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Tips that don't agree with other tips, however, are perfectly fine. Everyone is free to post their tips here.[/center]
"Leave me alone!"
This could be the rallying cry for Spain in this game. In fact, Spain can do comfortably well having never declared war on any major powers.
If you DO get into a war, you don't have a whole lot of tools with which to fight it. At land, your army is second only to Turkey's in quality, and is the smallest of them all.
At sea, you far better, but you are still in third place.
If there's a war, you need an ally among the big two. You simply cannot afford to alienate either of them.
You CAN, however, afford very well being friends with both. It's in your best interest, actually. However, France might not like it very well, what you owning all those ships, but not willing to use them (against GB, of course!)
But, here's where a big benefit comes in for you: It's REALLY hard to conquer Spain on land. Even France, at full force and at peace with the rest of the world, cannot do it safely. Those guerillas just keep popping up and wrecking havoc with his ability to keep supply lines going. Yeah, eventually, he's going to conquer you. But, it won't be pleasant for him.
So, even though he won't like it, France also is very interested in keeping Spain neutral (as opposed to being a British friend).
These bargaining points are worth their weight in gold. Heed them well.
You have two other natural enemies in this game: Turkey and Austria.
If you can keep peace going with both of the dominant powers, you have little to fear from either nation. They simply can't get to you. But, woe to you if you end up at war with both GB and Turkey at the same time. Now, they can invade, and Turkey cares less about his troops than you do yours! (Which is hard to do!) And, he starts with twice as many as you do.
So, if you end up at war with GB, make sure Turkey is a friend FIRST, or you could be in serious trouble.
Austria can't do anything for or against you, except deny you pieces of Italy. However, that assumes that he is in any position to stop you. He could be busy with other minor difficulties (like, the Grande Armee').
The bottom line: You have few natural enemies to concern yourself with.
But, the flip side is that you have few natural friends, either. So, TAKE them: Portugal, Naples, Papacy, Morocco. Consider taking those two small north African territories as well.
Once you have a few of those under your belt, you will be no pushover to anybody. On the other hand, you won't be trashing any MPs anytime soon, either, but at least you can stay snug and warm in your comforter of minors.
