Richest faction to start with?

[MehemtAli_Pasha]

which, in ur own opinion, from 12 playable faction will be the richest of all(fro the beginning) , controlling the best trade routes in the game and having the most valuable resources?

[Legio]

Moved to Historical Research Center. Discuss the fiscal capabilities of each faction here.

[LinoraN]

I would say Great Britain... They did some fairly nice trading those days..

[S-te-Fan]

I think the dutch... I just think that...

[Massacre]

Maybe Spain? Considering all the gold from its colonies? Though that was much earlier I know.

[Steel of Fury]

All good suggestions. I assume the Ottoman and Indian factions should be rich with their resources though their poor handling of them historically would probably reflect in the game.

[Salem1]

Sweden has the potential to become one of the richest factions in ETW if Denmark-Norway is annexed. This should at least be the case, the Sound toll combined with having a monopoly on the region through control of the Baltic would've been extremely profitable for Sweden. Seeing as Sweden was a dirt-poor country in this period, you wouldn't think so, but this annexation would've sealed Sweden's position as a great power. For a hint at how important the Baltic and Sound was, the Dutch called it ''The Mother of All Trade'' and it was the most important trade route next to nothing. This annexation (and ruthlessly beating down any resistance to it) is pretty much the goal of Sweden. It should make you become disgustingly rich and aid your nation in general, but it should also upset the ones that have to pay the Sound toll and suffer the Swedish monopoly of the Baltic. A strong ally is thus needed; preferably France.

France does not have conflicting interests with your main goal, namely annexing DK-Norway. Should the Dutch try to intervene in order to support a Danish or Norwegian revolt, France can directly threaten Netherlands into submission. With the money gained from the Sound and monopoly, shipbuilding and seamanship can receive extensive funding and support, which means that the Swedish navy will be just as good as the British and Dutch navies. This should dissuade Britain from trying a risky war against Sweden in Swedish waters, which would perhaps even give an opportunity to France for the invasion of Britain itself. PLC is a negligible threat; you should annex territory from their northern regions whenever possible, but don't go too far. The major threat would've been Russia and thus, an alliance with France and Ottoman empire would pretty secure your Swedish empire.

You can even fight against Britain or Netherlands, perhaps even both of them if you have really managed to expand your navy (this is unlikely though), and Russia at the same time. Why? because you don't need an army to defend yourself against Britain or Netherlands, while you don't need a navy to defend yourself against Russia. An excellent strategic position. The only possible way Britain or Netherlands could land an army would've been on the southern Danish border, but that's as far as they'll go. A naval base in south-western Norway and one in western Denmark, plus the ones at Karlskrona and Sjaelland offer excellent strategic defense; landing an army in the northern regions of the Swedish empire is suicidal. Also, if Russia invades then they won't have much available for fighting the Ottomans in the same way Britain and Netherlands won't have much left to defend against France. So indeed, that pact will be very strong.

You have difficult cards as Sweden, but if you play them right, you will be rewarded appropriately.

France, Netherlands, UK and Spain can also become really rich, but still don't have the same tremendous potential to rise from dirt-poor into economic powerhouse as Sweden. The rest of the factions I expect will need more work.

[nodey]

The dutch was and should be the richest at 1700.

[Łukomski]

Certainly the Dutch. No competition here...

[Samaras]

I say Dutch, maybe Spain in the beginning of 18th.After
Britain is rich too

[Aloicias]

What is your unit of measure. The information is out there especially for European factions. I may be wrong about specifically 1700 but I think the Mughals had the highest GDP.

[darkly]

France.
France was the richest kingdom of europe in the 18 century.

[Zone]

If Sweden can get even moore of the eastern sea and not have to many expensive wars, they would most likely become the richest. They already got a great copper and weapon exportion.

[S<>P<>Q<>R]

France was allways rich, rarely the richest. Britain most probably.

[schockis]

Factions as France and Britain would have the biggest income, but they would also have the greatest expences.

Of the western factions, I'd like to say The United Provinces, but a have a feeling that the Maharatas and Mughals were richer than you would guess.

[[Grognard]_Arjan]

At 1700 The Republic was the richest area in the world

[Markas]

Spain surely they were carting gold around in treasure fleets.

[DarkMagi]

Portugal for sure!
jking... nationalism apart (although we had our coffins full of gold), maybe Spain... (Had the dutch started theyr conquering around the world? or have they started after 1700?

[[Grognard]_Arjan]

they started aroound 1550 and ended around 1750

[MehemtAli_Pasha]

i'm guessing

1- Spain...for gold trade and of course with other valuable resourced from Latin America.

2- Ottomans...land connection from east to west, they gotta make a lot of money, specially with amount of valuable territory they controlled.

3- Brits..of course.

i dunno y the Dutch though:hmmm: