Need help choosing faction.

[zorphon]

I can't decide which faction I want to play in the Coalition campaign.

GB - Is a little too naval oriented, and most battles are in sea.
Austria - Is in a bad position on Campaign map.
Prussia - Don't know much about.
Russia - Off to side, and way too many regions to control at start.

The problem is, when I start with a country like Russia I get overwhelmed by all the thing I already have, whereas I like GB because you can take things 1 at a time and stuff.

I just don't know where to go or what to do with all my armies and cities are Russia, Prussia, or Austria.

I would play GB but the naval aspect is pushing me from it. Because A) I am bad at naval battles, and B) it takes awhile to get in any other regions or get into a land battle.


So can somebody help me out, give me a suggestion on which faction I should play, or better yet: Link me to a detailed comparison of the factions as far as unit stats and such.

And also... Guides/Tutorials/Advice on how to control myself when being overwhelmed with so many things in the beginning of the game; i.e. Russia.


Thanks guys, I am somewhat of a noob at this game and I really need help because I am in a bet of a dilemma.

[Donkeycow]

why not France? They have a good starting position, will fight mostly land battles but still some sea battles, and you get napoleon! WHAT COULD BE BETTER! If you wanna unlock the french europe campaign (which is the same as the other coalition one, just open the italy campaign, save and quit, open the egypt campaign, save and quit, and BAM you can do europe haha

[=HighXplosive=]

*Facepalm* Becauses its the COALITION campaign and you can't play as FRANCE?

zorphon: I suggest GB, it's a lot less naval orientated than you think. While in ETW you had to fend off naval attacks while securing America, you can invade mainland Europe much more easily in NTW because of two reasons:

A) Europes the only theatre.
B) More cities in Europe that aren't fortresses and are relatively easy sieges. More cities = more momentum since you don't have to compensate for AI bypassing you and doing ninja attacks.

I would also say the AI is more controlled than before and more strategic so won't do annoying raids forcing you to split your forces in stupid ways.
Also, trade is easier to acquire as I've noticed as GB you can seal off access to the trade nodes in the NW easily.

[uzi716]

Prussia

[zorphon]

Prussia

Any particular reason?

Thanks guys, keep up the help!

[Jihada]

Ofc you can play France. Read how to do it in Donkeycow's post.
I'm playing GB and there are alot of naval battles at the beginning but you can't really lose with Nelson.Lot of battles with Spain for Gibraltar too.Try it on medium to start or even easy level to get the hang of the game.

[zorphon]

Ofc you can play France. Read how to do it in Donkeycow's post.
I'm playing GB and there are alot of naval battles at the beginning but you can't really lose with Nelson.Lot of battles with Spain for Gibraltar too.Try it on medium to start or even easy level to get the hang of the game.

The French Europe campaign is slightly different than Coalition. Besides, I was asking about the Coalition. Thanks for the rest of you're post though

[the_mango55]

Prussia is fun, your starting position isn't as bad as it looks on the map. It's hard to get any sea trade going though so your economy isn't going to be great until you invest vast amounts of money into your infrastructure and economic buildings.

[Alco]

I played as GB, had a lot of fun - it's pretty easy though, once you get naval dominance (which isn't hard) with the help of your allies. You can then hit any coast city you want with a full stack and usually just auto resolve because of how unprepared a lot of the coastal French cities are.

[Emperador Carlos]

Austria's position isn't as bad as you'd think...

[♔themanwithnoname♔]

Prussia

Yes, definitely. They are in a good spot and have expert troops, plus you are not at war with anyone at the start.

[Roslolian]

Russia. You have freedom to do as you will and few are able to threaten you.

PS- Also, you're totally immune to cold attrition damage.

[Kurfuerst]

Britain is definitely the easiest to begin with.
As Britain you can also have many land battles, in Spain like the British did historically.
Also you can provide financial help to other coalition countries in the Continent, which I think will be much fun.

[ckangas]

Yeah, GB/Russia/Prussia are all pretty straightforward. Austria has a rough begining (and the Ottomans always insist on invading early). But you can either make a strip of liberated buffer states and take out the Ottomans or igrnore them and blitz straight through to Paris...France is much weaker than you originally think once Prussia and GB get in on the action.

[Markmilan]

I've just started as GB, is good fun. Have spent quite a few goes building up the economy and recruiting line infantry in Gib to try to hold of the Spanish.

With Nelson in the Van I've destroyed the Spanish, French and Dutch navies (or Nelson has: always autoresolve naval battles), I've got all of the trade from Western Scotland to Gib + some sloops raiding the french and spanish harbours.

I've just sent Wellington to Gib and he's going to attack Madrid, am about to recruit daddy Hill as a general and he'll invade N.W. France or Barcelona - not sure yet.

Love the fact that there are real historical figures in the game.

Not keen on the names of the ships in the British fleet though so have renamed them to Victory, Royal Sovereign, Armageddon, Hyperion (for any readers of the Bolitho series!) etc.

[Dizoakius Maximus]

I started with Prussia, as you're at peace with everyone at the start and can stay that way by just defending your borders and playing the other factions off against one another. I had the Coalition and France both courting me for alliances, which I'd parlay into technological advances or cold hard cash payments.

So once I allied with people, then they'd try to get me to join the war against one side or the other. So I was able to gouge even more from both sides. Austria wanted me to join the war against France, so they offered me Venice! So I take Venice, take Wurttemburg (French owned) and then broker a peace and an alliance with France! Now everyone is scrambling to counteract the new Balance of Power on the Continent and I'm sitting on top of a united Germany with the worlds most powerful Military Industrial civilization in Europe.

My point is, you can play turtle (all the factions want to be your friend and give you trade agreements and alliances) until you're ready to jump into the fray. Then you can just start kicking butts, at least until you've pissed everyone else off and they start coming for you!

[www2]

I am playing Austria on H/H and having great fun...(although the battles are easy).....destroyed Swiss, Kingdom of Italy and am crushing France......my only concern are Ottomans, and if they decide to start their conquest I am finnished.......

[Big Pacha]

As a first Coalition faction for a newcomer, even if It's not my favorite (that wasn't the OP question guys ) I would suggest Prussia.

Why? Because Prussia starts as Neutral (i.e. not catched into uneasy alliances) + can expand on "neutral" german states before they ally with other coalition nations + you can play both sides, as the Austrians are not really your BFs.
+ they have better troops.

I really enjoyed playing Russia too, but I'd suggest it as a 2nd campaign, It's quite defense-oriented. GB is almost Navy-only except at the end and Austria is, as in ETW, the designated victim that will be torn apart by Napoleon & even by Its own "allies" = Russians want Galych & as I said Prussia ain't your buddy at all.

My advices

[BrodY]

I'd recommend Russia. Yes, it is much to keep track of, however you get to fight the Ottomans a lot, which is fun

Also you can invade Sweden, take over Denmark and move down to France from there. I personally love the russians, and will most likely always play with them (except when trying other factions, obviously).

Another good faction is GB. Easy to manage since they have an entire isolated island.

[GTFO. Jamie]

As a first Coalition faction for a newcomer, even if It's not my favorite (that wasn't the OP question guys ) I would suggest Prussia.

Why? Because Prussia starts as Neutral (i.e. not catched into uneasy alliances) + can expand on "neutral" german states before they ally with other coalition nations + you can play both sides, as the Austrians are not really your BFs.
+ they have better troops.

I really enjoyed playing Russia too, but I'd suggest it as a 2nd campaign, It's quite defense-oriented. GB is almost Navy-only except at the end and Austria is, as in ETW, the designated victim that will be torn apart by Napoleon & even by Its own "allies" = Russians want Galych & as I said Prussia ain't your buddy at all.

My advices

i would disagree that GB is 'navy only except at the end'. You have a amazing starting position as GB as no one can get to you by land (except your region Gibraltar). Gibraltar will be attacked by Spain, but as spain are definetely passive in the grand campaign, they will expand any further then gibraltar, other then perhaps to send a few ships to GB to attack your trade routes.

So you can build up your economy, your alliances etc and you can land troops in europe very easily whenever you want to. If you want to get straight into land battles, just stick a stack on a ship and land in friendly regions to the right (or in france itself) and get fighting the frogs and helping your allies.

You do however need to focus on keeping the french navy at bay, or they will block your ports and your trade points and bankrupt you.

Am about to start a new campaign as Prussia as im finding GB a little too 'safe'.