Help me pick a Nation!

[Kennylz]

Hey, I'm pretty much a newb to EU games but I've finally jumped in and I've spent a long while now figuring out all the mechanics of the game and getting over the learning curve. I've pretty much figured out most of it, but now I can't seem to decide what nation I want to settle down with for a /long/ game. I don't want to just do 30 years and abandon it, or even less in the case of some games I've played.

Here is pretty much what I've taken a shot at, my feelings about it, then below what I'm trying to find.

- I played as Athens and Ireland a lot. As Leinster I can't seem to do anything. I'm pathetically weak and it is hard just to survive. As Athens I was able to conquer like 4 provinces before the Ottomans at a whim just decided to wtfown me. As you can see I like playing as these big underdogs, but can't seem to make it as them.

- I played as The Mamluks and had a pretty successful run as a conquerer. Gained a lot of land, but I knew nothing of inflation and making sure to keep building my techs so I probably would have been hopelessly screwed in the long term.

- Muscowy was really fun, but I found it hard to remain at peace even after swallowing up a few of my smaller neighbors and becoming a major power. There are just so many people in that area that are gunning for you and it wears down on me. I ended up disbanding my glorious army that won all my wars for me to try and get my economy powerful and all my enemies took advantage of that and stormed me. Gay.

- Japan was also very successful and fun, but after conquering a lot of islands and a big chunk of China I hit a brick wall with the massive Ming, so I had little I could do for decades, and I got bored...

As you can see I want somewhere I'm not surrounded by enemies on all sides, that isn't a major power, but isn't pathetically weak either. I wouldn't care about culture at all if it wasn't for the fact that I research SO slow as anyone other than a Latin country that it bums me out. I'm bad at research as it is, so if I pick an Eastern or Muslim country I have no hope of getting to rifles it seems.

Ah, and some tips wouldn't hurt either. I really need some good advice.

[NaptownKnight]

I would suggest a German minor, although it wouldn't fit the "not surrounded by enemies" criteria. Well, really, what nations aren't surrounded by enemies in EU3? The German minor would never get boring, there are lots of nations around you all fighting and such, there is always something going on. My suggestion would be to pick Bohemia or Brandenburg, they are still small but large enough that you shouldn't have any trouble surviving the early stages of the game.

As a smaller nation it's always a good thing to get an alliance from a bigger, more powerful country. Think of them as your big brothers, until you yourself grow large enough to do some damage completely on your own.

I have the same problem as you though, I always want to start another campaign before finishing (or even loading a game up once, I might start it, save it, and never touch it again) my current one. My longest running campaign has been as France, they are very interesting, but you don't want to play as a big nation.

Research is really just balancing your budget. You want to focus on one or two things, things that will help you achieve your goals. If you want to conquer focus on land tech and stability, to get better units, and to make up for stability hits when declaring war. If you want to colonize focus on trade and government. You'll need these to get Quest for the New World, a required trade level of seven, and you'll pick your first idea before hitting that, so government 9 is required. Also, remember to always change your sliders to suit your current situation. Take advantage of the fact you can change everyone of them whenever you want.

As an Eastern or Muslim country it's through no fault of your own that you aren't researching fast enough, they have penalties that slow their research. I don't know the pertinent data, but I think the slowest tech group is New World, and the Africans aren't far ahead. Remember that Eastern European countries DO suffer penalties, and they aren't in the same group as their Western neighbors. A way to combat this is to get a border with a Latin tech group country, and eventually you'll be given the option to Westernize. Note: I believe that Japan can not Westernize, and there may be more countries that can't either.

Finally, if you need tips the EU3Wiki is a good place, or what your doing now (asking for help), as there are some really good Paradox players on this site (definetly not me btw, lol).

Alot of this stuff I've told you applies only to the IN expansion pack, so if you don't have it then my advice isn't useless, but a lot of the things I've typed won't apply at all.

[Darkarbiter]

Naples?

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

Castille or Portugal. As Portugal you can aid all your allies during a war and usually no one can reach you to attack, even France, unless they become uberfrance (now only 70% chance ). You can have a good economy pretty easily and if you take territories sell them back for dinero

[Sebdeas]

England is also a good beginner's choice.
Build a good fleet in the Channel and no one can touch your homeland. Get Scotland as a vasssal quick and after 15 you can annex them and form Great Britain!

[Kennylz]

I actually picked Poland and am having an amazing game. Lithuana has gotten really strong, but I've managed to build probably the strongest economy outside of France in the world and I maintain monopolies over 4 trade markets and am having stellar research rates for what I think is a non Western tech group country. Nice sized too. If my dumb ass current ruler can hurry up and die I'll be able to demand annex big bohemia right beside me and double my empire size.

[The Super Pope]

England makes for a boring game. I would choose Sweden

[Kanaric]

naples would be fun.

[NaptownKnight]

Milan is fun. I am having a good game as them, just formed Italy in 1520.

[Aytumious]

Mecklenburg. You can dominate trade from the beginning and make boat loads of cash.

Do you have IN or NA?

[scottishranger]

Denmark is fun too.

[Ojf]

Tuscany?

[NaptownKnight]

Tuscany?

Aren't they pretty hard? I've heard the are very difficult.

[Ojf]

Not really, just cant expand lol

[scottishranger]

Tuscany is probably one of the better choices to try and form Italy actually. You start out with two universites, which great, although you are surrounded by large foes... It is challenging.

[NaptownKnight]

Well, I guess I was going off of In Nomine's 1399 starting date, they have two territories at the other start date.

[Valentin the II]

Definately Novgorod.

[Kanaric]

Aren't they pretty hard? I've heard the are very difficult.

They are not too difficult. I managed to form italy with them before, you just have to be careful of who is emperor.

Definately Novgorod.

They are extremely fun and lead to a great russian game. Since you can get in the hanseatic league, have high free trade, and good innovation it is VERY easy to build an empire. You can westernize quickly and you can pretty much control every COT in europe by the time you form Russia.

I had to form an alliance with moscow and prussia early on in order to take out lithuania and sweden then used my gains from that to go east and take tartar territory. After that I went after moscow, they usually are fairly hard when you play as Novgorod.

[Valentin the II]

They are extremely fun and lead to a great russian game. Since you can get in the hanseatic league, have high free trade, and good innovation it is VERY easy to build an empire. You can westernize quickly and you can pretty much control every COT in europe by the time you form Russia.

I had to form an alliance with moscow and prussia early on in order to take out lithuania and sweden then used my gains from that to go east and take tartar territory. After that I went after moscow, they usually are fairly hard when you play as Novgorod.

Yeh, unless you'r allied to Moscovy, prepare to be screwd.
Novgorod is serounded by enemies.
In my game I was allied to Moscovy witch I eventually betrayed, and Poland witch destroyed Hungary and Lithuania becoming a megablob (stil my ally).

[NaptownKnight]

In my current Italy game Ryazan has taken over Novgorod, and reduced Muscovy to two territories. Anyone seen Ryazan do this before?