debtmars wrote:I bought his game several years ago and played for hundres of hours. I left it because I couldn't undrestand how to use diplomacy effectively to achieve the results needed as the French player. I just returned and have spent about 100 hours reviewing numerous posts and studying basic data I extracted from the in game pop screens, building game files, etc because I don't know how to access the computer data files nor how to read them. Needless to say, I need help!
Has anyone published any data or directions for building effective diplomatic relations with the various nations, both major and minor, playing as France? For example, which minor nations do I need to establish good relations with in order to create the Rhine Confederation and what is the best way to do that?
Well going along the historical path is the easiest way. In particular, both France and Britain can reap benefits from good diplomacy play as they are the 'heads' of the respective coalitions.
Diplomacy works in different ways in different areas, For example, Southern Germany is pro France and once the Baden Marriage event comes about, you will have the opportunity to ally yourself to both Baden and Wurttemburg (you can get an alliance with Bavaria and Nassau off the bat). Hessen takes a lot more effort while Mecklenburg is a real pain in the neck as they were historically more intractable, Don't waste any effort on Oldenburg or Brunswick as the first is absorbed by France and the second by Westphalia. (btw the biggest extentions of French power come through the creation of states like Naples, Westphalia and eventually Duchy of Warsaw).
Naples is a joke so once you deal with the Austrians, just turn south and capture Gaeta and Naples to create the Kingdom of Naples which has decent resources and army.
As the French, your best investments are Spain and Denmark, I suggest you decide how to handle Spain early on and start investing in it or just let it hang out to dry. If you want to keep the Bourbons on the throne, then it is worth investing in and propping it up as it has both a large army and more importantly, navy. If you wish to create French Spain, then let it get battered by the British and then invade, Denmark however, is a huge investment as its army is large enough to counter Sweden and tie it up in Norway and also brings a powerful fleet. Unfortunately, in vanilla, the Bombardment of Copenhagen does not really destroy the Danish fleet and therefore the French can get a strong fleet for the rest of the game (in reality the bulk of the fleet was either burnt or carried away and used by the Brits)
In North Africa, Morrocco is the best bet for an ally, but it takes time and does not really bring any particular benefits. Forget the rest of the North African realms as they simply cannot be bothered. As to the Balkans and Egypt, these are allied to the Ottoman Empire and simply out of reach. Same applies to the Caucasus states.
For the Brits its a different approach. They need to maintain their friendship with as many states as possible especially Austria and Russia. Prussia is a broken reed while Sweden is more in the orbit of Russia. However, if the French invade Spain, then they could use Portugal and eventually Spain to their advantage. So it actually helps them to inflict losses on Spain and eventually give them a decent peace to gain favour. In reality these two states are the best allies it has and both can provide decent forces.
In the Mediterranean, it has Sicily and Sardinia. The former is more important than the latter as Sicily has substantial resources, a medium sized army and a decent number of generals (which means that you can organise a few decent divisions after 1810 or so). Sardinia has few resources but potentially large army but only one general and therefore it is difficult to organise a decent force (you will have to use the rather scarce British generals with multi nation command here). Having said that, both provide good naval bases. And they are pro British or already allied.
Another potential ally can be Persia but in reality they are of little use. North Africa and the Balkans are useless too.
For Austria the game is to dominate the southern German States. However, its not easy to do while France is powerful. The alliance with Russia is a must as well.
Prussia has very limited options and only Russia seems interested in being friends. Investing in North German states is useless as they will become French allies or are absorbed. And the Scandinavians are hostile.
Russia is a basket case as it is essentially at war on two fronts - Europe and Caucasus. Depending on what you want to do, Russia could either conclude peace with Persia and the Ottomans and concentrate upon Europe or vice versa. The destruction of the smaller states in the Caucasus brings little benefit in itself (except training your officers and promoting them) while war with the Ottomans can be a real pain and again, bring little benefit. However, keep in mind that Russia is the only power that can really go head-to-head with France without the need for allies and therefore its gaming options are quite wide.
The Ottomans are stuck in a vice but have one advantage - strong vassal states. Moldavia, Wallachia and in particular Egypt provide decent contingents. However, Ottoman diplomacy is hampered by the fact that they seem to be hated by everyone on the map. so concentrate upon keeping existing vassals under control and possibly keeping Persia happy. one area where there is the possibility of success is North Africa but the advantages are quite small in doing so.
Interestingly, the off map powers like the USA, Mahrattas and Persia (and Haiti) seem to be really oblivious to the conflict. However, the first three could be quite powerful friends as they have large armies and decent resources - if you're French that is. The USA also has a substantial number of generals and admirals which means that any ally could gain a strong organised contingent on land and sea. Persia and the Mahrattas are also strong, but they take a lot of time and resources to convince them to come to your camp. France would be the principle power to gain but in all my games I only managed to get the US and Persia on my side once in vanilla (with modding its a different game). The Mahrattas barely took notice, As the Brits, only Persia is amenable to persuasion with the others being hostile (as in real life). The conquest of Haiti is useless as well....
Hope that helps!