What is your favorite nation in Empire: Total War?

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Meh, I would add a poll, but I think there are more playable nations than answers allowed.
So, last week I got ETW, and I'm sort of having a love-hate relationship with it, as I have with both of the total war games I had been playing before it.

But sense I'm more or less used to only having france as a fun playable nation (Napoleon TW) I was looking for your guy's imput on your favorite countries to conquer with.
So far I've played as 2:
France (I'm more than half way done with the campaign, and now I'm in a complete stalemate with the Martha Confederacy who have recently begun spreading like a cancer in Europe and control all but 4 regions in India, and somehow took 5 regions of Poland/prussia [Only poland, technically, because prussia was destroyed earlier.] So, I've managed to take 2 regions in India, but I don't have artillery that can sucessfully break fortress walls, and I have no advanced artillery foundry, nor enough money to produce one. So yeah, good old nothing is getting accomplished feeling that I get from N:TW)
and the United Provinces (I haven't gone to far with this one, and I figure I'll return to it after I finish with the french)
But yeah, over all, I really like the game, but I'm not too sure how to avoid stalemate-like situations, I've found a way past it in Napoleon (Because the AI only defends it's border cities) but, this game being on a much more massive scale, I'm not entirely sure how defeat a nation 3 times the size of mine regions held wise.

So, forum, what is your favorite nation to play as? I'm open to checking out each one, and if you could include some advantages/disadvantages, I'd appreciate that to.

Now let the total fandom war begin!

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Prussia. Glorious glorious Prussia. One of the strongest armies in Europe makes up for the lack of sea trade. You are surrounded on all sides by Austria, France, Poland and Sweden, all of whom want you dead. Your only trade partners you can rely on are England, and only because they aren't right beside you waiting to invade.

But your army? You will mop the floor with other nations. Your Grenadiers are ungodly powerful, and your Line infantry are goddamn professionals. Upgrade your military research to gain the Fire By Rank as soon as possible, and watch armies three times your size get shredded.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Frankly I got some real fun out of the Maratha Confederacy and what it turned in to. They got awesome resources and backing once they cleared the sub-continent and I had a lot of fun making headway through the verdant crescent and also through the Untied States via New Mexico.

Then I got bored of the game. I haven't been heavily into a TW game since.

Yeah, that's the problem I'm having with the Martha Confederacy. They've got a ton of recorces to back them up, but sense I was allied with a lot of major nations (For some reason, the british love me) I've pretty much ruined trade with them. Now I just have to hope I can command effectively enough to make them fall.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Prussia. Glorious glorious Prussia. One of the strongest armies in Europe makes up for the lack of sea trade. You are surrounded on all sides by Austria, France, Poland and Sweden, all of whom want you dead. Your only trade partners you can rely on are England, and only because they aren't right beside you waiting to invade.

But your army? You will mop the floor with other nations. Your Grenadiers are ungodly powerful, and your Line infantry are goddamn professionals. Upgrade your military research to gain the Fire By Rank as soon as possible, and watch armies three times your size get shredded.

Interesting, I'm going to have to give them a try. I'm a pretty good land commander, but when it comes to the sea, I fucking suck. Not having to manage a navy or worry about trade routes would be pretty useful.

 

[Timedraven 117]

I don't really have the best computer can really deal with Empire, I have it and now you bastards (I mean it in a nice way) Make me want to play it more. I have Rome and i'm a great commander in it when warmed up (As Gauls I loved the challenge of low money. I always enjoyed wiping the Romans with my bands.) But Empire i s difficult ball game to play. i'll try more, have not even got past the damn tutorial.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Or just download DarthMod and be done with SO much annoyance.

 

[Volstag9]

Poland-Lithuania

It's not really their units or their play style it's the fact that they're Poland.

Think about it. Poland, they are the ultimate underdog. Their country has been overrun and conquered so many times that you can't help but feel sorry for them. At the same time you cant help but respect them. Poland fights on forever. They do not give up. Playing as Poland is not just a challenge...

Playing as Poland is an experience.

The Dutch are pretty neat too.

 

[TheCommanders]

My favorite play through was constructing the glorious Swedish Empire, so I'm going to go with them.

 

[beastro]

Or just download DarthMod and be done with SO much annoyance.

I prefer Terra Incognita: A Proper Empire or The Rights of Man since they weigh more towards realism.

Prussia's a favourite since you're in the thick of the fighting, but sadly, by the time you've carved out a decent empire in Central/Eastern Europe the game is pretty much over.

Britain is my second favourite, but it's only entertaining if you get yourself into trouble all the time. if you don't then the game breezes by with little action.

The Netherlands are fun too simply because most of the map is open to conquest while you're don't have much room to maneuver at home thanks to France and then Prussia and Austria when they expand westward.

But yeah, over all, I really like the game, but I'm not too sure how to avoid stalemate-like situations, I've found a way past it in Napoleon (Because the AI only defends it's border cities) but, this game being on a much more massive scale, I'm not entirely sure how defeat a nation 3 times the size of mine regions held wise.

Never found myself in a stalemate with the game, but I've played so much of it I know the nooks and cranny's of it.

Quick thing you learn early is to never let the Maratha get big. Either ally with the Mughals and help them dominate the continent, capture regions and sell them off to make India a crazy quilt or just focus on taking it over yourself (though it'll make the rest of the game a cakewalk from all the money you'll be bringing in).

If you can't beat them on land then resort to a naval war. Beat them back, blockade/raid their trade lanes and take every trade node. Those nodes are really screw the game up for the AI and I've wound up not using them in games to give myself a handicap unless I seriously run into money problems.

The other thing is to use your naval superiority to make amphibious landings. If they're overrunning Europe target Constantinople and the Crimea to cut off their invasion routes and other territories like Mesopotamia and Sindh and defend long enough until you have to pull out.

Also invade India itself. Most of the continents regions are badly exposed to the ocean. Take Ceylon to use as a staging ground, then land, capture a city and pull out forcing them to either recapture either from you or rebels or another nation will run in and take it over once it's rebelled.

Basically force them to fight elsewhere weaken the front line and push them into the Middle East and then India.

Sadly the Maratha can make the game become very monotonous since they'll do this every time you can't ever really leave India to it's own devices. The best options I find between letting them take it over or taking it over yourself is 1: To constantly feed tech, and hopefully money if you have it, to the Mughals to hopefully stalemate them if only just slow them down, possibly moving in and helping them out as an ally, or 2: Overrun the place and then sell regions to different powers to keep the region interesting and still remain outside of your control.

 

[Jandau]

Netherlands for me. You have holdings on all three continents, meaning it's easier to expand colonies, they are a bit of an underdog in Europe (which is fun), they get better trading ships which let you skip escort vessels for your trade fleets. Also, taking all of France by storming Paris never stops being funny...

On a related note, am I the only one who gets pissed off when Spain, France and England get their colonies automatically if the AI is controlling them? Players need to complete a quest to get their New World colonies to join up with them fully, but the AI just needs to wait a while. Not only is this unfair, it also guarantees that Spain, England and France will become massive powerhouses with minimal effort and kills any chance of alternate history shenanigans in the New World...

 

[beastro]

Netherlands for me. You have holdings on all three continents, meaning it's easier to expand colonies, they are a bit of an underdog in Europe (which is fun), they get better trading ships which let you skip escort vessels for your trade fleets. Also, taking all of France by storming Paris never stops being funny...

On a related note, am I the only one who gets pissed off when Spain, France and England get their colonies automatically if the AI is controlling them? Players need to complete a quest to get their New World colonies to join up with them fully, but the AI just needs to wait a while. Not only is this unfair, it also guarantees that Spain, England and France will become massive powerhouses with minimal effort and kills any chance of alternate history shenanigans in the New World...

It's to help those powers,since without those colonies, they're massively handicapped compared to the Central/Eastern European powers.

Without her colonies, Britain is essentially neutered thanks to the poor naval and amphibious invasion AI.

I've long since stopped playing the early campaign. Most mods allow you to play from 1783 onwards (essentially allowing the United States end campaign to be playable. You can mod this yourself to play any nation with the ESF Editor if you're playing vanilla).

It's an interesting fight in North America and I've found it can swing either way, though the US usually takes over Canada 3/4 of the time which means I typically ally with Britain against the US/French/Spanish alliance by sending an expeditionary force to Canada attack the two European powers shipping like mad to make easy money.

 

[teebeeohh]

Prussia. Glorious glorious Prussia. One of the strongest armies in Europe makes up for the lack of sea trade. You are surrounded on all sides by Austria, France, Poland and Sweden, all of whom want you dead. Your only trade partners you can rely on are England, and only because they aren't right beside you waiting to invade.

But your army? You will mop the floor with other nations. Your Grenadiers are ungodly powerful, and your Line infantry are goddamn professionals. Upgrade your military research to gain the Fire By Rank as soon as possible, and watch armies three times your size get shredded.

this
however i picked Prussia because i am a descendant form a long line of Prussian officers so i always pick them when they are a faction in a game.
i was positively surprised at how well the actual "small nation surrounded by enemies but dead god is their army powerful" situation translates into the game.
and conquering Bavaria never get's old

 

[Timedraven 117]

I don't really have the best computer can really deal with Empire, I have it and now you bastards (I mean it in a nice way) Make me want to play it more. I have Rome and i'm a great commander in it when warmed up (As Gauls I loved the challenge of low money. I always enjoyed wiping the Romans with my bands.) But Empire i s difficult ball game to play. i'll try more, have not even got past the damn tutorial.

use stone walls if you can and its worth delaying a turn to build fortifications. stone walls can be bugged and sometimes your troops wont fire so be aware of that. you definitely need to concentrate fire that's for sure

Yeah playing Maratha, I'm screwed though economically thanks to the Mughals blocking my ports stopping trade. I tried breaking one of their blocks but i got beaten. I'm taking a break currently. Its fun, but annoying in many places, like the interface and controls are not as good as Rome's.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I don't really have the best computer can really deal with Empire, I have it and now you bastards (I mean it in a nice way) Make me want to play it more. I have Rome and i'm a great commander in it when warmed up (As Gauls I loved the challenge of low money. I always enjoyed wiping the Romans with my bands.) But Empire i s difficult ball game to play. i'll try more, have not even got past the damn tutorial.

use stone walls if you can and its worth delaying a turn to build fortifications. stone walls can be bugged and sometimes your troops wont fire so be aware of that. you definitely need to concentrate fire that's for sure

Yeah playing Maratha, I'm screwed though economically thanks to the Mughals blocking my ports stopping trade. I tried breaking one of their blocks but i got beaten. I'm taking a break currently. Its fun, but annoying in many places, like the interface and controls are not as good as Rome's.

That's how I felt about Napoleon. I'd always get stuck in a stalemate with a country- be it prussia or Austria, I'd always be at a stalemate, until an ambitious stroke of luck would allow me to capture a region. The game is extreamly fun, but you find yourself stressing the fuck out when your me and having to take 30 minutes to prepair for each battle before it acually starts, and having to use every ounce of you to micromanage units to victory. so fun...

 

[Timedraven 117]

I don't really have the best computer can really deal with Empire, I have it and now you bastards (I mean it in a nice way) Make me want to play it more. I have Rome and i'm a great commander in it when warmed up (As Gauls I loved the challenge of low money. I always enjoyed wiping the Romans with my bands.) But Empire i s difficult ball game to play. i'll try more, have not even got past the damn tutorial.

use stone walls if you can and its worth delaying a turn to build fortifications. stone walls can be bugged and sometimes your troops wont fire so be aware of that. you definitely need to concentrate fire that's for sure

Yeah playing Maratha, I'm screwed though economically thanks to the Mughals blocking my ports stopping trade. I tried breaking one of their blocks but i got beaten. I'm taking a break currently. Its fun, but annoying in many places, like the interface and controls are not as good as Rome's.

That's how I felt about Napoleon. I'd always get stuck in a stalemate with a country- be it prussia or Austria, I'd always be at a stalemate, until an ambitious stroke of luck would allow me to capture a region. The game is extreamly fun, but you find yourself stressing the fuck out when your me and having to take 30 minutes to prepair for each battle before it acually starts, and having to use every ounce of you to micromanage units to victory. so fun...

I'm actually doing well on land, its the naval battles that are a pain. Its my first time playing so i have it on easy. But it is a pain with all of this, I can't play for long other wise my eyes want to kill themselves. And my brain grows bore of looking at stuff it does not understand.