A Guide to Prussia

[Toto10102]

Problem is that the capital is well defended and you do not want to loose your troops. As you say if it will be returned you do not want to waste money by now with Courland coming and Austria declaring war.



Austria is not that hard to beat. In fact instead of going to Saxony like it was suggested before you gan just go to Silesia and then rush take Bohemia and Vienna. The only army they will have in the north is rather weak compared to yours. Besides allying with the Ottomans is the south can give you a big advantage depending how your ally reacts.

I personally think that attacking Hannover in the first 5 turns and then invading by ship the United Provinces by the 6th or 7th turn, you may be at war against Britain, but does Britain matter, no. You can then ally yourself with France and Sweden and thats how I got control of nearly all of Europe by 1750.

[Tongera]

I disagree with one thing about this guide: Poland never accepts peace, even when i have taken Poland, Lithuania and Belarus and crushed them in the field. So what i have to usually do is sell these provinces to Russia, then Poland will make peace with me. How come it is like this?

Although, i guess it could have something to do with the fact that i capture the provinces, then destroy everything, then move on to next settlement.

[banhchungxanh]

After a few turns following your introductions, GB declare war on me, send an army and block my port.
What should i do ??

[Rather3]

Never, like Tongera also did, open an old thread.
They're just friendly to prussia tho, you declared war on them, didn't you.
You need peace with 'em if you ever want to win it.
Otherwise, get ground units there, repair it, keep 1 unit there, and hope they'll leave ^^.

[malfuriouspete]

even sticky threads?

any chance of an update on Prussia strategies? Don't think many of these apply to 1.5 (i recently re-installed this game - and it even still had my old saved games from 4 years ago!!)

playing on H/H - Tried the Saxony option and of course Poland + Courland declared war on me, followed by Austria and the other german provinces. Took out Saxony and linked up through Western Prussia and managed to walk into a lightly defended Prague and took it right under Austria's nose. But now am getting raided like mad by Courland and Poland will not accept any peace. Great Britain don't want any trade agreements with me.. had to move to the Ottomans and one of the Indian kingdoms but my trade routes are blocked by pirates and I can't afford to send a fleet out let alone fight off (and the while maintain civil order) Poland, Courland, Austria, and now Westphalia are sending troops into Saxony. Perhaps I can let some of my cities go into open rebellion and crush down whatever rag tag army forms, think there is a bonus to order if you do this for a few turns.

think I'll try a different approach next game

[=Prince Nuada=]

I strongly recommend taking Hannover by turn two.
I know they are your allies in the early game but by capturing the region you open up land trade to Denmark, Westphalia and the United Provinces. Also, as Hannover does not share a border with Austria, its capture should not accellerate Austrian intentions.
Furthermore, although Hannover are allied to Great Britain, it is possible that if you establish a trade agreement with Great Britain in turn one, England may abandon its alliance to Hannover in favour of more lucrative trade.
As a subsequent matter of course you are then at liberty to turn your attention to Saxony, West Prussia and of course Silesia.

[Vaped]

I recently played Prussia campaign on VH/VH and I have to say new strategy were required.
I just read upon Frederick the Great and I simply followed his strategy.
First turn, I simply requested alliance with Hannover for 3k. Built my armies on both cities and allied myself with Poland(for now) with some military access.
By turn 3, I had a big enough army and I sent them to Silesia (Just like Frederick did). Make sure to keep atleast 2 units or so in ever city or you risk being attacked by your neighboring countries.
Simply from there use the forces and take care of Austria.
When I took over Vienna, Venice declared war on me but I was able to take care of them before they got big and I was able to sell Venice to Spain for 10k.

Good luck in your Prussian conquest!

[malfuriouspete]

I tried the Hannover attack on turn 2 and this is what happened: No problem in taking out Hannover - this declaration of war didn't bring in GB to the conflict, but the united provinces decided to join against me. Tried to offer them peace (plus a payment) but they flatly refused.. they have Spain to contend with as well so no idea why they refuse me.. (stupid AI?)

A couple of turns later, Austria declares war on me as usual (haven't expanded to Silesia or even east prussia yet) so I guess they just hate my guts - they also declare war on Poland a turn later.

By turn 10 or so, GB has cancelled our trade agreement and now declared war on me and has a navy with troops on board on their way to Brandenburg (sitting just north of Copenhagen at the moment) so its suffice to say my campaign has gone to as GB was a pretty big trading partner (they are even blockcading my only sea route) and money is pretty tight

[Mahatma Gandhi]

This strategy worked for me for the 1st 10 turns or so;

Make alliance w/Poland, including access to lands. Build up your army and land based financial abilities for the 1st several turns until Austria declares war on you. It shouldnt take long. Take Silisia, Prague-Bohemia. Take your time, but get to Vienna before Poland does and capture that. Expect rebellions along the way so dont get spread too thin. It generally works out that Poland will take the regions to the east, and you will take the regions to the west upto Vienna. Once Vienna is captured I found it generally best to rebuild resources and armies, because you're going to have to deal w/rebellions over several turns. The pauses in capturing also allows you some leeway w/your neighbors getting extremely upset and all declaring war on you. Venice will over react and declare but if you pause for a turn or so, repair units that have been depleted from Vienna and rebellions taking Venice should be a piece of cake.

Along the way, I built up trade w/just about everyone and it wasnt that difficult because the only war Ive really been in was w/Austria and they're such the antagonist they declared on everyone in Europe. From here Ive simply gone after Bavaria-Wurtenburg and expanded from there to either North America or India. Going this route Ive been able to maintain trade w/Britian, France, Spain, UP, Maratha, Ottomans, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtenburg, Poland, Italian states, Savoy and Hannover. My worst negative country is Sweden atm w/a -77, but they're starting to come back down. This set-up will then allow you to expand from there w/more of a cushion into North America or even India. I havent built up any navy whatsoever until Wurtenburg is take care of and most of my neighbors have an alliance or positive standing w/me.


I've tried several runs of going after Poland immediately, since the game now(since the patches), attempts to lure you that direction w/its poor army placement for Polands capital cities. But, what I found after several attempts is. You do capture large portions of Poland, but at the same time, Austria declares on you. Courland, Saxony, Britian will declare as well w/in a number of turns, even if they're trading w/you from the get go. Britian will then land a stack on East Prussia. Nothing serious, a bunch of militia and weak cav, but during this whole time you're going to have rebellious Poles, weak Austrian armies parading around the countryside like they own the place and Courland-Poland attacking as well. It becomes a nightmare financially and logistically.

I think for me, what worked w/this strategy is NOT blitzing everything that just so happens to have only 2-4 units in its capitol. Including, especially, Poland, Saxony. Poland has several times even aided me w/rebellions that just so happen to spawn near their border in Vienna. This set up will allow more flexibility for which ever way you wish to go from here. Either dominate Europe but have a strong core center or expand to the Americas-India-Africa. Just keep updating who's on your target list on who their allies are before you attack and you should be good to go.

Best of luck on your campaigns.

[StGene]

In my campaign I'm trying to unite Germany, but my first war against Poland to annex West Prussia inevitably turns into a three-way between Austria, Poland, and I. And no matter how many nations it is at war with, Poland will not. Accept. Peace. I even captured Courland and offered that, and they still refused!

[Archduke Bruno]

I conquered Gdansk to Poland in 1700 and since then Poland doens't accept my peace treaties (I'm in 1722). That is causing me some trouble. Poland and Russia are raiding my farms and cities and don't let me take the war to unite Germany.
I don't see much use in taking Poland and Russia territories but it is the only solution I found.

[Summary]

Before I read this guide I played the Prussian campaign on your exact same preferred difficulty settings VH/H.
I skimmed your guide and really liked it and wish I had stumbled upon it before embarking on the campaign.

But my two cents on the Prussians:
1.) They start at an incredible geographic disadvantage.
They have only two regions by the start of the campaign; Brandenburg and East Prussia, with the former being the faction capital. These two regions are not connected via land nor sea as East Prussia has no port. This means any trade able goods generated by East Prussia will certainly go to waste in the first couple of turns, unless West Prussia is captured to establish a land route to the faction capital Brandenburg.
Their two regions are surrounded by factions having a close alliance network with other neighbouring factions and all of these central European factions have hostile relationships with Prussia. This means and expansion that will require trespassing on other factions starting with the first target West Prussia of Poland-Lithuania will automatically trigger a domino effect in which all other central European factions such as Austria, Saxony, and company will declare war with Prussia.Throughout the campaign in the European theatre, Prussia is surrounded by hostilities, starting with Poland and Austria in the East, and then soon Russia, looking at Italian states and Spanish colonies in the South, France and the Spanish mainland in the West, by the time you are done downing these factions former allies like Britain further West and Sweden up North will lose faith and declare war.

2.) European expansion and consolidation of territories have the maximum extent of riots.
As noticed in general, capturing a region from a faction will have the local populace riot with resistance to foreign occupation around 5-10. However, capturing a region that is the faction capital will have the local populace riot with resistance to foreign occupation at levels of 25-30. This means it will take at least 2 to 3 times more to successfully consolidate these territories and appease the local populace into paying taxes. Most of the central European factions are small one-region only factions in close proximity to each other. Such as Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, Wurttemburg, Venice, Genoa, and Westphalia. This means all these regions are hostile faction capitals, once captured are not as easily subdued. Fighting rebels that spawn every turn or two can take a toll on your income and stall your further expansionist ambitions. Not to mention it is incredibly annoying.

3.) The more conquests you gain in a theatre the more it negatively impacts faction relationships with your peers.
For each faction and region you capture, the more the factions in that theatre begin to hate you and will eventually declare war on you. This means that going all (sorry for the poor reference) Third Reich on Europe will soon earn the contempt and involvement of factions that were previously neutral and even friendly with you. Unlike the French, British and Spanish counterparts who have a foothold outside Europe from which they can launch their expansionists campaigns without affecting the relationships of the factions in the European theatre most of whom are power-houses. The only way to keep a stability in Europe is to entirely conquer it or limit your expansion to minor factions, and probably Poland and Austria. This will leave you with a nation in Europe that encompasses modern day Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Afterwards it is time to appease the fury of your peers and ship off to other theatres like India or the Americas, to gain more territories and consequently more wealth without aggravating the European factions.

4.) Prussia has the one of the best faction capital regions in terms of starting regional wealth.
Gaining 6000 to 8000 gold per turn while maintaining and slow expanding your army is easily achievable. The down side is, the Prussian faction capital and in turn its trading port is all the way in the north eastern corner of the European campaign map; in restricted waters like the English Channel and the North Sea, making it easy for the enemy to blockade and create choke-points in the trade routes. Good news is Britain and Sweden, the closest nations to your port, both love you because they are Protestant nations. Bad news is not far away lurk the Spanish and French, both hate you because they are Catholic nations. Spain having the best location to blockade Mediterranean factions, India and the Americas from the rest of Europe alone.

5.) Prussia starts off with the best military in the game
Prussia starts off with almost twice as much the military prowess in game that any other faction. This enables them to jump start their unification of Germany without having to wait turns to recruit units. They pretty much get a huge military head start in comparison to all the other central European factions in game who even when combined cannot compete with the brute force of the Prussian military.

6.) Prussia have one of the best cavalry in game
Prussia much like Austria have one of the best cavalry in game. Only difference is theirs is even better. Punching holes in the enemy formation is a breeze for Prussian Equestrians. And while they have a killer stats when it comes to charging and melee attack, they also boast of one of the highest melee defensive stat in game.

7.) Prussians have the coolest color in game
C'mon! The night blue uniforms and campaign map makes you feel sinister as you spread the darkness throughout Europe. The phrase "Black Plague has taken on an entirely new meaning (again sorry for the possibly offensive references).

Cheers!

[poa]

You can't go very wrong if you google
Blitzkrieg: Early Prussian Campaign Guide

The ministers is also the best out of all factions,
in particular the Justice minister means only Poland need garrison.
In my experience, Ally with Hannover on turn 1 is a very good idea,
keeping the western front safe and GB off my legs for as long as needed.

Preussia
Head Johann von Wartenberg 3 years later Justus Wagner
Treasury Samuel von Cocceji
Justice Adam Kurtig
Army Johann von Barfuss
Navy Felix Basedoff
Use up all low star gentlemen before place the right man at the right job to get fresh blood