A Guide to Prussia

[Hercules87]

I'm glad you're finding it useful stoolpigin.

But don't count on the alliances lasting. I'm upto about 1723 now and pretty much every major faction has declared war on me; Spain, GB, France, Sweden, P-L, Austria. Aswell as Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Italian States, Venice. If Saxony, Courland or Hannover turn on me I'm pretty screwed as they are all providing me with quite alot of protection from every other country.

Economy isn't looking too good either, alot of expensive wars over the last 5 years have meant neglect for economic growth and as my empire was 'stringy' I needed to garrison every single city.

But its still the best approach I have found.

[InsaneDuke]

A feel real bad reading all of this, as it's now dated. Very little of this is still applicable since the Warpath patches. Playing Prussia now is a pure test in patience and defense. By 1705 you are going to be under siege from pretty much everyone in Europe. Britain does not hesitate to start sending armies at East Prussia, and Berlin, or anything else you have is going to be catching armies from Austria, Wurtemburg, Hanover, Saxony, Poland, Sweden, etc. I don't know why CA has obliterated any practical algorhythm to the AI diplomacy, but they did. This post was well detailed and very well done. My props to you. Unfortunately, it's now out of date thanks to Creative Assembly's actions.

If you're going to play Prussia now... you better have some serious patience. Where once I could easily dominate with Prussia, I can't get past 1715 before it's just so unplayable because every other turn 2 new nations are declaring war on you for no reason at all and sending troops and navy at you. As fun as hard mode or even very hard use to be... it's ridiculous now. I don't care how good a player or how sound you think your strategy is, it is simply impossible to build structures, maintain an army, try to keep your ports unblockaded, try to keep any of your assets from being raided and your cities protected with Prussia while being attacked by every nation within 5 territories of you.

Since Warpath has come out I've played Prussia easily a dozen times on H/H and by 1715-1720 it just becomes very unfun and boring because all you're doing is defending against sieges. I've gone radical to dumping everything taking the British Isles and abandoning the continent, but in the end, you just don't have the resources to maintain, build, and defend. Also, the Battle AI is way screwed up. I love how the vaunted Prussian Line troops get their ass handed to them by Courtland militia.
I've gone straight for Sweden, tried to expand and take out Austria etc. It doesn't matter. If you take Austria, you're going to have Venice and the Ottoman's declaring war on you as soon as you hit the turn button.
Since Warpath, really, they screwed up all the economics so bad, it's difficult to really get anywhere with anyone. Unless you're the AI of course. I've had every port in India blockaded with Britain and yet Maratha still seems to be able to field and maintain and repair a dozen armies easily. Thank Creative Assembly for screwing everything up again, and making this really quite awesome Prussian strat all but obsolete.

[InsaneDuke]

Heh, I somehow missed all the more recent Warpath patch posts. To comment on some of these new strategies: They are all sound to a point. I mean you almost have to get ultra lucky. Alliances mean almost nothing because the AI will not hesitate to dump your alliance and trade treaty and attack you. I did get to about 1740 or so with Prussia recently but it was a very hair pulling, frustrating exprience to get where I was. I took out Poland completely. I had all the original Austrian territory, but this is where I hate Creative Assembly. If I play with Britain, Prussia will conquer most of Europe and make Austria look stupid. When I play Prussia... Austria is taking France. I was one turn away from wiping Austria out, I look up and in one turn these bastards took Lorraine and France. So I still had to deal with their lingering Armies which were teamed up with all their allies. I also love how no one wants to ally with you, or if they do, they'll break it with you to take some insignificant territory, but yet there will be 6 nations allied up against you.
So during this game, Britain declared war on me in like 1701, so about every 4th turn I had to fend off a British army going at East Prussia. Austria and Poland you can beat down, and they'll have a peace with you, but it's just a matter of a few turns before they declare war and come at you again. Miraculously, Russia didn't mess with me at all until I got into Lithuania, and when they did they were kind of weak. And I hate to blow the "You take Germany and you win" theory out of the water, but that's BS. Miraculous, again, in this game Hannover never messed with me. They kind of screwed things up by taking Saxony, but it was better than having the combined forces of Saxony, Poland and Austria sieging Berlin. I had along the baltic from Berlin to St. Petersburg and started moving around all the outer territories of Russia. As soon as I took Austria, Venice and the Ottoman's came at me. Even when I trashed everything and gave it away... it didn't help much.

Really, the main reason all of us are having difficulties is Creative Assembly absolutely douched the entire economic system. I know Hard and Very Hard are supposed to be just that, but the AI is clearly getting some very unfair advantages to their building and support economics. I have not anywhere seen anything that documents what these handicaps and advantages are at the hard and VH level. Having those stats would probably help us all tremendously in planning strats as we would know our limits better and more importantly what they are capable of putting out. When you've beaten Poland, or Courtland, or Austria into pulp and they have no trade and one or two territories, yet they still seem to be fielding and maintaing massive and multiple armies... something is just really off balance.

Good luck with Prussia. I do agree with whoever said that Prussia may be the hardest faction to play right now.

[Gilmourish]

hmm...sounds strange.
In my last Prussian campaign, I had absolutely no problems. I kicked Austria of the map first, took a couple of the smaller german regions, took some of Polands regions, took Denmark, etc...
I had an alliance with GB, Russia, Venice and UP. GB once broke the alliance because I went to war with Sweden(Russia pulled me into it), but one turn later they accepted alliance and trade again. Even Spain asked for a cease-fire and a trade-agreement when I was attaking Paris and they didn't brake it.

I took it quite slow...not rushing through all the regions in 4 turns or something. I built up alliances/trade agreements before I went to war. My standing with GB was +150. The only one who was constantly threatening me was Poland...they kept putting up huge armies on my borders, but in the end they didn't attack me once. I think because I had 4 full-stack armies in forts on their borders.

[Hercules87]

While Prussia is hard, its not impossible.

My campaign is now in 1745 and I have managed to unite Germany(apart from a couple of regions owned by Hannover, who have honoured our alliance throughout the game) and have moved east all the way to St Petersberg.

I've got alliances with Maratha, Mysore(who I gave the region next to Courland for 30000), Ottomans and Hannover. I'm making about 8000 per turn and have 3 full stack armies(1 west, 1 east, 1 south and Hannover defending against the Swedish from the north).

I admit it hasn't been great fun. I went through about 20 years where I was at war with every major faction but the Eastern allies I have. You end up defending a siege battle every turn at least. But if you take it steady, ignore the navy, gradually build up your economy you can field enough armies to be able to stay mainly on the attack and now I'm not having to defend against sieges constantly but I'm actually building up quite a pace in my expansion.

This was on H/H and my initial strategy was to be ultra defensive and stay out of wars. Its on here a few posts back.

[Blackader]

A feel real bad reading all of this, as it's now dated. Very little of this is still applicable since the Warpath patches. Playing Prussia now is a pure test in patience and defense. By 1705 you are going to be under siege from pretty much everyone in Europe. Britain does not hesitate to start sending armies at East Prussia, and Berlin, or anything else you have is going to be catching armies from Austria, Wurtemburg, Hanover, Saxony, Poland, Sweden, etc. I don't know why CA has obliterated any practical algorhythm to the AI diplomacy, but they did. This post was well detailed and very well done. My props to you. Unfortunately, it's now out of date thanks to Creative Assembly's actions.

If you're going to play Prussia now... you better have some serious patience. Where once I could easily dominate with Prussia, I can't get past 1715 before it's just so unplayable because every other turn 2 new nations are declaring war on you for no reason at all and sending troops and navy at you. As fun as hard mode or even very hard use to be... it's ridiculous now. I don't care how good a player or how sound you think your strategy is, it is simply impossible to build structures, maintain an army, try to keep your ports unblockaded, try to keep any of your assets from being raided and your cities protected with Prussia while being attacked by every nation within 5 territories of you.

Since Warpath has come out I've played Prussia easily a dozen times on H/H and by 1715-1720 it just becomes very unfun and boring because all you're doing is defending against sieges. I've gone radical to dumping everything taking the British Isles and abandoning the continent, but in the end, you just don't have the resources to maintain, build, and defend. Also, the Battle AI is way screwed up. I love how the vaunted Prussian Line troops get their ass handed to them by Courtland militia.
I've gone straight for Sweden, tried to expand and take out Austria etc. It doesn't matter. If you take Austria, you're going to have Venice and the Ottoman's declaring war on you as soon as you hit the turn button.
Since Warpath, really, they screwed up all the economics so bad, it's difficult to really get anywhere with anyone. Unless you're the AI of course. I've had every port in India blockaded with Britain and yet Maratha still seems to be able to field and maintain and repair a dozen armies easily. Thank Creative Assembly for screwing everything up again, and making this really quite awesome Prussian strat all but obsolete.

I'm completely agree. I'm a total war player since MTW (the first), and I'm perhaps not a very good player, but I can handle a difficult faction, like the Pahlava in EB, if you know it.
But I'm bored with my countless attempt to play Prussia. I like to build my country, to roleplaying a little. Make wars, and end with just one province more.
Impossible. Everybody declare war on me. A new province conquered says a new ennemy. And as siege are so broken, it's a pain to play 20 or 30 sieges battles.
I don't understand very well why I lose money when I conquer several territories, but it's so. And with hard level, prussian infantery doesn't own its ennemy, I fear even crappy citizen militia.
I'm not ashamed to say that I will try again, but with normal difficulty, both for battle and campaign.
Because it's a game, and if it isn't funny, it isn't worth playing.
My only fear is that with normal difficulty, AI does nothing, and there wouldn't be a middle between too easy and too hard.

[nameless]

I recently tried out a new prussian campaign on VH.

Fortunately, when I was allied with Poland, Austria attacked both of us so in this case Poland had an incentive to go on the offensive. By 40 turns in, the eastern half belonged to Poland while the western half belonged to me with my borders extending to France, whom I have an alliance with.

The only issue is because your expanding, you either have to make an alliance with the minor factions or go to war with them. One or the other.

I'm going to try to start out with peace with Austria and Poland and expand into the western minors and take out UP and ally with France, see where that goes.

[Fire-dweller]

Good Luck!

[Jack-El]

Hey all, I've been going through the Prussian blues myself since 1.5 and trying different strategies that won't turn me into a gigantic target at the center of Europe. My latest attempt involves going after the one country you can attack from the start with no political repercussions: The Barbary Pirates.

While their lands aren't the richest in the world, they do provide several ports within a short distance from the trade nodes. This allowed me to take over the Mediterranean and control the most important trade lanes. Land defense is practically non-existent as they tend to focus on Navy. The Barbary regions are also so far out of the way that only Morocco has invaded them so far. Their invasion did not go well and I gained another large city early on

Before setting sail with an almost full stack (and my missionary) I strengthened my ties with Poland, Courland, and Saxony to secure my homeland borders. As Prussia you get into enough wars without looking for trouble. This strategy left me with only a few enemies early on. Within the first 10 years my only opponents were Barbary (from the start), Morocco (soon after taking the 2nd Barbary region), Austria (who always seem to attack early), and Great Britain. I find Great Britain particularly annoying since in every game I've played they have demanded East Prussia in exchange for some crud island in the Carribean. If I don't accept they attack East Prussia without fail. This obsessive desire for my territory coupled with their distance makes them terrible allies in my opinion, especially compared to the security of a safe border with my neighbors.

This is my first Prussian game out of four that has gone well. Unlike previous attempts where I went about expansion like in Astorath's guide the Barbary method has given me some breathing room. The Ottoman Empire eventually did declare war on me (long after I killed off the corsairs) but they haven't sent a single land army after my distant African colonies. Their absence may be somewhat influenced by Poland tearing through their territories and annexing its way to Istanbul

The game year is now Summer 1717. I've recently, as in the past 2 turns, completed a blitz against Austria and I have secured all their lands excluding Transylvania prior to making peace. I've also gained the lands of an ex-nation named Genoa after warring them over a trade spot. The nerve of them, taking the last Ivory Coast spot after I do all the work in removing the pirates! Italy (and later Venice) saw fit to join them. I think Rome could use a sacking after my -44 diplomacy penalty from the blitz cools off.

This is a Hard Campaign / Medium Battle difficulty game, so I'm not sure how well the strategy would do in higher difficulties. The last 3 games as Prussia I was on Hard/Hard but after 1710 I was always swamped in enemies. Between the raiders, lack of income, constant invasions, and my apathetic ally (Great Britain) I quickly burned out. Those posh gits saw fit to rest their tushes in East Prussia while a Poland/Austria/Ministates/Venice/Italy/UP/Ottoman/Russian coalition dedicated to screwing over Prussia sent wave after wave against me. Worst. Allies. Ever!

It felt great to tell 'em to #%$* themselves the 4th game after they demanded East Prussia again.

[KingInKoko]

The Situation in Western Europe is of concern to me, so to say. The German minor states are starting to fade away, with the exception of Hanover and Bavaria, the latter I assume will be steamrolled by the Netherlands. Yes, the Dutch. They have expanded into the Rhineland and are at war with Bavaria. The Dutch army consists of a full stack occupying the Rhineland. Hanover has took over Saxony but do border the Dutch Rhineland, but Hanover and Netherlands are allied, and I doubt the dutch would want to risk a confrontation with Britain about Hanover. About Wuttermberg, they have been annihilated by France.

The threat from the south, The Austria Empire, has been nullified, at least for now. I have taken over the Silesia and Prague territories, and each one is adequately defended and there are settlement fortifications in each one, a god given blessing considering I have to put in little units, therefore less upkeep and more money from me. The Austrians signed a peace treaty and I have a trade agreement with them, but the country still harbors deep hatred for Prussia. Still, I have gotten what I wanted from them and have ample defenses.

Poland is a good friend of mine, and as such Konisberg is relatively undefended, so less troops, less upkeep, and more money for me.

Now, those idiots of the North are the immediate threat and have declared war on me. Sweden has accumulated a full land army stack and their navy is definitely better then my amateur fleet of sloops and brigs. Sweden is also a VERY rich region, with a region wealth of around 10000, damn the AI and their bonuses to that. I have a half stackish army of line infantry and three 12 Pounder foot artillery ready to barrage on their palace, and am recruiting an army in Berlin to occupy the sparsely defended region of Norway, which I actually plan to give to Denmark, along with some ducats so I could become their protector. and that way I achieve one of my victory requirements(getting Denmark) AND get half of their income.

Let's just hope the Sweden campaign goes well so I can do something about the Crisis in Western Europe.

P.S playing on Hard/Medium on a Prestige campaign. It's the summer of 1709.

[KingInKoko]

And so the Swedish army is crushed!The battles were bloody, but bloodier for them!Their full stack in Sweden has been crushed and Stockholm is mine. My Missionary spy actually reveals that they have another one on route to Stockholm, but by that time reinforcements would have arrived and their army would not stand a chance, particularly due to settlement fortifications and how dumb the AI is about attacking them.

The Russians' and the Poles' efforts to subdue Sweden's eastern flank are laughable(Poland I can understand since they are fighting a war with the Ottomans), at best. Karelia has been captured by Sweden, and Russia is sending a pathetic 3 or 4 units of Cossack Infantry to take a half stack defended St's Petersburg. Poland is doing nothing to harass Sweden as far as I know.

Now in this game, it seems the minors powers are the ones with the balls of steel. Bavaria..no..they have not been steamrolled. Instead, they took the Rhineland and drove the Dutch all the way back to Amsterdam. Last time I checked the Dutch had a full stack occupying Cologne, so the Bavarians must have recruited a hell lot of fire power to take it. Pretty impressive for a german micro-state, especially if you compare it to the pathetic attempts of the Russians, the Ottomans(which are getting their ass kicked by Poland pretty badly)

Austria is apparently doing something else. They have military access to Bavaria and the Netherlands and even have an alliance with both of them. I think they are at war with France and Spain, which is good for me. Let them duke it out and if it's a stalemate, then all the good.

Once I end the war in the Baltic, it's time to build prestige and wealth. I already have 4 India men going to the Brazil trading spots , being escorted by some brigs. Once they reach their destination, rest assured, there is going to be wealth coming in........

[AngryTitusPullo]

My current and latest Prussian campaign I decided to accept to trade Bahamas with Koninsberg with the Brits. Never accepted that in my previous campaign. With this new strategy I can maintain quite a few armies due to easy access to trade routes.

However now in 1740's only Denmark & Bavaria become my allies while I'm at war with France, Spain, Austria & Sweden. I've taken all Sweden provinces and left them with only Finland. Things have been going well before until Spanish navy has started to attack my merchant fleets which were only protected by 2 sloops each.

[Carpe Veritas]

Heh just started my H/H Prussian campaign and Austria/Bavaria was really easily conquered. Only took me around 5 turns to do the whole lot - I allied with Poland and Saxony as fast as I could, then bargained military access with both (20 years for me, indefinite for them is always accepted). So from there I emptied all my territories, spent all my cash on reinforcements and simply trounced them in 3 major and a couple of minor battles. I conquered Austria at marching speed, with only 1 rebellion.

Now consolidating while attacking Wurtemburg (soon to fall) and the UP. Only on 7K income so will stop after that to develop the territories in happiness and income (as I'll have destroyed all the states I'm at war with!) before picking my next target.

Going really, really well

[Hercules87]

Sounds like your campaign is going well so far.

But I wouldn't count on being able to stop warring and build up your economy. Once you conquer the German states, I'd be prepared for the UP and France to kick off. That's if your AI is anything like mine.

[Carpe Veritas]

But I wouldn't count on being able to stop warring and build up your economy. Once you conquer the German states, I'd be prepared for the UP and France to kick off. That's if your AI is anything like mine.

Yeah once the UP and wurt fell I used the Austrian states troops to take down the Italian States and Venice (because I didnt fancy a major power war, and they didnt have any allies elsewhere). So I now have ports on the north, west and south coasts of Europe (and alot of extra income with it).

But as you said they would France and their allies Spain have not unexpectedly just declared war. War going well as have taken Spanish territories on the Italian peninsular and am regrouping to take flanders and the territory of 'France' From there I will be unstoppable mwahahahahahahahaha

[Yo2man]

Hey so I have been playing on H/H and in 1710 I have somehow made peace with everyone, even made a protectorate of Courtland( dont know how that happened). Anyway i followed the first moves of the guide taking west prussia and saxony in the first two turns and then took warsaw( and some how still have it). Aslo took Prauge but sued for peace with Austria which is still in effect. But then Westfillia declared war and i took that over. Now just going to bide my time a few turns while gathering troops to take the other two german states and austria.

And by the way Great post so far great reading!!!!

[Nex Sui]

Another drawback is that you often doom Austria this way which is sad because they are Germans to after all.

Well, they are actually Austrians, agreed, Austria and Germany are close, and have always been (with the exception of the campaign as Preussia ) but on a general basis the germans and austrians are and have always been close, but they are NOT the same

[Wider Destroyer]

This is a really good guide! Best one I've read. Really helpful. Thanks. Can you write a guide for France?

[empr guy]

i used the guide to begin my prussian campaign and it worked well. Then every county near me except sweeden declared war on my within 5 turns and now they are all invading at once.... still a great guide though, if i hadnt followed it this probaly would have happened to me sooner.

[TheGreenTurtle]

I expanded my post and wrote about the follow up. Austria declaring war on you is part of the plan. Courland being a pain in the ass with this opening is true though. You will have to divert some units up north. Possibly make a fort.

You manage moneywise by spending all of it on the military. Also I recommend tearing down the school in Poland (and a few turns later Vienna) to help keep the populations under control. You wont have more than one revolution then and can keep taxing those pesky foreigners.

Granted this might not be the best opener if your a beginner. You may then want to start out slow and build your empire at a less rampant pace. But really then you shouldnt be playing Prussia.

I am playing as Prussia, and my campaign is a bit different than most of yours. Right now, the year is 1714 and I am at peace with everyone except the pirates and France (entered because of my alliances). Oddly enough I am allied to Austria which I see not lasting. In the opening, I took the West Prussia and Saxony. When I had the strength, I took Warsaw and had to deal with about 3 rebellions....so annoying. There after I marched (and raised) my armies to Poland where I raided a town and farm in Vilinius (spelling?)...My raiding army was attacked by the garrison army and the odds were against me, but I won. That turn I attacked and took Vilinius and the other Polish territory east of Warsaw. Finally Poland accepted peace and a trade agreement. Other nations (Austria) have pressed for an alliance and paid. :p I am allied to Austria, UP, GB, and I think that is about it. Westphelia (sp?) declared war on me while I was about to attack the Polish cities. They were easily defeated and I gladly took their only city...

So instead of being able to focus on conquering my Germany, I have instead (not intentionally) expanded east, now bordering Russia (two borders) and will consolidate my power (keeping on eye on the suspicious Hannover) and build up my economy and infrastructure.

I assume that someone in Germany will attack me which will allow me to begin my conquest again...

Till' then, Prussia will remain a powerhouse in the North, waiting for satisfy her hunger for power.