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My first serious game was with Japan. Japan is pretty good for the newbie, as you're always at peace (unless you initiate a war yourself), and because you learn how to squeeze your uncivilized economy for what it's worth. Even better, you magically become a civilized nation by 1870. Good sandbox game, but not really that interesting. At least, the 35 first years are utterly unexciting for the experienced player.
I then tried to play as China. Unlike Japan, China doesn't civilize magically, but has to earn its civilized status. And unlike Japan, China has mucho resources to do it. However, my first game as China was extremely frustrating, because the English always declare the opium wars. You're basically raped by the English, can do little about it (the English fight much better, and their troops are much faster than yours). In the end, there was also an event that utterly humiliated me. I tried to spend the next century brushing off the humiliation (one needs some prestige to become civilized), to no avail
My second game as China was extremely different. I bought some napoleonic military technology from the Russians (gave up my claims on Khazakstan and Sakhalin in exchange), and I prepared for the Opium war well in advance. My legions of Chinese-with-guns defended successfully against the English, and even made good inroads in British India. However, the Rosbifs would simply not give up, and I ended up bringing back all my troops to defend the territory (the Rosbifs had only access roads, which were heavily defended), and I let the English try and fail to conquer for the next 10 years. They eventually agreed to a white peace.
After that, the road to civilized status was wide open. I earned a little prestige, which was yet enough for me to have the requisites. I was the greatest military power among the uncivilized (having more than one million men mobilized helps
), and I squeezed out enough from my few factories, so that my industrial power could (barely) fulfill the requirements.
Once I beame civilized, it was piece of cake. I had unlimited population to turn into workers. I quickly reached the tech that allowed me to produce my own machine parts, leaving me. My large territory had nearly all the resources I could use.
I finished the game by being the world's economic hyperpower, as I has an economic score of 17,000 (by contrast, the world's second economic power, Russia, had somehing like 1,200
)
I then tried to play as China. Unlike Japan, China doesn't civilize magically, but has to earn its civilized status. And unlike Japan, China has mucho resources to do it. However, my first game as China was extremely frustrating, because the English always declare the opium wars. You're basically raped by the English, can do little about it (the English fight much better, and their troops are much faster than yours). In the end, there was also an event that utterly humiliated me. I tried to spend the next century brushing off the humiliation (one needs some prestige to become civilized), to no avail
My second game as China was extremely different. I bought some napoleonic military technology from the Russians (gave up my claims on Khazakstan and Sakhalin in exchange), and I prepared for the Opium war well in advance. My legions of Chinese-with-guns defended successfully against the English, and even made good inroads in British India. However, the Rosbifs would simply not give up, and I ended up bringing back all my troops to defend the territory (the Rosbifs had only access roads, which were heavily defended), and I let the English try and fail to conquer for the next 10 years. They eventually agreed to a white peace.
After that, the road to civilized status was wide open. I earned a little prestige, which was yet enough for me to have the requisites. I was the greatest military power among the uncivilized (having more than one million men mobilized helps
), and I squeezed out enough from my few factories, so that my industrial power could (barely) fulfill the requirements.Once I beame civilized, it was piece of cake. I had unlimited population to turn into workers. I quickly reached the tech that allowed me to produce my own machine parts, leaving me. My large territory had nearly all the resources I could use.
I finished the game by being the world's economic hyperpower, as I has an economic score of 17,000 (by contrast, the world's second economic power, Russia, had somehing like 1,200
)
And when you became civilized, did you have enough money to build lots of RR, or did you have to prioritize? I'd love to get some more details, as I'd like to play China myself, but hasn't dared because of the difficulities(and I'm not good at Vickie at all).
), but the presence of many small countries that slow down your colonization means a huge BadBoy rating for the wannabe colonists. In my attempt to colonize West Africa (by only crushing the savages, I don't move against my civilized neighbours), I have already been attacked once by Germany, and once by the UK 
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