Help with the English

I finished a campaign with the Russians and had a fairly easy time with it. I usually play as continental powers, since I suck at Naval war and strategy, but I just couldn't pass up a chance to play with the Brits. I'm having a hard time though and could use some help.

So far I've tried to build up my economy while blocading French ports. I have two small fleets that are available right away to blockade French shipyards and stop them from buidling a fleet. I have my massive fleet with Nelson at the helm, and it makes sense to take it to the the straight of Gibraltar to cut off the Medeteranian. I even managed to take out the big French and Spanish fleets in my way.

Now, it makes logical sense to take Wellington with an army and drop him off in Gibraltar and take Madrid. The problem is that as soon as I land him on the south of Spain, he gets hit by an assasin and is shot back to London. It takes 10 turns to send Nelson back up there to get him (I should really build a shuttle and not send Nelson). Even if I manage to get him back, I can take Madrid, but I can't hold it. Once I lose it, Gibraltar is also lost.

What to do? How's you play it? Should I eventually try to control every single Atlantic trade node?

There is nothing hard at all about naval battles. You put your ships in a group, and a long straight line, sail past your enemy and try to keep your broadsides aimed at them and your front and rear away. If they're outmaneuvering you, get a ship or two and take them from the grouping and sail them independently. Oh and about assassins...I got off in a Prussian port playing Russia, and was greeted by three assassins all surrounding the port. I wouldn't hit Spain, seeing as they have 3 full stacks around Madrid on average. They don't fight anyone in land battles, just build their armies. Also, get the 5 or so trading nodes very close to Britain. You could have a monopoly more or less on tobacco, cotton and...something else. Down by Spain and the Mediterranean you'll find Spices and Ivory, VERY valuable. (And contested.) You could take the small island to the right of Spain...forget what it's called. But it has a dock you can upgrade to a Drydock to ensure your rule of the Mediterranean.

In essence, your navy is everything, your armies are just for...small precise strikes.

Originally Posted by Gunodd

...I got off in a Prussian port

HE HE HE

Thanks Gunnold, good advice. So, if I'm not taking spain, what should I hit? I have a nice army ready to go with Wellington at the helm, and no real threat to Britania. Where should I strike? Amsterdam?

In my British campaign I landed in Holland and worked my way down to Paris. The advantage is that you are friendly to Prussia and the small German states (or at least you should be) so you only really have to worry about attack coming from Paris. To take Paris (or any major capital) you need two full stack armies. You are going to get at least one serious revolt no matter what you do, and it will likely be two full stacks of three-chevron veterans. The other advantage of attacking Holland is that you can use your English home armies. Holland is close enough that they can rush back to protect London if necessary. While in the low countries your main fleet should be in the English channel to protect against invasion.

Originally Posted by kot1k

Thanks Gunnold, good advice. So, if I'm not taking spain, what should I hit? I have a nice army ready to go with Wellington at the helm, and no real threat to Britania. Where should I strike? Amsterdam?

After few turns of my GB campaign I got a mission to capture Bretagne. While a big part of Grande Armee was present in Paris (including Old Guard and Guard grenadiers a chevall), I just wanted to do a short-term raid and then return to Isles or continue south. After I took Rennes, no response. I said ok then and took Normandy, Bordeaux, Toulouse - Grande armee still sitting in Paris, doing nothing. French just sent a small army (3 - 5 units max) in my direction form time to time (playing H/H).
So I am afraid you can attack french regions without fear

According to move on the sea - you can use faster ships, such as sloops, or well known exploit if you are in a hurry (relay - shuffle transported unit from one ship to another).

According to possible targets of your invasions (as long as you block french harbors you do not need to fear an invasion to England), Batavian republic (Amsterdam) is a good choice, you can also attack Hannover or sail for Mediterranean and capture Balearic Islands, Provence or Genova...

From a historical perspective, Nelson spent most of his time in Medeteranian and off Spain, while channel fleets blockaded France and friends. The mainland invasions started through Portugal and into Spain. I guess that's not the most prudent path. I will try to hit Amsterdam or one of the northern French provinces. We'll see what happens. Thanks guys!

It sounds like you already have naval dominance so the first thing you have to do is start building merchantmen and sloops in earnest. You should try and blockade every French/Spanish port with the sloops, even the ones which have no buildings so you can kill of even the possibility of seeing an enemy ship. Divide your fleet in two, one for the Mediterranean, one for the North Sea and keep them their to deal with possible new threats, but don't expand their numbers hugely as this is not really necessary. With the fleet protecting you, you needn't keep an army in Britain, so you should get them out into Europe. Meanwhile, use your merchantmen to seize all the trade nodes you can, one a node at first to seize the maximum number, then expanding until the profit curve drops off for new ships, this is a much more effective way of generating income than seizing provinces or constructing buildings. This should let you field at least 3 or 4 full stacks by turn 30-40, then you can go on the attack. Bearing your victory requirements in mind land in Hanover first, liberating it, this stops the Prussians from seizing it from the French and dragging you into an unwanted war. Then take Holland and Belgium and liberate them, creating a large zone hostile to the French which you don't need to hold. Push up into Denmark to fulfill that requirement before they can get allies and leave some forces there. Then get your armies down to Spain, take the Baleares to serve as a Mediterranean naval base and then land full stacks in Navarra and Catalunia, this should split up the Spanish up as they attempt to regain their territory and you can beat their stacks one by one before you go for Madrid. After Spain is finished keep some forces on the Northern border to fend off French attacks and get the rest of your forces to attack France's eastern front in Italy to start rolling them back.

I wouldn't worry too much about Gibraltar, it's not worth a large amount and it will be elementary to retake it once you have Spain in the bag. Don't waste money keeping a stack in Britain which you will never use and don't bother spending money to keep stacks in occupied territory that you can liberate instead; most of your money should come from trade, not tax, as it's a far easier way to go.

That's great stuff King Jerk!

Started a campaign as GB today, probably the most fun out of all the Coalition campaigns I've tried, but can't speak for Austria because I haven't played it yet.

I started by building up all of GB and moving all my valuable units down to the London port for departure. Sent them to Bretagne and liberated it, then walked all the way down to Marseilles and captured it. Has both a cannon and army building so you can build up armies there easily, and it borders both France and Spain. With my fleet I captured most of Holland's trading fleet and sent the captured ships for repairs and later to get some cotton for my British fancy-pants. I also blockaded every single French port from the first turn and they've yet to build a ship, HA! HA! HA! (Snobby hahaha.)

Moved down and destroyed a Spanish and a French fleet, all the while capturing ships to build up my navy. (Use chainshot and grapeshot to surrender enemy ships.) From Marseilles I liberated Liguria or some such which became Italy, then moved up to liberate Switzerland, Württemburg and Bavaria. (Rarely very well defended.) I managed to capture the Santissima Trinidad after chasing it around the Mediterranean for 3-4 turns, sent it for repairs and to enlist an admiral. Then split my great fleet into two with Nelson leading one and the commander of the Santissima Trinidad the other. Guarded Gibraltar on both sides with those two fleets while destroying any ships in sight between turns. Sent some trading ships down to get Ivory and Sugar (which was worth a ton since there was no one trading it in the entire world, but unfortunately those nasty Danes got to the Ivory before me and we're at peace...for now.) I kept a small garrison in Gibraltar because I figured it'd make a good naval base, but like King Jerk pointed out I shouldn't have bothered. I'm making around 6,000 gold per turn which is enough for my small (but Great) empire. I captured the Balearic Isles as well, for use as a naval base, but it has seen little use besides repairing my massive fleet now and then.

Don't know what to do now, I feel like everything is under control and I'd like to just grow for a few turns before I go bananas on France, Spain, Denmark and perhaps Prussia because they captured Hannover. (Something else King Jerk pointed out.)

Oh and something very important that I learned in this campaign - trading techs is very, very beneficial. As other nations I was always pioneering the tech trees, but GB only has one university. By trading what techs you have with nation A, you have more techs to trade with nation B, and then nation C. They benefit a little, but you benefit greatly. Despite having only one university, I am more advanced than anyone else.

Naval dominance shouldn't be too bad...France starts off with some decent fleets, but they lack the resources to make more. Spain also has a bit of a navy, but tbh Spain seems broken in every game...it just sits around and does nothing.

Especially since you won't see France's Mediterranean fleet for quite some time, naval dominance shouldn't be hard. You can always auto-calc the battles...i calc most of my naval battles regardless - they take forever! Once you have naval dominance go around and load up on the trading ports. Fill the trade slots with 10 merchant ships (after you've claimed as many asap) and you'll be swimming in money.

Spain works well on harder difficulties for invading France. You can strike Spain (the region...i think that's what its called anyways) from Gibraltar. and work your way up. Spain won't put up much resistance. If you're feeling like a jack ass you can take out Portugal while you're at it. Just work your way up through France. once you've reached France you're basically done...GB has easy objective regions. Hanover was the only one I didn't naturally capture.

Some very good points you mentioned, Mr. Gunodd.

Trading techs has been really improved since ETW where AI refused to trade technology in general (willing only pay few golds for your all tech tree). At the beginning I traded Gibraltar for all french techs and some money (Gib is very poor, it earns only about 60 gold/turn so it is not worth not even one single unit to be defended with - and it can be retaken later - after AI builds infrastructure there :-) Austria and Prussia were then willing to trade their techs for mine. This is definitelly great starter for your economics and military (if you want to invent it yourself, it takes ages, because you have only one university, as mentioned above)...

According to build a good income, trade is the key. One trade node can give you more money than a standard region. Especially ivory, spices and sugar. This would be the only good reason to keep Gib, while you can quickly build a trade port there and then send your merchant ships to trade nodes nearby. but I am still not convinced it is worth defending, on the other hand - I have no idea how aggressive spanish armies can be. Perhaps no big deal :-)

Here's my strategy for the British. Do your best to take every single trade point west of Gibraltar first of all, you have trade ships in the NW corner that are in stacks of two. As you did, send Nelson around to Gibraltar but keep him going a little way, to the Balearic Isles. Abandon Gibraltar, I chose to sell it to Portugal for an alliance. Send Wesley down around the coast and take the Balearic Isles, harldy any troops there. Make it your military naval base in the Mediteranean, it's infinitly easier to defend than Gibraltar since it's an island and you've got the strongest fleet in the game near it.

Keep capturing trade points and blockade every single French & Spanish port, build up your economy, take Corsica, Sardinia, perhaps Italy if you fancy it though I didn't. By the time you've got those islands, you should control the Mediteranean completly except for perhaps the Ottomans but their fleet is pretty weak.

Now you can pincer Spain from the UK & the Med whenever you want before continuing onto France. This worked on Very Hard and was too easy to be honest. Your navy is the most important factor early-mid game and it's unstoppable.

use all fleets outside of Nelson to blockade enemy ports all the way to Gibraltar, then use Nelson to clear the Atlantic and guard the pass at Gibraltar. Disband all land armies as there is now no threat of a naval Invasion and pour all money Industry/Merchant ships. Start building sloops at dockyards to replace your 32 guns/admirals/merchants ships that you have blockading ports then bring them to join your main naval force at Gibraltar for added security (even if you dont like naval battles your fleet will be so strong that you can just auto resolve with min casualties).

don't worry about Gibraltar itself, you will prolly lose it but you'll be taking it back in no time. By the time 1806 comes around you will be making so much money that you will be able to make a continuous stream of full stacks of armies out of London. after you build your navy more you'll be in a position to invade the Mediterranean in the same way you took the atlantic (main fleet to clear and guard pass at Athens, sloops blockading enemy ports) and take most trade nodes there too, I'm playing on VH/VH and am in a position to take on the whole world.

Bloody good show.

Edit:
Also, so you don't fall behind in tech race, once you have 2 Gentlemen at Oxford bring all others you recieve to mainland Europe and start stealing from Spain/France.

This is some great advice, guys. How many tradeships should i have in every trade node? Do extra ships bring in extra money?

yep, you'll want 10 at each node, but the amount each additional ship brings in decreases as you add more ships. Just for example 1 trade ship may bring in 500, but adding a second might only make that 800, not a 1000. The point is quantity over quality. get more nodes with smaller groups at first, but as the game progresses always be building trade ships and bringing them to your nodes.

Thanks Ancient Hunter! Sorry, I made a new thread with this topic. So how would the new incoming proffits offset the maintenance costs for the ships? 10 can't still be optimal, can it?

yeah, I think maintenance for a merchant is around $50? I've never seen the return on a trade node drop below that, or even near it. Although I could be wrong.

Perfect! Thanks for the help.

I just had some great luck. I landed an army in France, to try and whittle down some of the 2 French and 3 Spanish stacks by Paris. But the turn I landed, they moved all their stacks away for some reason, and I captured an unoccupied Paris, which was promptly looted for over 73,000 gold.