A Guide to Great Britain

[Carpe Veritas]

I was going to do something similar to this guide, but Spain declared war on me, and the Iroquis declared on the 13 colonies in the early game so decided to make a clean sweep and have spent til 1722 capturing all of the non french territories in North America - the French fleets in Europe are rather large so not ready for that yet for a few turns.

Once the Spanish navy is fully sunk, territories consolidated and all trade routes secure I will either attack frances America colonies or invade the spanish colonies in Europe. I tend to focus on one opponant and wipe him out then move on.

That said the french territories of North America and mission completion that goes with looks oh so tempting....

Which do you guys think would be more beneficial -
Declaring on the french to complete the mission and own all the American Theatre?
Or the capturing of Spains European territories first then France?

[Xira]

I spend all my early resources on North America and it went quite well.

I kept Ruperts, kept recruiting Hessians, plus a general, and conquered Huron's after their first attack wave.

Then the tricky part:
I buld a sloop and 2 infantery in Jamaica in turn 1 and positioned my fleets so that i could transport them to New York in turn 2. This takes stepping over from 1 fleet to another a few times, but it can be done. This move caused the indians NOT to conquer New York, but just to siege it. Turn 3 they got beaten away. After that the 13 colonies could hold all their grounds.

The English armies that I brought over also landed in New York in turn 4. The 2 armies combined captured Iriqois Territory, Montreal and Quebec. It rested, marched to Acadia and shipped to Georgia.

The Rupert army marched into Algonquin, Michigan and Upper Louisiana. Then it helped with Cherokee lands.

I gave/traded all conquered lands to 13 colonies, except Quebec.

I didnt get to make any trade fleets until turn 4/5. I sent them from the Bahamas/Jamaica and picked up he French Isles on the way, to leave them decimated.

Despite numerous offers, I didnt make peace with France. Continuous war allows me to keep the channel free with my fleets.

It CAN be done by 1709, but then u inherit all barren lands.


------------
P.S. More interesting options occur when Scotland is traded for New York (or New England) in turn 1/2. Owning the port allows for faster inland movement.

[Fire-dweller]

The British East India Company may have had a hand in Nader Shah's death, so I pray that anyone who plays the British, avoid Persia.

[Sneaking Viper]

Great guide! I would suggest that before going after France take out the pirates, since when the bullets start flying they swarm your ports, traderoutes and the trade spots. it only take 4 turns to take them out, and its well worth doing. Just take all the troops in Bahama and Port Royal and attack the upper most base and take a split force the turn after and attack Trinidad. sure they might revolt but they cant take out your traderoutes.

EDIT:
I normally avoid New france until the last colony. I take them in this order
1) Pirates (using the forces from the caribbean)
2) Iroquois tribes (using all british mainland forces, donating land to Thirteen colonies, except Iroquois capital)
3) Cherokee, with a combined effort from both the caribbean forces and the british.

Now i then build up trade and structure giving my economy time to recover. this also put me in a perfect position to do a blitz against the catholic alliance in america.
4) when the time is right i attack
New France with forces build in britain
Florida with the caribbean forces in Georgia
Lower Louisiana with forces from Cherokee
and land forces from Trinidad in New Andalusia

Turn 2
Upper Louisiana fall to forces from Iroquois
New Andalusia falls (the forces will then continuie towards Panama)
Quebec falls (using the forces in New France)
Acadia falls with troops from Boston.
Small Antillies with forces from Trinidad

After this france will normally seek peace, if not hunting down their trade ships will help. dont worry war will come again, but the new colonies dont give you a huge boost in funds, so you need to rebuild the americas to a power house.

[Renz]

I had alot of luck attacking the Cherokee as early as possible. I sent every unit I could muster from the British Isles to attack them (and thanks to Spain attacking Portugal during the trip I took Florida too). As the two coastal territories are right next to each other it isn't too hard to capture them both within a turn of each other (leaving no exposed flank). The two inland territories are so close together you are likely to beat the armies from both in one fight and take the second one with only the civilians to defend it. If you can win all 3-4 major battles you have a real shot at eliminating the cherokee before France declares war on the Thirteen Colonies, allowing you to focus your entire army on them and their Native American allies *plus* you only need to take one territory from them to complete the mission.

After that the conquest of the rest of the continent was kind of mechanical.

[Lasseman]

Great guide, I usually don´t play Britain, because it´s pretty easy but at Very hard/Hard it´s pretty challenging, and with this guide kinda fun. +rep

[british_general]

Wow! I do the same thing by going to the US before going to India...

[Cmr1115]

I found that by declaring war on Denmark, I easily took Iceland and from there Copenhagen. After that, I easily invaded western Europe, taking all the small nations west of Prussia and Austria. From there I easily wiped France off the map. Overall, I found it rather easy to set up a strong foothold in continental europe, as opposed to spreading in the Americas or India.

[dunkdafunk]

Iv done it once before when i was learning the game and since with the latest patch, conquoring north america, but tbh, it seem too much hard work, especially with the new patch, the native american are unrealistically strong.
And My friends the Thirteen colonies is really poor. It looses a territory to Iriquois every few turns.
Seems hardly any point, as US is going to emerge anyway.

Instead i find this strategy the best.
Kill off pirates.
Now recruit massive trade fleets and try to monopolise all theatres, defend your fleets too.
If france is annoying, take Leeward island, and French Guinea, at same time blockade northern french ports. Keep an eye on any fleets moving north from the Med.
If Spain comes into war, take cuba, and hispanola. Dont bother too much with Florida, until after India. And leave their capital madrid alone until you get a foot in india.
Taking their islands will weaken them enough.

Usually Prussia or France eventually destroys the Dutch.
When Amsterdam is being seiged and looks like loosing, recruit 1 full strength army, and send it to Sri Lanka.
When holland falls, they turn to rebels, and are easy to kill without causing war with either Indian faction.
You can take the former Dutch places in Carribean, to make sure pirates dont come back.
From Ceylon flood the nearbly trade theatres.

You have a foot hold in the indian theatre, try to get alliance with one or the other.
Recruit another army in London, and send them towards india.
Attack either Calcutta, or Hyderbad depending on who is weaker, with your army in Ceylon, and support with the fleet when it arrives.
Its easier to destroy Mughal first.

Once one is eliminated, regroup and destroy the other, and Mysore.

[ataylor20]

Are there any good video tutorials on this campaign? Ive searched but not really finding anything.

[Spriggs]

As a Canadian, I must say that one should NEVER give up Rupert's Land for any reason: hold that soil to the end, eh, what! Rupert's Land, the Hudson Bay, and the Northwest Territories were a rich territorial acquisition for the British (starting one of the world's oldest corporations, the Hudson's Bay Company [which supplied all that nifty 2010 Olympic gear]) dealing in the fur-trade. Since fur was the height of fashion, this was a highly lucrative trade which saw the eventual colonisation and exploration of Canada before the American Insurrection and afterward.

For a game designed by a British company with an American parent, I am a bit disappointed at the map of Canada in this period (Fort Niagara was in Canada, not modern-day Buffalo, for instance); and the illogical hostility of the Iroquois to the British colonies (yes, you can ally with them as GB, but they still attack New England) does not represent the Anglo-Iroquois and Franco-Huron alliances of the Indian Wars. But what are you going to do? Certainly not abandon Rupert's Land, that's what!

Here is how you hold this land until you can properly re-enforce it by troops from Britain or colonial conscripts: from turn 1, train Hessian mercenaries until you see the Huron army near the city (turn 3). At this point, buy a General (if you do not have one, your troops will lack morale and discipline, turn, and run). You will notice that the Huron army no longer attacks the city but lays siege to it (as your army is now strong enough to resist them), and you must sally forth and bring the battle to the Huron on the next turn. The only way you can win this fight is to do it yourself (Auto-Calculation is boring anyway), so if you loose you have no one to blame but yourself.

Once Rupert's Land is properly built up and garrisoned, it provides excellent trade revenues and fur exports to Britain (which you then sell to your fashionable European trading partners) as the only other fur-traders at the time were New France and Russia.

So why give it to the Dutch? Dig in and show some backbone, old boy!

[Gabrieln1]

My stratgy is to quickly launch attacks on Georgia and costal provinces in that area, from then get a foothold by whipping out the native population. Whilst doing this build up and army and invade France, as well build another full stack army. In my campaign the Dutch lost Sri Lanka early on. From there I sailed a fleet over and established my foothold then declared war on the Maratha Confeteracy. Then moved my way up and allied with the Muhgal Empire and conquered the Confeteracy. In America once you conquered the natives finish off the weak New France and get your 13 colonies. In europe invade France and take La Havre then move in to Paris. Back in India attack the Muhgals, due to their probably weakness due to war with the Marartha Confeteracy earlier it shouldn't be much of a problem. Then on attack Perisa, destroy all natives in America, lastly attack places like Spain and the 1 province nations and your set.

[Commander5xl]

Oh i say another canadian boy!! This was tbh, my main reason i bought this game, was to play as Great Britian control Canada, along with my Iroquis allies fight off them French, Spanish, and head into India! this guide was great for me in the begginning although im encountering some wierd problems.

As many people say and everyone notice Iroquis attack Thirteen Colonies and in order for you to stay allied you have to go to war, I didn't think much of this as I just attacked New France at Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and moved in. As I was fighting way way to New France, I had 2 full stacks comming through in order to capture the Thirteen Colonies early on. Now as I reached New France with my one full stack and my other one was attacking Montreal in Upper Canada.

The Inuit declared war on me, and I thought nothing of it, then suddenly in a blink of an eye the had reached Newfoundland and besieged it. I didnt know you could get across Labrador into Newfoundland but hey, okay, So i move my army from Montreal back and comfront them. This early on in the game (turn 20) I wasnt expecting a full stack of Inuit heavy cavlary, 2 units of cavalry, half the units were native muskets and the other were the elite inuits. My army of Line infantry and regiment of horse got wiped out, and they took Newfoundland. I didn't think much of it, I would finish off after i got France out of Montreal. When i beat the French out of Montreal, i get a notice about United States becoming a nation because they rebeled at New York.

A turn later they had Maine and I thought I better stop the expansion because Acadia was left unguarded, so I assualted them and took Maine from them, net turn i find out they had New england and Pennsilvania. I was surprised by how much military power they had from only one settlement. Meanwhile the French seemed to strike me where it hurts, and they attacked 2 Trading ports in England, one in ireland and one in Scotland with a full stack of 5th rate ships by turn 30. I hadn't built up a strong navy because I didn't have enough money to build up navy, and keep up the military in the Americas since by now I had many skirmishes with the United States and the Iroquis.

This currently how my campaign stands, for the past twenty turns I have been at an endless war on two fronts (Niagara after i had taken it from Iroquis) and Maine from a surprisingly strong United States (HOW THE HECK does the united states have full garrisions at New York and New England, and yet have 3 more full stacks to assault me in Niagara and Maine. Despite my efforts of attacking their stacks they just come back with a full one the next turn. Recently last turn or so, the Marathas came from no where, attacked me with a full stack in the Bahamas and taking it. It seems that I am stuck in an endless war with United States as they seem to have unlimited forces, and the French have successfully sieged Britannia with me having no money to build up my navy. They seem to do the job better then Hitler could with his U-boats.

I am wondering what I can do to get out of this situation THANKS!

[English Total War Gamer]

I took France early on in the game, demolished every building in Paris and the whole region, then instead of just moving out to let the French re-take the region, I traded the region with the Dutch + a few nice technologies for their Ceylon Region in the India Subcontinent. Which is a very good region to have, as you can build armies up on the island with minimal risk of invasion and then embark them to mainland India!

[FabianScarus]

As a English history buff I focus on North Africa and India while playing of British. Both strategic and both historic. I sail to India, it takes some time but once you get a foothold on mainland India you unstoppable. I take North Africa for a number of reasons, 1. Gets rid of those darn Barbary Pirates, 2. Pretty good income, 3. Easy land. Africa also gives me easy access to two trade theaters.

[LordFarwell]

I like to play as Great Britain because that's where I'm from, but I also really like playing as Prussia and the Marathas.

[Pbartender]

The Inuit declared war on me, and I thought nothing of it, then suddenly in a blink of an eye the had reached Newfoundland and besieged it. I didnt know you could get across Labrador into Newfoundland but hey, okay, So i move my army from Montreal back and comfront them. This early on in the game (turn 20) I wasnt expecting a full stack of Inuit heavy cavlary, 2 units of cavalry, half the units were native muskets and the other were the elite inuits. My army of Line infantry and regiment of horse got wiped out, and they took Newfoundland. I didn't think much of it, I would finish off after i got France out of Montreal. When i beat the French out of Montreal, i get a notice about United States becoming a nation because they rebeled at New York.

A tip... If you station a fleet (even a single sloop will work) in the strait between Newfoundland and Labrador, the Inuit can't cross over and invade. They'll just stand there on the shore, looking longingly across the waters, until you're ready for them.

[datruebeast]

Great guide! I followed your strategy step by step and it seems to be working like clock work so far. Through the first five years I have succesfully kicked the French out of North America and defeated the Iriquois Indians taking: Arcadie, Quebec, Montreal, and the three great lake territories. However, I have taken a step backwards the next five years as the march to Michigan with Churchill and my main army has left Quebec vulnerable to a half stack of tough Huran warriers. Not to mention the French have built a decent sized army behind Arcadia at Newfoundland which I never anticipated. I'm playing the campaign on very hard so maybe that's why I'm actually being challenged, but it's going to take a lot longer than I thought to complete all the steps and make the 13 colonies join my ranks. I tried to hault the spreading the the United States as well by sending a medium sized army which captured Boston, but it was a clear waist of time as unlimited waives of militia attacked me every single turn until I finally was dwindled down to nothing. I can see now why you didn't include that part in this guide!

[Town Watch]

the strategy of blitzing france worked pretty good for me! However I recommend declaring war on Louisiana instead of against France, reason being that in such way only France and Louisiana go to war with you, Spain wont declare war yet. Quickly blitzed Paris with a full stack, then defeated rebels and conquered the rest of France. Then I consolidated my gains, recaptured New York and gave it back to the 13 colonies. Then I recruited some more armies and conquered Madrid, Lisbon, and Gibraltar.

In hindsight, I should perhaps have conquered Quebec a little bit sooner, they really became quite a nuisance since you don't really have any good troop recruiting centres in the Americas, in the vicinity of the French colonies. Also I should have pursued Spain into Italy and gotten rid of them for good, then I would get a stronger pirate faction to face, but would get rid of the remaining Spanish navy and I could still easily take Cuba and that other province from the rebels (I think they had some strong Spanish garrisons there, but when they turn rebels, then their troops transform into weaker buccaneers!)

In India Marathas took Goa and destroyed that Portuguese, somehow Ceylon was rebel, so I took that one naturally first, Ceylon really is a good stepping stone for invasion. But I basically just steamrolled the Marathas and Mysore when I declared, there was basically no way of losing because you can basically heal all your casualties in every single Indian province, and recruit line infantry and lancers. Your army strength keeps expanding exponentially, and even the rebels are pretty weak of course.

So yeah, at the moment I'm in the year 1783, Master of India and Americas, I have basically no troops in either theater except a couple full stacks in Persia. In Europe I'm making full stacks in France, Germany and Italy, and Im pumping out first rates from my steam drydocks. India Europe and Americas were heavily industrialised and the frontline is currently in western Germany and the Balkans, I'm fighting Russia and continental superpower Poland-Lithuania together with Ottoman Empire and United Provinces. I have complete naval and trade supremacy, but the lack of trading partners is reducing my trade income I think? Game is really weird in the sense of how much money I make, I just keep getting so much gold per turn that I basically cant even spend it anymore, or I forget spending it because the recruitment of full stacks isn't really making a dent in the treasury

I dont think Poland-Lithuania can resist the British juggernaut for much longer, in the first strike I took the whole Adriatic Coastline, on second turn I took Vienna, now Im moving in stacks from France into Polish held Germany. Almost all techs researched, I was hoping for a total world conquest in this game, but I'm probably not gonna do it, if the game ends in 1799, I'd have to push all the way from west Germany, Balkans and Persia into the Russian heartland , and after that conquer Ottoman Empire and United provinces (should be easy by then lol)

[Town Watch]

lol one thing I always wondered about the British campaign and this strategy guide is the Huron. Even in the guide they warn of possible massive Huron invasions, Huron never has done anything at all in any of my British campaigns. I played a couple British campaigns on M/M and I went for the historical route of conquering the Americas from the Indian tribes but Spanish navies basically owned me big time (those Galleons, how can you baet them?!?!)and I was always short on cash. I mean every one keeps saying that Britain is strong navally but I beg to differ, Spanish galleon is the best single ship in the early-mid game, and on top of that you got the French and Louisiana navies to fight against also, not to mention the damn pirates who much tend to favor attaching you instead of the A.I! Best way to get rid of the Spanish navy is hands down to conquer the Spanish holdings in Europe! Or maybe I just suck in ETW naval battles

Americas simply aren't profitable AT ALL unless you want to wait for the late game industrial buildings and factories. I pretty much industrialised most of the Americas, but I can't keep taxes very high if I want to stay on green, so I set them pretty low, I do have one church in every province, maybe I should also have one pleasure garden per province, I could replace the churches with them? I built in all other provinces the steam factories eventually. I prioritised those sorts of plantations, which I can't find on the trade nodes, so I avoided sugar plantations in favour of coffee, tobacco, tea etc... This way you get a more balanced supply of exotic resources when the prices change? All in all, France is a beast when it comes to province income, especially with steam engine factories, India is stronger than America when it comes to revenue it seems.

India is very easy to conquer on M/M in the current patch 1.5 (?), you just have to mind the power balance between Mughals and Marathas, and strike at the right moment. I waited until I at some point while checking the world map noticed that Ceylon had rebelled, so I immediately took it, and used it as a stepping board for conquest. You gotta remember that most of the Indian cities are so advanced that you can always heal up your line infantry and recruit strong East India Company line infantry, cannons, and strong Sepoy lancers, as opposed to the crappy militia that you can only recruit one unit at a time in the Americas, after you've fought hard battles against relatively strong native Americans. Every time I took a settlement from Marathas (I attacked them from Ceylon, because I wanted them to get sandwiched between me and Mughals, which worked I think). Every time I took a city from Maratha I became like 4-5 units stronger or something, it was like a snowball effect really, and you can conquer India pretty fast from the tip of the sub continent, good roads and short distances.

Mughals are easy pickings after Maratha is gone. Generally speaking Marathas are stronger than Mughals, so even though it might seem tempting to grab the last Mughal territories, they're usually pretty scattered around and hard to defend, not to mention poorer settlements. Maratha's provinces are easily defended against counter attacks from the north, and the Maratha provinces are quite advanced, better take out the stronger foe when he's distracted, rather than exploit the obvious Mughal weakness for just more insecure conquests in the long term.