Nations and Diplomacy

[Missouri Rebel]

How many nations can one choose from and can they all be brought into play during the course of a game?

What kind of diplomatic actions can players use to influence the other major powers? Can alliances be made?

Am I to have a hard time playing considering my total lack of knowledge on the era or the previous version? I suspect my familiarization with FoF would help the mechanics part of the learning curve, but historically, I might be at a loss to the proper strategy.

This game really does look good.

mo reb

[Gil R.]

I'm posting a screenshot that shows the main nation. In addition, there is an option to swap out Sweden and replace it with Portugal, Poland or Denmark (and maybe another smaller country I'm forgetting).

There are a number of diplomatic options, including alliances. I'll try to post screenshots sometime -- it turns out that the ones I have are TIFF's that can't be posted here.

The game comes with some background information on the scenarios, and there will be plenty of tips in the forum. Plus the game itself tells you what your nation's goals are in terms of territory you need to hold. So I think you should be fine.

[Mus]

Whats this "Glory Handicap" label under the power tab mean?  I dont recall seeing that in vanilla COG.

[Joram]

I see your question wasn't answered Mus.  In short it is a user inputted balancing mechanism.   This allows you to adjust an individuals starting glory and since glory is usually the way to victory, you are in essence balancing the game through defining the victory conditions more precisely by handicapping the nations. *whew* long sentence! Not talking about CoG:EE specifically, I'm a believer that you can balance any game with the appropriate victory conditions and this allows someone to do just that.

You don't have to touch it of course, the other ways of balancing are through the 'power' which affects forces and economy (I think, as I play simple econ).  This you can do on an individual nation basis.  Then there's the two difficulty buttons which provide advantages specifically to the AI in either the strategic level or combat.

[terje439]

Norway is still considered Swedish?

[Joram]

No, actually it's part of Denmark (a minor nation) at this time.  The graphic in Gil's shot can seem a little misleading but that's just for aesthetic reasons and it's the only place you see it.

[terje439]

Ah all is well then [:D]

[Lützow]

Two questions as I don't know the precursor.

- How many provinces you have to maintain by playing Prussia ?
- Are there building options like in FoF ?

[Hard Sarge]

not sure I follow, you control the provinces of Prussia, depending on the date, it changes

yes, in a different form

Cuture, Roads, Farms, Factories, Courts , banks, Dock, guns and walls

so lets see

Cuture is for Glory, arts and stuff like that
Roads is based on how much Pop the Province can hold
Farms is how you feed everybody, helps with Horses
Factories is for Labor, luxarys
Courts, if you are a Nation that is growing, you need Courts to keep waste under control, France needs Courts
Banks make money
Docks, needed to build ships, gain money from Ports
Walls are like forts, how well it is defended
Guns, how well the Forts fight back

plus on the side, in Advanced Ecc, you can control production, plus you need to build troops

[Hard Sarge]

the totals on the side

this province if everything is working right, makes 31 gold a month, 1 labor, 1 horse, 8 food, no Iron, no Wood, 1 Wool, no Cotten, 1 Textile, no Wine, no Spices and no Lux

on the bottom, you have a Pop of 4, it can grow to 5, what province is best at makeing, is wool (remember, just because it is best, don't mean it will always be good)

your nation needs 179 food, and it should gain one Pop for the Nation

bottom half of the production part is what you have in stock, top half is what you should be getting with these setting though out your nation

the bottom part, your people are not too happy, or won't be, so they want some wine and later other goodies to be happy

so you can't just put everybody to making Iron, you got to balance it with the morale of your people

how is that ?

[Hard Sarge]

oops forgot part

I own 42 Provinces, waste rules are tricky, Protectorates do not count in the total, but you are allowed 30 provinces and waste is fine, over 30, waste starts kicking in and your production suffers, every province with a Court level of 5, does not count in your total (it is okay, there is a screen, that gives you all this info at a glance)

LOL, believe me, it is easyer to do it then to try and explain it

[Randomizer]

Thanks Hard Sarge. Actually your explanations make sense and while it looks complex now, I think that it might become pretty intuitive given the realities of period economics. And patience, I imagine not having some sort of realistic (in game terms) and long-term economic plan might cause problems.

Can you blockade ports?

If so, what are the economic effects?

Is overseas trade represented economically?

Am Really looking forward to buying CoG-EE just based on what has been offered up in this Forum. Kicking myself now for selling off all my Napoleonic era book collection last spring except those volumes dealing with naval warfare. Oh well...

[Hard Sarge]

YW

yes, you can blockage and you can raid them too(watch out for the guns)

you have Privateers, and Merchants, Frigates can hunt Privateers, there are upgrages for both (well, for all 3 ship types)

yes, there is trade between the Nations, you can make offers, and the AI will make offers, there are trade routes and what nots

I normally keep to France, and they don't tend to do much tradeing (well, I don't)

so maybe one of the other guys will speak up with more info (I am sort of a Warlord leader, not a trader)

[balto]

Those are excellent questions and super excellent answers.  I do not know why I gave up on Forge of Freedom ayear or so ago; just stupid on my part.  But this game.., I can feel it --  This could be the best on the planet.   Thank you for all of this information.