Few questions about gameplay in Napoleon TW

Hi!

I have a small issue in Napoleon Total War. As I am a kind of a freak when it comes down to historical reality, I often get (as you might guess ) a bit annoyed when something 'unexpected' happens.

The problem is that the Ottoman Empire keeps declaring war upon me, playing as France in the Grand Campaign. When I start the game, I conquer Oldenburg and make a protectorate out of it, then I take Hessen which I occupy. Then I attack Innsbruck and Venice (both with a really small army) and conquer them while at the same time I conquer Vienna. I try to keep my relations good with the Ottomans, giving them technologies and not coming in their waters with my ships (I stick to the Western Mediterranian Sea). Almost always I cannot get the diplomatic relations number above -15 (that's the closest I ever got), which is not very bad. It could be much worse. Anyway, whenever I conquer Zagreb or Budapest or even Moravia, they declare war upon me, even though we have the same enemy: the Austrians. The Ottomans are from the beginning of the campaign at war with Austria but the two parties have never seem to come to a confrontation on the battle field. That is weird to me! How can I concentrate on Prussia and then Russia when the d*mn Ottomans want to fight with me. Even when I try not to get to their borders with my borders, even then they declare war. For example, I left Zagreb to the Austrians and made a protectorate out of Budapest. Even then they declared war upon me.

Secondly, how many troops and how long does it take to restore order in Vienna after having taken it without plundering? It doesn't make sense! I mean, it wasn't quite like that in history, right?

Thirdly: so I'm at war with Austria, I take Vienna, peace is restored between Austria and France. A turn later the Austrians join the coalition and bang. War again. How is that?

I'd check out who the Ottomans are trading with, they tend to have a long standing arrangement with the British. And who paid them to declare war on you?

Anyway, whenever I conquer Zagreb or Budapest or even Moravia, they declare war upon me, even though

You've invaded their sphere of influence, you are now numero uno enemy. How would you react if the Otto's took the Rhineland?

Secondly, how many troops and how long does it take to restore order in Vienna after having taken it without plundering? It doesn't make sense! I mean, it wasn't quite like that in history, right?

You really got to pack the troops in and even then there can be a revolt depending on the difficulty level. The rebel infantry tends to be all lights so they aren't too much to handle.

Thirdly: so I'm at war with Austria, I take Vienna, peace is restored between Austria and France. A turn later the Austrians join the coalition and bang. War again. How is that?

They really hate your guts at this stage and might declare war again at any moment, I don't think there is enough peace juice in the State gift to placate them.

Also if you incorporate a lot of Territory then that will give you a bad diplomatic rap. They figure the only peace Boney wants is a piece of this and a piece of that. You might need to stick with more protectorate creation.

You might want to build lots of Museums to enhance your prestige if you want the world to look up to you.

Thanks for the reply!

By the way, I'm playing the campaign on the "hard" difficulty level. I decided to play it on hard because all my previous Total War games (except Empire, which I do not have) were just too easy, even on the "very hard" difficulty level. But Napoleon, whatever other people might say, is actually quite difficult on "hard" or "very hard". It is not the cleverness of the AI that does it, but the stupidity of it. Like for example you could forge an alliance, the next turn your ally would attack you... Or a tiny country refuses to become your protectorate after suffering a defeat at your hands and only having one region. What a laugh! Or a small country attacking your great vast empire that is guarded by numerous strong armies. Or like here, in Napoleon, where the d*mn Ottomans think you are after them. In history Napoleon was not waging war against the Ottomans at that time! (in Egypt perhaps, but not in Europe)

So you are saying that a war with the Ottomans cannot be omitted? It's really a bit weird because I keep giving them technologies, I trade with them and I do not enter their sphere of influence at sea. I also do not block sea trade routes simply because the trade on most sea routes is partly Ottoman. I have tried a slightly different approach. I left Zagreb and Budapest alone, left it to the Austrians (as: I did not attack those regions). I have only occupied Vienna, and still Ottomans declare war upon me. It's ridiculous! The Ottoman Empire is at war with Austria from the beginning of the game but they never seem to attack them, even though both countries border to each other. IF I tried to take Zagreb, the Ottomans would physically attack me within two turns. How is that? Why don't they attack the Austrians? Is there something I can do about all this? It's ridiculous, I am not there to conquer the Ottoman Empire.

The Otto's are nuts. They cancel trade and declare war on you and then are soon back wanting peace and trade relations. The turning point is when they get into a scrap with Russia.

have only occupied Vienna,

Yeah, give them Vienna as well then. The best guarantee of peace with the Otto's is to conquer them an turn them into a protectorate.
Hard is still easy, now VH is real fun. You'll find it no longer an easy blitzkrieg and the Prussians are real pests. The Otto's aren't much of a bother compared to the likes of others.

I might agree on the fact that the Otto's are a minor problem compared to other enemies of France. But what you said about "hard" still being easy. I cannot full agree with that. Sometimes, when I hear you guys talking on the forum, I start thinking that I am a noob or something... No, I at least hope so! I was just having this thing with Ottomans like I explained. And I found it a real wrath! They were annoying me so I thought: hey, why not ask some guys on twcenter? See if they had the same problem and what did they do about it.

I have been playing Total War since they published Rome TW (but afterwards I also played Medieval I and Shogun I, it was crap, just because I was used to good looking graphics and yeah, the first TW games could not be compared with Rome on that part). All my life I have been also interested in military, tactics, strategy etc. I have read quite a few books about it. Also, every time CA comes up with a new game, spanning over a new era, with other battlefield tactics and technics, I try to do some research about it. For example: how were medieval battles fought in the dark ages? What are Napoleonic tactics, how did Napoleon win his battles etc? How did Roman legions fight?

You say Napoleon is easy on "hard"? Not to me. All the other TW games I played on "very hard" and that was still easy, indeed. But not Napoleon. You have a limited amount of time compared to other titles so you're (even though you may not realize this) automatically playing faster (well, I play faster than). You are facing multiple enemies at the same time too. Russia is not an issue in the beginning. They only have one moderate army around Vienna, that is it. If you wait too long with attacking Vienna, you won't be able to defeat the Austrians with your little army (compared to 4 of their armies) that isn't even experienced. Immediately after you attack the Austrians, the Prussians declare upon you. Luckily they do not advance their armies towards your border instantly but wait quite a long time before doing so. But still then! I think the major difficulty here is balancing your costs/investments. Because if you start recruiting you soon will realize your country is going bankrupt. If you wait with recruitment, then you won't have any army to defend France if Britain or Prussia attack you. Because your army will be in Austria. I tried to balance it a little. Napoleon's army is in Vienna, of course, sitting there, doing nothing and waiting until I have a sizable force there. Then Napoleon can move on. And I just managed to recruit an army big enough to defeat the Prussians. The problem is, I recruited them almost all in Paris and they are "under way" to Hannover, which is a turn away from being sieged by Prussia. And the whole time I tried to spend half of my money on recruitment and the other half on economy, with some exceptions of course, when I thought: the economy needs an extra boost, or more troops are needed in that region quickly... I think Napoleon is hard in that way, and also because the enemy have a lot more resources than you. Their armies keep coming and they keep recruiting... AND they keep making money! And I am having trouble to recruit one big army in France. I am not even sure if I can afford 1 army in Austria, 1 army to attack Prussia, 1 army to defend France from the British/Spanish (if they choose to backstab me).

Historical battles are too difficult! In several battles I managed to win, but losing almost, I can even say all of my troops. In the land battle of Egypt I won and the only troops that survived on my side, were: Napoleon himself of course, and 1 artillery battery. I won the battle by shooting the hell out of them with my cannons. Still, I lost all but one battery. I was very lucky for that part. At a certain moment in that battle, I was facing 5 of their infantry units and their general and their 2 batteries. All of them against Napoleon, 1 decimated unit of French line infantry (which quickly routed) and 2 or 3 batteries. Are you all military geniuses or do I simply suck at this =)=)??

On VH your armies really start getting chewed up. Fortunately Napoleon gets resurrected from the dead and everything else can be replaced.
The Naval trade strategy of the AI is pretty anemic even on VH, so the best economic strategy is to churn out heaps of trade ships. Once you've built your revenue up enough you can build and maintain the massive armies you are going to need.
The sentient player has a global view so unfortunately the handicaps on VH are the only way to balance the game
On VH you start getting ambushed a lot more and that usually means you get wiped..

Are you all military geniuses or do I simply suck at this

No VH makes me feel like the Committee of public safety tossing troops at the front to watch them get chewed up.

Unit recovery is a bit slow on VH so you'll need a nice supply house close to the front to park your reviving troops that are worth keeping. A useful thing is to get high veteran ratings.

Some factors that will make your AI enemies easier to deal with diplomatically is building the prestige stuff and sitting Mass stacks on their borders.

Of course we can always play fair and not replay battles were we get wiped?