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Post by gord96 on Jul 15, 2015 13:56:31 GMT -6
Hello.
Just purchased the game and curious what nation is best to learn the game with? Someone small like Austria-Hungary? Or a bigger nation with the naval size turned down?
Thanks for any info!
gord
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jma286
Junior Member
Posts: 97
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Post by jma286 on Jul 15, 2015 15:32:55 GMT -6
Austria is good because it doesn't have any colonies to worry about, it has a small budget which will prevent you from getting overwhelmed, and another power has its primary base in Austria's home region(nations like USA, CSA, and Russia lack this).
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Post by gord96 on Jul 15, 2015 16:58:28 GMT -6
Thanks jma! I will try them out!
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Post by ccip on Jul 15, 2015 21:27:02 GMT -6
I would recommend Japan as well - they start off with seemingly the least resources and weakest shipbuilding industry, but they also have the simplest position of all the nations. You only have 3 possessions in 2 regions to worry about initially, and you're far from the other empires' home waters - meaning that it takes them time to mobilize against you, while you can concentrate your fleet much more easily to protect your interests.
You also get to learn more about the building, research and buying from foreign yards - which is easy to overlook when you're playing a more developed nation, but it actually helps regardless of what you end up playing in the game.
And if you want to play a strong world power with a lot of resources (and more of a chance to actually make an impact), my recommendation is playing the US with historical resources turned on. They start off in a strong and fairly simple position compared to the other powers, and their resources outstrip Britain's by the end of the game's timeline.
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Post by gord96 on Jul 16, 2015 10:11:19 GMT -6
I went with the CSA to start. Fairly simple nation. Just bases in the Caribbean, although it says they have bases in America but they aren't in any 'sea zone' so not sure how that works.
Anyways things are going pretty good. Have been at war with the US for 16 months and we have the upper hand after some luck on the seas and some successful land offences. Have avoided any major fleet battles as they have twice as many battleships, but have had some decent scraps so far.
One thing I don't get is I sometimes get a bonus for blockading the US. Not sure how that works, will have to read up on it.
Anyways fantastic game so far!
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jma286
Junior Member
Posts: 97
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Post by jma286 on Jul 16, 2015 10:54:58 GMT -6
I went with the CSA to start. Fairly simple nation. Just bases in the Caribbean, although it says they have bases in America but they aren't in any 'sea zone' so not sure how that works. Anyways things are going pretty good. Have been at war with the US for 16 months and we have the upper hand after some luck on the seas and some successful land offences. Have avoided any major fleet battles as they have twice as many battleships, but have had some decent scraps so far. One thing I don't get is I sometimes get a bonus for blockading the US. Not sure how that works, will have to read up on it. Anyways fantastic game so far! What I meant by "sea zone" was any box on the map. CSA is a fine choice as a starting nation; the only reason I picked A-H over them is because Austria's home region is the Mediterranean, which is also Italy's home region. CSA doesn't share the Caribbean with any other power, so even when fighting the USA the American battle fleet must take a turn to move from the East or West Coast.
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Post by gord96 on Jul 16, 2015 11:11:30 GMT -6
Thanks JMA.
So far the US hasn't ventured into the Caribbean. I am hoping for peace soon. The US is making overtures for peace but so far the peace talks have been unsuccessful.
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Post by andrew on Jul 16, 2015 18:18:58 GMT -6
I have been learning the ropes by playing Italy. I don't know if it is the best country to start with, though. I seem to get embroiled in wars with almost everyone and very early in the game, too. Maybe because I'm a bit too aggressive with the events. Poor Italy, always trying to be a Great Power In my most successful game I had some epic pre-dreadnought battles with the French. By the end, most of my legacy battleships had at least five engagement stars. The battles were all highly indecisive, though. Even compared to RJW scenarios, gunfire in the early years of RTW seems to do nothing to either side. Fires were quite rare, even ships being pummeled with 12 inch guns didn't slow down more than a knot or two, and the only French battleships I sank were from torpedoes in messy night engagements. I am glad that the next update makes shells a bit more destructive because early battles tend to feel too much like ironclad engagements (and I am comparing this to the damage dealt out in RJW scenarios not the SAI scenarios covering the WW1 era). Has anyone tried Spain? Perhaps when the war editor is released I will try to put together a custom Ottoman Empire. Definitely the most addicting game I've purchased in a long time! P.S. As you can well imagine, the wife isn't too impressed.
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Post by gord96 on Jul 16, 2015 19:50:29 GMT -6
Thanks for the post Andrew! I plan to try Spain next. Also agree this game is as addicting as all get out. One issue I am having is in cruiser battles and destroyer actions I of course just have my cruisers or destroyers but the enemy has battleships, etc. Is that working as intended? I am thinking not as my CSA campaign I didn't notice this but have seen it a few times in my Austria-Hungary game. So might just be a few 'bugged' battles. Great game!
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Post by elouda on Jul 16, 2015 22:15:44 GMT -6
I played Spain for my first game, and apart from being miles behind everyone else, it was a pretty enjoyable game. Like France, you have two major areas to worry about - the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, and you also get some colonies in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.
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Post by andrew on Jul 16, 2015 22:23:56 GMT -6
Gord96, yes, I have also encountered B in the occasional cruiser battle but I like it because it adds a bit of fog of war to the game. In real life, you never know if that cruiser turning tail is running from you or turning to report your existence to the battle fleet. Moreover, when the battle dialogue pops up, it often has a list of suspected enemy units in the area. I think that means they could appear. Especially if your cruiser battle is taking place close to enemy home bases, I would assume running into a B is more likely. The developers, of course, would be able to say more definitely if this is the case...
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Post by brucesim2003 on Jul 16, 2015 22:43:06 GMT -6
I'm finding the smaller countries impossible. The people bitch because my budget is too big, yet I literally cannot afford to build 1 predreadnought....or even a CA at times. The navy league bitch because I'm not building the battleship I can't afford, and my prestige drops like a stone because I'm desperately trying to avoid a war with the RN that I know I cant win. And the British tension rises regardless of what I do. Then the war I tried to stop starts anyway and so does the blockade, which I can't break because of the lack of ships. Que more bitching from the people.
So goes the breakdown of the 1st 5 years of both attempts at the CSA and Austria.
Learning with the smaller countries is gonna turn people off imo. You want a learning country, try USA or Germany.
Speaking of the people bitching about the peacetime naval budget, that is plain wrong. In those years is simply didn't happen.....anywhere. To quote Churchill regarding the 1909 naval estimates for the dreadnoughts "Parliament wanted 4, the navy wanted 6, so we compromised on 8". Don't project 2015 attitudes to military spending on 1915.
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Post by gord96 on Jul 16, 2015 23:16:19 GMT -6
I didn't have your troubles with the CSA brucesim2003. Unrest stayed low until my war with the US entered its third year. Can also build dreadnaughts, but only one at a time. Now in a war with the Royal Navy and somehow squeaking out some victories. What size of navy are you playing on and are you using historical budgets? I stick to medium as it's a bit easier to manage.
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Post by elouda on Jul 16, 2015 23:27:55 GMT -6
One thing I learned from playing Spain was that you have to accept your dreadnoughts not being comparable to those of the first rate powers - most of my designs were 8x11 and later 8x13, but this helped keep size and cost down and thus numbers up.
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Post by brucesim2003 on Jul 17, 2015 2:34:06 GMT -6
I didn't have your troubles with the CSA brucesim2003. Unrest stayed low until my war with the US entered its third year. Can also build dreadnaughts, but only one at a time. Now in a war with the Royal Navy and somehow squeaking out some victories. What size of navy are you playing on and are you using historical budgets? I stick to medium as it's a bit easier to manage. I couldn't even afford predreadnoughts because the people were bitching about the budget.
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