roughly equivalent to you. This is in addition to the US, France, and Germany as suggestions.

[alan66]

Japan has many advantages as well for a new player. It is removed from any real threats, yet close enough to some powers (Russia, especially) to make for an interesting game, and it has colonies, which introduces an additional element you can get used to.

[akizuki]

For my money, play Germany on a medium game. You start being able to beat up everyone except Britain, have the Europe homebase like bcoopactual said, and can afford to lose your colonies since they're marginal. What's more, the battles themselves will be easier because you get the "right" tech advantages (you could do much worse than just putting Fire Control, Damage Control, and AP Shells on High and forgetting the research menu entirely).

I don't recommend Japan because it's hard to get a meaty fight, and unlike the US you can't just tough out the interments. At least for me, the Russians rarely send big ships east. I had the ridiculous situation one game where I sent the whole battle fleet to Europe to blockade St. Petersburg and force a decision.

[cv10]

I learned the game with the United States. It's good for reasons that others have enumerated, but I really like the superimposed turret advantages. While the problem with not being able to blockade any of your enemies directly (due to lack of bases in their home waters), it does teach you how to fight a "cruiser war" and is pretty forgiving to mistakes. You can also fight Japan in the Pacific, and it's been my experience that they generally move a few battleships down to SEA (basing them out of Formosa).

[oaktree]

It depends on what facets you find interesting and want to practice/learn the quickest.

If you like the early cruiser wars/raiding then I would say the USA since you can do that while building up. And you can get some larger fights in the Caribbean maybe. And eventually a good-sized war with Japan - though you'll probably want a base in Northeast Asia by that point.

For learning how to deal with blockades, fleet buildup, and the potential for fleet battles with pre-dreadnoughts and such I would say to go with Germany or Italy. Both do decently with tech, and are sitting in the same base waters as roughly equal opponents. Italy can kick A-H a few times and then settle down to fighting France while being wary of the UK. Germany can run a good rivalry with Russia and France, and eye up potentially fighting the UK in an uphill struggle - though I usually settle for gutting the French colonial empire instead depending on what additional colonies fall my way.

[rimbecano]

Sept 8, 2017 22:43:31 GMT -6 akizuki said:

For my money, play Germany on a medium game. You start being able to beat up everyone except Britain, have the Europe homebase like bcoopactual said, and can afford to lose your colonies since they're marginal. What's more, the battles themselves will be easier because you get the "right" tech advantages (you could do much worse than just putting Fire Control, Damage Control, and AP Shells on High and forgetting the research menu entirely).

I generally leave damage control on medium and put guns and machinery on high (and guns are where Germany sits at a disadvantage). Keeping the range open and plunking shells through  the AI's underarmored decks is my mid-to-late game battle line doctrine.

That said, I'd advise the OP that a good starting point for the game is, if you have any strong opinions about how navies should have built their ships during the dreadnought era,  to choose the nation whose tech advantages and such listed in the nation selection screen seem like they'd help you implement that doctrine, and see if it works.