Tips for playing as minor faction (Bavaria)?

**I-the-gamer** · March 06, 2010, 04:32 AM

So as my first campaign i opted to play as my native faction, Bavaria! I found a mod to unlock it and added a few more minor ones (Fire by rank, tighter formations, and a few more that don't alter gameplay or balance)

I started off by building up an army and successfully fighting off the Austrian and Russian armies that spawn nearby. After that i captured Prague so i could support a bigger army, and indeed holding it allowed me to create a full stack army and a few militia units to keep munich and it safe from small raiding armies, and i even managed to sack moravia. The austrians seemed content just sitting in Vienna and sending the occasional 8-unit-raid-stack to prague.

But when Prussia/Saxony/Hessen declared war everythign turned for the worse. Busy fighting of Hessian and Saxon armies in Bavaria the Austrians captured Prague back and i started loosing money. I managed to recapture it with my stack but had to leave it undefended immediately as i rushed my army to defend munich against the Austrians who were sending a full stack of line inf supported by cannons and cav to Munich, so i will loose it again to sometime soon, meaning i will start loosing money again

So so this is my situation. Peace seems to be impossible with any factions and the french are busy in northern germany so i can't count on them or any other allies for help. Should i just disband half my army and turtle in Munich until the french come to help or try to hold both cities with smaller armies (greater risk since i won't be able to rebuild a lost army quickly, also i would be very vulnerable to full stacks.

This is my current plan of action, any suggestions?
Also, wish me luck for the upcoming battle

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Pussywillow** · March 06, 2010, 06:43 AM

Having tried several times to get Bavaria going - and failed - it's clear that Bavaria have neither the economy or the industrial power of the major nations. Just cannot hope to compete.

The best you can hope to do is beat one, maybe two stacks of Prussians/Austrians (Russians ?) and withdraw, all the while looking for an escape route. If you do manage to take a territory like say, Saxony, give it away to one of the big boys, preferably not your enemies and use them as a short-term buffer state.

As I said in a previous post 'Bavarians are bloody hard' and you get sod all from the beginning. Virtually no trade, no resources, no gents, no tech just an army. As the campaign progresses you still get bugger all. Trade is hard to come by, no one wants to know or share tech with you. so you have to buy or steal it. I'd love to know if the Bavarians develop if you can maintain your independence.

The only other thing I have thought about (and am preparing to give it a try with Saxony) is running for a port either north or south , the choice is yours, and maybe getting a bit of a navy together and taking advantage of those sea trade spots to boost income. One last thing, with sea transport you can trash cities around the map at will. Taking copenhagen (after drawing out their big army) is well worth it. I did it and looted the place and got 16k's worth of gold !

What you do with it, well thats up to you.

**Player2** · March 06, 2010, 08:09 AM

Don't go to war with all the Big fellas at one perhaps ally with france

**I-the-gamer** · March 06, 2010, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Player2

Don't go to war with all the Big fellas at one perhaps ally with france

You start allied with France and all it's allies. Too bad you also start at war with all it's enemies and Prussia is scripted to declare war on you too. It's impossible to hold your ground if the French don't push the Prussians and Austrians, and in my game they just decided to sit and wait in France. Very disappointing, after fighting of 7-10 stacks of Austrians, Hessians, Saxons and Prussians i finally succumbed and they took Munich :/

A shame, i really enjoyed my Bavaria Campaign in Empire.