how to play as united holland provinces?

[ma junior]

hello i wanted to play as a faction with little territories and low income so i can manage less at the start, i wanted to play as spain but it has too many regions spread out so not yet. so i chose united provinces. can you give some tips and pointers i know what im doing government and development wize but not military wise

[Xira]

Development, Gov., Science, Trade are no different then spanish, only trade is faster.

- Ally Hannover and Westphalia or Conquer Westphalia and/or Hannover if u feel up to a Prussian/European challenge (1700)
- Eliminate Pirate Isles (1701)
- Conquer Denmark if u feel up to a Swedish challenge (Try this in Turn 1 for a fun change ... )
- Conquer Belgium and Duinkerken, but NOT Paris (1700+)
- Conquer French Colonies (1701+)
- Conquer Spanish Colonies / New Spain / and perhaps Spain
- Conquer India
- Buy/Trade New York
- Conquer London
- Conquer World

[Schu]

hello i wanted to play as a faction with little territories and low income so i can manage less at the start, i wanted to play as spain but it has too many regions spread out so not yet. so i chose united provinces. can you give some tips and pointers i know what im doing government and development wize but not military wise

• Protect your trading port at all costs. If you go bankrupt from disrupted trading you're essentially done. Always keep one militia unit garrisoned in your port to prevent the AI from dumping a stack of troops in it and marching on your capital in a single turn.
• Expand to your surrounding regions in Europe (Flanders, Rhineland and Hannover) to form a buffer zone around your capital.
• When (not if) France declares war on you take French Guyana, it has a gold mine and spice plantation and provides a good income.
• Understand that until you conquer more provinces in Europe you are always one siege away from getting wiped out. Amsterdam must be protected at all costs until you get that second province.
• Once you are reasonably established in Europe, turn Ceylon into a fortress and launch an invasion of India. The lands in India are extremely rich and will fund all future expansion quite easily.
• Last, but certainly not least: Have fun!

[Starstrukk]

Well I tried playing the UP but it didn't turn out so well, so my advice will be based off of what NOT to do. The first thing I did was reinforce my Caribbean colonies and capture the 2 pirate islands. This wasn't a bad idea but it spread my forces too thin at the beginning and when I got the inevitable barrage of war declarations on me, all of those islands were quickly gobbled up and there was nothing I could do about it. If you expand in the Caribbean, make sure your diplomatic relations with Spain, France, and GB are sound because they will try to take advantage of your widespread possessions.

After that fell through, I tried to recover by invading southern India because the Marathas were still small at the time and one of their territories is required for the victory conditions. BAD IDEA. I started with a stack of about 15 units but with no reinforcements and an inferior navy, they repulsed me and took the island you start with. Keep in mind, that was my first time playing ETW so if I went back I might do better. I would recommend keep good relations with the MC and possibly invade the Mughals later on because they will get weak. If you want to complete the victory conditions, either trade for the necessary territory or blitz it right before the time runs out. The MC makes an awesome trade partner.

In Europe however, I fared better. I captured and destroyed France pretty early on because they didn't leave defense in Paris, and I used that as a springboard to conquer Italy. Basically you can go any direction with the UP, and it worked much better for me expanding as a land power.

[Swedish_Ronin]

Ally with hannover and westphalia, they will provide good trade and buffer against sweden, prussia, poland
Attack Maratha in Carnatica early! And if possible try to forge an alliance with Mughals, and when Mysore declares war on you either force them to become your protectorate or wipe them out. They mostly field meele infantry and is basically cannon fodder for your disciplined troops. I like attacking Maratha early to stop them from uniting india becuase by then they will pretty much be unstoppable ( In one of my last games they came as far as poland after gobbling up lower europe, and were also knocking on spains front door. ) and it leaves you and the mughals who are pretty much a laughing matter for your troops.

In america theatre wipe out the pirates quickly and also declare war on new spain, this will help you avoid the france-spain alliance and leaves you open to grab flanders without invoking the wrath of the french. While the america colonies dont make that much money in the beginning they are cash cows when developed.

In tech, try to focus on enlightenment and military naval technologies, this will greatly help you in your upcoming war against those damned spanish and their galleons. Your fleet is really important, since you have colonies and trade fleets spread out everywhere.

Also invest in some churches, you need alot of missionaries to convert your colonies.

[uzi716]

-ally with Hannover
-invade Westphalia and Belgium
-attack all of the Spanish colonies in Carribean and South America
-invade India
-take over France

Keep in mind Westphalia is a gold mine and very valuable to have. So if you take it make sue you do it early

[klesh]

Another trick is to move your East Indies trade ships out of that theatre on turn 1. There is a large pirate fleet in there that will systematically take them all out. I think I simply moved them to Madagascar until it was safe to reenter the theatre.
When you want to make a move on Belgium, attack a New Spain territory in South America, triggering a DOW from Spain. This avoid declaring directly to Spain when attacking Belgium, so you avoid war with their ally France which makes the Belgian campaign far less risky. Use Antwerp as a 2nd trade port and get more trade partners. You'll need to have a shipyard somewhere, so consider S.America or perhaps Ceylon.

[Duke of Orleans]

traded with grand Britain and Austia