Starting Minister Guide

[yekoj2]

Disclaimer: I am new to the Total War series. Please forgive me if any (or all) of this information is inaccurate. For each country I attempted to determine the best set of initial ministers. I would recommend booting all the other candidates so that you have 5 open spots to fill with new random candidates (1/turn). [To do this just promote unwanted candidates one after another into the position of a candidate you want to replace and have the final one be the ‘real’ new minister.] In the case of Republics and Consitutional Monarchies I included the best set up for both the current ruling party and the opposition party so you can compare and choose what you prefer. [Just temporarily maximize taxes and hold an election to boot the current regime.] After each minister’s name I have the recommended position (if any) and the number of stars (i.e. management total) for that position. Many of them have penalties to one position or another so keep your eye out for dropping management totals as you assign the ministers I have not identified as particularly suited to a specific position. [For example, the English George C is rated by me as a “4”—but if you put him in a particular position and his management total drops to less than this simply move him somewhere else.] In addition, I summed up the total “overall modifiers” for each set of recommended ministers so you can see what you have to deal with from the start. [For example, under the current Ruling Party in England the nobility are very unhappy (-3) but if you replace them with the opposition they become very happy (+3).] I’m not certain that these are the absolutely optimal starting combinations but I think they can serve as good general guidelines, especially for beginning players who want to have a properly build set of ministers.

England
Recommendations Ruling Party – William C (treasury 8), John E (navy 4 ), George C (4), John S (3), Earl W (3), Sidney G. (2)
Ruling Party Overall Modifiers: -3 nobility happiness, +1 lower class happiness, -15% religious unrest
Recommendations Opposition Party – Marmaduke S (treasury 6), others w/identical management stats to ruling party (i.e. 4,4,3,3), +1 randomly generated member replaces Sidney G. (2)
Opposition Party Overall Modifiers: +3 nobility happiness, -1 lower class happiness, -10% religious unrest, -3% clamor for reform

France
Recommendations: Gaston R. (head 5), Frederic R. (treasury 4), Adrien mdM (justice 6), Louis lT (army 5), Louis P (navy 4), Laurent B (America 4)
Overall Modifiers: -1 nobility happiness, -3 lower classes happiness, -20% religious unrest, +2% clamor for reform

Austria
Recommendations: Theodor vS. (head 4), Philipp vS. (treasury 5), Gottlieb M (justice 5), Ernst vS (army 6), Franz T. (navy 4)
Overall Modifiers: -10% religious unrest, -1% campaign speed

United Provinces
Recommendations Ruling Party: Henk V (navy 5), Jurg W (5), Willem O (4), Johan F (4), Adelbert J (3), Jan vM (3), Jan vL (3)
Ruling Party Overall Modifiers: +4 nobility happiness, -6% clamor for reform
Recommendations Opposition Party: Evertsen H. (head 6), Johannes vdW (treasury 3), Gottfried V (justice 4), Lammert vS. (army 5), Kobus G (navy 6) +3 randomly generated characters
Opposition Party Overall Modifiers: +2 nobility happiness, -2 lower class happiness, -10% religious unrest, -3% clamor for reform, -1% campaign speed

Prussia
Recommendations: Johann VM (head 5), Samuel VC (treasury 6), Adam K (justice 7), Johann VB (army 8), Felix B (navy 5)
Overall Modifiers: +5% clamor for reform, -1% campaign speed

Spain
Recommendations: Simon dC (treasury 5), Juan JG (army 5), Hipolito V (navy 4), Leopoldo R. (4), Edgardo A. (3), Richardo M. (3),
Overall Modifiers: +3 lower classes happiness, -5% religious unrest, +6% clamor for reform

Poland
Opposition Party Recommendations: Eryk C. (treasury 4), Mieczyslaw B. (navy 5), Kasper K. (5), Gabriel Z. (4), Sylwester D. (4)
Opposition Party Overall Modifiers: +1 lower classes happiness, -5% religious unrest
Ruling Party Recommendations: Jerzy D. (justice 5), Stanislaw L. (3), Hieronim L. (3), Stanislaw J. (3), Feliks P. (1)
Ruling Party Overall Modifiers: +1 nobility happiness, -2 lower classes happiness, -3% clamor for reform

Ottomon Empire
Recommendations: Sakizh H. (army 5), Suleyman N. (justice 4), Carhaci H. (treasury 4), Abdulhamid H. (4), Avlonyah S. (3)
Overall Modifiers: +2 to nobility happiness

Russia
Recommendations: Albert A. (justice 7), Samuil S. (treasury 5), Feodor G. (army 4), Andrey V. (5), Vikenti S. (4)
Overall Modifers: -2 nobility happiness, +1 lower classes happiness, -5% religious unrest, +6% clamor for reform, -1% campaign speed
Sweden
Recommendations: Hartvig J. (justice 8), Carl H. (army 6), Faste S. (5), Hemming C. (5), Hendin A (4)
Overall Modifiers: +1 nobility happiness, -2 lower classes happiness, -3% clamor for reform, -1% campaign speed

India
Recommendations: Jayanthi S. (army 5), Fatehsinh C. (treasury 5), Dhanush S. (5), Madanna P. (4), Babu N. (4)
Overall Modifiers: -2 nobility happiness, +1 lower classes happiness, +3% clamor for reform

[Tacgnol]

lawl
I fire a minister every turn just to keep the rest on their toes

[ilikeicehockey]

anyone 3 or below i kick.

[onetthome]

I fire people at whim, just to let them know.

[Rotaugen2009]

I monitor the ministers VERY carefully, as I find they have a large impact on the game. In one campaign I noticed that my people suddenly became upset, both the nobles and lower classes. Then I thought about how I kept getting popups about "trait aquired". I went through each minister, and found several had developed -1 or even -2 to unrest traits for one or both classes. When I cleaned out my cabinet, suddenly EVERYONE was happy and I spend a lot less on garrisons or foregoing taxes. I found that these stats meant more to the game than any bonuses I got from the old ministers, just comparing old versus new income. So a guy may be great to start with, but many of them develop bad habits.

[eatme]

Ha didnt think that for Ministers would be needed a guide to kick em and hire some new ones. -)