The following is a guide posted on Steam concerning Empire: Total War. Enjoy.
Sweden is
not known in the Total War community for being a powerhouse of Europe. However, Sweden
is placed in an extraordinary location at the start of the game, which would
allow the user to seize control of the Baltic, take control of North America, and essentially conquer the world. With
the right strategy, you should definitely be capable of conquering the known
world as Sverige, at least on normal difficulty. I did.
Note: this is meant to be both a narrative and a guide. It
does not all fit for all cases, but all of it will apply to some of the cases,
while some of it will apply to all cases. Enjoy at your own risk.
There are a few shortcuts that you have to realize in order
to fully take advantage of Sweden's
location. These shortcuts work both ways; you could do the same as Prussia, in example, to Sweden as Sweden
could do to Prussia.
However, the AI is notorious for its lack of good judgment, so it won't notice
the shortcuts I'm about to give you.
First, one can send an army from Stockholm
across the Baltic Sea to the shore
of Silesia within one
turn. All that he/she needs is a fleet of at least one ship (could be a light
galley, provided that the shoreline isn't guarded by a fleet) docked at Visby and a substantial army garrisoned at Stockholm (you will be
assaulting the German mainland, so it's best to come prepared). You could do
the same with Koenigsberg and Gdansk,
and almost anywhere else on the Baltic.
Second, most if not all of the central European/northern
European cities are one or two moves' distance away from each other. This will
be undoubtedly helpful as you assault the German mainland. Once you attack the
bulk of your enemies' armies, you will be able to sweep through their
territories in a shockingly short period of time. Why would this be effective
for Sweden and not, say,
Poland-Lithuania or Austria?
Sweden is separated from the
rest of mainland Europe by a large ocean. This
means that Sweden
can assault the heart of enemy territory without expecting the reciprocal
action, whereas said central European factions have to have at least a small
defence.
Sweden's
"special power" (every nation has either a deviation from the normal
roster, a "special power," or radically unique units) is a 20%
increase in the unit size of the regiment of horse. It's useless; don't bother
employing it. I would mass-spam grenadiers, line infantry, or riflemen.
Sure, this sounds fun, and the secrets are fairly useful,
but how would the campaign work on a small scale? After all, what is a campaign
but the military events that compose it? Basically, how does one just conquer
provinces? Well, there is a systematic way to taking out large amounts of
territory.
First, always take an unguarded city from an enemy. Even if
you have a small amount of soldiers (maybe four units) in a neighboring border
territory, you will always have a tremendous advantage over the average
garrison and, by conquering the territory, an edge on your opponent.
What if a certain settlement is heavily guarded? Ignore the
surrounding armies and besiege the settlement with a large army. If the enemy
sallies forth to attack you, you have a better shot at winning the battle than
at attacking the enemy head-on. If you have another army, attack the
reinforcing armies surrounding the settlement once you've besieged it. Because
the garrison inside the city cannot reinforce said armies, you can divide the
enemy's might into much easier portions.
When you're attacking a city, always ensure that you have
the necessary might and auto-resolve the conflict. The computer gives the
player a much greater advantage than the player usually has in these types of
battles. When the enemy sallies forth from their city when you've besieged it,
always play the battle manually, since you have a much better chance of
defending yourself. Similarly, always play the battle when an enemy attacks
your settlement.
Notice that practically none of this requires any non-siege
battles. In this systematic way, there is no need for battles that aren't
related to sieges because they aren't practical. Sure, you may have fun doing
them, but conquering the world requires looking at the big picture as opposed
to individual battles.
First, it is crucial that the player establish good
relations with Austria.
I personally have seen Austria
rise to glory as the dominant force in Europe; I have seen Austria get
conquered by the Poles. Either way, Austria
will undoubtedly go to war with Sweden's
biggest rivals: Prussia,
Poland-Lithuania, and Russia.
You'll need at least a distraction for your enemies, and an alliance with Austria fits
perfectly. Later, you could turn on Austria
when you've conquered most of Europe, since
your alliance would have no value anymore.
Strike early and fast. Prussia will destroy any Swedish
hopes of conquest on the mainland if left to itself for a while. If Sweden strikes quickly, Prussia may survive, but it won't build enough
of its forces to be a threat once the Swedes have a grip on Europe.
Poland-Lithuania will welcome you into the game with several
rounds of muskets. It is possible to establish good relations with Courland,
but in the end, Courland will need to be
exterminated. Poland-Lithuania will be to Sweden
as Carthage was to Rome; take that as you will. Denmark will
similarly hate you. However, it cannot efficiently defend Norway, and once you have Norway under control, you keep Norway forever.
It is very easy for Sweden
(or, honestly, any playable faction) to establish a foothold in the New World. However, a player has to be careful where
he/she places his first base. I personally recommend the northern Huron-Wyandot
territory or perhaps the northern Quebec
territory. The computer usually would not think of sending an army all the way
up there, so your foothold would be hard to lose once order is estabilshed.
From here, The Plains Indians territory is very easy to pick for Sweden, since
the game gave the Plains Indians faction a minimal amount of troops (Ten units
of line infantry should suffice). You could then move either south to Spain or west
to more Native American and European territory. Either way, those lands are
left largely unguarded, so it would be easy as pie to become strong as Sweden.
Russia
desperately wants St. Petersburg, but you can
use the location as a launch pad to establish an army and head for Moscow. Moscow
will be undoubtedly heavily guarded, unlike Berlin and Koenigsberg, perhaps. Be
prepared.
By 1750, you should have completed the victory requirements,
but, let's face it, you want world domination, not merely control of the Baltic.
This is what happened to me following victory, and it will probably happen to
you. Either way, the strategy is similar.
If you haven't already, conquer Denmark. For now, you could leave Denmark to sulk over in Iceland, or you can conquer it and use it as a
base for New World transport operations.
Poland-Lithuania will be extremely difficult to kill, at
least if Austria
fails to be a powerhouse (which it will, eventually). Since your armies took
out her northern territories, she will control
a large portion of central Europe, notably remnants of Austria. She
will build a wall of armies around the cities near the border. Build up a large
amount of forces, and then push your way through said wall; you have more power
than they do with your territory. If you are successful, you will have the
entirety of Poland-Lithuania (and probably southern Europe)
at your disposal.
Moscow is the center of Russia. After
you conquer Muscovy, it will be a simple matter of dividing and conquering the
frontier territories of Siberia. If you
haven't already, declare war on an imperial power and take over its
territories. You won't regret it. France is a good target. Capture Paris. It gives you good
relations with Great Britain
and Holland. Spain will rush to the side of France, but hey, you can conquer Latin America to boot. Consider invading India. If Mysore is still a faction
by this time, invade and conquer it. You'll be able to make amends to the
Marathans, or you'll have your work cut out for you and a good target in which
to invest resources.
At this point, it may not seem like it, but you've
practically seized control of Europe and are well on the path to conquering the
New World. There are merely a few short steps
that you might want to execute to seal the world's fate.
If you haven't already: mop up any remaining Native American
factions, decide who is or is not your ally and act on it, side with one major
faction of India and declare war on the other, and establish heavy trade routes
on the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, et cetera.
There should be no factions of import left in
Europe except you and your allies. Your allies will hate
you, but your people will be apathetic to your allies. Mop up Europe's minor
factions; make the conquest of Europe the priority, simply since "Emperor
of Europe" is a greater achievement than those of conquering the
Americas and
India. The
New
World should similarly be petty change.
Eventually, all that will be left would be the Middle East, India, and your
allies. Choose one to target, and destroy your targets systematically one at a
time. Similarly, you should disassemble your allies one at a time. Don't attack
them all at once, even though at this point you are strong enough to make it
happen. If you attack one ally, your other allies will still hate you, but
they'll be far too scared to confront you to step out of line. Essentially, you
have all your allies where you want them. India
should be no big deal; you can sweep India
like you did in Europe; there is little
deviation. At this point, you should know what to do to conquer the rest of the
world. All hail Sverige!
