Post by John Marston on Nov 13, 2021 14:45:07 GMT
I played 1798 conquest the most number of times. In fact, so many times that I know it like back of my hand. So this post is to share all my experiences, tips and general information and I will be doing an analysis of different theaters and lot of other stuff. This one might be huge and might take a while to complete, but I can hopefully do it soon.
Common ways the Conquest plays out
The conquest, as a whole, generally plays out in the same way, however there might be regional differences. Generally, Poland gets crushed by her bigger neighbors, France will stay strong in defending her capital (Credits - Massena), but will fall out like a pack of cards, once their generals - Desaix, Moreau and co die in their suicide charge against the coalition. Ottoman Turkey will be pushed into Anatolia if you don't intervene. And Italy will experience a 'slow' and 'suffocating' death. Denmark will defeat Sweden one on one, but Frederick Wilhelm III and Ushakov doesn't give Copenhagen breathing space.
On a stark contrast, the coalition side doesn't face all these problems. In fact, Russia will push into Anatolia without your intervention. Poland too will get destroyed and if you're lucky, both Ushakov and Wilhelm III will coordinate their attack on Denmark. So, for starters, I think that a coalition faction would be a great pick like Russia. They have limited fronts to fight on, good economy, good generals, etc.
There would be one corner though, where you feel ashamed and pity for the French. That is the Iberian Peninsula. Spain, though much bigger than Portugal, canβt seem to smash in through the Portuguese defense. The French will also aid them, but still they falter. They might get inroads near Lisbon and if Beresford comes out, (He does, although not often) it looks like maybe they can finally crack Lisbon. But hilariously, they still canβt! Oh you pitiful punies!
1. France - Why not start with the initiator of the revolution itself? Right, I did mention that French allies were weak, pathetic and mostly unhelpful, but France is nothing short of muscle power. France is the strongest country in this conquest. This is because the starting generals are quite OP compared to other countries. I mean, just look at the lineup - Napoleon, Massena, Jourdan, Moreau, Marmont, Desaix, Dumoriez...enough to make anyone tremble. Now thatβs a whole different thing that the AI plays dumb and France loses her protectors. And I think it is fair because French allies basically collapse without your intervention. Another decisive factor in your favour is that, once you defeat the HRE generals on the border (Klenau, August, Hotze), you can basically Blitzkrieg the rest of the coalition countries.
However, there might be a roadblock at Berlin as Ferdinand I on a triple stack guards infantry sits there, which is fiercely guarded. Moreover, due to the sheer power of your generals initially, you might forget to build troops. This would slow down your pace when going for Russia. Wouldnβt matter if it is a normal run, but fatal if you're going for Princess runs. Make sure to send troops to occupy Portugal too.
2. Netherlands - Britain will try to land on your shores from the start which is not good news. Hotzeβs rampaging army is even more bad news and the worst part is that your superpower friend France, doesnβt realize your importance and doesnβt provide you any aid. Your economy isnβt very good. However, all these attacks arenβt coordinated. Hood attacks first, then comes the landing units and then comes Hotze. You can exploit this by defeating all of them one by one, though itβs very tough. However, you will get enough time to prepare. The starting rounds are passive and no attacks will come at you whatsoever.
Without your intervention though, Netherlands gets ripped apart just like Poland and Prussian help? Not good news.
3. Ottoman Empire - You have an opportunity to drive deep into HRE and Russian territory. However, you must be extremely patient with this conquest. Though HRE is weak, they still have plenty of generals and a large starting economy. But no matter how much you try, itβs really hard, maybe even impossible to save Poland. Moreover, as you focus on coalition on the continent, Britain will attack France and Denmark with coordination from Prussia and good luck trying to save the Italians with your limited economy.
The Ottoman Empire generally collapses without your intervention.
4. Poland - My dear poor Poland. What have you ever done to anyone? Poland gets partitioned among the continental coalition powers. If France is the muscle of the coalition, then Poland is the backbone. As others have pointed out, survival of France and her allies depends on how long Poland can resist. This is because if Poland is defeated, then France will be the next target. Theyβd even defeat Italy and press even harder into the Ottoman Empire. Poland will be extremely tough to play as a player too. Polandβs economy is extremely fragile. In fact, so much that you will have just enough economy to spam just one unit per turn, when you are under pressure from multiple sides. Suvorov, Bagration, Deroy, Rosenberg, LβEstocq all of them attack you. You have to take lots of risks in this conquest and hope that the enemy doesnβt capture your empty facilities. Hence, Iβd say that the best way to rescue Poland is to play as France and rescue the Poles by Blitzing HRE.
Poland will collapse without your intervention.
5. Rome - Prepare yourself for the onslaught of Klenau. It will take a lot to defeat him. Also, capture as much Naples territory as possible. Napoleon and sometimes Marmont also, will come to your aid and defeat Naples so if you feel that you cannot take on HRE and Naples together, then defend against Naples and expand into HRE. After that, you need to move quickly and spam a lot because Poland will probably be defeated and the coalition will be ready to take on you and France. Also you must rescue the Ottoman Empire as they will probably lose Istanbul. And you also have Portugal, which is placed annoyingly far away from you.
Rome collapses without your intervention.
6. Denmark - One on One for Scandinavian Hegemony? Denmark for the win! In my opinion, the Danes are the best performers among the French faction. They usually defeat Sweden, given enough time, however, Wilhelm, Hotze and Ushakov make things difficult for these guys. However, if you play as Denmark, then you can easily block Hotzeβs attack. That triple grenadier you get initially at Kiel(?) is meaty and will take and give many blows to Hotzeβs exhausted army (Since he mostly goes for Amsterdam first). If need be, get some more there.
Time is of essence for Denmark conquest. If you spam units and defeat Sweden quickly before others hop into the board, then your economy will improve and you can easily defeat Hotzeβs attack. For Ushakov, save up some money for a battleship and bombard him with the general in Copenhagen and with the battleship. Thinking that everythingβs alright, Wilhelm III innocently wanders into your trap, only to get annihilated. From there on, you're free to expand.
Denmark may/may not collapse without your intervention (Depending on how coordinated are the coalitionβs attacks).
7. Spain - Oh yes, the most infamous of the French faction. Known for her highly incompetent army, Spain, due to itβs extremely terrible combination of bad generals, geography and AI behaviour is the worst one among everyone. Iβd even go on to say that having Spain as a neutral or our ally wouldnβt make a whole lot of difference because Portuguese AI isnβt aggressive. However, if you choose to play as Spain, then the situation would change drastically (of course, why wouldnβt it?). You can defeat Portugal, but that would take at least 20 turns because of the reasons mentioned above. And then, you have to trek through your big broβs territory (Which is boring) and rescue the Ottoman Empire. No way you can save Poland. I guarantee. Not a fun conquest at all.
Spain does not collapse without your intervention because coalition troops take a lot of time reaching there.
Coalition
1. Great Britain - Ah yes, the crown faction. And we have GB first. Detached from the continent by just >60 km changed their fortunes. In fact so much that Jourdan crosses over that little puddle in the middle known as the English Channel and occupies Southampton, only to...you guessed it. Die! The British AI focuses on landing at Amsterdam first, coordinating with Hotzeβs attack on the Netherlands. But they later on try to push into Paris, resulting in a stalemate. Even when Rowland comes out of his den, they just canβt seem to answer the Massena question, who will be defending Paris wholeheartedly and Leadership plays a major part in that because he doesn't suffer from morale drop, even though he is completely surrounded. Nelson dies due to the artillery bombardment on the Ottoman coasts and their light infantry just wanders, doing absolutely nothing.
If you choose to play as the GB, then youβll incur extra costs for ferrying your troops across the channel. However, barring the initial suicide assault from Jourdan, you can take as much time as you want because France canβt just invade Britain so easily. Make sure to clear the French coast before you land as taking Amsterdam quickly helps. Send a few units to Denmark to speed up your conquest and occupy the factory at the Ottoman Coast and start mass producing artilleries there move up and down and get Belgrade and Athens and move east to defeat the Turks.
2. Holy Roman Empire - Oh! The empire which is neither holy, neither Roman, nor an empire! Great way to mock it eh?. If you want to get elite princesses, this is your choice. You have borders to all countries except Spain and have a great starting economy. However, defeating the French generals is not easy. Your generals are very weak except Archduke Charles, which is bad and you can use only 3 generals of your own. You need to use your economy very wisely as you have to fight on multiple fronts. Not for beginners though. The AI of HRE just comes at a stalemate in France, until the other bros - Russia and Prussia show up. But they did a good job on the Italian and Ottoman front.
3. Portugal - Portugal is the least aggressive member of the coalition. They can easily take it deep into Spain and knock them out. But theyβre the good boys of this conquest. They only defend. At most, youβll probably see Beresford coming out of Lisbon and occupying Sevilla. But thatβs really it.
If you choose to play as Portugal, Iβd say itβs very entertaining in the beginning. Defend against the Spanish troops and their generals and then, the Iberian Peninsula is yours. Southern France is lightly defended so Blitz through them and defeat Italy quickly. Support as much as you can in northern France and destroy the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Gets pretty boring at the end ,to be honest.
4. Sweden - Swedish AI loses to itβs Scandinavian Counterpart one on one. However, the coalition offers you a lot of support. If you choose to play as Sweden, taking Denmark would be easy. Steal Copenhagen once Ushakov defeats the artillery general there. And then, you can start your long and boring voyage across the other side of the map to defeat Spain and Ottoman Turkey and Italy. Make sure to occupy southern France through your journey.
Sweden may/may not collapse without your intervention depending how coordinated the coalition attacks are.
5. Sardinia - You are the prime target for Napoleon and sometimes Marmont too. Donβt try to fight him. Itβs extremely tough and even if you destroy the line infantry which accompanies him, you wonβt have enough resources to spam a unit every turn. So your best option is to evacuate to the HRE. Not Naples because Napoleonβs next target will be Naples (After practising shooting in Tunisia). However, make sure to do it quick enough because you wonβt have farms once Napoleon occupies Sardinia.
Sardinia will collapse with/without your intervention.
6. Russia - The Big Bro of the Coalition! And literally too because he has the largest area and largest army, next only to HREβs. No immediate threats and many areas ripe for expansion. The Russian AI starts off slow in attacking Poland, but picks up pace and ends up occupying Warsaw most of the time. Then they begin their journey to France and by the time they reach France, the Ottoman Empire will be on its knees. Ushakov plays spoilsport in Copenhagen, triggering the defeat of Denmark, if he is provided ample support.
Just follow the same route the AI does. Use Sackenβs army to destroy the Ottoman Empire and move west simultaneously. This conquest is the most beginner friendly. If you are playing conquest for the first time, then this should be your choice for gaining exposure to the conquest mechanics.
7. Prussia - Has a weak army and economy initially. But has all passive fronts. You can bide your time as there are no immediate threats. The Prussian AI spams a lot. Really a lot. They first annihilate Poland and coordinate their attacks on Amsterdam and Copenhagen and Kiel with their fellow allies. Make a stronghold in the Balkans (Belgrade preferably) and defeat the Ottoman Empire. Coordinating your attacks is the key here because initially, you wonβt have enough units and economy to attack independently so play with your allies and swoop in for the kill at the right time, snatching them from your allies. Getting to Spain is the real pain ( Loki Odinson gets applauses for maintaining his streak of rhymes
)
8. Naples - Naples AI doesnβt play well enough to punch through Rome and connect with their allies. They usually get annihilated by Napoleon and even faster than Marmont. Good luck doing better than them.
Naples usually collapses without your intervention.
France
1. Napoleon - Napoleon, though powerful, is absolutely annoying for both his allies and his enemies. Annoying for allies because he targets a weakly Sardinia and then makes shooting targets out of Tunisia before finally attacking Naples. Annoying for his enemies for the obvious reason about his survivability.
2. Massena - Does Nothing. Just stay there and defend Paris. Thatβs a good thing if youβre a French ally, not playing as France, but bad news if youβre in the coalition because he is extremely hard to kill. Still, he ainβt too bad on offense too. Really handy and can switch roles efficiently.
3. Desaix - Powerful. He has anti-terrain negation skills, which means that terrain doesn't affect him. Moreover, he also is on Double guards cavalry, which means he can hit both the forts and normal units hard and can attack again after annihilating the enemy. However, he just sits in Zurich, and Munich sometimes and doesnβt do much.
4. Moreau - Not on a desirable unit, but still there. 4 stars in infantry comes in handy. At least better than nothing.
5. Marmont - Napoleonβs little bro. Hits as hard, though he has some mobility issues. Having such a great artillery pair, the AI uses them really dumb. He either charges suicidally into Naples or into HRE.
On a stark contrast, the coalition side doesn't face all these problems. In fact, Russia will push into Anatolia without your intervention. Poland too will get destroyed and if you're lucky, both Ushakov and Wilhelm III will coordinate their attack on Denmark. So, for starters, I think that a coalition faction would be a great pick like Russia. They have limited fronts to fight on, good economy, good generals, etc.
There would be one corner though, where you feel ashamed and pity for the French. That is the Iberian Peninsula. Spain, though much bigger than Portugal, canβt seem to smash in through the Portuguese defense. The French will also aid them, but still they falter. They might get inroads near Lisbon and if Beresford comes out, (He does, although not often) it looks like maybe they can finally crack Lisbon. But hilariously, they still canβt! Oh you pitiful punies!
Analysis of Countries faction wise
The French Faction1. France - Why not start with the initiator of the revolution itself? Right, I did mention that French allies were weak, pathetic and mostly unhelpful, but France is nothing short of muscle power. France is the strongest country in this conquest. This is because the starting generals are quite OP compared to other countries. I mean, just look at the lineup - Napoleon, Massena, Jourdan, Moreau, Marmont, Desaix, Dumoriez...enough to make anyone tremble. Now thatβs a whole different thing that the AI plays dumb and France loses her protectors. And I think it is fair because French allies basically collapse without your intervention. Another decisive factor in your favour is that, once you defeat the HRE generals on the border (Klenau, August, Hotze), you can basically Blitzkrieg the rest of the coalition countries.
However, there might be a roadblock at Berlin as Ferdinand I on a triple stack guards infantry sits there, which is fiercely guarded. Moreover, due to the sheer power of your generals initially, you might forget to build troops. This would slow down your pace when going for Russia. Wouldnβt matter if it is a normal run, but fatal if you're going for Princess runs. Make sure to send troops to occupy Portugal too.
2. Netherlands - Britain will try to land on your shores from the start which is not good news. Hotzeβs rampaging army is even more bad news and the worst part is that your superpower friend France, doesnβt realize your importance and doesnβt provide you any aid. Your economy isnβt very good. However, all these attacks arenβt coordinated. Hood attacks first, then comes the landing units and then comes Hotze. You can exploit this by defeating all of them one by one, though itβs very tough. However, you will get enough time to prepare. The starting rounds are passive and no attacks will come at you whatsoever.
Without your intervention though, Netherlands gets ripped apart just like Poland and Prussian help? Not good news.
3. Ottoman Empire - You have an opportunity to drive deep into HRE and Russian territory. However, you must be extremely patient with this conquest. Though HRE is weak, they still have plenty of generals and a large starting economy. But no matter how much you try, itβs really hard, maybe even impossible to save Poland. Moreover, as you focus on coalition on the continent, Britain will attack France and Denmark with coordination from Prussia and good luck trying to save the Italians with your limited economy.
The Ottoman Empire generally collapses without your intervention.
4. Poland - My dear poor Poland. What have you ever done to anyone? Poland gets partitioned among the continental coalition powers. If France is the muscle of the coalition, then Poland is the backbone. As others have pointed out, survival of France and her allies depends on how long Poland can resist. This is because if Poland is defeated, then France will be the next target. Theyβd even defeat Italy and press even harder into the Ottoman Empire. Poland will be extremely tough to play as a player too. Polandβs economy is extremely fragile. In fact, so much that you will have just enough economy to spam just one unit per turn, when you are under pressure from multiple sides. Suvorov, Bagration, Deroy, Rosenberg, LβEstocq all of them attack you. You have to take lots of risks in this conquest and hope that the enemy doesnβt capture your empty facilities. Hence, Iβd say that the best way to rescue Poland is to play as France and rescue the Poles by Blitzing HRE.
Poland will collapse without your intervention.
5. Rome - Prepare yourself for the onslaught of Klenau. It will take a lot to defeat him. Also, capture as much Naples territory as possible. Napoleon and sometimes Marmont also, will come to your aid and defeat Naples so if you feel that you cannot take on HRE and Naples together, then defend against Naples and expand into HRE. After that, you need to move quickly and spam a lot because Poland will probably be defeated and the coalition will be ready to take on you and France. Also you must rescue the Ottoman Empire as they will probably lose Istanbul. And you also have Portugal, which is placed annoyingly far away from you.
Rome collapses without your intervention.
6. Denmark - One on One for Scandinavian Hegemony? Denmark for the win! In my opinion, the Danes are the best performers among the French faction. They usually defeat Sweden, given enough time, however, Wilhelm, Hotze and Ushakov make things difficult for these guys. However, if you play as Denmark, then you can easily block Hotzeβs attack. That triple grenadier you get initially at Kiel(?) is meaty and will take and give many blows to Hotzeβs exhausted army (Since he mostly goes for Amsterdam first). If need be, get some more there.
Time is of essence for Denmark conquest. If you spam units and defeat Sweden quickly before others hop into the board, then your economy will improve and you can easily defeat Hotzeβs attack. For Ushakov, save up some money for a battleship and bombard him with the general in Copenhagen and with the battleship. Thinking that everythingβs alright, Wilhelm III innocently wanders into your trap, only to get annihilated. From there on, you're free to expand.
Denmark may/may not collapse without your intervention (Depending on how coordinated are the coalitionβs attacks).
7. Spain - Oh yes, the most infamous of the French faction. Known for her highly incompetent army, Spain, due to itβs extremely terrible combination of bad generals, geography and AI behaviour is the worst one among everyone. Iβd even go on to say that having Spain as a neutral or our ally wouldnβt make a whole lot of difference because Portuguese AI isnβt aggressive. However, if you choose to play as Spain, then the situation would change drastically (of course, why wouldnβt it?). You can defeat Portugal, but that would take at least 20 turns because of the reasons mentioned above. And then, you have to trek through your big broβs territory (Which is boring) and rescue the Ottoman Empire. No way you can save Poland. I guarantee. Not a fun conquest at all.
Spain does not collapse without your intervention because coalition troops take a lot of time reaching there.
Coalition
1. Great Britain - Ah yes, the crown faction. And we have GB first. Detached from the continent by just >60 km changed their fortunes. In fact so much that Jourdan crosses over that little puddle in the middle known as the English Channel and occupies Southampton, only to...you guessed it. Die! The British AI focuses on landing at Amsterdam first, coordinating with Hotzeβs attack on the Netherlands. But they later on try to push into Paris, resulting in a stalemate. Even when Rowland comes out of his den, they just canβt seem to answer the Massena question, who will be defending Paris wholeheartedly and Leadership plays a major part in that because he doesn't suffer from morale drop, even though he is completely surrounded. Nelson dies due to the artillery bombardment on the Ottoman coasts and their light infantry just wanders, doing absolutely nothing.
If you choose to play as the GB, then youβll incur extra costs for ferrying your troops across the channel. However, barring the initial suicide assault from Jourdan, you can take as much time as you want because France canβt just invade Britain so easily. Make sure to clear the French coast before you land as taking Amsterdam quickly helps. Send a few units to Denmark to speed up your conquest and occupy the factory at the Ottoman Coast and start mass producing artilleries there move up and down and get Belgrade and Athens and move east to defeat the Turks.
2. Holy Roman Empire - Oh! The empire which is neither holy, neither Roman, nor an empire! Great way to mock it eh?. If you want to get elite princesses, this is your choice. You have borders to all countries except Spain and have a great starting economy. However, defeating the French generals is not easy. Your generals are very weak except Archduke Charles, which is bad and you can use only 3 generals of your own. You need to use your economy very wisely as you have to fight on multiple fronts. Not for beginners though. The AI of HRE just comes at a stalemate in France, until the other bros - Russia and Prussia show up. But they did a good job on the Italian and Ottoman front.
3. Portugal - Portugal is the least aggressive member of the coalition. They can easily take it deep into Spain and knock them out. But theyβre the good boys of this conquest. They only defend. At most, youβll probably see Beresford coming out of Lisbon and occupying Sevilla. But thatβs really it.
If you choose to play as Portugal, Iβd say itβs very entertaining in the beginning. Defend against the Spanish troops and their generals and then, the Iberian Peninsula is yours. Southern France is lightly defended so Blitz through them and defeat Italy quickly. Support as much as you can in northern France and destroy the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Gets pretty boring at the end ,to be honest.
4. Sweden - Swedish AI loses to itβs Scandinavian Counterpart one on one. However, the coalition offers you a lot of support. If you choose to play as Sweden, taking Denmark would be easy. Steal Copenhagen once Ushakov defeats the artillery general there. And then, you can start your long and boring voyage across the other side of the map to defeat Spain and Ottoman Turkey and Italy. Make sure to occupy southern France through your journey.
Sweden may/may not collapse without your intervention depending how coordinated the coalition attacks are.
5. Sardinia - You are the prime target for Napoleon and sometimes Marmont too. Donβt try to fight him. Itβs extremely tough and even if you destroy the line infantry which accompanies him, you wonβt have enough resources to spam a unit every turn. So your best option is to evacuate to the HRE. Not Naples because Napoleonβs next target will be Naples (After practising shooting in Tunisia). However, make sure to do it quick enough because you wonβt have farms once Napoleon occupies Sardinia.
Sardinia will collapse with/without your intervention.
6. Russia - The Big Bro of the Coalition! And literally too because he has the largest area and largest army, next only to HREβs. No immediate threats and many areas ripe for expansion. The Russian AI starts off slow in attacking Poland, but picks up pace and ends up occupying Warsaw most of the time. Then they begin their journey to France and by the time they reach France, the Ottoman Empire will be on its knees. Ushakov plays spoilsport in Copenhagen, triggering the defeat of Denmark, if he is provided ample support.
Just follow the same route the AI does. Use Sackenβs army to destroy the Ottoman Empire and move west simultaneously. This conquest is the most beginner friendly. If you are playing conquest for the first time, then this should be your choice for gaining exposure to the conquest mechanics.
7. Prussia - Has a weak army and economy initially. But has all passive fronts. You can bide your time as there are no immediate threats. The Prussian AI spams a lot. Really a lot. They first annihilate Poland and coordinate their attacks on Amsterdam and Copenhagen and Kiel with their fellow allies. Make a stronghold in the Balkans (Belgrade preferably) and defeat the Ottoman Empire. Coordinating your attacks is the key here because initially, you wonβt have enough units and economy to attack independently so play with your allies and swoop in for the kill at the right time, snatching them from your allies. Getting to Spain is the real pain ( Loki Odinson gets applauses for maintaining his streak of rhymes
)8. Naples - Naples AI doesnβt play well enough to punch through Rome and connect with their allies. They usually get annihilated by Napoleon and even faster than Marmont. Good luck doing better than them.
Naples usually collapses without your intervention.
France
1. Napoleon - Napoleon, though powerful, is absolutely annoying for both his allies and his enemies. Annoying for allies because he targets a weakly Sardinia and then makes shooting targets out of Tunisia before finally attacking Naples. Annoying for his enemies for the obvious reason about his survivability.
2. Massena - Does Nothing. Just stay there and defend Paris. Thatβs a good thing if youβre a French ally, not playing as France, but bad news if youβre in the coalition because he is extremely hard to kill. Still, he ainβt too bad on offense too. Really handy and can switch roles efficiently.
3. Desaix - Powerful. He has anti-terrain negation skills, which means that terrain doesn't affect him. Moreover, he also is on Double guards cavalry, which means he can hit both the forts and normal units hard and can attack again after annihilating the enemy. However, he just sits in Zurich, and Munich sometimes and doesnβt do much.
4. Moreau - Not on a desirable unit, but still there. 4 stars in infantry comes in handy. At least better than nothing.
5. Marmont - Napoleonβs little bro. Hits as hard, though he has some mobility issues. Having such a great artillery pair, the AI uses them really dumb. He either charges suicidally into Naples or into HRE.
