TIPS AND TACTICS

Lowering your upkeep costs

As your armies and navies grow, so to will your upkeep costs grow. So, here are 2 important things to remember, a) Troop’s and ship’s upkeep costs are halved when garrisoned, b) Sepoy troop upkeep costs are half that of regular troops. So, if you have a navy unit of 10 dreadnoughts that is sitting around, make sure you transfer them into the garrison. Note, that ships can also be garrisoned in a sea area if they are not attached to a navy unit. Also, 10,000 sepoys garrisoned, have the same upkeep costs as 2,500 regular troops in an army unit.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is like playing with dice, it’s a very unpredictable business. If you can stay friends with all your neighbours then that is the best place you could be. Starting an alliance with someone is like opening Pandora’s box, you don’t know what you are in for. And you may be drawn into their wars. I always tell players (especially new players) not to join an alliance. If you are surrounded by nations I think it’s better to stay neutral and friendly with them than joining an alliance with one of them. You should just keep neutral and building up your lands, and the other nations will look for more easy targets to attack. Note, That there are some villains in the game who will never like you, and they will turn on you when you are weak so watch out for these ones. There are also nations that like you and will stick by you up until the time that you become a superpower, then no one will like you. At the start of the game, you should trade, make friends, and expand. You can leave minimal troops in garrisons while your neighbours are friendly, but if they turn hostile then you should stop expanding and build up your defences. Anyone who declares war on you doesn’t mean you have to fight him, you can just block him out with forts and garrisons until a time that you are ready to invade him. I think alliances are better served when you have only 2 neighbouring nations, one, you want to destroy, and the other one you should make an ally.

The World.

‘The World’ Scenario at first seems quite easy as there are so many lands to grab, and generally, your neighbours will be all friendly as they too want to concentrate on their expansion. But your neighbours will get a bit nasty once their expansion stops, especially the ones that are blocked in. At this early stage, I wouldn’t join any alliances as the nations will start fighting and you don’t want to be drawn into a war you care nothing about. But remember the nations that like you, as you will need to rely on their friendships later on in the game. And it’s advisable to start one or two alliances before you hit halfway (about turn 50) because you don’t want to fight on 2 fronts.

At the start of the game try to grab a region with a university on it, as this will help you build up your technology and get ahead of your opponents. Also, grab as many different resources as you can find as this will give you more trade income when you start trading. Trade with everyone you are in contact with. Trading with a heavily populated nation will earn you big dollars. So, try to establish trade agreements with nations like India, and China(Qing/Taiping). You should send a ship to Asia, and then conquer an island for trading purposes only.

Any nation that asks you for an alliance will generally like you so keep them close and when you are ready secure that alliance with them. Any nation that has threatened you should be earmarked as a mortal enemy, and if the opportunity presents itself, try to destroy them early as they will later gang up against you.

When I play the ‘world’ I try to establish colonies around the world just to feed of the trade network. As the game goes on, and you become powerful, you will start to feel the hostility from other nations especially from the nations who didn’t like you from the start. It will be impossible to hold all your colonies, and they will fall one by one. At this point you probably don’t need them anyway, let them go as they will be too hard to hold. Strengthen your homeland and take the continent. then conquer another continent, and so forth.

Corruption.

When nations get too large, the corruption will increase and sap much of your nation’s wealth. In the 1850s China’s population was over 400 million people and struggled to maintain its standing army. Constant internal uprisings and corruption sapped her wealth, The other nations of the world all wanted to trade with China, huge money was to be made to those that did trade with her. So, if you do play as China you will also need to trade with another large nation to counter the burden of corruption. China does have its benefits also, China has its own unique resources like Tea, Silk, and Gunpowder which can earn her lots of trade income if she trades with the right nations.

Corruption grows with Population, trade, and regions owned. So as your nation gets bigger your corruption will also get bigger, no stopping it. You can take some measures to reduce this corruption and that depends on your policies.

Corruption slows down nations from becoming superpowers and superpowers are unstoppable. If you think corruption is strangling your nation’s wealth, then slow down, and build up, develop your lands, secure your borders, save money. Then, when you are ready, conquer, then secure your lands, build up and develop, and again, conquer, secure your lands, build up and develop,

Corruption does not stop your expansion it just slows it down. Factor this into your plan and you will win. If you expand too far or fast them you are welcoming in other aggressive nations.

Speed up the game.

If you are playing world map it’s advisable to turn OFF the animations. This will speed up the game about 5 times faster. If you are wondering what a nation is doing it is handy to turn on the animations for a number of turns. You can turn off the animations during the Ai turn if it is taking too long, try tapping the MENU button until the game recognises your gestures then turn OFF animations.