Prussia - Gameplay Discussion

[ilikepie]

Playing as Prussia i havent buildt any trade ships in a long time, cause everytime i did after a serten patch or something was released my trade ships would get attacked by pirates, does is really pay to invest in that now ?.

I always demolish the Coaching Inn and used to build a school there, but now i tend to go for a Smith in stead, and rather build a school in Brandenburg once you get a new town, i also research Common Land Enclosures first, that only takes 3 turns and helps getting the town faster in Brandenburg.

I often ally my self with Poland and saxony in a hope that they will join against Austria once they decide to declear war on me, and i deliberatly dont build to many regiments in Brandenburg or East Prussia so that Austria will attack in the near future, and i allways at the start disband both artillery pieces and the cavalry in East Prussia, since im allied with poland East Prussia is pretty much protected and dont need a big army there.
Once war starts with Austria i will hopefully have researced ring bayonett, canister, square formation and Military Syllabus, and buildt walls around Berlin, i can then build up what i need and take Silesia, Austria is also usually very defensive and hesitate's to send large forces to attack Berlin in my experience atleast. Anyway thats how i usually start my campaign with Prussia, altough i have considered taking Hannover very early as it would be a nice region to take and will open up 3 new land trade routes, but Austria allways declear war at some point and probably sooner if my forces are in Hannover and not Brandenburg.

So how do you guys start your Prussia Campaign ?.

Since Prussia starts small and grows in small regions, the basis of your economy will be infrastructure. Industrial technologies are very important, because there is no other way to upgrade your farms. Spend the first few turns on economy (which I recommend with every nation). It will be worth it when you start churning out your wonderful Prussian Infantry. You'll definetely get into a fight with Austria, and possibly with Poland.

[cheery pessimist]

By far my fave faction. Perfect for my playing style followed closely by Russia. Maybe you guys should reduce their rate of fire a bit . I think it's almost too high for balance sake.

[Nikodemus]

It´s a shame that the Austrian Hussars armies that you meet just slaughter your pitiful excuse for cavalry units.

Sure, i know that Prussian cavalry was not really world leading but ONE Austrian unit of hussars can take on two units of frei hussars and one unit of frei dragons and still win?

[Wingate]

Well, by the 7 Years War Prussian heavy cavalry had dramatically improved under Frederick's focused attention, so it may get better if Prussia lasts that long.

[Nikodemus]

Well, by the 7 Years War Prussian heavy cavalry had dramatically improved under Frederick's focused attention, so it may get better if Prussia lasts that long.

sure hope so, this is slowly turning into a battle of attrition between my Line battle tactics and the Austrian Hussar whoopass corps.

Sure, you can square you infantry but meeting a unit of Hungarian Hussars really scares me, if Austria gets some Heavy Cavalry that´s even better i might quit this campaign.

[Scipi0africanus]

for what it's worth, prussia barely hung on through the seven years war, and that largely thanks to british subsidies; frederick was brilliant, but line infantry tactics are just gonna take casualties no matter what, and he had a hard time maintaining an intact army towards the end. prussia should be something of a struggle!

[Steelwarrior]

Hi There,

I just tried to play Prussia on Normal but it is impossible. I gave uo 17:50 - cause I could with 11 Provinces hardly defend myself. First of all all the other Nations can produce Monster stacks and fleets with no reason. First I captured two Provinces of Lithunia and Austria declared War on me. I defended for 60 rounds just so because of their Monster stacks and the extremly high costs of my Infantry - then I finally blew them and took 5 regions of them - but of course Venice and Sweden and Mugha Empire declared war on me blocked all my harbours and attacked me with monster stacks - what is the fun in this? I can never build my economy and because of that never build out Armies and I am shown as weak in Diplomacy - maybe that is why everyone attacks me? I also get always a Nation declaring war on me when I conquer another... Please Balance it better - especially 1 Province States can overrun me with stacks of Armies and Fleets on the highest Technology levels - did anyone ever succeed in Prussiia and what was the way to do it???
Thanks - generally I like the Mod but this is not to win!

[Steelwarrior]

By the way i played other Mods on hard succesfully...

[Steelwarrior]

and another Question - in other Mods I can grow my economy by setting taxes on low - but it does not work here - did you change something?

[Lazy Knight]

play N/N and it'll be fine. We changed not just anything, but everything

[Steelwarrior]

well I played N/N - but I hardlyx survive financiually - cuase upkeep and repiar cost me so much plus I have high csaulties thanks to overpowered Cavalary of other nations - plus get constantly my port blockaded - because I lack mopney for an addtionaly fleet to defend them - I alreyd tried to conquer only weak coubntries like Pirates and Barabry states - plus people like to declare war on me cause I can only finace few units and look weak in Power all of the time ... Poland-lithunia helped me to beat up austria ,,,but only from 1780 on I can really move finacially - so please include 4 turns per year next time - thanks...otherwise campaign i over before I can move!

[5thdimension]

I played Prussia at H/H and was destroyed. I then played at N/H. First turn I sold off East Prussia to Portugal, because it seemed inevitable that Poland would declare war on me for it. In return I was given Goa. I immediately started building troops there. After 3 turns I had researched ring bayonets (is that the second one? idk what the tech is called, but i researched the second one) I attacked Hanover and was glad the English didn't join in. I sieged the city. Immediately the enemy sallied. (because i had already destroyed the enemy army in the field) The army was strait town watch folk who are spawned on sieges. I didn't fire a single volley, I just threw my infantry in column against the big, confused mob. Thank god they have no moral. (that's why I had researched the bayonets). In the next turn or two, Austria attacks me. They send a stack to Berlin, which I haven't bought walls for yet, and I barely was able to get a few soldiers back from Hanover in time to hold Berlin. The Polish jump on the pile. Both nations will throw full stacks at Berlin and it's 3/4ths stack of soldiers. Needless to say most of my money is going to retraining, and my garrison can be very thin at times.
In the mean time, Mysore had declared war on turn 2 and attacked soon after. Luckily, I hold on by the thinnest of margins. Maheratha declare war. I ally with Mugals. Around turn 8 I take Mysore. I take the city directly north of Goa and the southern most Indian province also. Mugals take everything else. Now I'm at peace with India, and it's funding my defense of Berlin. I've also carved out a few more of the western Germany minor nations, but Berlin is the east most point. Life get's very boring, except for the massacre of an Austrian or Polish army every few turns. I'm scared that the Mugals will attack. I know they want my part of India, so I don't know if my Alliance is a good enough insurance plan. I have almost not troops in India to save money, so if they attack I'm screwed.
I had researched the fire by rank drill for my Sepoys (who don't shoot 4 a minute). It helps the Sepoys a ton, but i feel like it got ride of my regular line infantry fire power. Platoon fire isn't as bad, but it still slows me down. I find the guards fire faster than the cycle, so I'm wasting some shoots. It works better if I deploy the guards in semi-columns, the cycle matches the reload speed. I though the reason I was having problems with the fire drills is because I'm playing on a larger unit scale. My infantry starts 360, Austrians are 400, Russians are 480. IDK if fire drills work on regular scale.
Even though Prussia is super hard, I really enjoy it. Thanks a ton!

[5thdimension]

(if anyone wants to listen, my story continues)
Because of the slowness of my campaign, I try playing a H/H UP campaign. I about shoot myself. I knew Prussian Infantry were fast, but not that fast. I about died when I had to use slow regular troops. Playing Prussia first was a bad idea.
Latter on I start a new H/H Prussia campaign. 1st turn I get West Prussia to surrender. I also defeat the Saxony Army (not with garrison yet) in the field. 2nd turn - Siege of Saxony (is Dresden the city?). I defeat the Polish Army near Warsaw. Siege of Warsaw. 4th turn - Both cities sally. Luckily, because I started research of the ring bayonet tech right away, I barely beat the garrison swarms. 5th turn - take Warsaw. Burn School. 6th turn - take Saxony, burn school. Replace both schools with inn's. From this point I almost die. Both Saxony and Poland Revolt (twice each). Austria attacks the turn after I beat the second Saxony rebellion. I'm left with a half stack of 1/2 strength soldiers to defend. Luckily, the Austrians are panzies, and sit in Silesia just outside my border with a full stack for a few turns. I still barely survive.
In Poland, I have to deal with 2 rebellions, which happened both times at the same time a Polish Army attacked. Not fun. The Polish infantry die easy, but their ranged cavalry are killers. I form squares. They sit on the corner of my squares and shoot my squares. Even with multiple squares I barely meet their fire power. I attack the Lithuania city - after taking it (with an inn intact). I offer the Poles peace, because I know I'm screwed. They have a stack about to attack. However, apparently the Poles didn't know that I had basically only 1/3 of the original strength in each of my units. They probably though that I had rolled over West Prussia, Saxony, and taken both of their mulity-space cities, and probably thought we had giant armies. Haha, nope. Poland has two single building cities left. I get a trade rout with Russia, Sweden, and Courland. Things start to look up. Even though 2/3 of my armies are tied down in Poland garrison. Poles won't be an issue again. I fight a bloody war of attrition with the Austrians. Austrians attack West Prussia... twice. First time I just take a lot of casulties. Another stack shows up before I can retrain. I hold the city, but I loose 3 units of line, 1 of horse, 2 Freicorps, and my Liebesgards completlely. All of them had experience. That hurts a lot. I take Silesia with Polish garrison. They park a stack outside Berlin, but don't want to siege it because of my walls and garrison. They are content with burning Potsdam. I finally have enough money to purchase some new units. (that's the advantage of losing an entire army) I train 1/3 of a stack of dragons, Regiment Guard, Liebesguard, and two Fusilier regiments. I crush the Austrians. Just demolish. Now Austria and I both have two full stacks, one each staring down over Silesia and Berlin/Saxony. However, I know my troops are much better. I'm going to at least be able to take the city north of Wein/Vienna (is that Bavaria?). But it's going to be a blood bath. They'll be crushed, but I'll be bleed hard.
I also was wondering about the Fusiliers. I bought some because they seemed newer, and I just unlocked them. I can't find a noticeable difference between them and the line infantry. IK the stats are a little better for shooting, but the difference isn't much. I do however notice the cost and melee difference. I don't think I'm going to buy more Fusiliers until they get balanced. (I'm playing 2.4(or whatever the newest version is, I checked). Please address the Fusilier issue, and the fire drill issue if possible. I understand Prussia can't be a nation of gods (even though they were), but I want to be able to use the tech I'm suppose to have. (i was smart enough to not get the fire drills the second campaign. My firepower is substantially more)
thanks for everything! IS is amazing!

[wangrin]

Some new plates about Prussian artillery : Prussian SYW Artillery scale drawings – part 2
From the excellent Christian Crogges' blog.