Leaving Game 9

Hi all,

Just to let you know I will be leaving game 9, it has been a great run and enjoyed the task at hand. Just to let you know I played England, France I enjoyed the religious rivalry and Venice's legal wrangling.

I will still be playing in Game 8.

Sorry to hear you're dropping out of G9, hope you enjoyed your time there though-England did seem to be taking an interesting path in that game

Glad you are still with us in G8 though

Shame to see you go, but glad you are still in G8

England is and always will be the most challenging position in the game

Agree completely with Kingmaker...I think it is a position best suited to a team position so something like a 'lead' player as England with a 'deputy' controlling British North America (and the West Indies perhaps?)

Tried England my self bloody hard gave up. Only know one player who has made a success of it in Game 3 and he gave the Americas their independence so has no hassle over there now...

I'd agree, in G3 England is a success and yes I do think it's partly because the Americas broke away (though it sort-of gained Sweden and had a Stuart Restoration so it's an odd position).

Like Kingmaker I I've briefly tried England...it was a challenge and difficult and convinced me I preferred smaller positions

Odd that people are saying that England is a hard position to play.

As someone who has never played either I have assumed that England along with Russia was one of the easier positions to play and quite hard to make a mess off. Its advantages which I can see inc:

1) England always seems to be vary rich in terms of cash & credit and seems to have a built in trade advantage.

2) It has technical and Naval advantages which it can use to make friends and influence people.

3) It has lots of handy NPC's - Farmers, inventors and the like plus famous Generals and Admirals.

4) Its only natural foes are France and the Jacobites........the first of which has plenty of other problems.......the later are very weak.

5) Its an Island which makes it hard too attack.

So what is so difficult about England and its 100 plus Lineships?

Signed Someone who has been ..........a) A poor misunderstood and picked on Ottoman Civil Servent........starting with 60 Galley's half falling to bits b) A French Corsair who really got it in the neck from his own Court......20 Sloops c) A Shah of Persia.......20 Galleys d) The Archduke of Austria 5 Galleys and e) The Elector of Saxony/King of Poland etc.......Coastline but no Navy at all and needs to get the OK of the Diet to even raise a row boat.

I think Stuart that in 1700 England hasn't yet reached its potential...we know historically it will be the power but it's not there yet ( a bit like Prussia)...a lot of the advantages you mention are just potential and not present in game from the start-the only one that is is the trade one.

It also has a quite weak colonial position-a lot of outposts yes but other than North America, small, poorly defended, scattered and difficult to reinforce. As a lot of its wealth comes from trade and colonies it's more depended on its empire than say France.

The RN isn't as large as you might think at the start of the game, when I had a go at England in G6 I had 40...ok may sound a lot but if you want to defend home waters, the West Indies and elsewhere, 40 goes nowhere (I didn't have any real cruiser force either, a few frigates-20 I think-fewer corvettes and surprisingly few transports). Admitedly it does have the financial power to develop its military fairly quickly (assuming it can get the extra recruits, I found its recruit base small really) but esp in the time of the 'old rules' when you only had 3 military change orders a turn, well it was a struggle to feel like you were getting anywhere.

The difference between Russia and England is quite large.

Russia has no over seas colonies and although a large land mass has every thing within reach. They have a large population so recruits and taxes are good, poor tech though but have their own gold and silver mines. Russia starts with lots of cossacks!

Britain has large overseas colonies, a population that is suspicious of a large army at home . A good naval ability, but poor cash income and recruits. England needs to build up its trade to get lots of cash. England starts with a large navy and a decent army, which the player must decide where to put on turn one, leaving any other player that comes after him cursing his deployment!
PLUS at the beginning the Jacobites are hanging about looking for a chance to get the throne back.